Getting Old SUCKS…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
So I finally get home and sleep in my own bed, not worrying about getting up every four hours to medicate the daughter, and what happens?


I don’t think I ever moved, and woke up this morning with one hellva crick in the neck… dammit…


So much for going to the range, if I can’t straighten my head up, not much point in trying to go shoot the new rifle.  Sigh…


So I’m cleaning it and checking the sight alignment, etc. and I notice this is NOT a NM rear sight, e.g. 1/2 min clicks vs. 1/4 min clicks, so off I go to try to find a new rear sight.  NOT easy, as there appear to be a lot of  ‘so called’ NM sights out there…


I called around and various folks pointed me to Creedmore and I finally found a real one at Creedmore Sports (HERE), Andy, if you happen to read this and are in the same situation, this is the real deal… And not a bad price either!!!


On another note- I went out to my favorite gun store to look for a spare sling for the HBar, and the store was slam full! I’ve seen them busy before, but today it was literally packed!  Men, women, kids, all in a buying mood; and I saw at least 6-7 cases of ammo going out the door.  Pistols seemed to be the biggest draw, but I saw families trying/discussing shotguns for home defense, and I did note the salespeople pointing out that a 20ga was just as effective and easier for a woman or younger child to handle, and they were recommending ALL get training. All I got was a brick of .22  sigh…


As y’all know, I’ve pretty much stayed away from the political commentary (Mainly to keep my BP down), but I’m sensing a real change in the silent majorities’ attitudes lately… And what is coming through is “we’re tired of this mess and we won’t put up with much more”. And they are voting with their wallets to buy guns, ammo and more importantly, training on how to use those tools…


And that is not just around here either, it’s happening and SC, AR, NC, and FL based on the calls I made this morning.  The critters in DC better look at their hole card and start turning this country around before it gets turned around FOR them…


Remember in November- Re-Elect NONE!  

It’s FRIDAY…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Random things…


Daughter is doing well, no apparent bruising, redness, infection at the three incisions for her surgery.  BUT, she’s not even close to mobile, and is NOT having fun getting up and down, much less going to the bathroom…



And no I wasn’t kidding about the stitches looking like tie wraps…


So she’s spending most of the day asleep on the couch or getting fed, or getting her pain and other meds…


And she said to say thank you to all those who texted, emailed, and called, even if she doesn’t know y’all 🙂


And speaking of meds, DO take pain meds as prescribed, to actually mitigate the pain so that healing begins.  Toughing it out does no one any good… And take the anti-nausea pills too, they are prescribed to keep you from throwing up the other meds!


Of note, I didn’t mention it earlier, but one thing you want to make sure is in place is a limited power of attorney for medical when anyone goes in for surgery.  Thankfully, it was not needed; but safe is better than sorry if something had happened.  


The deck is ‘almost’ done (thank you RAIN, I got a day off)…

More piers for the ‘step up’

First part of the stepped section finished!

Strong backs knocking down the slope…

Last portion awaiting the decking and wall…

And it’s raining so no work for me 🙂

Back on the airplane and back to the salt mines… sigh…  And I’ll leave you with a movie trivia question.

Who was the original star that was supposed to play Bullitt, and what was the original location supposed to be???

Five years…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Five years ago I started spouting my drivel in this little corner of teh Intarwebz…


I did it mainly to kill time when I was on the road, and sitting in various airports around the world, and I was tired of what was going on with the various gun forums I was on (flame wars, BS responses to comments, and lots of wanna-be’s that didn’t have a clue).


Here’s my first attempt…


I’m new to this whole arena, but thought I’d give it a try. I guess I fall in the “silent majority” as we have been deemed, I’ve never sought publicity, sued anyone for spilling my coffee, sure as hell ain’t a movie star; well, you get the drift…

I’m mid-50’s have a decent job, two decent kids trying hard to make their own way in the world today, and a lot of frustration with what is happening to the US of A. Being from the South, I hunt, fish, and shoot guns; so that immediately makes me one of those “rabid rednecks” to quote some out there. I did have a pickup, but it’s hard to park it where I work, so I drive a Pontiac… sure do miss the truck though… sigh…

As a retired military type, it really hurts to see the crap we are putting the folks in service through today. I lived through that in Vietnam, and I take the time to thank every Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine for their service when I get the chance. Most of the kids (I’m Southern so I can say that) are doing the best they can with what they have. They believe in the job they and others are doing in the Sandbox, and are pretty upset by the media coverage they get. 

Anyway, I’m going to try this for a while and see what happens… thanks for reading and commenting…

Old NFO


Not much has changed, I’m older, now back to driving an SUV; but  everything else is pretty much the same…


I’ve made a lot of friends both through this little blog, and met a great group of people in meat space too!


And I’ve had a blast (literally in some cases) shooting with many of y’all, and hope to meet more of you in the real world!


1039 posts with this one, 199 loyal readers- Thanks to each and every one of you! About 400,000 visits (splitting the Sitemeter stats); and the most popular post was the one I did on CFL bulbs… 


Go Figure…


And linking DOES work!  Thanks to Lawdog, Murph, Brigid, Uncle, Tam, Peter, Jay G, Paw and all those others who link to me.


Thanks again for putting up with me and reading and commenting, it IS appreciated!

Boycott Spirit Airlines!!!

Posted on by March 6, 2013
More BS from the corporate world…


Spirit Airlines has a no refund policy, but terminal illness is ‘usually’ a reasonable rationale to refund a ticket with most airlines.  However…


NOT in this case… The airlines’ one word answer?  “No.”


The “Boycott Spirit Airlines” Facebook page has seen its number of “likes” soar in recent days, rising tenfold to nearly 7,000. The social network support has come as Jerry Meekins, a 76-year-old Vietnam veteran with terminal esophageal cancer, raised a fuss when the Fort Lauderdale-based airline nixed his request for a $197 refund. Meekins was going to fly to New Jersey for his daughter’s surgery, but his doctor told him not to fly, citing his deteriorating health. The Facebook page blasting the much-complained-about airline already existed, but Meekins’ plight has sent furious fellow veterans and concerned citizens flocking to it. 

You can read the entire article HERE


I don’t usually jump these out of the mil-email world, but this just pisses me off!

Back…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Daughter’s surgery went well, Labrium was pretty much torn free of the hip joint, chips in socket, and tendon needed repair.


All done via Ortho, a tad over two hours.  No major problems, and she’s got a video of it.  They had to put a plastic screw into the hip joint to re-attach the labrium and stitches that look like tie wraps 🙂


(She WILL get kidded about that)


Got her home and resting (not necessarily comfortably), but resting…


Next couple of days will be the real issue, worry about infection and fever, and being able to mitigate the pain correctly.  Thanks for the thoughts and prayers…

Vacation my butt…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
So… stopped by to help out youngest daughter while she has hip surgery, and lo and behold, I find out I’m helping build a deck on the back of the house…

So we let the young folks dig… 🙂

And bend and fight with the pilings…

While Vito played king of the mountain on the dirt pile…

And the first two days work is complete, and Vito is surveying his new kingdom…

And he got a bath, no choice in the matter… Damn dog was RED with dirt from one end to the other!!!

And he’s back to his favorite sport, slobber all over me, and drop the ball in my lap to throw… Sigh…
And that whole ‘fetch’ thing needs work… Threw the ball and Vito brings back a 5 foot section of cedar post (weighed about 15 lbs)!!!

Posting/commenting will be light for the next couple of days while I help out up here… Go read the folks on my sidebar, good stuff there!

A Flower for Leontien…

Posted on by March 6, 2013



A little support and cheer to a fellow blogger from Four Leaf Clover Dairy who is fighting cancer.

Link to Flowers for Leontien to join in.

h/t Brigid

More Random Travel…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
So, the road trip continues… Worked all day yesterday, then out to dinner last night, which turned into an “adventure” in eating…



Went to my favorite Thai Restaurant in Waikiki last night (Keos) and ordered what I ‘thought’ was just pieces of fish in green curry, instead out comes the whole damn fish!!!


And it took THREE of us to eat all of it…


So, finished dinner, off to the airport, and a battle with TSA over my @#$^& PEN of all things…



Carteach gifted me one of these fantastic pens, and of course the TSA idjits at Honoruru thought it was a weapon… sigh


So they made me put in my backpack and ran it back through the xray… WTF???


So red-eye to SFO (no sleep), rent-a-wreck and off I go with TWO cups of coffee heading up to see my daughters…


An hour later, another cup of coffee and I need to get off 101 before I run over/into something, so I jump off and go via Calistoga and over the Calistoga Grade (FUN road), which woke me up VERY quickly…


So I’m winding over, around and through the hills, when I hear a snarling exhaust coming up behind…


Passing area about 1/2 mile later and a REAL Lotus 7 goes by me like I’m sitting still.  Old gent driving, smiling ear to ear, driving gloves and all; the passenger?  Not so much… more like PURE terror 🙂


Another couple of miles and an old Triumph TT and a BSA 650 Lightning go squirting by too (and also ridden by old farts)…


At the daughters, so it’s na… zzzzZZZZZ


Oh sorry, must have nodded off there…

Callsigns…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Another one from the mil-email chain…


And a comment that pretty much ‘defines’ what the culture NEEDS to be in combat aviation…


YOU ARE DAMNED RIGHT……and I want it to be “inappropriate”. 
The military is supposed to be tactically trained KILLERS, not some bullshit PC, group-hugging, dope-smoking liberals in it. Let the military get in, do the damn job trained to do, and get out. Then get ready for the next one. To hell with the liberal politicians that bog us down in their PC world…..that’s not what the military is about (or shouldn’t be, at least). I’m all for OFFENSIVELY-EARNED callsigns……here’s some off the top of my head that I was honored to serve with: 

WIMBO – Woman in a Man’s Body (Greatest dude ever, by the way) 
FUZZY – Hubbel 
AIDS – Axxxx Ixxxx Dxxxx Sxxxx (his name)
TEEFUS 
THUMPER 
CHUBBER 
MONGO 
IOWA (Idiot Out Wandering Around) 
MOTO (Master Of The Obvious) 
NOTSO – Bright 


Yep, I think we had some of the best callsigns of any squadron I have been in: 
Skirt – CO 
Fester – XO 
Elvis – OPSO 
Beavis – AMO 
Mongo – DOSS 
Slope (slow antelope) 
NASA (no apparent situational awareness) 
IKE (I know everything) 
Tumbleweed (pro word for no current situational awareness) 
TUBA (tight uniform, big a$$) 
Princess (self explanatory) 
Soapy 
Mona (MALE squadron artist – Mona Lisa) 
Scuzi 


My personal favorites…


Puke
Flake (Snow)
Rat
EMAC  Exxxx Mixxxx Anxxxxx Cexxxx (his name)
Avon
Reggie
Snap (BAD tempered guy)
Splat
DA (DumbAss)
Snake
Yo
Wubba (Polack with a 19 letter name)


They all were ‘earned’ not self applied… 🙂


On a related note, DO NOT believe the administration or the JCS when you hear about a 300 ship (1/2 of what Reagan had at 594) Navy… It will never get there…


They are lying through their teeth, and it will be 254 or less for the foreseeable future…  Obamallama’s “300” only START building after 2016 and not in enough numbers to overcome the required decommissionings…

A little humor…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
A husband had just finished reading a new book entitled, “You Can Be THE Man of Your House.”

Finding new courage that he never knew he had, he stormed into the kitchen and announced to his wife, “From now on, you need to know that I am the man of this house, and my word is the Law.”

You will prepare me a gourmet meal tonight, bring it to me, and when I am done eating my meal, you will clear the dishes and serve me a scrumptious dessert.

After dinner, you are going to go upstairs with me and we will make love the way I want!   Afterwards, you are going to draw me a bath so I can relax.   You will put on soothing music, wash my back and towel me dry and bring me my robe.

You will massage my feet and hands to relieve any last bit of tension so that I can sleep like a baby.

Then tomorrow, guess who’s going to dress me, and comb my hair?”

The wife replied, “The funeral director would be my first guess, unless I have your ass cremated.”