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Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

When someone falls, you can kick them while they’re down or you can give them a hand to get back on their feet. Some folks will try to drag you down to their level, some will ignore your offered assistance, others will let you help them back up. You won’t know who’s who until you try.

The following is in response to an inquiry from a friend who was wondering about long distance relationships.  A lot of it has to do with relationships in general.  So, for what it’s worth, here it is.

First, for a relationship to be a long term success it has to have a firm foundation. Just like building a house. No good foundation – it’s gonna fall. This means that we need to think outside our current societal “box” so to speak. Our culture over the past decades has emphasized some of the worst foundations for long term relationships possible. Some of them are as follows. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently some friends of mine were discussing the origins of an old saying, “The Good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise”. The question was asked, “Does anyone know if the reference is to a creek (little river, stream, bayou-ette) overflowing its banks, or to the Creek tribe going off the reservation?” It turns out that some folks claim that this goes back to the Creek War of 1813-1814. But those speculating on such origins probably never lived in the backwoods.  Unless someone makes the effort to look through historical documents until they come across some ancient writing in which the words are written (I suspect that some variation of this theme may be found on Cuneiform tablets in some ancient city) Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a “social networking” website called “Facebook“. I was a bit leery of such places for a while. The whole “My Space” and such whoopla left me cold. And then I started paying more attention and saw that there’s actually some value to these places. So I set up an account. And then started finding friends, and friends started finding me. The whole thing is interesting, because it shows how we all have rings of influence in our lives. It’s interesting to take a look at friend lists on other people’s profiles. It’s amazing how many of us know the same people – and yet each of us knows oodles of folks the others do not know.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s an interesting (to me anyway) take on Thanksgiving Day.   It comes from my friend Hobie’s blog “Lady Liberty Defended” and was written by Old Ironsights, another internet friend.  I like the following statement especially, “I’m a carnivore, not a scavenger.” I can share that sentiment, although circumstances have lead me to the place where I more often scavenge  than hunt my own food – more’s the pity.

We started holding public meetings in Pereira on the first Sunday of June in 2002.  That first Sunday we had our family (six of us at the time) and one other family – of three at that time.  Since then the Lord has blessed us and many have joined us in worshiping and studying God’s word.  Many of those have moved on to other cities and other congregations, but the Lord has preserved a remnant here and in the past year has blessed and increased the number of His people here.  Lately we’ve been stretching the folks a bit, encouraging them to move past their “comfort zone” to seek what the Lord is wanting to do through their life.  But I digress.  On June 1st, 2008 we had our annual “Anniversary Bash” This year we held it here at the house and were joined by 39 people, including two new families.  For some of them it was the first time they experienced a “party” in which they didn’t have to drink to have “fun”.  What a novelty to wake up the next day and remember what all happened and to not have a hangover…

Well, last month I was in the US of A for a couple weeks.  Got a chance to toss some lead down range.  THAT was a blast!    Got to hang out with Hoot and Miss Beth from the Sixshooter Community Forum.  Got to hang out with Jim Taylor, Hiram and Fungus Sam, not to mention Miss Twyla and Miss Emily.  Got to hang out with my brother Amerileiro.  Got to hang out with my sons.  And my sister and her family.  Stayed overnight with friends in Yale.  And stayed overnight with mcassill and Miss Heather.  Stayed overnight with friends from my college days the night before I left the country. And …well I had a great time.

While up there I also acquired a Taylor Throat Reamer.  My understanding is that Alan Taylor, Jim’s dad, is the one who originated this idea.  It reams out the throat on a revolver to remove the constriction some of them have after the barrel is screwed in to the frame too tightly – usually from the manufacturing process.  And the PPPPPP definitely had such a constriction, not to mention that the forcing cone was pretty close to non-existent as well.  So the reamer came back with me.  Once I got settled in and caught up a bit I decided to give it a whirl.

The PPPPPP got stripped down and the reamer was placed through the frame window, entering the rear of the barrel.  I screwed the adapter to the rod and put some oil on the threads so it would release easily from the reamer.  Then I loaded the reamer up with my Lanolin/ATF lube/preservative and set to work.  Just gently rotating the reamer and backing up when I got too much of a bite and starting again, a bit at a time, easy does it.  About halfway through the job I decided to check things out.  That’s when I found out that the reamer was fixed to the adapter and the rod was the part that came easily out.  PANIC ATTACK!  Well, not really, but I was a bit concerned.  Got some ideas from the guys on the forum – chased down some Loctite type compound and proceeded to loctite the adapter to the rod after a thorough degreasing of the surfaces.  Left it in for six hours and had to give it a try.  NOT a good idea- the rod unscrewed from the adapter and we were in the same position as before.  More goop on the threads and this time it sat overnight – for about twenty hours this time.  Since it was the weekend and the powers that be had decreed suspension of all permits there was little call to be in a hurry, but still I went ahead and tried it.  Whewwwwww!!!!!  Out came the adapter with the rod and the reamer slid out the rear like it was supposed to.  So I loaded it back up with oil and finished up the job.

The next step was to slug the barrel again.  This time it came out a uniform .357″ like it was supposed to be.  Oh, some of the loctite had migrated to the barrel wall.  A bit of oil and a tight fitting felt patch on the jag and out it came.  I then used a tight patch and some JB Bore Paste to thoroughly clean the barrel and slick it up. This is something I’d read a lot about but never used before.  When I was done the inside of the barrel was prettier than the day I brought it home.  Nice and shiny.

So, was it a worthwhile investment in time, effort and $$$?  A trip to the range would tell the tale.  So later that week I packed up the PPPPPP and the new Gamo and the old Crosman 1377 and off to the range I went.  Four targets were set up at ten long paces and I used a Taylor-Taffin style rest to brace the PPPPPP as I shot.  The first group was not much to brag about – plus I set it a good 10 feet further away than I’d usually shot.  That’s when I moved it back to 10 paces from the bench.  The next three six shot groups were about half the size of previous groups shot at this distance.  Nothing to brag about on an Olympic level, but still a decided improvement.  And when I got home the bore cleaned right up, with less patches and solvent than it’d ever taken before – and there was no leading at the rear of the barrel like before either.

So yes, it was worth the investment in time, effort and $$$.  The PPPPPP now shoots better, cleans easier and no longer shaves lead.  I’d recommend the Taylor Throating Reamer to those who have similar problems with their sixguns.  You can pick it up from Brownells.  And if you’ve got more than one sixgun, it comes out even cheaper per piece. 

The last month has been quite busy and I’ve simply not taken the time to post anything.  We’ve had plenty of guests and other activities to keep us busy.  I did manage a trip to the range when a family stopped in with us for the week.  When the lady found out I pack a pistol she almost had a conniption fit.  “Aren’t you SCARED?  That’s SO DANGEROUS!!!” After some discussion and explanation I finally convinced her to come up to the gun club with us.  So we packed up the van and both families and headed up to the range.  It was a great day, we had the place to ourselves.  I broke out the Crosman 1377 and the East German scoped kids’ air rifle.  One thing at a time, starting with a lecture on safety and proper gun handling.  Well, things went well.  The oldest girl hit well right off with the Crosman.  I was impressed.  We were shooting up close with only a couple pumps or so and she was hitting the quarter sized bullseye fairly frequently.  The son didn’t do that well.  The younger daughter did OK and we even got both dad and mom to shoot.  Dad had spent some time in the army and did OK.  Mom finally got over her nerves and gave it a try.

Then we moved on to the rifle.  The stock’s been cut off for kids which makes proper stock weld and such nearly impossible for an adult, but we still had fun.  They did better with the scope than with the open sights.  Everyone got a chance to try off hand, sitting braced against a stump and prone.  The mom only shot off hand and the dad shot offhand and prone.

Then I broke out the PPPPPP.    That’s the one that started the whole exercise when the mom found out about it.  Ammo’s scarce and expensive but I gave everyone who wanted to try a chance to fire two rounds.  Two rounds of 38 spl may not seem like much, but down here it’s a big deal.  Again, the older girl shot well.  Even with the lousy sights she managed a fairly tight group (can you call two rounds “a group”?) near the center of the target.  The younger girl managed to group both her shots just a half inch or two apart – on the top edge of the target paper.  I’m not sure what she was using for a sight picture but at least she was consistent!  The son again showed less aptitude with the short gun.  I don’t recall that the father shot the 38, but the mother did.  It took some talking and teasing but she finally consented.  One round and I couldn’t see where she hit (I’m guessing she under shot the target).  She was “happy” with her shot, she’d shot a “real gun” and that was plenty.  But some more joking around and she finally tried the second shot – and nailed the target near the center that time.

I don’t think I made shooters out of the family, but I know I DID give them a different perspective on firearms.  And the older girl had a REAL blast – posting pictures of herself shooting the Crosman on her facebook  profile upon her return home.  Sometimes all it takes is a bit of patience and careful instruction to turn a hostile audience into a more accepting one.  Later that afternoon we went up to some thermal springs with them.  There they ran into some folks they knew from “back home”.  And the formerly hostile to firearms mom told her friends about her trip to the range and “he was very insistent on safety and we had a good time.”

Also this year I’ve started messing around with airguns more.  The ‘net is full of modifications for the old Crosman 1377.  It was an eye opener to me when I started seeing all the things folks are doing with them.  My concern was to find a good rear sight to replace the cheesy plastic hunk of junk that comes on them from the factory.  WOW!  They offer steel breeches, modified valves, metallic pistons, fancy grips, rifle stocks (tubular, skeleton, thumb hole, ambidextrous, you name it), muzzle brakes, barrel bands, extended probe bolts and who knows what all else.  It would be easy to drop several hundred dollars to “trick out” the old Crosman.  Well, I ain’t got that kind of money so I won’t be doing it, but perhaps I can pick up a couple of parts while up north and make the Crosman a bit more user friendly.

Also, I got out the old Daisy 120 rifle that’s been quietly rusting in the closet.  One of the kids lost the rear action screw years ago and also the rear sight disintegrated.  Plastic is NOT a good choice for making certain parts of firearms (or ANY parts for the most part).  Rummaging around in the parts bins I found a nut and bolt that would work and the action is now once more fixed in the stock.  The chinese “Dremel” came out with a cut off wheel and the screw stud for the rear sight came right off.  Then an old Daisy 880 I picked up for parts at a (rare) Colombian yard sale got stripped down.  The pumping mechanism is mostly absent.  The barrel is a rifled brass tube held inside the sheet metal barrel shroud via the front sight and a clamp on power plant.  Hmmm…. I wonder if I could set that up to free float with a metal breech on the Crosman?  Time will tell… in the meantime I pulled the rear sight off and measured it up against the 120.  Two wide to fit in the groove.  Out comes the chinese “Dremel” again with the cutoff wheel.  The sight gets stuck in the little vise I finally picked up and work commences… after grooving one side and starting on the other the battery ran down.    Out comes the hacksaw – it hangs up on the tough steel and narrow kerf from the “Dremel”  After some maneuvering around the little ears finally got removed and the edges filed down smooth.  Thank God for access to a vise to hold it still for filing.  The old 880 sight is now almost affixed to the 120 via a cannibalized screw from the 880.  It’s not quite right but shows some promise – now to find a screw that will work, or I’ll just have to tap the hole out to a larger size – if I can find a larger sized screw.

Well, I’ve rambled enough for today.  I’d better get busy and get some things done ’round the office and house.  I put out some notices that I’m looking for Crosman “parts guns” on a couple of forums.  It’d be cool if I could find a couple to play with and bring back with me next month.  I’m officially intrigued with the whole Crosman 22XX and 13XX series of pistols.

The piece below was written as a “birthday post”. The idea of a “Birthday Post” was started by fellow Pistol Packing Preacher Charles Graff. In years past Charles would post a controversial subject, attacking some “holy cow” of the shooting sports in a well thought out manner. People would rise to the bait and the dust and fur would fly. Then he’d own up as to how it was his birthday and folks would realize they’d been had. Over the years others have attempted to follow his example, but few have shown his skill. Some would merely say something like “Hillary Clinton’s right. I’m going to destroy all my guns” or some other such transparent effort. As I type this it is the day before my 42nd birthday. I’ve been cogitating on what kind of post to put up for 364 days. Over the past week I’ve put some more thought into the matter and finally decided to “go for it”. I’m guessing that the post below will generate some heat from certain quarters – or it could actually get ignored. Only time will tell. My question at this moment is, “Do the guys know me well enough to realize it’s a joke?” Surely by now SOMEONE realizes I’ve got an extremely weird sense of humor. We shall see what we shall see, as the butler said when he looked through the keyhole.

And, furthermore, to show that I’m not a completely insensitive person, I DIDN”T post the original 2007 birthday post on the forum. First I asked a fellow conspirator and radical thinker about it. Well, ok, the posting won’t occur there. Instead, I put up the first piece which is immediately below this. It’s more of a general “birthday post” instead of the pot stirring one I’d typed up yesterday.

All the recent talk about flat guns has put me to cogitatin’ a bit about them. I know that Jeff Cooper was a real proponent of the bottom feeding 1911 family of firearms, but for serious, dependable, defensive work, the semi automatic just doesn’t cut it.The semiautomatic is plagued by a host of weak points which can cause problems when it is called upon to defend one’s life. The weakening of springs in the magazine lead to failures to feed and/or eject (depending on design), the easily deformed magazine lips which also provide feeding problems, the strength (or lack thereof) of the recoil spring which can cause problems for proper feeding, not to mention the need to run pretty much full bore ammunition through them to ensure that the slide will reciprocate properly, all are inherent design flaws.

For defensive use you need a gun that’s likely to go “BANG!” each and every time you pull the trigger. If you get a dud while shooting a semiauto, you need need both hands to run the clearance drill prior to continuing with what you were doing. On the range this is an inconvenience – in a firefight it can get you killed. Yes, you can learn to grasp the slide between your knees or use other means to clear a dud or other failure to function, but most of the procedures to do so are not very safe to execute, unfortunate word there, execute…

Yes, I’ve owned (still do) and carried semi automatic pistols – back in my wet ears years. In a 22 for plinking they are a blast and the jams and malfunctions are not too much of a hassle since they’re almost invariably used on the range and not in defensive situations. But for pure reliability? A good revolver will out shine any semi automatic in that department. You can load anything from wax bullet to full bore hunting loads and they’ll keep on tickin’ – with no fussing around with finicky springs, barrel ramps and other such nonsense. You can load any kind of bullet profile from round ball to full wadcutter to jacketed hollow points to shot loads – and it will feed and fire them all.

I know there’s no way some of you will give up your slide action flatguns, and that’s OK. But you really should consider the danger you expose yourself to by relying on them for defensive work. I guess the best way to sum it up is: “I sure hope you never have to bet your life on one.”

The original “2007 Birthday Post” can be found in the complete article.

Thanks to Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged for the link to the Dissident Frogman’s post about the recent blunder by the AFP in which they showed  two cartridges in the hand of an old woman that purportedly were “bullets” fired at her house by US forces.  If you take a look at the Dissident Frogman’s video you will see a well executed educational video designed to demonstrate the difference between a CARTRIDGE (shown in the AFP’s picture) and a BULLET (what would have struck the house of the woman if indeed US forces HAD fired at her).  The only piece missing from the Dissident Frogman’s video is an actual, fired bullet to demonstrate exactly WHAT should have been shown if they wanted to fake the scenario in a reasonably credible way.  Wait!  Perhaps there’s a reason!  Perhaps the Dissident Frogman desires to entrap the AFP into faking another such picture, this time showing the empty cartridge cases and claiming that THESE are the “BULLETS” that hit the house!  THAT would be just TOO hilarious!