Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
6/06/2013
D-Day + 25,202
More than 25,000 days ago Soldiers and Sailors from the Allied nations went ashore at Normandy, France. Embarking on a quest to rid the world of a new tyranny. The history is well written about this day sixty-nine years ago. However, to those that died that day and the many after it, the war didn't end with a win. They never got to see with their own eyes the victory that their blood paid for. Let us not forget those honorable dead that remain forever young. Thank you brave souls, your sacrifice was not in vain.
7/04/2012
Happy Independence Day.
Sitting here at work, watching some fireworks a bit off to the east of me. Added effect of them going off next to a spectacularly large appearing Luna that just cleared the trees. Double special bonus of The Star Spangled Banner playing somewhere inside my head. Enjoy.
6/06/2012
5/28/2012
Memorial Day 2012
Hope everyone enjoys their day off work and spending time with family and friends around some good food and good fun. But. Never forget what it has cost us to obtain this freedom we enjoy.
3/02/2012
Well yeah.
Just found out that the douchebag that my ex-gf left me to go back to, is back in jail....again.
This is my shocked face:
This is my shocked face:
My friend told me earlier tonight like it was gonna be a surprise...all I could do was laugh. We both called that one awhile back, and that's her brother we're laughing at. Karma is a real bitch sometimes.
12/31/2011
Still breathing.
Well a lot has happened since my last post. The day before I made it I met a woman, after some time I fell in love with her and her two kids. She broke up with me on Christmas day to go back to the same guy that has treated her like crap for nearly 5 years but she keeps going back. I found this out a couple days later from a mutual friend. So don't expect too much out of me for right now. I know for New Year last time I said I would try to post more but life interceded. I don't think I'll make any promises this time.
11/11/2011
8/20/2011
How I started.
Thought I had told this story awhile ago but it seems that it was one of the things I overlooked. But.
My first firearm was a Savage-Stevens model 73Y and it was a fine shooting little rifle. My dad gave it to me the Christmas after I turned 11 if I recall correctly. Well technically my first firearm was a Daisy Red Rider BB gun but as it was powered by a piston and spring to fire the little zinc balls of fun and mayhem it isn't relevant to this discussion. Anyway, after receiving said .22 I looked upon it as my duty to do everything in my power to see to it the population of squirrel, rabbit, and empty soda cans was drastically reduced in my immediate area (anything up to and including 2 sq miles). Furthermore every opportunity I could get I would drag mom or some other adult out into the woods for me to ply my trade (read: mayhem and destruction) against the invading squirrel armies. The majority of my time with that rifle though was spent on turning boxes upon boxes of little .22 shorts into smoke and noise (or at least a barely audible sharp pop and a puff of burnt powder) and reducing previously mentioned empty soda cans into so much shredded aluminium (IE. thousands of rounds and nearly as many cans). One thing I have missed over the years since, is that rifle and my ability to shoot as well as I did nearly 20 years ago. As with much in my life I seem to have issues with my genes and since about Jr High I haven't had the eyesight I used to. What with everything fuzzy at a distance much over 50 yds while I'm trying to use iron sights. I figure my days of firing off a plated .22 short with the sun at my back and watching it zing a hundred yards downrange and hit a soda can are behind me. At least without the now common scopes that are currently attached to all of my rifles. Hopefully I'll be able to recall some more details of the many adventures that little rifle and I went on to regale y'all with at a later date.
My first firearm was a Savage-Stevens model 73Y and it was a fine shooting little rifle. My dad gave it to me the Christmas after I turned 11 if I recall correctly. Well technically my first firearm was a Daisy Red Rider BB gun but as it was powered by a piston and spring to fire the little zinc balls of fun and mayhem it isn't relevant to this discussion. Anyway, after receiving said .22 I looked upon it as my duty to do everything in my power to see to it the population of squirrel, rabbit, and empty soda cans was drastically reduced in my immediate area (anything up to and including 2 sq miles). Furthermore every opportunity I could get I would drag mom or some other adult out into the woods for me to ply my trade (read: mayhem and destruction) against the invading squirrel armies. The majority of my time with that rifle though was spent on turning boxes upon boxes of little .22 shorts into smoke and noise (or at least a barely audible sharp pop and a puff of burnt powder) and reducing previously mentioned empty soda cans into so much shredded aluminium (IE. thousands of rounds and nearly as many cans). One thing I have missed over the years since, is that rifle and my ability to shoot as well as I did nearly 20 years ago. As with much in my life I seem to have issues with my genes and since about Jr High I haven't had the eyesight I used to. What with everything fuzzy at a distance much over 50 yds while I'm trying to use iron sights. I figure my days of firing off a plated .22 short with the sun at my back and watching it zing a hundred yards downrange and hit a soda can are behind me. At least without the now common scopes that are currently attached to all of my rifles. Hopefully I'll be able to recall some more details of the many adventures that little rifle and I went on to regale y'all with at a later date.
7/01/2011
5/30/2011
Memorial Day.
The flag still flies high for freedom, thanks to the fallen.
"All gave some, some gave all."
free gifs from http://www.fastrackonline.net
5/07/2011
Finally found it.
Video of the Medal of Valor award ceremony for Missouri Officers. The reason I post this is because Sgt. Ball of the Dent Co. Sheriff's Office is a friend of mine. He was also the assistant instructor at my CCW class. He told me and several others about the ceremony and the story behind his receipt of the medal not long ago and I've been looking for some footage ever since. I couldn't be more proud of him and the other officers on that stage. Some of them have truly harrowing stories they shared with him.
1/01/2011
Happy New Year.
12/13/2010
One Year Old.
One year ago tomorrow (trying to stay ahead of the curve) I fired up my little corner of the internetz. 90 posts (counting this one), almost 4,000 views (half of 'em mine), 101 comments (also about half mine). In that time I added 4 new guns to the armory, lost a close family member, had some stumbles of my own and generally lived my boring ol' life as well as time, money, and various 'n' sundry other things allowed.
I figured on one post a week when I got going but this happened to be a good year for fodder. What with a moron in the White House and about 99.9999999999% of Congress added to that, they were bound to shake a few words out of me. This is also not counting the random stupid/funny/etc. that you can run across when you have a lot of free time to peruse the web and have other more able bloggers to find what you miss and link it for your approval/derision or just fill you in on what's happening in their lives. I'm not a good writer as you can see, so getting me to commit felonious acts of literacy is a painfully slow process. I will try to do better next year, but no promises.
Here's looking forward to another 365 days with you crazy folks. I made a lot of new friends this year and I hope to add to that in the next 12 months.
I figured on one post a week when I got going but this happened to be a good year for fodder. What with a moron in the White House and about 99.9999999999% of Congress added to that, they were bound to shake a few words out of me. This is also not counting the random stupid/funny/etc. that you can run across when you have a lot of free time to peruse the web and have other more able bloggers to find what you miss and link it for your approval/derision or just fill you in on what's happening in their lives. I'm not a good writer as you can see, so getting me to commit felonious acts of literacy is a painfully slow process. I will try to do better next year, but no promises.
Here's looking forward to another 365 days with you crazy folks. I made a lot of new friends this year and I hope to add to that in the next 12 months.
11/11/2010
Eleventh Day of the Eleventh month.
"If you are reading this, thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, thank a Vet." - Unknown.
Have a happy Veterans Day everyone and seriously, Thank a Vet today.
Clipart courtesy of Karen's Whimsy
Have a happy Veterans Day everyone and seriously, Thank a Vet today.
9/11/2010
Remembrance and Anger.
I do remember. Nine years ago today I was laying on the couch watching TV on my day off, when the news came on that the World Trade Center was on fire. I heard the first reports that a plane had struck the building. I remember thinking at first that someone had seriously screwed up their calculations with regards to altitude and location and I wondered how someone could make such a huge error. Then the next reports chilled me to the bone and pissed me off...a second plane had struck the other tower. Further reports told of the Pentagon and I knew at that point it was no mere accident, it was an act of war. The next thought that ran through my mind was of all those young men I had met the year before, just before I was discharged from the Army. They would be among the first called upon to avenge this act, all that would be needed is a name and a place. All they needed was to know who they would have to kill or capture and they would go, most of them enthusiastically.
As more reports came in throughout the day everyone was scrambling to figure out who was behind this, some of us already had our suspicions, the same ones responsible in '93. No matter what anyone wants to believe the list of groups capable and willing to do something like this is very short, then and now. You can call it profiling if you want but the one thing I learned during my short time in the Army is that you must learn everything you can about your enemy, (armored units still study the tactics of Rommel in North Africa). Muslim extremists have proven before they care nothing for anyone, not even themselves as long as they can kill innocent people, for what? to prove a point? I'm sorry but that isn't the way you prove a point. You want to fight? Then do so, face to face, man to man, as it should be. Although that would be expecting too much from a group of cowards that wouldn't stand a chance against some of our children, let alone the most deadly fighting forces on the planet.
For those that are about my age, we were just kids during the first attack, we were not expected to learn all we could about it and why it happened. I did some digging on my own, even at 12 years old you can learn a lot if you dig in the right spots and I understood then as I did nine years ago and still do now. This is an enemy that wants us all dead by any means available. Trying to appease them will only get you dead quicker, yet our leaders seem to think that if you apologize enough the problem will go away. It won't. Terrorism is a disease and the only cure is to wipe it from the face of the Earth at the point of a sword, or a bullet, whichever we happen to have available at the time.
As more reports came in throughout the day everyone was scrambling to figure out who was behind this, some of us already had our suspicions, the same ones responsible in '93. No matter what anyone wants to believe the list of groups capable and willing to do something like this is very short, then and now. You can call it profiling if you want but the one thing I learned during my short time in the Army is that you must learn everything you can about your enemy, (armored units still study the tactics of Rommel in North Africa). Muslim extremists have proven before they care nothing for anyone, not even themselves as long as they can kill innocent people, for what? to prove a point? I'm sorry but that isn't the way you prove a point. You want to fight? Then do so, face to face, man to man, as it should be. Although that would be expecting too much from a group of cowards that wouldn't stand a chance against some of our children, let alone the most deadly fighting forces on the planet.
For those that are about my age, we were just kids during the first attack, we were not expected to learn all we could about it and why it happened. I did some digging on my own, even at 12 years old you can learn a lot if you dig in the right spots and I understood then as I did nine years ago and still do now. This is an enemy that wants us all dead by any means available. Trying to appease them will only get you dead quicker, yet our leaders seem to think that if you apologize enough the problem will go away. It won't. Terrorism is a disease and the only cure is to wipe it from the face of the Earth at the point of a sword, or a bullet, whichever we happen to have available at the time.
5/05/2010
They just don't make em like they used to.
Well I just finished cleaning my late Grandpa's old .22. It still functioned flawlessly but here's the kicker, it had 40+ years worth of residue built up in the action. I was sweeping chunks of that stuff out of the action and off the working bits (was waiting for Jimmy Hoffa to come rolling out,) yet the dang thing still shot better than a lot of newer .22 LR's I've seen and I'd like to see a lot of newer rifles function at all with that much crud in them.
It's not special in any way other than it was Grandpa's rifle. Other than that it's just an old Western Auto Supply Revelation 120 made by Marlin, more or less the same in action to the model 60 but externally it looks a lot like the old model 99's.
But...time for a memory.
I do have a bit of a statement to make though to start. Any person who thinks you can't kill a turkey with a .22LR from over 200 yds away with iron sights, all I have to say is "you're a liar" and you can quote me on that. I know cause I was standing next to Grandpa when he shot it and I'm the one that walked across the field to retrieve it, 2 shots 2 lethal hits, one through the neck and one through the head, with this very rifle. Granted he had a lot of practice hitting what he was aiming at, that's the way he grew up. You went out with so many rounds of ammo and you either came back with that much game or the difference in game and ammo, you didn't waste bullets plain and simple and if you missed, well, the extra chores would teach ya not to.
UPDATE: After talking with my dad I found out exactly how old this rifle is. Grandpa bought it new from Western Auto when dad was about 5 so it's about 50 years old now and Grandpa paid the sum total of about $30 for it, that's gonna be another family heirloom just like the old single-shot 12ga.
UPDATE 2: A link for some history on the models.
It's not special in any way other than it was Grandpa's rifle. Other than that it's just an old Western Auto Supply Revelation 120 made by Marlin, more or less the same in action to the model 60 but externally it looks a lot like the old model 99's.
But...time for a memory.
I do have a bit of a statement to make though to start. Any person who thinks you can't kill a turkey with a .22LR from over 200 yds away with iron sights, all I have to say is "you're a liar" and you can quote me on that. I know cause I was standing next to Grandpa when he shot it and I'm the one that walked across the field to retrieve it, 2 shots 2 lethal hits, one through the neck and one through the head, with this very rifle. Granted he had a lot of practice hitting what he was aiming at, that's the way he grew up. You went out with so many rounds of ammo and you either came back with that much game or the difference in game and ammo, you didn't waste bullets plain and simple and if you missed, well, the extra chores would teach ya not to.
UPDATE: After talking with my dad I found out exactly how old this rifle is. Grandpa bought it new from Western Auto when dad was about 5 so it's about 50 years old now and Grandpa paid the sum total of about $30 for it, that's gonna be another family heirloom just like the old single-shot 12ga.
UPDATE 2: A link for some history on the models.
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