Coming together...

The shop is starting to come together. Made some compromises with my wife, so its going to be storing a few more things than I had originally envisioned. There's a huge pile of crap off picture to the left that still needs to be addressed, and it's no garage-mahal, but I'm happy with the progress so far...

Range Day!!

WooHoo! Finally had a break from all the round-the-house stuff we're (almost) done with, and as Momma took My Little Princess to a birthday party, I decided to take Number One Son to the range.
I took my Neos (that I still hadn't shot yet!), my CZ452 that my wonderful wife got me for Xmas and the trusty Ruger 10/22.
Number One Son brought his wee Savage.
My CZ is chambered in .17HMR, and this was the first time I've ever shot that round. There is literally no drop over 200 yards with this round, quite unlike the 22LR. I was able to plink the 200 yard gong without aiming high. Excellent!
For precision, this rifle has got to be one of the best I have. Definitely going to be a regular range companion, I think...
Here's some of our results...

Number One Son's groupings at 50 yards over open sights with the Savage. He's got the makings of becoming a way better marksman than his dad, I think. I think I was more excited than he was whenever he hit the "green"...

My best group with the CZ at 50 yards, over open sights. I'm really happy with this - this is comparable to my using the scoped 10/22.

As for the Neos, well that turned out to be so much fun that we blew through an entire brick of Remington Thunderbolts before we knew it. Five hundred rounds, yo!

Most fun I've had in a long time, and aside from the 17HMR ammo, pretty frikken cheap...

Milestones...

You know you're getting old when your 8 year old boy, in the course of cleaning out "his" part of the garage, comes to you with a cassette tape and asks "What is this thing?"
Gah! Has it really been that long?

California's Lead Ammo Ban

Was signed into law by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California Fiah and Game Commission took that law and RAN with it, expanding the ban to include ALL ammo, not just centerfire ammo in the range of the California Condor. This brave new law takes effect July 1st of this year.
Check out their helpful FAQ sheet.
How very kind of them to acknowledge that nobody currently manufactures non-lead ammo in 22LR!
"So if you live in the range of the Condor, and you have ground squirrels tearing up your land and leaving holes for your livestock to break their legs in, tough shit. The Condor's more important. Unless you want to change to a caliber that does offer lead free ammo. Sorry about the expense there - there was going to be an ammo voucher program, but it wasn't funded. Now piss off and don't bother us anymore, peasant."

Citizenship...

Pending.
Had my interview today, and it pretty much reaffirmed my feelings about interacting with government officials. Necessary, sometimes; unpleasant, most of the time.
They cannot make a decision about my case yet because I need to send in additional certified paperwork.
I'm feeling sick, because I'm pretty sure that what they're requesting does not exist.
I have thirty days to get it to them.

St Paddy's Day

...Intercepted (well, forwarded) email exchange...

LT: Funny Julie story..... Julie was so proud that she made corned beef and cabbage for her kids.... then she had to make them eat it.
They said it stunk but tasted good..... she took photos of them holding their noses!
When Julie got to work this morning.. Susie our old boss said how she always moves things around in her house and hides gold coins for her kids to find... because the leprechaun visits while they are out!
Julie had a "I am not a great mom" moment! ME TOO!

ST: Whatever - stop thinking so much.
What the kids don’t know won’t hurt them. Kevin and Julie should have killed all the snakes around their property - St. Patrick got rid of the snakes.

Hafta say, this made me chuckle... and then start considering appropriate calibers for snake eradication. I have a box of 22LR shot shells that should do the job nicely, should such an occasion ever arise...

Fingers crossed...

Heller gets heard by the Supreme Court today...

UPDATE: I've been reading the live-blogging of the case as found on SCOTUSblog.
(H/T to Joe Huffman)
Best phrase yet:
Roberts asks: "What is reasonable about a total ban on possession?" (in response to Dellinger's comment about "reasonable restrictions").

Better than coffee...

Because of the way my day went yesterday, I had to get up this morning to come in to work and finish up one of the tests I'm working on. Since it looked like it was going to be a nice day, and I had no kids to pick up/ferry around afterwards, I decided to take the bike, which has been languishing under its cover in the shop since we moved in.
I pulled the cover off, put the keys in the ignition, pulled out the choke and went to start the bike. The starter button is by the right hand grip, and as I grabbed the grip, I saw movement.
The biggest, fattest, nastiest looking black widow with a huge bright hour-glass was suspended by its thread from the grip not four inches from my hand.
I hopped off that bike so fast it rocked, almost going over (a five hundred pound bike), frantically looking around for something to get the little bastard with. After a few seconds of my trying to grab it with my retractable-claw-tool-picker-upper-thingy, the spider dropped to the ground where it was introduced rather forcefully to the sole of my boot.
I don't care very much for spiders as a whole, but black widows really reach down into my reptile brain and yank on that fear-reflex pretty hard.
In this case, it jerked my groggy, sleep addled mind into full awareness instantly.
Fear beats coffee every time.

Movies

I don't get out to see movies all that much, since the kids can't and my wife won't watch the type of movies I enjoy (300 being a prime example), and to be honest, on those rare occasions when my wife and I do have some time together, I'd much rather go to dinner and then a bookstore.
What this boils down to is that when I see a trailer for a movie I think I'd like, I pretty much have to wait for it to come out on DVD, by which time I've usually forgotten that it was one I wanted to see.
One of my coworkers is an avid moviegoer with an extensive DVD collection and he has been kind enough to loan me the latest gory action flicks whenever they come out. I currently have five or six of his movies packed away in several random boxes throughout our house (to say our move was in any way orderly would be an outright lie) and I came across one last night at the perfect time... one kid was in karate, one was in dance with my wife. Sweet! I had a two hour window all to myself!
The movie I watched was Layer Cake, a British gangster movie with a lot of plots and stories woven together impacting the main protagonist (Daniel Craig, the new Bond). This was the first movie I had been able to see for weeks, if not months, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the characters were a little over the top, but fun to watch nonetheless. The "Duke's" girlfriend, especially, was a total caricature of your low-class, East-End chav tramp. Fantastic.
Sure, it's not going to win any Oscars (or didn't back in 04 when it came out) but I was enthralled for a good two hours.
Next up - "Shoot em up", whenever I can find another free time slot...

Another politician...

...With the soul of a weasel. It'd be tempting to be smug about this because of the (D) following his name, but there are plenty of guys with an (R) that are just as bad.
Personally, I don't think prostitution should be a crime, but right at this moment it is, and having made a career out of prosecuting such crimes, one would think Spitzer would have had more sense. Talk about being hoisted on your own petard.
By all accounts this guy is pretty arrogant, so maybe he felt that the laws he enforced just didn't apply to him... or maybe its just New York politics as usual.
I'm not very impressed by the "coming clean" press conference. We'd not be seeing it at all if he hadn't been caught - that's his only real regret. Dragging his wife out there for "support" turns my stomach - probably turns hers too, unless she's a complete doormat. Lady! Your guy's been banging hookers for who knows how long! What the hell are you doing standing by his side! He's made a complete mockery of his marriage, his family and his vows. That dude's word is WORTHLESS.

Pictures from the new kingdom...

I know its been a very long time since my last post, all I can say is that we've been really busy getting our stuff together. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, we still have a bunch to do but we're getting there. I thought I would share a few pictures of the new pad and its surrounds...


Our house from the street...
From the back... not very big, but there you go...
The shop behind the house - an additional 2-3 car garage... full of boxes right now.
The tractor that came with the property, for weed abatement in the area behind the yard - a 1946 Ford 2N, for those who are interested. I've already used it, although there is an electrical problem I haven't isolated yet.
The view looking West... the picture really doesn't do it justice.
The view looking South, early evening... that isn't snow on the distant mount range; it's fingers of fog creeping over the mountaintops into the valley -- it looked very cool as it was happening...
Long - ass driveway...

Spartacus, our mighty Rat Terrier, on our new tile...

That's all I got right now, but as things return to normalcy, I'll be posting more very soon...

Oh, and by the way....

Today is my blog's first birthday! Wow... I actually stuck with something for a whole year... sure, posting has been extremely light the last month or so, but once we're settled, I'm sure I'll find plenty to ramble about...

....And we're up!

Woohoo! Thanks to a snafu with Time Warner, my internet was shut off at the old casa on the 4th, and they weren't going to be able to hook up until the 20th. That was too long for me, so we went with ATT U-verse. Same speed, and its wireless, so I can have both our computers hooked up. I'm liking that.
We're still in the murky depths of move-in hell, having had new tile installed (last week), new carpet (yesterday) and painting every wall in the new place - still ongoing... we've gotten the kitchen, family room and most of the front room painted. Boxes everwhere, furniture everywhere, dogs and kids underfoot everywhere. Complete anarchy. I'm astounded by how much crap we have accumulated over the last 8 years. Getting there little by little. Every time I feel like this move is overwhelming me, I just have to look out the window to see the view. Yeah, it's worth it. No, won't be doing this again for a LONG time...

I have to say...

That I'm not overly ecstatic about my choices in the first presidential election that I may be permitted to vote in (if all goes well in March) - especially now that Romney has quit the race. I respect McCain's service and sacrifice, but his politics stink to high heaven.
As unpleasant as I find him, however, I'll vote for him if it means preventing another Clinton presidency...

Today's steal...

My boomstick collection has outgrown my safe, so I've been thinking of getting one of those $150 cabinets since I can't really spring for another safe right now, what with the way my cash is hemorraging because of the move/remodeling etc...

Well, this morning on Craigs List, I found a decorative cabinet there that was going for $50... gave the guy a call and drove out to check it out (he's about 60 miles from the valley, a 60 mile gauntlet that contains some of the worst traffic on the planet). I liked it, so I bought it. It shall be a nice home for my prettier guns. Not nearly as secure as a safe, of course, but kid-proof with the locks, plus I like the idea of having a display, even though it's gone out of style somewhat...

Here's my new acquisition:

Circling the bowl

While reading Kim Du Toit's site this morning, I came across this story. Sadly, I'm seeing more and more such tragedies in my old home. The newer "chav" culture is a symptom of Britain's decline, and I honestly have no desire to return - not even to present my wife and children to my wider family there whom they've never met. Murders in the UK were a rarity in my youth, and every one made national news. Now death by beat-down seems so commonplace as to scarcely warrant attention. This man was beaten to death in front of his family, and I can't imagine a more traumatic event for a young child. The barbarians aren't at the gates; they're already inside, and an indifferent, incompetent government/law system means there will only be more such victims.
When your government will not only not protect its citizens, but actively forbids them from protecting themselves, this is what happens.
I count myself lucky to have left when I did.

Citizenship....

This past Saturday, I received a letter from the INS (or its current incarnation, ICE) informing me that I have an interview scheduled on March 25th. I applied for citizenship back here... it's been almost a year, but I heard that there was a big increase in applications at the time because of the looming fee increase...
This is literally the most important interview of my life thus far. I can't think of anything I want more than to be counted as an American citizen, and if I blow it - I can't even contemplate that...
My parents told me that they were sworn in within 2 hours of their interview - would that it goes as smoothly for me! So, hopefully, all goes well on the big day and I don't blow it.
I'm pretty nervous about this. Wish me luck...

Moving

Well, its been a LONG time since last I posted.. many apologies. We've sold our house, and we closed on the new one last week. We've given the owner until the 31st to pack up and start his retirement in Havasu, and this coming up weekend we'll be tearing out the old tile and carpet, and painting the walls. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to watch the Superbowl. Next week we'll be having new tile installed, and sometime after that new carpet...
Things are going to be hectic for quite a while, as we pack our stuff/renovate/move etc...

Tennessee...

..Is where my kids and I find ourselves this week, staying with my sister and her family, and we'll be visiting with my parents in Georgia today. Unfortunately circumstances did not permit my wife to be here too.
I hadn't flown in a few years, and this was also my first time with Southwest Airlines too... since it's first come, first serve with the seating and I'm a chronically late individual, that meant I wasn't able to sit next to my kids on the first flight.
TSA was as pleasant, courteous and professional as I had heard about, which was not very...
Glad to be here though - it's good to see my family after so long (gotta be at least a couple of years).
This is their house in Harrison, TN, about 15 minutes outside of Chattanooga. A beautiful place, with about an acre of woodland for a backyard, way cheaper than it's equivalent in CA, and located in a Free State to boot.
More to come as time permits...

Happy New Year

Little bit late, but I've been fairly busy of late. This is sunset from the balcony of my wife's family's condo on Oceanside, taken New Year's Day... with our sweet new 8 megapixel Canon Powershot. Way better picture quality.
We had a nice relaxing New Years, although we didn't see the ball drop because we were playing the "Let's Make a Deal DVD game and got so wrapped up in it we lost track of time...