Ruger jumps on the AR bandwagon...

Imagine that...
The SR-556. Small print states that it may not be available in all states. That means no Ruger AR for you, California...
With an MSRP of $2K, I wouldn't be in the market for one anyway, I suppose.

In case you had any doubts...

...whether our elected representatives made staying in power a higher priority than principles, hopefully Senator Arlen Specter's behavior this week cleared that up for you.
Facing a trouncing in his upcoming Republican primary (judging by the polling data), Specter decided to switch his party affiliation to Democrat, mere weeks after affirming that he would stay Republican.
This man is obviously much less concerned about giving one party a filibuster-proof majority than he is about personally losing all (well, most; he still scores a lifetime retirement check for his "service") the perks associated with being a US senator.
Here's the money quote: "I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."
Get that, Pennsylvania Republicans? He doesn't answer to YOU, you filth. Who the hell do you think you are?

Another sign of the apocalypse...

Funny...yet sad... pretty much confirms my opinion of humanity as a whole...
I am so very thankful this technology was not available during my partying days...

Jackhammer Gardening

My friend and I dug four of these today, getting ready to plant some citrus trees. I started off the day renting a two-man auger, but it was useless - just bouncing around on top of the ground. We went back to Home Depot and traded it out for a jackhammer...

It did the trick, but man that's some work!

The holes are about 2-3 feet wide and 3 deep, and that white stuff you see in the picture is granite. Hopefully there will be enough drainage towards the front of the holes for the trees... guess we'll find out.

I'm going to bed now. I am very sore.

How was your Sunday?

Tea Party for lunch...

First. Protest. Evar!

My darling wife and I spent our lunch break today attending the Riverside, CA Tea Party. On the way in, I stopped by a store to grab my protest flag.

I was a little hesitant about this, figuring it might be just a half dozen or so folks, but I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout - I would say 100-150 people maybe.

The rally wound its way through downtown Riverside in a very orderly, civilized manner - staying on the sidewalks, obeying the traffic signs etc. There were no cops in attendance, with the exception of a couple of Sheriff's deputies who came out of the courthouse to see what was going on.

Everyone in the protest was very friendly - pretty low-key, not a lot of shouting or hectoring, just a bunch of people walking together,holding signs and chatting amiably. Quite a few made positive comments about our choice of banner.

There was one guy, out in the Farmer Boys parking lot, who asked with a sneer, "Aside from everything, what exactly is it you guys are protesting?", to which I replied "The size of government; the loss of liberty". Yeah, a big talker I am not...

Well, we did a circuit of downtown, and the march wasn't stopping. They continued on to do a second lap. Wifey and I looked at the watch, then at each other, and decided that we had to split. We had to go back to work - taxes to pay, y'know...

Want a copy of the Constitution?

You should look these guys up. I ordered 10, to give out to my friends/family. Just got them today. Single copies are free, multiple copies run you $10 for 10, $25 for 50. Pretty good bargain for some essential education...

Hmmm

The Joy of Sex is currently riding at number 69 on the Amazon bestseller list...

Puerile, I know...

Long time....

Well, I hope all y'all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - I know I did... although I spent the first few days of the year back in Georgia since my dad had been hospitalized. It was good to see my folks and my sister and her family, but I would have rather it had been under different circumstances.
My dad's home from the hospital now, but he'll be going back in for more surgery very soon I believe. Hopefully this time will be the last. Like my dad said to me, "It's a bugger getting old".

So, two days after I get back, my loving wife heads out to Miami for a week of seminars relating to work. Just me and the kids fending for ourselves right now... so far so good - have not yet had to resort to take-out...

The pimping of the Ruger continues apace... I topped it with a 8-32x44 AO scope, and this week installed a Power Custom hammer and sear kit to lighten up the trigger pull. Almost done, I think, with the exception of installing sling mounts on the stock - hopefully without jacking up that beautiful wood. Pictures to follow...

Obama

Judging by the Electoral College counts that I'm seeing on TV, McCain pretty much got his ass handed to him tonight. We've just witnessed a very powerful demand for a change in direction for this country, and to be honest, much more of a majority than I expected to see. The Democrats are poised, with the presidency and strong majorities in both houses, to pretty much do as they see fit with impunity for at least the next two years. Interesting times indeed.
I have to give it to the man - he is an incredible speaker. I can only hope that his talk of uniting the country and working together is not so much hot air, but I fear that there is really no incentive or need for him to do so with the mandate he's been handed.
The Democrats have the reins of power now. Whatever happens in the next couple of years will be entirely their responsibility - they will have to own it. I will pray that they use that power wisely.

Pimp my Ruger

Since that rifle match I took part in a few weeks back, I've been filled with a desire to "hop up" my plain-jane Ruger 10/22 in an attempt to coax possibly more accuracy out of it. So, patiently biding my time on several gun boards out there, I managed to pick up a clean laminated Fajen stock for $40 plus 100rds of 7.62X39 and a Green Mountain sporter barrel for $65 shipped.
Well.... the barrel came in Friday afternoon and I finally got an opportunity to make the switch today...
Before:

My bone-stock Ruger 10/22. Not much more to say, really...

15 minutes and one bottle of Hornsby's Crisp Apple Cider later:


I know the pictures suck - the lighting was suboptimal - but that stock is frikken beautiful.
Here's a close-up:


I am an absolute sucker for pretty furniture...
Here's a closer shot of the new barrel:

Now just to add a decent scope, take this bad boy down to the range and see if the setup will shoot as advertised...

I'm not down with that

As you all know, the election is coming up on Tuesday. Here in California, voters will also be asked to vote on several propositions on the ballot - an attempt at government by direct democracy rather than having the legislature do its job.
One such proposition is Proposition 8, which would change the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Since the courts here pretty much gave a green light to gay marriage, this is probably the last weapon in the arsenal of those who oppose gay marriage.
I have a huge problem with this.
My understanding is that a constitution is written up to limit the power of government.
What we have here is an attempt to amend a constitution to restrict the liberties of the people.
See the difference?
Whether you care for gays getting married or not, using a constitutional amendment as a bludgeon to smack down folks you do not agree with can NEVER be excused.
That way lies peril.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not come with an "only if you're straight" qualifier.
I am a married Christian man who finds the concept of attraction to a member of my own sex incomprehensible, but that gives me no right to use government to discriminate against homosexuals. They do me or mine no harm by existing, and they certainly do not violate the sanctity of my marriage. Given current divorce rates (especially amongst Christians!) us straights are doing that just fine all by ourselves.
As for it being taught in public schools, well there are choices - this is America, after all. We can send our kids to private school, or even home school them ourselves if we dislike the curriculum enough. Better yet, as parents, since we are the primary influence in our kids' lives,we can teach our children and show by example ourselves the life lessons we want them to learn.
You may not agree with the homosexual lifestyle. You may not like it. You may even hate it. What you must do though, is think very carefully about using the power of the government to restrict the liberties of a particular group in our society, if only because the next one up on the block might be yours.

Pomegranate baseball

....sounds like fun, don't it?

Well, there was a series of poor choices made yesterday afternoon...

Number one, probably the worst; I decided that I could trust my kids and their buddy to get on with their homework unattended while I took care of some stuff online (OK I was surfing...)
Not so. Bad dad.

Number two; my kids opted for play first, THEN homework... they know better than this, or at least I thought they did...

Number three; my kids hopped the fence to our next-door neighbor's yard to take some pomegranates from their tree (my neighbor's moved out and the house is vacant at present, and they had told us to feel free to come over and take whatever fruit we wanted - they have a lot of fruit trees - however, I don't want my kids going over there without a grown-up, something that I hope now is VERY clear).

Number four; since they couldn't find a baseball, the kids decided that these round, red, somewhat OVERRIPE fruits that they had just taken from next door would make an excellent substitute. That's right; batting practice in my backyard with pomegranates. Notice the plural - pomegranates do not survive more than one contact with a baseball bat, so yes, they used multiple pomegranates...

Last night, right before we were to leave for football practice, my daughter's conscience got the better of her and she spilled the beans. I walked up the drive into the back, surveyed the carnage, and told them to pick up the larger pieces... in a rather large OUTDOOR voice... since we were pressed for time, I left it at that for the time being.

Tonight, before they get to do anything fun, EVERY LAST SEED shall be removed from my backyard...

And yes, it was quite hard to keep a straight face throughout. I was a kid myself too, once...

This one time - in deer camp...

Deer season opened up October 4th this year in the zone we like to hunt, which is X1, all the way up in Siskiyou County by Mt Shasta. I got to work on Friday the 3rd at 6am, got off at 3, got my crap together and headed upstate.
13 hours and 720 miles later I pulled into camp right at 6am where my buddies (who had come up the day before) were getting ready to go out. I had just enough time to change into some warmer clothes and grab my .308.
Saturday rained all day, so we spent a lot of time in my friend's truck, just cruising the lonely dirt roads way back in the forest. Saw plenty of does and fawns, but no legal bucks.
The next few days the weather cleared up so we could break out the ATVs and the Rhino - much fun!
I stayed till Tuesday, but struck out as far as deer are concerned. No matter - the Shasta-Trinity forest is incredibly beautiful and the company was great. I heartily enjoy my forays into California's northern forests, and look forward to these trips every year.
The highlight of my trip...
My friend Shane and I were walking along a remote road, looking for sign of deer. I was ahead, looking into the trees on our left, when Shane let out with:"Bear!"
Since this guy is a jokester, I turned back towards him to say something like "Yeah, very funny," when he pointed past me with a stricken look on his face.
Sure enough, there was a middlin' sized Black Bear ambling down the road towards us about 80 yards distant. The bear turned into the trees on our right, still ambling along at an easy pace, until he drew about even with us. Finally he caught sight of us and took off running. You don't see that every day, at least not down here in the brown valley...
OK - some pics...

A gap in the forest from up high - the trees go for miles and miles. Fantastic. I think this was Saturday, because it looks a bit gloomy.

Mt Shasta through the trees. You have this vast green carpet of trees with a stark white cone sticking up out of the middle of it all. There's snow on there year round, I believe.
Some of the "ATV militia" on the prowl...
Motor pool back at camp...

Dew-dusted trees...

Mt Shasta from the McCloud gas station on the way back home...

There's a first time for everything...

...and yesterday was my very first rifle match... ever!
It was a .22LR precision/tactical rifle match and 16 guys showed up for it - $25 a head.
I showed up with my Savage boltie, decked out with a wee Barska 3-9x32 scope and a bipod. My friend and I got there early and took a few minutes siting our rifles in @ 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards. Once the rest of the guys showed up, my little $120 Savage was looking pretty outmatched by all the custom 10/22s, Anschutz rifles and what-have-you on the rack. It was pretty intimidating. I turned to my friend and said "OK, I guess I just have to beat you" - he had brought a rig not much more decked out than mine - tube fed, no less...
The competition was in 9 stages, several prone at varying ranges - 75 yards, 100, 150 and one at a "mystery range" which some dude measured with his laser rangefinder at about 115 yards. The 4" target at 150 yards was so small I couldn't make out the numbers on them, and had to ask my friend which one was mine...
We then had a stage where you put your rifle in the rangemaster's shed and stepped back about 10 yards. You had 60 seconds to dash in, load 3 rounds into your rifle and aim out the window at a 4" steel plate at 115 yards. First shot was worth 100pts, 2nd was 50 and the third was 25. I nailed it on my third shot, which I think was a complete fluke. That was a damn small target.
Next up was "the jungle", 5 posts setup along a dirt path with clay pigeons set up on them at varying ranges. We had 7 shots to take them down. A hit was not enough - you had to knock them off the posts. I got 4 with 6 and then when I lined up on number 5, my last round jammed in my action. The rangemaster called time as I was frantically trying to get it out...
The last few stages were prone at 25 yards (hit the fuse on the dynamite - a line about 1/4" wide), 50 yards (hit the bad guy behind the hostage - maybe 1X1.5") and then hit a 4" target with 5 rounds off hand.
At the end of the day, I came out in 11th place out of 16 - and I was stoked! I fully expected to come last, given my inexperience and lack of practice with this rifle/scope combo (about an hour at dusk on Wednesday) - my buddy came in at 9th place - he's very good at shooting offhand - that's pretty much the only way he shoots.
I had an excellent time, it was a nice group of guys and I'll definitely do it again - though next time I'll remember to bring a sling to steady myself with the offhand shooting. I'll need a fair bit more practice too I think. I'll probably get a better scope - one that I can at least see my targets with!
Oh yeah, my friend and I were using bulk ammo, too...
Savage .22LR boltie rifle - $120
Barska 3-9x32 scope - $40
Walmart 9-13 inch adjustable bipod - $40

Not coming in last - priceless!

Good times...

On a side note...

...I saw that my Rams got absolutely destroyed by the Eagles, 38-3. I mean, really! That's like a frikken college score! Sigh. Looks like its going to be another tough year for us Rams fans...

Panthers!

We just got back from the Chargers-Panthers game in San Diego, and I'm beat. We got out there by 8am this morning for the tailgating - something I've never done before, and that was a lot of fun, although Number One Son and I took a little ribbing for our Panthers attire.
Good food all around, plenty of beers and great company. Couldn't have asked for more.
The game itself was close - the Chargers defense kept the Panthers offense from scoring anything but field goals for all but the last play. If you didn't catch the game on TV or the highlights, let me just tell you it was a dramatic ending. The Panthers had led most of the game but the Chargers came back in the 4th with a TD that gave them a 5 point lead, with a little over 2 minutes on the clock. The Panthers had 1 time out (as well as the 2 minute warning).
The Panthers drove down the field, pass play after pass play and got inside the Chargers 20 with 6 seconds left. Delhomme (Panthers QB) tossed a pass - it was completed, but not close enough for the score. They frantically called a timeout - 2 seconds left. One more play - pass again, straight down the middle into the end zone for the TD. The entire stadium went silent - except for Number One Son and me, who were screaming our heads off...
I have pictures to upload, but I'll have to do that tomorrow, since, like a bonehead, I left my camera (and a bunch of other stuff) in my buddies car.

First "gun" purchase this year....

Funds have been pretty tight this year since we moved into the new house, so I haven't been going too crazy on the gun front lately - to be honest, I pretty much have all the guns I want for the foreseeable future anyways (gasp!)... with the exception of maybe an M1A, which isn't going to happen anytime soon...
What I did get a few days ago was the first air rifle I've owned since I was a kid - a scoped Gamo Big Cat, something I can legally plink away with in my back yard. Man, I'd forgotten how much fun these things are! Packs enough punch to take out small game too, supposedly, although I haven't tried it out in that regard yet.

Home-brewed bench rest

A buddy of mine at work is an avid shooter - he's quite the rim fire fanatic - and the last time I went shooting with him, he whipped out a bench rest that he'd put together (he's pretty handy with a welder, which is a huge deficiency in my own skill-set).
I liked it so much, I asked him if he would make me one too, and he very kindly did - just charged me for the materials.
So, a couple of weeks and $45 later, I got to take this home:



I still need to buy the padding for the rests, but I think he did a great job putting this together - real clean welds, everything moves as it should, heck even the paint color is nice...

Game On!

Woohoo! NFL season starts tonight! The Giants are currently beating on the Redskins... Can't wait until this Sunday, because I'll be taking Number One Son to San Diego to see his Panthers take on the Chargers. Ahhh, football season!

Sasha...

Is the name we've finally decided on....
She's changed quite a bit in the last three weeks...
She's got that whole "one up, one down" ear thing going on, exponentially adding to the cuteness factor...
You can't see too well in the picture, but because of her pigmentation, one side of her whiskers is white, and the other is black...