The Replica Prop Forum

The Replica Prop Forum
Very cool site I am also a member of

Monday, June 30, 2014

Very interesting



For years I have been wanting a small airplane just big enough for me and a couple of my dogs.  with STOL capability and folding wings for easy transporting.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll get it.

Billy Johnson - Amidst The Noise - Santa Barbara Stabber


Sunday, June 29, 2014

Ian at Forgotten Weapons on the 91/30 PU Sniper Rifles




The Soviet Union produced more sniper rifles during WWII than any other country, and was one of very few to have a well-developed sniper program in place before the war began. Starting in the early 1930s, they developed a sniper variant of the standard M91/30 infantry rifle, with technical assistance from Germany (of all places). The early (PE) scopes had adjustable focus and 4x magnification, with a relatively large objective lens. Experience in the Spanish Civil War exposed a weakness in the adjustable focus ring of these scopes, and they were replaced by a new PEM version without that feature. By 1940, the plan was to replace the 91/30 with the new SVT-40 as the standard sniper's rifle. This plan fell apart when the SVT rifles proved to be inferior in accuracy to the Mosins, and not capable of meeting the requirements for snipers.

In a scramble for a new solution, it as decided to just mount the PU scope onto 91/30 rifles. The PU had been designed for the SVT, as the older PEM scopes were too large to effectively mount on the Tokarev rifle. The PU was smaller, lighter, simpler, and cheaper to manufacture, and it made good sense to make use of the development work put into them. They has a smaller field of view and slightly reduced 3.5x magnification - a very pragmatic choice for a country that needed to mass produce weapons in wartime conditions. Starting in 1942, the 91/30 PU sniper rifles began flooding out of Russian factories - by the time major production ended in 1945 hundreds of thousands had been made.

The 91/30 PU was given better fit and finish than the typical 91/30 rifles produced during the war, but they are still rather cruder than the typical Western idea of the custom-made and hand-polished masterpiece sniper's weapon. These were practical tools, and their design reflects that. Cheek welds in particular are difficult to maintain, because the comb is designed for the iron sights and no riser was provided to make up for the height of the scope. I don't find the stock particularly ergonomic, and the triggers are not particular outstanding. On the other hand, they can survive plenty of rough handling.

Finding an original Russia PU sniper is difficult today - there are plenty of them out there, but they are hugely outnumbered by fakes. Because of the simplicity of the PU sniper and the price differential between stock rifles and snipers, a whole niche industry has developed in making them. There are new production mounts and scopes being made, and mounted to all sorts of 91/30 rifles. You may find all types of combinations of infantry rifles and ex-snipers (many PU snipers were torn down and returned to infantry configuration by the Red Army after the war), original and reproduction mounts, and original and reproduction scopes. It really take a lot of experience to distinguish the true originals, and I don't have enough experience to write a thorough article on that (yet). However, determining the validity of the rifle itself is a bit simpler than the scopes and mounts, so here are a couple starting guidelines: Any PU dated 1941 or earlier is fake. Also, any 91/30 PU with a hex receiver. Any Century import with a new serial number beginning with 9130S is a reproduction. They are real Russian 91/30s, but not originally snipers. A sniper made by Tula (star with an arrow in it) will have a cyrillic "СП" marking above the arsenal mark, indicating a sniper. Real ones without this mark do exist, but are very rare. A sniper made by Ishevsk will have the scope serial number marked on the left side of the receiver. If there is such a number crossed out without a new one added, it means the rifle started out as a sniper, but was decommissioned by the military (ie, an "ex-sniper"). If it has a scope on it now, it was assembled a commercial seller at some point.

That being said, a reproduction 91/30PU can be a great way to get into the sniper rifle field, as long as you understand what you are getting. They are far less expensive than any type of authentic WWII sniper's rifle, but will still give you close to the same performance as the originals, if you get a good one.

Global Warmening and the Sea Ice Measurement

"The sea ice surrounding Antarctica, which, as I reported in my book, has been steadily increasing throughout the period of satellite measurement that began in 1979, has hit a new all-time record high for areal coverage.

The new record anomaly for Southern Hemisphere sea ice, the ice encircling the southernmost continent, is 2.074 million square kilometers and was posted for the first time by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s The Cryosphere Today early Sunday morning."



Comment: Just a brief reminder about the polarizing lens on the orbiting satellite. Before 2008 the Arctic ice extent charts showed an upwards bump on 1 July when the polarizing lenses were switched from Antarctic to Arctic mode — this was so that Arctic melt ponds would not be interpreted as open water. The reverse switch was on 1 January so was not evident on the charts because it was at the edge. Anyway, people complained about the bump so they decided to “improve” the chart by gradually turning the polarizing lens. This rapidly became carte blanche for turning the lens any way they wanted, and accounts for much of the symmetry seen nowadays — when the Arctic ice anomaly rises, the Antarctic anomaly falls, and so on. Today we see the Antarctic ice anomaly rising to record levels even as the Arctic ice anomaly is oddly dropping even as the ice edge is strong — this is because the Arctic ice concentration has dropped to about 75% – 80% all across the ice cap — because the melt ponds are all being interpreted as open water (see the washed out orange color on the ice concentration map). It’s just that they’ve (presumably) turned that polarizing lens all the way into Antarctic mode to report as low an Arctic ice area as possible– which thus causes the reported Antarctic ice extent to skyrocket.

This account is my interpretation of what is happening, as it is consistent with the past few years of sea ice data. What’s needed is someone in the satellite data area to come forth and tell the reality.


Comment: Why are temperatures not a good gauge of global warming or cooling for the layman? The fact is that almost all of the temperature data our government agencies and various other agencies around the world publish are statistically “adjusted” for various reasons. Often such “adjustments” are made to fill in blank spots in the data when measuring stations go down or when the measurements from stations are not reported in a timely manner. Other such adjustments are made to account for the fact that large urban areas are heat islands that remain warmer than surrounding rural areas. Even satellite temperature data is adjusted for various reasons. No matter the reason for the adjustments the fact is that they are made using statistical methods and the particular statistical method(s) selected to be applied is based solely on the judgment of people. IOW what your getting when you look at historical temperature data is to some extent colored by AN OPINION!

So the third year the sea ice extents remain significantly above the mean during the summer months at both poles then I will start being concerned about cooling. The opposite goes for warming. No corruption or “adjustment” of temperature data can change these signs. So it seems to me that the satellite measurements of the sea ice extents at BOTH POLES, while not always perfect by any means, as has been proven in the past, are still far more reliable and less susceptible to tampering or error than temperature data at any level from any source and thus make the best and most easily understandable and reliable gauge for the layman to make his/her own judgment on what the worlds temperature is doing.


With all the "Tinkering" and "Massaging" of the data, the entire discussion has been corrupted.  So if you truly believe that Climate Change or Global Warming or any of that is real, then you must support a complete reset of the research into it.

What that means is you must call for a new study.  And it must use the RAW data, nothing massaged or tinkered.  That massaging and tinkering destroys any legitimacy in the research.  And that is how you get people like me who feel that there might be something to it, but I don't trust the people screaming there is climate change because they still ride around in big jets and humongous vehicles while they say that I need to get rid of my suburban which until they put so much alcohol in the gas, got almost 20 miles per gallon and had less harmful emissions than the police department's brand new Tahoe's and Dodge Charger's.  And my Suburban is is 21 years old, and the local PD's get unadulterated gasoline.  That's right they don't have alcohol in their gas.  The county buys it direct from the refinery.  They have their own pumps and tank farm for gasoline and diesel.  For me to get unadulterated gas or diesel I have to go either the Marina or the Farmer's Co-op and pay almost $1.00 more per gallon for undyed unadulterated fuel.  And yet the several times I have done that, My Suburban has put out less emissions than the PD's brand new vehicles*.  I mean brand new as in less than 7 months old.  My 21 year old properly maintained Suburban emits less CO than a 2014 Tahoo the PD uses.  Granted they get 9 more MPG than my Suburban, but my Suburban also weighs 1,500 lbs more than their Tahoe's.

So unless I want to pay almost $5.00 per gallon I get only 11 to 12 mpg on the adulterated pump gas.  And my suburban actually puts out more emissions with the Gasohol.

So the "Gasohol" does cause and cost more harm to the environment than it saves.

I could write an Uber-Mega Post on "Gasohol" and the Corn Subsidies showing how it's costing us higher prices in food, fuel , and vehicle repairs than it is supposedly saving our environment.  It is actually harming our environment as vehicles fuel systems are being damaged by the alcohol as it attacks the aluminum and plain steel parts of the fuel systems and the rubber and neoprene seals.  You need to run high chrome stainless steels for suel systems and that means increased costs, so vehicles cost more.  The alcohol is hygroscopic which means it attracts any moisture from the air.  Just what you want in your fuel, water.  (I'll let Kevin do that as he writes much more eloquently than I do)

So we need to start over from the beginning.  Take the raw data and crunch the numbers over from the start to the finish.

* Tested with a standard CO, CO2, HC hand meter with engine at idle (850 RPM for my Suburban, 1,100 RPM for the Tahoe) and at 2,000 RPM for both vehicles, and 3,000 RPM for both vehicles with A/C off.  My Suburban emitted less CO, CO2 and HC's than the PD's Tahoe.  My Suburban with over 215K miles on it emitted less than a 7 month old Tahoe with 7500 miles on it.  And both my Suburban and the PD's Tahoe were running unadulterated gasoline.  (I won the bet with the Officer and he had to buy me and my mechanic breakfast tacos)

More on the Massaged Data;

EDITORIAL: Rigged ‘science’ The Supreme Court swallows faked global warming data

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Cave photography how to get the shot


On the militarization of the Police from BookFace

And it's like when it comes to the militarization of the police. I tell people who support it that, alright fine. But they shall at the very least fall under the UCMJ and will be regulated by the National Guard Bureau. Misconduct shall be investigated by the Judge Advocate General Corps and punishment will fall in accordance with the UCMJ. If they want the cops to have the same capabilities of the military then they shall be held accountable under the same standards. I'd like to see the police unions try to stomach that.

Why treat the symptom?

"Officials approve Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier funding

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge moved a big step closer to getting an oft-debated suicide barrier after bridge officials on Friday approved a $76 million funding package for a net system that would prevent people from jumping to their deaths.

The bridge district's board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the funding for a steel suicide net, which includes $20 million in bridge toll revenue. Federal money will provide the bulk of the remaining funding, though the state is also pledging $7 million."


Which is all they are doing, instead of the underlying issue?  Mental Health.  All that money for suicide barriers for a bridge which has less than 50 jumpers a year.  That money could be used to PREVENT more suicides than 50 if it was used to fund treatment centers for people who need help.

"Report finds US deficit of nearly 100,000 inpatient beds; result is increased homelessness, emergency room overcrowding, and use of jails and prisons as de-facto psychiatric hospitals"

If someone who KNOWS they have a mental health issue thinks the only way to get treatment is to go to jail or prison don't you think they'd look to suicide as a preferred answer?

All the barrier is, is just one more way for the meddlers to say "See we care", when it was through their caring that State Mental Hospitals were closed, Private Mental Treatment Centers were choked  out of the market through more and more burdensome and intrusive regulations, that had no proven nor documented need.

But the same people who are bringing you the "Suicide Barrier" are the one who brought those regulations.

Friday, June 27, 2014

808 Key Fob Camera - Discreet Photo and Video Camera

I've had a small 808 Key Fob Camera for several years now.  I've also told several friends about them for certain situations requiring a discreet way to take photos or video with audio.  They are widely available on E-Bay for less than $20.00.  There are several variants of the camera.  Some with internal memory, some you will have to provide a micro SD card to store your photos and video on.  Mine can also be used as a Web Cam with the appropriate driver installed.

First a few pics to show you the quality of the pics I get with my 808 camera.



I also have a brief video clip of one of my dogs, Bruno, in this case, who refused to sit still to have his picture taken.





This takes decent pics and video outside and acceptable pics and video inside, only if there is enough light.

What these cameras are is a cell phone camera that has been mounted in a Key Fob, most look like car alarm remotes, I've seen some that were mounted in small plastic figurines, but not many of those.  Mine uses a standard USB Mini plug to charge and with a 4 GB Micro SD it can record over an hour of video, though it will stop and restart breaking long video's into multiple files.

Chuck Lohr has done up a whole section on his website, including links to the necessary driver files to use these with your computer as a webcam. However when used as a webcam, mine at least doesn't support the microphone, so you wil still need a separate microphone.

Chuck's site is: http://www.chucklohr.com/808/index.shtml

If you are thinking about getting one of these for yourself go to E-Bay and look for "808 Camera".  I've seen them run for as little as $5.00 up to over $60.00 depending on the options and the seller..

There have been a few people who have used these cameras with a small piece of lucite that they sed a heat gun to bend into a shelf to hang them from their shooting glasses to give an "Eyes view" of their shooting.

Go All The Way - The Raspberries



I'm just in the mood for some classic Rock tonight.

Some Bruce - Just because


Natalie Foster on Billionaire Bullying


Exactly


Cops are a money maker

I had three pistols stolen from my house.  We know exactly who did it.  We had physical proof of who did it.  And yet because the person who did it is the offspring of a local police officer, N-O-T-H-I-N-G is done.

The thief saw me in the local Walmart and took off like a creature escaping from Hades.  I called the Sheriff's Office.

N-O-T-H-I-N-G


Meanwhile I'm out two .38 special revolvers and a Tokarev pistol that has ammunition that CAN penetrate Level II vests.

So yeah, Cops are nothing but money makers.

Also False Allegations can destroy a life.  Luckily Divemedic had enough proof to prove his innocence.  In some places, with activist judges, it doesn't matter HOW much proof you have.  You are G-U-I--L-T-Y.  So click on the link at the end of his post.  Maybe we can change that.

Prohibited person

Hillary is poor while making a college education cost more


University Paying Hillary Clinton $225K for Speech Also Raising Tuition 17%

I'm sorry, but I can live on 225k with 7 kids for almost 5 years.   As long as I can afford my kids tuition that is.

The Militarization of the Police

The Militarization of the police continues.

Coupled with:

Mass. SWAT teams claim they’re private companies and don’t have to tell you anything

How to get away with murder - Be A Cop

How to get away with murder

Please post this around as much as possible. Let's get this as much exposure as possible.

YES!!!

"Should Citizens Be Allowed To Sue Government Workers For Misconduct?
—DrewM.

 As Ronald Reagan put it in his first inaugural address, "We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around." But in an age where we have "swarms of officers" that "harass our people, and eat out their substance" to a degree that would have made George III blush, can anyone really say Reagan was right?"

Scandals? What Scandals?

Kissing Babies

That is all you need for proof that the Current Administration and the Media are complicit inthe destruction of the Laws and the System of Check and Balances in this Nation.

When feral pigs attack

When Pigs Attack - Compilation Video

A few of those were rather frightening.  And that bow hunter was an IDIOT!

My kids know how

Since my trucks are manual transmission vehicles.  Now if I just had the money to get the wiring on my Dakota fixed and back on the road.

"The hapless trio should have had it in the bag.

Armed with a gun, they approached a 70-year-old woman just outside her Seattle home. Nancy Fredrickson, returning from a garage sale, was unloading items from the trunk of her Kia when one of them asked for her keys."

"After piling into Fredrickson’s Kia on Saturday, they discovered it was a manual transmission vehicle — and apparently none of them knew how to drive stick.

“I could hear them trying,” she told KCPQ. “They put the keys in, they turned the lock, but they couldn’t figure out how to get it started.”"


My little S-10 which get almost 23 mpg right now with all the alcohol in the gas is my daily driver.  When I can get unadulterated gasoline, it gets almost 29 mpg. The Dakota which my brother gave to me since it has a few problems, was getting almost 25 mpg with regular gas. With the "Gasohol" it was getting about 18 mpg. 

Both have manual transmissions.  And I have been teaching my kids to drive in the S-10.  SO that way they shouldn't have a problem driving most other vehicles.

Jobs and Immigration



If this doesn't make you feel sick.  I don't know what will.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The death of business and our economy

Where the Government can just send you a piece of paper and force you to close your doors and shutter your business.  How is that going to affect our economy?  If you own a business the government doesn't like, they can send you a letter.  And you have to shut down.  You can fight, but at what cost?

Big Brother and his henchmen are getting bigger

Deflation/Hyper-Inflation

Peter has some info for you.  And it is something you really really want to read.

Deflation? Or hyper-inflation?

I know for a FACT that our dollar buys us less and less every other day.  I have seven kids.  You try feeding seven kids on the same budget month after month.  You will find that you have less and less food every month, and your kids keep getting bigger and bigger requiring more and more food.

A can of chili that used to contain 19 ounces and cost less than a dollar now contains 14 ounces and costs a dollar and fifty nine cents.  A ten pound chub of ground beef which used to cost ten dollars and sixty nine cents is still ten pounds but costs twenty four dollars and ninety nine cents.  A twenty four slice one pound package of american cheese that used to cost one dollar and nine cents is now sixteen slices and weighs just under a half a pound and costs ninety eight cents.  A dozen Grade A large eggs which used to cost ninety eight cents now costs two dollars and nine cents.

Packages are being downsized and then their costs are increased.

I'd much rather have my packages of food remain the same size and the prices go up.  That way I KNOW just how much food I'm getting for the price I'm paying.

So we are being lied to by the food producers and the grocery stores. And that lying is because if we truly KNEW what we are being charged the outcry would even be heard in Washington D.C.  And that would never do.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Over at Larry Correia's

Larry got in to an argument with some people over the comments by Ms. Nevada and self defense.  And the SJW's (Social Justice Warriors) went on the warpath (Can I say that considering it's is supposedly demeaning to Native Americans?  Even though I'm part Pottawatomie).  Especially when there is DOCUMENTED PROOF that TWO of the SFWA's most  celebrated Icons are Child Rapists and Molesters.

While reading through Larry's most recent post on the kerfuffle, he posts a comment that an ACTUAL RAPE SURVIVOR left on another blog, which SHOWS just how stupid this whole big artificial outrage actually IS.

And one of Larry's readers posted the comment I excerpt below.

"As far as I’m concerned, every single one of these Pink SF/F authors is a child rape apologist. And don’t ever consider them anything different until they formally denounce both Samuel R Delany and Marion Zimmber Bradley."

Click on that and read the original post by Larry and the copied comment from a Rape Survivor.

Read it and you tell me just what the SJW's are really trying to do.  Help rid the world of rape in all it's forms?  Or to have some type of moral superiority they can hold over everyone elses head as an example of their so-called righteousness?

UPDATE: Silence is Complicity

Forced Sterilization and Eugenics - Did the USA inspire the NAZI's and Hitler?


Explaining Iraq


Some surprising facts










Look around. What do you see now?

Forgotten Weapons fund raiser update



Let's see if we can blow past his asking level by the end of the week. 

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

On the Redskins kerfluffel

"The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.”

The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed." 


Here is my question, under what regulation/statute/law does the U.S. Patent Office have the authority to do what it has done?

And why does this make me think the Obama Administration needed another distraction, on top of their other attempted distractions?

Lois Lerner and the IRS E-mails

Iraq

The VA Scandal

Benghazi

The main IRS Scandal

Bergdahl

The 5 Taliban they gave up

How many more?

And just how desperate is the Obama Administration to change the main headlines?  and what exactly are they trying to force off the front page?

Which Gun Safety Rule is the most important?



H/t Vuurwapen Blog

These people sicken me

"Amanda Marcotte, of Slate and The Daily Beast, as well a blogger for John Edwards, another noted defender of women, had called critics of the Duke Lacrosse case “rape-loving scum” and suggested that George Will was a “rape apologist” for questioning some questionable rape cases.

But when Hillary Clinton was outed as a “rape apologist” and “rape-loving scum,” Amanda became a “rape apologist” explaining why being “rape-loving scum” was actually a good thing."


Anything to get their chosen candidate elected.  That is all they care about.  they don't care about the truth, the law, or even 12 year old little girls who had been raped.

They disgust me.

Chuck Woolery - Broken Immigration system


Bill Whittle - Firewall - Not One Of Us


Pat Condell - Why I Support Israel


There is something severely wrong

"Marion Zimmer Bradley was convicted on a federal child pornography charge prior to her marrying the homosexual child molester Walter Breen and editing one of his books defending pedophilia. Bradley's own daughter has publicly stated that her mother raped her on more than one occasion. One of Bradley's lesbian lovers testified in a 1998 legal deposition that she was aware Marion Zimmer Bradley sexually harassed and tortured her own daughter, and raped her own son as well.

SFWA purged me from its ranks for a single tweet, but has not yet seen fit to purge Marion Zimmer Bradley despite her many sex-related crimes dating back to the 1950s. They have not revoked the two Nebula nominations given to a known child molester and a magazine named after her. SFWA still features an RIP notice for Marion Zimmer Bradley, as well as a listing for Bradley's literary estate and the agent for that estate on its Internet site. (However, it is interesting to note that SFWA never awarded her any distinction as a Grand Master or Author Emeritus whereas she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention in 2000, which suggests that some SFWA officers were probably aware of her problematic history.) But SFWA's Nebula-winning members and former officers are still writing and publishing laudatory articles about the confirmed child abuser, some as recently as last week."

Vox's post has MANY embedded links which bear out what he and others have written.

Seriously, you need to go look, read and ask yourself, "Just what is wrong with those people".

For they truly are so deluded that they can not see the harm they are tacitly allowing by refusing to denunciate a KNOWN Rapist, Child Abuser, Child Molester and Pedophile.

Good Question

"Immigration reform activists, why should this person get to stay when so many others around the world wait their turn and come here legally?"

Why SHOULD someone who willingly and knowingly violates our laws, be allowed to jump the queue?

Uh Oh....



H/t Outrider

Nine Dogs and 3 Cats

That is how many animals claim me in my house.  If you want to be totally truthful only one of the cats is mine.  The rest of the animals belong to other family members and friends.  Or they're supposed to anyway.

While you have seen pictures of my cat Tufts here on the blog a few times I don't really post pics of the other animals that much.  Why?  Because technically they aren't mine.

However, they all seem to claim ME.

Four of the dogs belong to my ex-wife, and they usually don't want anything to do with her unless she has treats.  For her dog Gemma, well Gemma does her absolute best to avoid almost anyone in the house except me and sometimes my oldest daughter.  Then there is her dog Skeeter (Deeter) Brown.  She got him from one of her clients (She does home health care) and he is a Chiweiner that is so allergic to fleas when she brought him to the house he had no hair and I thought he had mange.  Then there is another dog she got from another client, she calls him Clay, I call him Brownie most of the time.  He looks like a hound dog just not as heavily muscled, but he's got the hound howl down perfect.  Then there "Bruno" who I call Pooper.  He answer to Pooper more readily than he does to Bruno.  And he got the name Pooper because he would poop over everything ESPECIALLY my boots.

Pooper and Brownie will go back to my Ex's house every once in awhile.  Maybe 2 or 3 days out of the month.  The rest of the time they are either out in the yard or in the house trying to get into my room to lay on my bed.  Gemma and Skeeter sleep in my room and on my bed almost EVERY night.  Skeeter will lay next to me until I pull the blanket over me, then he dives under the blanket and heads to my knees to sleep next to my leg.  Gemma will take the corner of the foot of the bed and sleep there.

Then we have my 3 daughters dogs.  Eldest has two, Kyah a Sharpei mix and Stella a Shepherd/Lab mix , who always try to get into my room to take over my bed.  Second eldest has one, Layla who has claimed me so completely Sprog #2 says she can never take her with her when she finally moves away as it would kill Layla.  And third daughter aka Sprog #4's dog Ariel, a Teacup Chihuahua who is about twice the size she is supposed to be.

Layla, Ariel, Skeeter and Gemma are in my room almost all the time.  Layla rarely leaves it unless I do.  And she and Ariel are also blanket burrowers.

Finally there is Kilo.  My friend Darnell and her Daughter Shelby's dog.  I don't know what kind of mix he is but he is heavier than Kyah who is twice his size.  And he like Kyah is all muscle.  He spends about half his time in my room either trying to sleep on me, next to Gemma or on the floor by the door.

If there is a bad storm coming ALL OF THEM try to get into my room and on the bed with me.  ALL of them.

Then there is Tufts, who you know if you've been reading my blog for awhile, Baron White an all white cat with a stump of a tail and his ears lay flat because he has tumors growing in them and Samantha.  Samantha is a short haired american standard, that gray/white/black stripey looking cat.  If you have seen one of my pictures of Tufts, same coloration just short haired.

Tufts either tries to take over my pillow or my computer keyboard.  Samantha takes over either my pillow or the top of the bookcase.  Baron White takes over either the foot of my bed or my chest unless Kilo is laying there.

I love all of these furry kids, however it would be nice to be able to go to sleep, at least once a month, by myself!!

If I can find the good camera again, I'll post up some pics of all them and we'll see if any of my readers can figure out their names :)

Listening to a song

and I couldn't remember if it was Alice Cooper or Frank Zappa.  Isn't there a way to refresh all the memories in my head?

And it was Alice Cooper..

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Economics of Ghostbusters


Ian at Forgotten Weapons needs some help



His IndieGoGo page is: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/forgotten-weapons-pro-quality-video/

Ian does some very good work helping to save some of the history of Firearms.  If you can help please visit that link and pledge.

Is there an app for this?

Is there a smart phone app that will allow you to use texting only over Wi-Fi?  So you can daisy chain through other smart phones running the same app to get a message to another person?  Only using Wi-Fi?  Not Blue Tooth, not the cell network or Data nodes.

Say you are are with your family at an amusement park and cell reception is horrible (Happened to me all the time in San Antonio at Sea World and Six Flags with my kids) So you make sure you and your kids phone's all have their Wi-Fi turned on an an app running, that will allow you to basically use anyone elses Wi-Fi enabled phone as an Ad-Hoc network to pass messages.

Is there even an App to allow you make an Ad-Hoc Network on your smart phone?

Something that will allow you to setup a quick way to id your phone to others to allow the passing of messages.

Has anyone made an app like that?

Outsourcing of America


This IT worker had to train an H-1B replacement - main link can be NSFW

And now even India is having to outsource for IT and Call Center personnel.

When will this end?

Deadly Force on the Border?

"U.S. Border Patrol will put in place new policies to restrict the use of force by agents. The new rules come amid the revelation that illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. at record rates and overwhelming federal resources." 

Should we Emulate the East German Border Guards?  However keep our weapons turned out?  Or should we do something else?

I don't have the answer, however our border is under attack, and our defenders of the border are being overwhelmed and under supported.

Something needs to change.

You know those children coming over the border?




Many of the females, some as young as 8 or 9 become "Sex Slaves" to various Human Smugglers.  A Commodity to be traded and sold.

Watch the above video playlist.  What you will find out, will surprise you.

Chuck Woolery - EPA and Photo ID


Monday, June 16, 2014

Some more links

Anthropogenic Global Warming? No, says new study: volcanoes

Ex-border agents: Immigrant flood ‘orchestrated’

Just to clarify...

Released terrorists not a threat to U.S. ...

Obama’s Capitulation in Iraq

How the Taliban got their hands on modern US missiles | New York Post

U. Wisconsin Student: How America-Hating Profs Destroyed U.S. Ability to Wage War

Gray Area  - Language warning




ISIS Leader released by the US in 2009

"The Islamist extremist some are now calling the most dangerous man in the world had a few parting words to his captors as he was released from the biggest U.S. detention camp in Iraq in 2009.

“He said, ‘I’ll see you guys in New York,’” recalls Army Col. Kenneth King, then the commanding officer of Camp Bucca."

Just one more condemnation of the Obama Presidency.

H/t Blackfive

No Knock Warrants?

The Vocal Minority on No-Knock Warrants.

Matt has been a Peace Officer for a Long Time.   Notice I said "Peace Officer" he and officers like him do their best to do their jobs with as little injury to any and all.

I didn't say without injury to any, but to as few as possible.  Matt and Officer's like him know and understand, that ordinary folks just like they themselves don't want a dust up or to get hurt.  However there are too many people who get into Law Enforcement who feel that the badge gives them extra Rights and an excuse to act egregiously toward the citizens they are supposed to be protecting.

That has to stop.

We need more Officers and Deputies like Matt and LawDog, than we need "Warriors" like some you may have read about in the news media.

The Outlaws


Excuse me?

Peter has two you really need to read.

Presidential pardon for illegal aliens?


A different - and scary - look at inflation

Pure Prairie League



Iraq


DONALD RUMSFELD: “A trained ape could have gotten a Status of Forces deal with Iraq”

Eggs eggs eggs

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

An Open Letter

"Apologies in Advance for the Rough Language, but sometimes one does have to stoop to that Level to Communicate.

“Dear Murderous Scum. You sicken me. How DARE you claim that the Second Amendment gives you the Right to go Kill Cops? How DARE you come into OUR Towns and Cities and Villages and Country and start Opening Fire? "


What Les said times Infinity.

And they want to kill the A-10

“Immediately after the ‘cleared hot,’ I heard my flight lead interject.”

“Abort! Abort! Abort!” the flight lead barked into the radio.

“State reason!” the B-1 crew demanded.

“Screw reason!” the A-10 leader responded. “God damn it, abort—you’re about to kill friendlies!”



Just one of a multitude f reasons the A-10 is needed.  And why we should start up a new line and build some more of them.

Instead, we get this;

"On June 10, the House Appropriations Committee made clear the way many on Capitol Hill view national defense. By a raised-hands vote of 13 to 23, the Committee rejected an amendment from Congressman Jack Kingston—a Georgia Republican—to redirect $339 million from operation and maintenance funds, deemed excess, to retain 234 A-10 close air support aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory."

Some Links

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/the-middle-class-is-even-worse-off-than-the-numbers-show-181906188.html

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/forensic_science_is_biased_and_inaccurate_but_juries_believe_it_and_convict.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-11/nsa-claims-it-too-big-comply-court-order

http://thespeaker.co/tanks/

http://gunssavelives.net/blog/miss-nevada-a-black-belt-gets-bashed-by-feminists-after-suggesting-women-learn-self-defense/

http://www.bussjaeger.org/new-terrorism.html

http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/Government/Government_Updates/Statement_by_Attorney_General_Holder_on_Reestablishment_of_Committee_on_Domestic_Terrorism/

http://www.paratusfamiliablog.com/2014/06/an-open-letter-to-uncle-sam.html

Elections Have Consequences

Idiocy 101

Obama Is Delusional

Immigration Reform

Getting That Old 1979 Feeling

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Air Gap - Computer Security

"Hackers on the other side of the world could use cellphone-based malware to remotely access any data they want, using the electromagnetic waves emanating from computer or server hardware, with no need for an Internet connection."

So all that is needed, is for an infected phone to come between 3 and 6 meters of your computer.. And if it has a microphone and speakers hooked up, and your computer it can be successfully attacked by the cell phone.

That is just ONE of the reasons my own computers don't have microphones on them.  If I need a microphone, I'll pull out my headset and use it.

So if you want some more security for your computers and don't mind using a headset that loads it's own drivers like the following ones.

Microsoft Life Chat

Plantronics 478

Logitech H390

And no, I don't get anything from Amazon for posting those links.  I am not an Affiliate.

So you would go into your device manager and uninstall or disable the existing micro phone driver, then when you want to use a microphone you would plug in the USB Headset headset.  It should load it's own driver, which normally takes about 30-45 seconds, at least on my computer it does, then you can use it.

Orrrrrrr you can pull the battery out of your phone or put it in a small anti-static bag or small Faraday Cage to block any and all signals.

H/t Claire Wolfe

Explaining the obvious

to the dim-witted and obtuse.

"Ms. Kinnaird and I agree on one thing, though: the Supreme Court will not protect us. Protecting us is the responsibility of neither the Supreme Court n or the police, as evidenced by the 1981 Supreme Court case Warren v District of Columbia. The responsibility of protecting one’s self ultimately belongs to that individual, and that fundamental responsibility (and the corresponding right to arm one’s self) should not, and cannot be abrogated entirely by the government, well-intentioned as it may seem."

Why is it the so called "Enlightened" individuals can't understand proper grammar and  english?

Dear NSA

Would you please quit messing with my cell phone?

I don't know any other explanation for why it suddenly switches to emergency calls only and activates both the Wi-Fi and the Data mode at the same time when they had been shut off.

It's getting a little old having to pull the battery everytime it does that.

So please.

Go bother a terrorist in another country, which is supposed to be your job in the first place.

Friday, June 13, 2014

IRS Lost Lois Lerner E-mails?

Just ask the NSA for them.


"IRS claims it has LOST two years' worth of emails from embattled former official Lois Lerner as tea party targeting scandal heats up again"

What is the HHS hiding?

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is welcoming members of Congress and their senior staff to tour a temporary shelter being used to house illegal immigrant children — but the invite comes with a list of rules, including a suggestion that members leave their cellphones in their vehicles."

After all if they are following the law, there shouldn't be any problem with taking pictures.

Looks like I may have a new neighbor

"Rumors About Ammunition Plant Spread Through Rockport

ROCKPORT - There is lots of anxiety this week in a neighborhood on the western end of Rockport about the possibility of an ammunition plant being built down the street.

The area of Copano Heights in question is currently undeveloped land, but it's right next to a neighborhood with dozens of homes.

Naturally, neighbors were alarmed to hear rumors about secret plans to build an ammunition plant and all sorts of negative impacts that come along with it."

This is only about 4 miles from where I live.

My opinion?

Bring it on!!

I'd LOVE to get an ammunition plant in the area.  It would bring in at least 30 full time jobs, and the area where they are planning on building it is just undeveloped lots with brush and pin oaks.  Plus I have 4 boys who are mechanically inclined who might be able to get hired on as they get old enough.

Can you say "Employee Discount"?

I knew you could ... 

The safeties and interlocks are off.

(Emily F. B****) I liken these times to when I had a rental with a furnace that died in the middle of winter. I called a furnace man who told me it was obsolete and he couldn't get parts for it anymore but he could bypass one of two safeties on it (which is what blew). I said OK. He said if the other one blows he can't bypass that one because then the next thing that might happen is a fire. We have bypassed most of our safeties trying to keep the furnace of the economy running.

Hickok45 M1918 Browning BAR - Saying Goodbye



I'd love one of the M1918-XE3's.  That is the one with the 18 inch barrel, pistol grip reduced rate of fire, only 450 RPM and semi-auto capability.  And it had the capability to be scoped easily and also used the flip up peep sights.

However, the only ones of those I've seen were made in the Philippines, where the Navy S.E.A.L.s armorers took standard M1918's and modified them.  They were also the ones who made a 30 and 40 round magazine for the BAR.
And I've only seen pictures of the BAR's in question.

Now you are probably wondering where I got that particular info about the BAR's, the Navy S.E.A.Ls and the Philippines..  And where did I see the pictures?

Many years ago, I got a job with a gentleman who owned a small gun shop that specialized in black powder firearms.  I worked for him about a year before I met his daughter and married her a year after that.  However back to the BAR's.  Gary, my Boss/Father in Law, had a wide range of customers.  The shops specialty was black powders firearms, but he carried and worked on modern stuff as well.  But 85 to 90 percent of what we did was all black powder firearms., Muzzle loading rifles and pistols, cap and ball revolvers, we had some of the first in line ignition black powder rifles in the state of Missouri.  We also had many many many many original antique firearms.  How about original Trapdoor Springfields.  Many of the were put together from parts of other rifles but all of the parts WERE original, not reproductions.  Old Remington Rolling Blocks in .43 Spanish that would easily grade out as 80% or better, of course we also had some that would be lucky to grade out above 60%.  We just had a LOT of old firearms.  Thanks to our Antiques guy.  He would go all over the Midwest and down the east coast into Florida, stopping at auctions and estate sales along the way.  Gary made sure he had a notarized letter authorizing him to purchase for the shop and a stack of signed copies of the store's FFL, oh and LOTS of business cards.

He would be gone 3, 4 sometimes 7 months out of the year.  And when he came back he always had such cool stuff for us to sell.  Like a small bronze mountain howitzer that we had to totally refurbish and rebuild the carriage and ammo crates for.  Finding the proper European walnut and oak for that job was hard, time consuming and rather expensive.  After we were done with it it was sold for just over 14k.

Now by now you are probably saying "Get to the point, the BAR's", the point is the guy who bought the Mountain Howitzer and also the Browning Citori O/U Shotgun and many other firearms we had is/was retired US Navy.  He retired as a Commander back in the mid 80's.  He originally though was a Chief Petty Officer in the S.E.A.L.s during the Vietnam War.  However while he was a S.E.A.L./UDT he never served in Vietnam proper.  He spent most of his time in the Philippines as a trainer and armorer for the training detachment.  He came into the shop one rather hot day wearing a suit which I had never seen him do before and carrying an old ratty soft brown leather briefcase.  He just walked through the shop looking at this and that, he'd carefully set down his case to pick up one of our interesting pieces, then pick it back up.  He'd been in the store maybe 45 minutes looking at stuff while I worked, re-timing an old cap and ball kit pistol that someone had dropped off the day before.

He finally came up and watched me work on that 1851 Navy, put it together, cock it slowly to check the timing, grab my feeler gauge to check the bolt, tear it down and then file a few strokes from the cylinder hand and put it back together to check it again.  He watched me for about 15 minutes when I finally got everything to mesh the way it was supposed to and I tore it down again to clean it up and cold blue the new parts.  He had asked me how I got all the parts to look so old like they were originals even though it was a modern reproduction kit gun, and I told him my tricks for it.  He laughed and started talking to me about what he did when he was in the Navy.

That was how I learned about a young man who joined the Navy to be a UDT like his father had during World War Two.  How he tried and tried to get into the UDT training but instead found himself working as a machinist on a Destroyer Escort off the East Coast and constantly having to remake and rebuild the same parts over and over as his ship was one of the few DE's left over from WWII and there were no spares available.  So he had to make them.  He told me about how he got involved with repairing firearms after his ship assisted the Coast Guard and 3 of the Garands the sailors of his ship used were found to be rusted so badly the operating rods were seized up and he found himself machining new parts as a favor to the Leading Petty Officer.  That favor got him reassigned to shore duty and Small Arms Armorers school.  But he still tried to get into the UDT training.

His chance came 2 weeks after he graduated from the armorers school in the top 5 of the class.  It seemed the action in Vietnam was starting to heat up and the Navy needed some more manpower.  So he volunteered and found himself accepted for the training.  He told me that the training was the hardest thing he had ever done in his entire life up until that time.  And that there were many times he had wanted to just quit, but his desire to make his dad proud of him helped him to push on through.  He finally graduated from the training as Petty Officer First Class.  He didn't get his Eagled Trident then just his Diver's badge and the standard UDT anchor/trident.  He wouldn't get his "Budweiser" until after he got to the Philippines.

Because of his two specialties, Machinist and Armorer he got assigned to building or modifying weapons and equipment that the UDT's and S.E.A.L.s needed for their expanded role in S.E. Asia.  He told me he rather enjoyed the work but he wanted to get in on the action and while he requested many time to be transferred to an operational team, they kept in in California for awhile then later in Hawaii, where he found himself talking with returning teams and finding out what worked, what didn't and how things could be improved.

That was when he opened his leather briefcase and pulled out a binder full of photos.  As he went through the photos, he showed me pics of some really unusual things he and the other people he worked with made up.

A shotgun to throw a line silently up to 150 yards, a pair of pliers/wirecutters with a sharpened edge on one side for using like a knife, a modified air rifle that could shoot darts that had small radio microphones, it would shoot hard enough to set the dart without damaging the electronics.  A collapsing crossbow that could be put back together and strung without tools, and a whole bunch of other things.

That is where I saw the picture of the BAR.  He told me they had cut them down like Bonnie and Clyde had done, put on a pistol grip and modified the buttstocks on some cutting them down and modifying the wire stock from an M3.  In all I saw about 14 pictures of those modified BARs, and he said they had only made up about 30 of them although there was talk of submitting it for formal adoption.

Me personally, I want one of those 30 BARs.  Because he told me that all of them had his inspector proof mark on them, if you ever find one and it has TJ stamped on the receiver on the left side up where the barrel enters the receiver, he was one of the people who built it up.

Now for the sad part.  The reason he was wearing a suit.  He had just come from a Wake for a friend of his, and he had also found out he himself was dying.  Pancreatic Cancer.

I only saw him one more time after that and it was in town.  He was in a wheel chair and looked as if he had lost 40 or 50 lbs.  He looked up and saw me, he gave me a smile and a brief wave, then the door to the van closed.

And I never saw him again after that.

Billy Johnson - Amidst The Noise- NRA News - No Guns For You


Some Tea Party Groups

 prove themselves to be just like the Main/Moderate Republican Party.

"According to a Washington Post report, the six largest national Tea Party groups have spent more than $37.5 million on the mid-terms so far. However, only $7 million of the spent donations have actually gone directly to candidates. Where did the other $30.5 million go? Well, it goes directly into their family members’ pockets for ‘consulting fees’, giving themselves lucrative benefit packages, paying themselves $272k/year salaries, and even spending $52k in interior decorating fees for one of their fancy Capitol Hill town-homes. How fiscally conservative of them."

I know of local groups that are out there busting their butts and they are almost begging just to pay for the postage bill.  And di you know what?  None of them receive a paycheck.  They are ALL volunteers.

However, it seems to me a bunch of "Professional" Organizers have done set themselves up with the "Tea Party" name and are reaping the benefits and raping the pocketbooks of those who donate.

What say you?

Am I right?

Or am I just, Whistling Dixie?

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Can someone ID the rifle in this pic?


If you are interested in mechanical stuff

or like shooting, Sebastian has posted up a video you may find really cool.

Making an AR-15 Bolt in 9 Minutes

Drop him a comment and let him know I sent ya.  

Some backstory on Bergdahl

And from now on I will not use his Christian name.  From this point further he is B.B. Dud.

I started at Sean's which led me to Bouhammer's.

"During this time the rumors and reports from the US side were that Berdahl had been taken by Haqqani. That was not the case. His captors had sent out word to the Haqqani network asking for a reward, however the initial interest from Haqqani was cool to tepid at best. Their concern was that Bergdahl was mentally unstable; and even though Bergdahl had voluntarily converted to Islam, the Haqqani network was not willing to bring a mentally unstable Muslim convert over the border into Pakistan. We should have paid attention to Haqqani."

And you REALLY want to RTWT

Global Warmening Carbon Hysteria

I swiped this from 90 Miles From Tyranny.


On Elliot Roger and mental health

Just click and read the whole thing.  she knows of which she speaks.

MILLETT: No Gun Ever Killed Anyone Only the Hand of an Homicidal Person Kills 

OldNFO will love this link

27 Charlie

I swiped it from BTHBTS

Women in Combat

Somehow certain people STILL don't understand what the rigors of Combat and Leadership are actually about.

To wit: Women can be Marine Infantry Officers. All You Have to do is Change the Standards.

No, you CANNOT change the standards.  They are there for a REASON.  And if you do not and cannot understand that reason, you have no business trying to change those standards in the first place.

To certain people this is more about "Equality" than it is about surviving and leading troops in combat.

GET THIS THROUGH YOUR MYOPIC EYES!!

COMBAT AND LEADING TROOPS IN COMBAT HAS IT'S OWN STANDARDS!!

If you FAIL to meet those standards your troops D-I-E!

If your troops are dying, you are not accomplishing the mission.  If you fail the mission, the security of our entire Nation can be at stake.

However, you don't really care about that.

You only care about your "Equality" and room for "Advancement"

And while you are fighting for those, our troops are watching this mess, and their well being is at stake.  Both through their morale and their readiness levels.

THAT is what you SHOULD be concerned about.

Bubblehead Les has a question for Mr. Holder

"So, Mr. Holder, I ask again, Why? Why do YOU think that the Republic is under GREATER THREAT from DOMESTIC TERRORISTS than from RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISTS? Why? Are you Paranoid? Or is this something your Boss, Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States thinks? Inquiring Minds want to know."

Go RTWT, it's rather thought provoking.

Nostalgia

As I sit here scanning the hard drive on my sons computer because it picked up something,


I looked at a few places on the web and found some pics that take me back.




I couldn't find any pics of gas prices when I was little kid, but I remember my mom and dad complaining in the 70's about the OPEC oil embargo and gas prices going up.

Young folks today don't really seem to understand about price inflation of every day products.  At the store the other day I pointed out the 10 lb chubs of ground beef we normally buy, and asked her if she remembered what we USED to pay for them.  She surprised me by knowing that we used to pay 11.98 for 10 lbs of ground beef.  Now we pay 24.88 for the same 10 lbs.  The chicken we used to pay .69 cents a lb for we now spend 2.19 a lb for.  And this was only in the last 7 years.

A 1.5 lb can of chili that used to cost .89 cents is now a 1.15 lb can and costs 1.49.  A 12 ounce can on chili we paid .49 cents for is now 10.5 ounces and costs 1.19.  Boxes of saltine crackers which used to be 2 boxes for a dollar are 1.89 a box..  The cheap 3 pack of hotdogs for a dollar is gone and it's now 1 pack of 8 hot dogs for .99 cents.

I remember when I was a kid many of our neighbors didn't even have telephones, when my family lived in an apartment building in the Central West End area of St. Louis.  The buses ran all night and it cost a dime for an adult and kids rode free.  No one thought anything was strange for a young white boy to be riding the bus by himself at 11:00 pm as long as he was dressed nicely.  We had recess after lunch every day, where we went out an played kick ball, played on jungle gyms, monkey bars and sung on swings.  And the teachers didn't mind if we climbed to the top and acted like we were King Kong.  Getting hit in the face with the tether ball only meant going to the nurse if your nose started to bleed, not a call to your parents and a trip to the doctor or the emergency room.  We walked or rode our bikes everywhere.  I remember being brought home by the police with my bike a couple of time after 10 at night when I rode all the way out to the airport 8 miles away and had been playing pinball in the game room.  The Airport Police officers didn't want me to get in trouble by riding home after curfew so they gave me a ride home.

We only had 3 maybe 6 TV channels and most of them went off the air after midnight, except maybe the UHF channel that would show old campy movies all night long.

I remember the first "Infomercials" that started taking over the late nights and the TV Stations started staying on the air all night to run them.

I remember the beer can collecting mania that took over all the highschool kids lives like my older brothers.  He and I would go dumpster and trash can raiding looking for cool and interesting cans for his collection.  I remember wading through the ponds on the golf course collecting golf balls to clean up and sell to golfers for .10 cents a ball.

I remember going fishing with my parents and my cousins at Montauk and while I never really caught anything I still had fun trying to make my own tackle to catch a fish.

I remember when I used to go to my Aunt and Uncle's farm where I would walk around all day either with a fishing pole or a little .22 single shot rifle.  A cup of worms and 100 rounds of .22 ammo both cost a quarter at the Western Auto and everyone there didn't see anything wrong with me walking in with a fishing rod in 1 hand and a rifle in the other as I got my bait and ammo.  At NINE years old.

It was a much simpler time back then.

We didn't have cell phones, home computers or in many cases not even television.  At the farm my aunt and uncle didn't even have a TV until I was almost in my teens.  It's not because they couldn't afford it, they could, it was there was just too much work to do to sit around and watch TV.

I remember where to get back home from my aunt and uncles farm, they would put me on a Greyhound bus all by myself.  And no one messed with me.  Everyone was always nice, polite and proper to everyone else.  If someone was rude to another everyone around them would stand up and speak up against the rude person.

I think that is one of the problems with society today.

We just can't be bothered to stand up and say "That's Wrong, Stop It."

We are just to self absorbed in our own lives to even think about the well being of others any more.

And for that, despite all of the other progress we have made, I'm sorry to see we have come too far too quickly.

And we have forgotten who we are supposed to be.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Bergdahl is a distraction

Ace brings it together.


"I can't help but think that Obama needed this deal now -- remember, the Taliban have been pushing this deal for two years, so it's not like they were going to pull back this deal any time soon -- because he needed some "stray voltage" to keep the VA scandal out of the headlines."

It's amazing.  Everytime there starts to be something that is REALLY damaging to"The One" suddenly some other scandal erupts to divert attention away.  I wonder just what evidence is being destroyed behind the scenes?

Addendum:

"Hello: White House Overrode Normal Rules of Interagency Debate on Bergdahl Exchange to Get the Answer They Wanted
—Ace"

Interesting page on the OSS

OSS OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES

I found it while reading through WRSA, and since I'm very interested in Military History, I thought I'd share it here.

Texas Hill Country.

I had to drive up to Kerrville, Texas in a Uhaul last week to help a neighbor move.  I brought my decent camera and my daughter took some pics.  I hope you like them.

Lotsa pics under the fold, they are clickable to embiggenate.

Is it any wonder why I'd like to move up to this area after all my kids graduate?


it's all so weird-from the inbox