Factory Guns

One bad thing about taking the 1911 gunsmith classes.  It makes it so hard to buy a factory gun again.  I know enough to be really picky.  So picky it gets expensive to ever get another.

Another problem.  Now that I made some modification under careful supervision and instruction I have one pistol with a lot of my sweat equity in, and I am kinda proud of.  But pride and high value is not what you want in a tool you can lose.  I need MANY 1911s I can be proud of, so if something happens to one of em I won't be overly upset.

Well THIS movie

Has some gunplay. And some chop-socky.

Turning the page

To a new era.

Guns magazine, regular readers know, posts pdf files of their old editions.

It's now 50 years ago. 1965. A watershed year by my lights. Somewhere around now the country descends into madness. Before this the veneer of adulthood remains

That Lileks fellow sorta agrees.  "The Twilight of the Grown Ups."  He likes the 50's part of the 60s.  Before it turned into fashion sensibility madness.

And the madness will descend further into the ennui of the 70s. 14 good years followed by 14 bad years

And the feel of gun magazines are changing.

They are worried about gun control. More and more of the magazine is devoted to it.

The Kleins sporting goods ads of Chicago are changing, too, in Guns Magazine.  See page 7.   Partly from Klein's connection to JFK getting killed two years prior, and certainly from the availability of surplus arms to sell. Now the cheapest gun is no longer a Carcano, but an inhouse sporterized Lee Enfield. Kleins put glass on lots of stuff for you, before you bought it.  Now, radios are getting ad space instead of S&W Victory revolvers.  In a gun magazine.  Like they are concentrating on 'sport' instead of the perfectly legitimate 'firearm'.  Because it is out of 'style.'

On this day

24 years ago I got married.

On this day 16 years ago I got divorced.

And so it goes.

Snoopy

This always means something good was coming on when I was a kid.  Usually Charlie Brown or Rudolph.

Back In MY Day

Kids would get off a person's lawn when told to.

Lost a bet

Hoosiers

I love that movie.

Is it because I am a basketball fan, a Gene Hackman fan, or an Indiana fan?  No.  Not particularly.

I just like it's mid 80s portrayal of what they thought the mid 50s felt like.  It wasn't really the 50s and it certainly wasn't the 80s.  Fake 50s, and a 50s I never new.  But I want to live in small town Indiana because of the movie.  Just because of the flavor the movie brings to my palate.   But that version.  The 80's 50s.

I don't think there was more than a single sunny day portrayed that whole movie 'season'.

Absolutely no gun content. 

I always liked Kennedy

From the Empty Vee!

In Prince's new song "Baltimore," he sings, "Let's take all the guns away." @KennedyNation reacts: TUNE IN now! pic.twitter.com/saYmsCoCUr

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) July 24, 2015

Seriously, what do we call them?

When it was the Brady Campaign is was easy to refer to "The Bradys" and everyone knew you were referring to gun banners.  We were on the same page

But now it is Mom's Demand Action or MDA and Everytown for Gun Safety and Everytown and Bloomberg's minions and Mayors Against Illegal Guns is still out there and so on. 

None of those rolls off the tongue, either.

Out of Pocket

I'm gonna be AFK for a bit, so the posts every day will be less inspired.  

I like their style

Sportsmen.

Damn Heines!

Notice that Southern California could pass for Italy, but not the Ardennes.  Course you could see Jerry in either place, right?



Perfidous Bosche!  No one likes them Squarehead Krauts.  Up yours, Fritz!

Murders, USA

What percentage of murders are committed by Democrat or Democrat sympathizers versus Republicans?

What percentage of murder victims are the same?  How many Dems kill other Dems

They never suss out that statistic, broken down by sex, age, and ethnicity.  You'd think the gun banners would have an easy time passing that law with bipartisan support.

"On account of a much higher murder rate, it is a felony for a registered Democrat to own, transfer, purchase, or possess a firearm."

Just spitballin here. 

Jeb is Trump

Jeb is like a politer housetrained version of Trump that is just more wrong on some policy positions that Trump holds now (wait a few months).

Jeb is Trump without the good ideas.  The only exemplary thing about Jeb is he managed to do that.

Jeb is a 'poor' Trump with establishment backers to make up the difference.

Jeb is Trump with slightly better hair.

Jeb is a less popular Trump.

I am equally likely to vote for either of them.  Which means I'd rather have a third Obama term.

Obama and Trump two of a kind?  Well so is Obama and Jeb, then.

Holy... again...

The moon!

Trained

There is some truth to this.

Love how Lefties say firearms should only be handled by "trained" personnel, then don't want soldiers to have them. http://t.co/2iD16rUEkl

— David Kahane (@dkahanerules) July 20, 2015

There is also some truth to "I wouldn't give an E-3 a nerf gun."  But and E-6?  Ok. I'd routinely give E-6s pistols. Certain E-3s I'd make exceptions for. If I was CO.

Good political move by Obama

Social Security people are mostly Baby Boomers, and they don't vote Democrat, so this is a gimme. And it's not like old people vote or anything in any significant numbers. Let the GOP have em.

White House plan would keep guns from millions of people on Social Security. http://t.co/sarBxfJOx6 pic.twitter.com/jJZ7mDBV4c

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 20, 2015

"He can still ban guns!"

"He just has to use the fed's throw weight via purchasing power to get the manufacturers to do his bidding." Says sumdood in the NYTimes.  To Obama. 

Look, Sumdood.  Obama only has 18 months left.  And he'd rather have a Democrat come in after him to secure his legacy.  And gun bans motivate votes for the GOP and lack of gun bans doesn't help elect Hillaries.

Plus, the gov't sorta tried this.  Turns out the purchasing power of the government doesn't stand up to the anger of gun buyers rejecting Quisling manufacturers.  It almost killed S&W in the 90s. 

Ma Bell

When I was wee, or maybe before, events happened at the local C&P Telephone.

Dad got a job there, out of the Air Force.  It was a good job.  And you had the join the Union voluntarily.  It wasn't a closed shop.  Dad would have been happy to do so, but dues cost money.  He wasn't in a hurry, but wasn't against the idea.

So he installed phone, fixed the payphone at the Hot Shoppe every Monday, climbed poles, you name it.  Happy in his work.  Beats hitting the books at college.  He liked it.  And was kinda good at it.  Management noticed it and gave him another job to do with a little bit more pay.  So he did that new job, happy as a clam for a short time.

Then the union noticed.

"Oh no you don't!  That ThunderDad guy doesn't have seniority!  You gotta give that job to the next in line.  I don't care if that guy is a dirt bag and you need someone good."

So Dad went back to climbing poles and such.  For less money.  His old rate.  And then another union guy came up and asked, "Hey, buddy, ol' pal, ol' friend are you ready to join up with your Union brothers!  We'll help you get better pay!"

"..."

Dad said no.  He had experience that that wasn't necessarily so.  He told them to pound sand down a rat hole and give him his money back cuz he had babies to feed.

So that was that.  Except management noticed that, too.  "Hey, Thunderdad.  You want to be a supervisor?  It's a management job."

And 30 years later he retired from C&P/Bell-Atlantic/Verizon telephone.  He only got to climb poles during strikes.  Which was a nice break.

I love the 2 strand copper phone service, and it is what I use.  I have never owned a working cell phone.  I will keep it as long as I can.  And I have my dad's old Butt-In

I am sorry about the experience some friends have had with their Plain Old Telephone Service.  I hope it's not a universal sign of the times to come.

What's a butt-in?  It looks like this:

 

Arm the .mil

So they aren't in gun-free zones and are able to defend themselves against domestic Muslim terrorists!

Trump is for it!  Even Borepatch is for it!

Heck, I am for it. 

But just to play Devil's Advocate here...  Let's say the policy was in place 3 years ago.  The bad guy goes to that Marine recruitment center, and the Marines return fire and prevail, as they are wont to do.  Instead of 4 Marines dead and the shooter driving off it's one Marine dead, one wounded, and one dead bad guy. 

In the aftermath.  The press goes:  "The military is operating on US soil against US citizens!  Just like Jade Helm! Thanks, Obama, for arming our boys against us"   And that is just from the right hand side of the political spectrum's chattering class.

The left press would go:  "Crazed PTSD afflicted Marine baby-killers snap and shoot up a shopping center."

You really can't win. 

This Guy

I think he does the route in my neighborhood, too.

Holy Shittake Snacks

I've been blogging for 8 years.  Never thought that would happen.


Tho I miss some of the bloggers that have taken down their shingle.  You know who they are.

Happy Birthday to me.  Woodhouse!  Make eggs!

To Kill a Mockingbird

Three things come under the sights of a rifle in that book.

1. Here is your first rifle Jem. Shoot all the pesky starlings you want but it is 'a sin to kill a mocking bird.'  Why? Because mockingbirds do no harm but do sing their hearts out to our enjoyment.
2. There is a mad dog, and it is an unpleasant duty to dispatch same. Atticus used a krag. Which is a nice touch for us gun enthusiasts, but neither here nor there.
3. And finally, Tom Robinson falls under the sights of a firearm and is shot trying to escape custody. Or maybe shot trying to 'escape' if you know what I mean. That is left up in the air. We don't really know the firearm, but that doesn't matter. We can perhaps assume a rifle, but, again, doesn't matter.

And the whole book is about whether Tom is a like a Mockingbird, being kind and helpful busting up chiffarobes, or was he a mad dog that need to be put down before he harmed more folks. We, the reader, know, but the people of 1930s Maycomb are of two minds.

Now, after some elder abuse, the family of Harper Lee have published a 'sequel'. Something we are to believe she never wanted published, and her sister helped protect her once her brains started to go to dementia, but now the sister is dead and their is money for her other family members to make so... published it is.

And it turns out fictional Atticus is a man whose only real exemplary principle is a singular belief to the rule of law.  (if reviews are to be believed, I refuse to exacerbate the poor woman's legacy by buying it) A principle he adheres to come what may, at any hazard. But he is also a man of the 1930s. And this was written about in the 1950s. And it turns out he a typical man of the 1930s, where even Settled Scientific Consensus backed up racist theory (see: Eugenics). He's not some enlightened Progressive superman with all the 21st Century happy thoughts on race everyone is suppose to think. So maybe this crappy sequel that highlights that fact is a good thing. Because the snooty white upper class Left isn't near as racially enlightened as they think they are. Maybe one or two will have some self-reflection on this matter.

Especially the ones that named a child for the Anti-Racist and now worry that other people will think they named him after the Racist Atticus.  Relax, Prog, no one will think that, as you send the brat to a private school in Manhattan.  The provost would never let an icky racist's child on the property, and the other parents know it.  So YOUR lil' Atticus is ok.  How do they know if those other people are racist or not?  Do they say nice things about super-conservatives Guiliani or Christie?  There you go.  Right?

COME GET ME, COPPERS!

What? 

I was no where near there.

I gotta go buy a motorcycle,  EXCUSE me.

Area of Concern

Chattanooga

Crime Wave

Crime might be down elsewhere, but someone got stabbed a half mile south of me last week and someone got shot to room temp at the Metro parking lot a mile east of me this week.  Others.  Vehicle burglary is more popular than house burglary, at least.

4th of July a guy a former congressional intern was stabbed a bajillion times for not giving up his phone fast enough.  Then the killer robbed others on the train car, as it was crowded.  That's in the District of the Columbia.  But only 8 stops away from that parking lot at the Glenmont station by me.  All above ground, and in the daylight after lunch.

Crime might be down where YOU are.  And you can probably legally defend yourself with your carry pistol there too.  Not me.

Jiggle jiggle jiggle, AT you!

Hootie McBoob here (Dem, Montgy Cty) wants to be my congresswoman, taking over for the great and noble Chris Van Hollen that thinks he is gonna step into Babs McCulsky's Senate office.



I don't think the arrest for Indecent Exposure and Sweater-Meat Brandishing (a misdemeanor in my state, I believe) will hurt her at the polls.  We have a lot of boobs that go to the polls here.

Totally unrelated question.  I wonder how many of our elected officials, percentage wise, just skate along that edge between sanity and a candidate for the booby-hatch?

"Kelly said 'Arrest me then', and put her wrists together in a gesture asking to be arrested.

She was arrested."

This is called

Stage One Thinking:

We could eliminate tuition at every public college and university in America with the $80 billion we spend each year on incarcerations.

— President Obama (@POTUS) July 14, 2015

And then what happens?  Free school and free felons.  Use your imagination, Mr. President.   I'll wait.

President Logic Fallacy

I refuse to choose between these two horrible unacceptable things that no one was actually contemplating, and I choose a third way that is bad for you but I like it.

Well, they may say that, but these experts I know say they are wrong.

Now excuse me while I light up these giant strawmen.

I am of the opinion that if you listen to the president speak he is 2 sentences or less away from a fallacy that he will be earnest to convey.

"We cannot go backwards"

Says mayor DeBlasio on the lessening of gun banning measures in NY State.

Oh, we aren't, silly.  We are going forwards.  The 2013 gun control measures were a blip in history, and the momentum is toward liberty.  A minor setback.  If it wasn't thus, the gun bans then would have been much more sever and widespread.   If you didn't get MORE people on board with gun bans in 2013, you aren't going to get them now.  Good people want a chance to shoot back at the bad guys that always can get guns.  Our American culture still has that kind of confidence in itself.

People have more freedom on who they marry now, more freedom on what drugs they take without legal consequence, even Social Conservatives are onboard for making birth control pills OTC, and the people are certainly gaining freedoms on what was always a recognized and enumerated right to defend ourselves against outrage and deprivation, your 'honor'.

No, we are going forwards, Mayor.  And your side is losing.  And that is a good thing.  You are a dinosaur looking at the sky and cursing the approaching asteroid.   You'll feel better if you get used to this reality sooner rather than later.  But who are we kidding? You are still a commie 25 years after it all crumbled away into the ashcan of history.

Victim Selection

It's common knowledge.  "Be alert so when criminals see you they see you are on the ball and they choose an easier victim"

I've been reading that reddit thread where people tell stories about times they killed another person.  Often in self defense.

The problem?  Besides some other unlucky innocent gets the short straw?  Criminals are often, maybe mostly, stupid.  Crime MAKES you stupid.

And they will pick the awake gun nut's house when he is at home.  That's not the only example!  Crime makes you stupid.  You could have a AR10 pointed at the front door and they'll still think it a good idea to bust it down and take you on.

Go over the bad guy's thought process.  He thinks he picked the best victim.  Lots of loot, easy to kick over, maybe no homeowner even HOME.  There was no car in the driveway, for example. Probably a short commute for the crook, as most of these are in self described sketchy neighborhoods.

But then the plan goes bad.  The guy is home and his car is in the shop.  He's called downstairs, "I have called the cops and I have a gun!"

There are several of these!  More than one story.  

When given the chance to bug out, full tilt, probably scot free, or.... to charge up a dark stairwell and take on a homeowner on his own turf and hope he is bluffing about the gun...  Some crooks choose the latter.  And this is a thread about homicides so they paid for their stupidity with a quickness.

Crime makes you stupid.  Bad guys aren't rational.  They don't think like you do.  Their sense of future consequences aren't like yours even for the ones that WOULD have fled at the first sign of homeowner.  Include these criteria in your mental planning and scenarios. 

AR Armorer

Gun Skool AAR.

This time, the AR class.

I figure I can use some brushing up.

I know a bunch more about the M1 and M14 because I spent a lot of time futzing with that platform as it was my only rifle.  I got an AR because... why not.  I wanted to be more familiar with the type.  And a class about it can't hurt in that regard.  And I like the instructor's style. 

The class went great.  But, it turns out, it was review for me.  I had practically rebuilt the upper once myself, just muddling through.  And the lower was a stripped lower already, when I got it.   But review is fine.  And I learned some tricks.  Like how to get the pins the join upper and lower out of the lower, and back in, withing sproinging the springs all over creation.  That by pulling on the adjustment lever the right way you can take off the butt stock from the buffer tube.  Oh, and when I got the ring off the barrel when swapping out forends?  I could have gently tugged and the barrel would have come out in my hands.

And whle I was there I went ahead and put in a match trigger.   Just for grins.

All in all, a good day, tater.

It's Cur Light Zoo?

It's Our A'ight Loo?

Uh oh.  She looks like she is getting annoyed that I am having trouble with the font.

Ma'am.

Ammo Sales

Ammo sales have been crazy since January of 2013, only starting to let up no, 2 and a half years later.

Manfacturers were running 4 shifts 25/8/366.  Well, 3 shifts 24/7/360 at least.  Full bore.  Faster faster faster.  All over the world.  To feed the demand.  And to make hay while the sun shines.

What's something that goes by the wayside with that kind of production pressure?  Quality assurance.  You might get a few extra dud rounds from this recent era that you might of in the past, is th etheory.

rule book

Range report

I had already put 250 rounds through my smithed-up gun without cleaning and without a hitch.  I wanted to put some more through it before detail stripping and cleaning and inspecting it.

I also wanted to test how it does with 8+1, see if there are any failure with extra in the mags.  And with mostly hollow point ammo.  It's an age old problem.  When you jam a lot of bullets in a magazine, for some reason, the last one fails to feed.  The best answer I hear is "Yeah, that'll happen.  Try never loading more than 7 or 7+1, depending.  Test that out."

I have another goal.  Be more careful with the trigger pull and be consistent.  Don't rush.

So I packed up for the range.

---

Yup, the last round didn't get under the extractor.  Like the round was stripped off but the base of the case didn't ride up the breech face and get under the hook.  It didn't matter which magazine.  New or old.  Half the time or more it would be a problem with that extra ammo.   In other words, the round was in the chamber but the slide can't go fully into battery because the rim of the case is on the wrong side of the extractor hook.  It stop a sixteenth shy.  I could give the frame a push and get the hook to ride over the rim, but I didn't want to do that.

McCormick mags, I love em, but when you load more than 7 the follower can get squishes and shift forward a bit, changing the angle it is presented during the strip part of the loading process.  Just that last one.  The other rounds ride on other rounds and the wonky angle is less pronounced.  At least that is my theory that is born out by some conversations I've had about it.

So, what is the fix if I REALLY want run 8+1 in my Ultra Custom Expert 1911? (TM.  I am trying names on for size in my very exclusive product line.)  Well, I can adjust extractor tension and test.  That might help.  And it's easy for me to do, now.  And I pretty much know how it should be.  But the back and forth to the range to test will take some time.   Another thing to try is Wilson mags, with their plastic follower.

My accuracy and trigger control?  Meh.  It was sort of an epiphany to get as good as I am.  To go from total rubbish to just plain rubbish.  Maybe I need another epiphany step.

Pepprrijj Fam Membehs

This means

Either:

1.  T-Bolt likes to paint his toe nails in ugly colors and doesn't care WHO knows it!  Or...
2.  He finally got around to marking the base plates on McCormick magazines.

Hmmm.

Ah, so #2.  As far as you know.

I haven't really ever had a failure that could be traced to these magazines, but they are getting up there in years and who knows.  Well, the silver ones with orange dots.  The green dotted black ones are newish and I intend them to go in mag holders for when I am in freer states than Maryland.  Or Pennsylvania, now. 

I used a modified Roman numeral system.  Dots for ones, up to 4 dots, and a big dash for fives.  I figure get up to 20, max, before I have to think of something new.  And that new thing, I guess, is a new color.  

Target Stand

I once made a target stand out of scrap 2x4s and drywall screws.  It was heavy and bulky and seems like a waste of wood.  Rifle bullets scrapped it with a quickness, too.

You know what makes a better quickie target stand for outdoor range days?  These.

(I chose this flavor because if I posted a pic of his opponent and that the signs make good targets, fringe idiots might come to the wrong and conclusion.  I'm not threatening anyone.  Unless wire sighs are now sentient beings, in which case I am a monster.)

You can get old signs, or use blank sign boards, also available online or at Staples.  Search for 'Yard Signs'.  Or, go to the liquor store and get corrugated cardboard boxes and cut them up to fit the wires.

Sometime your bullet will hit and part the legs, but at a buck a piece?  That cheaper than the Shoot N See stickers you are gonna plaster on the Michelob Ultra case you cut up.

Color Me Intrigued

I am a sucker for small, compact, solutions like this.



It could make me into a reloader, just because it's nifty.  Sorta like I would want to be a watch maker 100 years ago.  Because your whole operation from soup to nuts fits in a roll top desk.  And that sort of tidiness is right in my wheel house.

You know what else?  Rifle cleaning kits that fit in a magazine sized and shaped container.  The West Germans made one and you can get them in surplus stores, and I have one for my M1A.

I need one for my AR.  Like this one.  But more available.  Oh wait, it's on Amazon.  Carry on.

Yeah I am a sucker for stuff like those.

Army's New Pistol

The proposed XM17 has 3 main contenders.

1. STI Detonics STX
2. Sig 320
3. Beretta APX

What?  No Gold Cup Delta Elite?  Woulda really helped out Colt if they had thrown them a bone, and before now.  That was my first thought. 

My second thought is that these guns, while interesting, don't scream time tested familiarity.  The STI intrigues, but heck the Taurus Curve and Remington R51 intrigue me.  Doesn't mean I'd get one for myself.

My third thought is that I doubt DoD will do anything.  Again.

(The gunsmith that I take classes from is not a fan of that Colt, btw.  Weird trigger, Series 80, plus odd extra fiddly bits in the sear?  Ick.)

But this comment about the 1911: "Um, no. Every pistol on this list is more accurate, reliable, has a higher magazine capacity, and better recoil control that the service grade 1911."  I quibble.  I'd say the expense of keeping a 1911 at that level is the real problem.  It can be equal or better than every gun on the list, with those criteria.  It just take labor and money to do that, pricing the model out of the competition in a stroke.

Pinkos Decorated in Pink.

Anonymous friend of T-Bolt forwards this to me:

Commie dollhouses!

Kinda neat!

East Germany.  The Day-Day-Are.  Deutsche Demokratishe Republick.  Or what have you, spelling wise.  Well, I guess even Stasi have little daughters.  And just because you chase after the phantoms or Dialectical Materialism and lay waste to the people and the land with your wrong headed impossible dreams of a utopian eschaton that really leads to fire and slughter and suffering doesn't mean you can't ALSO have style.  Of a sort.

I love the olive wood laminates on the sitting room set.  And that radio in the breakfast nook!

Probulated

Pluto Probe Went Into Sage Mode and We Don't Know Why.

Fools!  The answer is obvious.

Do you think that's a Model 29

In the right hand?  I mean is that W's style?  Or is he more of a Model 25 type of guy?  The pistol in the left hand is easy.

Independence

Go eat something grilled outside and fire off the anvil.

But BE careful! I have few enough readers as it is.

What caliber for...

N00b Shoulder Holster review

"T-Bolt, how can YOU review a CCW holster? You live in the Gun Crow state of Maryland, and if the local constabulary catches you, they'll lock you up and throw away the key."

How?  About the house, I'm working from home this week.  It's not perfect, but it's sumthin.

I wanted to see how the old style shoulder holster felt for me, doing office type stuff.  Sitting, going to the powder room, making lunch, that sort of thing.

First you do muzzle that off side arm when you draw.  For some reason I thought it would not.  You'd have to contort your "other stronghand" when getting the gun to keep from not pointing the dangerous part at main cables.  I'd rather have a stripe on my ass than a hole in that area.  So, a down side

It's not as easy to draw as hip holster of various flavors.  It's like the holster needs lube.  Or baseball mitt treatment.  Or just lot of holstering-deholstering.   You gotta pull up and out to free it.  When it cooperates it is gentle and easy, but if you rush it, it's gonna jam in there. 

It leans toward the right.  Even with 2 mags to counter balance.  If it was the no mag type of holster? sheesh I'd list to starboard with a 1911.  Some to get used to, or use the tie down on that side

The advantages of this holster:

• it don't pull pants down
• convenient spare mag toting
• easy on and off, if not that stealthy
• more comfy in a car

Law Giver Daze

A Man Bowl

More like a HUMAN bowl.  I keep looking all over of the stuff I want to carry with me when I go out.  "My wallet is over here, my keys are where..."  So a centralized location is called for.  Why not make this thing a rough hewn wooden bowl?  The only thing missing in a quick grab situation is a canteen and an energy bar.

-

Knife.  Because I am not an animal.  I will not gnaw on clamshell packaging with my teeth. 

Fingernail clippers.  Because I haven't figured out that way to trim your nails with a knifeblade. 

Chapstick.  Because I refuse to use my own earwax when my lips are dry.

Fire.  We humans mastered that aeons ago.  I don't even smoke anymore, but making fire is important.

Light.  Sometime a match is not enough to push away the darkness.

Writing tools. Something to write on is easy.  Something to write with less so.

And F*** mosquitoes.


Additionally, more advanced tools are nearby.  For times I am not going to the Post Office or whatever.

Not pictured:  The stuff in my pockets or on my person already.  Wallet, watch, keys, other knife

-

And this is just walking around stuff.  That's a BUG gun, in a normal world. 

All this stuff makes me think how you can get by on just the stuff in your pockets.  Add a toothbrush, and throw my clothes away every 3 days instead of laundering them and make me a tough gorilla and then I am a Jack Reacher type.  Yeah, like that'll happen.

So why in the bowl?  Well, I don't carry ALL that.  But I switch out gear at times.  Frex:  Smaller knife in the summer or with particular pants or if I am going to an airport or what have you.  The problem was, it was scattered all over.  This is trying to organize it into one place so I don't go "where did I put that tiny flashlight and knife combo..." as I pace through the house.  Wouldn't need a bowl if my drawers didn't collect junk.  I just need a place for this stuff.  Years ago, tired of searching high and low, I made a place for my wallet and keys.  And trained myself to use it.  I want to train myself to put this sort of accoutrement here.  Not change or loos paper clips or business cards.  Objects.  That go in a pocket. 

I'm also thinking that this is where a holstered pistol will go, or nearby here.  Perhaps a hook on the wall where I'd hang tomorrow's pants, with holster already looped to the belt, ready to go.  Save some time in the morning, and quick access in the night, as this whole shebang is placed by my bed.

Thanks Gov. Hogan

He has repealed Maryland's hated rain tax.  Effective today.

We have a reprieve until 2017 when President O'Malley instates it federally.

Carter 2

I was a kid in Elementary School for the malaisey Carter years.  My teachers, in hindsight, were typical liberals.  My mom liked the man, I bet, but not too much.  She voted for Anderson in 80.  Dad was never a political type.  But I didn't like Jimmy Carter.  I wasn't influenced by anyone.  The biggest influence?  Unchecked inflation and economic doldrums.  A kid like me notices that.  Especially with a can of Coke goes up to 45 cents from 25, a nickel at a time.  It was formative.  Helped make me a Reagan Republican. 

Today's wee bairns?  They are gonna be conservatives too.  As long as the next president doesn't screw up bad and gets the feds out of the way of the economy. Why?  Because of Obama?  Aka:  Carter II?  Yes, but the other Obama.   Michelle.

Like I was nudged by expensive sodas, they will be nudged by her execrable school lunch initiatives.  "Why was the President's wife writing my schools school-lunch menu?  And it was horrible.  Out of Oliver twist.  And that President Perry did a good job, like he did with Texas, right after.  And his wife kept her nose out of my business."

I had no truck with Rosalynn Carter.  But Amy annoyed me, even then.