T-Bolt?

 "Are you not telling us something?"

Today is my Third Infusion

Real infusion.  Not counting what felt exactly like infusion in the infusion room those three time times but was really an excuse to take labs and give my fluids and get me in practice.

Remember when I told you they lie?  "It's will be be just a coupla infusions, 4 hours each.  I know I told you zero before."  It's more like 10, plus.  Up to 9 hours.

"Someone didn't tell you to bring a lunch and blanket."  Nope.  This is a hospital.  You don't have blankets?

It's sugar coating and lies of omissions.  Just give me the straight unvarnished truth.  I've told you that, need to tell you again.  Maybe ask my real life expectancy.

Anyway, I felt no side effect from the first 2 real chemo type infusions.  Horray 21st Century advances.  No vomiting, no nausea, prolly will keep my eyebrows.  Great success so far!  I look forward to seeing the labs for THIS one.  Numbers were kinda normalizing....  Hemoglobin up to almost normal, white blood cells down to almost normal.  Good stuff.  I bet that giant lymph node in my gut has shrunk, too.

Also:

---

No side-effects.

Remember the 1970s?

Democrats and the media weren't cool with the hostage crisis in Iran and weren't cool with inflation, either. 

Have constituencies changed that much?  People that buy things and aren't as fortunate as I am currently, (buying expensive sweaters and fancy furniture without it breaking my budget) being really hurt by real inflation.  Not inflation on sofas.  Inflation on food, gas to get to work, used cars.  

When I Worked at the Brewery

I was poor.  And working a crew at the bottling line was boring, so we'd jaw-about.  "First thing you do if you won the lottery?"  "Two chicks at the same time..."  

My first thing?  To buy a restaurant quality citrus juicer.  I liked OJ with my brefass, and the only OJ I knew was this:

Not satisfactory, and I didn't like the pulp.  I wanted fresh for once, I was a lottery winner.  So, this is what I wanted:

When I started a better paying office job and moved into this house my mom went grocery shopping to help fill my cabinets while me and the boys moved in my furniture.  One of the things she got was this: 

 And my life changed.  THIS tasted fresh enough and I didn't have to do any pulp alleviation.  My juicer dreams went on hold, even tho my means didn't require a lottery jackpot to afford one.  Besides, that juicer takes up a lotta counter real estate i na small kitchen.  

I gotta get rid of that air fryer.  Upgrade the toaster oven at the same time (stove and toaster hidden by fridge).  Keep the mini convection oven capability and free up that counter space.

I digress

My mind revisited this ole citrus-squeezer dream every now and then until I finally got this:

It's a compromise, but still good.  Seven medium sized oranges through a strainer later and I enjoyed a nice glass of my own fresh squeezed.  Another thing off the bucket list.  And now I am eyeballing the pomegranates.  

Death!

In the 17th C.  London.

From reddit.

And remember, London in 33 years after this list will have a Bubonic Plague outbreak that won't see an end of til the town burns.  That will do in 100,000.  

Just considering the stuff that made the triple digits, the big ones.

• Old age
• Childbirth, various, death to mother or child or both
• Diarrhea
• Infection
• Tuberculosis
• Being an infant, very dangerous
• Small Pox
• Bad teeth

And Edema and Convulsions from something, probably another cause.  Lots of the little ones also end up really being part of the above.  

Seven murders in a metropolis of half a million.  More died of tetanus.

Thank goodness for vaccines, sanitation, antibiotics, and modern dentistry.  Insert English teeth-joke, here.  

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm just enjoying it alone.  In the dark.

Oh, I have pie!

 

Been thinking about the setup

They knew Kyle would rush up to put out a fire.  They'd seen him do it.

What if Rosenbaum coordinated with the fire starter and the unknown pistol shooter?  To get Kyle out of place for an ambush.  Rosenbaum had hair on his ass and was willing to take the risk.  He chose poorly.  After Rosenbaum was shot the mob…mobbed, and numbers looked for strikes to Kyle's rear if the opportunity presented.  Jump kick from behind.  Huber's skate board on the flank.  Grosskreutz with the Glock.  I doubt these had anything but just the most general coordination.  Nothing beyond, 'get em!'

But angry Rosenbaum, he wanted a scalp.  Crazy and stupid and angry.  His attack might have had more planning to it.

Dumb?

Was it dumb to step up and try to protect a friends place from commies the cops refused to control? 

I wouldn't say dumb.  It seems like his motivations ended up being purely honorable, too.

It may not have been wise.  Going out there might easily get you wrapped around the legal axle, Kyle, and hindsight has proved that out.  The court case could have gone against you.  And it gave you month of misery before emerging from the darkness.  A wiser move might have avoided all that, but at least it ended satisfactorily.  He was just a roof-Korean on the ground, a less than optimal tactical positioning.

Medal of Freedom from President Biden?  Sure, why not.  Would help handsy-Joe's poll numbers.  

Jaleel, self defense is self defense

 

Jaleel Stallings [a black man] fired on police officers during the George Floyd riots. Why? They shot at him first and he didn’t know they were cops [they didn’t identify themselves] — so he shot back.

NOT GUILTY. SELF DEFENSE. pic.twitter.com/SqbRiqy4r2

— Eve Keneinan 𝛗☦️ن (@EveKeneinan) November 19, 2021

Not just this guy even felons like Andrew Coffee IV are entitled to self defense.  Not just squeaky clean 17 year old white kids that wanna grow up to be a fireman. 

Sweater Weather

I hated sweaters growing up.  The wool is kid's sweaters at the price level people would buy me were always super itchy.   And I hated tight-fitting pullovers thicker than a t-shirt.

But now that I am older button down cardigans appeal.  Especially as I am more cold-sensitive with the cancer and all.  

I can afford decent ones, too.  But there is a downside to the nice stuff.  Fabric care.  Dry clean only?  Like that is gonna happen.  But people had sweaters longer than the dry clean process.  If I have a care I can cold hand-wash in Woolite and dry by sandwiching between two towels on a flat surface.  I can also help that care regime with blends.  I'm no cashmere snob.  

There is only one problem with drifting toward a shawl collar cardigan.  The vibe is more Mr. Rodgers, or besotted Irish middle aged pub rat if I am in my cups.  The right white pullover and a captains hat and I'd look like a U-Boat Captain. 

Seriously, tho.  I used to just wear a shirt, all winter long, with the thermostat set to 68.  Now it is t-shirt, flannel shirt, wool socks, and sweater and I am tempted to turn up the dial.  And that's when the temperature outside dips below 50.  

---

oops, set for wrong 6 o'clock

They lied

 Again.

They said it was 4 hours?  More like 8.

Another Big Day

Real Chemo Day.  First one.  Big IV bag and everything.  9:30. I'll let you know how it turns out.   

Well THIS win was totally unexpected

"Ghost Guns" Quality (ahem) firearms you make yourself at home, a totally normal and un-nefarious act, is not gonna be illegal in Washington DC. 

I never expect surprise wins.  It seems to always go the other way.  The ratchet of rights restrictions tightens their way, not our.  But here is a good one.  

The District of Columbia has dealt with Dick Heller before, and lost Bigly.  Don't want anymore of that guy all up in their face.  

Why work such a Bill in the first place?  Criminal could (and have) built guns and used them to commit felonies, and these guns weren't traceable back to the last legal purchaser or gun store.  As opposed to committing felonies with guns acquired from some legal purchaser or gun store by some illegal means.  I mean, c'mon, the point is the committed felonies, not trying to find the last innocent that laid hands on something and wrap that poor person around an axle.  Focus!

At least making guns from 80% frames or lowers is better than zip guns or pipe shotguns.  And there certainly is a totally licit purpose for same. 

But the DC council wasn't writing a bill that made sense and took sensical things into account, and Heller called em on it before they made a mistake.

Not Guilty

I thought the kid was Not Guilty on day one, with all the video that came out then.  

Glad he's free.  Still think it more prudent to not do stupid thing with stupid people (the rioters doing their argel-bargle) at a stupid time of night.  But stupid isn't a crime.  

Now I don't think Black Rifle Coffee Company stepped on their own d!ck by being against Kyle or being against self defense.  Their problem was talking to the NYTimes and expecting to be treated fairly, maybe motivated by their desire to take the company public, I dunno.  The frog listening to the scorpion before crossing the river.  Talking to the big Media should make as much sense as doing stupid things with stupid people at a stupid time of night.  I think BRCC made a mistake.  That or a perplexing conscious decision.  

--- --- --- 

Hey, he probably does get that rifle back, doesn't he.

Chemo

"Hey we know we scheduled you for chemo on the Tues/Wed of Thanksgiving week, can we push that up to the 6th and 7th?  It being the holiday and all."

YOU MEAN AFTER I ALREADY SCHEDULED AROUND IT?  SURE!  JUST LET ME USE YOUR TIME MACHINE SO I CAN GO BACK AND CHANGE MY TRAVEL PLANS!  THIS IS MORE DELAYS IN MY TREATMEN FOR A THING THAT HAS ALREADY BEEM DELAYED A YEAR AND A HALF SINCE WUFLU KNOCKED EVERYTHING INTO A COCKED HAT!  WHAT'S ANOTHER WEEK AFTER 18 MONTHS, AMIRITE?!

"No, that would be inconvenient for me."

Falling Apart

Going to the Orthopedist today.  In the long list of kitchen sink health issues I am struggling with, my left wrist feels broken.  It may not BE broken, but let's let a pro tell me one way or another.  Get a brace or a cast or stretches to do... whatever.  

My guess, carpal tunnel.  

I can't take my wallet out of my pocket, tuck my shirt in, or draw from a holster right now.  I am nigh helpless to defend myself.  If the Rittenhouse riots come to my street I am boned.   

This does wear on a fella.  I feel like one of those tender vittles that always got hurt back in school.  I looked down on them, then, but now karma returns. 

That seems germane to the Defense

First we were told the FBI lost the the high res drone footage.  Here is the low res, tho.

Then the trial happened and the DA had to zoom in on low res footage to make his case that KR was threatening with his rifle.  A no-no.  Awful blurry...

NOW we are told, after the trial, that the DA apparently had that lost footage this whole time.  Didn't share with the Defense.  Or tell the FBI they found it or something?  Was it in the sofa cushions?

I'm calling Shennanigans.

Any Port in a Storm

I get to take the bandage off, myself today.   And shower.  Hurts a bit.  Like everything else.  I talked about the surprise mediport they made me get.  It's one thing after another.

Go in for back pain, get neck surgery instead.

Go in for neuropathy, get cancer instead.

Gain a bit more energy when they treat that and then walk out to the car two extra times during a workday and get denied care at a pharmacy after a long walk and get awful blood blisters on the soles of the feet

Go in to get a wound fixed on a foot and the cane brings on awful, crippling, carpal tunnel in my shooting hand.

Go in for cancer pills, get months of infusion tacked on as a surprise. 

Go in for a simple vaccination and they tell me I gotta go back again.  And again.  And so on.   

Well all the time ya spend trying to get back what's been took from ya, more is going out the door. After a while you just have to try to get a tourniquet on it.  

Maybe one day all this medical folderol will settle down.  Not this week, though.  It wears on you, ya know?  I knew I'd get aches and pains as I got old but I didn't think they'd come all at once, now.  Just keep going like I am gonna hit age 95 and if I don't get there let it be a surprise, I guess. 

The Moon

The moon landing hoaxers are just covering the true conspiracy.

 

 

Dust Cover

I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than that ejection port

— J T Bolt (@NewJovianTBolt) November 13, 2021

Well, I, for one, am shocked

It’s so crazy how you can go into a store and buy a FULL AUTO MACHINE GUN right off the shelf with no background checks. We need stronger gun laws @Everytown @MomsDemand pic.twitter.com/BUWlVev3PB

— 🇲🇽 𝒦𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒟𝒾𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈 👑 (@Dianexis) November 14, 2021

Brunch

I think I'll go to brunch at the club. 

Fatty

Fellow blogger Miguel has had great success losing a lot of weight.  Good on ya! 

I, too, have dropped a bunch.  August 2020 I weighed in at 296.  By my neck surgery that Christmas time, I was down to 266.  I chalked it up to teetotalling a bit, because I wanted less strain on my neck and back.  I assumed back surgery was next in the cards.  

But we know, now, that Cancer may have helped drop the poundage.   And now COMPLETE teetotalling.

I was stuck at 266 for months.  Well, now chemo has started.  Down to 256.  Might have to go dig out some old pants at this rate.  REAL Chemo, not just pills, hits at Thanksgiving.  

I like being svelte, and I like how easy it is to stay at the lower level, but the circumstances helping me are unsustainable.  In 7 months the drip will be done, and I might be getting back to normal.  If in remission I may put the pounds back on.  

That's the bad news.

The good news is this cancer never goes away.  It'll come back and weight loss will be easy.

"What do you do for a diet, T-Bolt?"

Nothing.  Cancer diet!  But try to add protein, by doctor's orders.  Oh yeah, no booze.  Other than that... sedentary lifestyle.   

10th

21.5 million people hold a CCW permit.

Plenty of states, now, you don't even need a permit to CCW.  Could have been another 5 million on top of that 21.5?  4,000,000? 

There are only 258 million adult in this country.  So 1 in 10 adults can or are toting at any one time.  40 people at the Safeway with you?  Four of them legally have a pistol for personal defense.

I just thought that amazing.

-

Oops, even John Lott beat me to this.      

I Can See That Too

I do not accept the idea that the people of a community should sit by and allow rioters to destroy it.

I'm not a leftist.

— RBe (@RBPundit) November 11, 2021

Been thinking

What with the Supreme Court case, and the failures of judgement of Kye Rittenhouse placing himself, of his own volition, into the wrong place at the wrong time, for good reasons, perhaps...

No matter.

What if, in some crazy parallel universe, the Supreme court rules that the entire country is Constitution Carry, and all gun free zones are a violation.

Then the gun 'bans' would be on the individual carriers.  We'd ban ourselves.

"That outdoor event will be super crowded.  Easy to get pickpocketed.  I better not go or if I do leave my pistol at home or switch to super-deep relatively inaccessible carry."  

"I better not hit the Bank of America ATM on Mugme Street, it is after 11PM, after all.... Not without 3 friends."

"Big protest downtown.  I agree with the cause but there are likely to be angry counter protesters.  Better stay home. "  (Tho, funny story, I was in Cleveland when a protest appeared around me. I was armed, as were the people I was with.  But it was just green haired upper middle class college students in a tony part of the restaurant district.  'Who's streets?  Our streets.' with no real enthusiasm.  No big deal.)

I mean, you CAN ban yourselves.  Or you can open carry in a floppy holster and get disarmed by any kid with a notion to.  And the sliding scale between the two with various levels of retention and wariness.  For me, and I am sure about all of you, there is a little extra responsibility assumed when carrying.  In my advanced age I try to apply more common sense than when I was a knucklehead youngster.

But heck, with universal Constitution carry, maybe that'd be like the floor of an NRA show.  Lots of carry, no shennanigans, no drama.

Yeah, It's a Mystery

What did the prosecution think they were doing in the Rittenhouse case?

I don't need to tell you if you have been paying the least bit attention to it.  The prosecutorial witnesses all get turned into defense witnesses.  

If it weren't for the controversy and high visibility and politics of the thing this whole case would have been dropped long ago, in a rational world.

"Withdraw all charges." "Directed verdict."  "Case dismissed."  

I still don't feel comfortable with Kyle being there.  Stuff went down because he was there and obviously armed.  On full display.  And that made him a foci of the awful people that show up on purpose to riot and destroy.  Nothing good happens after dark.  If you wanna be a Roof Korean, stay on your roof.  Your store.  Don't be Batman until after you make your first billion.

Yes, Kyle did all those things wrong.  That doesn't mean he didn't defend himself lawfully.  It's not a crime to be out after 10, it's just increases the likelihood of bad results occurring when you are out after 10.  He effed up, but not in a 'needs time in prison now' kind of effed.      

---

And now HE takes the stand.  Did not expect that.  Doing fine, and DA's office is covering themselves with the same amount of glory they have the entire trial.  

---

Was is wrong to go to Kenosha?  No, not WRONG.  Just tempting fate.  At least he was able to defend himself instead of going all Reginald Denny.  

 

Ooo this

 If I hate it, well, it wasn't that much money.  Not like a leather Chesterfield.  This'll do.

Furniture Shopping

I wanna upgrade two old and busted furniture items.  A hand me down club chair, and a 90s sofabed.  Get something GOOD.  

See em?  You can see the recliner like at the top of this blog.  The green chair and the sofa.

Get the new hotness delivered.

And get the old thing hauled away.

I always wanted something like a Chesterfield.   And this one is wide enough I can sleep on it.

Can't decide with the chairs...  

Which style?  All have something going for them.

 

Oh Joy

They keep changing the deal.  First it was just 2 a day capsules.  Then them two plus a handful of others.  Oh, and IV hydration.  And no beer.  And you are gonna need a couple IV chemos in a month or so.  Ok, LOTS of IV chemos.  Stupid cancer.

Now I gotta get one of these surgically installed.   More machine than man, now...

 

What is that? A port, in my chest, to make it easier to give blood samples and get that chemo infusion.  

Scan

I bought maybe 3 Soldier of Fortune magazines in my life.  In the 80's.  One of em reviewed a stainless Colt Python, I remember that.  There was another article about bounty hunters.  Another about modern military Sniper doctrine, and concentrate on Israelis (that was where some of the action was, after all.)

Well this fell out of one of the magazine and I found it during the recent clean.  Neat.  Remember the Contras?

   

Dred Scott

The decision was prolly right, by the law, in the Dred Scott case, if Taney was a racist ass, or not.  It decided two things.  Former slaves, freedman, or any black person, had no rights the country had to observe, and thus no real standing in court, and Congress had no authority to enact laws in the territories regarding slavery.

A Civil War happened and 3 Amendments were passed to sort that all out.  So the execrable parts of Dred Scott resolved.  

But us gunnies note the ruling did elucidate the assumptions people had in the 1850s regarding individual rights of US Citizens.  So when an anti-gun person says that them old timers just thought of right to keep and bear arms belong only to the militia, we can point to this case as a dispositive to that collective right nonsense.

Kopel goes into all this in a long Federalist article.   I've been harping on this subject a while, but Kopel does a much better job.  RTHT, &c.

SCOTUS Arguments

Reading the court tea leaves is folly, but we all do it anyway.

Been checking the oral argument transcript.  Normally this has been hashed out line by line elsewhere, but not this time, yet.  There is some, yes.  But not the big splash I'd have expected.  

Encouraging from CJ Roberts:  "The idea that you would need a license to exercise a right is unusual with regard to the Bill of Rights." 

Makes him sound friendly to Vermont style Constitution Carry.  Wouldn't that be a weird ruling in June?  Making the entire nation permitless at a stroke?  Way too much to ask for.  I truly doubt.  But....

 

Bloodymore, Murerland

Well, I guess there is some news, and local, in Baltimore Maryland.

Perennially bedecked with some of worst crime in the country, pound for pound, my state's largest city is on an upswing of violence right now.  Bigwig city politicians are proud and happy for the largesse coming their way to ostensibly tamper down this upswing.  That money might be doing something but... it has no impact apart from greasing pockets that need to be greased.

The American Rescue Plan's Safe Streets is hogwash.  At least in Baltimore.  Prolly in your local city, too.

So it goes.  

The city takes, but no longer produces.  More money goes in than value comes out.  Every extra dollar sent into it is a dollar consumed with nigh zero returns on that investment.  At least this money came from the printer, so people in Oregon are also paying, and not just me and my neighbors. 

 

Not much 2A news

The SCOTUS case won't be ruled on til June.  Mebbe there will be news during the arguments here soon.

Mass shooting in a mall?  Only 2 hits and the shooter was a felon.  No news traction.

I have no interest in getting a new blaster.  Bout the only thing that interests me is something with a can.  .22 or .45.  But not til I get my energy.

Speaking of energy.  Been on capsule flavored Chemo.  IV Chemo is Tuesday Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.  Joy.  Poor timing, that.  Turkey sammiches for me at home in my clean house.  If I feel like eating, that is.... 

I was just as surprised about the election results as you.

 

One thing about a super clean

Is you find a lotta stuff.  Found a lot more gun book and gunsmithing supplies.

And you also dream of better organization. 

I have a messy crowded wood shop.  For working wood.  Not guns.  I have the equivalent of four of five bins of gunsmithing tools and books and supplies.  There is no room for gunsmithing in my wood shop.  Only woodworking.  But now I can dream of making a little nook.  Or at least shelving to get the gun stuff off the bench and on a shelf.  Then neaten up the woodshop.

I might not have the energy or enervated nerves to WORK in the shop, but with some help (that I am most grateful for) I might be able to organize the shop.  And wouldn't that be nice.  

One thing I am thinking is wheeled dollies to LOTS of this stuff.  Put stuff in a bin, stack 3 bins on a dolly.  Mobile organization.  Where is winter clothes?  In those bins on that dolly in the back that are all labelled winter clothes.  Easy to get to, just wheel these stacks out of the way... 

No.

 Huh-uh

Mr. Clean

Ooops.  Thought a scheduled a post for today.

With the help of My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast and his missus, I got a LOT of cleaning done this weekend.  Like cleaned stuff I had been neglecting for 15 years.  

His wife LOVES to clean houses.  And I love her.  Not like that.  Anyway, they offered to help a fella out.  This was like a a detail-strip of my house instead of a infrequent interval of a field-strip cleaning.

And it is glorious.

I can't get down on the floor so easy these days and there was a dust possum under my bed, for example.  

They hauled a full sized capped pickup truck bed worth of junk to the dump.  That might have been the most important bit.  

I feel so... lightweight.  Like me and the house could fly if I got a handful of helium balloons attached to it.       

So pleased and thankful right now.