We've been having fun. Two quick notes:Being without power for 30 hours sucks. 50 degrees is cold. Dog kept looking at us funny since he doesn't understand we don't have fur. My backyard looks like the Somme.That second one bears elaboration. It is what happens when my wife asks me to clear a space in the yard for Foster to do his thing away f...

I know I haven't posted anything this year so I thought I'd start.With the disaster in Haiti the USA is sending aid. As usual in any international crisis one of the first questions asked is "Is a carrier available?". Fortunately, there was: USS Carl Vinson. Within a day or so of the earthquake, she sortied from Norfolk, VA and arrived off the co...

Two days ago, there was a shooting at the Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) in Woodbridge, VA, a suburb of Metro DC. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The gunman, a pathetic loser whose name shall not be mentioned by me, walked into a math class and took two shots at his instructor. Both missed. He was unable to get off additional shot due...

This is post 500. So a small milestone in my tiny corner of the world.First, upcoming events. I am planning to attend the Metro DC Gun Blog Meet in Sterling, VA on December 5th. Should be fun!Now onto fun stuff...I've been working on the boat. Boy, has this become a project! She's not a project boat but rather just getting my elbows into the t...

Remember kids, according to the VPC and Brady Campaign, having a gun to defend yourself is bad because the uber-skilled, smart, professional gun using criminal will simply wrest it away from you and shoot you with it. Better to leave it to "professional protectors" like the police who know the secret skills of keeping their guns and using them cor...

Ahh, the cold water phase of a new boat. It occurs after the purchase euphoria wears off and you're faced with the reality that you have an older boat needing the attention of your bank account. We're tackling a number of issues.Big surprise was the mechanic telling us after winterizing our outboard that he wouldn't trust the engine with his fami...

I heard on the radio over the weekend in discussion of John Allen Muhammad's execution tonight how it was necessary to try him in Virginia for a capital crime to ensure that he would actually be executed because Maryland wouldn't have carried it out. The commentator was a politician in Maryland so I found that an accurate and sad reflection on jus...

Kevin has a quote of the day up on his blog regarding Reality TV. Call it a quiet day but I'm going to jump on his coattails on the subject and ride along.I don't watch "reality TV" because, frankly, it isn't "real". At least not "real" in the sense of "real life". Kevin's quote highlights the difference. I'd like to expand on it.My wife loves ...

Here's what's going on....Getting the Catalina ready for the winter. I'm having a rig inspection performed this week and the mechanic coming by to pull the outboard, service it and store it for the winter. Assuming the rig passes inspection and doesn't require the mast to be dropped (unstepped in sailing terminology), we'll pull the batteries off...

Since posts are worthless without pics, here are the "baby pictures" I promised yesterday....

Funny for a "gun blog" that I haven't written about guns in a while. I have plenty of material but honestly just haven't been in the mood to get it all down.I'll have to fix that. A conversation with my best friend "back home" has inspired a couple of things. Unless you live in New Jersey, Illinois or NYC, thank your lucky stars. You'll underst...

It is said that you will know the boat for you when you find it.I think we've found it.We went out to the boatyard yesterday to narrow down our choices. There were two boats I wanted to take a look at. A Hunter 27 that we had taken a look at previously and I wanted a second look at and a Watkins 27 that seemed to look good.So I find myself on the...

It's possible that the Great Boat Hunt might be ending this month. We are considering making on offer on a C&C 29 Mk.II.She's a pretty sailboat. A fin keel cruiser/racer drawing 5'3". It has all of the features we are looking for in a sailboat which include:Roller furlingInboard auxillary propulsionShort-handed rigging configurationBiminiWhe...

Tam points out some issues with the horrible excuse making that is occurring by various members of the Hollywood set excusing Roman Polanski's behavior because of what he has gone through and how long ago it was.So let me ask this: Would you defend Roman Polanski for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl back if his wife hadn't been killed by Char...

Greg asks when I become an "honest-to-God Yankee", as he put it.Answer: Just getting the paperwork together and waiting for some answers to some specific questions on the N-400 "Application for Naturalization".If you want to appreciate what you were born with, click that link. Page 5 is one of the fun ones. I need to list all of the times I have ...

I got the pleasure of going to my first Jewish services with my wife and mother-in-law for the Jewish New Year with culminates with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in Judaism.While not a religious man myself and having issues with organized religion in general, Judiasm has some nice point as compared to Christian denominations I grew up with. As ...

My wife and I had the opportunity to go sailing on the Chesapeake Bay aboard a Beneteau First 376 owned by a friend of hers. I'm never one to turn down an opportunity to crew for others and this trip was to serve two purposes. One was to give us a feel for a Beneteau under sail. Two was to let my wife experience sailing on the Bay, which is very di...

They say the two happiest days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. I was actually a little depressed when we sold our O'Day 22 because she really was a good boat. It's tough giving up something that has been good to you. So I wasn't as happy as I should be.If the day you sell is the happiest, the hunt for its replac...

For those of you enthralled by the recent new images from the refurbished Hubble, I offer you a tidbit of knowledge that you may not be aware of. Generations of people have grown up with the subconscious knowledge that the Milky Way Galaxy where we live is a typical spiral galaxy. Not unlike our nearest spiral neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)....

Tomorrow my wife and I will take our farewell sail on our O'Day 22. Tomorrow afternoon she will belong to someone else.Some of you are probably thinking "What? You've only had her a few months!".We came to a decision last week that despite the 22 being a wonderful boat, we just aren't happy sailing on the Potomac. Observation has caught up to th...

Sometimes the media gets it right. Here we have a case of the Ultimate Dad making his 12 year old son a replica Civil War cannon as a birthday present. Serves as a nice public counter to the notion that people can, in fact, own artillery.Of course, news editors can't help but spin this in a breathless "Oh My God!" sense:Daugherty said he is not w...

Tomorrow, I get to embark on a very special privilege.I am going to a troop at Walter Reed Hospital with the 501st Legion (covered here) for wounded soldiers and their families. They are holding a Star Wars movie day and we are going out to support them.I cannot tell you how honored I am that I am going to be able to do this. Only four of us from...

I just got off the phone with my wife.Piece of advice to salesmen engaging in cold calls: When the woman on the other end of the phone tells you not to call back, take her word for it.You don't get pushy with someone when you don't state your business or who you represent. And when you do hand that information over, be truthful. Don't lie about w...

So the Frogman of the Chappaquiddick has gone for the Deep Dive.Here's hoping Mary Jo Kopechne has his nuts in a vice and is turning the handle really slow. She's got 40 years of waiting for justice to make up for and I hope she savors it.Have at him, Mary Jo. Cancer beats drowning any day of the week. And don't lecture me on speaking ill of the...

I wonder how many people are still afraid of checking their 401k's? There is one upside to continuing to invest in yours as the market tumbles: the market has to rebound. Probably the best time to throw money into retirement savings is when the market tanks.It does wonders for your rate of return......

Has anyone noticed the new message in reporting on the health care divide within the Democratic majority that it will be a repeat of 1994 if health care reform isn't passed? That Democrats will lose their seats the same way they did in 1994 under Clinton. Lately, it seems the media has been harping on the idea that the failure to pass health care...

I am certain I am not the only one who finds this offensive.The Scottish government released the only man convicted of the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on "compassionate grounds" because he has terminal prostate cancer and the Libyans give him a hero's welcome when he arrives there.Nope, didn't see that coming.This man is convicted o...

Sorry, I like that word.I have been watching the debate going back and forth on the merits of this fellow in Arizona who carried an AR-15 openly to an Obama protest. It seems many of my favorite bloggers (Sebastian, Robb, Joe and Jeff) are looking at it from different perspectives. I've commented in a few places on it and thought I might throw my...

I'm in a testosterone male mode as of late.I'm watching "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen. Don't be surprised if you're not familiar with it. It was filmed in 1971 and had a weak, lumbering plot but it is something of a cult classic today due to the footage of now-classic Le Mans race cars shot for it. The footage is spectacular since it was filmed f...

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Has anyone noticed the remarkable silence from the Brady Campaign on the shooting at the gym in Pennsylvania? The nice side of me says they are actually exercising some decorum and respect for the victims involved. Perhaps actually grown an ethical and/or moral spine?I doubt it.The realist in me says that we're not seeing blog posts or e-mails fr...

Not a lot going on. I think some gun porn might be forthcoming since I'm cleaning the basement and I'm sure organizing "Gun Alley" will fit in there somewhere.Some random stuff...Can someone explain to me the logic of putting your car into park in a drive-thru? Isn't the whole point to "drive through"? I thought that is why brakes were invented...

Today is two months until I can file for US citizenship. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. This, hopefully, will be my final interaction with the great bureaucracy that is the USCIS (formerly INS) and I hope it goes smoothly. Their capacity for screwing things up so badly that people find themselves mewling for peace an...

If anyone reading this had the opportunity to go to Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia on Saturday night, I was there. You probably wouldn't have recognized me since I was in uniform:...

Found this on the Maryland Shooters forum. Don't know the source or when it was written but this helps put the illegal immigration issue into perspective for those who think iit s nuanced and complicated.Let's say I break into your house A lady wrote the best letter in the Editorials in ages!!! It explains things better than allthe baloney you hea...