Testing... testing...

This has been a subject of discussion amongst a few of us for a couple of weeks. The person's account below is known to three of our group, and he is NOT a whiner or complainer...

He's an ex-Navy diver, working for a government organization; he has travelled extensively world-wide. This is his account of what happened on Flight 297 on the taxiway and at the gate in Atlanta...

One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers the 18th you may have seen a blurb where a AirTran flight was cancelled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. It was on Fox.

This was NOT what happened.

I was in 1st class coming home. 11 Muslim men got on the plane in full attire. 2 sat in 1st class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back. As the plane taxied to the runway the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the 1st stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she was not there.

The 2nd man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back, isle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now….they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her. (don’t ask me….I don’t make the rules, but I’ve studied). The 3rd stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said “shut up infidel dog!” She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say “I got your back.” I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said “you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!” As I “led” him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, “You WILL do the same!” He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.

We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happen, when suddenly, the door open again and on walked all 11!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston. The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent “we and our crew will not fly this plane!” After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. 5 minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.

Again…..this is where I had had enough!!! I got up and asked “What the hell is going on!?!?” I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said “I’m getting off this plane”. The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. (now I’m mad!) I said “I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who’s time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I’m going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!” And I heard a voice behind me say “so am I”. Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.

Look up the date. Flight 297 Atlanta to Houston.

If this wasn’t a dry run, I don’t know what one is. They wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it.

I’m telling this to you because I want you to know….
The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes….

-Tedd

FWIW, we think this was a dry run, and like the incident with the Imams a test to see how far they could push the envelope.

Although this statement- "In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back, isle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now….they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. " Makes me wonder if they were going to try to overpower the crew and create a crash scenario...

There is no question the radicals and terrorists are feeling their oats under the new administration, and I believe it is only a matter of time until something else happens...

Especially after the hands off with Hasan, and the "don't jump to conclusions" comments from the administration... sigh...

A Sad Day...

Yesterday, 28 November 2009 marked the final flight of a P-3 from NAS Brunswick, ME, better known to all of us as Broomstick...

The last two VP-26 P-3s flew out yesterday afternoon with no fanfare, no statements, just going on deployment to do their jobs. The squadron will return to NAS Jacksonville in approximately six months.

Broomstick was the one base I was never stationed on, but I made plenty of trips in and out of there... Good shopping, with LL Bean, Kittery Trading Post and other good places within about 20 minute drive.

The other thing I will always remember was the Lobster house just off base, he took personal checks, always gave us the best possible price, and if we couldn't get a ride out to pick up the lobsters, he delivered, and wouldn't take extra for gas...

People either loved the place or hated it, and over the years there were some interesting screwups...

Early in the 1970s, both NAS Brunswick and NAS Glynco (at Brunswick, GA) got new base housing contracts approved...

And yep, you're right, they crossed them up... The Brunswick, GA houses were insulated to hell and gone, and the Brunswick, ME houses had NO insulation...

Also they 'tried' to dig basements in GA, which didn't work to well with a water table at about three feet...

I also remember the pilot inadvertently dropping a torpedo that landed in the pizza shop off the departure end of the runway...

This is the 13th base I was either stationed on, or worked out of that has closed... Maybe somebody is trying to tell me something...

NAS Glynco, NAS Sangley Point, NAS Keflavik, NAS Rota, NAS Agana, NAS Cubi Pt, Naha AB, NAS Moffett Field, NAS Adak, NAS Barbers Point, NAS Lajes, NAS Bermuda, and now NAS Brunswick.

God forbid that we need to ramp up anytime in the near future...

We won't have the assets, the runways, or the people to make things work...

Absent Comrades

Redneck Engineering...

So... my job was to get up at zero dark 30 and smoke the turkey for Thanksgiving...

Smoker- Check

Turkey- Check

Charcoal- one load... Oops...

Water hose- Check

Alternatives- Check

Besides it was COLD outside...

Anyhoo, here's what I kluged together...

Propane fish fryer burner + fire bricks + 2 thermometers + 1 digital meat thermometer= I get to sit in the nice warm kitchen occasionally checking the temp of the turkey with a pair of binoculars :-)

The only foray I had to make was to add a little water to the pan, and add Hickory and Cherry to the charcoal!

It was a good day, good food, good friends and emails and calls from various others throughout the US and around the world. I hope yours was a good, and you survived the turkey and dessert induced coma :-)

Please travel safe going home or where ever your travels take you this weekend...

Now back to your regularly scheduled reality :-(

Thanksgiving...

I know I'm early, but I know people are going to be travelling starting today...

Thanksgiving Day is a unique American holiday that brings together this nation of all faiths and cultural backgrounds around a common theme of thanks. Traditionally, we gather with family and friends to reflect on the year past, and give thanks for the blessings and freedoms we enjoy. It's a time when we stop for a moment in our busy schedules to share bounty, food and fellowship.

We need to be mindful that for lots of Americans it has been a tough year. Hard times can serve to remind us to be more thankful, and if you have a chance, reach out to someone less fortunate this week.

Also, many of the Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines are away from home on Thanksgiving Day. I ask that we all keep them in mind as we gather around the table on Thursday. Please include a thought of gratitude in your grace for the freedoms they defend, and those we enjoy as a result of their dedication and sacrifice.

I want to thank those who take the time to drop by and read my chicken scratchings, I appreciate every one of you and all of your comments. I also appreciate the chance this blog has given me to meet both literally and figuratively so many outstanding people, whom I may not always agree with, but that I know I can have an intelligent conversation with!!!

I learn something from y'all every day...

Take care, be safe, drive safe, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!


Oh yeah, remember that whole globull warming thing I've been saying was bull for two years???

I told ya so... :-)

I was wrong...

I said a Senator could be bought for $100 million...

Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor mid afternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going to be defensive," she declared. "And it's not a $100 million fix. It's a $300 million fix."

Now I wonder what we will 'pay' for Blanche Lincoln's vote... This is as bad as athletes, all have to get paid more than the one before them! Will her final price be $400M, or $600M? All I know is that I REALLY don't want for myself, my children, and my grandchild to have to pay the bill!

It has become obvious to me, these people really don't care about us; all they care about is power, and how they can get more!

Anybody wanna bet there won't be ANY 'town hall' meetings during this recess??? Hmmm???

I will categorically state here and now, I will do everything legal within my power to see that NONE of these sleazebags get re-elected in 2010!

It is long past time for we the people to stand up for OUR rights, and I believe the ONLY way we can do that is to vote each and every one of these turkeys out next year!!!

I also believe we need a Constitutional Amendment limiting congresscritters to two terms, AND making them come under ANY legislation they pass, no exemptions, no excuses. If there is no COLA raise for military or retirees, then THEY don't get a raise either. IF the military or retirees gets a 2.1% raise, that is what they get.

Also I would do away with "retirement" pay for serving in congress. It should be a PRIVILEGE to serve, not a way to set one's self up for life!

Oh by the way, how come if this gets passed, the taxing, etc. starts next year, but there are no "changes" to coverage requirements till 2014??? And since the dems pushed through the $200B payments to doctors for Medicare this year (by a close vote last week), why is THAT money not calculated?

And how do they propose to add at least 6 million to the insurance rolls, and cut funding to Medicare/Medicaid? And where are all the 'extra' doctors going to come from to treat all the new patients (especially since it takes average of EIGHT years to become a doctor)?

Just askin...

What's wrong with this picture???

Well, it's obvious; once again President Unicorn is disrespecting the Stars and Stripes... This was taken as the Flag was being presented at the Tomb on Veterans Day. Note that EVERYONE else on the podium is either saluting or had their hand over their hearts, along with ALL of the attendees the photog could see...

Sigh...

And we now know how much one can buy a Senator for... Mary Landrieu, sleazebag that she is, was bought off for $100 million. She is just as sleazy as her daddy was when he was mayor of New Orleans.

In other news, the ship of State has sprung a few (dozen) leaks...

Both Gates and President Unicorn (PU) are pissed about the leaks, but for different reasons...

Gates because there is obviously a 'significant' security issue, and the White House has been and is continuing to leak details about General McChrystal's plan. PU is pissed because McChrystal and Gates haven't kowtowed to him...

From today's WAPO OPED by Michael Gerson comes this rather telling statement: "We have learned that Obama's national security team is both deeply divided and playing for blood. Military-civilian tensions are growing and have become reflected on the ground in Afghanistan."

Ya think???

And one you will NEVER see on the news...

John G's wife said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.

He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.

This, my friends, is worth sharing.. Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news. Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference. Even if it is just one little girl at a time.

J. Gxxxx U. S. Navy

Please remember all those who are serving today through out the world to keep us safe and free during this holiday season!

Changes in Golf rules...

For all the flogger...er, golfers out there...

Obama's Golf Czar has announced there is a possibility of MAJOR rule changes to the game of golf, this may occur sometime after March 1, 2010.

This is only a preview as the complete rule book is being rewritten now.
Here are a few basic changes:

Golfers with handicaps:
- below 10 will have their green fees increased by 35%.
- between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees.
- above 18 will get a check each time they play.

The dollar amount placed in bets will be as follows:
-for handicaps below 10, an additional $10.
-between 11 and 18, no additional amount.
-above 18, you will receive the total amount in the pot even if you do not play.

The term "gimme" will be changed to "entitlement" and will be used as follows:
-handicaps below 10, no entitlements.
-handicaps from 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts.
-handicaps above 18, if your ball is on green, no need to putt, just pick it up.

These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness and, most importantly, equality in scoring. In addition, a Player will be limited to a maximum of one birdie or six pars in any given round. Any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player actually making the birdie or par, can that player begin to count his pars and birdies again.

The current USGA handicap system will be used for the above purposes but the term 'net score' will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps of 18 and above.

This is intended to 'redistribute' the success of winning by making sure that in every competition, the above 18 handicap players will post only 'net score' against every other player's gross score.

These new Rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf. Golf must be about Fairness.
It should have nothing to do with Ability...

Survived the trip...

4400+ miles in 13 days, only problem was a windshield lost to a lug nut off a semi...

Good times with old and new friends, wandering the gun show at Tulsa, lots of time for reflection while driving...

I GOTTA do this more often :-)

This is some "military" humor that I KNOW applies to the military, and I'm now beginning to believe applies to Gun Bloggers too!

FRIENDS: Tell you not to do something stupid when drunk
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will post 360 degree security so you don't get caught

FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Call your parents drunk as hell and tell them about the fat chick you tried to pick up

FRIENDS: Hope the night out drinking goes smoothly, and hope that no one is late for the ride home.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Know some wild s**t will happen, and set up rally points and an E & E route.

FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will be sitting next to you saying, Damn...we screwed up...but hey, that s**t was fun "

FRIENDS: Cry with you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: laugh at you and tell you to put some vagasil on your parts.

FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Steal each other's stuff so often nobody remembers who bought it in the first place.

FRIENDS: Are happy that someone picked up a one night stand and leave them alone.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will Low Crawl naked into the room with a camera and Hope
for the tag team.

FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds ass that left you.

FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, "I'm home!"

FRIENDS: Will try and talk to the bouncer when you get tossed out of the bar.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will man up and go after the bouncer for touching you on the way out.

FRIENDS: Will wish you had enough money to go out that night, and are sorry you couldn't come.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will share their last dollar with you, drag you along, and try to steal free drinks all night

FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, "You better drink the rest of that crap, you know we don't waste. That's alcohol abuse!!!" HAHAHAHA !!!!

FRIENDS: Want the money they loaned you back next week.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Can't begin to remember who owes who money after taking
care of each other for so long.

FRIENDS: Will say "I can't handle Tequila anymore".
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will say "okay, just one more..." and then 2 minutes later "okay, just one more!".

FRIENDS: Will talk s**t to the person who talks s**t about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will knock them the F**k out!!

FRIENDS: Will tell you "They'd take a bullet for you."
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will actually take a bullet for you.

FRIENDS: Will ignore this
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will forward this to all their friends.

Since I've been on the road for two days, I 'know' I'm behind on the news and all the other crap going on, so I'm just going to comment on other blogs till I get caught up!

Most of y'all say it much better than I can anyway...

Speaking of surviving, I just realized a went over 50,000 views today!

THANK YOU ALL! I honestly never believed I'd get there :-)

Please go read...

Brigid had a 'situation' not long ago- For those females (all three of you) that read this blog, make SURE you go read THIS...

For the rest- This lady knows of which she speaks, and is NOT a shy retiring violet, but this just sent shivers down my back. We all know violence is increasing and home invasions are on the rise with the increase in unemployment and current "situation"...

An example- At the gun show this weekend I was talking to an acquaintance who told me a guy he'd called a friend for years had gone off the deep end and robbed a drug store last week to try to get money to pay his mortgage while he looked for a job- He's now in jail, his wife and kids are basically on the street, and he's looking at hard time! It can happen to anyone...

Be careful out there...

In retrospect...

I can honestly say that Blogarado was the most fun I've had with my clothes on in 20 years...

FarmFam took us in like family, and really made us feel at home. They handed me a knife and told me to get to work...

Plus I got banned from a garage for the first time in 20 years (thanks Memaw)

Farm Dad and Farm Mom went well over and above- the food, the time, the range we built, everything was outstanding.

Breda looking around after shooting steels for the first time with a huge smile going "I LIKE this".

Christina's ear to ear grin, and the comment "My mouth hurts from grinning".

Snarky's willingness to take instruction, and her smiles as she was introduced to new guns.

Salamander standing at the pistol table with a puzzled expression trying to figure out what to shoot next.

Matt getting to shoot JPG's wedding gun!

JPG popping the reactive target with multiple ARs and smiling his quiet little smile!

Alan and his SMG!

Lawdog and Phlegmmy shooting anything and everything and smiling the whole time, and Lawdog FINALLY knocking over the last popper with the .44 Mag...

AD and Katy Beth sitting on the ground shooting together :-)

AeJim learning how to bump fire; now THAT was an ear to ear grin...

Farm Dad standing at the pistol table saying something to the effect of so many guns, so little time!

Gay Cynic becoming more and more confident in open carry, shooting MANY pistols, and smiling the whole time.

Farm Girl coming off the M-24 after going 5 for 5 with a sly little (I told you so) grin.

The Nerds (Labrat and Stingray) and their matching wedding "rings" made by Les Baer, AND some outstanding beer (well except the bb)...

And then there was the whole 8 point buck thing... :-)

Veterans Day...

Every time 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' have been threatened, there have been a small select few who have stood to repel that threat.

You, my colleagues and friends, have done that by your service.

I thank you!!!

Threes...

Well, we always hear everything happens in threes, and it's happened again...

AD gets a deer with his truck, Farm Girl's engine gives up the ghost, and I get a damn busted windshield... sigh...

That'll teach me to take a short cut! Two $^&((@ miles from getting back on the Interstate and I get whapped with a lug nut!

How do I know you may ask? Because it left a six sided impression in the windshield! And, scared the crap outta me in the process!!!

I'm back on the road, and $336 dollar poorer, but I wasn't about to charge my insurance. If I had, I'm sure my rates would have gone up.

FarmFam got AD back on the road today, so the only one with a dead vehicle is Farm Girl, which makes me feel bad, because this is the "thanks" she gets for the outstanding hosting this weekend.

I have to attend a number of pretty high level conferences that are "hosted" by professionals, and in all honesty, FarmFam did a better job than most if not all of the so called pros...

Plus the food was OUTSTANDING, and I now have to go on a diet... dammit...

And I've got a butt load of guns to clean, but I don't mind that a bit! :-)

Happy 234th Marines...

During the American Revolution, many important political discussions took place in the inns and taverns of Philadelphia, including the founding of the Marine Corps.

A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.

The resolution was approved on November 10, 1775, officially forming the Continental Marines.

As the first order of business, Samuel Nicholas became Commandant of the newly formed Marines. Tun Tavern’s owner and popular patriot, Robert Mullan, became his first captain and recruiter. They began gathering support and were ready for action by early 1776.

Each year, the Marine Corps marks November 10th with a celebration of the brave spirit which compelled these men and thousands since to defend our country as United States Marines.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES!!!

Blogorado update 3...

And for the final act...

Matt and JPG rolled in about 0400, so they parked at the restaurant to wait on us. Not being fools, we called them rather than knocking on the car window... :-)

I never cease to be amazed at the twists, turns, tangents and flat out weird segues conversations take with this bunch... We covered a bunch of 'random' subjects at breakfast, starting with the Internet, sliding into newspapers, with a tangent into porn, wrapping back around to blogs, and into a discussion on the fairness doctrine. And this was in about 30 minutes...

At the range, we repainted, refaced, and everybody was back on the line as soon as they could get there. I heard a lot of, "oh, I want to shoot THAT one again." And people were shooting much better today (or more were shooting at the same targets), because we were having to stop and reset a LOT. Christina LMT brought some coke cans (full ones) to get a more reactive target, and of course those became the prime targets. Matt and JPG jumped in with a vengeance to make up for lost time, and Matt embarrassed us all by taking out his snub nose and knocking down the plates with it...

We had one popper than just would NOT go down, until Lawdog got ticked and used Stingray's 44 magnum on it. It didn't fall per se, but he knocked it over on it's side, so I guess that counted!

Farm Dad had set up a couple of longer range targets, one at 500 and one at 950 yards, so after everybody got warmed up on the rifles, Breda tried an M-14; JPG and Matt were going from AR to AR, trying the different sights and burying the 50 yard target. Stingray was also plinking the target with his M-1. Snarky and Christina LMT were both trying various rifles too! Ad and Katy Beth were shooting some of the clays and Katy Beth busted every one of them with her Cricket!

We went cold and reset to shoot some real long range stuff...

Meanwhile, Matt, JPG and Lawdog were shooting at the 500 yard barrel with PISTOLS just for fun (I swear they hit it, but we didn't find any holes)...

The 950 yard target was a bit of a tester, as we had a 10-15 kt gusting wind that was a quartering tailwind.

After a couple of ranging shots, I got the M-24 on the barrel, shot a couple of rounds, and then we started putting folks on the gun. Breda 2 of 5, Rita 2 of 5, AD 2 of 5, JPG 3 of 4, and the winner was Farm Girl, she hit 5 of 5!!!

EDIT- Breda was 4 of 5, not 2 of 5 as she rather POINTEDLY reminded me, also I missed Christina completely, she got 3 of 5.

EDIT 2- STINGRAY was 4 of 5 also...

My list of people NOT to get pissed at me just got a LOT longer!!!

After a pick up/clean up session, we started back to town for dinner. About half way there, I see cars stopped on the road, so we pull over to find that AD had gotten a deer, only problem was he did it with a perfect 65mph trajectory with the truck...

We're thinking the truck is toast, but it appears to be repairable fairly quickly, and the damage is not a serious as originally thought.

Nobody was hurt, except the deer, so we piled out pistols and flashlights in hand and started looking for the deer. We found it about 50 yards out in the field next to the road, and it had expired. It was a BIG 4 point (western count) or 8 point (eastern count) buck and weighed about 300 lbs. We drug it back to the road (with a couple of breaks), and waited for the authorities to show up. While we were waiting a guy from DNR drove up and told us we could keep the deer but NOT the head. AD was NOT happy...

The first on scene were the paramedics, and the female paramedic dissed AD's deer, calling it a baby, saying she'd killed a bigger one last week!

And then the fight started... :-)

We literally got out the tape and measured the rack, finally getting the female paramedic to admit, that yeah, this 'probably' was a 150 deer.

After refusing transport, they departed and this being a rural area, and us being bored, the head got duly removed from the carcass, and mounted on the hood of the truck, hat on it's head, and cigarette in it's mouth. About this time the Sheriff's Deputy came on scene.

Have you ever seen someone do a triple take? This poor officer literally stopped dead in his tracks looked at the deer, looked at us, and was probably thinking oh @#^& what in hell have I walked into NOW???

Of course we are laughing, talking, taking pictures (the above pic is from Snarky) and, oh by the way, most of us are open carrying pistols...

The Deputy gets the info he required, and told us about a 40 minute wait for CSP to show up. The DNR guy came back by and took the head, and since he'd told us we could have the deer, AD took his frustrations out on the sucker, dressing him out and we bagged the shoulders, loins, and backstraps.

Matt invented a new dance, the Deer Dressing Twister- You put your hand behind your back grab a front hoof, you put your right foot on the pelvis to help spread it, and hang on while the slicing and dicing continued!

Note to self, a Sawz-all make a GREAT addition to the ability to dress out a deer in a hurry...

Now the Deputy is still on scene, waiting for CSP, so he's walking back and forth, looking at us, etc... He finally allows as how we are an "interesting" group of individuals...

The CSP officer finally comes on scene as we are finishing up the deer butchering, and the paperwork gets wrapped up about the same time the deer gets wrapped up.

Stingray and Labrat towed AD's busted truck over to Farm Dad's and Farm Dad and AD will get on it tomorrow am.

We all finally rolled back into town about 2030, minimally cleaned up and headed over for dinner (much delayed, but much needed).

As we were relaxing and laughing over the incident, AD pulled out the deer's testicles, swearing he's going to mount them on his rifle like Stingray has done with the 20 sided fuzzy dice...

Matt finally says, "You know, if I'd run up on us, acting the way we were, I'd have been lining everybody up for a breathalyzer; figuring I'd have caught a bunch of drunks..."

Since people are departing early am tomorrow, we said out good-bys, thanked the Farm Family for hosting a VERY interesting event, and headed off to bed.

I'm sure there will be numerous posts, with pictures of all this; but I'm telling ya, somebody is going to have to go a LONG way to top this weekend... Old friends, new friends, good fun, LOTS of trigger time, and smiles all around.

It just doesn't get any better than this... Sigh...

Now I've gotta go back to reality...

Blogorado update 2...

Well,, it's been a LONG day... I was too busy to take pictures, but there were plenty taken!

Breakfast was 'supposed to be' at 0900, but we really started about 0800, with people straggling in until we had to move to a 'private' room...

In case we got rowdy...

We caravaned out to the range about 10ish, and the unloading started, and kept unloading and loading...

We had 4X8 tables for rifles and pistols on their respective ranges, and quickly ran out of room, so the late comers had to stick stuff under the tables!

We had- multiple 1911s and variants, BHPs, 9mms, .40s, .22s, .380s, Colt and S&W wheel guns in 357, 44 Magnum, .22 (and those were just the ones I saw on the table...

AR-15s and variants, one AK, lever actions in everything from .22 to 30-30, M-1s, M-14, M-40A1 and M-24 in .308, and a few more I just glanced at...

Snarky and Christina LMT, being new shooters, had PLENTY of coaches (gee, I wonder why), and people were going up and down the line going- "Here, try THIS one"...

All I saw were smiles as people shot different guns; and for some, like Breda who had never shot steels or poppers, the immediate response was, "I LIKE this!"

Oh yeah, Breda also shot her first tin cans today, and so did a few other city folk...

Phlegmmy and Lawdog got there about noon, and jumped in with the rest of the crowd, and the ohhing and ahhing continued. Phlegmmy got to shoot a Python and came off the line saying she HAD to have one of those...

Suffice to say, Lawdog CAN shoot too... Run from him, you will just die tired...

AD and Katy Beth shot together and at one point we had three people on the line shooting the poppers and the plates and cleaning up when someone missed!

Alan brought out his subgun, so some folks went off and shot it and quickly learned muzzle rise IS a fact of life...

Over on the rifle side, it sounded like a small war was going on, so obviously people were having fun. After a great lunch (gotta love those brisket dogs), everybody kinda swapped places, so the rifle shooters moved over to the pistols and we moved over to the rifles.

Again, smiles ALL around... And then somebody decided they wanted some reactive targets on the rifle side, and out came the tennis balls...

About five people were all trying to shoot the balls at the same time, and at least once, I heard "Hey, I was trying to hit that one!" "Well, so was I, and I got it first!"

Again the trading off and on the different guns, and Breda tried Alan's National Match AR-15. She was hitting a reactive half size torso target out at 238 yds, which replicates a 500 yard shot. People were on and off the sniper rifles (remind me NOT to get Lawdog mad at me...)

Breda wanted to try it, so we put her down on the rifle, and folks I will tell you she is a GOOD shot! She went five for five on the reactive torso on a gun she had never shot! I'm not gonna piss her off either!!!

Lawdog, AeJim, and Farm Dad shot the sniper rifle, as as one of them said, it got boring with a 'good' rifle. then AD got on the gun, and I told him what Breda had done; he looked up at me, and said, "Oh, no pressure huh?" My answer, "Nah, no pressure"... :-)

He did pull a five for five though!

Another split and some folks went off to shoot some trap, and a friend of Farm Dad who had been watching decided he'd like to try a rifle. Since he was in a wheel chair, we put him on AeJim's AR with an EOTech sight. He shot offhand, and did well, including popping the reactive torso offhand!

AD and Katy Beth came over, and Katy Beth shot her pink Cricket .22 and hit the water bottle target, much to everyone's delight!

AeJim came back mumbling, saying it was pretty bad when he got outshot with his own gun...

It was getting late, so we put some Tannerite down range and had Phlegmmy, Christina and Breda shoot at it (of course we DIDN'T tell them what was in the cup). Breda hit it, it exploded, blew the barrel over and Breda looked up and asked, "Did I hit it???"

We all died laughing, and then explained that yes she had (now I'm REALLY not going to get her mad at me).

It was getting on to dusk, so AeJim took his AR and shot a magazine of tracers at the barrel, to the ohhs and ahhs of all.

Pick up and clean up was followed by caravaning back to Farm Family's house for dinner; including an "interesting" appetizer, followed by home made Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

I'll let others post about the "interesting" appetizer and certain people's reactions to them...

And then the stories and jokes started, suffice to say, a fun time was had by all, but the crowning moment was AD giving AeJim a lap dance... You had to be there to believe it!!!

As usual, folks were in chat at the same time, comments, multiple conversations, the Atomic Nerds beer supply was significantly diminished and general relaxation was the order of the evening...

Matt and JPG called, they will be in tomorrow am, and we're gonna do this all over again! Also tomorrow we should have a .50 cal, and a few more 'interesting' guns showing up...

Blogorado update...

The shooting range is in :-)

After spending the morning touring the town, and visiting the Museum/Library (well Breda IS a librarian after all), a good lunch, and a few quick clothing changes, it was off to ride horses...

Farm Girl was going to get everybody rides that wanted one; since I've ridden a few horses over the years, AeJim and I pulled off with Farm Dad to go set up the range. Thankfully there were only the three of us, since we're all qualified RSOs, we spent at least an hour looking at sight lines, backstop/berm, distances, etc...

And THEN the arguments started... :-)

We finally ended up with two separate ranges, separated by a berm with a pistol range going out to 20 yards, and a rifle range going out to 250 yards. We built the plate rack, target backers, dug the poppers in and safety checked all of it, then built and placed the target backers for the rifle range.

This is a shot of the pistol range, paper targets to the left, poppers in the middle and plates to the right. I'm standing at the 20 yard line...

After we finished, we headed over to the riding area, but they had finished, so it was back to the range, for everybody to get a look (and critique our work). And realized there was an extra truck in the parade, AD and his daughter had pulled in!

Then it was back to town, watching a beautiful sunset as I drove, and no I'm not posting my lousy picture of it; then dinner (oh man, I'm stuffed)...

You can go to Snarkybytes and see a MUCH better picture than I took...

Blogorado is up and running...

The gathering has begun...

1981 miles and I made it, only to get stopped 10 miles short of here by a State Trooper, and honestly, he had me cold...

Luckily he was a nice guy, and knows Farm Girl, so I got a stiff warning (after we spent about 15 minutes talking guns and shooting)... It didn't hurt that AeJim and he both knew people in common.

Since we were the first to roll in, Farm Dad and Farm Mom put us to work from the git go; prepping the brisket and pork butts for dinner, but since we were cutting we also had to taste test :-)

DAYUM, that was some good brisket, pork, and ham and beans, and cornbread, and some mild salsa, and cheesecake brownies. By the time dinner rolled around, I was already full...

Farm Girl and Snarky got back first, closely followed by Christina LMT, Gay Cynic, Alan, the Atomic Nerds, and Breda. Christian and Gay Cynic won for the longest drive (20+ hours) so far. And the nerds brought beer, which naturally had to be taste tested!

We were all pretty tired, but everybody settled in the garage and the snark started flying. It was funny that at one point at least 6-7 people were in the chat while simultaneously talking in the real world, and pictures were being taken, and food being eaten, and Farm Gram was saying I have a perfectly good house in there... :-)

More people will be arriving tomorrow, and today will be the horse riding for those who choose, a museum tour, and some of us get to go put the range together...

And to add insult to injury, we all just got banned from the Gun Blogger Chat as bots, since there were five of us signed on from the same IP addy at the hotel... Just lovely....

More later...

Sadly, the events at Ft. Hood are front and center on the news today- Please keep those folks in your thoughts and prayers.

Uh oh...

Looks like President Unicorn is slipping...

He went up to New Joisey four or five times, and campaigned for Corzine and called on 'his' supporters to come out a re-elect his Partner Corzine (A Dem Governor who was in serious trouble, because of taxes and corruption)... Guess what, it didn't work!!!

The Blacks didn't show up, the young didn't show up, and the independents who fell for his lines last November didn't bite this time; even the dead voters in NJ weren't enough to put Corzine over the top. This was even after an "unknown" group funded robocalls for Daggett hoping to siphon off enough votes to kill Christie's chances.

In Virginia, the Unicorn did a couple of campaign stops in Northern VA, but after Deeds refused to be identified as an "Obama" Democrat, the unicorn and his minions threw Deeds under the bus...

Hmmm, not a lot of support there; wonder if that was a message to the rest of the crowd, either toe the line or you're history...

McDonell won BIG in VA, along with Republicans taking both the LT Governor and AG posts. How? Jobs, taxes and transportation- ALL problems in VA, when all Deeds was proposing more taxes...

Oh yeah, ya just gotta love Gibbsy's out and out lie that the Unicorn didn't even care about or watch the election results!!! IF that 'really' was the truth, it is yet again another demonstration of his ineptness in office. He continues to show that he cannot govern, only knows how to play "Chicago" politics and shift blame for failure...

It was interesting to note yesterday as I was driving cross country and flipping through stations that the Dems prostitutes like Beckel were out early and often saying these elections meant nothing, nope, not a thing; move along, nothing to see here; just local issues...

And this was BEFORE the votes were even counted!!!

But they DID win one- NY 23, after the "Republican" in the race was in third place behind a completely unknown conservative, dropped out and endorsed the Democrat!

Of course THAT one is a "historic" change, first time in 100+ years a dem, yada, yada, yada...

And now Axelrod is out there spouting about NY 23 and spinning/ignoring everything else.

Now what?

I think President Unicorn is gonna beat Pelosi and Reid like stepchildren to get Cap and Trade and "Health" care rammed though as soon as they can and anyone that crosses them will be thrown under the bus in 2010, because they are now seeing the handwriting on the wall.

It is writ large that the American public DOES NOT care for the current direction of the country, nor the policies the administration is trying to ram down our throats, but the administration doesn't seem to care...

I wonder if President Unicorn has now realized he's going to be a one term president and is just going to push his agenda to the detriment of the US, both internally and externally...

Sigh...

Somebody PLEASE tell me I'm wrong...

On the bright side, I'm on the way to Blogorado to shoot things, see old friends, make new ones, and kick back for a few days!!! :-)