The Wandering Minstrel

I posted about the revamping in progress at our local range last week. Today, The Better Half and I went shooting after several weekends abstinence. Everything was nice and freshly updated. The floor and booths sparkled with fresh paint. The traps and baffles downrange looked great.

When reeling in the target overhead trolley, we noticed that the metallic target hangers had been replaced with - wait for it - coat hangers and spring clips! The hangers were bent around the trolley and the ends of the hangers were twisted around the clips. In technical terms, this was a jury-rigged POS.

This worked well enough with the handguns, but when we broke out the 12 and 20 gauge shotguns, the system showed it’s shortcomings. Witness the dancing target in the video.

Of course, it might be an advantage to have the target seemingly bobbing and weaving to avoid the fury of the shotgun. Sort of a touch of realism, I guess.

Several years ago, we planted a couple of Queen Palm Trees in front of the humble abode. Damn if they didn’t grow to be thirty feet tall like it said on the side of the five gallon pots they were in when I bought them.

Today was the day I promised The Better Half we would cut down the lower fronds and remove the fruit pods. When the fruit drops it makes several hundred thousand little messy spots on the driveway and walk.

I went to a local equipment rental and got a 24 foot extension ladder and the safety harness for the day. I already have an electric chainsaw which proved to be suitable for the job.

Anyhow, I’m glad that’s behind me for the time being. All I can say is I don’t remember all these aches and pains when I did this sort of job 30 years ago. I think

I’ll have a cold one or two and watch some football on the HD. Maybe that will help.

I woke up this morning, came downstairs to the computer desk and tried to log onto the Internet to do the usual on-line stuff. There was a problem with the network connection.

I tried several things to troubleshoot the system: reboot, reset the cable modem, reset the router and power cycle everything. Nothing worked. The modem lacked it’s usual little twinkling indicator lights and was stuck with one steady light and one steady with an occasional flicker. The cable activity indicator was totally off.

Aha! The cable modem died! Time to call Time Warner and get my Road Runner® technician to bring me a new modem. I called the Road Runner® help line number.

To make a very long and aggravating story short, I waded through telephone tree, three technicians all of who put me through the identical drill of convincing them that I tried everything else that may have caused the symptom. An hour and a half down the rat hole.

Finally, finally, I got the last one to admit that it could be the modem. With that, I was connected with a person to set up the house call. At first I got some bureaucrat underling that wanted to send someone out on the 25th to ‘have a look.’ Sometime between 9AM and 7PM I was told. “Let me talk to the supervisor,” I said.

A man came on the line and tried to convince me that ‘as a courtesy,’ he could send out someone tomorrow with the same 9AM to 7PM time frame. I then told him that I would be prepared to fire Time Warner and go with another ISP after twenty years as a good, regular paying, premium customer, if he couldn’t pin the exact time down - after all, weekends are when I do shopping and other things I can’t do during the week. The best he could do, he told me, was to have the installer call me a half hour prior to the service call so I could be at home for the service.

Fortunately, I have a 3G modem I can install on one of the computers as a work around, but then one of us has to work ‘offline’ while the other has internet access. It’s a pain and a bit slower, but at least we can go online.

I’ll have a follow-up report later.

One of the items on my ‘things I need to do before I retire’ list was to obtain a copy of my Military discharge record (DD-214). While I was at it, I asked for the contents of my military personnel record, containing things like training records, performance records, enlistment agreement and so forth.

Right: cover letter and records

The records showed up today after about six weeks after I sent the fax with my authorizing signature to the records center. I dug through the package - boy, was that a trip down memory lane. Page after page of forms and records documenting my time as a Sailor. Seeing my (immature 17 year-old) signature on the enlistment papers brought back that moment in time when I sat in the recruiting office and signed.

I was in the U.S. Navy (Naval Reserve, to be exact) for six years, three of those on active duty. I signed up when Eisenhower was in the oval office and mustered out when LBJ was busily ramping up the war in Vietnam.

I never regretted my military service to the country. My career benefited from military training in electronics and aviation plus the G.I Bill paid for much of my education. I have never had a problem finding employment, often working two jobs simultaneously (when I was much younger and ambitious).

If you’re a veteran or the immediate survivor of a veteran you can order these records online at The National Archives eVetRecs website. Ordering them is fairly simple; you will need to sign a form they email to you and fax it to them.

The more I see this beautiful little AR, the more I want one. The more I read about going plinking with one, the closer I get to placing that order . . .

Excerpt from a recent article at American Rifleman:

Another option that can curtail your plinking expenses is the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 rifle.

The M&P 15-22 rifle was built on Smith & Wesson’s M&P15 format from the ground up, not as a scaled-down version of the popular 5.56×45 NATO. In building a dedicated .22 on the AR-platform, Smith & Wesson has created a .22 rifle that feels and shoots like its M&P15 tactical rifle, especially when combined with Trijicon’s ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights) and RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) sights.

Built with a polymer upper and lower, the M&P 15-22 is light – around 5.5 pounds – rugged and sleek with its four-sided Picatinny rail for mounting accessories, six-position stock and dual-aperture post sights. It has many of the features of a tricked-out AR tactical rifle, but is light enough for easy all-day carry on small game hunts for squirrels, rabbits or prairie dogs. It’s also really fun to shoot in informal training exercises in an attempt to get to know this tactical-looking .22 rifle.

It might have to wait six or eight months, but I’m definitely gonna get me one of the lightweight .22 caliber ARs. I’ll think about other calibers later.

Posted by Alan Gura on ChicagoGunCase.com:

Back on August 5, the city filed its opposition to our petition for certiorari.

Today, we’ve submitted our reply.

And now, we wait. The petition will be considered at the Court’s first conference after the long summer break.

Click on the links above to bring up a .pdf with the respective briefs.

The last time I was in to have the ol’ choppers polished up at the dental hygienist, we discussed my impending retirement from the aerospace mill. She casually observed that if I needed any major or restorative dental work that I should have it done while still under the current employer’s dental plan.

So, I humped my ass over to my regular dentist where I’ve been going for nearly forty years and got an assessment on the state of the ivory. Seems like I have one filling Gary (my dentist) observed which “probably won’t last another 20 years.” I made arrangements and appointments to come back and get the work done.

Well, today was the day for the initial excavation and temporary crown. The anesthetic is almost worn off now, I’m comfortable and there’s no pain. I’m glad the feeling is coming back to the lips and tongue. The Better Half said I sounded like Senator Robert Byrd when I got home.

I go back in two weeks for the final part. Despite the bizarre picture above, there is a good reason I’ve been going to the same guy for years.

According to the Obamination: ‘UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.’

How about a nice bumper sticker to go with that?