The Wandering Minstrel

There is too much entertainment and food to blog this weekend. Enjoy yours!

Say Uncle posted a knife meme today where he says “Take knife from pocket, post pic on the internet.” I’ll go one better and post a video from January of 2009 taken on the day the knives arrived in the mail. I demonstrate the assisted opening feature and a one-handed closure.

The Better Half and I carry our SOG Trident TF1 folding knifes every day. She carries hers on her waistband and I carry mine in a cell phone pocket in my cargo shorts.

I set out a few years ago on this blog and on the other blog to post something daily. We had a Thursday night college football game this evening that absorbed my attention before I had a chance to post something.

Now, even though this post isn’t about politics or the Obamination or firearms, it IS a post and therefore qualifies.

Enjoy The Better Half enjoying the view of North Wickenburg . . .

Our humble blog has just exceeded 150 thousand hits and over 200 thousand page hits according to SiteMeter. Our first post was in November of 2007 when we decided to create a weblog (mostly) dedicated to second amendment issues and the right to keep and bear arms. That continues to be the focus here and we intend to keep our sights on gun grabbers and interesting things about firearms.

I recently passed another milestone - that is another birthday. I am now 68 years young and (fortunately) don’t feel much over 40 except for some very minor issues. The Better Half baked my favorite cake for my birthday - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. She only made a few cupcakes and did not put candles on them because of the fire hazard. Clickable image.

Over the past several days, Arizona Power Service workers have been showing a lot of interest in the dilapidated power pole across the road from our house. The pole showed obvious signs of needing replacement. Yesterday, APS erected a metal pole next to the existing pole. Their plan was to move the transformer and power lines in a week or so.

Last night, in the wee hours, Sniff (the little dog) woke us up with maniacal barking, obviously upset by something. She finally settled down and we wrote it off as a dream or some random noise she heard. We went back to sleep but a little later she did a barkfest encore. We got her settled down after a while and got back to sleep until about 0655 this morning. She went off again, but this time, I could hear the sounds of men and equipment at work nearby.

Looking out front across the road I saw the old pole which had toppled during the night. That explains the K9 outburst. The initial pole falling and the ensuing arrival of those investigating the event must have been what the dog heard. I guess the vibration of drilling a new pole hole had weakened the old pole and over it went, fracturing somewhere near the top and bottom.

You can see the original pole, the toppled pole, the reconstruction in process and the finished job in the (clickable) image above. Lucky for us, our power hookup comes from an underground feed form a transformer behind our house and we did not lose power.

My NRA email newsletter arrived in the inbasket today. One of the articles in it is about Caleb, a fellow gun blogger who writes at Gun Nuts Media. The American Rifleman interviewer, Ben O’Brien, discusses Caleb’s transition from competition shooter to reality show TV star.

The Better Half and I have watched each episode. While we have never met Caleb in person, we were rooting for him and the blue team. Of course we were sorry to see him eliminated but getting that far into what must have been a great experience surely must be rewarding.

The interview is posted at the American Rifleman website.

We’re still basking in the afterglow of recently becoming Arizona property owners. Not much to blog about today, so we pass along these links about Arizona that we found today in the blogosphere:

Ed at Hotair.com writes about the political infighting in Arizona.

Jawa has a link and webcast information on the “Stand with Arizona” Rally to be held tonight.

Charles Krauthammer comments on the Obamination’s press conference and his non-commital stance on the Arizona Boycott.