The Wandering Minstrel

How does a mouse grenade grab you?

Over the weekend, we unpacked and assembled the new BBQ Grillware (Lowe’s house brand) outdoor grill. The Better Half and I brought the partially assembled grill home in a roughly 2×2x3 foot cardboard carton. It weighed in at 92 pounds, so it required both of us to lift it into and out of the SUV tailgate and then into the house.

Clickable image - the assembled unit (photo taken today during burn-in)

I found the illustrated, step-by-step assembly instructions to be mostly clear and only a time or two I found myself re-reading a step and consulting the illustration again to clearly understand the action. The first stage of assembly was to build the cart. When that was complete, both of us had to lift the partially assembled grill box and cover unit into the cart - one person may have been able to do this, but having two people made it a more elegant process. After tightening up all the screws, hooking up the gas and electric igniter wires and installing the burner baffles and grills, it was ready for the gas leak test.

I made up a couple of ounces of soapy water and brushed a copious amount over each gas connection point. I opened the propane valve and watched for a minute or two to see if any soap bubbles appeared around the connections. I saw none, so the connections seem OK.

According to BarbecueLovers.com, the easiest way to burn-in your new grill is to just heat it up (~400 degrees) and let ‘er cook for ~30-45 minutes. This will burn all the solvents and impurities off of the heating elements, grill, etc. Let it cool down a bit, wipe things down to remove any lingering residue and you should be good to go. I took care of that today.

As I mentioned in the first article, we went the “cheap” route, paying around $200 for the setup - grill, tank and first four gallons of propane. Everything seems to be well-made and after the assembly, the rig is sturdy and everything worked the first time we tried it - burners, igniters and the works. I’m not yet ready to rate all aspects of the new grill, since we’ve never actually cooked anything on it yet. After the weekend, it will have a couple of beef tenderloin steaks to its credit - I’ll have a report on the food then.

I was looking for a miniature gun and this image of a gun-shaped computer mouse came up in the search results. I thought it was kind of funny.

I found what I was looking for, though, in a site called mouseguns.com. There, you can find a link to a catalog of diminutive weapons. The guns are listed with details as to their attributes:

• Lethality
• Volume
• Manufacturer
• Model
• Caliber
• Capacity
• Type
• Action
• Length
• Height
• Width
• Weight

According to the website, “Lethality” is derived from capacity and power:

Lethality = log (capacity) * power

I had not seen a lethality index before, but I found it very intriguing. A table on the page lists ammunition power from 1 for .22 short to 14 for 12 gauge. I attempted to work up lethality for a couple of our favorite guns, but ran into problems when I tried the above equation and got different results. I could get into the same order of magnitude by substituting natural log (initially assumed log base 10) but the results are still off.

Example: The listing for a Glock 26 lethality is 32.26; when using natural log, I calculate 21.58. The capacity is 11 rounds (10+1) and the power listed in the table for 9mm is 9.

Ln(11) = 2.397 * 9 = 21.58

The error between my calculation and that listed is off by about 30 percent. I may try and email the author of the table to see where I’m going wrong (or where he did). I’ll post any findings if and when I get feedback.

I saw an abstract of a study that listed body armor threat level for various firearms, but was not interested in paying to see it. Has anyone else seen a firearms lethality index?

At any rate, I would be inclined to change “Lethality Index” to “Self Defense Potential Index” when it comes to scoring firearms with regard to caliber and capacity. I would also score the projectile type (HP vs. ball, shot vs. slug).

This image Googled its way to the top when I was looking for something entirely different . . .

A couple of weekends ago, I barbecued a rib roast on the outdoor grill. I made the mistake of walking away from the grill while it was cooking. The unusually thick fat cap began dripping into the coals and a fire within the grill flared up. By the time I got there to put out the fire, the meat was fairly well seared. I managed to salvage the roast, but the aged burner-under-briquette BBQ (had it since 2002) was toast.

I managed to milk a few extra years out of the old rig before incinerating it. It already suffered from rust, the piezoelectric igniter was shot and the grill was in poor shape for the last couple of BBQ seasons. It was pretty decrepit and should have been replaced already.

The Better Half and I went to Lowe’s today and bought their house brand BBQ Grillware 3-burner grill. We figure it only has to last a couple of years, so we went cheap. When we leave Kalifornistan, we’ll just donate it to the Salvation Army and write it off.

BBQ Grillware model GGPL-2100DW

Grill Width (Inches) - 52.4
Grill Depth (Inches) - 23.0
Grill Height (Inches) - 46.0
Porcelain coated cast iron grate
141 sq. in. warming rack
28 1/2 Lb. burger capacity
Porcelain coated lid
624 sq. in. cooking surface
Electronic ignition
Liquid propane fuel system
5-gallon tank capacity standard
3 stainless burners plus side burner

Two headlines today have bolstered our confidence in the decision to relocate from Kalifornistan to the Arizona Republic:

California: Ventura County Assemblyman proposes ban on lead shot

Ventura County Assemblyman Pedro Nava, who three years ago authored a landmark law that barred the use of lead bullets by those hunting deer in areas where condors are known to forage, introduced new legislation Wednesday that would ban the use of lead shot by those hunting pheasant, quail, doves and other birds in California wildlife areas.

Note that there is no scientific evidence that lead shot is bad for the health of anything in the wild other than the target.

Arizona’s Concealed Carry Reform Bill (HB2347) Moving Forward!

Last week we told you that State Representative Adam Driggs (R-11), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was refusing to release House Bill 2347.

After extensive conversations with Chairman Driggs, he has assured us that he was simply holding the bill in order to work with the bill’s sponsor to consider how amendments which were being drafted would affect Arizona’s law-abiding gun owners.

Chairman Driggs released the bill from his Committee on Monday, February 22 with his full support, so please contact your State Representatives and ask them to support HB2347. Contact information for your State Representatives can be found by clicking here.

We understand Chairman Driggs’ desire to know the final content of this bill before releasing it from his committee. Chairman Driggs has been a consistent champion for Second Amendment rights and a friend of the NRA.

A restaurant in the downtown area of our city procured a vintage Chevrolet fire truck and fixed it up. The better half took this picture last year before the decals and detailing were done at a local restoration shop. The name of the restaurant is Buffalo Fire Department.

Clickable image: BFD Fire Truck

I couldn’t find a good shot of the post-restoration truck in the archives, but the inset should give you an idea of how the decals look. The restaurant is behind the red façade across the street.

Last month, I changed my subscription to American Rifleman to receive issues on the Internet. I just got the email notifying me that the March Issue was ready to be viewed. All I had to do was click on a link in the email, input my member ID and name plus entering an authorization code which was printed graphically on the authorization web page.                 Clickable image: User Interface.

After using the interface they provide and browsing the magazine, I am glad that I converted to electronic issues for several reasons. First and foremost, I have no magazines stacking up in the garage that have to be sanitized (i.e. shredding personal information printed on the address block) before recycling. Next, All the text can be brought up in a window where I can cut and paste items such as “Armed Citizen Reports” or other text that I would like to share with others via email or on this site. Not the last of a list of nice features is the absence of the binding crease in two-page graphics - you see the whole image sans creases and staples.

I am also a life member in the American Radio Relay League (Amateur “HAM” Radio). I sent an email to them earlier today asking if my monthly copy of QST could be delivered electronically. I am waiting for a reply, but I suspect they do not have the means yet. I cruised their member services website and could not find anything about electronic publication.