- Some may frown in my decision that Irish Woman should be the one to dig the footers for the extension to the side porch that we will be building over the next few weeks, but it was her idea in the first place. I see having skin in the game as being a limiting factor on her ambitions and overestimation of my skills and budget.
- When I die and get to heaven, assuming that the Lord is forgiving to the point of amnesia, the smell I expect to greet me once Saint Peter stops laughing and opens the Pearly Gates is onions frying in bacon grease.
- I thought we were done with tomatoes; I was mistaken. When Irish Woman and Girlie Bear tore out the tomato plants last weekend, they found half a bushel or so of green and ripening love apples, mostly pretty little Roma’s. Our neighbor had the same situation and gave them all to us. I just put back 9 more quarts of chili base, and a similar amount of marinara sauce will be forthcoming after they redden up in the kitchen. Waste not, want not.
- Giving a four year old boy a haircut should not exhaust me as much as a good workout, but it does.
- It’s getting easier, but easier is not equivalent to easy
- Pro-tip – Before going over to the neighbor’s house to apologize for the caterwauling that occurred while you were giving your son a haircut, put on a cover garment. I’m not sure where they stand on open carry, but tonight wasn’t the right time to figure it out.
- The AR-15 project is starting to take shape. My lower from York Arms should be here any day, as should be the lower parts kit, stripped upper, and upper parts kit from Palmetto State Armory. Next comes the barrel, gas system, bolt and bolt carrier group, handguards, and sighting system. I’m thinking of making a varminter, so I may be looking for hand guards and a gas system for a 20 inch flat top rifle.
- I’ve also stocked up on evil standard capacity magazines.
- I hope tomatoes, peppers, and green beans like growing in mulched up maple leaves, because that’s what got put into the garden beds today.
All posts by daddybear71
Thoughts on the Weekend
Posted by daddybear71 on October 21, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/21/thoughts-on-the-weekend-23/
30 Days of Obama – Day 19
Look, I’m at the start of my administration. One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years. A year from now I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress. But there’s still going to be some pain out there. If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition. — 2009
My Take – Well, it’s been almost 4 years, and progress has been anemic at best. Unemployment, even if you believe the latest numbers from the administration, is horrible, especially if you consider the large number of people who have just given up and stopped looking for work. The price of just about everything people need for their day-to-day lives is up, thanks in large part to the administration’s habit of printing money whenever the mood hits them. Our allies don’t know they can depend on us, and our enemies laugh at us.
So, Mr. President, it’s the end of your first term, and you haven’t accomplished what you set out to do. Are you prepared for this to be a ‘one-term proposition’? Because I am, and I have a feeling I’m not alone.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 21, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/21/30-days-of-obama-day-19/
Repost – Thought for the Day
This was originally posted on June 20, 2012.
Barack Obama is so arrogant that when Gozer the Gozerian asks him if he’s a god, he answers in a way that doesn’t result in him being yelled at by his co-workers.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 21, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/21/repost-thought-for-the-day/
Not Talking the Same Language
Overheard at the breakfast table:
Irish Woman: Someone in the family ought to be starting magazine sales soon. Are you interested in anything in particular?
Me: Well, I was thinking of picking up some PMags and maybe some USGI steel ones. Of course, I can always use a few more for the other guns.
Irish Woman: I was thinking of National Geographic and maybe something for Boo. Wait… what?
Posted by daddybear71 on October 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/20/not-talking-the-same-language/
30 Days of Obama – Day 18
My interest is in making sure we‘ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices. If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well-thought out oil strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage. I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done. — 2008
My Take – Today, the average price of a gallon of 87 octane gas in the United States is $3.71 a gallon. In January 2009, it was $1.84. For those of you who studied your figuring in school, that’s an increase of 201%. The prices for diesel and jet fuel have had comparable increases. That cost trickles down through everything we buy that has to be transported, which means everything we buy.
So how is this the President’s fault? He doesn’t run the oil companies, or the gas station chains. He can’t use the government to put up drilling rigs, or build refineries. The government doesn’t own power stations, or the power lines that bring electricity to homes and businesses.
But what he can do is get the heck out-of-the-way and let the country generate the energy that it needs, be it petroleum, or natural gas, or electricity. Yes, the government has a responsibility to make sure that private industry doesn’t cause grave damage to the environment, either through extraction of resources from nature or through polluting when generating energy or processing petroleum. But that responsibility shouldn’t be used as a bludgeon to bring the energy industry to its knees.
This President hired an energy secretary who stated a goal of bringing our gas costs up to what Europe pays. He denied permits to build a pipeline for oil from Canada, which would not only have brought more oil into our market, but would also have employed thousands of people in building and maintaining it. He capitalized on a blown oil well in the Gulf to shut down oil exploration in our waters while providing subsidies to foreign companies to explore for oil in their waters. He’s flushed billions of dollars away on green energy pipe dreams, and we will be paying for it for generations.
Yeah, that’s one comprehensive energy policy we’ve got, huh? Problem is, I don’t think it’s got the interests of the American people as one of its objectives.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/20/30-days-of-obama-day-18/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on October 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/20/todays-earworm-247/
Repost – All is Well
This was originally posted on June 9, 2012
The President made an address to the nation today concerning the state of the economy. Here are some highlights:
- The private sector is doing well. On an ancillary note, I haven’t seen anything in the press from the President’s last urinalysis.
- The public sector outlook is caca, mostly because of those evil Republicans in the Congress. I have to agree with the President here. Most of the public sector is indeed caca. As for whether or not we need to scrape as much of it from the bottom of the American people’s hiking boots as we can, I think the President and I will have to agree to disagree.
- Seriously, though, I get the impression that Mr. Obama really doesn’t care for Congress. Maybe Congress got his sister pregnant or something. It’s funny to me that he’d blame all of the countries economic problems on the Congress, seeing as how his party controls half of it.
- While he’s under there, maybe Harry Reid could check the shocks on the Obama re-election bus.
- Almost as low as Congress on the Obama like-o-meter is Europe, which is surprising to me. Didn’t the Europeans pretty much publicly fellate the President after his election? Heck, they gave him a Nobel Peace Prize before he’d even done anything, and this is the thanks they get?
- The President specifically called for the people of Greece to tighten their belts and accept severe austerity measures for the good of the world economy. After discussing specific parts of such an austerity program, Mr. Obama briefed the press on his next vacation to the Golden Palace of Presidential Tranquility, during which he will be joined by his family, their Secret Service details, their staffs, their staff’s families, the hookers the Secret Service picked up on their last trip to Thailand, the VD doctor that has been detailed to the presidential Secret Service detail, a tour guide for his children, the keeper and groomer for his dog, the dog, the dog’s playmates from puppy school, and the Queen of Inner Mongolia, who will entertain her hosts with funny tales of growing up poor on the Asian steppes.
- Following his speech, the President fielded questions from the White House press corps. Questions included what his favorite color is (mauve), how he feels about the pinch hitter (against), his views on puppies and rainbows (for), and what his administration is going to do to alleviate the concerns of the American people about the Fast and Furious gun running debacle. That last one came from an independent blogger who had snuck past security to get into the briefing room. After representatives from the “real media” held a beat down upon the interloper, the President answered a question from one of the print journalists about who he thought would win the current season of “Who Wants to Marry the American With Talent Who Survives The Voice and Makes a Deal” by saying that he hoped the best “person of downtrodden class, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation” wins.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/20/repost-all-is-well/
Here’s Johnny!
Bowling Green is a nice city about 2 hours or so from here. It’s a sleepy college town, and also has the Corvette Museum, which is a must see if you’re into cars.
Apparently, even college towns have their problems:
Two people are injured and many are still in shock after a man armed with an ax began attacking doors and swinging his weapon at residents of an apartment complex in Bowling Green.
Paul Bunyan apparently decided to reenact his favorite Stephen King novel and took an axe to his neighbors and their doors. One person got 12 stitches when he was caught outside, and I’d say that as much as that must hurt, he got lucky. Axes make great weapons for cutting and smashing, and they’ve been used as instruments of war for millenia.
Scared residents tried to barricade themselves in their homes, and when he started cutting his way through, they jumped out the window and ran. Luckily for them, the attacker was subdued by police before he killed someone.
But what if they hadn’t gotten there fast enough, or if he’d been more determined to kill someone? Surviving by luck or because he doesn’t choose to chase you when you run isn’t what I would call a good plan. Hoping that the crazy man passes by your door on his way to the neighbor isn’t any better.
I’m thankful that this incident ended as well as it did, but it could have been much worse. Someone with an effective tool for either deterring this madman or stopping him if he insisted on persisting could have ended this quickly. For most people, that tool will be a firearm. Remember, the time to realize you need a gun is not when some nut is beating on your door with an axe.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/19/heres-johnny/
Blogs Roundup
- Carteach has an excellent write-up on flashlight choice and a couple of ways to utilize them when armed. I keep a Streamlight Stylus Pro in my pocket and a headband LED flashlight next to the pistol safe in the bedroom. Both run on AAA batteries, and are at least bright enough to see both my target and my sights. I need to talk to my range and see if they have any time for low light shooting practice.
- Uncle gets his tactical on, sort of. Having met Uncle, I can say that he probably did it better and looked cooler than I would have. Having the holster come out with the gun is one of the reasons I switched to holsters with belt loops. After the holster comes off the belt with the gun during draw practicea few times, I decided that maybe I needed to change something.
- Thanks to The Armoror at Argghhh!!!, we have the story of an old British soldier who walked around for almost 7 decades with half a landmine in his leg. The story talks about the shrapnel setting off alarms at airports. I’m guessing it was more likely that it was the gentleman’s big brass ones setting off the metal detectors than it was a few ounces of German steel. Just goes to show that one should never mess with older English gentlemen. They have more steel in their spines than a battleship does in its guns.
- Borepatch does an excellent job reminding us that, even if Romney is elected, things aren’t exactly going to be sunshine and rainbows. My guess is that we are going to have to be as tough on Romney as we have been on Obama if we want to see any real progress.
- Blackfive has a great set of ideas for the Rules of Engagement our soldiers fight under. In the DaddyBear administration, he may well be the Secretary of War.
- Six has some of the same troubles with his BMW that I have had with our Chryslers. Honestly, I’m beginning to think that the pinnacle of automotive technology, at least for the semi-trained shade tree mechanic, may have been the 1959 Chevy pickup. Simple, easy to work on, and if you can’t find a part, all you really need is some metal stock, a drill press,a ball-peen hammer, and some time for fabrication.
- Stephen has an outstanding post up that brings back some of my favorite memories. When we first moved to California, we had a lemon tree in our yard, and the smell of the tree and its fruit were wonderful. Also, nothing beats the way the house smells after a crockpot of chili has been simmering all day.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/19/blogs-roundup-20/
30 Days of Obama – Day 17
I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution — at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot. — 1998
My Take – In this country, if you don’t think you have a shot, you’re kidding yourself. Maybe you don’t have a great family background. Maybe your education was less than optimal, or heck, it even sucked. Maybe you had a rough time growing up, and maybe even got in trouble with the law. But so long as you work hard and smart, there’s no reason you can’t at least keep your head above water. It might be hard and dirty, but at least it’s honest.
Redistribution, or rather institutionalized theft, is the biggest disincentive to getting ahead I’ve ever seen, and it works on both sides of the equation equally. Why work hard when a paternalistic government will just take from someone else to make sure you don’t end up face down in a gutter? Why bust your hump day after day just so Uncle Sam can take what they think is fair and give it to someone else?
Now, I’m not saying that those who need a temporary hand up, or legitimately cannot work for their daily bread shouldn’t receive help. Americans have a long tradition of helping out our family, friends, and neighbors who need a hand. But if someone looks at the productive part of our society and says “You need to give it up so that others can have a fair share”, then that’s a problem. Ask me for help, and I will give you the shirt off my back. Put a gun to my head and rob me in the name of ‘fairness’, and I will fight back.
Posted by daddybear71 on October 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/10/19/30-days-of-obama-day-17/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 