I’ve posted this before, but I think it’s appropriate, not only for today, but also for the times.

I’m asking You God, to give me what You have left.
Give me those things which others never ask of You.
I don’t ask You for rest, or tranquility.
Not that of the spirit, the body, or the mind.
I don’t ask You for wealth, or success, or even health.
All those things are asked of You so much Lord,
that you can’t have any left to give.
Give me instead Lord what You have left.
Give me what others don’t want.
I want uncertainty and doubt.
I want torment and battle.
And I ask that You give them to me now and forever Lord,
so I can be sure to always have them,
because I won’t always have the strength to ask again.
But give me also the courage, the energy,
and the spirit to face them.

I ask You these things Lord,
because I can’t ask them of myself.

• It is amazing how much quicker the computers at work are when everyone who uses them is home with their family.
• While I was at work today, Irish Woman did a lot of the getting ready for winter work in the front yard.  I had to chide her for using the electric hedge trimmer.  I mean, what’s the point of owning a machete if you never use it?
• I suppressed my inner introvert and smiled a lot this evening at a formal fundraiser.  Believe it or not, I was actually pleasant with strangers and Democrats without the aid of hard liquor.
• Kentucky people, there are indeed foods that do not require bourbon to flavor them.  Luckily, none of the dishes served tonight fit that description.
  • Bourbon barbecue, bourbon ball, bourbon chocolate, and bourbon pumpkin pie ice cream, and of course bourbon to drink were all on the menu.
• I need to find a better way of asking a chef how he makes something other than “Oh my God!  That is delicious!  How do you make this!?!”.
  • Although the guy with the garlic-leek-potato cream soup was very accommodating.   Sorry, he made me promise to keep it to myself, so no new recipe.  Maybe if I make it my own, I’ll share.
• I’m not sure, but I may be on the hook for a couple hundred dollars worth of things in the silent auction.
  • When yours is the only bid on something, that means you win, right?
• When assembling an AR-15 lower, you should not have any leftover parts.
  • Oh well, I always enjoy taking out a roll pin because I forgot to put in the bolt catch detent.  Builds character.
• Irish Woman was less interested in the completed AR than Girlie Bear, but she’ll come around.
  • I’ve already prepped her that, while the rifle is now functional, it’s not complete, and another upper is in the works.
• Tomorrow I get to take the new AR-15 out shooting, and Girlie Bear gets to take her new muzzleloader to the range for the first time.  This is going to be fun.

• You know it’s been one of those weeks when you consider it a victory that you only spent 7 hours on Thursday working on the problem you’ve been working on since Monday.
• Hmm, the support person from the vendor didn’t want to talk with me on the phone today, preferring instead to use a chat line and talk to the support engineers via their cell phones and headsets.
  • Do not try to play “Who Can Be The Bigger Bastard” with me when it’s your job to make me happy. You will lose.
• Irish Woman must have known I was going to have a rough day.  She got up early and made me a hot breakfast.  She even offered to make me coffee.
• Strategy change on the AR-15 build.  With every other person on earth rushing out to buy anything at all that looks like an evil black rifle, availability and prices for parts for my varminter upper are getting thin on the ground and out of my budget. I may bite the bullet and buy a complete upper so I can shoot until I get the build done.
  • I already have all the parts for the lower and a box of PMags.
• If I can smell your cologne on the other side of the pump when we’re both filling our gas tanks, then you might consider cutting back a tad.
• Apparently, when you’re a labrador puppy, everyone is your playmate and the world is your toy box.

• 14 hours working on the same problem with no results does not a happy DaddyBear make.
• Tonight, I no longer needed the Weirding Module.
  • It may have been impolite to whip out The Voice on the poor guy on the other end of the support call, but after 13 hours, my patience was worn a tad thin.
• Hint to vendors – When you send out replacement parts, make sure they’re actually functional before you slap the shipping label on them.
• My sister asked me tonight what pistol she should get for her and her daughters.  I repeated a few things I’ve been told by others and steered her over to The Cornered Cat.
  • I probably should have told her to get the heck out of California while I was at it.
• For some reason “This too shall pass” kept running through my head today.
  • Not sure if I meant the issue with my system, or the Obama presidency.

I’ve seen and read a lot of stories lately about people surviving either the zombie apocalypse or an economic collapse that leads to social anarchy.  The protagonists always seem to have at least one of the following going for them:

• They have a safe full of Blastomatic 2000’s with a basement full of ammunition
• They happened to luck into topping off their gas tanks and pantries just before calamity struck.
• There is a gun guy/ country boy / grizzled veteran who has a vault full of guns and food and is willing to share
• They find an abandoned government bunker complex with a never-ending supply of ammunition, food, and clean water.

Honestly, I wish someone would write a more realistic story in the TEOTWAWKI  genre.  I want a tale about a suburban guy with a couple of kids and a wife who has to fight off the zombie hordes or eek out a living while fending off the Golden Horde with nothing but a Mosin Nagant 91/30, a spam can of Bulgarian 7.x62x54R, both of which are older than he is, a HiPoint 9mm, and a couple of boxes of Russian steel cased 9mm hardball ammunition.  I’ll believe it if he has maybe a couple of weeks of groceries, tops, and one of his kids gets deathly ill because he either ate some bad food out of the now-defunct refrigerator or got some contaminated water.  Bonus points if his jerk brother-in-law shows up and tries to be in charge, causing family stress at a time it’s not needed.

And no, I’m not going to write this myself.  I’ve written two novels in my life.  They both sucked so bad I burned them and swore to never waste that much of my time on something I am so bad at.  I’ll just keep searching Amazon for the book I want to read instead of inflicting my “vision” on the rest of you.

• The puppy woke me up at 4:45 this morning.  The alarm was set for 5.  
• I was the first customer of the day at both Big Orange Home Improvement Store and Big Blue Home Improvement Store this morning.
  • That may be a personal record.
• The structural part of the porch refurb will be done tomorrow.  Trim work will happen over the next week or so as I do a little bit every night after work.
• So far, this, to quote my loving wife, “easy, simple project” has cost us the equivalent of a rather nice rifle or pistol, not counting my time.
  • There better be some really good beer served on this porch.
• I think I’ve found the limit of what I can do with Black and Decker tools.  When the current crop wears out, I believe I’m going to upgrade to Porter Cable, Dewalt, or Bosch.
• Today, I was warm enough to sweat, got rained on, got hailed on, and ended up chilled to the bone.  The best thing I can say about the weather is that all my tromping around in the mud is compacting the dirt we displaced to dig the footers quite nicely.
• Nothing says “I love you” like a woman who makes a batch of chili and a big cup of coffee for her husband while he’s out working in the weather.
• One funny thing about being dirty, wet, and covered up to my hips in muddy clay is that when I go to the convenience store when all the teenagers and 20-somethings are there on their way to their evening entertainment, the crowds part like the Red Sea for me.
• For dinner tonight, Irish Woman made a fire in the fireplace and roasted hot dogs with Boo.  Dessert was s’mores.  Is it any surprise I love her so?
• I taught Girlie Bear a new word today – holodomor.  She read a book for school that was historical fiction about the Soviet Union.  She asked me to explain about Stalin’s genocide.  It kind of saddened me to explain to a 14-year-old girl about just how evil the world can be.

• The universe knew I wanted to cut out of work early today, and the universe hates me.
• We got a total of six trick or treaters tonight.
  • Anyone interested in 10 pounds of red licorice cut into 3 inch strips and shrink wrapped?
• How do you answer your wife when she asks why you have a pistol in your pocket for trick or treating?
  • “Because Halloween is a slut walk for pedophiles and other sickos.” seemed to do the trick.
• Blessed be he who gives out full-sized candy bars, for his house shall stay free of eggs and toilet paper.
• Moonshine the puppy isn’t very happy about his new collar and leash, but eventually he’s going to get too big to carry.
• Boo’s endurance tonight seemed to be three blocks before his bag was too heavy and his legs were too tired to go on.
  • Need to work on his endurance for next year.  He’s nowhere near the “four hours and two pillow cases” goal I set as a young lad.
• No, I did not dress up this year.  I always look like this.

The new puppy appears to be an Apple fanboi.  He thinks all of their products taste wonderful.

• I have been shot, blown up, thrown to the ground, cuffed, and yelled at tonight.  In other words, it was a great night.
• Tonight, under interrogation, I gave my name as Mohammed abu Normal.  No-one got the joke.
• Leadership rule #123412 – Occasionally, count your people to make sure you still have all of them.
• A simulated 5.56 round to the elbow at close range is nature’s way of telling you that you’re not quite as tactical and stealthy as you think you are.
• Rule #1 for having a new puppy – Get a good mop.
• The outer winds of the hurricane were hitting us in the middle of training.  Made it downright chilly.
• I don’t think we’ll have any real problems, but just in case, I filled up the tanks on the van and truck, as well as all of our gas cans.  Ouch my wallet.
  • We needed to rotate anyway.
• Hope everyone back east is doing OK.

• I made sure to leave an extra big tip today when we took the kids to the pancake breakfast fundraiser for JROTC.  Between Girlie Bear, Girlie Bear’s friend, and Boo, they lost money.
• Started puppy proofing the house today.  It’s almost as bad as child-proofing
• Yes, we’re getting a new puppy.  Yes, I’m sure my psyche is fine.
  • We will be going to get him tomorrow.  It’s a 6 week old black lab.
  • His father appears to be the result of an unholy cross between a labrador retriever and a water buffalo, so I’m guessing he’s going to get big.
  • The older dogs seem to be OK with this, so long as the tummy rubs just keep on coming.
  • The cats, on the other hand, seem rather apathetic to the whole idea.  We’ll see how they feel in 24 hours.

• Irish Woman asked if the puppy would be sleeping in the kennel.  I asked her how long Bluegrass slept in the kennel as a pup.  The discussion ended after she remembered that the answer was “20 minutes”.
• Poured the footers for the porch extension this afternoon.  Irish Woman dug them them way too deep and tried to make them way too wide, but I agree with that.  If it’s worth building, it’s worth over-building.
• To the asshat who buried smashed beer bottles in the dirt that is up against my foundation 40 years ago:  When I get to the afterlife, I am going to find you and punch you right in the mouth.
  • Luckily, my tetanus shot is up to date, I have good pain response reflexes, and we keep an ample supply of bandages, hydrogen peroxide, and antibiotic cream around the house.
• Bought 8 60 pound sacks of concrete and used 5.  The guy at the building supply store didn’t even bat an eye when I returned the excess.
  • We are this close to being on a first name basis.
  • If I was single, I’m pretty sure he would have asked me to date his sister by now.
• Irish Woman admitted that her end game for the porch is for it to wrap around the house to the back door.
  • I now know that I will never, in fact, be done with ‘projects’.
• It was 40 degrees cooler today than it was 2 days ago.  I guess fall finally decided to assert herself.
• Strawberry moonshine and Sprite make a good drink to take the chill off of your bones after working outside.