- I spent the day taking Girlie Bear to the state high school air rifle match over in Henderson.
- She is one of three girls on a nine person team for her school.
- I had never seen the preparation that goes into a formal match before this morning. It was interesting.
- I love to shoot, but watching other people shoot isn’t nearly as much fun.
- Plus, you have to be quiet for almost 90 minutes during the match.
- I’m glad I took a book.
- After seeing how much Girlie Bear liked shooting a precision air rifle at the match, I thought I’d look into getting her one for Christmas.
- Holy !#$!@!, are you kidding me?
- I don’t own any guns that cost that much, and I have a job!
- Heck, the first two or three cars I owned didn’t cost that much!
- She’s going to have to be happy with the official Red Ryder carbine action range model air rifle I got for her and Little Bear years ago.
- I was careful to stay away from the young man who Girlie Bear has asked to the JROTC formal. I’ve been advised to not scare him away.
- Although sitting directly behind him throughout the match and staring a hole in the back of his head would have been fun.
- I noticed that security around the school that hosted the match was quite tight. I counted no fewer than 6 uniformed sheriffs deputies either guarding unlocked entrances or roving about the halls.
- I guess someone was worried about copycats.
- I may not be the Real Slim Shady, but I am the Real Fat Pasty.
- I think I messed up when I didn’t have my coffee this morning. By the time we started the 2 hour drive home, I was whipped.
- Dinner tonight was a cookout in the fireplace. Irish Woman did it as a treat for Boo.
- Dessert was ‘smores in the fireplace.
- My house smells like a cross between a barbecue grill and a sugar factory.
- I had to caution Girlie Bear to not let her marshmallow catch fire. I didn’t want to have to explain that to the insurance agent.
Thoughts on the Day
Posted by daddybear71 on December 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/15/thoughts-on-the-day-75/
30 Days of Dickens, Day 11
“Did you ever taste beer?” “I had a sip of it once,” said the small servant. “Here’s a state of things!” cried Mr Swiveller, raising his eyes to the ceiling. “She never tasted it — it can’t be tasted in a sip!” — The Old Curiosity Shop
My Take – Life must be taken in deep draughts. In order to know whether or not you like something, you must experience it. If all it takes is a tiny sample or a small amount of time to experience it, so be it. But if it requires a lot of tries to truly know its true nature, take the time to know whether or not it is for you. Life is not won by those who didn’t learn drink deep from it.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/15/30-days-of-dickens-day-11/
Today’s Earworm
This seemed appropriate.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/15/todays-earworm-283/
Continuing Thoughts
I was going to let my input on the tragedy today in Connecticut end with the previous post, and I still think that the thoughts I put there are the most important ones I can express. But I made the mistake of interacting with other people today, both online and in real life, and things that were said and written got me to thinking.
Yes, the world is populated with a lot of evil people. There have been evil people as long as there have been people and there will be evil people so long as people exist. We cannot perfect mankind, so we cannot root out all of the evil. We can try to mitigate evil, to limit it, but we cannot eliminate it. All efforts to do so have failed miserably. In order to live in this world, we must accept that there is evil and deal with its consequences.
I’m not saying this as an excuse for evil people killing innocents, because there is no excuse for that. The greatest gift our Creator gave us was choice, including the choice to follow the path of evil. We can choose to love or to hate, to do good or bad, to be sinful or just. Most will choose the just path of life, but some will choose to do evil, sometimes with horrific outcomes. In those circumstances, all the just can do is to try to prevent it, minimize the suffering, and deal with the pain it causes. This is just such a case.
And yes, the animal who shot up a school today used guns to do it. In other words, he abused his rights in such a way that the lives of others were destroyed. All rights can be abused. The right of free speech that allowed Martin Luther King to make resounding speeches calling for greater freedom for the oppressed is the same right that can be abused by bigots in calling for their continued oppression. The right that guarantees that Ann Geddes can create pictures of the innocence and beauty of children can be abused to create child pornography. The right for us to either worship, or not, as we see fit can also be abused to create cults of personality and tragedies like Jonestown. My right to own and carry a firearm to protect myself and my family can be abused by a sick bastard to kill a score of school children.
The way to deal with those who abuse their rights to the detriment of others is not to abridge the rights of the vast majority that don’t. I don’t know how we are to prevent this evil from happening again, but that isn’t it.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/14/continuing-thoughts/
Thought for the Day
13Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. — The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 19, Verses 13 through 15
Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who are suffering the horror of this day. As a father, a friend, and a human being, I cannot imagine the pain, rage, and sorrow that is assaulting the families of Newtown today, and my heart weeps for them. May the Heavenly Father take your loved ones into his arms and cradle them forever.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/14/thought-for-the-day-183/
30 Days of Dickens – Day 10
Accidents will occur in the best regulated families; and in families not regulated by that pervading influence which sanctifies while it enhances the—a—I would say, in short, by the influence of Woman, in the lofty character of Wife, they may be expected with confidence, and must be borne with philosophy. — David Copperfield
My Take – I don’t know where I’d be without Irish Woman. Oh, I’d get through life, but it wouldn’t be half as easy or as fun. She is the head project manager, dispute resolver, transportation specialist, and logistician of our little family. She knows just what we all need, when we need it, and never stops until things are taken care of. I imagine it’s like that in most families. One of the adults is the one who keeps the wheels on and rolling.
Let’s face it, I’m a pretty boring individual. I’m dependable, but I don’t have much imagination when it comes to day-to-day life. When Irish Woman met me, I fed myself and the kids on a few dishes that I could make easily, quickly, and inexpensively on Sunday and re-heat through the week. My wardrobe and a lot of the other cloth articles in the house were either gray, so that everything matched, or white, so that I could just bleach something to make it look right. My walls were the same off-white that the house came with. Our idea of weekend entertainment were endless walks in the park and reading Dr. Seuss. She not only accepted that, but added her own flare that has made life much more interesting and worth living. Before, life was survival. Now, it is lived.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/14/30-days-of-dickens-day-10/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on December 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/14/todays-earworm-282/
Living in the Future, Looking into the Past
Irish Woman unboxed her “Merry Christmas to Me” present tonight. She bought herself a new Epson photo scanner, and was running some old negatives she got from the lady who raised her through it. It’s something she’s wanted to do as long as I’ve known her, but scanner technology just didn’t do it well enough. It took her a while to figure out how to use it, but then old snapshots of family started coming through. There were the shots of men fishing, children posed in their Sunday finest, and such. And then she found this:
That’s her mother as an infant being held by the uncle who raised Irish Woman for the first few years after her mother and father died. Irish Woman’s mom was born in 1926, so that negative is 86 years old. This is the only photo that Irish Woman knows of that has her uncle and her mother in it.
To say that Irish Woman is excited is an understatement. She has a few mementos of her parents and their families, but only a couple of pictures. Most of the photos she has are well-staged portraits and such, so an intimate snapshot like this is a wonderful find.
We have a big box of negatives in the basement. A lot of them are from photographs that I took when I was stationed in Europe, with a heavy leavening of shots of the kids when they were little. Irish Woman has hundreds of her own negatives to scan, and of course she has that envelope of old odd-shaped negatives from almost a century ago to go through and bring her family back to life. I think I’m going to look forward to this project.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/14/living-in-the-future-looking-into-the-past/
News Roundup
- From the “Bulgogi In Space!!!!!” Department – Well, what do you know? Manny, Moe , and Jack-sungsenim were able to get their bucket of bolts off the ground and into orbit. Of course, it’s reported to be tumbling wildly and the world is bracing for when the thing inevitably falls from the sky, raining death and destruction upon whichever unfortunate Seoul it happens to land. But then, I’ve never put a missile prototype into orbit, so congratulations to Glorious Leader and his pack of Russian, Chinese, Libyan, and Iranian hirelings.
- From the “Moral Conundrum” Department – Two men are in trouble with the law after it was learned that they were making detailed plans to kidnap, mutilate, and murder singer Justin Bieber. While I’m glad Bieber is safe, I’m also glad that none of my children ever got into his music. And to be honest, who wants to see such a talented young girl harmed anyway?
- From the “Diaphragms for Does” Department – A suburb in New York is planning on getting control of its deer population by shooting does with contraceptive darts. The treatment is supposed to keep the does from getting pregnant for three years. No word on how much the program is going to cost, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to cost more than what the town would make if they were to hold a $10 a head raffle to be part of a bow hunt.
- From the “Get A Rope” Department – A Pennsylvania couple is going to hell on a scholarship after it was discovered that they were running a dog fighting ring out of their home. Apparently “man’s best friend” got translated into “man’s best outlet for barbarism”. Here’s hoping they end up in a small cage, brutalized, and fed bad food for the rest of their life, just like they did with their dogs.
- From the “Literature Critic” Department – A library in Ontario is being forced to destroy thousands of dollars worth of books after someone has made a habit of urinating on them. Breda was unavailable for comment, although confidential sources have indicated that the world’s most dangerous librarian is forming a crack strike team to head to Canada and track down this animal and terminate him with extreme prejudice.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/13/news-roundup-165/
Christmas Carol
Silent range,
Cold range
Everyone behind
The yellow line
Guns lay still with chambers open
RSO checks that nothing is loaded
The range is cold
You may go down-range
The range is cold
You may go down-range
——————————————————————-
Silent range,
Cold range
Targets adjusted
Back behind the line
RSO checks that no-one is down range
He yells at a dimwit who is acting strange
Ready on the ri-ight?
Ready o-n the left?
Posted by daddybear71 on December 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/13/christmas-carol-3/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 