I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand‘s; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I’m sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/05/30-days-of-heinlein-day-2/
Fatherhood is the state of mind in which you can find your entire set of metric wrenches buried in the cat food bin and be neither surprised nor puzzled.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 5, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/05/thought-for-the-day-34/
I’m going to try to do something different. I’m going to go 30 days at a time of doing quotes from authors, orators, or poets. I’ll be drawing from books, video and audio recordings, and websites.
We’ll start with my favorite author, Robert Heinlein.
The death rate is the same for us as for anybody … one person, one death, sooner or later.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/04/30-days-of-heinlein-day-1/
While watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Irish Woman had the following thought:
The reason that Mrs. Claus is always urging Santa to eat is so that she can fatten him up on carbs and high-fat foods. Her hopes are probably that he’ll take off in that sleigh, and under the stress of the Christmas rush, he’ll have a stroke and crash. That way she can inherit the entire North Pole How much do you want to bet she has a double indemnity life insurance policy on the fat man?
Yes, it’s no mystery why I love her so much. She’s my soul mate.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/04/thought-for-the-day-35/
This spring, when I was walking around the floor at the NRA annual meeting, I picked up each and every 1911 I could find. I looked at different finishes, different sights, triggers, and doodads. I tested the actions for smoothness and the triggers for crispness. It’s the centennial of the 1911, and I wanted to find one that would be my barbecue gun.
Out of all of the offerings, other than the custom jobs that I knew were going to cost more than I could pay, I liked the Remington R1 the best. I’ve been saving my pennies ever since, and I finally had the money for one, with a little left over in case I could find a good deal on an R1 Enhanced.
Guess what I found at the gun store this weekend?
That’s a used Remington R1with a lot of the parts swapped out with accessories from Wilson Combat and Pachmeyr grips. The original owner bought it, shot half a box of ammo through it, brought it back to the gun store to have a bunch of custom work done to it, shot the rest of the box of ammo through it, then brought it back because it just wasn’t what he was looking for. I’m not sure what he traded it in for, but I hope he keeps working his way down the gun counter like that so the rest of us can benefit. Let no-one say I won’t take advantage of someone putting a lot of money into something they finally decided they didn’t like. I bought it from the shop that did the work on it, which is also my gunsmith, so I’m pretty confident I’ll like everything they’ve done.
Best part for me? It’s only had 50 rounds through it and has a lot of custom stuff added in that I would have paid extra to get in the R1 Enhanced model. Only thing that’s missing, as far as I can tell, is the adjustable rear sight and the fiber optic front sight.
It’s still got the stock 3-dot sights, barrel, and bushings. It’s a much tighter gun than I’m used to with my RIA 1911, but not so tight that racking the slide or rotating the barrel bushing is a pain.
I can’t wait to take it out and put holes in paper with it. I made it a goal to get a new 1911 in 2011, and I made it!
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/04/celebrating-the-centennial/
A few days ago, I posted about how I didn’t really care for the AR-15. Again, it’s a personal preference, even though I can recognize that an AR can be an excellent choice in firearm for someone who enjoys shooting them.
But the Lord, in his infinite wisdom, has a sense of humor.
Girlie Bear has announced that one of her life goals is to join the Army. She’s not sure what she wants to do in the Army, but she wants to serve.
I’m proud, of course. If she follows through, she’ll continue a family tradition that stretches back to our first Irish ancestor who joined the Union army a couple of hours after he got off the boat from the Old Sod. And she’s only 13, so she has half a decade to decide for sure what she wants to do.
But in the event that she is truly serious, it looks like I’m going to have to dust off my old Basic Rifle Marksmanship manuals and teaching skills. I was BRM instructor for my company in Arizona, and I was always the one detailed to work with the soldiers who thought that guns were icky.
Yeah, it was an Military Intelligence unit. Yes, I’ve heard the jokes, and a lot of them are pretty close to the truth. Yes, there are actually people who join the military that think the concept of guns is bad. I was surprised too.
I’ve spent many hot Arizona days going over steady hold, trigger squeeze, breath control, and sight picture and alignment. Guess I’m going to get to go over dime and washer exercises with my daughter.
All of this means that in the next couple of years I’ll be either building or buying a basic M4gery. I don’t want her to learn on a high speed AR, then get to basic and have an issue weapon do all of the things that a slick AR has been crafted to not do. Call it a bit of pride, but my daughter isn’t going to be “that girl” at the range unless being “that girl” means she’s the one who qualifies Expert on her first try.
Yes, He’s got a sense of humor, He does.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/04/the-lord-has-a-sense-of-humor/
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/04/todays-earworm-82/
Yeah, it’s been that kind of day.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/03/todays-earworm-83/
Marriage is the state where a person strives to a better person for the sake of another adult, while at the same time resisting the infrequent urges to drive the car into a bridge abutment as a reaction to the actions of that adult.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/03/thought-for-the-day-36/
I’m going to take a page from BRM’s playbook, and point out some things I’ve seen on the blogs that I thought y’all might like.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2011
https://daddybearsden.com/2011/12/03/blogs-roundup-11/
DaddyBear’s Den 