Oleg's An Artist

With words as well as photos:

Would a stick be allowed for the defender? A rock? A piece of pipe? A sword? A crossbow? A pistol? So long as the intent is ethical, in this case prevention of harm to an innocent, what does it matter if the attacker is hit with a two-pound rock or a quarter-ounce bullet?

Tools don't matter. Actions with them do.

READ THE WHOLE THING.

You KNEW That Was Gonna Leave A Mark

But it's not too bad of a mark considering how things started out.

This is all that's left so far of Farrah's Big Adventure:

I especially like how the new hair growing in where the vet had to clip her is darker than the rest of her sun-bleached coat.

Because the original wound went deep into the muscle, there's still some discomfort in the area. A friend who's an Equissage certified therapist will go over her to let me know what to to to help with that.

It should still tighten down some more, and become less obvious over time.

Guns In Restaurants!

On Sunday evening, two people carrying loaded firearms were observed at a local Outback Steakhouse. The woman was 5'4" tall, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and the man was 6'4" tall, wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt. They ordered dinner, did not sit in the bar, did not consume alcoholic beverages, and left without incident.

No shots were fired. Nothing happened.

Apparently the guns they carried were defective, because the proximity to alcohol in bottles and glasses in the restaurant did not immediately cause them to commit mass carnage.

Nor did the presence of alcohol in the restaurant cause the man to drive recklessly after leaving.

Vanishing Act

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

Cool.

Priorities

As much as I'd like to take Signal 88's Civilian Rifle Fighting class on July 11 (it's even during National Training Week), I think my disposable income will be going elsewhere for a while.

Meet Sarge.

Sergeant Sweetie
General Jolie (TB) x Stink's Skipper (AQHA)

He's a half-brother to one of my Thoroughbreds, same Thoroughbred sire but his dam was an American Quarter Horse, making him Appendix-registered. Just turned three years old on June 1. He looks so much like his now-deceased dad it isn't even funny, except for that Quarter Horse butt. I'm such a sucker.

He was going to be put down before his life had really even begun, due to an injury he got at four months of age. It never healed properly, and never will heal without prolonged treatment.

The economy and the horse market being what they are, his owner didn't have the funds to fix him, and even then there's no guarantee he'll ever be rideable. The only buyers there are at horse sales for unrideable horses are buying for slaughter.

My vet's willing to give me a break on the surgery, and feels the prognosis is good. Will things hold together well enough for Sarge to eventually be ridden? Maybe, with extra precautions. If not, what's one more pasture potato when I have like three of them already?

Yeah, I actually have one of these:

Fat lot of good it does me.

I Never Would Have Guessed

Going through the manuals that came with some of my guns, I found this gem in a care-and-feeding booklet from Kimber:

Gee, ya think?

Role Model

I hope I'm half as good as Rachel when I'm her age.

Our youth-worshipping society has promulgated the idea that everyone inevitably turns into a pile of crap as they get older. I don't buy that for a minute.

Broadening My Interests

Except for some, ah, notable exceptions, my taste in music runs heavily toward head-banger metal. However, things like this:

And this:

Make it painfully obvious that I need to pay A LOT MORE attention to Country.

Learning Curve

The adventure of learning the snubby continues. Before I even picked up the gun from the dealer, I got a copy of Ed Lovette's book, "The Snubby Revolver: The ECQ, Backup, and Concealed Carry Standard" as a general reference. The book was invaluable in preparing me to approach this new tool from an informed perspective.

I got a Hogue Monogrip for the gun, and keep swapping between it and the factory grips. There's no question the Monogrip is easier to shoot, but the factory grips are much easier to conceal. Even tucked in a jeans pocket, the gun just disappears. I'm thinking I'll start out shooting the Monogrip and then switch back to the factory grips as I become more proficient.

I still can't seem to find a hold that feels natural and secure. I shoot high-thumb on semiautos, and obviously that can't work on a wheelgun. At least my hands are small enough to keep my thumbs away from the cylinder gap when habit takes over.

Experimenting around the house with an empty gun and an Ace bandage, I've found the alternative carry positions possible with little guns aren't as impractical as they seemed. With the right pants, ankle carry is perfectly doable using Massad Ayoob's big-drop-step-off-the-X draw. That method works so well that I wonder why anyone still says you have to take a knee or stand on one leg like a flamingo to draw a gun on your ankle. I don't wear dresses or skirts unless absolutely unavoidable, but discovered I could do a thigh rig if I had to. Worn not too far above the knee, it's acceptably comfortable and accessible, and sure beats not having a gun at all.

Several people have suggested Crimson Trace Lasergrips, either for defensive use or as a training aid. I have Lasergrips to fit my Hi-Powers and shelved them after using them for something over a year. Strange as it sounds, I found they slowed my shooting. I try to train for unconscious competence and anything that disrupts conditioned behavior chains tends to slow them down by breaking the pattern. I have a multi-caliber laser boresighter that is placed in the chamber, and will see if I can get a .38 Special adapter for it.

The trigger job smoothed things out beautifully while not significantly lightening the pull, so repeated dry practice is like physical therapy for my damaged trigger finger.

All in all, with the snubby, the journey is proving as valuable as the destination.

Protest Is Low-Level Terrorism

According to the Department of Defense.

From a written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees’ routine training:

"Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?”

— Attacking the Pentagon

— IEDs

— Hate crimes against racial groups

— Protests

The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests."

Hey, why not? After all, the Missouri Information Analysis Center and FBI already consider Constitutional conservatives, returning combat veterans, Ron Paul supporters, and gun-rights advocates to be "right-wing extremists" and potential domestic terrorists.

Wasn't Missouri the state where sheriffs and prosecutors were joining Obama "truth squads" to squelch dissenting campaign ads before the monumenetal eff-up 2008 presidential election?

Time to vote 'em all out, all right.