Sunday, December 28, 2008

A Christmas Surprise

All of the snow of the last week has been delaying a lot of inbound Fedex and UPS shipments I've been waiting for, so when KeeWee hollered that there were a couple of boxes on the front porch, I assumed it was probably some of those shipments that had finally arrived. When I saw that the two boxes were from Wine Country Gift Baskets, I was really puzzled as to what the boxes might contain, since I hadn't ordered anything from them.



I dragged the boxes inside and opened them up. To my total surprise, there were two gift baskets full of goodies, one for KeeWee, and one for me. Keewee's was full of lotions, creams, and other things along those lines, and the basket addressed to me had cookies, chocolates, games, books, pretzels dipped in chocolate, and even more stuff I haven't even found yet!


Where could these have come from? Who had sent them? Rummaging around in the boxes I found two cards, one to KeeWee, and one to me.


The card for KeeWee said "Thanks for taking care of Mr. C." and was signed "The Gun Blogger Community". The card to me said "Get Well!" and was signed with the first names of several of the Gun Bloggers.

I hardly know what to say as just saying "Thank You!" doesn't seem to come close to covering it for me. The fact that you would go to this effort for KeeWee and I speaks volumes about just what a great bunch you all are. It really means a lot to us.

Thank You!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one day. As they walked they come across a sign: 'Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world.'

'I am entering,' said Snow White.

After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, 'Well, how'd ya do?'
'First Place', said Snow White.

They continue walking and they see a sign: 'Contest for the strongest man in the world.'

'I'm entering,' says Superman and after half an hour he returns and they ask him, 'How did you make out?' 'First Place,' answers Superman.

They continue walking when they see a sign: 'Contest! Who is the biggest liar in the world?'

Pinocchio enters. After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes. 'What happened?' they asked.

'Who's this Obama guy?' asked Pinocchio.

A tip of the Stetson to Uncawho for this one!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year

From Rocket, the Goldfish, all the bunnies,
KeeWee, and yours truly


Now turn off the dang computer!!


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Nokia "Urban Communications" Phone

A special sneak peek at the prototype from Nokia?


EOTAC Goodies Drawing - YESSIR!

I just got an email from Paul Erhardt (Paul took a lot of the pictures at the Steel Challenge World Championships last Summer) tipping me off on a drawing for a whole lot of very cool stuff. The following came from the Downrange TV site. Check THIS out:

"In case you weren’t already in a festive mood, EOTAC, along with help from DPMS, Bushmaster and Remington, has put together one helluva giveaway. It’s their Full Operator Kit giveaway which just went up today and runs through March 31, 2009. These giveaways are going to be quarterly and this first one is an awesome package. Here’s what it contains.

- Bushmaster M4A3 in .223 OR a DPMS Panther LR-308C in .308
- A case of Remington Match Grade Ammo
- EOTAC Tactical Pant
- EOTAC Long Sleeve Shirt
- EOTAC Tactical Vest
- EOTAC Range Cap
- EOTAC Vickers Gloves
- EOTAC Pocket Organizer

The average retail value is either $1,998 or $2,199 depending on which rifle is selected. If you like the idea of winning a free gun, some ammo and tactical clothing then be sure to enter here. Please note that this giveaway s void in some states so make sure you check out the rules here."

I do believe I could manage to make room in the gun safe for this.........................



Monday, December 22, 2008

Snowed In

About the time I got my driver's license I sort of lost my sense of just how much "Fun" it is when we get a good snow. Over the last two days we've got roughly 15" of snow, and the temperatures have stayed low enough that it hasn't melted. They are now forecasting a few more inches tonight. In a couple of days it is supposed to warm up a little and start raining, which will get rid of most of the snow. We'll see.................


Looking West across Useless bay at the next storm moving this way.


Wayne on the 4WD backhoe plowing the driveway so when it rains there will only be a couple of inches of snow to dissipate, rather than fifteen or sixteen inches.

Most of the roads are maybe an inch of clear sheet ice with snow on top. When the temp warms a bit and the snow on top starts to melt it's going to get REALLY slippery.

Bleah............................

Click for KeeWee's snow photos.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Steel Challenge, Speed Steel, Fun Steel -- ??

The Steel Challenge "Pendulum" stage.

The question came up over at Walls of The City as to exactly what Steel Challenge matches were like. Before getting into that, you should know that there lots and lots of gun clubs that shoot some form of steel target shooting against the clock. Theses matches may be called Speed Steel, Fun Steel, or sometimes incorrectly called Steel Challenge matches. The rules at most of these club level steel matches often vary widely from club to club.

Steel Challenge, however, is different. the rules are the same world-wide, and there is a Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) that establishes and maintains the rules. SCSA is under the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) umbrella, as is IPSC competition here in the United States. If you shoot a Steel Challenge match in Australia, Holland, or Piru, California, the same rules will be used.

The Steel Challenge rule book has the layouts for eight different stages, with exact dimensions given for target size, height, and location. All championship matches must use these stages, although for State championship matches if I remember correctly, they can use six or more of the stages. Regional, National, and World Championships shoot all eight stages. The distances to the targets vary from ten to thirty-five yards. The smallest target is a ten inch round plate, and the largest is a 18" x 24" rectangle. Each stage will have five plates, and one of them is the Stop Plate, which must be hit last.

At a large match there may be a number of sub-classes, the basic classes are Centerfire revolver (sometimes optic and iron sight are separate), Centerfire Optic Sight, Centerfire Iron Sight, Rimfire Optic Sight, and Rimfire Iron Sight. Centerfire Optic Sight and Centerfire Iron Sight are essentially the same as USPSA/IPSC Open and Limited.

All centerfire classes start with the gun holstered and the shooter's hands above his shoulders. Both rimfire classes start from a ready position with the gun pointed at a flag or marker on the ground twelve feet in front of the shooter on the centerline of the stage.

Range commands are fairly standard if you've ever shot any timed matches in the past. If you've never shot a Steel Challenge match before, tell the Range Officer running the stage and he'll be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Seven of the eight stages will be shot from one shooter's box with no movement required when shooting. One stage ("Outer Limits") has two shooter's boxes and you shoot the two weak-side plates from the first box, then move six feet to your strong side into a second box and shoot the two strong-side plates, then the stop plate. If you aren't quite sure, ask the R/O and he'll get you straightened out!

When the start buzzer buzzes you shoot each plate once, then shoot the stop plate to stop the clock. You can shoot as many times as you need to hit each plate once. Anywhere on the plate counts as a hit. There is no penalty for shooting the same plate twice. If you miss a plate and shoot the stop plate, the time stops, and there is a three second penalty for the missed plate. Once you hit the stop plate you cannot go back and pick up a plate you missed. You shoot each stage five times, and your worst (slowest) run is discarded. The remaining four times are added together for your score on that particular stage. Your score for the day is the totals from all of the stages.

For Steel Challenge you need to be able to shoot each stage five times, so it's a good idea to have at least five magazines loaded when you go to the line. Hi capacity magazines will let you use fewer magazines, but sooner or later you'll forget and start a run with not enough rounds left to finish the run. Changing magazines after each run will keep you from doing this!

Any of the USPSA/IPSC, IDPA, or Steel Challenge matches will build your shooting skills. The biggest benefit, however, is that competition shooting makes you work on the two most important things should you ever find yourself in a defensive position, those being Trigger Control, and shooting when you are full of adrenalin. I've seen a number of shooters who can shoot fast and accurately right up until they hear the buzzer, the adrenalin spikes, and they can't hit anything!

If you've always wanted to give one of these matches a try you should do so! Steel Challenge is probably the easiest to shoot, as the difficulty is not hitting the plates, but hitting them quickly. As in the real world, slow hits are still far better than fast misses, and no matter how fast you are, you can't miss fast enough to win!

Check out the Steel Challenge web site for more information on Steel Challenge.

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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Mr. C's Condition Updates

Well, my condition is finally starting to show improvement. I've managed to recuperate back up to where I was a couple of weeks ago, just before the the latest downhill slide. I'm probably about the best I've been in the last five weeks, and showing a little improvement each day. I'm now eating regularly, and my weight has stopped dropping, in fact, I may have actually gained a pound or so! Many pounds to go, but at least it's moving in the right direction. I've greatly reduced my narcotic pain medication, and my mind is finally starting to shake off the narcotic "Brain-Fog". My temperature is running about normal, so most if not all of the infection is cleared up.

Sadly, while in the fever/narcotic phases I wrote a complete novel and several wonderful blog posts, all in my head. The novel would surely have been a best seller, and the blog posts were absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately I can remember only that I had written them, but no idea what they actually were.....

Just before all this medical stuff happened I had been working on some ideas for next year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous. I haven't got the details and confirmations worked out yet, but I promise you that GBR-IV is going to take it to a whole new level. All the good stuff from previous GBR's will still be there, but there will be several BIG new things added. As more details become available I'll be letting you all know. It's going to be in early October, probably the first or second weekend. Start making your plans now by at least putting it on your calendar. I'm not kidding, it's going to be big!

That's all the news for now, but if all goes well I should be blogging at least semi-regularly fairly soon..............

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Some Improvement

KeeWee has been doing a fantastic job of taking care of me, and finally I think there's been a bit of improvement. Going to a much better hospital probably had something to do with it. I'm about 25 pounds lighter, totally worn out and weak, and barely able to walk. That, however, is an improvement over two days ago. I can now get small amounts of food to stay down, which is good. I've got a drain tube coming out of my liver, draining a huge area almost the size of a bar of soap, which was the most recent problem. It's going to take a while to fully recover, but as long as there are no more setbacks, I'm hoping I'm finally on the mend.

Thanks so much to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and comments. Even though I'm still too weak to answer them all, they still mean a lot to hear from you. I hope to meet every one of you someday and thank you in person.

........Mr. C.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

MrC is finally getting some sleep

MrC is home from the hospital and so far he is doing well. Of course he is still full of drugs so we will see how he feels when he comes down off of his high!
I am praying for MrC's complete recovery very soon, as he has had, a very long four weeks of pain, frustration, very little sleep and a lack of progress in the "get well dept."
Tonight we were discussing how nice it would be, to win the lotto and buy a couple of airline tickets to Tahiti, for a little R&R, Oh well, dreams are free.

Keewee

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Update on MrC'S condition

The short version:

MrC has not been getting well as he should. Within these past few weeks we have made a trip to the ER, another visit to his doctor's office, then back to the hospital for an ultrasound and a blood draw for blood cultures to be done. The antibiotics he has been taking are doing their job, but another problem is the one which is really causing difficulties.
Tomorrow we travel over to Providence Medical Center in Everett to have a procedure done which should get my honey back on the road to recovery.

UPDATE: The procedure is scheduled for 8am Thursday 4th.

Keewee

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