Limbaugh V Fox, Or Is It?

The Michael J. Fox vs Rush Limbaugh would not be nearly so interesting if the Legacy Media would report it straight.

I was listening to Rush on (last) Monday, when he first mentioned the Fox commercial. A couple of things should be noted from the start. First is Rush's admiration for Fox as an actor. The second is Rush's puzzlement. Although Rush is, and was, aware of Fox's bout with Parkinsons he had never seen Fox acting as he was in that commercial. So, he asked a simple question, was he acting or was he off his meds or what. I understand that Rush tried to illustrate what he was talking about on the dittocam, not watching TV or having that service on line, I only know what I heard.

Later in the program Rush mentioned the E-mails he was getting discussing that Fox has written that he does go off his meds when he wants to illustrate the symptoms.

This started a tidal wave, seems that it is illegal, immoral and fattening to notice a Donk's disease. It is quite all right to notice a Repubs's. Just look at how Limbaugh's addiction and deafness are treated compared to say, Courtney Love's or any one of a dozen other Hollywood types. Except, of course, Mel Gibson's. But I digress.

One thing about this controversy that is important is that one side is lying. The ad that started all this is about the Missouri Constitutional amendment about cloning. Since this amendment has very little to do with stem cell research the proponents have named it the stem cell research amendment or some such nonsense. Please note that adult stem cell research is perfectly legal, even supported by Federal tax dollars. There is also much research done with fetal stem cell research, existing lines of these stems cells are eligible for Federal money. New lines are perfectly legal, too. They just do not get Federal cash. Considering that there have been zero (that is less than one) disease that has had any progress noted through fetal stem cell research, that sounds pretty fair to me. If private research comes up with any progress, fine. Then we can discuss a change. I am not sure that my twilight years are worth the death of a fetus but, fine, let us talk. Just, please, don't misname the amendment. Don't claim that backdooring human cloning is making cloning illegal and that it will cure me.

Don't promise that I will never shake again if only we elect Democrats. Don't attack Rush for asking questions. Mr. Fox has injected himself into this story and we aren't supposed to talk about it. Y'all bemember how no Donk talked about Rush's addiction? This a pretty good deal for the Donks, they make up these rules that they say whatever they please and we have to take it and keep our mouths shut..

I don't buy it. Nor do I care that Rush is not an expert on Parkinsons. That is my neurologist job. I don't ask Rush for medical advice, I don't ask Doc Walker for political news.

By the way, anybody notice that Fox's foundation is putting durned near two million dollars to support research in a viral therapy for Parkinsons? Not fetal stem cell, viral. Hmmm. So, HIS money is going for something showing some hope. Good. I like that. So, how much of his own money goes to fetal stem cell research?

Nap Is Over

Hi, my two month nap is over. All two of you are either glad or appalled. I have a couple of posts in my head that I will type out soon.

As some know, I have Parkinsons and will comment on the Limbaugh/Fox kerfluffle, I will be somewhat unique there because I have listened to Limbaugh all this week and have yet to see or hear Fox.

The other thing in my head is an appreciation of the .30-06 cartridge, I need to get that out while it is still the centennial year since some ordnance types dreamed up the old warhorse.

So Much For Freedom

Today is, I believe, the day that freedom of speech is lost until after the election. We are not allowed to say anything about politics without official permission from those who are supposed to work for us.

I shall never forgive that scumbag McCain. I expect the Democrats to be anti freedom, that is what they do. I would not vote for a Donk, anyway, not on a bet. I will, though, never, ever, vote for any Representative or Senator who voted for this bill.

John McCain is a crook. He was in the Keating scandal up to his eyebrows. He claims that we are not supposed to spend our very own money because he is a crook. Wouldn't have been better for him to retire instead of attacking our freedom?

McCain is a crook. Pass it on.

A Swarm O' Grandkids

We had a special treat this week, three of the four kids were in town so we had seven of the grandkids in one place. I have them in some kind of order, it is, from top to bottom, Ethan, Nathaniel and John Mark, belonging to Robin and Meleah.

Next are William and Josiah Dean, they go with Stephanie and Dean. That is Linda Lou holding Josiah. She is responsible for this whole mess.

The bottom two are Michael Jr and Alexandra Dawn, those are Michael and Jennifer's.

Now it is time to nap for about two months.

Meet Josiah Dean R-----

Here is a picture of my new grandson, Josiah Dean. I guess it is time to change my blurb at the top of this Blog, he is grandson number seven, grandchild number eight.
Those who care about such things he weighed seven pounds four ounces and was born at 8 38 AM, Central Daylight Time yesterday morning.

Mothers and those who expect to become mothers will be exceedingly jealous. The kids got to the hospital at six AM, the boy was in the outside world two and a half hours later. Mother and baby are well as is the father. Grandparents are all proud as peacocks.

Frustrating, But I Won My Class

I won my catagory at yesterdays shoot. Well, maybe I lost. It's hard to figure it out when I scored the highest in my class and the lowest. Yup. I was the only one shooting Frontrier Cartridge.

A better idea about how I did is that I was 18th overall, still down toward the bottom of the pack. I think I might have gotten closer to the top fifteen had I not blown the order in which I had to engage the targets. That mistake cost me a ten second "P" or procedural penalty. Other than that one disaster I managed to run the match with only one other miss, I think. I'll know for sure when the club puts the scores up on the website. My time is improving, too. Granted, the top shooters in Cowboy Action shoot a stage in twenty to thirty seconds and I am still just over a minute per stage but then the top shooters are not shooting .45 Colt with black powder loads, either. I am not going to cry about shooting ten rounds, from two handguns plus ten tounds from a lever action rifle and then four rounds from a starting empty mule ear double shotgun in a minute. I suspect that, as I practice I shall get the time per stage down to 45 seconds or so. I'm still having some problems drawing and holstering and picking up and grounding the long guns. The problems are more due to that stroke than poor equipment. Still, an hour or so of practice three or four times a week would help, too. Too bad I don't practice.

At least I managed the shoot without dropping a gun, that's something.

I need to put off road wheels on my guncart. It is so dry around here that there is a real danger of breaking an ankle stepping into the cracks in the black earth. It hasn't rained around here since Moby Dick was a minnow.

The Big Lube Boolits are a real success. I finally got around to shooting the .454 diameter 250 grain Pigeon Roost Slim slugs in the rifle. The .452s shot very well in my revolvers but poorly in the rifle. I have no idea why the revolvers are so much more forgiving than the rifle. It may be just a matter of expectations. I EXPECT a rifle with a 24 inch barrel and a Marble's Tang Sight to shoot a group of around an inch, inch and a half at fifty yards and two inches or so at a hundred. The .452s did not do so with the only load I tried in the rifle. Perhaps a different load would tighten the groups up. I suspect that a full charge of The Holy Black would cause the base of the bullet to slug up to completely fill the barrel. Then I'd have to put up with the complaints about my "hot" loads being hard of the steel targets. With the .454s I had no problem with my load of 28 grains of GOEX FFG, a .7 CC scoop of instant grits, uncooked of course and the bullet. Note that I fired sixty rounds, over six stages. There was plenty of time between the stages for the black powder fouling to harden and tie up the gun. In that heat it would have. The last round was just as accurate and chambered and extracted just as easily as the first.

The only differnce between the Big Lube Boolit and a regular cast bullet is that the Big Lube carries at least five times the lubricant as a bullet made for that newfangled fad smokeless stuff.With my home cast bullets I only get ten rounds or so until the fouling turns too hard and starts giving problems in the revolvers. In the rifle I started having problems right off the bat. Twenty-four inches of barrel is just way too much for two skinny grease grooves.

Of course my homecast bullets shoot just fine with a grease cookie underneath the bullet. That what I will be shooting when I run our of the Big Lubes, at least until I can afford the new mold. There are only two reasons for using the Big Lube Boolit instead of the regular one. The grease cookie takes a lot of room in the case that can be filled with powder. That is not important for Cowboy Action since I download anyway. The time spent loading rounds makes the Big Lube matter to the handloader. It is just so much faster to por a scoop full of dry grits into the case than it is to take a freshly powdered case, push a sheet of beeswax over the casemouth, making a wad. Then we have to push the wad down on the powder. Then put a dollop od soft black powder lube in the case and finally add a card or vegetable fiber wad on top of all that and now seat and crimp the bullet.

Whew! I'm tired just writing that, it's worse doing it. What is even more fun is having to make the sheets of beeswax since no one seems to make sheets. Linda Lou does not much like me making the beeswax sheets since I always manage to drip wax all over her kitchen. Speaking of which, if I cook at least half the meals, how come it's her kitchen?

The other main advantage of the Big Lube Boolits is that it took four patches to clean my rifle and not much more than that to clean each revolver.

The Big Lube Boolits also come in full size rifle sizes, too. There are two for the .45-70 and other .45 caliber rifles, a 390 grain and a five hundred grain, and a 240 grain for the .38-55. These would be really good for long range rifle competion and for hunting. I have heard some rumblings about molds for cartridges like the .32-40 and the various .40 caliber rifles, too. If enough people are interested Dick Dastardly will be pleased to have to molds made. Big Lube Boolits.

Update: 8/20/06. Don't ask why I forgot to finish and post this all week. Too busy playing with a puppy, I recon.

Busy.

I've been busy lately, busy trying to housebreak a puppy, busy with the grown dog and busy getting the ammo loaded for this Sunday's Cowboy Action Shoot.

Ming is sick, mainly seems to be abscessed teeth that will have to come out. It wouldn't be so bad except that she fights the antibiotic tablets that we have to give her twice a day to get the swelling down so that the Vet can do the tooth (teeth?) removal. She was refusing all food and water a few days ago, now, after some of the antibiotic pills she is eating food that we have soaked in water. Still, the pills are a battle. We've wrapped them in cheese and peanut butter and soaked dog food, it doesn't matter. It is going to be fun trying to shoot this Sunday with my fingers torn off.

I am having some luck with Eddie. He is peeing on the paper and outside. Unfortunately he enjoys firing the other barrel near the paper. I keep explaining to him that I have a perfectly good brick with which to beat him. Sill, he comes bouncing in from outside and runs right to the paper and then poops alongside it.

I have managed to load up enough ammo for the Shoot this Sunday. I ave loaded up one hundred rounds with the new Big Lube Boolits, the .454 diameter 250 grain Pigeon Roost Slim bullets.I already have quite a bit of ammo loaded with the .452 diameter bullets for the handguns. This is all loaded with GOEX FFG black powder, also known as The Holy Black and the One True Powder. The .452 bullets are as accurate as anything in my revolvers but very inaccurate in my rifle. I am hoping that the .454s will cure the problem. If not I shall go back to my home cast bullets and a grease cookie along with those Remington .455 swaged lead bullets.

I also have all my all-brass shotshell cases loaded up. I finally got around to weighing the shot charge, right around an ounce and three eighths of my mad scientist mix of number six and number nine birdshot. No wonder the recoil is somewhat sporty, that is a heavy load of shot. Three drams of Black Powder behind those shot charges. I am on my last bag of the now discontinued Winchester Red Wads in those shotshells. I have most of a thousand of the Circle Fly fiber cushion wads that work beautifully when I want a super open pattern, poorly when I want the patterns that work for the game I play.

It seems to have something to do with the way the forcing cones are cut in modern shotguns as opposed to the old shotguns. Old guns work best with the fiber wads, modern ones with plastic. Although my mule ear double looks old, it has the modern forcing cones.

I also filled up the rest of the box of .45 Caliber Shot Capsules with number nine birdshot for the blowing away of snakes. I have three more empty boxes for when I manage to buy some number twelve shot. Mike Venturino, a noted authority on the arms and ammo of the last half of the Nineteenth Century, swears by number twelve shot in handgun shotshells. This 12 shot is deadly on snakes at handgun ranges, trouble is that it has so little mass that it won't hold velocity for ranges for anything else. The shot caps hold just over 157 grains of number nine shot. There is the problem, fifty rounds of birshot shells is a lifetime supply. So, what to do with the rest of the bag of shot?

I have been following the War on Terror with great interest, in Britain, Israel and Lebanon as well as here. There are many, far smarter than me commenting. I have just one question, why can we not terrorise the Muslims a little bit? Say just enough that they have to stay home to keep us from killing them? Just a thought.

Edward T. Dog

The apprentice Pug has finally told Linda Lou his name. Eddie, he will be Edward T. Dog to those with whom he is not yet on a casual-friend basis. Assuming there is ever any such being.

Etowah River Leather

Here are the pictures of the new gunleather that I promised about two months ago. This rig is from Etowah River Leather in Baird, Texas. I try not to stay up nights trying to figure out why a one-man holster company in Texas is named after a river in Georgia.

The rig starts with a three inch wide, lined belt. Note to those considering wearing heavy iron: the wider the belt the better. A heavy shootin' iron worn on a narrow belt is an instrument of torture. Bemember those half to three quarter inch belts that were popular back when I had a full head of hair? Put an N Frame S&W revolver holster on one of those and the rig would slowly cut you in two. This particular belt has no cartridge loops. For one thing, the holstermaker, Brazos Jack, known to the IRS as Jim Simmons was making this rig to illustrate his pattern for a Single Six Rig and a row of heavy caliber cartridge loops would not fit the pattern. Instead he included a pouch on a clip That fits where I want to put it. It is easy enough to put as many rounds as I need for the rifle and handguns in. Most stages do not need a reload, anyway. I simply keep a couple of rounds in the pouch in case I miss a "must fall" knockdown target or accidentally eject a live round. There are other reasons for no cartridge loops, too. Such as Jim didn't know if I was shooting a .45 or a .38. I shall not complain, if I decide I'm desperate for cartridge loops I'll pay him for a belt slide like the shotgun slide that clips on the front of the belt. Assuming, of course, that I ever see any cash again.

Next on the lineup are two straight draw holsters. These holsters are lined with smooth leather. This is great for the finish of the revolvers. The rough leather of an unlined holster can catch dust and grit and act as if it were sandpaper. The downside is that we need to be more careful about engaging the hammer thong as the iron can fall out easier. I seldom stand on my head while wearing a pair of shootin' irons, though. If I must I'll slip the hammer thongs on.

There is still some controversy about straight draw verses a strong side and a cross draw rig. I have pretty much decided that I am a two straight draw man, primarily because of the "crossdraw shuffle" that CAS requires. This is so no one breaks the 170 degree rule as they draw. Oddly if one simply stands with the left foot forward he can draw from a left side crossdraw holster without violating that rule. It doesn't matter, though. If one tries the crossdraw without an exaggerated swaying of hips there is a whole lot of hooraw from people who think that to shoot a gun one must be a choreogpher. Without them I'd wear a strong side right holster and a cross draw on the left.

Brazo Jack is one of the few holstermakers I know of that does not believe in wet molding the holsters. I'm still getting used to that after some forty years, or more, of dunking a holster in the horse trough and letting it dry around a well greased gun. I can't complain about the speed, though. The irons come out of the leather like they were jet propelled. I should have taken a picture of my hideout holster for my Ruger SP101, it is wet molded.

A look at the very bottom picture shows how the top of the holster is slightly rolled out, this makes it a lot easier to reholster the weapon. A look at the pictures shows the border tooling done on this rig. Every one of those tool marks was put on by hitting a little chisel with a small hammer.

This rig is further embellished by a "State Of Texas" concho on each holster.

Brazos Jack does not keep a stock, each item is made to order. He is fairly fast, I would be surprised to see a basic rig taking more than six weeks or so, unless he was real busy.

One can also order the patterns and plans for several of his rigs if you are the kind of person who is handy.

Jim's website is and is well worth checking out. I also have his snail mail and phone number, a note will get it to you.

Hidecrafter

This issue of Shoot Magazine has a nice article with professional pictures. I don't know how much their website will give you but it is here.

Out Of Memory

I tried posting a couple of picures of the new, old Pug. This time the blogspot would let me upload them and I can see them on the preview. When I try to put the preview up on to the actual Blog, though, I get the same old post from day before yesterday. Then I hit the "refresh" button and I get a little message that says "out of memory at line two".

Line two of what? Which memory, the computer? Blogspot? Me? I will confess that my memory is really awful, since the stroke but I don't know that the computer knows about that.

Update: Whatever it was fixed itself. Good.

Here She Is, Miss America!

Blogspot seems to be over it's tantrum and is allowing me to post some pictures.

This is Ming. Linda Lou didn't much like that name but it seems to be growing on her. That's good since it's the name that Ming has had since she was seven weeks old.

Ming The Merciless Finds Her Forever Home

We are now Pug rich and cash poor. Seems that the Pug Rescue crew came through for us. For some reason Blogsplat is not letting me post pictures right now so I will do that later.

A short verbal description: Ming is a female Pug that just turned nine while she was in a rescue home. She had been given up because of someone in her home having allergies. Please do not ask why the allergies just popped up, I have no clue. Perhaps some new person came into the house.

At any rate Ming had been with the same woman since she was weaned. Her color isn't perfect, she is what the dog show people call "muddy". She is fawn, with too much black on her back and tail. Since we aren't show people, nor are we breeders of Pugs, we don't care. Oh, in case anyone is curious, we are done breeding anything else.

Anyhow Ming is kind of shy but seems to be warming up fairly fast. She is already my pal. Kids and dogs have always liked me, it's adults that I can't hardly stand. Long before bedtime she was in the recliner with me and then I got her to sleep with Linda Lou. The puppy gets to sleep in his crate until the ordeal of housebreaking is done.

The puppy manages to pee on the paper but has that terrible habit of poop, two steps, another little poop, two more steps, etc. He starts on the paper, ends up halfway to the other end of the house. As long as we get him outside at the right time he is fine. This will improve, he's just a baby. We are not yet able to take them both out at once, though, at least not with only one person trying to hold both leads. This, too will come.

Oh well, more pictures when Blogsplat is over it's tantrum.

Vicious Killer Attack Dog

As anyone can plainly see I now have to stop beating Linda Lou with a brick because her attack dog will protect her.

The Apprentice Pug

I had to lay off the saga of the big circular trip, we got busy with other stuff. We spent quite a bit of yesterday begging the credit union for a loan, we finally got one. We then discovered that we didn't really need it as the Postal Service had a check for Linda Lou, the vacation pay for the time she'd been put off the clock, illegally. We didn't know that this check had been sitting around for months but we were glad to take it.

This morning it was up early to go to Carrollton, a suburb north of Dallas. There was a Pug in Doggie Jail there and his people had not come after him. Today was the first day he could be adopted. We got up there about thirty minutes before the shelter opened. Good thing. There were two other people there before the shelter doors opened, each behind us, each after Wilbur the Pug.

Wilbur is another Black Pug Of Doom and he and Linda Lou did not quite hit it off. Instead we let the other woman there have him, in part because his eyes were full of goo and he wouldn't stop coughing, in part because he wouldn't calm down for Linda Lou but did for the other lady. And in part because Wilbur looked too much like Captain Fatbob.

Instead of a grown dog bailed out of Doggie Jail we spent $500.00 on a new fawn Pug puppy. Quite frankly I would have rather waited around and found a grown dog from the Pug Rescue people and not had to deal with the chewing and house training but Linda Lou liked the little guy. So now we have a new puppy that we have to teach how to be a dog. I'll have a picture or so up within the next few days and finish the great saga, too.

We have not yet figured out his name, it usually takes a few days for the personality to show through. He was born on May 16 and is cute as a bug.

The Garden Of The Gods and New Mexico.

We got up fairly early and reloaded the van and drove south into Colorado Springs, past Zoomie U. I was disappointed because Linda Lou would not take over driving for long enough that I could moon the Air Force Cadets. Drat!

We got into the city of Colorado Springs and drove over and saw the Garden Of The Gods, a lot of red rock, piled up in amazing fashion. We did not take the time to drive up on Pike's Peak, we had miles to go. More than I knew at the time.

We did drive over to the cliff dwellings nearby. When I saw how much it was going to cost I was for turning the car around, so was Linda Lou. I'd seen some cliff dwellings before, maybe not so well preserved but still, this wasn't our dime. Brian handed the money over from the back seat, We asked if he was sure he wanted to pay for this, he said sure. We got out of the car just as they were getting ready to have a display of some of the Indian Dances. When the drum started up I was about ready to dig out the shootin' irons but it was just a demonstration. Fortunately they seem to have stopped torturing their captives to death. I have no big desire to be staked out on an anthill or suspended over a fire.

What was surprising was how cool it was inside the houses, it shouldn't be, I suppose. I used to do some cave climbing. Solid rock is some pretty fair insulation. We then went through the souvenier stand, er museum. The sign said museum they sure were selling a lot of stuff, though. Anyhow, the cliff dwellings of Colo Springs is a worthwhile stop but it's close to ten bucks a head.

A quick lunch and back on I-25, headed south. We blew past Fort Carson, I didn't get to moon the Doggies, either. Phooey. Then it was just miles and miles of miles and miles.

We got into New Mexico and started seeing herds of speed goats, the American Antelope. I had never been through that part of New Mexico before. I-25 through that part of Colorado and New Mexico is right at the top of the plains, the Rockies are right there in the right and we ran into a few foothills but mostly it was just the high desert plains.

The Antelope co-exist nicely with the cattle and horses, grazing on the same pasture. I am not quite sure about what the cows think about the antelope leaping over the fences that stop the cows. I'll have to ask a cow psychologist next time I see one. I am not sure how New Mexico's hunting regulations go, if they're anything like Texas those ranchers will make a pretty penny on hunting leases.

Just north of Santa Fe we ran into the Sangre De Christo Mountains and the road started doing some fancy twisting, I noticed the compass in the car saying we were going north a couple of times.

We stopped in Santa Fe just to pee and head on, it was our intention to spend the night in Albuquerque and we'd spent so much time in Colorado Springs that we just didn't want to spend any more time stopped. I can out of the john and Brian was on the cell phone, saying that we didn't have the money for another motel room. So I decided that, rather than have anyone wire more money that we'd just try to drive staight through. After all, three licensed drivers and it was already getting dark, surely someone could get some sleep and then drive when I crashed.

Drive I did, we filled up the car in Albu-Q and headed west of I-40, the heir of Route 66. It's been a long time since I drove that route, it filled up with Indian Casinos since last I drove it. That's why they no longer torture their captives, they've found a new way to scalp the whites.

Anyhow we charged through the night and all I can say about that stretch of highway is that it was dark. I know nothing of the vegetation, wildlife or terrain, just that it was dark.

We pulled into Phoenix right about sunrise. I had got about a two hour nap in the backseat but Brian was so flakey on the road from Flagstaff to Phoenix that I took over the wheel again.

Phoenix is where all Hell broke loose. That's the next item, tomorrow or the next day.

Hornady Bullets and Fort Kearny

So, there I was in Grand Island, Nebraska. I got up early and, since no one else wanted to go, drove to the Hornady Bullet Co plant alone. The Motel was in the same area so that was a short drive. The office had about a hundred stuffed critters. I', not really sure how well I could work with a dead Moose staring at me but these folks managed. I guess after a while one learned to ignore the critters. I had to leave the camera in the car, they would allow pictures of the critters but then, everybody has seen a stuffed critter.

I got a tour, by myself with one nice lady from the Hornady staff as a guide, only through the bullet making shop. I did not see where they make cartridge cases or loaded ammunition, of course the bullets were what I was interested in so that is fine. A jacketed bullet starts as a long strip of bullet jacket materiel, a compound called gilding metal. This is an alloy of copper and zinc, mostly.the strip of metal is sent through a bunch of machines, starting with one that punches out precisely sized cups. These cups are run through a series of dies that stretch and thin them until they become a bullet jacket.

Meanwhile another set of machines turn large cylinders of lead alloy into lead wire. A different alloy depending on the projected velocity of the bullet, a fast rifle bullet needs a harder core than a slower rifle bullet which needs a harder core than a handgun bullet.

The most interesting part of the tour was when I actually saw some of Hornady's new Leverevolution bullets.These new bullets, not yet available to handloaders, are the Next Big Thing for hunters. The Hornady people have figured out the kind of plastic that is hard enough to hold a point during the bullet's accelleration down the bore yet is soft enough that it can't set off a primer in the magazine of a lever action rifle. For the first time since the 1860s a lever action rifle with a tube magazine can shoot pointed bullets without the risk of the rounds in the magazine lighting off. These new bullets add a hundred or two hundred yards to the effective range of the Marlin or Winchester toting hunter, depending on the particular cartridge. With these rifles the problem is not whether or not the hunter can kill the critter it is the trajectory of the bullet. Past about 100 to 150 yards the old style bullets start dropping so quickly that a hunter needs to know the range to withing fifteen or twenty yards or the bullet misses the vitals.

These new bullets extend the range, a lot. The Hornady people say that it will be at least a year or so before these bullets are available to handloaders. Until then they are available as loaded ammo in .30-30 Winchester. .35 Remington, .444 Marlin, .45-70 Government and .450 Marlin. The .30-30 is now a reliable 250-300 yard deer rifle.

I resisted the temptation to load up on caps, T-shirt and factory second bullets, thanked everyone and went and picked up Linda Lou and Brian and we got on the road, early still. I did ask, those are soybeans growing everywhere that corn doesn't.

Next stop, Fort Kearny. Oddly this fort had no battles but it was important none the less. It was a major stop for both the Mormans going to Utah and the folks going on the Oregon Trail. Unfortunately we lost all the pictures in some sort of electonic camera accident.

The most amazing thing about Fort Kearny, to me, was a look at the handcarts with which the Mormans crossed to Salt Lake. No covered wagons, they walked, pushing and pulling handcarts with everything they were allowed to take, seventeen pounds of stuff per adult, ten pounds per child. I presume this included one big ol' Morman Bible per family. Each train had a couple of wagons for food and other supplies.

Driving off from the Fort we had a flat, I drove on the low tire to a place where we could safely pull off and air it up. We drove into Kearny and found a Wal Mart and bought another tire as we had weakened the sidewall. This is where the wheels started coming off the whole trip.

Anyway we got the tire on and drove on, we passed the museum at the Buffalo Bill Trading Post in North Platte as the tire took the time we would have spent there.

We turned southwest onto I-76 and drove into Denver where we spent the night.

More of the saga tomorrow.

Grand Island

We're stopped for the night in Grand Island, Nebraska. Last night was Topeka, Kansas. We didn't get very far today, we started off visiting Linda Lou's parents graves in Topeka, then we drove north on a US Highway, Hwy 75 into Plattsmouth. This is a town that grew up at the spot where the Platte River meets the Missouri. Being somewhat of an amateur historian I had to go to that spot, being a guy I had to pee in the river there. A little present for St. Louis and New Orleans.

Anyhow, we picked up my daughter in law's brother and got moving. Simply because I never have, we crossed a narrow little toll bridge into Iowa and drove up Interstate 29, caught I-80 and blew west through Omaha and Lincoln.

There is a heck of a lot of corn up here and something else that grows next to the cornfields, I suspect it may be soybeans but I am not quite sure. Linda Lou is a Kansas girl but not a farm girl, her family was railroad, the Santa Fe. Anyway, we're going to take the tour of the Hornady plant and then head for Kearny and see the Fort Kearny State Historic Park. If i bemember my history that was a fairly important Cavalry Fort in the Indian. Wars Anyhow, there is a visitor's center in an old caboose right next door by the truck stop/restaurant. I'll ask there. Then, with just a little luck, we might make it to Denver for another night. That would make it an easy trip down to Phoenix in two days. Only a couple of four hundred plus mile drives, heck some folks commute almost that far. It's an awful long one day drive, two is a piece of cake.

Anyhow, bullet company blogging coming up, for now it's time to relax some.

Captain Fatbob Didn't Make It.

Captain Fatbob, the Black Pug Of Doom didn't make it. He apparently had a heart attack after getting too hot. He was doing fine when we stopped for lunch just north of Oklahoma City at a Cracker Barrel, a crew of children found him and were happily petting him, except for the kid that was messing with his curly Pug tail, he always hated that. A quick warning about a suddenly removed arm stopped the messing with the tail, though.

We got back in the car and kept driving north and he wouldn't stop panting, even after I directed most of the car's air conditioning down on him.

We started getting worried so we stopped at the last rest area in Oklahoma, I poured some water over him but by then he was unconscious. I hit the road with the flashers on while Linda Lou got on the cell phone, we found a Vet Hospital in the small town of Wellington, Kansas. Too late.

Linda Lou is heartbroken.

On The Way

Well, we're headed off to Phoenix, by way of Plattsmouth, Nebraska. If it seems odd that we're going to Arizona from Texas, by way of Nebraska, well, tough.

I have to go to Phoenix, I forgot my new hat, on top of the kid's freezer. It's too bad that this is kind of a rush trip, I'd like to stop in Oklahoma City to meet two bloggers, Rave and Hippie, of the Bad Example Family. Maybe next time.

Anyhow, it's time to go, I'll post from an overnight stay someplace.

A New Front In The Old War

I am not sure why Iran and Syria are using their wholely owned subsidiaries, Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel right now. Seems to me it would have been more worthwhile for them to hold off until after "the world" and the Democrat Party had allowed them to finish the job of getting nukes. Perhaps the nutcase in charge of Iran has decided that no matter what the appeasers decided that Dubya is not going to let nukes happen over there.

Anyhow, the Izzies are ticked and "the world" is telling them to act proportionately. There is no word yet on just how Putin or Chirac or Dubya would react if rockets were raining down on their cities.

I had initially thought that Syria was in deep trouble but Iran was quite safe. It is not like Israel has much in the way of strike aircraft with the legs to reach Tehran or Quom or the other areas that the Mullahs hold dear. Then I remembered Israel's submarines. Israel has not got enough subs and missiles to hurt Iran badly enough to make the Iranians stop what they are doing without making portions of Iran's coming smoking holes glow in the dark.

There is actually a way to avoid Israel sending nukes into Iran but "the world" will not take it. Only a hard military action by a coalition including Russia, China and Europe, as well as the USA will prevent Iran from continuing this attack. Seeing as how Iran won't stop how do we expect Israel to? What else does Israel have to make Iran stop? Perhaps there is someone smarter than me that can figure out a non-nuclear end to this game but I don't see it.

Assuming that, a hundred years from now, there will be historians to parcel out blame for the millions of dead and the hundred dollar a barrel oil, that grinning idiot Jimmy Carter will bear a large share of the blame.

I do not know how heavily we Americans will be involved in this fight, I suspect that will depend on what the Chinese and the North Koreans do, We may well have nothing to do but try to clean up the radioactive glass, we may be just as likely be up to our eyeballs in it.

Anyone know hoe to make Iran step back from the abyss?

I'm going for a nice long drive as there is nothing else to do.