So how is the war on guns going?

I think they are winning, or they think they are winning.

If there are people of good sense, shooting safely, promoting safe shooting sports, hunting and self defense -- and there are many. What they don't seem to be doing is making it a LAW that to be a citizen of the United States of America - that you must be a safe qualified shooter, own your weapons of choice and be accountable for their proper use.

The ANTI-gun crowd has few brains functioning well, and for some reason believe that guns have a mind of their own, are evil and will make you do strange sexual things in the dark (or something). BUT they certainly are willing to make everyone else comply to their version of the Universe. They insist that all guns are bad, that only police and armed forces under the control of the government may use them gently in pursuit of the common good and national objectives.

It could be that real people of the gun, aren't seeking to make the world a better place, just their place in it. When asked about our country, I have an opinion, but for sure I can only handle getting my body to the YMCA for physical therapy - the government can't, and they already have too much on their plate.

The politicians and the ANTI-Gun ghouls will be constantly attempting to make the gun the problem, because they won't admit that people are the problem. So maybe we need those laws that require people to be armed, trained and potentially dangerous. Spitting into the wind, aren't I?

Doctor's visit, or I visited the Doctor...

Anyway, I have four months to live, until my next appointment. Nothing wrong with me that the LORD won't fix, my doctor's recommendations need a few more years of mulling over.

So, you need a couple of beautiful things that I saw that you should have shared.

Looking across Gray Army Airfield on Fort Lewis, at Mount Rainier shining in the blue distance. the gray airfield, lifting like the Chinooks, to the blue skies with the little haze swathing the base of the volcano. So many shades of blue on the Mount and in the layers.

Second one is from yesterday as I rowed my machine at the YMCA. Usual suspects on the basketball floor below. The coach/father and this three players were being filmed in their awesomeness by a professional team. Four players doing two on two, very aggressive and passionate and since two of the opposing players seem to be brothers that had some words on my way into the Y, they are committed. Gosh they do play hard. But what caught my eye was the female basketball player on the far side of the court. Most of you don't remember the Breck girls from the 50s and 60s - beautiful women and to die for hair. Well, such a brunette was on the floor, wearing an ornate heavy necklace (maybe earrings, too, too far away for my eyes). Nothing surprising there, except she is wearing a black summer dress, with a swaying skirt, and two straps holding the bodice up... can one have a black summer dress? She was great.

She got many extra points for playing with the two girl children, her daughters? (they would be so lucky!). I imagined, since I am making all this up, that she was waiting for one of them to attend the tumbling or gymnastics class.

Worth a thousand words...

So I liked the idea of my eyes, but want to write more about shooting and the RWVA and Appleseeds. And I need a job teaching, since those who can't -- 'teach' what they can't.

So I did a quick shot of me with the auto shoot, and all three pictures were interesting and I used them, in different places. To make it perfect I would have to ask Heather to focus on the front sight, and do better on a back ground (since I should have a range to be shot at, shouldn't I?).

Being picky, I did not get the sling under the support hand, the way I shoot. Also not wearing a glove. And a shooting cap with bill shading the rear sight, so artificial. But it does convey a lot of my point in few words.

Someone says we need a dialog... must have been a Greek

So America has a problem, only one? The one they want to talk about is RACE, which is a foolish American Problem.

I wanted to talk about the blue eyed blonde with the jewel in her nostril, that says she is a member of the privileged class. Too young and never been out of her country - where she is such a thing. I have heard a Chinese Businessman say that was the kind of woman he buys for pleasure. She hasn't run into him, nor been where she doesn't speak the language, know the manners and has a place, let alone a privileged place - so young and such an empty mind.

It does seem that those that have darker skin, eyes and hair color have lower status, here in America. Bill O'Reilly says the African-America has a problem, but that box he throws real people into have the same problem the rest of the -Americans do, just the rest of us have to work around, over or through the problem.  Race isn't allowed to be an excuse.

Bad, or at least a poor education system. The founding fathers had more reading and self education than what is offered in our SYSTEM of public education. But the educators want to control the outcome, and dumbing down is an anwer?

Lack of solid marriages - that is everywhere - it matches the lack of personal accountability, and responsibility. That mostly happens when we live where the dog ate our homework. I know they say half of all marriages end in divorce, but that is only because reporters can't do mathematics. They think that a 100,000 marriages in one year and 50,000 divorces in the same year means half have failed. Silly fools, not from the 100,000 that got married.

It is true, marriages that work will raise better children than those that give up because they can't handle the pressure (or whatever silly reason). They may not become President, but they might become hard working folks. Oh, most of those folks not of my classification, and I am thinking of changing it to my DNA code, but I might miss a number sequence - those folks I talk to in church, work beside in the service, laugh with about our family experiences. They don't seem to have Mr. O'Reilly's problem, but because he actually thinks race means something, they become Special Needs people - which with the ones I know aren't ever going to be.

Yes, I do believe we have big problems and the first step is to turn off the MEDIA, then find love with your family and friends and the folks in the neighborhood.  Have good manners, be clean, the Boy Scouts seemed to have the quick answer for young men. I have an idea the Girl Scouts had a great answer, too.

In the end, it will only be the individual effort, to better themselves without tramping on others, that will help restore civilization. For some Communications style reason, Bill O'Reilly is almost shouting - displaying his lack of control? while two or three of the men he was talking to were calm, certain and willing to listen but they weren't out of control. I can't find any good answers in Bill O'Reilly's putting everyone not like him in prison for a long, long time. Indenture them to the Chinese.

Do ya know the feelin'?

When your belly button sticks right up on your backbone? No, well I have heard about it before, and on that long ride across Montana I started feeling that way - not that I had lost a lot of weight or girth, but the feeling was just that - my belly button was resting on my backbone. I decided I was seriously dehydrated and made a fluid and fuel stop to fill the void.

Watching the children after church run screaming in fun away from each other, at play, I wonder when the adult will take them and quell the pure joy of the chase and flight. As I slog along on the now almost daily gentle jog, I wish I felt that free and fast, have I been there before - sure, and I might not be too far from it now, but... my mind is full and wandering it slows the pace of the body down. Has to be the mind, it wants attention, in a race one is concentrating on the movement, the pace, the breathing, the place in the pack - the focus of the mind is on getting the body to the finish. In the gentle jog - it is more, get on with it, I have stuff to think about and don't disturb 'ME'.

The rowing machine at the YMCA will just record what I perform, I won't sink, move up or down the lake or river, just a static machine, pretending I have done something - and I haven't tipped the boat over yet, nor run into any of the other rowers. But I do feel the rhythm and like the workout for its concentration on the legs, arms and back. No seasick pills needed. The bicycle machines have links on Expresso.net, under my Ride History, where I can see what I have virtually done so virtuously. No, I don't work out that hard, I am a real SENIOR on Medicare, I only think tough and fit. Although, since biking is the second YMCA machine workout, I leave more sweat behind. Then I go for weight machines, or the rope trainer.  Maybe, I will work out on one of the Eliptical machines, while watching Neil or the Five on FOXNews.

Wonder why I do all of this? Well, one of the nicest compliments I ever received was the one word said with pleasure by a lady that had touched me, 'muscles!' That was a great feeling, haven't had that said about my jelly doughnut texture for a long time. It is paying off, I get to see the ladies in their workout clothing, and I am losing weight and gaining tone. Hopefully, getting fitter. I do feel my body better than the recliner (don't use the recliner much anymore, either). Think in August I will add swimming a couple times a week. Maybe.

So you haven't been to the Fish Camp...

For years I have been saying 'No' when asked if I wanted to go fishing. Don't ask me why, I just have this dollar limit on my idea of fun and the cost of fishing, in the ocean, wasn't inside that limit. But my wife said we should go visit the Fish Camp for a day and see what is going on. The women don't seem to fish, it seems to be a man thing, in this group - not on the boats.

I needed a break from the Jog/YMCA routine and only one day wouldn't turn me back into the horror that I could be without trying. So I copied the directions, and promptly lost them, looked it up on the internet and copied them, and punched the destination into my GPS. On our way!

Considering how far away I normally drive for Appleseeds and visiting folks, this was a short trip, about an hour and three quarters. I passed the Stafford Creek Corrections Center, I once visited there for an outreach ministry.  I knew the library staff there, once.

I find the Twin Harbors Beach State Park, which is where the crew has three campsites reserved and are set up. They lock in, in January for July. They say they come and camp on Thursday, Fish on Friday and return on Saturday after Noon. But they had come out on Wednesday this time. I couldn't find them immediately, so my wife grabbed her cell phone and called and as she got someone to answer, I was driving directly at her as she waved and talked to my wife.  Cool.

We park and say hello, get something to drink and grab a chair and start talking. This is a group of old folks, I hear complaints about noisy neighbors (children!), and that the women are going to take a hike to the beach, the men are going down to pick up tickets and check out this day's catch as the boats return to the floats. That was a good way to slowly make me think I could have fun with this event. I am always open to seeing more about something I don't know about, just not always willing to spend dollars on it.

I did get a good tour, some pictures and enjoyed the day - which for us included a tour of the yurts (no, the Mongols wouldn't recognize them) but a fine place to live on the edge. So after a grilled on the grill steak dinner, corn on cob and baked potatoes. We said good-bye and thanked them for the great time and drove on home. Which is always faster than the trip away.

So today, Friday, they got on the SLAMMER and went out deep bottom fishing, and they expect to have a great time. The weather was great here, they had all the seasickness patches or pills to keep them fishing instead of puking. They should have had a great day.

Will we go next year? If my wife wants to, we will get a yurt, same days and probably I will go fishing, just to say I have done so..... but actually,  I will start every day with a long jog, a shower, and then maybe row a boat or paddle a kayak around. My wife will want to walk with her friends almost every day, and I will have a kindle load of books to browse or read. They also do horseshoes and card games and watch the bonfire. Yep, best do it once before I die, these fellows aren't getting any younger. Ha, ha!

What are you? really?

As I work on my rowing without a boat at the YMCA, my rowing machine overlooks the two basketball courts and I can see through far windows the gymnastics floor area. A very nice distraction from the little computer screen counting the strokes, the pace and the calories. Today they will have the Zumba class and then the Get RIPPED class with loud rhythmic beat and bounce. Normally, I am only watching basketball players - making shot after shot from all distances. They will never talk me down on the court, they are all too good.

Periodically, they allow me to peek into their preparation to be better players. They drill. Yes, I have seen them play pick up games, and full or half court - they are fast. But what I mostly see is the drills. Only dribbling, passing, shooting. They are started young, in twos and threes - each with a ball, and sharing one basket and some older guy coaching. By the time they reach their teenage years they will have had more time moving the ball on the floor than I will have ever wanted to - that means LOTS.

As I looked at the young girls doing gymnastics I see them all walking on their hands, cool. I don't do that either. But they make it look simple, easy and fun. And it is part of their drill, and they roll out of it gracefully. I would just collapse into a heap.

I was reminded of the years in the military - doing drill to perfect the operations and tactics, so fewer orders are needed, so the right actions happen in sequence - so we can impress the Soviet Defense Minister - making him think we hid lots of officers in paratroopers uniforms so an airborne assault would look professional.  Made me wonder a little about the Soviets, but I knew it was all good training and DRILL, over and over the same stuff and finally they would give us some live ammunition and make our day.

Could you imagine how perfect you could be in music, dance, sports, grammar, shooting, in love and life - if you do the drill? If you knew the skill set?

Now you can see why dry fire, and drill is good. But also know why this foolishness about money and training value for the dollar is critical for the military. And our service members don't want to sit in the barracks talking about the good old days. They like to train as they will fight.