Depart from ordinary...

Somehow, I missed weighing, medicating and measuring yesterday -- and I didn't expire.  didn't eat the right foods either - and didn't suffer the loss, nor the less.

Totally a great day, now back to the regular scheduled program.

What were you going to be when you grew up?

I was always going to be a real soldier - but I also knew I was going to be a DAD.

I never knew my father - the way my brother and sisters did. I would only have glimpses of the husband my mother married. I was the first child I had to break trail, negotiate new rules, learn to live in our house and quietly go out to conquer my world. He would always be there when I fell on my face, busted my nose, wrecked the motorcycle we had rebuilt together - he had the wrench turning down to a science - I just had the desire for freedom.

We didn't talk enough, he left when I had finally found my adult voice and I was a proud father with a son going to Europe on his first long tour. I am of the personal opinion that he didn't want to put up with my mother's fiftieth wedding anniversary, and he didn't want to go out like his father - long, slow and feeling useless. He knew that we have lots of widows in our families and few widowers. He slipped away while my mother wasn't looking.

I was really lucky to have had my father - free haircuts as long as I lived at home, standards I could grow into or I would hear about it. Questions about why I wanted, or would or what had I done - he wanted to share life with me. I never saw his life, he would have shared - I don't care what one says - men hardly talk or the conversation is critical. I did better with his teasing.

You know, of all my regrets, I can never be the fine father he was. Didn't have enough children, and I never ever saw him run anywhere - especially in an emergency. I hope I handled all the emergencies with his poise.

If you want my opinion of the world's troubles - they didn't have the benefit of my father's care. Looking at my cousins, around the world, they seem to have done well - similar fathers? Actually, since their fathers, and mine, were very quietly focused on our Heavenly Father that seems to have been a key. And I won't ever be that good either, but I am trying .

We know they are monitoring everything...

Yes we do know. Subject of books for years, a government that will control us, watch us, pick us off one by one. New books come out where the person disappears - goes off the grid. And the government fears that. 

Verizon fears losing all its customers, but most of you think you must have a telephone, many think it should be in your pocket, with email, GPS and instant gratification.

So, as I watch the business news, I remember that much of the turmoil on Wall Street, or any market is information, and knowing  before the market moves, and the computers are faster and faster - the movement of money is so quick. So does SEC monitor the phones? the waves? Do you understand why messengers are used to keep secrets? Yeah, same system that George Washington used - send the mail and have trusted agents to do your work.

Well, so off the grid, no GPS broadcasting thingy in my pocket, on my wrist, under my skin and the Sunshine calls me to the road this morning.  One day it will be illegal to drop off the monitoring not that anyone beside computers will be looking at the trillion of bits and bytes. Yes, it will.

TGIF it is a great day to be Thankfull for...

So shouldn't every Friday be great? I think so...

I am feeling a bit tired, have been at the YMCA working out and getting that hard body, which I can only find portions on on me - after I have been pumping iron and working out a bit. So I put the garbage cans on the curb had breakfast and coffee and prepared to get the Trusty Triumph out the doors and down to the shop for service and safety checks.

I heard the ravens mobbing some predator bird and looked to see which one, if I could find it. I did it wasn't flying but perched upon a limb in the edge of the Green Belt - the back woods, behind the backyard. So I pulled my little Canon out and zoomed in to get the shot. So I could share how cool it is to be backward backwoodsy kind of folk. Too Cool.

I started my bike up, got properly prepared (sunglasses under full face helmet, gloves) and rode off a little. Then stopped and took some more pictures - this has no telephoto lens, just 4x by 4 digital. Pretty good for a cigarette pack size camera without film.

 It was lightly drizzling as I went, not even enough to wash off the bugs on the shield. Get to the shop, talk to the mechanic, get my order in, and then wander around looking at all the other bikes on display, talking to the other male customers about motorcycles, gear and goings (one is thinking about Iowa to see parents) - I mention going off to Minnesota soon. We talk fool experiences a bit (when we were wrong and it laid down). When my wife picked me up for the trip to the YMCA -- I realized it was just like talking firearms and shooting at the range. There may be bigger or better but this one is mine - and all that I can do with it - this one is mine.

At the YMCA I hit a few machines and worked some calories and heated up. And as it is the end of the YworkWeek (I may go tomorrow - but will probably shoot and cut grass instead). I feel like the Tea display I caught as I got my 24 oz of  black coffee from the barista. And a nap and covers is in the immediate future. Have a great weekend and make the NSA jealous, and the IRS plotting to get you cause you rock and don't have fears enough without them hounding you.

Pork Belly and six left turns to go...

A high school friend catching up after forty plus years told me proudly that she had abs, finally. Which was not impressive to Earl as it was to her. I was more impressed by her position in career choices and  business success - is it a guy thing? But I have long known about the recliner fat feature of where your fat pools as you laze back and mindlessly entertain the brain. And even working men don't normally look like the WWE hunks, unless you have been following the old school ones like Brute Benard with his big belly.

All that came to mind as I did my skin cancer self examinations, always looking for signs of trouble. As I pulled skin around and tightened it, I found I had abs! Which I had seen before in High School football locker room in about 1964. Presently they are hidden behind that pork belly that is much looser and doesn't protrude like it has in the recent years. So the time spent working out (rowing and biking and some weight machines) at the YMCA has been positive for my fitness and health. But then I do have time, I am so retired.

Anyway, the showers are scattered today, so in the break I decided to go for a gentle jog - just to prove I can still do it, slowly and steadily. It is away from electronic tethers, and only the spy satellites will wonder as I wander about what I am doing away from the forms of electronic monitoring - ie, Blogger, Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Outlook and cablevision service. I took my best thoughts, started out with a prayer for World Peace and then moved on to other religious reasoning, interrupted by story lines of heroic action adventures of Earl (only I will ever know what difference a daydream will make). So, fifty three minutes and fifty seconds later I am back home safe and sounder than when I departed.

Time for breakfast and more coffee - a day is a whole twenty-four hours to make.
 

So, what me worry?

No, I am not worried about the government having all my data, emails, letters, calls and history of everything Earl has ever done. I will go to war with the government if they declare war on me - and I know the government doesn't have any real control of any or all its agents. Case in point, all the current problems with truth and perceptions on the media, the number of assaults by soldiers upon other service members, or rogue IRS, 

They do hide behind what they call the law. IF the agent does something illegal, it must be investigated and pondered. If Earl does something illegal, Earl gets arrested and threatened until Earl pleads guilty to maybe a lesser charge. Notice a difference?

Studying History, I will give you a great Christian institution to look at: The Roman Catholic Church under the Pope. The need to protect the faith from false preaching, values, Muslims and Jews, and a few Wiccans and Witches&Warlocks working for the Devil.  They created the Inquisition, and it grew in power as it threatened the population into compliance and quiet. And they could get you and keep your soul from Heaven, or so they thought. The English monarchy used religion for centuries to suppress the efforts of the Pope. Half the war on the Irish was because they wouldn't convert to a Protestant faith, all the Irish war with the English was because the English and Scots weren't Irish nor well behaved tourists.

I am sure that people can design programs for computers to influence human activity, look at the last Presidential election. I am sure I wasn't influenced - but I am smarter than the computer and the programmers and most certainly than the President's party and staffers. Look at the mess they have made of the country that they control - truly anti-Rights laws (about guns, guys) passed stupidly.  Same kind of politicians in Washington DC as in the Blue State governments. But there is talk of splitting from New York, California, Illinois and Colorado and forming a new state from the Red State folks held in bondage by the Blue State folks in charger there.  Check out West Virginia, they had differences with the Old Dominion in Richmond. The Civil War settled the question about leaving the Union, but established the precedent of counties leaving a state.

I would like all Americans to decide to disconnect from the services that have complied and assisted the government (GOOGLE!) in capturing the truth? about all the folks. At least the folks on line, using telephones - those that hand write their communications, or meet face to face only have to worry about security cameras, and the Gestapo, which we don't have because we don't speak German and have NAZI party in charge - do we?

If I win the Lottery, I will pay my taxes and my tithe, then give some money away (my wife will tell me to whom) and then buy some land and leave. Y'all be good and be blest mightily. Don't worry about the government - they only tied in Korea, lost in Vietnam and blunder about making the world afraid of their power projections - mainly because they are so irrational.

So you are going to change

Restless night, and sure enough some things aren't the same in the morning. More improvement in my health and will have to work on the fitness. That second step is going to be slower, but has to happen.

Just one aside: the fellow that ran to Hong Kong after exposing the NSA to the same attention the NSA subjects the world.... that was a great paying job you left. Also, no matter that our people know what the government was doing and could do with what they have --- we already know the godless Chinese Communists are hacking away to get the same information - or the portions they would like. Hasn't anyone heard of data sharing? Spies looking at spies, bad governments looking at the other bad governments - could write a book or two about that.

Now, the real problem isn't the gathering. It is what happens with it, don't give it to the terrible IRS, CIA, FBI, or Homeland Security. And since the elected officials and their fine civil servants seem to have no sense of shame, honor nor competency - don't let them have it either unless it is shredded first.

Anyway, my paper targets shouted at me instead of politely talking to me. The problems with paper data. it isn't as hidden as the computer files -- right in my face on my desk. Well, have had breakfast and on my third mug of coffee, the sunshine outside calls to me, have much to do and places to be. Don't blog forever!
LIVE!!!!

You can find everything on the internet...

The President is who?

Might not be true, he could be a French model.

Ah, is my face red!

One Appleseed in Washington was canceled so I got to go to Oregon to shoot at an Appleseed there this weekend, at the Douglas Ridge range - which is having some land use problems because of the discovery of wetlands! Everything in the west of the Great Northwest is wetlands, flood plain or tidal waters - water, watter everywhere and then it rains! Wetlands indeed!

Anyway, as I drove the three hours down to the range in Oregon, I thought about how the movement of shooting has crested - partly from the cost of shooting stuff, and partly from the cost of living and gasoline. But mostly because handling of firearms safely and proficiently and learning about the Heritage of 19 April, 1775 will get you bombed up by Cheicken Terrorist without a cause, or even have some government agency notice your activity and send the IRS or the FBI SWAG to your doorstep. What was Nathaniel Harrington doing on the green in Lexington on 19 April 1775? Well, maybe the terrorists will only attack the large crowds watching the runners and  not families on a rifle range in the middles of somewhere... Well, everyone get back on the streets and announce the opportunity to learn marksmanship to 4MOA and the Heritage and tell them to visit RWVA forum for more information.

Well, I arrived (early) I was noticed and greeted and became a good thing to talk about the good old days. Not only all the instructors but the returning shooters from Appleseeds years ago. It was good, and I even made some new buddies. Other old men from long ago wars, and younger men working for a Rifleman patch.

Including me, twenty shooters, just enough to make the words flow and the shooting slow down. So, no matter what Fred has said about fewer words and quicker training, it can get away from our best efforts and good intentions. They did one AQT by the end of the day, they had the two Redcoat targets, all positions, transitions and marksmanship and safety were taught, just not as much practice. Since we had an AQT and some good shooters returning from other Appleseeds, there were two that earned a Rifleman patch. No pictures since they may have declined - many did, and they NSA and Homeland Security will have to look for satellite coverage to find out who got the patch.

I never got to the AQT except to staple one up on my target backer. Seems that I am healthy, after having troubles last year - but that doesn't mean I am fit to fight. Or do the transitions from standing to seated or prone quickly with the muzzle in a safe direction. I need many more dry practice getting up and down with a rifle without making everyone in the general area afraid.  I also see a need for speed - even giving up two shots will still need a faster surrender to gravity and the ground.

Anyway, I supported a black powder shooter mounting a scope on his rifle - I talked he worked. I also got lots of sunshine and sunburn (yes. I had sunscreen, but one must apply it). So, looking at my targets (bad enough that I didn't take pictures for sharing, but did take the paper to shred in a controlled environment - home!) It was great to shoot the M1 Garand (always) and I did improve - someone should buy me a bunch of ammunition or reloading components and I can continue to improve. Still, without the live ammunition - the dry practice, including the transitions from standing to seated and prone, are what I must improve and can afford to do. The difference between healthy and fit is HUGE!

You do understand the danger, don't you?

I could be talking about the Federal Reserve Banking or the Pentagon or the stupidity of Governors of states that are fools in charge -- lots of dangers but they are now coming to a point.

I was left alone yesterday and started watching television between bouts of well written war stories. Sure enough I was traumatized. The telephone rang, but I couldn't answer it.

Seems that the National Security Agency has been conspiring with Verizon to publish my telephone to my enemies. So the twenty times my wife claims to have called the house that I never answered - it was because I was paralyzed by my fears of  being found in contact with her.

I have thought about disconnecting, just cancelling the telephone service entirely. Since the cable company, Comcast, has a telephone and computer connection I could use that - or I could get a dish.... but then upon more paranoid reflection, I now know that they are giving up information, too. They are everywhere, EVERYWHERE!

Only that service, but my free Google and Facebook, seem to have been designed to mine my mind - to know what I am thinking, want to buy, indulge in, or vote for. The Cable companies know what the television is tuned to, they use the information to sell ad space. Control freaks everywhere. So harmless, aren't they?

But if it were only one political party, or two, or one business I wanted to work with, for or against - that is something even very old folks could handle. But it isn't the President, any of the last sixteen or so, but the larger groups of employees of the various levels of government, the unions, the law enforcement forces without work, those depending on government goodness delivered monthly.

You ask how I know there is a problem? The Internal Revenue Service has become the cancer on the Constitution, but the spin offs new caneers in the FBI, FEMA, and the Agriculture Department. It just doesn't pay to play, it isn't the Congresspeople, the Executive Branch - it is the low level wild clerk in the catalog system of the Congressional Library that is conspiring to make you all better, for your own good.

Ron Paul tried to warn you, so did Benjamin Franklin, add Earl - I won't say I told you so, since this communication has been monitored. Pascali's Island is a fine story about what happens to empires that have so much information that 'no one reads it any longer'.

Go ahead, wear running shorts this morning...

Just because you put them on doesn't mean you have to go run, does it?

You do know it is D-Day, don't you? The D stands for day, the H stands for hour, and there were D-Days for every operation, H-Hours for the moment of attack. But D-Day is the Longest Day, the attack on Normandy - King Harold's Revenge? The Liberation of Europe. In 1984 I wanted to get to jump in the re-enactment - only gravity still works exactly as it did so long ago - I missed my chance. Still, I have walked the famous cliffs and beach, visited the graves and noticed how young most of the dead were, and what day they were killed, thousands of crosses and some stars - real Americans. Don't forget the Canadians, British and Free French - don't forget the Naval forces that had to get them there, the Air Corps that dragged the gliders, dropped the paratroopers, that bombed the heck of anything they suspected of being a strong point. When you drive around France, Normandy is beautiful, and the part still recovering from WWI is still recovering... all worth the visit with the spirits of the fallen. Although we have the movie industry, computer projections of real photographs - none of it would even come close to reading the books of those that survived and wrote it down. And each of those authors were self editing. D-Day.

Healing from illness, accident and trauma does take longer as one is now scheduled for slow destruction. Those growth hormones and careless youthful - time sense meant I don't really remember how long it took to get whole again.  I remember breaking a cast off my hand in the field at Fort Bragg - it was in my way. Now I have time to notice how long it is taking, and I can blog again and again how I am not as good even once as I once was... great song, Toby.

Just think, that the German response to the operations on Normandy was slow, imperfect and exactly wrong - and centralized in the leader. Don't allow that to happen in America, in America people step up and take charge and do stuff - waiting for leadership, good sense or perfection just won't get it done. Washington, DC will stonewall and lie, no matter what happens. Good luck with that as a survival technique.

78degrees and we are almost melted here in the Great NorthWest...

But a man has to do what a man has to do.... so I done it.

That was much better than it looks, and so  much fun!

Top Shot All Star edition....

Well, they finally stopped the drama of Reality television, and got back to head to head shooting and cool targets and cool firing devices. Still, I had quit watching after the second season, with just a couple of shows from the third it was so bad. Not the shooting, not that weapons, just the drama. Teams and voting off, so junior high school. It doesn't really matter, they will never invite me to play, and the really great shooters out there have sponsors, or have honor. Some may have both.

I spent the morning making sure the calendars were flipped, and found it didn't matter, my first two checks I wrote had May as the month - just until I looked up how to spell June. Went through two thousand dollars in just the time it took to write and stamp and address properly. Don't tell me there isn't inflation - I had just as much or more with less in 1973, and still have the books to prove it.

I did go and pick up my shooting jacket with the inside pocket for stuff, it will work. I also put wire fence up for the garden stuff to climb up, my wife is pleased and immediately tried to train the climbers onto the wire and up. Patience, dear they will find it. Will wear it this weekend at the Medicine Lake Appleseed. That will be a wrap for a bit. After I get back from that I start preparing for a motorcycle trip to Minnesota. Family reunion.

Okay I can put the guns away now... for a little bit

I rushed after a very light workout at the YMCA to the sewing shop to find out that they weren't ready and hadn't finished my jacket with the inside pocket improvement. Was a time I would have been upset, angry or irrational about it. I won't even tell you the name of the shop so you never darken their doors and fatten their pocketbook. I felt sorry for them. If I die soon enough they may never make any money from my request. Will pick it up on Monday.

I did like Idaho, visiting the Redneck Roost hobby farm, seeing the changes, and appreciating the wild life (that term would work on the Redneck clan if they weren't so grounded in good work).  No that is not the name of the place, but since edible farm animals are so picturesque, it fit my blog post. I should ask what they call the place, except home.
 
I was helping on the first day of the Appleseed at Lewiston. Only one shooter and three instructors - and if you think multiple instructors can be a problem, chiming in or adding comments and techniques, how would you like to be the only one of four that isn't sure of the language being used - since those three are speaking it so rapidly it can't be absorbed. Rain on Sun dried and baked clay - does no good.

Well, I did shoot at the end of the day and every day not shooting humans for their improvement is a great day to be a Rifleman when shooting. I busted all the times, single shot rifle is my excuse, the truth is closer to 'old and slow', but made a 210, barely. Didn't clean the Redcoat - but I still love that rifle and engaging with it. I still love my wife and engaging with her -- and will work on improving both relationships, knowing why and which is important.

Having had the joy of shooting beside the shooter, I am getting closer to the time I will think that instructors shooting beside shooters in an Appleseed might be good for the shooters. Not there yet, but could be convinced. I was sure that as level headed and polite as our shooter was - it wasn't comfortable having three sets of eyes on oneself as he is asked to perform things he hadn't perfected, yet.


At the table in Redneck's home, the conversation got around to my goals in work, the suggestion of teaching or tutoring Civics/Economics was put forward by Shawn. That was an interesting idea, and I will continue to mull upon it a bit. She was looking at in the Homeschooling realm. It does seem that my mind is a terrible thing to waste, having a life long experience with institutions I am leaning towards more work with real people that might be accepting of my help.

I need to call and make my reservations for Rochester, Minnesota 28-29 June, will leave here on Sunday afternoon heading hard and fast to the East, should still be light in Idaho when I get to the Redneck Roost. After that I will be sleeping on rest stop picnic tables and benches. Do you think I can get well measured at Men's Wearhouse in Tacoma and pick up a suit in Rochester from same company? I once wore a cousin's suit to be fit as his best man or groomsman at his wedding, but I am not a skinny fellow any longer.

I heard a comment about someone wishing you could carry guns in church, and that someone  would carry concealed. I told the speaker that people were carrying guns in church and that concealed is so those that fear guns won't be afraid. Criminals are carrying guns, I am sure in a state where one of seven has a Concealed Carry permit many would be carrying, always. If I weren't such a fat man I might be carrying, hardly seems to be room for me in my clothes some times. Spend more time at the YMCA, working on the yard, and start running the road again. I will only die once, may as well go doing what I love. Take care out there, another Appleseed weekend ahead and I might need to pick the one in Washington, and drop off the one in Oregon.

Good Morning, folks...

I am so prepared for 2013, yes, I do know that it is almost June. But I finally have the experts' advice.  How to be a Man 2013. Seems Esquire magazine has all that I need to know about being a man. And I buy the magazine for the babes. All two of them. That is okay, I also get to read about Brad Pitt - not that I would. I have always liked much of his work as an actor - well, I will put all that on the to be done when I have sometime to need filled with foolish.

But don't I want to know how to be a man in 2013? No, I am still working on Earl, there are things about some other men in the world I have met, some of which are worth doing - but really, I am not going to be concerned with being anything my parents wouldn't be proud of - would you want to be wrong just because someone writes that the NEW MAN of 2013 is ______.


Being a real fashion monster, I had my Appleseed shooting jacket dropped off to get a pocket sewed on the inside of the lower on the trigger side. I do shoot in it, but mostly it is worn to make the shooters feel I am professional enough to pay attention to... If Campaign hats weren't so expensive I would be wearing one, and will give you a pic of long ago and far away... No, never mind, but if you ever saw the Wild Bunch, they had some well adjusted ones.

Mayor Bloomberg isn't afraid, since he is working so hard to make sure the rest of us are powerless while he has a lot of beef surrounding himself - I guess in a way he isn't afraid.  The truth is all the anti-gun folks are very afraid. And they don't understand why the gun people aren't afraid of anything except other good people's foolish intentions. I have another day on the range in Idaho this weekend, on my son's birthday. Figure that if the shooters are few I will get some personal shooting time in, will take both of my favorite firearms. And again, more safe rounds will have been expended and no one was hurt in the exercise of my right to keep and bear arms. Go away Mayor Bloomberg, New York and California are right there with Mexico on my list of places I don't need to ever visit, buy from or travel through. They hate me there. They might be trying to kill me or emasculate me for my benefit... they know nothing about being Earl, only how to be a man.

Risk of... a percent of risk of...

The phrase 'risk factor of...' everything seems to have risk. I got out of bed, what was that risk factor? Well, if I can't get to the coffee pot it could be considerable. For some reason beyond my ken the government thinks it is supposed to modify my terrible risky behavior by pounding the chance that bad things could happen to me.  Gamblers and most folks have a better idea of the odds of something happening than that fearful government.

Scarred by Scandal -- Gibson Guitar? Do you mean there is a risk factor to allowing government to believe it rules and it can get away with it?

I just saw a security guy on FOX News, and if I ever saw a typecast for Mafia hood, he was it. Hope he is as nice a man as I think he is from his shy few words -- probably in a bit of trouble for being caught on live camera feed. Wouldn't want his job, do you think they really grow different men in New York City?

How should we teach them?

I traveled a few hundred miles this weekend and helped at an Appleseed in CdA, Idaho.

I had a great time, and remembered well the people, the tales and the time. Didn't get pounded by rain until I returned to the Puget Sound area in Washington and that only helped to wash all the bugs off the windshield. Although, watch vigorous sneezes while driving on rain slick roads in the mountain rains --- panic, oops here comes another sneeze!

Normally, I would give you a bunch of pictures for sharing my happiness - but camera shy the public seems to have become. I was asked to remove two of the pictures I had posted - so I did - I am not a man that wants to bother anyone. Maybe with all the government spying, we should be very afraid.

But since it is Memorial Day observed I will share more positive thoughts.

Today is a great day to take some young people to the graves - of those that have departed - on the battlefield or years later after having suffered for years and then finally called to that final rest. Someone has to explain to them why we fight wars, and what is a real hero, and why war can't be shown on television or in cinema since emotions haven't a real digital presence.  A great day for an old worn warrior to visit his fallen comrades and tell tales about their service to that younger future hero or heroine.  I liked seeing the scouts putting the small flags in front of the markers, and I hoped they read the campaigns and ranks and tried to picture the people they were - it is time to honor and remember they served. God bless them all.

A bit chilly here, but it is damp Springtime in the NW

I put a favorite sweatshirt on to keep my warmth from fleeing. It is bright (like I was once) yellow (which I dare you to call me). It is comfortable, not very stylish, I have a rule, hoods can be better than hats, long sleeve is better than none, and that big belly pocket can replace gloves and keeps all kinds of stuff. I, like this sweatshirt, once functioned well in adverse weather - jogging along the road.

But upon closer examination, it resembles me too much now - wrinkled, weathered, worn and to the uncaring - worthless. Can't figure out if it was the running or the washing the sweat and dirt out that wears at it so much.

I leave you with a picture, remember that I am a very married man, and kept around for warmth, utility and memories of another time.

Time to get into the yard...

Read Isaiah 49 vs 13-22, it helped me a bit. Oklahoma knocked the foolishness in D.C. off the television, until this morning. We are between rain storms but just until tomorrow. A cousin and his family are waiting on an airplane for lift off to vacation, but they are together and safe. As I was watching the early reports and films from Oklahoma - I saw the communities, so hard hit, just coming together to get things right, just like the Texas town with the big explosion after the fire. That may be the problem in the Blues states - waiting for someone to take care of the problem, not knowing that they are the one everyone else is waiting upon. Yes, I am talking to you. Be good out there.

Up before the Sun, here anyway.

Couldn't keep sleeping, I am such a failure. But at  three in my morning darkness, I know that it is after the Sun has risen on the Mohawk Valley and people in Boston are wandering to work - wondering where the Revolution went, although I hold that New England could never get as far from the Mother Country as they pretended. It isn't called New England because it is an island.

At church I was asked why all the Appleseed events are in Eastern Washington, I blamed the culture of Seattle, but that isn't totally true. Mostly, many shooters are comfortable with their skill level, firearms, their local ranges and are quiet law abiding folks with real lives. The Appleseed events depend on personal experience and participation. If you think you are doing fine, you don't need the AS, but if you don't want to be the last rifleman in Western Washington, the Appleseed Organization would appreciate your participation. The program needs to expand, must become a valued part of a normal life.

When I explained I was going to Idaho for an Appleseed event, and to Oregon next month, he had a better idea of the distance and what it takes to make it happen. Border raiders needed. Still checking on posting from another shooter I find he is blaming his improved performance in competition on his Appleseed experience. What is taught is sound, and the NRA and CMP have the same basic marksmanship, what I think sets the RWVA and Appleseed events apart for making Riflemen is the teaching, coaching and constant reinforcement of the steps, over and over.

Finally, the Sun also rises, and only FOX tells the news at  the same time across the Time Zones, how cool is that? Very, don't get three hour old stale news. I am researching plans and thoughts on a reloading bench. Today I visit the Home Depot for stuff, after mowing the backyard and back behind the fence. Have a great day!

Wore my NRA fleece thingee today...

I know nothing about fleece - to me that was always a sheep skin with the hair still attached, I am so old. Don't get excited I went out to rake the clippings up from the the yard. Seems I had not made my wife happy leaving them when I went off to shoot and visit the YMCA. It is a damp cool here in the Great Northwest.

I cut the front yard since there was rain on the way, but it was a dry as it was ever going to get. So I put my gear into the van after washing off the mower and putting it away. And off to the range. Range 15.  When I sign in they offer point fifteen, which I pointed out that the old man always used. I have been calling him the old man for about twelve years (sometimes I don't look in a mirror much). They told me if he wasn't here before they opened he wasn't coming, and they are probably correct. I took that point and set up.

It wasn't going to be a lot of shooting for me, I figured sixty rounds of 22LR. Enough to check my marksmanship, just enough. And it was going to rain and the YMCA called - plus I was going to clean up the yard after all my good times. So I shot the Green quick AQT, five rounds per target, standing, sitting open legged, and prone.  Then I started walking the line to check out the other shooters, since there were three of us on the pistol side of the range - over half the shooters were rifle users, and there was a waiting list on the rifle positions.

So I looked, talked and enjoyed the day without gunning down hundreds of innocents, no matter what the anti-gun crowd will tell you. I finished my AQT and was rushed on my last three shots, which seem to have been my best. Making me think that I am thinking too much about each shot, just enough would be best. Or so I say.

Pack up and head off to the YMCA, mentioning to the fine staff at the range that having black coffee would be a good thing. Just a light workout at the YMCA, 3,1 miles of rowing, and five miles of bicycle machine. Then I went to fill up the van, and it cost me sixty-five dollars - what is going on? Is the dollar sinking that fast? Yep, seems to be so.

While at the YMCA I talked to another old man, about his desire to buy a pistol for protection, he is getting training, hasn't purchased a firearm yet, and really hasn't gotten through the shooting another person yet. I did ask him the important point, how many times has he been mugged, robbed or assaulted? Zero, and he is over seventy. So much of his information was wrong about the local laws, and he is cautious about trusting the sales people for advice. Still he is much sharper than Michael Moore advising Bill Maher about home self defense. It is on video, don't waste your time.

Drama and truama... life goes on...

The roof needed cleaned, so we hired a high pressure wash for the cleaning roof and gutters - I am such a coward, and I don't own a pressure washer. So when I returned from the YMCA yesterday, there was a truck with ladders and equipment and a man, so I said hello and asked him if he knew what day it was. He did, I often have no idea, but he knew. He was a day early to clean the roof, his name was Tom and he could come back tomorrow.  Nah, he could start and finish today, even better.

He did a fine job. But still had to borrow - a rake, a trash container, paper and a pen. The last two for a receipt of the cash for the job. While cleaning up the gutters and under the eaves he was surprised by a very fast bird, since the washer was cleaning out the nest the bird flew straight at the attacker and he lost concentration. Ever had something jump at you from a dark hole? it is always a snake, or large rat or ferret, isn't it? Well, the high pressure washer will take paint off as quickly as moss and mold (same stuff in many ways). So now I have new gang graffiti on my home, and will have to repaint the whole area later.

I had forgotten to tell him to miss that area. The nesting pairs had been coming back for years and years. I liked them dancing and darting and catching bugs in flight. I felt very bad. I didn't go to church that evening and ate too much - nullifying all my good work at the YMCA. Sigh. My wife made sure she gave the worker a Coke and an orange, he had also cleaned the concrete on the walkway and driveway, it looked good. After dinner I went back to reading Ken  Follett's Fall of Giants, first volume of the Century Triology.

Well, when I woke I decided to clean up some record keeping and looked up some file maintenance on the computer. I have been using the YMCA since mid-December, my weight is down twenty pounds. Good news, I still am a fat man but I have some harder muscles and could continue to improve in many ways. Slowly, but still headed in the proper direction. You want more good news? Well there is a very familiar bird building a nest under the eave, it stared at me with stuff in its beak, daring me to do that again. I won't, I am happy and the Sun is shining.

In the news today...

Nothing of note, unless you find that the government can't be trusted to be news. You shouldn't be concerned, after they forgive themselves and clean up the public opinion and media slants - the government will go back to being corrupt and worse - incompetent.

I had airborne dreams, again. Nice thing about dreaming of jump operations they are mellow dreams, I never had to jump into places they were trying to kill me and I them. Helicopters  or tracks are a different matter, and walking is scary in dreams because that in the end is really how one gets close enough to get killed. Although mines and booby traps were around and common enough in my wars, the IED thing is levels of ugly beyond my experience - so my nightmares are fine, thank you.

My wife will be cleaning clams today, and the fern tips she brought back from her hiking trip yesterday are drying on the back porch. I had fresh oysters on Monday - all I have to do is wait for her to return with the harvest and cook it up.

There aren't any old soldiers out there, we are dying off. But I made corporal on a blood stripe, another corporal was reduced to PFC for some transgression and I was given his stripes. It doesn't happen that way now, but when you could only promote to vacancies in your unit, that was one of the ways it was done. While a corporal they sent me off to the Advanced Combat Training Academy, a four week course north of the Imjin River but still south of the American portion of the DMZ. At the end of my second week the Battery Commander and his driver (the unit clerk) visited me and checked on my progress. After talking to me and checking with the cadre they left and drove back to the unit. I was second in the class at graduation, and had watched three people lower in class standings get promoted on stage by their battalion commanders, real promotions and a real pay raise. My battalion commander gave me acting sergeant stripes for my reward, the battalion headquarters always seemed so far from the battery in those days. No pay raise for Earl, but I would have spent it wildly anyhow. The top man in the class got a promotion to Staff Sergeant, a real one with the big bucks. If I told you the change in pay in 1968 dollars you would laugh. I was disappointed that my battalion hadn't been able to give me a real promotion but never mentioned it, kind of.

When I got back to the unit I had my orders for a real promotion in about a week. The date of rank was to two weeks earlier than my graduation so I out ranked all those except the Staff Sergeant promoted on that stage. The unit clerk/BC driver had put in the request for my promotion when he and the commander had returned and the commander had checked with the First Sergeant and signed it. So I proudly put the Imjin Scout patch on my fatigue shirt pocket and become the Fire Direction chief and stand by Forward Observer Sergeant for the FO team. Only three officers in the battery in those days, Vietnam ate up LTs.

Grey skies and gentle rain making the spouts tinkle...

This is the weekend I love 'feminism', you know that silly idea that women are the equal of men, and much other foolishness about the position and possibilities of the other gender. I have always known I was supposed to put women on a pedestal and pay them homage.

Being very old and hoping to become older I will confess that I don't know nor understand women, when I was young I thought I knew everything - see what happens when everything starts slip-sliding away? I can become humble.

My mother worked very hard to love me and make me the best of her and Dad's love. That I am not better is not their fault, what is best about me likely is... 

It is Mother's Day, and I remember mine, and my son's, and then start to roll through my memory of quiet talks with other mothers that had time to nurture me along the way. What mothers have spills over to other than their immediate family and bring grace, forgiveness and civilization to my world. Being a male, means that I need a lot of civilizing. So thank you all Mothers that have shared your best for my moments.

And for all you women that think being a mother is not the most important thing for you to do in your life, for God and country and your heart, you don't know Jack. And I am sad for your loss.

 

The story line is 'Jack did this and saved the day!'....

But we don't really build many Jack models in our systems. Too afraid of them. Fairy tales all had lots of Jack, Giant Killer, and often a knave or a fool for some lovely maiden somewhere. But he wouldn't have made it through our current education establishment, not without being drugged into useless. Ever wonder at modern authors that use Jack (Reacher and Ryan) to identify their main character - almost seems lazy.

The recent saving of the three women, once innocent girls in Ohio - always brings up the question, why didn't they escape earlier? Forgetting years of conditioning to go along to get along, Oprah's sage advice to cooperate with the criminal and survive! It is just common sense. If the evil one has any to use... evil wouldn't be so bad, would he? The Spartan Boys Academy was spartan - one couldn't have any good stuff unless one stole it, won it or was willing to fight for it - duh, and that nation state produced little in art and literature, but they sure could fight and die well.

It is cultural, wanting the right answer, the proper response to keep the wheels turning in production of good stuff. Most government thrives on acceptance of the status of its people working harmoniously. Why they work harmoniously is very important - slavery works, serfdom works, communism works, fascism works, republics with participatory responsibility works. Families work, couples work, friends work.... lots of ways to make things work.  Since change is certain, flexibility would be an asset - and one needs more Jacks for more flexibility. But we have difficulty producing them, accepting them, and encouraging them and their testing their powers.

Just thought you should know, that Jesus Christ's gentile name was Jack. Just a thought.




I am sure that you can't tell, but my day hasn't been as planned. I did sleep in,  and all the normal start.  Then I decided not to take my M1 to the range to shoot today, ammunition being okay but not perfect.  So why did perfect start slowing me down - perfect has never been a good reason for failure to perform to standards. I ignored it and loaded up, farewelled my wife and went to the range and took the little video above, every position filled, lots of friends, families and firearms and no space for Earl.  There just aren't enough public nor semi-public ranges for all the folks that want to shoot. I should have bought a farm or a large wasteland.

Okay, off to get a short haircut, I get the only male barber and he doesn't cut it short enough but does still ask to attack my eyebrows. The day isn't going badly, I keep my unkempt eyebrows, a hidden trait of Jacks everywhere. I pick up a Mother's Day card, for my wife, my mother being missed here on earth - but I am sure Heaven has been interesting since she showed up. I look and find a pair of work pants in brown that I will spend money on, twenty-five dollars and I think I paid too much but then I might have to adjust my perception of the value of a dollar today.

I go to the YMCA, to get some time on the machines in, make my body hard and burn all that flabby fat, keeping an eye out for the beautiful.  But it is Saturday, and most folks are out and about enjoying the Summer time promise, without heat. If I clean up well, early enough I can head back to the range, should be empty by 2:30... or almost.  It wasn't, still full up. They did pause for an hour and a half for something that was happening somewhere else on post, a welcome back or a memorial for some deserving heroes. It is still bringing happiness to my heart to see so many happy safe shooters, where is the main stream media? Oh, I forgot, they don't cover good stuff only awful stuff - and then repeat it over and over.

Well, back to home base, find my wife has brought more plants and flowers, will make me lunch and tell me what she has done. Love life is truly a life of love... can go shoot another day.

About nurturing 'Jacks' everywhere - I think a man must tell tales of adventure, encourage risk, and promote thinking outside the box - and always tell them to escape! Down the rabbit hole if needed, get out and do - meet folks and lend a helping hand. Read! Visit your library and make sure you ask the Reference Librarian for the tales of Jack in your reading level.

You don't know Jack.

Don't you know you could do it better than all those others out there?

I am sure that everyone shouting their opinion has that idea, Occupy Wall Street, the Halls of Congress, the West Wing of the White House, everyone thinks they can do it better. Some of them can do it better - but I only control me and that seems to be the problem. That and so many want to help me be controlled.

I belong to the NRA, but they don't control me, my money, nor make my shot any better. I find most of their activities ponderous and constricting. I like the magazines and museum and the annual convention (although I have never attended one yet). I supported Ron Paul ten times more than I did Bob Kerrey, when the Country Club Republicans aced him and his supporters out, we may have voted but we weren't engaged (who would be engaged with criminal activities?).

So I am a fat man, and not healthy, and wanting to return to fewer problems. Some things I can fix. I don't want to go to surgery, so I will have to modify eating and exercise behaviors. Many have reported that the New Jersey (gangster) Governor has resorted to that for his health or for his 2016 election run for President. I think he did it so his children are no longer ashamed of him, or so he is no longer ashamed of himself. I quit drinking long ago because I thought I wasn't going to do well as a drunken fool.

So the weight isn't coming off fast enough, the muscle is firming up, the breathing is okay but I haven't been pushing it and need to.... fears get in the way. Why aren't you going to the doctor, I know he doesn't know anything about ME, and thinks he knows more about making me healthy than I do.  And yes, the blood pressure and such are at levels they should be - so he must know something.

Still I do need to make changes, more shooting, more teaching, less watching news programs which are all bad for humanity - since they are concentrating on the failures and doing it for fear and money. The only way to control that, is to not watch it, my television time is shortening. Well, tomorrow will be the first of many busy days ahead. Thank you for all your attention and not helping me control myself. I like that kind of meal, but don't recommend it often - eating crow.

It was long ago, what difference does it make?

I am not watching the testimony before Congress.  The Congress is part of the problem, nice that they are asking, but they really don't care. Honest, they don't care. Four dead in Lybia, over fifty thousand Americans dead in Vietnam, same attitude - they aren't on the ground, problem with current command and control - they don't have to be on the ground, they have drones (they have always thought of service people as drones).

I will know how serious the President and the Congress are about winning a war, when they get armed and move out to the battle site.

Lots of serious conquerors did, a real man will fight and die for what he believes in - and seems many politicians, bankers, and public figures want drones to do the dirty work. Wonder where the heroes went - one labels everyone that moved, even in fear, a hero.

I want to think about a future... mine will work.

Bill O'Reilly hates me and my guns, says there are some illegal guns somewhere and the Federal government should crack down on them and the folks using them. Sigh, Bill doesn't really know anything about guns - ask him a simple 'you might be a gun nut' quiz. He will fail. At least John Stossel called him arrogant to his face and on his own show. John may not be back as guest.

Then there are the fine folks from Ohio, that lost control of three (or many more) women/girls and no one understands why that could happen -- because we are looking at our navels or the entertainment media hubs in everyone's lives. No one knows anything about their neighbors, or nothing criminal anyway. Aren't you lucky that most people aren't criminals. They aren't waiting for the jury to find them guilty of murder, although the woman confessed to the crime, she then doesn't want to accept a death penalty. She wants to become a ward of the state, free food, bed, hospital care.And if she can get it she will ask for a Baltimore Jail, so she can have babies, drugs and guns.

There is a Justice Report out, that is supposed to disprove all the numbers the anti-gun crowd uses to promote fear in the minds of the ignorant. Do you think they, the ignorant, will mind being called ignorant? I wouldn't want to be offensive, just precise like when I take my shots, precise and on target.

So entertainment should come without commercial interruption, education should be based on a search for truth and facts, and communication skills are important for social interaction. I like to remember that my little piece of war in Vietnam and Iraq was never what I see on television, sometimes it was like what I read from other participants or observers on site, never from bar room brags and drunken tales. I just mention that, since most of what Americans and the world knows about American Violence comes from dime novels, motion pictures, television broadcast and cable news 24 hours a day.

One murder shown in file footage -- how many times? -- is how many deaths? One, but your mind added another one for every time it saw the report. Most Americans do not know any murderers, do they? How many children weren't shot in school today, how many weren't shot on the date of the attack at Sandy Hook? Every death is saddening, but all the living are to be celebrated.

At the time of the Boston bombings, there were all the best and brightest and highest paid law enforcement protection available for the size of the threat, and they couldn't stop the bombings. It took a citizen reporting things out of order to lead the police to find a missing bomber. More layers of government to be respoonsible for one's safety don't seem to work -- you could be an ambassador and ignored by your bosses having a good time far away. Then you get killed because they never believed you were worth savings, not when there was an election to win and more partying to do...

So take my advice, go to the YMCA, have a real life, turn off the television and electronic mind numbing and get a life.  Real people aren't bad at all, they may make mistakes, commit sins, and often have problems they can't handle. They need your calm support, your participation in worthy efforts, your ideas (which might only be different not foolish). Not only do they need you, but you need them, too. We aren't grumpy grizzly bears, solitary lives aren't human.  

Impressions... all I have are just impressions

So a normal Friday, until about seventeen hundred, when I began to finalize the packing for the quick motorcycle trip across Washington to Moscow, Idaho and the First Presbyterian Church on S Van Buren Street. Camera, knives, flashlight, check tire pressure (find gage!) inflate a bit. check oil (spot on!), liners for gloves, drop the rain suit, keep the leather chaps with liners, take kindle for reading if bored. Listen lightly to wife's good advice for my safe return and to take her regards and good wishes for the happy couple. She and I are long time believers in marriage being better with support of family and friends - but also of it needing no one, nor institution, coming between the couple. Later review of my wife's attempt to memorialize me in video - it is time to think seriously about the super short haircuts of stars going bald.... but then I never see the back of my head, do I? And then on the road, hoping traffic isn't too bad getting to I-90.

Google mapping says it is 318 miles - about 5 hours 24 mins (what do they know about my Trusty Triumph and old bones on the bounce?).  I figure a stop about every fifty miles to stretch legs, stop the motion, the bike will go a hundred and fifty miles on a tank without hitting the reserve - unless for some strange reason I am doing 85 mph or more (Dakotas do that to you). I normally travel at seventy to seventy-five. When I am tired I will stop and nap about forty minutes, 40 winks? No one wants to mess with a motorcyclist - no telling what he is carrying concealed - he rides a bike and wears leather (danger, danger!). Probably stinks, too.

So I ride out of the evening commuter traffic around Auburn, and then into the mountains and passes and some speed. Rolling, rolling, rolling... first stop North Bend where the little birds pick dead bugs from the grills of the automobiles. Coffee and a wrap. Ride out and the lowering Sun is behind me, reflecting brightly into my eyes from my mirrors, sigh. Then it gets dark enough to remove sunglasses - the mountains and the tall trees provide cover the elevations starts cooling everything. As the stars come out the chill comes calling, I put on the chaps and glove liners and begin to wish I have one scarf or handkerchief to close the opening to wind whipping into my jacket. Find exit 137 and Highway 26 to Pullman. Through the night, some rest stops have no one manning the coffee machines, sigh. I will complain on my way back. Get some sleep anyway I can.

Dusty has a really odd type of gasoline in the night system for credit cards and receipts, interesting, must be awake enough to read and follow the instructions - wouldn't work for drunks. On to and thru to Pullman, turn properly towards Moscow and ride into Idaho along the way. I could take off my helmet here - but it is still cold, and I have seen the scratches and scrapes on my helmet that I never wanted on my head. I, being a man and still in the dark - look at that beautiful rising crest moon over Moscow!- ride around looking for the church, the 1912 building and the streets they are upon... West 3rd street is the same as East Third Street - they are east or west depending on which way you are facing not which side of Main Street you are upon. Late night early morning reasoning malfunction - too tired to notice. I find a place to ask for directions, and three very kind helpful folks get me oriented right (I just hadn't gone far enough beyond Washington and Adams streets - and if I got to Polk it would be too far, yes, he was a President, too). Also while riding into the rising Sun I cannot see the signs with the names on them. Did I mention I am cold and tired? Go to the laundromat for warmth! Open 24 hours.

I found it! there are people prepping for photos. The bride is smiling, Patrick and Heather are happy to see me - although Patrick shakes with his left hand since he doesn't want me to re-break his right arm (I am not that strong, but one could wish).  I will say no more about the wedding, the ladies and lasses were all beautiful, the families abounded, the smiles were all real, the laughter gentle and loving. Coffee and cinnamon roll reception calls! Why? because I don't get a real chance to sleep until I get back to homebase... I become tight buddies with five boys which live like cousins, nicely dressed, very active, happy and polite - I think they are perfect companions in my old age. In discussions about cinnamon rolls I am aware of a little sister, who will be a stunner when she gets older, that informs me her brother is only seven, not seventeen nor seventy. The brother tells me that he has met his mother's cinnamon roll limit. I can carry on since I am hungry.

I am properly introduced to Tim, brother of the groom, seventeen and worth noting - although my brain is on cruise and I make some silly remarks about shooting better. Another day perhaps? I am introduced to many people, polite but wishing I had more time to talk to each they all have stories. Still, this day is about the couple and everyone's well wishes. With friends and families that have come to celebrate and support the only wrinkles in the wonder will come from the couple - as I once had a young paratrooper tell me. He never really knew his wife until he married her. They had grown up on the same street, gone to the same schools and dated for years. I being married a good many years know that I KNOW NOTHING about my wife - just that I love her, and that works for me. I toast from afar, and watch the cutting and sharing of the wedding cake and it has become time to ride back into the West. While the Sun shines, I had enough cold for now. I wave good bye to my fine young friends from the back of my Trusty Triumph. Imagine, polite, active, and smart young people - and the young ladies were beautiful, the young families were wonderful and the older firmer folks were foundation material most solid - a piece of America that didn't make the news today - although they are what will last and grow.

I want to move faster than the Sun, but won't, it is after eleven hundred, and Washington is a few miles down the road, then another three hundred home. Wind will whip me, and try to whirl me into a dance with it. My battery is worn down, I stop in Dusty again get something to drink and eat and tell the counter lady I will go sleep beside my cycle, she promises to wake me if I am still there when she closes up. I won't be, in about forty-five minutes I wake and hit the road again.

In the night I had smelled fertilizer and in the daylight I watch the large irrigators watering the crops, many kinds of crops, lots of solid animals, this is rich country. And mostly flatter and the wind whacks me silly, have to push against it - and going about seventy something I create my own also. No matter what that boy said about me not being a fat man - I am not aerodynamic.

You know how your mind is going?

Time to go, I found my Leatherman and the air pressure gage...

Yes, it is a beautiful day, I have been busy. But although I rode my Trusty Triumph to the YMCA, it was not enough. That much more and beyond await my attention. So, should I nap at Iron John rest stop? Where will I eat, what will I do, I have directions, and time estimate and a goal. Life is good, if one goes out and lives it in real time.

Ya'll take care, and don't mess the world up while I am finding my way among the heathen, Once I am past Cougar Country I will be fine.

Have to stop jumping down the Rabbit Hole, do you think Lewis Carroll knew..

I am so far behind, I feel more like the White Rabbit than Alice. But the electronic entertainment seem to snatch my day away, and since I have so few remaining I should be doing more with the ones I have shouldn't I?

I don't think the Appleseed needs to change their AQT, their training, nor their story telling, just keep reaching out to Americans and get the message out. Would be very nice if the 22 LR showed up before all the Appleseeds or your favorite center fire ammo. Still, I use my AQT target for my dry fire and my checking on my proficiency. And one could become faster at feeding the fine rifles or switch to 30-06, for the recoil.

Motion pictures