Snowzilla, Round Two

Yesterday, Megan McArdle blogged the Snowpocalypse in the Washington, D.C. area. Yosemite Sam and I are living it. Today is a second round of heavy snow, this time with strong winds. We used to live in New Hampshire and wish we were back up there if for no other reason than to get away from snow.

I have to agree with McArdle that DC is notoriously inefficient in getting rid of snow. It's not their forte. Yosemite and I were out and about Monday and found strange things plow drivers had done on the road. We would drive in a lane that abruptly tapered into the next lane finally ending in a snow berm. Four lane roads were narrowed to one lane in each direction. Parking spaces in our complex are full of snow. There is no other place to put it. The lot designers never imagined this much snow unlike in more northern cities.

This is also the third day (plus one half for last Friday) that the Federal government has been closed. If it keeps going like this, people will begin to realize how much we don't really need the government--at least not the size it is now.

Here's a photo taken today about 4:00 pm and the light really is that dim and has been all day.

Pray for us.

Happy Anniversary, 2009

♪ Happy Anniversary to us
Happy Anniversary to us. ♪

Yes, today is Ten Ring's anniversary. We started this experiment in public expression five years ago. In blog-years that’s like twenty people-years. Granted, Yosemite Sam and I haven’t blogged that much in the recent past, but we’re still around.

I’ve expanded my horizons on this blog. I’ve written about politics, the zen-like joy of shooting, the pleasures of collecting firearms, book reviews, and much more. I’ve even tried satire (and it's my favorite post).

I found out that blogging is a funny thing. You put time and effort into a post and you get few hits, few comments, and even fewer links to it. Then you toss off a post with little thought and effort. That’s the one that gets more hits than you know what to do with. For instance, I posted about a TV show I had just watched. It took me maybe ten minutes to write. Instapundit linked it and I had over 10,000 hits in less than two days. Wow.

I’ve learned to respect professional columnists, either on the right or the left. They have to produce one, two or more columns each week. Unlike me, they can’t say, “that’s been written about recently,” “I’ve written about that before,” or “I’m tired and just want to crash in front of the TV.” Writing is hard work, so hat’s off to the professionals even if I agree with very few of them.

I also found out that I’m an essayist. I can’t just throw out news links with a pithy sentence or two (I’ve tried). When I start to write, I just have to keep writing until I’ve explored the topic (hence an anniversary post that’s just too long, sigh).

So, I’ve enjoyed the last five years even though I feel a little guilty about the recent lack of content. I love reading your comments (hint, hint) and appreciate all of you who continue to read my scribblings here. I’m sure Yosemite Sam seconds the above. Thanks to all of you.

Taxes, Work and Vacations

We didn't exactly drop off the face of the Earth after our vacation, not exactly. When we got home we got socked with a boatload of work and a home issue. Work was bad enough, but the home issue was the cherry on the shit sundae.

We went through our mail and Yosemite saw an envelope with an ominous Massachusetts return address. The Massachusetts department of Revenue is auditing two years of our tax returns and wants enough paper to fill a canoe.

During the time we lived in New Hampshire, we both worked in Massachusetts. The state demands taxes on in-state generated income. They claim that holidays, vacations, and sick leave is subject to state taxes. Complicating matters, I traveled a lot for my work and worked in New Hampshire frequently. I can deduct the time I worked out of state, but have to account for it all.

We thought we had all the paperwork we needed and had even hired an accountant to do our taxes. Doesn't matter, they want more. We've been scrambling to satisfy them. I know Massachusetts is hurting financially, but even if they squeeze some more green out of us, it won't make a difference to their bottom line. Just arrrggghhhh.

Now that that's out of the way. I will be posting soon a little bit more about our vacation.

Visit Early and Often

Sorry I haven't been writing here much. I've had a lot on my plate. There's been travel to our place in New Hampshire, work, and assorted other stuff.

More importantly, my mother passed away more or less unexpectedly (she was 84, but in good physical health). We expect to lose parents eventually as we ourselves get older. It's the nature of things. But, we never really cope with losing the people in our lives.

I remember the good times and a few bad times with my Mom. I remember her fussing at me when I was an adolescent, being peeved when as an adult I didn't visit often enough, her joy at my little and big successes (including the shooting medals I won). I miss her.

I live across the nation from my parents. While I called Mom and Dad regularly, I didn't visit often. There was always a good excuse; press of career, cost of travel, sitting in a plane seat for six hours, and others. If your parents live close, go visit them and give them a hug. If they don't; plan a nice long vacation that includes them. They won't always be there.

100 Things Meme

I have nothing today, thanks to meetings and other fun at work. Someone did ask me to do the 100 questions thing in an e-mai. Curious people sometimes get answers so here goes:

100 things I've done - items I have done are in bold

1. Started your own blog. (Duh)
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. If a high school band counts.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. Some time ago anyway.

7. Been to Disneyland. When I was little and to Disney World too, but not to Epcot.

8. Climbed a mountain. If smallish mountains in New Hampshire (in a car), Texas, and the highest point in Florida counts.
9. Held a praying mantis. Yick, no—ever see a close up photo of one of those things.
10. Sang a solo. When younger and in church and I am not a singer—can’t carry a tune in a box.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris. I’ve been there several times and want to go back.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. I can write and draw a bit, but I am not accomplished.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. That would be the great shrimp incident of 1992—I still have memory of that misery.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. Yosemite Sam and I went to the Louvre on a winter evening and were the only people in the room with Mona Lisa.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch-hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. But, don’t tell anyone….
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb. In a petting zoo, if that counts.
26. Gone skinny dipping. Alright I admit it, now get your minds out of the gutter.
27. Run a Marathon. Are you freaking kidding me!!!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run. In softball in high school.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community. Not up close, but traveled through them.
36. Taught yourself a new language. I taught myself French, went to France, came back and hired a tutor for my next trip, enough said.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. I am in that position now and happy with what I have (I will accept any and all raises though).
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke. See #10 for my singing abilities.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. I've been lucky.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. The latter not the former.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. An art conservation studio.
58. Taken a martial arts class. I’ve taken more than one.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. Not for awhile though.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check. A long time ago in college.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone. I had a greenstick fracture in my arm and my nose has been broken twice (should have ducked).
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Been on, but not driving it.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. Fairly often.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury. I served on a sexual abuse of a child case, one of the most intense experiences in my life.
91. Met someone famous. Several, but they would have no memory of me (including Fred Thompson, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Frank Church, Dirk Kempthorne, and a few others).
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one. Grandparent and I dread the day I lose my parents.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. When I was little.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone. You have to ask nowadays, how about “Owned a land-line phone.”
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

I'm not going to tag anyone with this. The list is interesting though and it reminded me of the many phases of my life and the things I still want to do. There are a few though I don't want to do at all such as being involved in a law suit, being in an ambulance, and holding a praying mantis.

Over The River

Well, I tried to blog yesterday, but I am taking today off and the boss kept tossing stuff on my desk to get done before my mini-vacation.

Of course I could have blogged from home, but packing took precedence. I am posting this from Yosemite Sam's truck from my Blackberry (phone-blogging, is this a great country or what).

We're on our way home to New Hampshire where we will eat, shoot our new and old guns, and have fun. Talk to you all later.

Nutritional Experts(?)

Work has been exceedingly poopy lately. Poopy is a technical term for being very busy, but never feeling you’ve accomplished much. Frustrating in other words. I haven’t posted lately. Oh well. I really don’t have much to say today either. Because of work, I haven’t been following blogs or gun news or much of anything.

I thought I would break my silence here though and mention something about nutrition seen on the New York Times’ TierneyLab. Once again medical experts are changing the paradigm about what is healthy. Saturated fat and its handmaiden cholesterol, was the big boogieman for most of my life, but recent studies show it ain’t necessarily so.

This bugs me. Hell, this infuriates me. I have tried to follow doctors’ advice and eat right. I followed the USDA Food Pyramid. The result; well, people who’ve met me can tell you that I’m big (polite for fat).

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on diet. It seems like Dr. Atkins, of all people, was more or less right. A low-carb diet or one with very low processed carbs (white rice, white flour, potatoes, etc) is good for you.

Yosemite Sam (who is not fat) and I went on my version of Atkins. I did not use the menus in the book, but I read it for ideas and used them. Yosemite Sam and I ate meats, butter, whole milk, nuts, eggs, bacon, and green vegetables for about three months. We were never hungry. (Travel interrupted the diet for me, but I will return to it soon.)

During that time, I lost about 10% of my body weight—that’s ten percent not ten pounds. Yosemite Sam tends to high-cholesterol (I don’t). At last measurement, his good cholesterol levels were up, his bad cholesterol levels were down. In other words, we both got healthier.

Why do experts screw us over so much and why do we let them? I feared the Atkins diet until I read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (mentioned in the link above). Similarly, experts tell us that having a gun in the home is dangerous, that more guns equals more crime, that cow farts overheat the planet.

We do it to ourselves. We seek words of wisdom and believe we find them from doctors, social scientists, and others. Instead, we see that the last fifty years of nutritional science is the medical equivalent of “bleeding” patients and the last thirty years of anti-gun scholarship is worse than worthless.

Maybe we should listen to our parents or grandparents more. I remember my mom saying, “don’t eat pasta, it’s fattening,” or my granddad saying, “let’s go shooting.”

Monocacy Battlefield and a Tired Dog

Once Yosemite Sam and I got shed of our house guest, we did some fun things. Living near the nation's capital means there's a lot of history to see, to study, and to learn. We visited the Monocacy National Battlefield not too long ago. We took Cooper the wonder-Basset with us (the park allows leashed dogs).

The Battle of Monocacy was one of those short sharp engagements that few people know about, but helped determine the course of the war. Almost everyone visits Gettysburg, many visit Antietam/Sharpsburg, but few visit Monocacy. All are close together.

When we visited, we had the park almost to ourselves. We roamed around taking pictures and letting Cooper have a good walk. The visitor's center has a good selection of Civil War books and I bought and just finished reading Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (hmm...might be a book review in there somewhere).

We learned a little history, but one other thing we learned, Basset hounds get tired when you walk them too much. Cooper started lagging behind us while we were walking a big loop. He then tried to go back the way we came and because we had completed two-thirds of the loop, it would been the long way back. Yosemite Sam came up with the perfect solution for Cooper. He carried that short-legged heavy dog the rest of the way.

One other thing, the battlefield is about a ten minute drive from where we live. We live in the lap of history.

Fussing with a Houseguest

Have you ever had the best of intentions and then not lived up to them? So it goes with our blog. Yosemite Sam and I came back from the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky all fired up and ready to blog. We even had notes from speeches, photos, and various other goodies to share.

The best laid plans and all that. On Sunday (May 18), I got a call from one of my relatives. He just got out of the Marine Corps (I thank him for his service) and will start college in the fall. He is bumming around for the summer. He is planning to travel for about two months across our great land, more power to him.

Brad (not his real name) asked me in that fateful call if he could stay with us so he could see the Washington, D.C. area. He intimated it would be for a couple of days. Sure I said. Family solidarity and all that.

He showed up the day after we left Louisville—and we arrived at home after our late night flight sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning. That was cool though. I told Brad that I could not take any time off because of work responsibilities. I gave him an apartment key and told him to knock himself out with the monuments, museums, shopping centers, whatever floats his boat.

I’m not talking ill of a Marine here (once a Marine always a Marine), but the houseguest turned into a housepest. The first day here, he wanted to talk about the family, his schooling, his Marine career (he didn't serve overseas and was really impressed with Yosemite Sam’s Air Force record). We ended up going to bed in the wee hours again and we get up at 5:30 am. Sigh.

Then, Brad stayed for a week. He never left the house; he liked our HDTV, enjoyed the air conditioning, playing with the dog and cat too much for that. He watched TV until 3:00 in the morning (didn’t disturb us though) and stayed in bed until 1:00 pm. He didn’t see the monuments, the museums, but we did see restaurants and shopping centers (on my dime).

Even worse, Brad turned out to be liberal. He thought no one should own an “assault weapon,” that handguns should be licensed and registered, and that Obama would unite the country. I about ground my teeth down trying to politely refute his points.

I blame his mother not the Marines.

Thus, Yosemite Sam and I ended up exhausted and not in a frame of mind to blog about the NRA convention (except for a short post I snuck in at work). Most of our notes and photos will remain unseen by anyone other than us. The next week turned out to be tough for us for other reasons, including a sick dog (kennel cough). But, we no longer have a housepest and can resume blogging. Keep watching this space.

Greetings From Maryland

I’ve been working and semi-living in Maryland for about a month now. By semi-living, I still own a house in New Hampshire and Yosemite Sam, Cooper (the basset hound), and my cat are there. I’m missing them all very much, but I’m no longer living in a motel. That’s an improvement.

During my month of semi-living here, I’ve done only one gunnie activity. I went down to the NRA Range in Virginia last Saturday. It’s a very nice range, although I wish it had more than fifteen lanes. I had to wait an hour and a half for an open lane and that got kinda old.

When you go there, you have to register. There’s a one-time $10.00 processing fee and you get a bar-coded, laminated card that marks you as a certified range user. The range-meisters make you complete a written range-safety test after you read a handout on range safety.

Sitting near the range counter, I was able to see many new people come to the range. Range-meisters ended up with quite a stack of tests. It warmed my heart to see that many more people join the range—although I’ll have to compete with them for range time (grrr).

When I finally got to shoot, the experience was great. A range safety officer makes sure that guns are always pointed down range. He had to dress down a college-aged dude who wasn’t practicing good muzzle control. I stayed until the range safety officer gave me a five minute warning. By the time I got my gun box closed, two new people were moving into my lane. That’s a quick turnaround.

I haven’t experienced any other gunnie goodness here. There was a gun show in Virginia my first weekend here, but that coincided with a bout of flu that left me lying in a camp cot (all I had to sleep on for over a week) hoping I would die and thus end the misery.

The next weekend there was another gun show in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. I couldn’t visit it because I flew back up to New Hampshire to see my husband, dog, and cat. Also, we brought a small truck load of furniture down to Maryland including a real bed. Yosemite Sam flew back.

Do I have an opinion about gun laws in Maryland? The laws are better than in Massachusetts, but a lot worse than they are in New Hampshire and Virginia. I plan on visiting a Maryland range this weekend and maybe a gun store. What I see there could be interesting. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

As you see in the previous post, Denise has decided to take a job position in the DC area and I'll be moving down there after I scrounge up a job. I resisted this for a long time, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We will be keeping a residence in New Hampshire for the foreseeable future, because we need a relatively free place to shoot and recreate.

As Denise also mentioned, we are planning to move to Virginia at some point due to the better climate there for gun rights. But, related to that, I have a question for the DC area readers out there.

Is Maryland really worse than Virginia as far as gun rights are concerned?

Or more to the point, with the governor of Virginia pushing gun control and the Maryland legislature seeming to be less eager to pass gun control, are the long term prospects for gun rights actually better in Maryland?

Because, if it weren't for gun rights, we would choose to live in Maryland in a heartbeat. Taxes are lower and the commute is much shorter. The way I see it, Virginia is turning into a carbon copy of Maryland anyway. If this is the case, why should I spend an hour in traffic and make a considerable investment in a state that may end up just as poor for gun rights as Maryland. Also, did I mention those Virginia taxes.

Where Have I Been?

It's been too long since I posted here, but I have good reasons. In fact, this post will be short because of the situation I am now in. No it's not anything bad. No one has arrested, molested, or detested me. I take some of that back, there is some bad news mixed in with perhaps good news.

Okay enough obfuscation. Time to just let it out. My employer has been trying to get me to accept a promotion for a long time. I blogged about it in March 2007. They didn't succeed that time, but now they have.

My employer used a combination of arm-twisting and monetary persuasion. I am now in Maryland, but Yosemite Sam is still in New Hampshire. Nothing's wrong with our marriage, perish the thought. He will join me soon.

No, I haven't turned my back on gun rights and gun ownership. We are keeping our townhouse in New Hampshire as a vacation home and a place to shoot and keep some of our guns. Don't worry they are locked in an unobtanium safe guarded by Hercules himself. Seriously, they are secure.

Right now, I am in an apartment in Maryland. I am here because of the proximity to my employer. I am researching real estate and we plan to settle in Virginia where our beliefs garner more respect. Our townhouse in New Hampshire could become our "Fortress of Solitude" should Virginia ever change.

I haven't had Internet access for awhile at "home" and my employer combs through net usage data. So, I haven't been posting. Forgive me.

I'm still settling in after a time-consuming transition. But, I think things are stabilizing now. On the other hand, I miss my husband, I miss Cooper the wonder Basset, and even my cranky cat. Thank you for your patience.

Where I am Now

Well, let's see here...it's been a week plus one day since I posted last. A lot has happened that I didn't discuss. There was a shooting in a church that a female, former cop, now concealed carry permittee stopped with extreme prejudice. She is a true American hero or heroine whatever is the accurate term du jour.

Me, I've had my head down and working away. Yosemite Sam and I have a lot on our plates right now. For one thing, we are remodeling our master bathroom. We're not expert carpenters, painters, tilers, and everything else we've been doing. That means we're doing a good job, but a slow one. It's really affected how often we get to go shooting. It's been a while and I hang my head in shame.

For that reason and others, hunting season was a bust for us as well. This remodeling needs to get done, though. You see, whoever built our condo carpeted the bathroom about ten years ago. You can imagine what that was like. Who the hell ever thought that was a good idea? We pulled up a corner of it a few weeks ago and found some wet rot on the tile surround. We had to reinforce/rebuild the surround. Fun. We're almost done though and there will be before and after pictures up here one of these days.

Another thing, I'm on travel right now and using a hotel computer to type this. I don't have unencumbered access, so please forgive the stream of words and perhaps a miSpelaling or two. Work brought me down here to Maryland. You know, it's a lot warmer here than New Hampshire where we have snow and ice on the ground.

I better run now. Catch up with you all later.

Where Have I Been Lately?

Well, here it is almost a week since my last post. I've promised myself to do better. I really have. Honest. Good thing I haven't promised that publicly...D'Oh!

I have an excuse. I've been in a pharmaceutical haze for much of the week. There's a good reason. I was at work doing a collateral duty (workspeak for something that isn't in my job description, and for which I have absolutely no training, background, or experience). I helped a co-worker lift a few heavy things and then bent over to pick up a roll of shrink-wrap. Bam, my lower back spazzed up and I went limping around for a day and a half.

I said a day and a half because the people I worked for told me to walk it off and do my regular job. Yeah, okay, fine. When the pain got too bad, I told them I needed to see a doctor and they agreed, finally. I found out that I had a lumbar back spasm. A real doozy too. No real damage, just a lot of pain that caused my toes to tingle and not in a good way.

The doctor prescribed Flexeril to relax my muscles and Vicodin for pain. Now, this is only the second time I've ever taken anything with opiates in it (Vicodin). The first was in a cough syrup when I had a lingering flu. I have no tolerance for anything stronger than Tylenol. I spent the next four and a half days off work including Saturday and Sunday.

Now normally I'd be celebrating days off by heading to the range or doing something else fun, but oh no I spent those days, including my sacred weekend, sleeping on the couch, in the bed, in my dinner plate, and everywhere else in between.

Poor Yosemite Sam didn't know what do to. He wanted to go shooting on Sunday, but said he wouldn't really want to see me falling asleep with a gun in my hand. So poor guy ended up in the house all weekend with me sleeping, the dog farting (nobody ever told us that Basset hounds pass a lot of gas), and the cat crying for food. Boring.

I'm recovered now. The muscle relaxant did its job. Now I want my weekend back.

Let Me Eat my Steak in Peace

I'm not always popular here at work. I work in Massachusetts and most of my co-workers are to the left of Lenin. I don't look for political or social discussions, but I don't hide them either.

When people found out I was a gunowner, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, let me tell you. I am, so far as I know, the only gunowner now in this building with about thirty employees. I italicized "so far as I know" on purpose, because you never know.

I'm also a carnivore. We have a vegatarian here who preaches her diet like Billy Graham preaches Jesus. She has added a new theme to her sermon. Not only does meat equal murder, but also meat equals a bigger carbon footprint. Like I care. Besides, I'm doing my best to increase my footprint given my 40 mile one-way commute.

I checked the InterTubes for information on her sermon and found an article that discusses some Japanese study on meat production. It made me wonder what a vegetarian diet's impact would be. What about here in New England when one's fresh fodder must be shipped in? What carbon footprint would that leave?

Besides, I love steak. I'm a woman and I'm not "supposed" to admit that. I'm supposed to love green salads with a teaspoon of lean chicken placed so artfully on top and then drizzled with no-calorie vinegar. I guess I didn't get the memo and if anyone sends it to me I'll sic Cooper the basset hound on them. Granted, he would lick you senseless, but dog slobber is a serious matter.

I'll say it again--I love steak. I love it medium rare, juicy, and with just a hint of char around the corners. I broil it, grill it, or saute it depending on my passion at the moment. I've always loved steak and my love affair has aged to where I avoid the round and chuck steaks and go for the loin cuts. Perhaps it's more a function of income.

I basically told my co-worker that she would have to pry my steak out of my cold dead jaws.

This, That, and the Other

I admit I haven’t been living up to my blogligations. I can sum it up in one word (or is it two) Burnout. I have said so much about guns in long essays, short posts, musings, range reports, Ones From the Vault, that I've said everything that I've ever thought about guns.

I've supported gun rights and the battle continues seemingly with no change. The anti-gunnies are lying while the pro-gunnies are slinging facts, but to little avail. Anti-gunnies have done an excellent job demonizing guns. Too many of our fellow citizens think a gun is too dangerous to own, too complicated to use, and too evil to touch.

Still, I see a lot of hope for gunnies. We have been winning battles, although we may need to continue fighting forever. Things are not as good as they were while I was growing up, but they’ve improved in the last fifteen years or so. I doubt we’ll ever restore gun rights to pre-1968 or 1934, but we’ve held our own and made some advances.

I’ve said all of this before in so many ways here on Ten Ring. I plan to continue to blog about guns after my recent breather, but I may throw in a few non-gun posts to liven things up (that is, to clear my head). Here’s a few facts about me to show I'm not just a gunnie:

I collect first editions of modern literature; the collecting field is called “Modern Firsts.” The Internet has made collecting harder. Bookstore and thrift shop owners have learned that a first edition can be worth a pretty penny. They might not be able to sell it for its full catalog price locally, but they can sell it on the Internet for that price and sometimes more.

I buy gold on occasion in the form of small coins--mainly Canadian Maple Leafs. I think gold’s a good investment because it’s always liquid, it’s never had no value, it’s portable. I don’t buy it as a TEOTAWAKI investment, although it wouldn’t be bad to have if zombies attacked, asteroids fell, or whatever else hits. Also, I’m such a girly-girl that the stuff is just too damn pretty to resist.

For my career or to attend graduate school, I have lived in (no particular order) Maryland, Idaho, Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, and New Hampshire. I have visited all but one of the lower 48 states (Minnesota), but have never been to Alaska or Hawaii. I would love to visit Alaska, but I’m not too interested in Hawaii.

Also, I don’t like Glocks or most other polymer guns. There’s nothing wrong with them in particular. I just prefer wood grips, blued metal, and a gun that feels good in my hand. I know there are many who swear by Glocks and that’s okay too. Each to their own. (Whoops this wasn’t a gun post, ignore this paragraph.)

Finally, we have mentioned our new addition, Cooper the Basset Hound puppy. He’s getting bigger all the time. He’s a really good natured, sweet dog. We didn’t mention that we found out he had pneumonia probably from the breeder’s kennels. We nursed him back to health with enough antibiotics to kill a jumbo jet full of pathogens. We spent a lot of money at the vet’s office, but he’s our dog, which means he’s our best friend. And here he is:

Cooper, Ten Ring's Mascot

Musings and Camping

I don't have an essay today and don't really have much to say on gun rights. That's a problem with blogging on guns; no matter how many victories we win, and we do win some, there's always someone making emotional yawps and getting good press.

Gun control evokes the emotions--we have to do something about the violence and who needs something that kills anyway. I feel like I have said everything, made every argument, and dotted every "i" without doing any good.

So, instead of that, I'll blog a little about our weekend. Yosemite Sam, Cooper (the Ten Ring's Basset Hound mascot), and I went to Lake Umbagog State Park in northern New Hampshire. It's only a few miles from Errol, NH which is only a few miles from nowhere. We froze our asses off, to put it bluntly.

A thunderstorm crashed down on us Friday and night time temperatures were in the 40s with the wind coming off the lake. We stayed in a tent. Talk about cold. I woke up early Saturday morning with chattering teeth.

You see, I hate sleeping bags because they confine me too much. Maybe I have a few latent claustrophobia issues, who knows. So, I sleep on a cot with an open sleeping bag as a mattress and blankets for warmth. Somehow, I had kicked off the blankets. Talk about cold. I didn't know I could get that cold in the summer.

Saturday's day time was not much better, but it didn't rain. There we were, in late June, wearing jackets and long underwear like it was late October. Tell me why we live in New England again? Of course, Sunday dawned nice and warmed up to the 70s. It only did that because we were leaving.

We did get a lot of fresh air. All of us including Cooper managed to get some exercise. Time in the forest is worth some rain and freezing one's toes off. Saturday, I cooked a couple of rib eye steaks on an open fire and roasted potatoes in the coals. Something about a wood fire makes steaks even better. Needless to say, we didn't go into the forest unarmed, so I won't say it.

All in all, it was nice crawling into my own bed last night and not listening to the incessant whine of mosquitoes.

Ten Ring's New Addition

Yosemite Sam and I had a busy Memorial Day weekend. We finally got a dog. Given that we hunt, you might think our new addition would be a Labrador, Golden Retriever, or other mighty hunting dog. Instead, we fell in love with a Bassett Hound.

All is not lost in the hunting fields. Bassetts have the second best scenting abilities second only to boodhounds. They were bred to follow game beneath briars and other low plants. We're not going to hunt with him because we got him as a pet. We realized that we simply didn't have time to train and finish a hunting dog. Just not in the cards with work and commuting.

Introducing Ten Ring's "Best Friend"

So, our hound will be Ten Ring's official mascot. I promise that we won't be doing too much dog blogging. Just one thing though, his name is Cooper. We wanted to name him after a gunnie and thought of the late Colonel Cooper, but also John Moses Browning, Oliver Winchester, Samuel Colt and others. We made up our minds when we checked Cooper's papers and saw that his sire was named "Oakhaven's Crazy Cooper." Serendipity made up our minds.

Staying in New Hampshire

I haven't written here for a while--longer than usual anyway. I've been away physically. Work sent me halfway across the country and back. At the same time, I've been away mentally. My job is slowly becomming a life-sucking vampire. But that's true of so many jobs and believe me, I could have it a lot worse.

I need to look for other jobs, but it's difficult to find them in the field I fell in to. I don't mention here, but there's only a handful of people in the country who do what I do, the way I do. It involves a thorough knowledge of American history, decent computer science skills, writing ability, and being able to speak in public about it all. When the job's good it's very good, but when it's bad....

I recently mentioned that I had a line on another job. It would have taken me to the Washington D.C. area--Maryland to be exact. For a number of reasons, I told the people who were interested in me "Thanks, but no thanks." It looks like I'll be staying in New Hampshire for awhile.

Part of my decision was the realization, I didn't really want to move to Maryland or suffer the long commute from Virginia (that would have been the best option). Another factor in my decision was I don't really want to work in the particular office in Maryland in which the job is located.

Still, I feel disappointed that in the United State of America I should have to worry about moving to a state that could infringe on my God-given, Constitutionally protected rights to own a tool that can be easily owned or bought in most other states. That is wrong. No free, non-violent, sane person should have to worry about such infringements.

Fighting such attitude is why I blog and why I proudly let the multitude of the gun-fearing wussies where I work know that I am a gun owner. I will try to do more to win back these rights, but I still feel like I'm banging my head against a wall.

Does a Smoking Habit Ever Really End?

This is not related to guns in any way that I can think of right now. It is a life issue shall we say. I stumbled on an article in Salon while following a link. Rebecca Traister quit smoking a few months ago. She doesn’t regret her decision, but she’s had all sorts of minor health problems since then; flu, pinkeye, weight gain, clumsiness, head lice, etc.

I used to smoke and I enjoyed it. I decided to quit because I feared it would affect my health eventually. Let’s face it, putting a tube of burning plant matter in your mouth and lighting it on fire is not something that God and/or evolution designed us to do.

It’s been years now and I still miss it. I forget how many years since I quit smoking, but it’s been more than twenty. Quitting was the right thing to do, but every now and again I still want a good smoke.

I’ve backslid over the years. Right now, I could find two maybe three packs of cigarettes at home. Each has one or two cigarettes missing. The remaining cigs are so old now that touching a match to them might be like igniting flash powder. Poof, and the cigarette is gone. Magic!

Yosemite Sam smoked cigars, but he never developed a habit. It was just something he tried out. Don’t tell him, but he’s missing a couple of cigars from his old stash.

I find that if I’m at a casino, in a bar, or if I have to really think about something I’m writing for work, I want to smoke again. The writing thing is left over from college and graduate school. Smoking got me through both.

As far as casinos or bars, part of it is all the other smokers around me, but there’s the feeling that they’re the perfect places to smoke. I can imagine Rick's Cafe' Americain in fictional Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart is squinting his eyes against his cigarette’s smoke as he leans over to light Lauren Bacall’s cigarette. It just seems right.

I do recommend that people quit smoking or never take it up. I’m sure it’s bad for you, but I think I’ll always miss it. I wonder if the urge to light up ever really ends.