*Giggle* *Snort*

Ok, this news snippet struck me as funny, so I thought I'd share.  Just to wet your whistle - here's the opening line:

The Maine Warden Service says a woman from Greenfield Township - you can't make this up - used a bull to prevent a possible theft.

Something tells me that those would-be thieves are still trying to get their britches clean!

One Less Credit Card

 This may be old news, but after reading about GE Capital ceasing to lend to gun shops, I've cancelled my GE credit card.  Not that the cancellation of one, barely use card will make a difference; however, they've made it clear that they don't want to profit from my kind of purchases so I may as well oblige them.

Now, General Electric is free to financially back - or snub - whomever they choose; though I do think that a major corporation should be swayed less by emotion than by economics.  It's rather short sighted of them to think that all those gun stores are going to take their balls and go home just because GE doesn't want to give them an allowance.  There are plenty of financial institutions that would like to get a bigger piece of the booming gun industry - it's one of the few healthy sectors of the economy.  Case in point, who wouldn't want to lend money to Cabela's right now? 

I think this:

 GE is based in Fairfield, Conn., and many of the GE's employees live around Newtown, and several have children in the Sandy Hook elementary school, where the shootings took place. Peter Lanza, the father of Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza, is an executive at GE Capital.

is the whole reason behind GE Capital losing their collective grip on economic sanity.  At what point are the people in charge too closely involved in an incident to make a rational decision as to what benefits the company vs what simply assuages their need to do 'something'?  What next, are they going to stop lending money to Presto?

Progress

Yesterday Gambler managed to load in under an hour and today he walked right on.  Yay!  There's still some work to do, tomorrow we'll try loading without Freedom in the trailer, then we'll move on to loading with the trailer away from the indoor let out.  Honestly, I'm anticipating some stupid with that part.  Right now there aren't any distractions and there's no where for him to go (circumstances which rarely prevail) and there's nothing quite like fresh grass and lots of space to make loading a low priority in a horse's brain.  Here's hoping progress continues apace, trail season's upon us.

Loading Battle

Last year my one horse, Gambler, went from okay at trailer loading to "WTF is that thing - I ain't getting in that box - screw you!"  The very last time we loaded it was with a blind fold just so I could get the bugger home.  I'm not overly proud of that moment, but it got him in the trailer.  Sad thing is, I have no idea what flipped the switch.  No traumatic incidents, no undue stress or injuries with loading, just stopped getting in. *shrug*  That will remain one of life's little mysteries. 

Unfortunately, after that last incident, it got cold, the trailer was put up for the winter and I never got back around to working with him on the issue.  Bad pony owner, boo! >:(  Now it's spring and I avoided dealing with it... until yesterday.  Oh boy did I set myself up for some frustration!

Now Gambler's one of those horses that just doesn't do force.  Sure, you could try using brute force but you're only going to end up tired, pissed off and have an utterly fried horse without being one step closer to your goal.  Someone in his past did something to his little horsey brain so it equates any sort of forceful correction with "Run away!  Run away!"  I'd like to find that person.

So, with the trailer backed just inside the overhead door to my indoor 'arena' (30' x 30' hard-pack dirt) I prepared myself for a battle... of patience, hunger and irrational fear.  See, he's not getting grain unless he gets in that trailer.  So, eventually, he's gonna get hungry enough to get over himself and get in; it's just a matter of how long 'eventually' is and whether my patience can last until then.

Yesterday sucked.  7pm to 10:30pm and he ended up going to bed hungry (still got hay) and I went to bed frustrated.  I now have a greater appreciation for my other horse, Freedom, who walked right on the trailer and who I can just smack on the rump when he's being and ass.  Horse 1 Human 0.

Today sucked less.  5:00pm - 7:30pm.  2 1/2 hrs of pressure & release to get him on the damn trailer but in the end he loaded and stood quietly.  Seriously, once he was on it was like, "Okay, now what? Oh look, GRAIN!"  Horse 1 Human 1.

&$%#ing Horse.

Windows

Dear Sir(s),

Those clear glass things on the side of a building are called windows.  Windows allow inside people to see out and outside people to see in.  Some windows even open.  So, next time you decide to relieve yourself on a building with first floor windows, don't be shocked when one of those magical portals open and you're informed that those bricks are not, indeed, a urinal and no one wants to see your manly bits.

Sincerely,

The Woman Behind the Windows



 

Home Again

Had a lovely time visiting with the sister in (surprisingly!) sunny Seattle.  It only rained the night I flew in and the evening I left.  Otherwise, it was either partly cloudy or out right sunny.  Everyone said I must have brought it with me - I just kept thinking, 'have you ever seen Ohio in winter?' 

We spent the majority of Saturday downtown Seattle.  We bummed around Pike's Market and saw the sunset from the top of the Space Needle.  It felt like everyone in Seattle was outdoors soaking up the sun.  We saw this guy when we were sitting in the park by Pike's Market.  He's rather blinding on a bright, sunny day.
 
 Concealed Carry was unobstructed, even downtown, it was so nice not to see 'no weapons' signs.  The only place I left the airweight in the car was when we visited the Space Needle.  While I didn't find anything saying I couldn't carry, there was a security guard checking all bags.  Mind you, I'm not sure what he was looking for as I could've been carrying a 1911 and he'd have missed it in my 'purse'.  I "borrowed" Heath's Crossfire & he *might* not be getting it back.  If I'd have realized it earlier in the trip, I would've gone to Tactical Tailor's retail location in Lakewood and gotten him a replacement - or me a new one ;-)

In general, it was nice to get to kick back with my sister again.  I've missed being able to hang out with her - even calls are tricky with the time difference.  We spent a lot of time watching favorite movies and bringing up old inside jokes.  Wish I could say I could make the trip again soon, but that's a helluva distance.

The flights, overall, were interesting but uneventful.  I had window seats on all 4 flights, didn't have anyone in the middle seat on 3 of them and scored a row to myself on the last one.  On the Red-Eye home (Seattle - Chicago) there were 6+ babies, but I had new, noise-cancelling earbuds so I didn't hear a thing. :-D 

Checking the gun through Cleveland was easy; TSA didn't even bother to open the case.  Checking it back through Seattle was more amusing.  I swear the counter agent thought it was going to come through the case and hold her hostage, the TSA guy couldn't grasp how to work the case clasps and didn't touch the gun or speed-loaders but made a point to check inside the ammo box - beats me why.

I do wish there was a more standardized pick-up procedure for firearms.  When Heath & I flew into Houston, we had to go to the baggage claim office and show our claim ticket.  In Seattle, I assumed it would be similar but they just waived me off to the over-sized luggage with minimal scrutiny.  In Cleveland, the case came in with the standard luggage and I just walked off with it.  I guess it shouldn't matter - it'd just be nice to know what to expect. 

Always fun to go visiting but it sure felt nice to get home!

Flying Out

I'm on my way to see my sister in Washington State!  I'll be taking advantage of their CCW reciprocity but all I have for plane travel is a rifle case. No use wasting that extra space so I packed some extra things along (they're going to charge me $25 either way, so why not?)

Yes, those are Legos in with an airweight.  We just divvied up our childhood collection and I'm taking her all the extra pieces (the actual sets will have to be shipped).

So tell me, what's the oddest thing you've packed with your checked firearm?

Cornbread

At the NE Blogmeet I promised someone my cornbread recipe and promptly lost the piece of paper their info was scribbled on.  So, here it is for everyone.  Now, this is more like corn-cake than cornbread - diabetics beware!

Ingredients:
1c flour
1/2c corn meal
3t baking powder
1/2t salt
1c sugar (rate back to 1/2c for more traditional cornbread)
1c milk
1 egg
1T melted shortening

Combine all dry ingredients (best if run through a sifter).  Whisk together milk and egg and add to the dry ingredients then add the melted shortening.  Pour into a greased, 9x13ish baking pan or muffin tins.  Do not fill more than 1/3 from the top of your pan / tins otherwise things get messy.  Bake at 375 for 30min (tins) or ~1hr (pan). 

Congressional Response

Here's the first response from my round of phone calls earlier this month:

I found that rather encouraging!

Fruitful Weekend

Spent the better part of Sunday turning these:

Into:

 


Every year we get Navel oranges and Tangelos from our local FFA's fundraiser.  Much to my shame, last year the majority ended up as fuzzy green/ blue balls of squish.  So this year I was determined not to waste them.  The Tangelos turned into juice and I suprêmed the Navels for canning.  I'm not sure what I'll do with canned oranges, but now I have 3 years to figure something out.  I do know that most of the orange juice is headed for the freezer just as soon as I find my ice cube trays, I'm rather sick of oranges.  

Tomorrow I'll throw the remains to my neighbor's chickens, they'll enjoy the treat.

Schadenfreude and Honesty

As it's been mentioned around the blog-o-sphere, New York forgot to exempt their own police officers from their most recent gun banning extravaganza.  I'm sure they'll pencil in that exemption before the ban comes into effect, but it is amusing to watch them gawp about while trying to save face.  Something funny has to come of something so farcical.

One telling quote that I found via Weer'd in an abc article about the snafu is this:

State Senator Eric Adams, a former NYPD Captain, told us he's going to push for an amendment next week to exempt police officers from the high-capacity magazine ban. In his words, "You can't give more ammo to the criminals"

Wait... it's like he's saying that he knows criminals aren't going to follow the ban.  So, tell me Senator Eric Adams, if you already knew that criminals were going to ignore the new restrictions, what was the point?  Sounds like an arbitrary way to make criminals out of honest men. 

A Spark of Light in the Darkness

We need more stories like this!

The 5-0 vote of the board Wednesday night to allow handgun training for four custodians to be able to tote weapons at the K-12 campus at the Williams County school came after last month's deadly shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
School officials say that having armed personnel - believed to be the first for any school system in Ohio - is designed to thwart incidents of violence and prevent what happened in Newtown, Conn., from occurring here

With all the gun-ban doom and gloom hanging over our heads, it's encouraging to see a school embrace the idea of arming staff.  This story is even more heartening since it's relatively close to home. 

From the details given, it looks like they're going about it the right way; it's voluntary and they're providing the training.  Kudos to the Williams County Schools.

I Did It

I actually called my representatives in Congress.  I don't know if it did any good, I wasn't eloquent and I forgot half of the things I wanted to say, but there's one more slash mark in the "does not support gun control" column. So maybe it'll count for something.

Christmas Crack!

Also known by its common name 'Peppermint Bark'
I used this recipe for the basics.

Ingredients (I recommend doubling):
12 oz Dark Chocolate
12 oz White Chocolate
8 Candy Canes

Directions:
Line a large cookie sheet with tinfoil

Put unwrapped candy canes in a ziplock bag & beat into small pieces with anything you have handy (I used a meat tenderizer - what aggression?)

While beating candy canes into submission, bring water to a simmer in a double boiler.

Temper or melt the dark chocolate in the double boiler.  Personally, I used the Wilton wafers and didn't bother with tempering. 

Spread the dark chocolate on the waiting cookie sheet.  The original recipe said 1/8", I took it down to roughly 1/16"*

let the dark chocolate cool while you clean the top pan & melt the white chocolate.  The original recipe says to put it in the fridge for cooling.  I found that putting it directly into the fridge made the edges curl up.  The second tray I did I left on the counter and just popped in the fridge for a few minutes at the end.

Mix 3/4 of the peppermint into the white chocolate and spread out over the dark chocolate. 

While the white choc. is still tacky, sprinkle the remaining peppermint bits over top.  Cool the same way as the dark choc.

When cooled, break apart by hand. 


The whole process takes ~20 min and costs ~$5 per recipe. 

* My first attempt the layers turned out 1/4" thick and when I tried to break it apart it split between the layers.  Too thick & too cold = no bonding between the choc. layers.

'Tis The Season -Arrg!

I kind of sympathize with this woman in Portsmouth calling the cops about the Salvation Army holiday bell ringers.

“I listen to this for 200 hours a year,” said Hamilton-Parker, who works in a downtown shop near the annual bell ringers. “This is my fourth year and I can't take it anymore. I'm so sick of it.”

She said the bell ringing starts in the morning, clangs all day long, then continues into the night. According to her calculations, she listens to 40 hours of Salvation Army bell ringing every week, for five weeks a year, or 200 hours a year.

Maybe I'm a Scrooge but every time I hear that obnoxious ringing my urge to dig out change gets smothered by my rising need to choke the bastard with the bell.   It's not even the pitch, it's the frequency - it's like they're trying to match the bpm of a hummingbird's wings.  You'd think the ringers would get carpal tunnel within a week.  I would go stark raving mad having one camped outside my office window from Thanksgiving 'til Christmas.

Homicidal urges aside, they do get any convenient pocket change after Turkey Day.  However, I do refuse to drop a penny in those kettles before Thanksgiving.  The deal is, they get to assault my eardrums and guilt me out of change starting the day after Thanksgiving and I get to ignore them with prejudice anytime before I've had my turkey feast.  It's like turning on Christmas music or busting out the Christmas decorations before Aunt Mary's burnt the rolls and Uncle Ed's passed out after his 3rd helping of pie, some things Just-Aren't-Done. 

/end rant

Election Night Movie

I lieu of watching states turn red or blue while talking heads trade witty repartee, I've put in V for Vendetta - more fitting don't you think?

North Coast Blogshoot - Postponed :-(

Hi all, I hate to do this but we have to call off / postpone NC III due to a family conflict.  It's nothing serious but completely buggers our ability to host a shoot the weekend of the 6th. Seeing as Ohio's weather is unpredictable in October / November, we aren't planning to reschedule it for this year - the car & tannerite will just have to wait :-(

For everyone who RSVP'd - my apologies, I wish it could have worked out a different way.

New Gaming Set-Up

About a month ago, I broke down and bought improvements for my laptop / World of Warcraft set-up.  I was eking along with a cooling pad and using whatever was handy for a mouse pad.  It really wasn't working out, my laptop kept over heating and the ambidextrous mouse was a pain to use left-handed.  See, I'm a little odd-ball in that I'm right-handed but mouse like I shoot: left-handed.  Hey, maybe I was meant to be a southpaw!?  Anyhow, after a week of searching, reading reviews, and driving my darling husband nuts with my dithering, I bought Razer's left-handed DeathAdder and an Aidata cooling pad with a mouse tray attachment for the left hand.  I've been testing them out over the last month and finally got through few good gaming sessions (3ish hrs each session).  My goodness do they make a difference!

Razer's DeathAdder:

In looking for an ergonomic, left-handed mouse there's either Razer's DeathAdder or Logitech's VerticalMouse.  For price and familiarity I went with Razer - honestly, Logitech's freaked me out.  In reading the reviews prior to purchase, I came across some consistent gripes / concerns about the DeathAdder and I was worried that it would be a disappointment.  I'm so glad I didn't listen to them! Based on my experiences over the last month, I can honestly say that I'm very happy with the mouse and it has enhanced my gaming experience.

It was easy to set-up, I had the drivers downloaded and the mouse customized within minutes.  There were no issues changing the settings for the buttons and the glow features.  Razer does have the mouse buttons reversed, the right- and left-click are set 'backward' as a default but, hey, it's a left handed mouse.  This was a major gripe on the Amazon reviews, however, the feature can be changed from the Razer control panel (something all the reviewers said couldn't be done?!).  Out of curiosity, I kept the buttons reversed.  It took about a day to retrain myself for standard computer / internet navigation and one aggravating WoW raid to get it burned in my head what side does what.  It wasn't painful, I didn't die and no mice were flung across the room in rage. 

The DeathAdder mated up with WOW and all my addons without difficulty and I had a lot of fun binding the extra buttons.  Incidentally, I found that I can double bind the buttons.  Once to the Bartender addon for clicking on the screen in general and a second time to Vuhdo (my raiding framework) for clicking on raid icons.  So freaking fantastic!  So, instead of having a ho-hum 5-button mouse, it's more like having a 9 button mouse (one standard button has to be left on "target" or I can't switch targets by clicking their raid frames).  It has made healing raids and gaming in general much smoother.

As for comfort?  It was like shooting with a left-handed rifle for the first time - finally everything's where it's supposed to be and it's comfortable.  The extra thumb buttons are easy to reach without being pushed by accident, the scroll wheel is smooth & easy to click, and the pointer glides / tracks well for everyday use and gaming on the default settings.

Its appearance is tame for a gaming mouse - no outrageous color schemes or overly obnoxious decals proclaiming, "I'm a gamer!" (though they did add some in the box if you have a burning desire to do so).  I did turn off the glowing icon on the heel, it's never visible during use anyhow.  Otherwise, the matte top with the shiny 'piano' sides is esthetically pleasing and functional.  Thus far, it has resisted grime and my palm hasn't sweated up while gaming.

TL;DR: if any left-handed gamer happens to find my humble blog, get the Razer DeathAdder. 


Aidata's ld007p Cooling Pad:

Finding this was actually harder than finding the mouse!  Not one of the stock images shows that the mousing surface can go on the left side.  I passed it over a few times because while it said it was left handed, all the images were of the mouse on the right.  $!%# marketing.  Anyhow!  For what's available for southpaws (or righties pretending to be such) this is about the most economical option for laptop support with cooling fan and a mousing surface.  I was sorely tempted by the LapDawg Pug but all reviews pointed to it not accommodating a 17" computer, which was absolutely necessary. 

The Aidata does everything the company claims.  It is light weight, self contained, ambidextrous, adjustable, cools, and accommodates laptops +/- 17".  My computer is no longer overheating during raids and actually cycles between high and low fan speed during normal questing, which was a pleasant surprise.  The mousing surface is sufficient in size and support.  It does bend a little bit if you rest your palm on the outer edge, but it doesn't feel like it's about to break, etc.

I do have two criticisms.  First, when using the fan there's a notable vibration in the mouse surface.  It's not enough to make me look for a better option but it is a bit of a distraction.  The vibrations can be reduced by using one of the raised positions.  Second, it's rather awkward to hide the mouse tray.  As designed, you open the clam-shell, push a release button, pull the tray out away from the computer then place it inside the unit.  This may be necessary for stability, but it is a bit of a bother if you intend to break it down consistently. 

TL;DR: The Aidata ld007p is optimal for a left-handed, laptop gamer who prefers sitting on the couch versus at a desk that doesn't mind a little fan vibration.




**Both products reviewed were purchased by me for my expressed use and I am not receiving any benefit for these reviews**

North Coast III

Back by popular demand: North Coast Blogshoot III

Where: a wheat field in Northern Ohio
When: Saturday, October 6th
Details: One day only, pack-in pack out, with a cook out to follow.
Guaranteed targets include: Reactive water targets, Tannerite, and a car :-) However, we are in need of a sacrificial stuffed animal for the bayonet charge.

Look here for more updates and e-mail me apharcry at gmail dot com or contact the man of fustache-fame for RSVP / exact location

Home!

After being gone for 9 months becoming a Marine, Heath's finally home.  It's been a long time and I'm damn proud of all that he's accomplished.  Now, to make up for lost time :-)