09:08 – Barbara is down to three more days at work, with her last day next Wednesday. As she pointed out, though, Thursday will be a regular work day for her, but she’ll be working instead for our company. About the only thing that’ll change is that she’ll no longer be using the alarm clock or driving downtown to go to work.
The cool, drizzly weather continues. Between the rain and the gusty winds, we had some large branches down last night. Autumn is coming in like a raging panda, which probably means it’ll go out like a slinking rabid weasel.
In addition to building/shipping kits and doing laundry and other weekend tasks we’ll probably spend some time this weekend getting downstairs organized and inventoried, both kit stuff and emergency supplies. We also need to run a patch through the barrel of this Ruger AR-556— which is made about 30 miles from here, in Mayodan, NC–and figure out how to run it. It’s been close to 40 years since I last fired an AR-pattern rifle, so I need to refamiliarize myself with its operation and teach Barbara the basics. The first step is to RTFM. I also need to order a few accessories for it, including a sling, a few more OEM magazines, maybe 100 stripper clips, and a clip/magazine loader.
RTFM? If your firearm was manufactured recently, you can probably skip about 2/3 of the FM, since it’ll all be litigation-conscious safety warnings.
Sadly, the days of a 3-page manual showing only loading, sight adjustment and detailed takedown instructions are gone…
A while back, y’all made some recommendations for mail-order western wear, which I stupidly didn’t write down. A couple of my favorite shirts just got trashed, so I’d appreciate hearing those suggestions again.
“… so I need to refamiliarize myself with its operation and teach Barbara the basics.”
Sounds like fun. Check out Tube videos on it, too. There are some good ones.
At this point, I don’t even remember if I need any special tools to field strip it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btewvXGw8F0
That vid shows maybe three cheap and handy tools to use, although IIRC we didn’t use any tools back in the day with Uncle.
Check out Brownell’s, Midway, etc.
I just bookmarked this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed9oU8V7-Uk
which appears to be a 19 minute long intro for complete newbies.
That’s one of the things that a lot of us older guys have to be careful about. Just because we had lots of experience with something 30 or 40 years ago doesn’t mean we’re not newbies at it now. What we knew then doesn’t necessarily translate to now.
Exactly. This point gets hammered on a bit by some of the small unit tactical training sites out there; vets like me show up and figure we got it dicked already and don’t need but a simple refresher. This is wrong. The way to approach it, I figure, is as an ‘informed noob.’ STFU and listen. The only possible advantage I might have in a SHTF scenario with this stuff is that I’ve been in life-or-death situations a number of times and had the additional street cop background. But again, that is a two-edged sword; what worked for me back then may not now. Different weapons and we’ve learned some things since in all the other damn wars.
Sorta like the vets combat groups and meetings; us old farts wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for the younger guys coming back from the Sandbox and we’re finally getting some genuine help. On the other hand, the youngsters now have the benefit of the shit we’ve gone through for 40+ years and how to deal with it. Or not.
Also, nothing beats hands-on. Take that bugger apart and put it back together, shoot it, clean it, etc., until you can do it in your sleep. This is, like it or not, the standard Murkan rifle now, just like the rifles, in that sense, that our patriot forebears carried.
You might wanna pick up, at some point, the standard-issue Marine rifleman manual, too. (Rifle Marksmanship, U.S. Marine Corps).
Also, take a look at the stuff by Kyle Lamb (retired Army Sergeant-Major, mostly special forces) at Viking Tactics.
It’s not true just for weapons. For example, it’s been decades since I worked in a real chemistry lab. Oh, I do lab stuff here all the time, but it’s home school oriented. I do have some real lab equipment–much more than even well-equipped home schoolers–but I’m a newbie now when it comes to, say, serious organic synthesis. One of the things I intend to do once we get relocated is set up a synthetic chemistry lab optimized for small- to medium-scale synthesis. No wizard should be without one.
“…which appears to be a 19 minute long intro for complete newbies.”
I use NetVideoHunter to download this stuff from the Toob; IIRC, it was Mr. Chuck’s suggestion for a Toob downloader a while back. Remember Mr. Chuck? He lives in Germany now, top advisor to Chancellor Murkel and currently working on Linux solutions to the border crisis.
Remember Mr. Chuck?
He’s on special assignment in the US. He’s washing the Pope’s feet during his travels.
Miles_Teg remembers with fondness the days when Hillary Bitch Clinton was US Secretary of State and flew all over the world. When she was in Australia Miles_Teg won the job of massaging her cankles ’n’ stuff on the strength of the enthusiasm of his begging. He never did tell us if he was successful with the pick-up line, “Hey, Sweet Thing, now that you’ve come down under, do you want to come down under?”
That’s true. You know what Steve? Her boobs are in remakably good shape for a 67 year old. Since she’s a fellow New Yorker I might give her your address so you can give them some special attention. And she’s got some bits further down that require your expert skills…
Westernwear? Amazon probably has some. The chain Cavender’s (cavenders.com) is big in Houston.
Mr. Atoz! I’d like a link to the Python books. (Sorry if I missed it.)
In re Chuck W: One of the regulars on another site I follow suddenly dropped off the radar a couple of weeks ago. Just today we learned he had an apparently non-fatal heart attack.
Anyone here have any ideas about determining Chuck’s current status? I tried via the ‘net, searching for “Waggoner” and “New Castle”, but had no luck.
Here is the link to the Python course. Enjoy.
Dunno where Mr. Chuck is now, exactly, but he’s still listed with that radio station in Indiana:
http://www.919witt.org/about-us/
Scroll down for an old pic, though I’m sure he’s still a handsome devil…
Here is Chuck’s dad’s obit.
Chuck is “Charles E. Waggoner, Jr.”, and his wife Jeri was apparently still alive when it was written.
C’mon, all you net sleuths! 🙂
@medium wave
I figured out Chuck’s snail mail address, but didn’t really know what to put on a postcard. I thought I mentioned that fact some time ago. I happen to be in Tiny Town once or twice a year, but I think knocking on his front door seems a little over the creepy/stalking line to me.
Agreed. You should go in the window instead. Very early in the morning. With a pair of toenail clippers and several pillbottles in your pocket. If you get into the house and someone is there — Chuck or anyone else — get some toenail samples. To add to your collection.
“… but I think knocking on his front door seems a little over the creepy/stalking line to me.”: Agreed, but OTOH, considering his former ubiquity here, it would be reassuring to know if he’s alive and well. People shouldn’t just vanish without notice being taken.
I’m contemplating contacting the radio station and asking them to forward a message asking him to at least give us a heads-up here.
I’ve always thought there should be some way to send a message to friends after you have gone. Some sort of automated process that would kick off when you kick off.
Coincidentally, been working on such a project for over a year. It all works as advertised. Just don’t know the best way to publicize such a venture.
If you want to try it out: http://www.NotHereAnymore.com .
@Dave: Would you consider googling Chuck’s home address and reporting back on what you find? If it’s been on the market/sold recently, that might give us a clue to his current status.
@medium wave
The house was listed for sale in 2010 and taken off market without selling according to Zillow.
You should try going to whitepages.com and searching with the information you already have.
The alternative is that we all know someone who has an email address for Chuck. I haven’t asked for it because I assume he would not disclose such information and be offended that I would ask.
Rick H, you might send a note to AARP’s editorial board. From the site’s home page, it looks like it’s free and easy to sign up, and AARP might put a blurb in and maybe refer to the site in other “planning for kicking it” articles. (AARP organizationally is a bunch of shits, but they are a natural fit for this.)
If there’s an organization of estate planning lawyers with a newsletter, they’d be a good fit.
Support groups for cancer patients and other probably-gonna-die-before-too-long patients.
Groups of high-risk adventurers and world travelers, maybe, as a suggestion for preparing to climb rock faces in the nude (NSFW, yo) or kill bears with a frying pan or other questionable undertaking. (I’d previously found that bear story in an actual newspaper site, but it didn’t come up this time. I’m pretty sure it’s authentic.)
If there’s an organization of stereotypical Jewish mothers down in Miami or wherever they retire to, they’d be perfect. “You never call me. I never know if you’re dead or alive. Sign up with this site here so at least your poor mother will know if you’ve left this earth before I have. It’ll break my heart and put me in my grave, but that’s better than not knowing if you’re dead or alive because you never call me.”
But before you do any of that, do something about the site’s front page. It sucks wombat schlong.
“The alternative is that we all know someone who has an email address for Chuck.”: Of course!!! (Slaps forehead. 😐 ) Perhaps OGH could ping Mr. Chuck and let us know the results …?
I hesitate to bother anyone, but I checked last night and found that his last comment here was on 2 January. He has an alumni .edu email address, so it should still be active if he is. I’ll ping him now.
I figure he’s either dead or wants some time off.
Why anyone would not want to communicate with a lovely bunch of whackjobs like us is beyond me, so I’m guessing he must be dead… 🙁
“… so I’m guessing he must be dead…”: Or perhaps only somehow incapacitated, like the guy with the heart attack, in which case he might be pleased to learn that he’s been missed. Let’s hope for the best.
All of this talk about a former Secretary of State whose closest thing to a redeeming quality is being slightly more attractive than Madeline Albright is starting to make me wonder why I keep coming here.
All of this talk about a former Secretary of State whose closest thing to a redeeming quality is being slightly more attractive than Madeline Albright is starting to make me wonder why I keep coming here.
Yeah, we need to get the conversation back to flashlights…
My el cheapo flashlight that our host recommended has been so useful that I had to replace the battery in it.
Try it with a lithium.
Ooooh, flashy things!
Sure hope Chuck W is OK.
Or perhaps only somehow incapacitated, like the guy with the heart attack, in which case he might be pleased to learn that he’s been missed. Let’s hope for the best.
I’ll go with this – if someone has the ability to find out, it would be nice. FWIW, I find no mention of him in the Indiana obituaries.
The email I sent yesterday morning hasn’t bounced, but no reply yet.
Probably still too soon for a reply. If a week goes by with no response, then the email’s likely a dead end.
Attempting to track down Chuck’s son and doctor DIL in Berlin yielded this guy, but he doesn’t seem like a good fit.
I just emailed the radio station to ask them.