An Evening With Friends

Several months ago I went to my first Indy blogmeet and was welcomed into the group like I was long lost brother.  Tam, Roberta, Brigid and everyone else in the group are as warm and kind in real life as they are in their blogs.

And since that time the ladies have shown me how friendly and caring shooters are in the whole and these fine folks in particular.  And over the course, of my monthly visits to Indy, I was invited to dine and spend time with these nice people.   And as we talked and laughed like we had known each other for years, a germ of an idea came to me.  I wanted to show how much I value and treasure their friendship and repay their kindness by doing something for them that hopefully would be a wonderful and unique experience.  I had a one pointed mentioned that I missed going to the Elgin Symphony, so when Brigid said that she had never been or hadn't been in a very long time, I asked if they would like to go see the Indianapolis Symphony?  Excited with the idea we began to look at dates and performances, and finally settled on going to see Mahler's 1st the last weekend of September.  I was saddened when Roberta and Tam had to beg off, but thrilled that Midwest Chick and Brigid were game.

Suddenly I had a "non-date" with two very lovely ladies to a "grown-up event", so this night was going to be special.

And it was, it started when I was greeted at the door by something low-slung and in black.  Once we got a very-excited-to-see-me Barkley (I was excited to him too!!) back under control, I was knocked out by two knock-outs.  WOW !!!   The ultimate expression of the Little Black Dress and the Red Number that just WOW !!!

And like Prom night, pictures were take and greeting hugs exchanged and mmmmmm vanilla perfume.  Out to open the car doors for the ladies and were off to the Big City.  Give the car to the valet and inside the elegant building which houses the theater and the Symphony.  The on-going highlight of the evening was watching the faces of the people (especially men) seeing someone walking around with not one, but two gorgeous ladies dressed to the nines, one on each arm.  The looks of surprise and envy were just like the Mastercard commercial - Priceless.  The ladies made great sport of it, as I grew concerned that they were going to cause of fellow concertgoers to walk into balusters or the stately columns that dot the lobby as they did double takes and stared.
A pre-concert beverage along with more catching up conversation and it's time to find our seats.  From the ISO's website, there really are no bad seats, but some are better than others, so I wanted seats that would ensure that we be able to really enjoy not only the music but he musicians as well.
The music was phenomenal.  The opening piece, Ades' Violin Concerto was magnificently performed by Lela Josefowicz, it is technically challenging and wild ranging, Ades' piece confuses difficultly with artistry.  Ms Josefowicz breathed love and life into what could have easily become a muddled mess.
During the intermission the two ladies again spent their time touching up their tactical lip-gloss, to the shock and dismay of fellow concert-goers and it seemed that we had pickup a tail of novice nuns (yes, in the habits), also out to enjoy an evening of music, though I never thought that Mahler made the Top 100 in the Catholic Church.
Meanwhile back to to seats for the feature piece.  Mahler's 1st.  While the ISO much acclaimed new Music Director Krzysztof Urbanski was elsewhere this evening,guest conductor Larry Rachleff took over and did a magnificent job of leading the large ensemble (Mahler always liked bigger and more when it came to instruments) in the complex work that can be flat and un--inspired, as is frequently the case in most recordings of the work.  Therefore I was somewhat skeptical as to what kind of performance we could expect.  Needless to say I was greatly surprised and impressed. Mr. Rachleff's light and lively treatment brought out all the complex and intertwined themes that were clear and distinct.  The musicians obviously enjoying the work and that enjoyment growing as the lengthy work progressed.  Leading up to the finally which brought the audience to it's feet for a lengthy ovation.
Having paid our respects to the orchestra, we departed to retrieve the car from the valet.  Upon presenting my stub, the attendant could not find the key and announced that they had probably went to retrieve as they would begin to bring up the vehicles once the performance ended.  After standing by the curb on the Circle and doing the tourist thing (craning our necks upward to to see the Civil War Victory Finger to the South column), I noticed my car park further down round the circle.  Going back inside, I pointed out my car to the attendant who sheepishly admitted that they had not been able to figure out how to remove the key from the ignition of a stick shift Saab, so had parked it, with the key in it, where they could keep an eye on it.  Disdaining a tip, the ladies and I laughed and walked 'round the circle to were I helped them in the car (again, getting stares and double takes from passer-by) and eliciting complimentary comments from the street vendors next to where the car had been left parked.
A quick trip back to Small Town and the Stone Creek Dining Company for an extremely tasty meal of Steak, Shrimp, Scallops, and Chicken, along with all the trimmings.  More conversation and laughs that frequently had me wiping tears from my eyes we were laughing so hard ("and then Sonny the cockateil said....") along with the "church lady" with her teenage daughter sitting in the booth catty-corner who kept shooting me very disproving looks (Two woman !?!?!  and look, they can't even be half his age !!!  Hhhhrrmmppph !!!).

And all too quickly the night was ending.  A return to the current Range, where once again I was met by something low-slung and black (Hi Barkley !!), hugs and a return to my parents home, where I just managed to sneak in before curfew.

I can't thank Midwest Chick and Brigid for a truly wonderful evening of friends, music and food.  I had been so looking forward to it and it was everything I had hoped for and more.  I also would like to thank Mr. B for letting me borrow his Significant Other for the evening, you sir a very fortunate and lucky man.   It was an distinct privilege and true honor to escort both of you ladies last evening.  It's something I'll never forget, Thank you.

Be careful what you ask for

Seems the White House wants to hear from We, The People.  So on the White House. org website they have created a way to start a petition and have stated that if enough people "sign" the petition they will speak to the subject.  Maybe not support it, but they will address the issue.

So this is your chance.  If you're reading this, you're probably on several .gov watchlists.  Might as well go for all of them!!

My friend Sean S. at NC gun blog has links to all the petitions

Topics:
Supporting HB822 (National Reciprocity)

Repealing the Hughes Amendment ('86 Machine Gun Registry)

Taking Suppressors off the NFA

Taking SBS/SBR's off the NFA

Support an Independent Prosecutor for Fast and Furioius

You have to sign up with your name, e-mail, city and state.  We're all on "the list" anyway and they can't use it for spam.  If the petitions get to 500 signers the White House has to respond.

I want to see the press briefing where the White House explains its position on the above petitions.  Hehehehehehehehehe

Fast and Furious

Finally someone has come out and said it

Operation Fast and Furious was not botched. It was planned.  And of course they just couldn't do the small fry.

See the administration made the claim that the bad people from south of the border were buying their guns at Gun shops, Gun shows and from other private sales and that the 2A was to blame.  However, some one went back and ran the numbers and Whoopsie!!  turns out almost all the guns came from Mexican Police and Military sources.

Well that simply won't do.
So what to do get more guns into from US FFL's into the hands of Mexican cartels?  Why ship them directly from the FFL's using the ATF (with Porkulous Money) and eliminating the middle men of the Mexican Police and Army.

So quit calling this thing botched.  It wasn't.  No one can point to anywhere in the plan to seizure or capture the guns nor arrest or kill the bad guys with the guns.  The ATF higher up painstakingly did things to ensure that the guns slipped from ATF control/observation  and disappeared, mostly into Mexico, only to sadly turn up at more and more murder scenes.

Yes, murder scenes.  And like every freedom loving American, I don't care who is being murdered.  I want the person that pulled the trigger either fried or put in a jail he never comes out of.   And those that knew of, participated in and allowed this to happen, need to be tried for those murders.

Go back and read what ATF Agent Newell said about working cases where gun dealers "allowed" guns to walk.  It was Agent Newell that ordered the dealers to sell those guns against the dealers will and better judgement and Agent Newell let them walk.

No one was killed in Watergate.  Agent Newell has the blood of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican and a growing number of Americans on his hands.  For this and this alone he needs to brought up on charges.  Then and only then will the entire rotten edifice of Fast and Furious will come tumbling down.  Yes, Monica, we are to the point of a Special Prosecutor.

To Hell and Back

I spent the last weekend with Robert.  Time that I cherish.  And we did have fun as well. We "worked" at the BB Gun Range at Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days.  Robert does really well with the young kids teaching the 4 Rules and helping them with cocking, aiming and shooting the Daisy Red Rider's we use.  It's a lot of fun introducing new shooters (mostly kids and moms, as most Dads are too cool to shoot BB Guns.)  We have simple knock down targets, film canisters on string and everyone's favorite the bell-hop bell.  A challenge to hit, but gives a satisfying "DING" when you hit it, and everyone on the line knows when you do.   Everyone gets to watch a 3 minute video and then about 5 minutes of actual shooting.  Yes, as many BB's as you can safely fire.

The best part comes later.  The guys that run the range go to Knob Creek each year.  And they have a simple rule.  If you work the BB gun range, they take you to Knob Creek for the the Machine Gun Shoot. So each year we have several teenagers of family and friends that also work the range.  All really good kids, and fun to be around.  The prospect of shooting machine guns has Robert captivated.  He gets it that "things" are earned.

We  got home we had a couple of hours before he was  due to go back to his mom's.   He's liking WWII movies, so I've picked up a couple of the "9 WWII movies for $4.99" out the bins at Wal-Mart, I also scored a 16 pack of John Wayne movies to include McClintock!   So grab one of the CD's and it has To Hell and Back - Audie Murphy.  Wikipedia for some back story and then pop in the movie.  Yeah, somewhat cheesey.  You can tell that Audie was somewhat uncomfortable playing himself and wanted it as a tribute to those friends killed during the war.   Robert was just in awe.

Those are the lessons I want to teach.  That is what I want to pass on.

Still Augering In.

Well, yesterday was the suck.  I mean really?!?  My Hemoglobin can "bounce" around from a 6.5 to a 7.7?  Neither being "good", but one somewhat less "BAD" then the other.  I had to do all the "Check again to see if he's still breathing?" crap, and the Nurse Practitioner didn't think that I looked like a 6.5.  I sure felt like one.  And yeah I did go camping with a bunch of Cub Scouts last weekend.  And yeah, I cooked breakfast for the entire crew.  And yeah, I then spent two days working the BB Gun Range at Hunting and Fishing Days.  

So if I can dig deep and do all that on less then half the fucking oxygen of all you medical types, why am I getting worse?  9.6 in hospital three weeks ago, 8.8 two weeks ago, 8.1 last week, and somewhere between 7.7 and 6.5 this week.  Oh, and now there's blood (at least hemoglobin) in my urine.  The steriods have induced diabetes (yes, insulin twice a day.) and now a Blood Transfusion this morning of two maybe three units.  That should make me feel better.  Well, at least like I can breathe.  But this is it. I see the kidney doc next Monday.  If they (and by they I mean all my docs) haven't talked and come up with their recommendations then I'll tell them what the Fucking Plan is.

This shit ends.  No more steroids, no more Cytoxan.  And the stem cell can wait.  I'm not playing my last card on a "Hail Mary" that I don't think will work to save my kidneys. They've been so damaged and destroyed over the course of the last several years that I don't think they'll "recover".  And I'm not willing to take a chance on maybe becoming eligible for a kidney transplant.  You'll have to give me better odds then a "possible maybe".   I'll do dialysis.  I can live with that.  I can do maintenance chemo for as long as it *works*.  "Works" meaning that the Multiple Myeloma doesn't begin to attack any other organs or systems. I'll be anemic, hopefully less edemaic, but I'll be able to live on somewhat my own terms.  

But I'm mad as hell that they did this to me.

I just want the Poster.

If you never seen Firefly, you need to watch it.

But this clearly demonstrates the mindset we are up against.

Having been duely warned, the Prof takes it down and replaces it with this:

That really honks off the Brownshirts.

See when it comes to the Left the 1A is okay when you agree with them and their positions.  But let a leftist know that they are also fascists and the gloves really come off.

And hell yeah.  I want *that* Firefly poster.

Chores.

As usual I do things uphill backwards.  When I wrote about Parenting Techiniques, I probably should have posted the ground rules or what drives the techniques.

The first thing that I kept telling the WINO is that our job as parents is to raise happy, healthy, disciplined ethical moral, responsible adults.  People that go out and take the place in society as productive members.

Period.

And  everything we do and did has to be directed toward that goal.

It was like talking to a wall.

I believe in chores.  Age appropriate.  At 5 years old you can unload the silver ware from the dishwasher (I'll take the knives first).  At 8 you can unload the dishes as well.  At 10 you load the dishwasher, properly.

At 7 you can pick up the dog poop in the backyard like you promised when we got you the dog.  At 10 or 11 you can start cutting the grass.

In fact at several points as the kids were growing up we would sit and have a family meeting.  The WINO drafted and wrote out "The Chore Lists" that everyone agreed to.  Yes, even her.  She wrote them, they are in her hand writing.  But when I would direct the kids to do their chores, I was "A Slavedriver" or "Why does it have to be done on your schedule?"  Because I can't serve dinner I cooked, (my chore), if all the clean dishes are in the dishwasher that the kids need to unload."  And then the fight was on.  

This is how bad is was.  I hated the weekends.  Because the would end the same way each time, no matter what I did. 
Friday night- Pizza and a beer night.  Which was really just pizza night, although she might have a beer.  But before she got home I would ask the kids to 1) Get their homework done (always Job#1) and then 2) get their dirty clothes down stairs, so I could do laundry (my chore) and 3) pick their "stuff" around the house and their rooms.  My reasoning being that if we got *that* our the way, we could then do fun things the rest of weekend.  The kids would want to and would get my wife on their side with "It's been a long week, leave them alone for one night." To which I would say, "Fine, I'm doing laundry now.  If you want clean clothes next week , then get it downstairs."  That I put my foot down on.  I was doing laundry once a week. Not whenever you demanded it. And don't let me catch you doing loads in between.  You're not wasting my water, gas and detergent just because you were too lazy to bring it downstairs when I was doing it.

Now, Saturday was generally run the kids to sports and activities, cutting the grass, and possibly getting the the grocery shopping for the week.  So it got blown out of the water as far as getting anything fun in.

Sunday morning she would get up early and go to weight watchers.  Meanwhile I got up, go the kids moving, and showering while I made a good breakfast (bacon and eggs, or pancakes, or waffles or breakfast burrito's and such), and got everyone fed, dressed and ready for church.  She would get back in time to eat and the we'd load up in the car and head to church.  And I would offer her "Mom time" meaning that I would take the kids and we go.  Usually out to the Aurora Sportsmen's Club, where we would shoot some trap and some .22LR.  This gave her the opportunity to do whatever she wished.  Scrap-booking, Work-work, take a nap, go shopping, anything she wanted.   And we would be back sometime after it got dark (we could shoot out there until legal sunset.)

And when we got back all hell would break loose.  See, the house was still a mess, and we're getting ready to head back into the work week and your three went off to have fun while leaving me in this pigsty to clean up all your messes, and on and on.  Pointing out that I tried to get them to do their chores on Friday fell on deaf ears and was again told that "Why does it have to done on your schedule?!?!"  Because you turn  into a tweaked out raving bitch on Sunday afternoon because it isn't done.  If you don't like the way I do it, then don't bitch when it doesn't get done.

I hated it.  Here I am trying to be a good father and spend time, good quality bonding time ( and both kids sdid have lots of fun shooting.  It's one sport where age or physical strength doesn't make the difference, it's skill) while trying to give my wife some time to her self.  And all I did was catch hell from her.

So parents.  The most important thing is that you have to be together, you have work as team.  But that's another rant for another time. That's how important that is.