Last night in our neighborhood, Santa Claus came to visit. Thanks to our Police Department and the Police Officers Association, Santa goes to almost all residential areas of the city starting late in November (we’re almost first on his list) and continues through Christmas Eve. He is preceded by an entourage playing Christmas Songs over a mobile music system and several police cars with red/blue lights and sirens — pretty impressive, not to mention that it gets your attention. Lots of kids show up curbside to see Santa and collect a candy cane or two.

Coconut Commando, “currently enjoying an extended, all inclusive vacation package to Iraq,” composed a very good article on home defense. I especially liked this recommendation for a home defense weapon. Here’s the excerpt:

From Defending the Ponderosa

Generally, the best choice for home defense, tactical movement inside buildings, firepower, low cost and pure fear factor is a shotgun. They’re easy to use and criminals, as well as insurgents, dread getting anywhere near the business end of a shotgun. It has been my first hand experience, through years of training and multiple combat tours, that a shotgun is the top choice for home defense. The 12-Gauge Remington 870 “Youth Model” makes an excellent choice because of it size, dependability, ease of use, and cost. It is also best suited for women due to their smaller frame.

I just LOVE MINE!   

Most of the time we have marine haze or fog along the coastline in the Los Angeles area. Today, however, the air is remarkably clear, thanks to a little cool front passing through. I wasn’t able to stop in traffic this morning to photograph Catalina Island, so I dug this photo out of the archives taken on a similar day last winter.

This photo is a segment cut from a Panoramic view of Catalina Island.

Seen at the gun show on Saturday:

Yesterday, Damsel and I went to the gun show and bought a few novelty targets to use at the range. One target resembled a dart board, so we decided to play a game with .38 special “darts.” The only problem was the “bargain” reloads we bought at the show made the range look like an old-fashioned smoke-filled bar room (cough!). Regardless, we had a lot of fun, hit the targets and enjoyed the shoot.

Read on for a bit about one of the other targets we bought.
Continue reading » Shooting Darts in a Smoke-Filled Room

We spent most of the day today attending a gun show in nearby Orange County at the fair grounds. We didn’t have much to blog about since there were no cameras allowed in the show. But it was a lot of fun and we plan on going to the next one in February.

I did take a picture of this nice flower in the garden out front yesterday, so I’ll put it up here and tell you a few words about it.

Cascading down from a stalk extending out of a low cabbage-like succulent, these petite red flowers attract late-autumn hummingbirds and look very pretty in the flowerbed. Each little bell is about 3/4 inch (2 cm) long and the stalks are about 3 feet (1 m) in length.

These have been blooming every November for several years now; click here to see a close-up photo I took a year ago.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing in the voice of his “greatest detective” character, Sherlock Holmes, presented a tribute to this magnificent natural beauty (read below the photo).

During a brief lull in a criminal investigation (”The Adventure of the Naval Treaty”), Sherlock Holmes took a moment to smell a red rose. The flower, he remarked to his friend Dr, Watson, clearly was evidence of divine beneficence. “Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers,” proclaimed the world’s greatest detective. “All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again we have much to hope from the flowers.”

The roses in the photo will assure goodness at our table this weekend.

I posted about our Thanksgiving Day, and Damsel posted about the sacrifice our military families make on holidays. All good and well — but — imagine having an untimely event happen in your family on this holiday and having to make the best of a bad situation — well that’s exactly the scenario for Retired Geezer and family as they rushed to be with their son recovering from a helicopter crash. Seems like Brian is on the mend and will recover — A Thanksgiving, indeed.

Note to Brian: get well soon — and welcome to the club. “They” say there are two kinds of helicopter pilots: those who have crashed and those who are going to. You and I are both past that milestone now. I was lucky and walked away from my crash in 1979. Damsel and I hope you keep flyin’ Brian . . . I kept at it and I’m thankful that I did.

Damsel and I are planning to celebrate Thanksgiving at home again today. According to the American Automobile Association, 40 million people will be travelling somewhere or another, so we figure that home is haven from the madness.

While we will be preparing the feast for later, we plan on watching the NFL Thanksgiving Games:Dallas vs. Tampa Bay and Detroit vs. Miami. I think the home teams will win, but Damsel wants the Florida teams to win. We’ll see . . .

In a break from tradition, the NFL has decided to air a third game in Kansas City where they will be hosting Denver. Damsel and I are again split where I think the home team will win and she likes the visitors (well not really, we like San Diego and Oakland over both of these teams). Luckily, we have the satellite and will be able to see this game on the NFL channel; the game is not going to be shown on local TV.

Finally, we’re having the traditional American Thanksgiving feast this afternoon, with turkey, mashed taters, green beans with onions and fennel, Brussels sprouts with pancetta, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. I have a couple of Sam Adams Winter Lagers on ice and Damsel has a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay (a great California Wine).

OK — enough about that — let’s start the preparations!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

We often think about and pray for our troops across the globe. And our efforts go beyond just thoughts and prayers since we routinely support charities such as Wounded Warriors, Soldiers Angels and the USO. Please, if you are able, send our troops a little support as a way of saying thanks for what they do. Keep it going all of this holiday season if you are able.

You should also keep the families of these wonderful men and women in your thoughts and prayers, since they will be celebrating without their loved ones.

Neil Cavuto of the Fox News Channel offered this poignant and insightful thought about those serving in our defense:

Giving Thanks to Our Troops

By Neil Cavuto

I cannot imagine eating Thanksgiving dinner in a mess hall. In a foreign country. In a hostile foreign country. Away from family. Away from friends. Away from all I hold dear.

I cannot imagine wondering whether this meal might be my last. Or the buddy sitting next to me won’t always be with me.

I cannot imagine going through what our soldiers go through every day. But especially “this” day. When we should all give thanks. But they barely have the time to eat. Before they’re back on the line. Back protecting us.

We who debate their role. Some of us who even mock their cause. This isn’t about a war. This is about those who fight it. And endure it. And live through it. In a place we forget. On a day we should not.

I am very lucky to have this day with my family. My creature comforts are secure precisely because theirs are not. It’s not fair. It’s not right. It just is.

They are due our thanks every day. Our prayers all days. But they are due both, especially this day. It’s amazing to me that those paid so little, give so much. Never complaining. Always giving. So that we can sit down in peace. While they stand guard, in war.

May God bless and protect all of our men and women in the armed forces.

There have been numerous dramas and documentaries about Jack Kennedy’s life and death. Today marks the 43rd anniversary of JFK’s assassination.

Now there’s a new docudrama about Bobby Kennedy’s life and death: Bobby - the story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, on June 6th, 1968, which centers around 22 people who were at the Ambassador Hotel where he was killed.

But wait — they left brother Teddy out — I think Hollywood should do a docudrama about Teddy Kennedy (even though he’s still alive). They could call it “Chappaquiddick — How I would have done it - if I had done it.”

Retired Geezer and Mrs. G at Blog Idaho have a tragedy on their hands. Please offer your thoughts and prayers for their son and his passenger.

UPDATE: From Retired Geezer . . .

Mrs. G just got off the phone with Flyin’ Brian.
He sounded really old cause he is drugged up with pain meds.

He has a compound fracture of his leg, broken nose and multiple cuts.

He got choked up when he told us that if it wasn’t for the other people on the ground, searching for the woman, they both would have died because they crashed in the river. The other searchers pulled them out.

We’re going to drive to SLC tomorrow.

Brian comes under the heading of Praise but please continue to pray for Kevin Orr.