“The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too. It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed. When the British forgot that they got a revolution. And, as a result, we Americans got a Constitution; a Constitution that, as those who wrote it were determined, would keep men free. If we give up part of that Constitution we give up part of our freedom and increase the chance that we will lose it all. I am not ready to take that risk. I believe that the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms must not be infringed if liberty in America is to survive.” — Ronald Reagan

Every time we hear another jewel of wisdom from President Reagan, we are amazed at his insight into the founders’ architecture of the best form of government yet conceived - the constitutional republic. That’s right - a federal Republic, not a Democracy.

Hat Tip to The Patriot Post

It was with good foresight that we decided to archive our photo files on an external hi-capacity hard drive. The dual computer crash last week could have been a greater loss than we actually experienced. While looking at some of Damsel’s old photos, I ran across this shot of the historic Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, California. Click on the image to enlarge.

Here’s some of the lighthouse’s history from the Point Fermin Lighthouse website:

Built in 1874, the Point Fermin Lighthouse was the first navigational light into the San Pedro Bay. Phineas Banning, with the support of many local businessmen, petitioned the Federal Government and the US lighthouse Board to place a lighthouse on the point in 1854. Although the Lighthouse Board agreed funding and land disputes delayed its construction until 1874.

Paul J. Pelz, a draftsman for the US Lighthouse Board, designed the Stick Style Victorian lighthouse. The design was used for six lighthouses built between 1873 and 1874, of which three are still standing, East Brothers in San Francisco Bay, Hereford Light in New Jersey, and Point Fermin. The Stick Style is an early Victorian architectural style and is simpler in design and decoration than the later high Victorian period. It is characterized by its gabled roofs, horizontal siding, decorative cross beams and hand carved porch railings.

If you’re nerdy enough to have a pair of 3D red-blue or red-cyan glasses (like me), then you might enjoy this 3D anaglyph photo I took of the lighthouse at about the same time.

These three lovely hibiscus flowers were looking very photogenic in the hazy fall sun yesterday. Our back yard still has quite a number of late-fall flowers still blooming.

Sorry for the thin blogging as of late. We’ve lost two computers in a week and trying to recover. The laptop lost it’s hard drive and the old workstation had a power supply failure (we think). Meanwhile, watch this short video of Damsel having fun at the range.

She’s a real gun lover . . .

Now, I was in the U. S. Navy, but Damsel and I immediately liked this version of the “never mind the dog . . .” window placard. Never knew a Marine we didn’t like - except for maybe some like Jack Murtha.

I set the small animal trap to try and catch the squirrel that gets in Damsel’s garden and raids the bird feeders. Then this little ‘possum wandered in much to it’s dismay. Not to worry, though, it got released back into the “urban wild” shortly afterwards.

Image courtesy Damsel. Click image for hi-res.

Opossums are probably more beneficial than they are destructive in urban areas. Consider this description from the National Opossum Society:

Opossums help to maintain a clean and healthy environment. They eat all types of insects, including cockroaches, crickets, beetles, et cetera. They catch and eat rats, roof rats, mice, and they consume dead animals of all types (carrion). They like over-ripe fruit, berries, and grapes. And they think snails and slugs are a delicacy! Nature’s little Sanitation Engineers!!

Typically they go about their quiet task late at night, and you usually won’t know they were around…unless your dog (being territorial) starts barking, or you happen to take a midnight stroll when one is munching insects or snails in your yard.

We’re still in the break-in of Damsel’s Para Ordinance Warthog .45 ACP pistol, so we don’t quite have the final report as of yet. The pistol seems to be taking a bit longer to get used to, since it has been finicky about feeding rounds into the chamber. There is also more lubrication and wiping off the excess involved.

Damsel considers the chore to be like polishing up her jewelry. Click on the image for a closer look.

No, it’s not about the popular milblog Blackfive. It’s our five black guns lined up for a group photo. Top to bottom, left to right, (ignoring the magazines) they are: Remington 870 Express Synthetic 12 gauge 6+1 shotgun, Glock 30 .45ACP 10+1 pistol, Smith & Wesson 442 .38 special 5-shot revolver, Smith & Wesson 908 9mm 8+1 pistol and Glock 26 9mm 10+1 pistol.

One of our comrades-in-arms, The Wandering Minstrel, has started his own blog to address (mostly) second amendment topics. We have added a link on our second-amendment blogroll.

Welcome to Damsel’s Diner. Over the weekend, we indulged ourselves by preparing this delicious blue-plate special: chicken-fried steaks with mashed taters and country-style green beans - served with a frosty mug of winter lager.

Although the meal seems a bit waistline-unfriendly, we did clean up the fat act somewhat. Damsel fried up the steaks in light oil in a pan (rather than deep-fried) and low or no-fat dairy products were used to prepare the mashed taters and gravy. The green beans were accented with onions, garlic and bacon bits. By the way, we used fresh-picked green beans that are still growing in Damsel’s garden.

Click on the image to enlarge.

On this Veterans Day of 2007, in addition to thanking all the veterans for their service, we wanted to recognize a special veteran, David Tallichet Jr. who recently passed away here in Southern California.

Image right: Proud Bird Restaurant - click for large view.

Tallichet flew 20 missions over Europe in the second world war, and then came to California where he became a successful restauranteer and entrepreneur. He was best known for his Proud Bird Restaurant located right next to the final approach path at LAX. David also established Ports O’ Call Village in San Pedro, California, which is a nautical-themed collection of restaurants and shops.

Image courtesy 100th Bomb Group - Milton Alvo crew. Standing (left to right): Walter M. Gibson, Jr., Milton Alvo, David C. Tallichet II and Donald E. Israel, Kneeling: George I. Murray, Boleslaw V. Bitel, Farrell J. Davis, Woodrow W. Wilson and Leonard G. Woodruff. Click on the image for close-up view.

Read the complete article about the life of David C Tallichet, II, from the South Bay Daily Breeze:

Continue reading » A Special WWII Veteran