24 Dec 2007 at 15:54:21
· Filed under Culture, Romance
Posted by Cap'n Bob

Yep, you guessed it - her birthday is Christmas eve. Here are the rules if you have a similar situation:
- Keep the two occasions distinctly separate.
- Make sure the gifts are distinctly separate.
- Optional - have an unbirthday for her around the June-ish timeframe. Get her a present then too.
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23 Dec 2007 at 15:35:40
· Filed under Firearms, Photography, Sports
Posted by Cap'n Bob
Unless you reload them yourself (and we haven’t started yet), you take your chances when purchasing reloaded rounds.
Today, for the second time ever, my Glock 30 .45ACP pistol jammed on this round. Evidently, a dent in the bullet got caught on the edge of the barrel as the round was on it’s way to be fired.
A closer look at the other reloaded rounds revealed a lot of dings and dents on the bullets. Most of the brass is also dinged up especially on the rim.
As readers of this site know, Damsel can’t shoot these in her Para Warthog. The good news is that her pistol jammed only once today using new ammo.
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22 Dec 2007 at 15:11:43
· Filed under California, Food & Dining, Photography
Posted by Cap'n Bob
Even though the weather has been wetter and cooler here over the last couple of weeks, it was nice enough today to barbecue up a couple of beef tenderloin steaks. This delicious meal didn’t take all that much time for us since the sides were left over from a previous meal.
I cooked the steaks on the grill with no seasoning other than olive oil (to keep ‘em from sticking to the grill) and some fresh cracked pepper - seven minutes each side on a hot grill.
For the side dishes, we had some mashed potatoes with spinach and braised, chopped Brussels sprouts and bacon bits. As mentioned before, these only had to be nuked in the micro for a couple of minutes.
Damsel and I walked it off afterwards.
Tomorrow, we’re cooking in the crockpot since we’re going to the shooting range. In addition to the time at the range we will be cleaning up the equipment for an hour after we get home. Not enough time to prepare a conventional meal - not to worry though, tomorrow’s recipe is for Hungarian Goulash.
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22 Dec 2007 at 07:45:37
· Filed under Firearms, Sports
Posted by Cap'n Bob
When we go to the gun show every couple of months, one of our usual stops is at the paper target vendor. We buy several large-sized silhouette target tablets with about 10 targets per tablet. (We gave up on buying the targets where a bad guy has a woman hostage - she never seems to make it through the ordeal.)
Anyhow, when we put targets up at the range for the shotguns, they seem to get used up rather quickly.
In this video, I send five rounds through the target and then Damsel administers the coup de grĂ¢ce when she unloads another five rounds from our 12 gauge Remington 870 security gun into the target.
She says, “If it’s still movin’ then I’m still shootin’ at it.”
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21 Dec 2007 at 12:54:00
· Filed under Culture, Home & Garden, Photography
Posted by Damsel
After last Easter, I trimmed off the lily and put it outdoors in it’s pot. Suddenly, the lily sprouted several flower pods that have been opening over the last few days. Very pretty, even if it blooms on the wrong Holiday.

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20 Dec 2007 at 15:54:18
· Filed under Culture, Photography
Posted by Damsel
Finishing up a little pre-Christmas shopping, we were in the old downtown district for some last-minute shopping. At one point, we went into an antique shop where this interesting Christmas tree was on display. Pink tree with pink flamingo light string and pink flamingo ornaments.

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19 Dec 2007 at 15:51:52
· Filed under Critters, Photography
Posted by Damsel
As we drove to the grocery store this morning, I was astonished to see a big black dog on a rooftop barking at passers by. If I were Santa and the reindeer, I would watch out for this bad boy.
A closer look at the situation revealed that to the rear of this house there appeared to be an open door on a rooftop patio or something. Rover obviously came out through the door - I hope that his people got him back inside before he could fall and injure himself.

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18 Dec 2007 at 12:50:23
· Filed under Photography
Posted by Damsel
Our patriot-theme Christmas tree.

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17 Dec 2007 at 08:03:08
· Filed under Aerospace, Aviation, Technology
Posted by Cap'n Bob
A hundred and four years ago today, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flights from Kill Devil Hill, close to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their history-making effort sparked the greatest period of technology in the United States and abroad.
I took my first flying lesson on December 16th, 1961, just a day short of their 58th anniversary. By then, the sound barrier had been broken, satellites were in orbit, the Russian, Yuri Gagarin had already orbited the Earth, and John Glenn would be in orbit within a couple of months. It was a great time to get into a career in aviation or aerospace.

What makes Wilbur and Orville Wright’s achievement so significant is not only that it was the first time in history that a manned, powered aircraft completed a fully-controlled, sustained flight, but it proved to naysayers around the world that heavier-than-air flight was practical. After the Wrights proved their critics wrong, the field of aeronautical engineering was born. Governments, universities, and inventors soon began dedicating vast resources to understanding the science of flight and methods of building improved flying machines. In essence, every event and discovery in aviation either led up to or followed from the flight of the Wright Flyer, and it changed the way we live forever.
Image and text courtesy of AeroSpaceWeb.org.
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16 Dec 2007 at 15:26:57
· Filed under Firearms, Photography
Posted by Damsel
I’ve had my Para Ordinance Warthog for a couple of months now, and it’s finally showing signs of breaking in. Even with brand-new .45 ACP ammo, she would jam - a lot. I mean about once per 10 round magazine - sometimes twice. Gradually, after I learned how much lube this gun needs, she calmed down to one jam every couple of magazines. She’s been getting steadily better as I continue to shoot her every week.
Right - an ejected shell can be seen frozen in mid-flight as I fired the Warthog. Click to enlarge.
Today, I put about 90 rounds through her and she only jammed a couple of times. I got off forty or fifty rounds without a jam at one point. Anyhow, I’m sure that she’ll soon smooth out and start to perform like a competition pistol. I’m keeping the faith ’cause she sure is pretty.
I intended to give a full report on the Para Ordinance Warthog, and I still plan to do so. I just thought it would be a good idea to wait until after the break-in period. Soon, I promise.
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