Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

January 2008

A Rainy Weekend by the Sea

seagullSome of the prettiest scenery can be seen on days where the weather isn’t exactly ideal for outdoors activities. Last weekend during the rain showers on Saturday, we drove down to Palos Verdes and took some pictures of the coastline features.

On a stop at the Point Vicente fishing access, a seagull landed on the fence post and watched us while I took several pictures of him. It was between showers and there were a lot of birds in the area, including a red tail hawk, some crows, a pelican, pigeons and lots of seagulls.

lighthouseI also took this picture of the Point Vicente Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station from the fishing access. The visibility wasn’t crystal clear, but on days like this, the fog adds something to the mood of the scene.

We have enjoyed visiting these colorful and unique landmarks in rain and shine, in wind and calm and in crystal clear weather to pea soup fog.

Click on the images to see full-sized in the image viewer.

10 Jan 2008 by California Critters Photography

San Francisco Gun Owners Win

Breaking News from the NRA:

NRA Wins Big in California State Court of Appeals

sealThe California State Court of Appeals announced today their decision to overturn one of the most restrictive gun bans in the country, following a legal battle by attorneys for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a previous court order against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

“Today’s decision by the California State Court of Appeals is a big win for the law-abiding citizens and NRA Members of San Francisco,” declared Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist.

In 2005, NRA sought an injunction against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to prevent them from enacting one of the nation’s most restrictive gun bans. NRA won the injunction, but the City’s mayor and Board of Supervisors ignored the court order and approved a set of penalties, including a $1,000 fine and a jail term of between 90 days and six months, for city residents who own firearms for lawful purposes in their own homes.

“We promised our California NRA members in 2005 that we would fight any gun ban instituted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and we haven’t given up that fight,” continued Cox. “Today we see our second win for the Second Amendment against the San Francisco gun ban. We beat them once in court and the City’s attorney appealed based on his personal disagreement with the court’s first decision to overturn the ban. Now we’ve beaten them again. The California State Court of Appeals has upheld the state preemption law.”

Today’s decision came in the form of a 3-0 opinion in favor of the lower court ruling overturning the gun ban.

“This decision is a thoughtful and well-reasoned legal opinion,” concluded Cox. “I’d like to thank our approximately 4 million members, including the hundreds of thousands of members in California, for their continued commitment to protecting our cherished freedoms.”

Let’s hope that SCOTUS will follow suit in the D.C. Gun Case.

09 Jan 2008 by Firearms Judiciary Second Amendment

Space Odyssey

SPACE ODYSSEYAbout two years ago, I posted an article about the launch of the New Horizons interplanetary probe bound for Pluto. As part of the complex trajectory of the spacecraft, it passes close to planets that give it a gravitational ‘boost.’ When it passed by Jupiter last February, it captured images of the giant planet and its moons. This montage of the Jovian planet and its moon Io is reminiscent of scenes in the 1968 sci-fi classic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

Please go to Astronomy Picture of the Day to see this incredible image close up.

Here’s the APOD story about this image:

As the New Horizons spacecraft sweeps through the Solar System, it is taking breathtaking images of the planets. In February of last year, New Horizons passed Jupiter and the ever-active Jovian moon Io. In this montage, Jupiter was captured in three bands of infrared light making the Great Red Spot look white. Complex hurricane-like ovals, swirls, and planet-ringing bands are visible in Jupiter’s complex atmosphere. Io is digitally superposed in natural color. Fortuitously, a plume was emanating from Io’s volcano Tvashtar. Frost and sulfuric lava cover the volcanic moon, while red-glowing lava is visible beneath the blue sunlight-scattering plume. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft is on track to arrive at Pluto in 2015.

08 Jan 2008 by Aerospace Rocket Science

Interim Report – Para Ordinance “Warthog”

sunday shootOK – the break-in period is over and she still has the occasional round hang up halfway into the barrel – so I’m going to make an interim report (again) pending one more step in the process.

A commenter (Rob) on my previous post about the ‘hog, expressed great satisfaction with the gun. The only difference is that he uses the cleaner/lubricant ‘Strike Hold’ on his weapon. We’ve been using oil and some lube (gone now) that came with the gun. Today, we placed an order for a couple of cans of Strike Hold and should have it prior to the next outing at the range.

This week, I shot about 100 new rounds of 230 grain Federal .45 ACP. I had only two or three rounds that required clearing. The gun seems to be at it’s best when I start shooting and with one early exception, the hangups happened after the gun got a little dirty.

I’ll have another post after we have a chance to use the new cleaner/lube on it.

07 Jan 2008 by Firearms

Sunday Brunch

One of the keys to enjoying our weekly trip to the firing range is to have a good Sunday brunch beforehand. This is a nice ham, cheese and avocado omelet (low cholesterol version with egg substitute and just a trace of cheese), hash brown potatoes and a whole grain English muffin. On the side, a S&W 686 .357 magnum revolver with a Glock 26 9mm pistol. Tasty.

brunch

06 Jan 2008 by Firearms Food & Dining Photography

New Crockpot Inauguration

We got this nice crockpot from our son for Christmas. Today we’re breaking it in with a tri-tip bottom sirloin roast covered in red bliss potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and a sweet potato. The meat is partially immersed in beef broth which will later become the base for a delicious gravy.

crock

05 Jan 2008 by Food & Dining

The Rain Train

It looks like we’re in for a bit of rain here in Southern California. We can use the rain, but it’s going to be showers all weekend. It reminds me of our trip to Alaska in July 2005, when it seemed to rain everyday in Anchorage and Denali. This is a shot of our train pulling into Denali station as we were getting ready to go to Fairbanks. Of course, it was pouring.

rain train

Fairbanks, thankfully, was dry when we visited there.

04 Jan 2008 by Environment Photography Travel

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