Otherwise known as “Orchid Cactus,” this epiphyllum flower is of the “Frühlingsgold” (Spring gold) variety. Light yellow inner petals and darker yellow outer petals that started out red. There will be several more on this plant before spring ends. We hope to have some red and white epiphyllum flowers later this spring.

Click on the image to enlarge.

I don’t think I’ve ever had both of our Remington 870 shotguns apart at the same time. Something made me field strip all of the guns after Sunday’s trip the the range.

Damsel’s 20 gauge ‘youth model’ is on the left and my full-sized magnum express 12 gauge is on the right. The barrels are more or less centered between the two.

Scattered along the table, you can see the stock, receiver and magazine assemblies, magazine springs, spring caps, spring stops, magazine caps, trigger assemblies and retention pins for the trigger assembly. The only further field breakdown is to remove the choke tubes from the barrels - which Damsel did when she cleaned the barrels.

If you saw yesterday’s post about the range report and watched the video, then you saw how much we enjoy using the shotguns at the range. Maintenance, cleaning and inspection are all part of the fun of shotguns.

Another Good Day at the Range

We were a little late getting to the range today, what with staying up a little late Saturday night to watch some DVDs. Sleeping in felt pretty good, and the breakfast omelet that Damsel fixed (fake eggs - OK?) was pretty good too.

For the last few weeks, we have been down selecting from the usual menagerie of firearms, mostly due to the increased cost and shortage of some of our ammunition. Today, all we took was the Glock 26 and the S&W 908S 9mm pistols and our two Remington 870 shotguns; one 12 gauge and one 20.

We did the usual pistol and bullseye target practice with about 100 rounds of 9mm spent, and then moved on to the shotguns and silhouette targets. We like to play a game with the shotguns by trying to shoot across the target to cut it in half. Today, the game went well - I started out with five rounds of 12 gauge target loads and cut the right half of the target away from the top. Damsel finished the job with five rounds of 20 gauge, sending the bottom half of the silhouette to the range floor.

I think she likes the game - especially when she wins. Click on the > to play the little video above.

We visited the Botanic Garden yesterday. I took nearly 200 pictures while we were there, so it is hard to pick out one from the many. I settled on this one of these tiny yellow echevaria blossoms I found in the cactus and succulents section of the garden. Click in the image to enlarge.

I published a post last February entitled Understanding the Second Amendment. Although I wrote it months ago, I got a comment the other day in which the author decided the second amendment was obsolete and should be repealed:

altrurian said,
April 16, 2009 @ 14:51:18 PDT · Edit

I agree with the irrefutable parsing of the amendment that you have provided. It seems rather straight forward. It just doesn’t have relevance anymore. You can’t make that argument about any of the other amendments in the “Bill”. 320 million folks “bearing” arms is unthinkable. Get real.

Surely even you recognize the ludicracy of the epithet “anti-gun”. Who in their right mine[sic] wouldn’t be against, in the abstract sense, an artifact designed to kill.

Let’s repeal the thing on its face value and get on with it.

I felt that this needed an answer and wrote the following response:

Cap’n Bob said,
April 16, 2009 @ 17:47:51 PDT · Edit

“It just doesn’t have relevance anymore.”

Let me point out that these very arguments were used in the recent D.C. vs. Heller Case before the Supreme court, i.e. the Washington D.C. gun ban. The majority found in favor of the defendant and it is again legal to possess firearms in D.C. for home protection. Think about it and you will find this is a good thing (hint: find out the average response times for 911 calls).

“320 million folks “bearing” arms is unthinkable. Get real.”

For you, perhaps. For me (and millions of other Americans), a person trained in the use and application of firearms who regularly drills and does target practice it’s not “unthinkable.” I have military training and have owned guns for over 45 years. I have a permit to carry a loaded concealed handgun in more than half the states in the union (including Minnesota). My weapons have never leaped into my hands and caused me to do harm to anyone or anything other than taking game and fending off varmints.

“an artifact designed to kill”

My guns are designed for protection, defense, hunting and sport. Any other definition is “an artifact of your perception.” Who “in their right mind” would deprive me (and millions of other Americans) of those purposes?

“Let’s repeal the thing on its face value and get on with it.”

I say that we keep the Bill of Rights intact, and allow those not comfortable with it move north of the 49th parallel, where they don’t have such a pesky artifact. “Get on with it.”

I would have to say that your nom de plume, derived from altruism, a selfless concern for the welfare of others, does not fit your agenda when it comes to personal defense and the protection of liberty.

NASA Rejected ‘Colbert’ as the name of ISS Node 3 and named it “Tranquility” in commemoration of the first manned Lunar landing in 1969. Colbert did not come away empty-handed though, since the ISS treadmill has been dubbed the ‘Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill,’ or COLBERT.

From NASA:

The International Space Station module formerly known as Node 3 has a new name. After receiving more than a million responses in an online poll, NASA is naming the node “Tranquility.”

The name Tranquility was chosen from thousands of suggestions submitted by participants on www.nasa.gov. The “Help Name Node 3″ poll asked people to vote for the module’s name either by choosing one of four options listed by NASA or offering their own suggestion. Tranquility was one of the top ten suggestions submitted by respondents to the poll, which ended March 20.

Colbert, as you may recall, prompted his fan base to write in ‘Colbert’ as the name for Node 3. NASA received a lot of “Colbert” support, but selected “Tranquility.”

I, for one, am amused by the way it turned out. Although NASA was trying to gracefully placate Colbert with this treadmill business, it seems like a smackdown to me.

Click on the logo above to see the full-sized version (courtesy NASA).

The taxes are finally done. I procrastinated as long as I reasonably could, but dove into the depths of the IRS and Franchise Tax Board murk last weekend. The results are that both the FTB and IRS vacuumed the funds from my account early today, even before I had a chance to tell my money goodbye.

If anything could turn a mild-mannered nice guy, like me, into a ‘radicalized right-wing extremist,’ it would be tax season. I had a notion to head over to one of those ‘tea parties’ with my fellow extremists, but now that the taxes are done, I’m feeling better. I have to get back to regular life mode and attend to making my living, and the living of numerous deadbeats and financial bailouts that steal need my money.

As for my fellow extremists going to the tea parties, I wish them well. Don’t let ACORN and other communist organizers upset the teacarts. Hang in there and get plenty of media coverage (besides FOX, that is).

We’re still working out the details, but in a month, we’re going to head towards Phoenix to attend the NRA Convention and the Second Amendment Blog Bash.

We liked our winter cruise that we took this past December so much, that we decided to rent a motorhome again for this trip. That way, we can do some spring break sightseeing and camping with the convention and Bash as the centerpiece.

There are a few logistical details that still need to be resolved. We’re bringing our dog, ‘Bear,’ with us, so we need to find a kennel to leave her while we’re doing the convention/bash thing. If any Phoenicians out there have any ideas, we would welcome them.

Second, we’re not sure where we can park our RV near the convention center. We have a space reserved in a local RV park, but will have to drive to the convention center each of the two days we plan to attend. I’m sure that there has to be some accommodations for bus/RV traffic, but we just haven’t figured that out yet.

We’re looking forward to the trip and hope to meet many like-minded Second Amendment supporters and firearms enthusiasts. We can hardly wait.

This is my little personal protection revolver. She’s a Smith and Wesson 442 .38 special J-frame revolver. The rosewood grips were added after I got the gun. I placed the five rounds of Speer Gold-Dot .38+P around the trigger guard to take this gun-pr0n image. Click image to enlarge.

This is one of this year’s Easter lilies lighted from behind by sunlight from the window above. Click on the image to enlarge.