I just finished listening to Orwell, George - Animal Farm (Ralph Cosham) 64Kb (Blackstone, 1945). Talk about irony.

#2 step-son came by to show off daugher's outfit worn to her recital & happened to mention that after some years of slogging as a working whenever he could, sandwiching classes whenever he could, studying & doing course work whenever his open eye-lids permitted, single-dad (to 2), he will be graduating in May - made the Honor Roll, a hair away from Dean's List (which he's slightly pissed about).

After doper wife left, he stepped up and did it all, although there were some easy babysitting chores negotiated for Grandma & 'papa' to watch them sometimes where we snuck in more of the 3-R's.

No EBT card, no Obamaphone, doing without, keeping eye on the prize.
:lifter

and yes, there will be some kind of party. Right now I think he'd like to just go back up to Jellystone Park for the summer as a lifeguard & maybe take a nap.

He is a real man.

Spent a few hours last night reconnecting with a brother after a 35 year break. Swatting lies and swapping flies. Phase I, Weapons, 300F-1, Med Lab, Phase III - two years of barracks, classes, and combat ops on Hay Street.

Remember getting shot at in the parking lot of that club in San Antone? No? Why of course not, you were passed out in the back of the van... Those were the days.

Happy thought of the day
 

"A pen in the hand of this president is far more dangerous than a gun in the hands of 200 million law-abiding citizens."





BMT

That's a "Happy" thought? :confused:

BMT[/QUOTE]

Fixed it.:D

Happy thought of the day.....My Birthday.:)
March 15th

Today I was able to buy some more ammo! Only two of the types I wanted, not so easy these days, but happy to get something . . .

Scratch that, the company canceled my order because they won't ship to the City of LA. Now I am freaking pissed!

Drop ship it to the safe house in Arizona.

TR

May do that, or one closer, but reached out to the NRA about challenging the ordinance for now . . .

I'm watching the 'Bill Hiller Story' (the movie 'Taken') and smiling, knowing that we ran that lying SOB to ground and hung his burned carcass on the fence for all to see.

Life is sweet.

"לחיים!"

Richard :munchin

I have a few happy thoughts of the day:

1.) I discovered while unpacking my stuff 1000+ rounds of .22 ammo, and 3 twenty round boxes of 175gr Gold Medal Match I had forgotten about :cool:

2.) I was unpacking my stuff in VA as opposed to MD (finally!) :lifter :D

3.) My wife and I have all the major items secured in preparation of our new arrival in May (car seat, crib, dressers, changing table, pack 'n play, high chair, clothes, etc.) :cool:

Congratulations BryanK!

Oh and congrats on the baby too! :p

This makes me happy! Picked up 6 sheep on Monday from a neighbor. They're doing really well because they have plenty to eat now. They're getting along well with the goats and the alpacas but my little Jack Russell tried killing a lamb.

Tax refund came in this week, so that means of course, I went to some of my local gun stores to see if there was something I just couldn't live without. :)

Ended up with a Taurus PT-140 Millennium .40 cal S&W as well as several boxes of .40 cal (X's 3) and .45 acp (X's 5) ammo. As well as a clip holster for the .40 and a new holster for my 1911.

But the really nice thing I noticed was, the stores that I stopped at are starting to re-stock their shelves. Ammo is also starting to come back. One store had their shelves completely re-stocked with ammo, and there were quite a few larger boxes out on the floor.

Also noticed that the AR's are starting to make a reappearance. One store had seven out, while another had four or five out, while another had a good dozen or so out.

While I was waiting on my back ground check (one hour) I was talking to the store owner and he said, now that the "frenzy" is somewhat over, he may be lowering his prices in the next month or so.

Should I be concerned with the quality of our local summer camp? Talking about the upcoming camp and the activities he wanted to sign up for, my 11 y/o son announced, "I'm signing up for waterboarding."

:D

Susan

Snow Day
 

First time in 4 years I have been around to celebrate a real live snowday. Good times on the North Shore today.

Spent the early evening watching the kids play in the back yard.
Even the dog and young cat were playing (but not the old cat - she's a grump).

5 y/o tried to imitate stunts he'd seen on YouTube (I'm a terrible father...), jumped on the trampoline, and spotted jets illuminated by the setting sun.
7 y/o climbed the cherry tree and played on the swing set.
10 y/o chased the younger ones around the yard on her electric scooter.
12 y/o mainly shot baskets a taught the others some basketball.

Seems like just yesterday I was swinging them in my arms inside the house.
Now the 12 y/o stands not quite 5'11" barefoot and has a higher reach than I do (at 6'2").

Weather's getting warmer, Lake Powell will start rising, and vacation starts in June (and lasts for 5 weeks!).
Trying to make the time count; children grow up fast.

Feel very blessed to live when, where, and how I do.

Congratulations BryanK! :lifter

I am welcoming my 3rd at the end of July and 2 nephews/nieces in May :D Also starting a new job in May. Thank the good Lord, I got a lot to look forward to.

Great stuff.

You need to come up to the lake this summer.

Here's some temptation:
http://youtu.be/tOkusaVj9mQ
:D

Absolutely all happy thoughts read here.

Mine are: Birthday celebration for one daughter, Our anniversary
and buying a Ruger LCR for my wife last week.

Now the fun, shooting and buying ammo for a 38 special. :munchin

Thanks Richard
I’ve never seen a Southern Moon rising…

Old dude turned 31 today...

I think back to when I first came across him back in 1990. He was owned by a wealthy man who had too many animals. When this horse came up lame and never got better, he didn't want to deal with it, and wanted to put the horse down. I was there when the country vet said, "This horse should be shit-canned." Literally his words. I didn't even know what that expression meant, just that it was very unprofessional.

I knew little about horses back then, but for some reason was sure a second medical opinion was needed. I convinced the wealthy guy to give me the horse. I told him I would get another opinion, and if the second vet said he shouldn't be saved, I would put the horse down at my expense. He thought I was crazy and was getting in over my head, but agreed.

I don't remember how I was referred to this second vet, but he was completely professional and unflustered by the lameness. His x-rays showed negative for navicular, and he believed it was a bad case of laminitis. He injected the front leg lower joints with hyaluronic acid, suggested some seaweed-based supplements for joint support, and sent me on my way.

I had to make him stand with both front feet in buckets with warm water and epsom salts every day for 30 minutes. Getting him to stand in buckets, and not kick them over, was a real chore. We did that for months. The horse and I bonded, he gradually got better, but was not rideable for a little over 6 months.

Gradually he healed, and eventually went back into conditioning and training. I moved him to a professional training farm that had world class Paint and Quarter Horses (he's a QH). He is not world class, and has confirmation issues, but he had a world class work ethic. We learned a lot together, and he had many years of showing at the local levels.

The lameness came back in 1998 when he was 16. I retired him, pulled off his shoes, put him in a large pasture, and thought he probably wouldn't live to see 20. Instead he got better with the rest. On good days I would take him on a casual trail ride. His last ride was at the age of 22.

In the years since then he has plugged along with hardly an issue. He had a nasty eye cut in 2002 and a colic in 2005. He was kicked hard by a pasture-mate in 2012 and was seriously injured. I thought that was it. But the vet convinced me to wait. He said the recovery would be long, but I'd know pretty quickly if he was going to improve. He did. By the end of 2012 he was back to "normal," although he's old and has all the typical old guy stuff - saggy back, creaky legs, foggy eyes.

My happy thought of the day is not that my old guy has turned 31, it comes from thinking back to all the lessons I learned from standing by him. I don't want him to live forever, nor do I want him to suffer, but his time has not yet come. Why do some animals live forever and others die as foals? I don't know, but I'm so grateful for what he's taught me along the way.

I took this pic today. It looks like a halo is over his head, which was pretty funny to me. He is well-loved, but an "angel" he is not. ;)

GREAT STORY !!!

Happy B-day old man. :lifter :lifter :lifter

Able to find 5.56 & 7.62x39 ammo today at $5.00 / box.
Now, if I can find a brick of Remington 22LR, heaven.
m&c

Just got word that I won FIVE, 30 round pmags from Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.

:lifter :lifter :lifter

It's out in the open. Hillary blew Benghazi.
 

House Republicans have concluded that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was responsible for cutting security at the consulate in Benghazi ahead of last year’s attack there, and that the administration lied about why it downplayed terrorism as the cause of the assault.

A new report — the result of months of investigation by five different House committees — says there was plenty of intelligence that presaged the attack, but the State Department and President Obama failed to heed the warnings or give the Defense Department the authority to respond to such an attack.

The report exonerates the Pentagon itself, saying the military did what it could to respond once the attack began, but “was hindered on account of U.S. military forces not being properly postured” beforehand.

In the most damning finding, House Republicans said Mr. Obama and his team lied about the attacks afterward, first by blaming mob violence spawned by an anti-Muslim video, and then wrongly saying it had misled the public because it was trying to protect an FBI investigation.

“This progress report reveals a fundamental lack of understanding at the highest levels of the State Department as to the dangers presented in Benghazi, Libya, as well as a concerted attempt to insulate the Department of State from blame following the terrorist attacks,” the GOP investigation concluded in its 46-page report.

The Obama administration has acknowledged providing an inaccurate explanation for the attacks early on — even though officials at the Defense Department said they knew it was a terrorist assault from the beginning.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2RKCHhIrR
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

No surprise there Dusty.


Orion...got a little something in my eye. Thanks for sharing Old Guy with us, HBD to him!

And I'm sure he knows how lucky he is. Here's to every guy's dreams of a peaceful old age with a dedicated woman to see to our every need.:p

What a wonderful day for you and "old dude". :)

I am glad your wait had a happy ending. I had an Arabian that did not have the storybook ending.

Some of my best memories and lessons were the days/times shared with my equine friends. Thanks for sharing... triggered happy thoughts of days gone by...

Well I'm sure it would help if one were Hung Like a ...... errrr ..... Never mind. ;)

Thanks Gypsy, Stargazer and Mr P.

Sdiver, you're hopeless. ;)

He's a gelding. Not something I'd be jealous of. :rolleyes:

Daughter on the way to Hospital as I post.
Looks like I'll be a Grand Pappy again very soon. :cool:

Young dude turned 9 today...days that is!
 

Loved the "old dude" story so much, thought I'd share my own. I can understand how Orion feels, as I had a retired therapy horse given to me to care for when she was 23 years old. Her name was Bess and she was an Arabian dressage horse for many years and was then retired and "worked" as a therapy horse for young children with physical disabilities. Bess came to our farm to finish out her days in true retirement. We figured she would only live a few more years...but she finally passed on at the age of 34! She gave the world a lot of joy in those 34 years.

On to the gist of this post that is alluded to in the title. For those of you that know Quarter Horses, Zippo Pine Bar was and is regarded as a very good breeding line. I have the last of his sons and a Foundation Quarter Horse mare out of the Zippo line as well. April 20, 2013 we were blessed with the birth of a direct granson of Zippo Pine Bar. Tentative name will be Zippo's Flashy Legacy. Welcome to the world "young dude"!

That is quite a pedigree. :) Nice looking foal. My last horse was a quarter horse of the Skipster line.

Not sure if you caught the movie, "Buck"... but he had a number of great quotes that resonated with my own love and passion for horses.

With the poor economy, and people grossly in debt, there are thousands of horses turning up "in the system", severely underfed, feet so long they curl under, teeth so messed up they can barely chew.... I look at your wobbly little dude, with his whole life ahead of him, and hope he always has a dedicated owner, a kind but firm hand, and a long, happy life! Who knows what his world, our world, will look like 30 years from now......

Stargazer, this is one of my favorites: