I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. (J.R.R.Tolkien, The Two Towers)

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force.

Marko Kloos "Why the Gun is Civilization"

Friday, October 21, 2005

I Ain't Giving Up This Piece Without A Fight!!


Last week we pulled up an old carpet in the back bedroom and after painting the walls and ceiling I installed a hardwood floor. When I asked Kathy what she thought of it, she said that if I were a contractor she'd make me do a couple of places over. We had dumped the old carpet out of the window into the yard where Sadie immediately took up with a piece of it. For 3 days now she has laid on it in the yard. Yesterday I put her piece under the floor where she sleeps. Today I pulled the truck into the yard and started loading the old carpet in it to haul to the dump. When Sadie saw what I was doing she ran under the floor and laid down on her piece. When I went to check on her she gave me that look that said in no uncertain terms that I wasn't going to get her piece without a fight.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

No Muss No Fuss...Kill 'em and Never Have to See 'em or Touch 'em

Sanitized killing. Back when I was growing up and all TV programs were in black and white (yeah, we had TV way back then…but only two snowy channels), when the bad guy got shot there was never any blood or guts or gore. So killing was easy because there was never any trauma involved. As TV and the movies got more realistic that shock of seeing the blood gushing from a wound made it more realistic even though you knew as soon as the director yelled “CUT” everyone would get up and dust themselves off. So they were in a round about way saying there aren’t any consequences of taking a life. Anyone who lives on a farm knows different. Anyone who hunts for meat knows different. There are always consequences in taking a life, even if it’s a mouse or a spider or a fly.

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Monday, October 10, 2005

Returning To the Scene


Pictured above is the scene from “The Three Bears Caper”. After The Contrary Goddess told me “And you know, there are no coincidences. Your chance has been presented to you to grow as a human being”. I decided to swallow my pride, stuff my fear in a back pocket (along with a can of pepper spray), and finish my walk. So I did. Fortunately for those three, they didn’t dare show their faces.

The second hardest thing I ever did was go rappelling off of a 65 foot tall beltline in an abandoned quarry. It took every bit of courage I had hanging over the side to fully commit my weight to that rope. The hardest was to finish that walk.

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Sunday, October 09, 2005

HTML Tags


Some of you might have noticed that my blog keeps changing in appearance. No, I don’t have an infestation of gremlins or mice, it’s just me playing with HTML Tags.
In one of the other homeschooling blogs I keep up with, the subject of playing “too much” came up. As a teacher, it took me most of my career to realize that schools don’t let (or even want) the kids to play. But that’s exactly how they learn best.
Back when the Apple+ and IBM’s were the latest thing in computers I took one class in programming. My last year of teaching, my job title was Computer Resource Person. I was basically an assistant to the computer technologists that came to our school 2 days a week (if we were lucky). I spent the day going from room to room taking care of all the minor computer stuff. Things like installing programs, running cables to relocate computers, debugging programs, etc.
My point is that I learned all of this by playing with the computer. I took no classes and had very limited help from any of our so called “computer expert”. So I figure if I play enough with this HTML thing I’ll become an expert and cash in big time and not have to work any more.

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Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Scaredylocks and the Three Bears


Not one, not two, but three…count them THREE BLACK BEARS standing in the road looking at me. One just looking, another woofing, and the third popping its teeth. For those of you who don’t know me, I have an irrational phobia of Ursus Americanus AKA Black Bear. And I don’t want to hear any comments about how they are probably more afraid of me than I am of them or how you’re 10 times more likely to be struck by lightning on a Tuesday morning while wearing pink undies than you are of being attacked by a bear. I said it’s an irrational fear.

I had decided to walk an old logging road through one of my favorite hunting spots and look for fresh deer sign. Just as I was ready to park and begin my walk I spotted the first bear in the middle of a large mud hole in the middle of the logging road. Next thing I know, here comes the other two prancing out of the bushes just like they own the whole damn road. Just sitting in the truck while eyeballing those three had me gibbering like an idiot. Fortunately for them, they decided to run off right then. Naturally they ran off down the way I wanted to go. Well let me tell you one thing…there ain’t no way in hell I’m going walking past where I last saw those three critters. So I turned around and went home.

The bear in the picture is about the same size as the three I saw.

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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Original Poster

I’ve been trying all morning to post this. I seem to have an infestation of “Page Not Responding” Gremlins. Had to shut down and reboot twice. I may have to resort to honey. (see Dec. archive)

Anyway, above is the poster in question. I can see how someone who isn’t gun minded could be confused. I even did a double take until I reread the caption.

I remember several years back one gun company came out with a handgun in color especially for women. I did a quick search but couldn’t find it. I’m thinking it was Smith & Wesson’ s Lady Smith model. But it didn’t catch on.

Eleutheros explains it much better in his comment about the green hammer.

Here's another poster featuring the same little girl.

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