Would Have Been Nice

It looks like Colorado legislators chickened out and decided that the citizens of Alaska, Arizona, Vermont, and Wyoming are more trustworthy than Coloradans.

Not that I expected that this bill would pass, but it sure would have been nice.  Maybe next year we will prove to the Democrats that we aren't all crazies.

Unexpected Christmas Gifts

I'd planned on going shooting with some of my family on Christmas Eve.  After an unsuccessful duck hunt I gathered up my son, my brother, and my soon to be cousin-in-law and headed to the shooting spot by the dump.  We shot the AR-15, the 15-22, and for the first time that I've owned it the Mosin Nagant.

In order to be accurate, the bayonet was affixed.  The fact that some previous shooters had left a rather large and only slightly shot SpongeBob was an unexpected early Christmas gift.  After poking several 7.62 mm holes in SB, my son was given the honor of finishing the poor sponge off.



One would think he'd been hanging out with Jay G

Gun Gifts

There's an interesting poll up at MSNBC of all places asking about thoughts on giving guns as Christmas gifts.  The results are somewhat predictable.  After all, guns are one of my favorite gifts to give or receive.

The Best Beer I've Made

Among my many hobbies is beer making.  I may be a jack of all trades and master of none, but in my own not so humble opinion I make some good dark beers.  The best beer I've made to date however, wasn't dark and was mostly an accident.  It goes like this:

• 6 lb Light DME
• 2 lb Wheat
• 0.50 oz. G. Northern-Brewer Hops - Boiling hops (60 mins)
• 0.50 oz. Cascade Hops - Finishing hops (15 mins)
• 1.25 oz. Hallertau Hops - Finishing hops (15 mins)
• 0.50 oz. G. Northern-Brewer Hops - dry hopped
• 0.75 oz. Hallertau Hops - dry hopped
• 1 tsp. Irish Moss
• dry ale or kolsch yeast

The hops bill will likely change depending on what I can find (which is how I ended up with the above).  The original recipe was for a Kolsch, but this beer is much more wheaty.  The original called for only 1/4 lb of wheat.

The procedure is to crack the wheat, place in a grain bag, and steep for around 10 minutes at about 165 degrees F. Remove the wheat and add the DME and the boiling hops.  At around 45 to 50 minutes add the finishing hops and the Irish moss (this helps to clear the beer a bit).  After the wort cools add the yeast.  I used a dry ale yeast as the brewery supply store I was at didn't have a kolsch yeast.  After primary fermentation has slowed add the dry hops.  Rack at around two weeks and then bottle (or in my case keg) after two or three more.

The beer is full without being heavy, hoppy without being overbearing, and sweet without the typical citrus of a wheat beer.  This is a beer I will be making again and again and again.

The Only Thing Better Than A Night At The Range

I've been out tromping around the woods all last week looking for elk.  Right before I headed to go hunting I got a package containing some 380 ammo.  This wasn't any 380 ammo however, this was free 380 ammo.  The fine folks at LuckyGunner.com were kind enough to send me a box of Magtech to run through my wife's Beretta.

Figuring asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission, I swiped the Beretta out of the safe and headed over to my new favorite range, BluCore Shooting Center.  While I was there I figured it was a 380 Auto type of night and rented a S&W Bodyguard 380.

I started the night with the Beretta and the free Magtech ammo.  I figured shooting a pistol I was comfortable with and using ammo someone else payed for was a great way to start off the night.

After a few mags through the Beretta it was time to switch over to the Bodyguard.  Unfortunately, I had to use range ammo through the rental gun.  Even more unfortunate was that the laser was not working on the Bodyguard, so no fun with lights.  I really didn't like the Bodyguard.  It didn't fit my hand well and was in need of a cleaning as it was having FTE's every 5th round or so.  The nice thing about BluCore's rental program is that one fee gets you as many guns as you want to shoot.  I traded the Bodyguard out for a Kahr P380.

The Kahr fit my hand much better and was much more accurate for me.  I improved from pie plate at 5 yards accuracy with the Bodyguard to silver dollar at 5 yards with the Kahr.  I've been looking at various pocket pistols and the Kahr 380 definitely moved up the list during this trip despite the higher than average price tag.

By this time my fingers and nose were getting cold due to the BluCore state of the art ventilation system bringing in outside air at a fairly rapid rate.  I decided to load up the rest of the sweet sweet free (did I mention free...thanks again LuckyGunner.com) ammo and see what my accuracy looked like at 7 yards.

Not too bad for frozen fingers.  As has always been my experience with Magtech 380, the entire box ran through the Beretta flawlessly and was far more accurate than I am.  It is a good choice at a reasonable price, with LuckyGunner.com offering it for $0.31 per round.

Young And Unskilled?

I've been working in the field running a turnaround on a small production plant.  As the week has gone on something struck me.  All the senior field guys are over 50.  All the skilled laborers, the welders, the foremen, the operators are all over 50.  It doesn't seem to be an issue of the older guys simply refusing to retire either.  The younger guys in general do not have the skill set to do these jobs.

The younger guys in general have a tendency to take their time starting work and knock off early even if the job is not yet complete.  If something isn't working they will keep on trying it instead of looking for a better solution.

I am not sure what happens when the 60 year old skilled workers have all retired.  What happens when all the kids that should be working with a wrench or screwdriver or welding torch don't know which end to hold because they've all been told that college is the answer.  Instead of a rewarding career building, making, and fixing they are sitting at home trying to figure out what to do with a business or liberal arts degree.  What happens when we figure out that we can't outsource these jobs to China?  What happens when there aren't enough Americans that know how?

Keep Your Hands Off My Ballot

I got an interesting text last night.  It was from Jefferson County Students First, who are kindly offering to hand deliver my ballot if it didn't make it into the mailbox.

I have a hard enough time trusting my mailman to get my ballot in to get counted, a complete stranger with and agenda not a chance.