The Ultimate Answer to Kings

Nearly every day I think, “He minds so well. And he’s not that young anymore. Is this dumb leash still really so essential?”

And then I come to my senses. He’s obedient to the leash because he knows it’s there and he has accepted that dragging against it does no good. But he’s still a predator, still an impulsive idiot, still has “kill a calf” written in gold Sharpy at the top of his bucket list…

Yeah. The leash stays.

Didja ever wake up, rub your eyes, hop over to the window and say, …

“Huh. Okay.”

It’s still coming down hard. Wonder how much we’ll get? It’s a great time for it – the guests are all gone so there’s no traction issues which would mean a lot of work. We could certainly use more moisture, the Spring plants should start growing soon and it sure would be nice if things greened up a bit. Let it snow all day for all I care, I’ve got a solar panel squeegee and I’m not afraid to use it.

Didja ever look at a dumb political sign and say, …

“Or else what?”

Kid, let me explain one of the harsher political realities. It’s the reality that makes peaceful discourse so very important, the reality the Confederate States should have paid more attention to. I’ll use only five little words for fear of stressing your attention span, and I’ll whisper it so as not to make you feel unsafe, okay? If you really want to know, just highlight the next line down…

We’ve got all the guns.

Ian left me with a copy of The Last Jedi, a movie I was contractually obligated to watch at some point. Figured I may as well get it over with, and finished it maybe an hour ago. Which is why I thought, when I saw the below…

“My god, that’s a line from a movie. Not even a good movie. A DISNEY movie. Did their keepers not clear these signs beforehand?”

Also – I have a problem with the NRA, but it’s not that they in any way approximate the “first order.”

Where’d everybody go?

Here’s a funny picture.

Yeah. It’s like that.

I really don’t have anything this morning, but it’s Monday and a post is obligatory. Just getting the cynicism out in the open there.

The other day I mentioned Ian’s video channels, and yesterday afternoon I realized what a treat I’d been missing. For years my download limits were pretty draconian and so online video was not my friend. I sort of kept up with some of the Forgotten Weapons videos, the short ones, but mostly ignored InRangeTV. In fact I didn’t even know it was on YouTube at all, I thought it was strictly on Full30.

And there’s some really good stuff there. For example, earlier this year Ian did a week-long series called “British Ration Week,” about the civilian food rationing program during WWII, what it consisted of, and why it worked so amazingly well for a government program.

Ian and friend actually spent a week cooking and living on only the food permitted to wartime British civilians, an experience that had … advantages and disadvantages. For my part I was surprised to learn that wartime Brits actually ate a good deal better than I do now – but they certainly must have spent a lot of time cooking.

Most of yesterday afternoon and a good bit of early this morning, I spent going through their “What Would Stoner Do” series, in which Ian and his IRTV partner Karl Kasarda have spent the best part of a year designing the perfect AR15 using current state of the art components. This is kind of a departure for Ian, whose interest mostly lies in old military tomato stake rifles or obscure weapon systems, but it’s right up Karl’s alley. It’s quite a rabbit hole, currently comprising 25 videos, and shows that a lot of what old mid-sixties Joel considered common AR wisdom has become old and busted in light of the state of current tech. For example: “pencil barrels” – no longer bad. You may or may not agree with each of their conclusions – I found the sections on optics alone kind of dizzying – but if you have any interest in ARs it’s definitely worth a visit.

Good stuff there. You should check it out.

I wanted to ask Ian, when I had a chance to chat with him yesterday, how those new YouTube restrictions on gun content were going to affect his Forgotten Weapons and InRangeTV channels.

Turns out if I paid any attention to the news at all, I’d already know about it without asking.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, InRangeTV called out YouTube for blocking gun-related videos but allowing content related to drug use.

“My point with YouTube’s policies and InRangeTV’s move is not about changing your mind on the topic of firearms ownership – it’s about the freedom of expression on the internet,” the post reads. “Why are we seeing continuing restrictions and challenges towards content about something demonstrably legal yet not against that which is clearly illegal?

The statement continued, “Why is YouTube using its position as the world’s largest and most empowering content provider and place of free expression as a tool to control the narrative so inconsistently?”

ETA: The links above are pretty much all the same, and more about YouTube than about InRangeTV. Here’s a much better article about it: Sex-Free Gun Videos Hit PornHub as YouTube ‘Tightens the Noose Around Free Speech on the Internet’

YouTube has become “increasingly unreliable” for InRangeTV in recent months, however. Kasarda recounted the YouTube demonetization “apocalypse” that hit all kinds of content — gun-related videos, videos about LGBT issues, videos on the Right and on the Left.

“YouTube started doing other things, like deprioritizing our content,” he said. “Subscribers became unsubscribed.” In the wake of the general news and their personal struggles, InRangeTV decided to cut the cord. “We turned off our advertising, demonetized our videos, and turned to a crowd-sourced system through Patreon.”
…
“I decided now was the time to do it,” the InRangeTV co-owner said. He announced his decision on Facebook Tuesday, and posted a few videos on PornHub. Citing its “understanding that vice and pornography have long been leading drivers of communications technology and infrastructure,” the site declared, “InRangeTV is pleased to announce its expansion onto the PornHub network.”

I was supposed to help tile Landlady’s tub surround this afternoon but things changed and freed up that time. Fortunately there was another chore to fill it, and I’d wondered before whether I’d be able to get that chore done in time.

Ian is due sometime this afternoon, and said something about wanting to go shooting with me tomorrow. We used to shoot together all the time but he’s busy with more exalted company these days and I rarely see him. So if he wants to go shooting, I want to go shooting. Problem is, the target stand is right where that flood dumped it last July. Had to do something about that, however rudimentary it might be.

Finally got a chance to use that new tow strap I bought last year, after breaking the old one on that UPS truck. Dragged the rack around so the targets would face the backstop more squarely.

Unfortunately before I did that I should have unbolted the short chain sections. Now most of them were buried beneath sand and a bunch of plowed-up dead vegetation. So I ended up just wiring up the two lightest targets.

Had to test to see if they work, right? Nothing worse than not knowing about a defective target.

They work.

This morning Landlady brought me a care package sent by Generous Reader Edward…

I haven’t unrolled it but it’s supposed to be a 16.5′ X 5′ piece of new camo netting for the chicken yard. I’ll have to piece it, but that should be good to replace the front (windward) third or so of the top cover, in time for the summer heat. Might not be able to get to that for the next few days, as we’re in some really windy weather.

It came from Amazon and I don’t know who made it, so we’ll just call this a “UV/weather durability and lifespan test.” Thanks!

Now that I’ve been out in the sand I have to think about washing my head and pits and getting dressed for Landlady’s get-together in a couple of hours.

😀 I laughed till I choked.

Landlady likes my rosemary bread. She’s hosting a little get-together tomorrow and asked me to bake some. Glad I didn’t wait till tomorrow.

Rosemary is one of the very few non-native plants I’ve seen do well here. A hard winter will kill it, but the past few winters have been very mild so this patch is doing fine. Of course it’s all hard and woody, because we’re just coming out of winter. For baking you really want nice tender fragrant new leaves. So all in all not a great time for rosemary bread. Also, this reminds me that the whole patch needs a good trim to encourage new growth. So while I had the anti-cow wire open I went ahead and did that.

I was getting worried, but there was one corner of the patch where the leaves – if that’s what they’re called – weren’t hard like cardboard. No, I wasn’t planning to use all this for two loaves of bread. But I needed to go through quite a lot of it to find enough that wasn’t really tough.

Half an hour later…

Seriously, that took half an hour. Then I bruised the hell out of it with a rolling pin. Then I steeped it in hot water, so hopefully I’m not just baking lots of little hard things into the bread. Then I could make bread. What can I say? This isn’t a good time of year for rosemary bread.

But I think it’ll turn out to be pretty good. Certainly smells good.

I’m from Detroit. If I’d ever been presented with a couple of hay hooks I’d have presumed they were a sort of weapon.

I knew from the moment my feet hit the floor it was going to be a busy day. The weekend promises to be intensively social, which means I have a lot of prepping to do. Bake rosemary bread. Clean the whole Lair. Take an actual bath. In addition to the usual daily chores and by my standards, a busy day.

Then the phone rang. D&L were returning 22 bales of hay to the local feed store. I don’t know – I guess it’s defective. The horses don’t like it.

Okay – I got the call just as I came in from morning chicken chores, which meant I grabbed my hat and gloves, patted LB on the head and bolted out the door. We loaded the hay on their flatbed, drove to town, unloaded it, loaded 22 bales of new and improved hay (and 2 bales of straw and three sacks of chicken pellets and one sack of sunflower seeds)…

…came back to D&L’s place and unloaded and stacked the hay. Again.

I’m not strong enough to actually buck a bale of hay, so stacking bales is not a quick process for me. About all I can do is bully and bother it until it finally forms a respectable stack. About halfway through the last part of the process I ran out of breakfast but I still have a lot to do – like everything I originally intended to do, plus now that I’ve eaten lunch I need to go to Landlady’s, unload the trash I already have in the Jeep trailer, drive to D&L’s, load up 2 straw bales and three sacks of pellets and seeds, drive back to Landlady’s, unload, et frickin’ cetera.

Then I can come home and bake rosemary bread, clean the whole Lair, take a bath (which I’ll sincerely need by that point) and so on.

Probably no more blogging today. 😉

Iowahawk: Homeless Junkie Killed Jumping In Front of Robot Car Carrying Trans Armed Robber is the most 2018 story ever

I’m never coming out of the desert again. Never ever ever. And if I ever see a driverless car out here, sweartagod that’s the day the world will witness the firepower of this armed and operational cedar rat…

ETA: Huh. Well, the Twitter link I had early this morning doesn’t work now and I’m not enough of a Twit to know how to get it back. But take my word. he’s funny.

“When we demanded totalitarianism, we meant for OTHER people! WAH!”

😛

CAUTION: The link below opens with a picture of David Hogg’s face, in case you’ve grown as weary of looking at it as other rational people have. Sheesh, talk about a 15-minute celebrity who’s gone past his use-by date…

BACKFIRE: Broward County Implements ‘Solution’ For School Violence And Students Are Not Happy

On Wednesday, the superintendent of the Democrat-heavy Broward County Public Schools announced a new policy aimed at reducing school violence — and the students are not happy.

Superintendent Robert W. Runcie, a proponent of radical left-wing gun control measures, announced that students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will only be allowed to bring clear backpacks to school after spring break and will be required to wear a new ID badge at all times.

The kids seem unpleased for some odd reason. I thought they liked idiotic restrictions imposed in the name of safety?

Clear backpacks don’t do anything except make us look stupid. We want to be safe, not uncomfortable. The only thing that can really have an impact on our safety is gun control
— Carly Novell (@car_nove) March 21, 2018

So, we’re giving up all illusions of normalcy. okay. why should 3300 students be penalized for the failure of security to do their job? https://t.co/mcivJprP92
— nikki (@nikta04) March 22, 2018

I’ve been told it’s good and right to give up a little convenience in the name of a lot of security. In fact, I think I last heard that nostrum from you kids. So enjoy. (heh) Seeya.

I don’t have the imagination to make this person up.

“I think this clearly shows the effect of his attacks on governmental institutions, on the government itself,” [Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today, Susan] Page said. “This is not to say that there’s nothing — there’s never anything to investigate. Part of our tradition is a trust, not just in the government but a trust in the government to investigate itself. But this is, I think, a new phenomenon for Americans in modern times, for a majority of Americans to believe that there’s a deep state.”

I don’t know anybody who practices that particular tradition, lady. If you really believe all those millions of federal bureaucrats don’t have their own ideas as to who ought to be ruling whom, you’re even dumber than you appear. But I don’t think you believe that.

I tried setting up a summer oven outdoors, scrounged from a scrapped-out RV. It worked, sort of. For a while. Not very well. It didn’t like being outdoors, that’s for sure.

In early winter a neighbor asked me to haul this away…

I know, right? People throw away the damndest things.

It’s in the mid-seventies today, by far the warmest day so far this year. And it’s baking day, so it’s time to see if I can bake bread in it. I hooked up a little propane bottle, and learned to my relief that at least the BBQ lights right up. But I had quite a time trying to get a stable 350^o. In fact I never succeeded in that.

It’s a breezy day, and I think that worked against me. I worked on regulating the temperature all the time the bread was rising and thought I had it licked. But then all of a sudden the temp rose, and despite my care I gave it five minutes too long.

Yeah, it got a little crispy compared to the one I baked in the indoor oven. Probably still be okay for sandwiches, and if not I guess the chickens will eat well for a while.

I’ll try again. But I know to leave it alone this weekend, when I’m supposed to bake Rosemary bread for a Landlady get-together.

I’m never entirely sure what will and won’t trigger the game camera. What is certain, though, is that predators at least can see the IR flash. I’ve never gotten a nighttime pic of a coyote who wasn’t reacting to the camera even if nowhere near it.

In this collection of stills we’ve got a coyote rapidly exiting stage left, and then there’s a couple of pics of what appears to be a bobcat, right at the left edge of the frame and also leaving the neighborhood without delay, an hour and a half later on the same night. Both are pretty clearly aware of the camera.

Windows are open today, for sure.

What a lovely day.

This is the sort of place where, if a juniper branch is getting in your way, you can just throw your saw in the Jeep and go cut it off. No point waiting for the road maintenance crew to do it for you.

That little B&D recip saw is very handy. I’ve replaced it for heavy-duty work with a more powerful corded saw – this one got hot and quit on me a couple of times just trimming these branches – but it sure is handy to have when so many little cutting jobs are so far from an electrical outlet. And it did teach me how much I was missing by not having a recip saw around. With just a change of the blades it can do a whole lot of things.

Having been up for a few hours in the middle of the night, of course I overslept. Got a text from Neighbor L at 7:30 that it was laundry day, which meant I had to get going.

Absolutely perfect day for it…

Into the sixties in the shade before nine, no wind. I picked up a dozen eggs for L, dropped off my laundry, then went back to Landlady’s to top off her batteries.

The winter weather has been so funky I’ve sort of fallen off my standard of doing all the batteries on the first of the month. Haven’t been neglecting them at all, just haven’t been on my traditional schedule. Did Ian’s and my own yesterday.

Speaking of Ian’s, I needed to hitch up the trailer and go back to his place for trash-hauling. Landlady and I have been concentrating trash from all three houses in the gulch in front of her barn for a big dump run this coming weekend.

She has a bunch of big shelves she wanted hauled off. I broke them down last week, but with construction rubble from Ian’s place and my kitchen garbage and old summer oven which gave up the ghost last year, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we can fit it all in one trailer-load.

And back home before eleven. I want to go back out after lunch, there are some junipers that are crowding my road that need to be trimmed back and this is the perfect day to be active outdoors.

Other hermits have life-changing spiritual epiphanies. I’m told.

I wake up at midnight with “My Baby’s In Love With Eddie Vedder” stuck in my head. Humming the accordion solo.