Mondays Should Look This Good

Back To The Old Grind!

Boonville, IN's summer show starts next Friday!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous: Let Us Count The Reasons To Go

In addition to lots of range time shooting your own guns, you will also get to shoot other people's guns!




And that's just a start.  Here are several more good reasons to go to Reno.


Gun Blogger Rendezvous, Let Us Count The Ways by TrueBlueSam

Not My Victrola: More William Tell!

Weekend Steam: Boonville's Show Is July 26-28, 2013!

 The Antique Steam and Gas Engine Club of Boonville, Indiana is hosting their 50th annual show next weekend. You will see steam engines, threshers, sawmills, gas engines and tractors, at the shady showgrounds just north of Boonville on the west side of Hwy 61. Click Here for contact info.

 

Crankin' It Up: Four Sides In One Take!

William Tell Overture by TrueBlueSam

The William Tell Overture: Parts 1 & 2 by the Victor Concert Orchestra, May 12, 1915; Parts 3 & 4 by Arthur Pryor's Band.  Part 3, September 24, 1909, and Part 4, May 4, 1909.  Through the magic of editing you all miss Brat reaching down and grabbing the turntable, and drawing blood as I try to stop and re-start the record. 

Sorry about the clunks you hear after re-starts; My feet's too big!  It really was one take, (re-starts are edited out) but I have a couple re-starts on Part 3.  Brat grabbed the turntable, and while I was starting over he grabbed me!  Drew blood, he did!

The Rio Salado Target Terminators Made It To Southern Illinois!

I hope you all have been reading about the trials and tribulations of the Rio Salado Target Terminators and their journey from Arizona to Sparta, Illinois.  Danno (SandCastleScrolls) and his Sand Castle Son (SmallestConservative) flew out to St. Louis on Tuesday, and the rest of the team, the coach, and two dads made the trip on the road, towing a camper.  Their vehicle threw a rod before they were out of Arizona, and the rest of the journey is the stuff of legends.  Go read about it on Danno's blog.

They set up camp after 11 PM Tuesday night, and they all were ready to shoot Wednesday morning, right on time.  I scheduled time off from work when Danno let me know that they might need the loan of a shotgun, so even though all the team and hardware arrived, I drove over to Sparta to meet the team and see them shoot a few sets.  Out in Arizona they have to be mindful of scorpions and rattlesnakes, but in Southern Illinois we have chiggers, ticks, deer flies, buffalo gnats, and West Nile infected  mosquitoes.  I brought along a bottle of Buggins to keep off the flying pests, and 100% Deet spray for their ankles.  I have never forgotten my first encounter with gangs of chiggers, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

The team from Arizona wound up the day in fine style, meeting the Potterfields (Midway USA) from Columbia, Missouri.  Click over to the SandCastleSon's blog to see the photos.

Nasty Little Buggers: Bagworms!

Bagworms are with us every summer, appearing in May in Southern illinois, but you won't notice them unless you look for them.  They start out small, and you have to really look hard to see them in late May and early June.  Now that we are in mid-July, they are easy to see, but most folks don't notice the insect in its little camo-sack; they notice them by the damage they cause.

These insect larvae will just about double in size during the remaining summer months, and they blend in well enough that most homeowners don't notice them until the needles on their favorite conifer are nearly gone.

Will your tree recover from this much damage?  If you kill the bagworms now, there is hope,but you should have done it a couple weeks back.  Malathion, the recommended insecticide, often won't kill bagworms with the recommended application strength once the larvae are as large as these.  BT spray is more effective at killing large larvae, but you should go to a garden shop and buy a new bottle if your BT has been sitting on the shelf in your garage for a few years.

Worth Every Tear

Kipling Says: We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent,
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve;
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long -
So why in - Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear? 

Read The Entire Poem.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit Youth Shooting Sports Alliance

Ruger keeps on amazing us every week with the wonderful treasures they are pulling out of their safe. This Military Model Service Six is a special revolver indeed. Ruger says: "We have for auction a Service-Six® Military Model double-action revolver. The serial number on this revolver is 153-55968, and the test fire date is April 6, 1978. The revolver has never been fired beyond normal testing during manufacture and was packaged in a special preservative foil wrap for over thirty years. The revolver was removed from the packaging so you can see what you are bidding on. An original Technical Manual for the Service-Six Military Model revolver is included with this auction. Sturm, Ruger produced this .38 Special revolver for the U.S. Army Armament Material Development and Readiness Command, and is marked “U.S.” at the right front of the frame." CLICK HERE to read the rest of the description and to place your bid on GunBroker.com.

True Blue Sam's Advice For The Love Worn

Those anniversaries sure are piling up, and there isn't much help out there for finding just the right gift every year.  You all probably remember that 35 is Ratchet Loppers.   Is a shovel an appropriate gift for 38?  You have to be careful treading here.  It is the perfect gift...

...If it's a Super Shovel!  Don't make the mistake of buying your wife a plain old round nose shovel, or something like this might happen to you!