If you are like me then you have kind of given up on looking for ammunition. After over a year of nothing on the shelves, the entire pursuit has dropped off my radar. I wrote about the struggles to buy enough to participate in the trap season. Luck was on our side with that.
I have heard via radio and other sources that it is starting to come back. I thought that I would take a look for myself. To be fully transparent, I heard that it was always available online but my searches were pretty spotty. For instance when looking for trap, I did find cases available at $16/box (3-4 times what it cost the previous year) and sold out within hours. I hesitated as I was working multiple other deals and watched the inventory disappear on the screen.
I checked a few of sources in the last couple of days. What I have seen is some of the most common choices were on the shelf. The options were limited and the prices are elevated, I would say that this is far from over. In quasi-reporter style, this is what I have seen consistently in the last three months
7.62×39 FMJ
28 gauge target
20 gauge turkey loads
In my check over the last couple of days I saw
7.62×51 FMJ
223 FMJ
9mm FMJ and HP
30-06 hunting
10 gauge hunting
12 gauge target and hunting
I know there aren’t many people like me (that don’t own a 9mm and don’t really care) but that is a bellwether indicator that ammunition is on the shelf. Industry insider’s public statements indicate that it is going to be at least a year and a half before a return to normal. I give that a hard maybe because that presupposes that everything including politics stay status quo. However, it does seem as this years news cycle is much more calm then last years. It only takes one event to change everything again.
End Your Programming Routine: If you are looking for ammunition, now might be a time to start. I know that I have scaled my shooting down quite a bit from the the previous years so I am still sitting in a good spot other than trap. At some point, this will have to change. The market will market.
This was definitely a fourth to remember. Three days later I am still dragging because of late nights and on the go activities. I am not totally sure why I feel different this year than previous but I saw a lot of idiocy like never before.
It is pretty rare to see temperatures above 100 degrees. Many anecdotal reports (mine included) saw gauges reading 117 on Monday for a brief period. Now we are seeing the damage from the heat wave. I don’t think I have ever seen reporting from heat related deaths locally.
Mike Nearman was voted out of the Oregon House of Representatives 59-1 for opening the a capitol door January 6, 2021. He was caught on video and subsequently disbarred from the house and capitol. The committee to replace him initially voted to replace Nearman with himself. They have subsequently identified a different candidate.
How do you like that? Finally it looks like my generation’s Vietnam is going to end (officially). We have secure freedom forever now… does that sound sarcastic? It is and it is going to end like it started without a purpose.
There was a lot more that I observed but didn’t get a news article
June 29: Portland Oregon bans fireworks. Since they can no longer enforce mask mandates they decided to further make their subjects miserable. My county declined to enact a ban because they said it would end up with a majority of nuisance calls (thank goodness for sanity).
July 2, 5PM: Our local celebration stopped selling admission tickets and tickets were not available at the door. We did not buy them cementing our first time not participating locally since we have lived here.
July 4, 12PM: The first fourth of July parade not sponsored by the Rotary. With three weeks to go, Paralyzed Veterans of America stepped up and I thought that it was better than usual.
July 4, 7:30PM: Our first Fourth of July Rodeo in over twenty years. The crowd was in the mood to get loose. The lady next to me wanted to buy me a drink and I hardly said a word to her. I declined.
July 5, 1AM: I watched a man try to put diesel into a pickup when the station was closed. When that failed, he drove to the adjacent truck stop and I lost track of him. About five minutes later he came back and tried three additional pumps before parking (I am hoping for the night).
Over the years I have grown significantly less patriotic. I want to feel good about stealing land from the Native Americans to build something that was special. At least we could claim that even though we took it, we created something better. I think we did for all of the white, protestant males for at least for 200 years.
The philosophy and romanticism of our country’s founding is appealing but either I am watching it change with my own eyes or I was lied to from the beginning. From the ‘Patriot Act’ to the ‘CARE Act’ to a middle east military quagmire so much of the illusion of limited government is gone. With non-essential business’ arbitrarily closed and mask mandates of the last year, this is not my country. Sorry to end on a bit of a downer, but if you saw me staying seated instead of giving a cheering ovation at 245th anniversary of our country, you know why.
End Your Programming Routine: All this writing today was suppose to help me correlate and reconcile all the craziness from last week. I do believe that it was crazier than normal and I suppose the cause was all of the pent up emotion from the previous year. I am going to leave it here.
**Note that this was mostly written on Friday of last week. I didn’t quite finish it before the holiday weekend**
I read a couple of times this week, but the chapter 9 in 1984 was long and dense. I will save all the details for the next posting on the book save to say it is the explanation of ‘War is Peace’ and ‘Ignorance is Strength’. I wanted to get some of this down pat before I write about it.
We are burning to beat the band this week. So many activities are happening that we are jumping from one thing to the next. Every night has something through this week. Another thing that I have been trying to close the loop on is my employment status.
For the first time ever, I needed to provide some references to secure this job. I was also being hounded to get them turned around in one day. I asked three people and got three yeses. One of my references sent me a copy of what was written. I could not believe what was written. I have an excerpt below.
I was very flattered by the response. I know that there was some magic when I took over the role. I had created a very strong and highly performing team quickly by just empowering people to become their full potential. All they needed was to feel like they belonged and were valued, nudged to flex some muscle and do the right thing.
I am not totally sure if my reference wanted me to read this to sort of prove how this person valued our relationship or it was really under the guise of making sure the message made it through the system. I kind of think that it is the former rather than the latter.
I still have conversations with some of the people that I used to work with. In fact, one of them organized a reunion of sorts for a golf outing later this month. I have never really continued meaningful relationships with former co-workers. It must be unique if I am deviating from my typical personality.
End Your Programming Routine: I suppose that it is self-evident that relationships should be maintained. I have provided a number of references for previous coworkers before. There is just something humbling about people going out of their way to give compliments. I am thankful that people are willing to speak their mind in such short order. It is why I believe that there is something to karma.
When did this segment devolve into everything not Tacticool? Originally, I came up with this idea to help me come up with daily topics. Lately, I have been thinking about putting it up on the shelf again because it seems like I have other things I want to say.
I have fumbled around with firearms and preparedness as topics in this area. I can try to shoehorn a lot of different topics like I will try to do today but I am not sure that I want to do it every week. I guess that is the luxury I have, I can do whatever I want.
For today I wanted to talk about vehicles. This week, our Navigator rolled over 200,000 miles. That means that both vehicles we own have are over the 200K mark.
My wife has been binge watching ‘Fear of the Walking Dead’ lately. I know that the show is just for fun but how many vehicles are still functioning and clear roads seem like a miracle. I would think that fuel and maintenance would be would quickly disappear.
I am in new territory myself as I intend to drive these vehicles as long as they are functioning reasonably. Both vehicles, both Ford have developed a tick or knock over time. I am sure that it is not good and I have had them looked at but without any resolution or even prognostication about diagnosis.
With my pickup, I think it has something to do with the valve train, but it may also be with the timing chain. I haven’t investigated it thoroughly but I have heard that it is impractical to repair due to the amount of labor to do so. I hate to tear into the valve covers, but it is probably something I should do before some real damage occurs.
On the Navigator, I think the tick is related to an exhaust leak at the manifold connection to the engine block. This is another common problem where the aluminum warps or cracks and you can hear the ticking of the valves. I do think it is not a need to fix as the studs are prone to breaking making much more work than I want to take on right now.
I pretty much hot swapped the alternator in the Navigator a few weeks ago. So that will be good for a while. But, all in all things have been pretty reliable given that the vehicle has so many miles. I wouldn’t have a hesitation to take off for a long road trip for the vehicles so hopefully the last for a couple more years.
End Your Programming Routine: You never know when you need to ‘bug out’. By definition, you get very little notice and you have to grab what you can in the time you have. Last year’s wildfires are a perfect example of why you would have to leave with a moment’s notice. Make sure to keep your vehicles in good working order in case you really need to use them.
With today being the last day of the month of June, this ends the first half of 2021. It is a good day to reflect on the accomplishments and failures of goals set at the beginning of the year.
Q1 – Solidify branding and develop a marketing plan for AltF4.co
Q2 – Develop and implement a membership program
Q3 – Replace at least one blog post with a podcast a week
Q4 – Generate positive revenue
Those of you that have been following religiously know that life circumstances have changed dramatically since the beginning of the year. I will summarize the events of the last six months.
January – I was working for Amazon and doing a little side work. I had no real other prospects but I was running out of savings. I was hoping that I could make this a growing concern as well as build a business.
February – Suddenly a recruiter found me and tripled my salary from what I was making with Amazon. I had no choice but to follow the money and take a replacement position.
March – I started working to build a reputation and do what I could to get integrated into my new position. I needed to at least attempt my best effort. I also realized that I needed a separate space from the rest of the household and it needed to be conditioned.
April – After spending some cold weeks in the basement, I started in earnest building my office project. This has turned out to be taking most of my free time (of which there is not much).
May and June – More and more of the same. I am focused on finishing this project before spending time on other things.
So, by my own admission I have accomplished little of what I set out to do at the beginning of the year and therefore I am not on track to meet my overall goal. Largely, the biggest excuse is that my circumstances have changed but it may be because I didn’t really want to do it anyway. I think that I do, but a lot of that could have been done despite me working a new job.
My kids did buy me a microphone for Father’s Day. I am waiting to set it up when I have a little more time or maybe the weekend. That removes another excuse from getting started. It is always good to go back and review the ‘Toolbox Fallacy’.
End Your Programming Routine: As I sit here writing, I can’t say that this will become something more than it is. I am not even sure if this is precisely what I want to pursue. I can say that I enjoy it and I do put effort into it. So… I have to change my expectations, it doesn’t matter. I am going to throw a hand at podcasting this quarter. I have everything that I need to do so and I am going to find the time to do some pilot work.
Over the course of the last week, several events have been top priority, the weather, family events and my anniversary. Much of that comes to conclusion today. One of the most bizarre weather phenomenon happened yesterday, a return to normal.
At 1pm yesterday, I went to go get flowers and it was hot. Both the thermometer and the weather app said 108. By 2pm the thermometer said 111 and by 2:30pm it was reading 115. It was supposed to be cooler and the forecast said it was coming, but when?
It turns out that was the peak, because by 6pm the temperature was down to 85 and by 8pm it was down to 72. In the course of six hours our temperature dropped over 40 degrees.
When I say normal, I mean that it is normal to be highly scheduled because Fourth of July is this weekend. The Boy Scouts have a bunch of activities planned Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The annual children’s play performances will occur Thursday, Friday and Saturday (my son is in the lead). There are other family activities still to come like my mother-in-laws birthday party today. At least the temperature will be in the eighties.
Yes, they were already working on the hotel at 6:30am this morning. But that was the view of the serenity from our room. So you could see the serenity of the location. In a few short days there will be fireworks going off and throngs of crowds (to the left of the picture).
I think that we as parents want to give our kids the best experiences that we can. That includes enabling participation in all of the extra curricular activities. Especially after last year. Even though I went out of the home to go grocery shopping and miscellaneous errands, I think that my kids were homebound from mid-March through late April until we went to the airport to drop off our exchange student.
Most of the traditional activities were cancelled like summer camp, youth groups etc. Maybe I just notice it more because it was so quiet for so long and now it is return to normal with activities. Or maybe they are more involved because they are at the age where they can be. I am not totally sure.
End Your Programming Routine: I know at some point my wife and I won’t necessary have to escape to a hotel to spend time together. It doesn’t make the fact that we have very busy schedules easier, but it does mean that we took the time despite all that was going on to be together. Fantastic evening.
Yesterday, an all time hottest temperature record was set at 113 degrees. That was after a previously recorded highest temperature recorded in June of 105. Needless to say it is hot for a place were I can remember a summer that didn’t get into the 90’s until mid-August. Even this morning it was 85 degrees at 4:30 AM.
When I was growing up, no one I knew of had any form of cooling in their houses, not even window air conditioners. The advent of the heat pump started showing up in the mid-eighties but it was still very uncommon. When it got into the upper nineties we were hot. We tried to slip and slide, eat popsicles and stay in the shade. Night was a sweatbox in the bedroom that I would estimate was at least twenty degrees above ambient.
Saturday, we had the state trap tournament and it was hot. We were outside all day, but at least when you were in the shade, it seemed bearable. Yesterday felt like nothing I had ever seen before (here). It was like an inferno being outside. Our struggling heat pump did manage to keep the main floor below 80 degrees. We only have central heat on the main floor. As long as you stayed inside, it wasn’t too bad.
I don’t want to just talk about the weather today. When I looked back to last year, I was roofing this time last year. Roofing is nearly always a hot activity at least every time I have done it. The real reason that I am writing this is today is my 23rd wedding anniversary.
It felt like the hottest day of the year even though I looked it up this morning and it wasn’t. It was eighty-five degrees. But, it had been raining all week and we were having an outdoor wedding so it was more humid than normal. Add to that, more layers of a black tuxedo and black rubber shoes and sweat was pouring out of me before the ceremony started. I remember that my feet were actually burning inside those crappy rental shoes. By the time we left on a limo ride to the hotel, we were both sapped and we needed to be at the airport by 6 AM the next day. I think that we were asleep by 9 PM.
When we first met nearly thirty years ago, my wife had a yin/yang flag hanging up in her dorm room. I don’t have any idea where that ended up but it should have been a sign for us because it really describes our relationship. Her family is big and loud, mine is small and quiet. She is passionate and wears emotion on her sleeve, I am stoic and guarded. It makes it really difficult at times because we would both prefer our partners to be more like ourselves.
That is what makes it work because we need what each other brings to the relationship. She needs my temperance and I need her free wheeling. Over the years, we have learned how to push each other’s buttons which have led to some pretty strong disagreements because we are so entrenched in our camp of belief or yin and yang if you will. For instance, I was essentially threatened that if I didn’t quit my job over two years ago then we should consider other relationships. I doubt that I would have ever been so bold as to quit without a parachute. But I can see her side as that I was miserable to be around. I was scare to do it but I was more scare not to.
Not having many comparisons to personally draw from, I would speculate that this yin/yang relationship is more difficult than couples who are more similar. I am sometimes envious of friends where they work on projects together or share the same interests. I think, wouldn’t it be nice if we both wanted to do the same things? It is the reason that I signed up to play softball this summer so that my wife and I could do something together.
I recognize that I have my flaws and contribute quite equally to the difficulty of our relationship. It is definitely not all bad and we don’t live in constant conflict. When we get time alone, we can enjoy time together. We had many years without children and lots of experiences together. We have travelled the world, lived in different places and made many memories. It takes work. I credit my wife for taking the rudder on keeping us on course because I avoid conflict if possible. As much as I don’t like it I recognize that it is necessary to iron out our differences.
End Your Programming Routine: So I ask again, what is hotter, the temperature, our conflict over beliefs, our reconciliation when we get to the root or something else? Every year we take time to do something special, this year we are staying at a new hotel in town. We have the best room in the place with a huge view (and serious air conditioning). It is still forecast to be 109 outside and maybe hotter inside. Hopefully we can make it last another 23 years.
Before we get started, I am writing in anticipation of the hottest day ever recorded coming this weekend. It is supposed to be over 110 degF on Sunday. Current forecasts are between 111 and 113. So, while I am a little cold this morning setting at my computer at 67 degrees with shorts and sandals on, I know that the inferno is coming.
My feelings right now are probably a good metaphor for Winston’s situation in this chapter. This is the calm before the storm. We see Winston meet with Obrien and making his final commitments to his true beliefs. There isn’t a lot of transition between getting the invitation (last chapter) and the meeting where this chapter begins.
I find this chapter interesting but devoid of a lot of the heavy intellectual concepts that much of the book is full of. Part of what makes it interesting is that there are paradoxes that are not really well developed. For instance, Obrien lives and acts as a high party member but is supposedly a high level traitor who will disappear at any moment. I suppose that if you were to pin me down I could go with a couple.
Propaganda makes Enemy’s Friends and Friend’s Enemies- There has been a portrayal of the Eurasion race as sour, nasty and bleak. Now, it appears as Obrien’s servant Martin is an insider and confidant in the movement. Despite his lifelong training, Winston doesn’t react (much) to Martin being involved in the conversation. This is the perfect manifestation of political dichotomy today. Enemies are a far stronger tool to solidify an agenda and unite a faction. Once a faction is united, they are far easier to manipulate in the future.
Some Beliefs are Worth Sacrificing Your Life- As Obrien describes the process, it is portrayed as death is likely. It is also thankless and you will not see the results or know the strategy. This is a hard one to actually swallow as I have not been in this position. But, as I have written previously Winston realizes that there is no hope of the future. I can imagine that it is the final acceptance like the stages of death – acceptance.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the future of the book here but it seems like this could be a setup just as easily as it is Winston joining the rebellion. I am particularly wary of Obrien as it is hard for me to believe that he can be in the inner party and high level resistance at the same time. Corruption and politics are highly integrated, so I guess we will have to stay tuned to find out.
Another thing that I find interesting is that Julia has become a minor character in the book. I think that she was the vehicle to propel Winston into his thought position. It is clear that she has a role in his decisions and desired outcomes but really has had little interaction in the recent past including this chapter.
End Your Programming Routine: Maybe my mind is already baked and I am missing the significance of this chapter. It answers some of the longstanding questions about the existence of Goldstein, the Brotherhood, etc. The next chapter is the longest one in the book so maybe this is a transition primarily.
I guess the advice here is that the decisions have been made there is nothing left to do but accept it. There have been times in my life that I have made a major decision and not completely sure that it was the right thing to do. But without recourse, all you can do is move forward.
There is no doubt that even in Oregon the Fourth of July is summer and will be here in a little over a week. Time is ticking and hunting season is rapidly approaching if you need to get into shape. I wish that I could say that I am taking advantage of the nice weather and just enjoy summer.
In just a few days we will be in the Portland area for the state Trap tournament. Apparently, if so inclined we are also invited to the national Trap tournament in Michigan in July. At this point, we got too little notice to plan on that one but this one will be a good first start.
Today I wanted to talk about youth and shooting sports. In my brief exposure, I have found a generous amount effort to make it happen. Here are some examples
Friends of the NRA donated half a pallet of ammunition to our team. Remember that a box is 25 shells, a case is 10 boxes and half a pallet is 50 cases.
Before we got the donated ammunition, I had another coach drive over 600 miles to get our team 15 cases of ammunition to buy. That was enough to make our season work.
Oregon Hunter’s Association paid our team to draw raffle tickets. After it was done, one of the members bought every team member a box of ammunition
We shot an ‘away’ match at another club. One of the club members that was also there paid the fee (for targets) for the entire day.
One of our coaches was driving over 150 miles per practice to coach our team and then coach another team after we were done.
Our team is shooting on a range that belongs to the Elks. The Elks have given carte blanche to use the range and all of the facilities at will.
A target manufacturer has shipped a pallet of targets out of distribution for us to pick up at a local location at cost.
These are some of the examples of the efforts that others have made to enable this team to happen. That kind of generosity is astonishing to me, but that is the way it goes.
I am not totally naïve, there is a degree of self-service helping youth shooting sports. This can be a lifetime activity, so discounts and building positive memories can build a lifetime participants (customers). But, when I read the body language of those giving, I get the sense that the act is genuine.
Wish us luck. The forecast has the temperature over 100 degrees, this is our first organized tournament and we haven’t shot in over a month. But, these are the things that build memories.
End Your Programming Routine: If you have a youth or interest, consider looking into the shooting sports. The largest national program is through 4H. But almost always local ranges have knowledge of the different opportunities available and from there, you can get more information. From what I have seen, people are more than willing to go the extra mile to get you what you need.
I ran across this article the other day. I am a sucker for articles about North Korea because I like to see the type of shenanigans that are happening. But I never drew the conclusion that the same kind of tactics that North Korea uses are showing up here.
This is an article written about an North Korean defector that is now a student at Columbia. Her name is Yeonmi Park and has even written a book about the escape. This is definitely something I am interested in looking into.
Yeonmi has some quotes that are just spectacular.
“The people here are just dying to give their rights and power to the government. That is what scares me the most,” the human right activist said.
She accused American higher education institutions of stripping people’s ability to think critically.
“In North Korea I literally believed that my Dear Leader [Kim Jong-un] was starving,” she recalled. “He’s the fattest guy – how can anyone believe that? And then somebody showed me a photo and said ‘Look at him, he’s the fattest guy. Other people are all thin.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, why did I not notice that he was fat?’ Because I never learned how to think critically.”
“That is what is happening in America,” she continued. “People see things but they’ve just completely lost the ability to think critically.”
For some reason, WordPress is limited to embedding media within certain sources. And Fox News is not one of them. I really encourage you to take a look at the entire piece if you are into the subject. I half expected to not find it two weeks later, but it is still there.
End Your Programming Routine: Make no mistake that I think Fox News is any more a beacon of liberty than CNN or MSNBC. Remember, it is the other side of the dichotomy so they work hand in hand with their counterparts in advancing the machine. However, this one is a gem.
Recent Comments