Home Defense (Warning: Low Humor)

From an email sent by a friend.

California Self Defense

 
A liberal friend in California asked me what I thought he might need in order
To defend his home and family from home invasion.
 
I suggested a 9mm, a couple of clips, and a box of shells

 
 
A few days later he sent me this picture and asked me how to make it all work.
 
He voted for Obama...twice.

Shady

Old NFO has a post up about Texas shade.

https://oldnfo.org/2016/07/13/its-summer-in-texas/

My space at work.  Other employees with dark cars resent my using that space. Since I come to work much earlier than anyone else, boo fucking hoo. Note the step van keeps my vehicle in the shade until noon or thereabouts.

Worked today for the the other driver on my route. He is good people and I’m happy to help him out. Something about his three dogs and a vet. Guess he had to see a man about a dog. (Yeah, yeah, low humor. Get over it).

Rare Wyoming sight.

Beautiful morning around Gurnsey, WY.

With the cloud cover it was around 73 in Kimball, NE. Turned off the A/C and drove with the window down enjoying the fresh air.

Back to Old NFO. He and friends recently made a trip to Chattanooga, TN. A list of friends.

http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2016/07/on-way-home.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BayouRenaissanceMan+%28Bayou+Renaissance+Man%29

Somehow I keep visualizing an advertisement with R. Lee Emery delivering the final line, “Someone picked the wrong vehicle to carjack”.

Railroads - Completely Non Political Post (I Promise)

Seeking relief, if only for a while, from the current depressing news, the following put a smile on my face and brought back pleasant memories.

http://www.corailroads.com/2016/07/rock-slide-briefly-closes-cumbres.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ColoradoRailroads+%28Colorado+Railroads%29

My late father was a Section Foreman for the old Denver & Rio Grande Railroad for ten years during my early childhood. The constant cutbacks in personnel and seven moves in those ten years lead him to leap at the chance to get back into ranching and horses.

It was fun to be a kid along the tracks doing things few other kids ever had a chance to do.

Somewhere around 1952 my parents took a trip to the San Luis Valley  area. A that time the line over Cumbers Pass was a working line for the D&RG. As we climbed the pass in our car, we saw two steam locomotives nose to nose on the tracks. One had derailed the front guide wheels and the crews were attempting to pull it back on the tracks. All they had to work with was a large rope they had around a tree above the derailed engine. Each time the other engine would back up, the derailed wheels would almost go back on the tracks. Then the rope would break.

We watched for close to an hour. They would tie the broken ends together and try again. Same result. Finally the rope was too short for them to use so we drove on. My father was enjoying himself immensely. Someone else in the shit instead of him. I’m sure it took a lot of restraint on his part not to climb down and offer his advice. Maybe the steep snow covered incline and wearing cowboy boots was a factor.

The Cumbers and Toltec is the only one still operating with coal. The more well known Durango to Silverton is steam but diesel fired. The Georgetown Loop operates both steam and diesel. They also use Shay type locomotives.

In addition to the Cumbers and Toltec, a train runs from Alamosa over LaVeta Pass to Walsenburg using 50’s vintage diesels and passenger cars. They occasionally run steam engines when they can keep them repaired.

https://www.coloradotrain.com/rides/

A diner train runs through the Royal Gorge from Canyon City to Salida and back on the mothballed Tennessee Pass route.  

http://royalgorgeroute.com/

There are others. If you are a rail buff you can make a great vacation around them.

http://www.coloradoscenicrails.com/

Still not sated? Visit the model railroad museum on your way to the Union Pacific Museum in Cheyenne.

http://cmrm.org/pcindex.html

http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/

Hope you enjoyed this little diversion. I know I enjoyed putting it together.

On my bucket list is to ride the Amtrak California Zephyr from Denver to Emeryville. I only want to do it when I can afford a sleeping cabin. I'm way to old to sleep in a seat, even if it reclines.

M-60 Tanks

Murphys Law has a post up on M-60 tanks.

http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2016/07/tanks-alot.html

Brought back 50 year old memories of being in a float bridge company in Germany and seeing those monsters crossing our bridge.

 Before they crossed there would be a briefing. (In that era Army nothing happened until the briefing was over. If Ivan had come across the border someone would have told them they had to halt until we had our briefing).

 Usually the briefing was conducted by a senior sergeant. Went something like this.

   “When you are on the bridge, do not lock up your tracks.     This bends the bridge decking and we will spend a lot of time bending it back with crowbars”.

At this point you would see sly grins on the driver’s faces.

   “Understand assholes. We are also the unit that provides safety boats for your fording exercises and we have long memories. Hope you know how to swim”.

Ah, Army Sergeants. No failure to communicate.

1st Amendment

Tomorrow is Independence Day and I feel like exercising my 1^st  Amendments rights. Warning to readers; one of my rambling, nearly incoherent posts with a heavy dose of Colorado interest political stuff. You may want to spend your time with the bloggers on my sidebar. Much better writers and much more interesting.

No secret the FBI has been investigating and infiltrating white conservative groups for decades. The excuse is almost always racism. For example, from their own publication.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/may/extremism_052212/extremism_052212

A friend who moves in some of the III Percent type organizations said, if not for infiltrators, confidential informers, and agent provocateurs most groups couldn’t muster enough members to fill a small town MacDonalds. One of many reasons I stay far, far away from them.

In the forefront you have the Southern Preposterous Lie Center (tip of hat to Sipsey Street Irregulars) stoking hate and misinformation.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files

Seemingly ignored are radical islamists and drug cartels. One wonders why?

Could it be fear? That if the white conservatives really, really got pissed and things like the 100 Heads Life and Casualty Company (again tip of hat to SSI) started taking off the casualties among the “elites”, and the compromises to their lifestyles, would mushroom.

 How many did Timothy McVeigh kill? Lots of high quality instructions via military service has been infused into our society. “Kill people and break their shit” skills.

Another  question.  With police departments gaining more Millenniums,  how many of them have the guts and determination of the retiring silverbacks if they will even join. From Bloviating Zeppelin.

BZon Friday, July 1, 2016 at 15:32 said:

WSF, yes, I am a Silverback and proud of it. I am roughly the last of me, though there are some holdouts that I promoted and polished up so that they may carry on. But LE agencies are already having a difficult time locating adequate recruits and keeping them. They don’t care for the long hours, the poor days off and sacrificing holidays and overtime.

BZ

 When “We will not comply”  people start shooting back, how many will have the guts to bust through a door? Elites get their hands dirty? Don’t think so.

I’ve long thought Obama is a bought and paid for creation. Once he leaves office, what future purpose can he serve? Hint. Look at the mileage the collectivists have gotten out of Che Guevara.  Maybe a new fresh (dead) face?

(The above paragraph should guarantee me a place on someone’s shit list. Hey, statist flunky. I’m a broken down senior citizen and little threat to anyone. Really, not even a good writer. Go find some real work)

Moving along, with the primary election over, the GOP Senatorial candidate is an interesting somewhat outsider.

http://www.electdarrylglenn.com/

His incumbent Democrat opponent is a first term turd, a carpetbagger with no real ties to Colorado,  whose previous stint as Denver Schools superintendent allowed him to play in the derivative markets with the school’s money leaving the district deeply in debt. He has little support even among Democrats.

http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2016/07/01/new-poll-skewed-poll-still-finds-hillary-bennet-in-trouble/

Of course he is well liked (publicly) by Obama and Gov. Wishywashy so he has that going for him.

Off in far right field we have Tom Tancredo still stepping on his dick.

http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/06/27/tancredo-oath-to-defend-america-optional-because-it-could-reduce-muslim-immigration/

Joining him is our own local hustler, Dudley Brown of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Brown

I’ve had past dealings with this tool not related to firearms. His persona is that of a bully which didn’t work out well for him in our interactions. One of the used car lots I supervised was across the street from his business and he was spending way too much time in our business. Our overly ambitious manager was spending more time with his schemes than she was running the lot. In the end it worked out for her as she is now a two term State Legislator and will probably win a third term. That said, she and he moved their plotting to another location and after business hours.

While I live in the 4^th Congressional District now, I still support with financial donations the 6^th Congressman, Mike Coffman (R). His opponent is a trial lawyer, a (P)regressive’s (P)regressive, and a current State Senator. Seems the national Dems want him gone (he is a fierce and effective critic of the VA) and have pledged millions, or have at least reserved TV time worth millions, to defeat him.  Earlier this year his opponent went on a “listening” tour. Attracted as many as four or six people to her events.

My sister is a Republican with a small (R) while I am a Democrat with a tiny (D). We usually cancel each others vote. She is not a fan of our current GOP Congressman. I don’t have a strong opinion except he favors most trade agreements.  That benefits agriculture. It is not like they benefit from the ethanol scam already. The rest of us? Who benefits? Corporations seeking higher profits? No problem, that is their choice. What is a problem is their expectation the military might of the United States will protect their risky investments. Tell me that isn’t a card the State Department flunkeys let foreign governments get a peek. Nah, that can’t happen.

While not a ditto head Rush Limbaugh fan, I do respect his well thought out points of view. His prediction of Leftist violence if Trump is elected is worth considering. I’m old enough to clearly remember the late 60’s violence stirred up by civil rights and the antiwar crowd.  No internet in those days but opinions still got expressed. I clearly remember a black and white film being shown at our college of the antiwar protests at Berkeley. One scene has always stayed in my mind. A clearly pregnant woman was sitting alone on a curb. A uniformed policeman came up behind her, jerked her back by her hair, and slammed a long wood stave across her midsection. 

The Republican convention in Cleveland is shaping up as a massive clusterfuck. The extra police from around the country have all pulled out. Look for the National Guard to be mobilized. Let’s assume Trump gets the nomination. The Left does their crazy and the violence is spread all over the news. Should piss off and scare enough people to get off their asses and vote for Trump.

I expect to see the GOP elites/establishment make a stand to deny Trump the nomination. Should raise the level of cynicism of the general population to new levels.

Small little person I am, I am enjoying the suffering of the American Mainstream Maggots (hat tip to BZ) covering Trump. They have little choice but to cover him. They can’t resist using every skill set to slant, distort, and discredit. Their personal biases are clearly on display.  That must piss off anyone even slightly favoring Trump, or is that just me?

So ends this ramble with one final thought. Anyone but Shillary.

Snark

Sometime around 1975 while following a Jaguar in Vancouver, B.C. our attention was drawn to a bumper sticker, "The Parts Falling Off This Car Are of The Finest British Workmanship".

Spotted this gem yesterday in my hometown.

What a perfect way to start collecting British sporty cars, a Triumph Spitfire!

Please note it comes with that indispensable British car accessory, a car hauler trailer and tow vehicle.

With this as a starter car,you will be ready to add other British cars, Italian sports car, Australian sourced Mercury Capris, Opels, Buick Reattas, Pontiac Fieros, and Harleys while having the backup trailer and tow vehicle to get them home Such a deal!

Kinda, Sorta a Blank

No profound political or philosophical thoughts are percolating in what passes for my brain so you get pictures. One good thing about starting my day at 0300 is seeing nice sunrise colors.

Wheatland, WY.

Gurnsey, WY

I like the contrast in colors. Makes the drive interesting.

Summertime.

About 5 miles South of Interstate 80 and Kimball NE. Hate to think what kind of nasty shit gets processed here.

A tedious but vital job.

Yes, it is the Air Force but why can't they wear their fucking covers? Take pride in their appearance? By gawd, back in my day.............