Cowboy Blob's Saloon and Shootin Gallery

I'm not a real Cowboy, but I play one in the movies.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

From the Propwash Gang

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England 's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview.

When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said:

"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in and how many want out."

USS Pueblo crew has last laugh on North Korea

(CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/CHRIS McLEAN)
Rose Bucher, widow of Navy Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher, talks Saturday about her late husband and other members of the crew of the USS Pueblo, some of whom she met in Pueblo over the last four days for a reunion. Bucher, the commander of the ship when it was captured by North Koreans in 1968, died two years ago.
By PETER ROPER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Don Peppard may not have meant to, but he summed up the spirit of the USS Pueblo crew pretty accurately with a joke from the microphone at their reunion banquet Saturday night.

"I've got good news and bad news," the former cryptographic technician told his shipmates and their families at the Pueblo Convention Center. "The bad news is that we were captives 38 years ago. . . The good news is our captors are still there (in North Korea)."

Read the rest.

h/t to the Skivvy Nine Group

What Mark Twain Meant

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sun light.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

h/t to the Skivvy Nine Group

Self-Promotion



What, you think I spent today doing something constructive? I haven't even cleaned guns from yesterday!

Discover the REAL China

Re-Deploy

There's a Division in Korea that the host country doesn't want there...I'll bet Nogales AZ would be more receptive.

Silhouettes from Sgt Hook.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Malkin Derangement Syndrome? I'll Say!

I didn't even touch her and she shot me a dirty look and a mutterance disparaging my ancestry. Must have been breathing too close to her. To think that Mrs. Goody-Two-Shoes Malkin would pose for Girls Gone Wild-style bikini pics is just insane.

More obvious Photoshops here!

At least I bothered to get the scale right!

Gunsafe Queen a While Longer

Thanks to Firehand's WECSOG M-1 Carbine project, I got interested in converting my Universal into a practical shooter with some combat glass. Not quite the scout model, just a heads up bullet hose that scares GFWs. Despite learning that the ADCO sight was dead-on after installation, I decided this project needs some more attention. Perhaps it doesn't like Wolf .30 Carbine; maybe I should have given it a more thorough cleaning...jams galore, just like the MekTech did. Better get cleaning and check out another source of .30 Carbine. It'll give me something to do next week.

I used the Southwest Regional Shooting Park for the first time today since Desert Trails was being dug up. The new park is okay for a public range, but if DT is putting in real berms that attract some match leagues, I'll be willing to go back there.

Friday Caption Thingie

Caption (and/or photoshop) this for a one-week BlogAd! If you don't have a blog, I'll advertise your favorite cause, pet, or significant other!

Contest ends sometime during Monday Night Football.










Blog d'Elisson

(Any further P-Shop entries should have changes to the photo, not the caption. But since Elisson went through so much trouble...)








KeeKennis

(Fixed it -- CB)








Ongoing Contests:

GOP & the City: (First place last week!): Thai Fighters!
Bravo Zulu: (Second place last week!): Painting for Herring
The Right Place: (Second place last week!): Hot Kofi
Right Linx: Wallace and Vomit
Sgt Hook: The Shadows Know
Wizbang: She Came from Outer Space
Outside the Beltway: Breakin' Bricks
Willisms: Death of Linux
Gonerick Motel: Coupla kids
Lucky Dawg: Hulka Burnin' Love
Bullwinkle Blog: The Natives are Wired
Commonwealth Conservative: A Plumber's Helper
Clash of Civilizations: Big Head

But it Goes to 11!

I wonder how many Spinal Tap fans ADCO could attract by aggressively marketing this feature. Not many, I imagine. Rock music-parody and cheap Chinese firearm optics don't necessarily overlap.

At least I think it's Chinese, though I no longer have the box it came in Found the box: Made in China. That doesn't mean they still are...and the ADCO site doesn't mention a Sino-commie relationship. In fact, the name on my red-dot model, Mirage, is now used for their line of reflex scopes, not EDOTs.

I got this one from the prize table at the Superstition 3-Gun (after my best performance there ever) but I didn't have anything on which to mount it until I got a Mektech carbine, at which time I noticed the red dot was more of a red blob with a faint red artifact 10 o'clock to the dot that's visible under cloudy conditions. I don't know if my example is indicative of one of their early models, or whether it's a factory second that squeaked past quality control. Any ADCO users out there?

I know my friend Jon and I gave our Mektechs a poor review; I wonder if I'd given mine the same 400-round break-in regimen I gave my custom .45 BoG, it may have smoothed out and shot like a champion. Jon actually broke his -- the charging handle almost fell out of the gun. Methinx he got it fixed at his friendly neighborhood gunsmith, but returned his 9-mm lower to holster duty without much more attention to the carbine. Neither of us devoted the time, attention, and ammo to seriously break in the gun. I might have to remedy that today while I test my other project gun (The Gunsafe Queen), which I last fired about 18 years ago.

What a heck of a problem: so many guns, so little time. After this range trip, I might ping the ADCO folks about a fix...this little sight might work well on top of my S&W625. But that's more work, time, and money (need a mount). And does optics on a revolver make it Open class?

Update: My Emails from both Yahoo and Earthlink were rejected by ADCO as SPAM from an IP address I didn't recognize as mine. I guess if you want to complain about their POCCSG, you need to waste a stamp.

Update Update: It looked pretty normal in bright sunlight...maybe I was too harsh.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Cuteness

Baby Queen

h/t to Double-Cuz Craig

Am I Right?

Speaking of diversity, a certain gunblogger on my blogroll is responsible for me dragging out one of my Gunsafe Queens (not to be confused with Stepchildren) and pimping it up a bit. If my function check works out tomorrow, I'll shoot it in the match Sunday, and cooperation pending, will have some action pics for you.

Thought it was a Dillon Press at First

Instinct

Masking Tape, on the other hand...

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Voof

(That's Norwegian.)

(or Weejun.)

(Pretty dog, though.)

Methinx

...Mistress needs to lose some weight.

I Could Use More Snow

Walking to the mailbox, I got a whiff of a neighbor's large ranger bush which was flowering like crazy (the remnants of mine flowered too). One sniffles culprit Identified! I've got these plants in my front and back yard...they flower twice a year, roughly. I guess if I wasn't living in Tucson, I'd be just as miserable with colds that come with the change of seasons. That and the bonechilling ache that comes with wind chill in the negative numbers. Gee, just thinking about that makes me want to brave the pollen and sit out in the sun for a few hours like an iguana on a rock.

Happy Hump Day!

The crud in my head continues to vex. I've avoided self-medicating, preferring to keep hydrated and dose occasionally with Vitamin C. The itchy throat makes sleep a tricky thing...and I don't feel much like slaving over the Flash console in the meantime.

No thanks to Micr0$0ft tech support, I got rid of (at least temporarily) that annoying "Windows is not Genuine" BS pop-up that plagued me for the past weeks. Got a new pop-up reminding me that Service Pack 1 will no longer be supported starting in October...gee, I thought I had SP2, but that re-installation must have killed it. So, I've been downloading SP2 from M$ Update for the past 8 hours...I'm still 26 MB from finishing. At least IE doesn't reset like Firefox has been prone to...what's up with that, anyway? I'd use IE if it wasn't such a slow pig...and offered tabbed browsing.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Tired


I don't know if it's a cold or allergies (I've been down in the weeds...weeding), but I've been feeling poopy since yesterday: Stage Two of the Yard Nazi Pacification Program. Started on the backyard this morning. That can filled up quickly. Big poofy tumbleweeds and some sagebrush. I'm probably allergic to both...yeah, cleaning litterboxes probably had nothing to do with it.

Malfunction Junction 2005



The Murphy Match. Better left forgotten. The only good point? It wasn't always me!

Well....

I gotta post something.

Monday, September 25, 2006

2005 Halloween 3-Gun



Here's the long-awaited video! Hopefully this year's will be just as much fun! (Better get working on it.)

HoverDogs

Subway Serious Caption Winner

Steam Dragon!

"It says 'Insert Tab A into Slot B, and then press the top of lever C.'"

"Caution, the bang switch is now active!"


Sunday, September 24, 2006

Carnival of Cordite #73 -- Best of CoC

Erika sez Read the Carnival!

Erika thinks you should submit something next week.

Something in a major caliber. And/or a plunging neckline.

Don't disappoint Erika!

September 3-Gun

Boy, howdy, it was a windy one! I couldn't even wear my hat for half the match! Of course, constant wind means steel was set extra hard, so europellet fans like Jon were hatin' life. My stages were accepted as written, but differed from the concept a bit in translation...no problem; it was a fun match!


Stage One: Don't Ask William Tell

Pistol: Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready.
On start signal, draw and engage P1 through P6 and T1 through T4. From Box B, engage P7 through P15. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Pistol/Shotgun - Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready. Loaded shotgun on table, safety on.
On start signal, draw and engage P1 through P6 and T1 through T4. Ground safed/empty pistol on table and with shotgun engage P7 through P11. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Cowboy Pistol/Shotgun - Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready. Loaded second pistol and shotgun on table, safety on.
On start signal, draw and engage P1 through P6 and T1 through T4. Ground empty pistols on table. If rounds remain, engage steel from Box B. With shotgun, engage remaining steel. Paper targets require one hit to neutralize, all steel must fall.


Stage Two: Apology for Stage One

Pistol - Start position: Standing At Table A normal ready, loaded pistol in holster.
On start signal, engage in any order T1 through T6 and P1 through P11. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Pistol/Shotgun - Start Position: Standing At Table A normal ready, loaded pistol in holster. Loaded shotgun grounded on Table.
On start signal, engage T1 through T6. Engage P1 through P11 with pistol or shotgun. Ground safed/empty pistol to switch to shotgun. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Cowboy Pistol/Shotgun - Start position: Standing At Table A normal ready, loaded pistol in holster. Loaded second pistol and shotgun grounded on Table.
On start signal, engage T1 through T6. Engage P1 through P11 with pistol or shotgun. Ground safed/empty pistols to switch to shotgun. Paper targets require one hit to neutralize, all steel must fall.


Stage Three - End Run
Pistol - Start position: Seated at Table A with elbows on table, loaded pistol in holster.
On start signal, in any order, engage T1 through T5 and P1 through P5 from Table A, and T6 through T8 from Box B. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize. All steel must fall.

Pistol/Rifle - Start postion: Seated at Table A with elbows on table, loaded pistol in holster. Rifle on table, mag loaded but with an open or closed bolt on empty chamber.
On start signal, in any order, with pistol engage T1 through T5 and P1 through P5 from Table A, ground unloaded or safed pistol. In Box B, chamber a round and with rifle, engage R1 through R12. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize. All steel must fall.

Cowboy Pistol/Rifle - Start postion: Seated at Table A with elbows on table, loaded first pistol in holster, loaded second pistol grounded on table. Rifle on table, mag loaded but with closed bolt on empty chamber, pointed downrange.
On start signal, in any order, with pistol engage T1 through T5 and P1 through P5 from Table A, Ground pistols on table as they become empty. Modern sixguns with transfer-bar safeties may be grounded uncocked if rounds remain. In Box B, chamber a round and with rifle, engage R1 through R12. Paper targets require one hit to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Stage Four: One Riot, One Ranger

Pistol - Start position: Standing at Table with hand on holstered pistol.
On start signal, draw and engage T1 through T10. Each target requires two hits to neutralize.

Pistol/Rifle - Start position: Standing at Table with hand on holstered pistol. Loaded rifle on table, safety on.
On start signal, draw and engage T1 through T10. Ground safed or empty pistol. With rifle, engage T1 through T10 with at least one round in the head and P1 through P5. Each target requires two pistol and two rifle hits to neutralize. All steel must fall.

Cowboy Pistol/Rifle - Start position: Standing at Table with hand on holstered pistol. Loaded second pistol and rifle (loaded magazine but empty chamber) on table.
On start signal, draw and engage T1 through T10 with pistols, then rifle. Ground pistols as they become empty. Each target requires two hits (either pistol or rifle) to neutralize.

Oh, yeah...how did I do? Well, it'll probably take a week or two for the league to post the scores, but I'm confident that I didn't suck, at least. I had very few penalties to amplify my relatively slow times; jeez, you should have seen Jon blaze away with his competition Glock 9mm and Benelli semi-auto. The only comparable equipment we shot were iron-sighted Colt HBARs...Jon did well enough that his bonuses dropped some of his times down to single-digits or minuses. I've got to stop comparing myself to Jon; it can get downright depressing.

Mooglie and Rustle

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Braaaains!

My most popular 3-Gun match stage design has been the Halloween 3-Gun match I did last year. I finally put together the video, which I'll post next week (so I won't have too many YouTube panels on the same page--if you've got no rest in your ass, you can search for it; it's had two views already). What's racking my brain now is how to top that match without copying too many elements from it.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Jeri Ryan Was Playing with Blocks

When ITC Entertainment broadcast UFO to American audiences.

Set in the future (1980s), when people drove turbine cars and dressed like Ringo Starr, SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) operated secret bases on the Moon and underwater to thwart an alien invasion. I don't remember why all the girls on the moon wore silver catsuits, purple wigs, and space-whorish makeup...but I knew what I liked (and so did they).

Just threw this post up since my
Space Opus referenced the series and I didn't want my younger readers totally confused. Great links at this fan site.

Caption Friday

Caption or Photoshop this!

Winner of last week's contest is N.B. Goldstein of Clash of Civilizations.

New: sensual regurgitation. It's all the rage in India.

Check out his fine blog using the BlogAd on the sidebar!



Check out these other contests!

Gonerick Motel: (First place last week!) Bounty Hunter
Bravo Zulu: (First place last week!) Shotgun Wedding
OTB: The Elephant in the Room
Willisms: Koo-koo-ga-joob!
Lucky Dawg: Speed Bump
RightLinx: Lotsa Sand
Wizbang: Waffles and Beer
Commonwealth Conservative: Same Thing
Villainous Company: Ditto
IMAO: Hugo's Book Club
GOP&C: Bush Charades
Sgt Hook: Even More Sand
Clash of Civilizations: It's Popeye!
Bullwinkle Blog: Herr Radiomann
The Right Place: Holy Despot, Batman!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Aw, Jeez, Hugo...Light a Match!

Space Opus: Episode One



Decided to keep the length to something I could humanly upload from my dial-up, so here's the first 5-minute chunk o' entertainment. I'll begin work on Ep2 next week.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Almost Like Work

Spent most of the day slaving over the keyboard on the Space Opus. Figured out that I could create the scenes in Flash, export them as AVIs, then string them together in Movie Maker with a music track. The writing part sucks...I still have a great big black hole in the plot; hmmm...I might have to use that. My best ideas usually strike right before I fall asleep, which means I lose about 95% of my great ideas cuz I'm too lazy to get out of bed and write sh*t down. Still, that 5% might elicit a guffaw or two from your ugly mugs, so don't lose hope.

Now to kick back and enjoy some more rum for the rest of the night.

Happy Hump Day!


Aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

No, I wasn't talking like a pirate; I was ralphing like one. After a few yummy rums and CF Diet Coke, I yielded to the call of the wild. Instead of shaking a T-Shirt at the weasels or giving them a raisin, my impaired judgement motivated me to sit among the ferrets, roughhouse with them, hug them, squeeze them, and call them George. In short, when I left their room, I was one itchy, wheezing, sneezing mess who couldn't take a shower fast enough.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Carnivale de la Cordite #72

It's Not Just For Pistols



Keelhaul the lucrative multimedia contracts and sponsorship...I've got me readers to placate!

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

I boarded the scurvy-dog Yard-Pirates' meeting and beat them down with me logic and a bloody great cutlass. To celebrate me victory, I sailed yonder to the grocery-pirates of Safeway and plundered a bottle of rum and a stack of tuber pies...Pringles, I heard 'em called. I woulda sprung for the premium Captain Morgan, but I was lackin' doubloons...fortunately I remembered me first mate's old phone number, so they didn't cheat me so much.

Mmm...rum and tuber pies!

Seems She Needs Help With Her Belt

I'll swash yer buckle, fer sure, lassie!

I LIke Me Pirates

a Little on the Trashy Side.

But Not So Much Plastic....Arrrrr!!

Lower Yer Colors

And prepare to be Boarded!
 
Visits Since September 11, 2004