I Work for the Board of Labor

A few weeks ago, I ordered myself a chalkboard for my kitchen. I needed something in front of me to remind me of things I needed to get done. Amazon screwed up and sent me a whiteboard. I hate those things. I sent it back. Michelangelo and Da Vinci used chalk. Head start teachers use whiteboards.

I put a list of nagging tasks on the board as soon as I screwed it to the wall. There must have been 20 things on it. I’ve been wiping them out ever since. I highly recommend chalkboards.

Today I arranged for gutter companies to come by and give me estimates on some roof improvements. I also sold one of my old welding carts, and the buyer also bought my old 80 cubic foot C25 tank. He got a great bargain, but I had to get it out of my workshop. That put me in a position to knock another item off my list. I drove to Airgas and bought a 125 cubic foot tank. It’s on the new cart now. The cart is ready to work. I can still make little changes here and there, and I haven’t transfered all my welding paraphernalia to it, but I can pull it up to my table and start welding.

I wore my MAGA hat to Airgas. I’ll wear it until the fat lady sings. If a 74-year-old man who just got over coronavirus can do several rallies in different states every day for weeks, I can wear a hat. It’s not much of a gesture.

Things don’t look as bad as the MSM would have you believe. Trump seems certain to win Pennsylvania. Biden’s anti-fracking crusade really put a dent in his numbers. We are now learning that Arizona was called early. There are 400,000 votes yet to be counted, and there is a good chance they’ll put Trump over the top. North Carolina and Georgia look good, Alaska is a sure thing, and Trump is suing in Michigan and demanding a recount in Wisconsin.

If he gets Arizona, Biden is in trouble. If he gets Michigan or Wisconsin, Biden is in trouble.

My feeling is that God is making Trump sweat because of his pride. It’s not pure imagination. It’s a strong feeling I get during prayer. But a strong feeling is not a prophecy.

Of course, if I’m right, we will be up to our armpits in rioters soon, and it may be even worse than the riot routine we’ve gotten used to.

I’m sure they’re rioting somewhere today. They always are. Riots used to be unusual. Now they’re like rain. It may be dry where you are, but it’s always pouring somewhere. After Trump wins, we should expect heavy-duty simultaneous riots in as many cities as BLM and Antifa can afford to attack.

Maybe they won’t be able to riot everywhere. After all, George Soros and Hollywood celebrities aren’t made out of money.

The riots will be Trump’s fault, according to the MSM. Everything is Trump’s fault in Bizarro World. Hurricanes. Forest fires. A fat lady became Youtube-famous for claiming Trump made her obese. He really gets around, in the fantasies of the Antichrist’s children. In sane times, people would be amazed to see grown-ups blaming a Republican president–who isn’t allowed to send help–for terrorist riots performed by leftists. Now, it’s normal. Up is down, men are women, and blizzards are proof of global warming.

“Trump made me do it.” Flip Wilson should sue.

Trump reminds me of Jesus Christ. They are the most lied-about people in history. They are hated without reason by more people than any other figures I can think of. They do great things for others. The blessings are undeniable. Somehow, they are given no credit, the blessings are characterized as problems, and problems other people create are blamed on them.

The Antichrist’s children remind me of my sister, who appears to be one of them. The more you do for her, the more she hates you. Helping certain people is like playing war games with the WHOPR. The only way to win is not to play.

This is the only country on earth, apart from one outlier with a gigantic oil field, where large numbers of people pushed for socialism during an economic boom. It just isn’t done. You’re supposed to go socialist out of desperation. You don’t do it when unemployment is at a record low and the stock market is at a record high. It’s like demolishing a house because it looks too nice.

That blackboard is really something. It hangs there, silently disapproving of me. It motivates me to do things so I can erase items from the list. It does what nagging wives wish they could do, without the misery and dreams of divorce.

Here’s hoping Trump wins Arizona. I’ll write another item on the board: “Lie on face for three hours, thanking God.”

One Step Closer to Venison

I finally shot the Tikka T3x Superlite today. Things went well, mostly.

Like my Ruger Precision Rifle, which was a lot more expensive, this is a 6.5mm gun. The thing that concerned me was that it might turn out to be more accurate than the RPR, for a lot less money. That would make me feel stupid.

I’m not positive, but while I don’t think it will top the RPR, it may equal it.

I started out at 50 yards, using cheap Sellier & Bellot ammunition to foul the just-cleaned bore and get on the paper. I shot two rounds at the center of a bullseye. The first shot was very low, so I adjusted the scope. The next shot was in the center of the bullseye.

I moved back to 100 yards, and the next shot went through the same hole the second shot made. I would not expect a 50-yard zero to be the same as a 100-yard zero, but this is what happened. I shot several more rounds, realized I was wasting ammo, and moved to Hornady ELD Match 140 grain, which should be somewhat more accurate than S&B.

I’ll put up my first target. Believe it or not, I was adjusting the scope while firing these shots. Will the Tikka do sub-MOA? Oh, yes. And with bargain Czech ammunition, no less.

I moved to the next target. I intended to put up a 4-bullseye target, but I wasn’t paying attention, so I put up another 8″ bullseye. I turn these into 5-bullseye targets by shooting at various line intersections and then the center. There is a 5-shot group low on the target. That was the first group, and I was shooting at the intersection closest to it. Acceptable.

I adjusted the scope to move the point of impact to the left, and then I shot at intersection to the left of the center of the target. My first shot was around 2.5 inches to the right of the point of aim. I figured it was a bad flyer. Then I shot four more shots, and as you can see, they were in the same area.

At this point, I figured I was wasting my time. I needed to take the rifle indoors and check the torque on the scope screws to make sure the scope hadn’t moved. I just checked them, and they’re fine. I think next I’ll clean the barrel again. I’m wondering if something in there is affecting the point of aim.

I don’t know what the problem is, but this gun will shoot. Once I find out why the point of impact moved, I’ll be seriously accurate with this thing.

This gun doesn’t have a bipod on it. I thought it was a bad idea to use a bipod to zero a hunting gun, so I used a front bag. The bag was too low, so it was hard to keep the gun on target. Maybe this is why the last group shifted. Just guessing. I need to put something under the bag next time.

I don’t know if I should continue using match ammo. It’s an interesting question. I have 100 rounds of Hornady Whitetail ammo on the way, and if I were to hunt, I would expect to use it, so why play around with match ammunition? On the other hand, I’ve read that some people prefer ELD Match for hunting, even though Hornady doesn’t recommend it.

The trigger is very light. I adjusted it before I fired the gun, and I made it as light as it would go. I didn’t think it would go this far. I should probably dial it back a little if I hunt with it. I don’t want to shoot trees, the ground, or other hunters who may have lawyers.

I think buying this gun was a good move. It’s very light, Tikka quality is very good, and you can see it shoots well. It beats my shoulder up when shooting prone, but I suppose I can wear a padded shirt or just be a man about it and not whine.

I’ll clean it and shoot some Hornady Whitetail through it. For now, my next move is to mount my red dot scope and try it on the AR-15.

Hope Biden never comes for the Tikka, but if he does, he can give it to the cops and tell them they finally have a chance at hitting people in the leg. His contrarian advice on marksmanship and real-world tactics is always interesting.

The Pennsylvania Problem

I managed to avoid looking at the election results until a short time ago, at around 8 a.m. I have to say that things aren’t looking hopeless.

1. Our left-wing terrorists were not stupid enough to do their act while the polls were open, so there shouldn’t be any issues with suppression of Republican votes. I’m judging by the news I can find online, so be gentle if I’m wrong.

2. Biden lost Florida, and he lost BIG. The Realclearpolitics average had Biden up nearly a point, Florida had a huge influx of left-leaning Puerto Ricans, and Trump still beat him by over three points. That, all by itself, should have pollsters looking for new jobs. They really blew it. Again. They do nothing but poison the process.

3. Trump is expected to win Georgia and North Carolina. Alaska will go for Trump, of course. Not that it’s a major score. Michigan may well go for Trump.

4. Trump is way ahead in Pennsylvania, with the vast majority of votes counted. What if the uncounted votes are from Philadelphia County, home of a major den of incorrigible leftists? That must be what’s happening, because Trump is over 12 points ahead.

I said I was afraid Pennsylvania would be the new Florida, and I was right. Phildelphia is a slimy, corrupt city, and if my guess about the locations of the uncounted precincts is right, they may be forging and “finding” ballots in high gear right now. It’s very sad to see Pennsylvania caught up in this mess.

T.B. Joshua, the Nigerian evangelist who prophesied that 2020 would be a year of humbling, and who accurately said the Wuhan epidemic was going to end abruptly, made a vague prophesy about our presidential election. He said things don’t always turn out the way we want, and he said Amy Coney Barrett would be a major factor. Does it mean the Supreme Court will squash Pennsylvania-swamp vote fraud efforts? I don’t know. I don’t see Amy Barrett helping the Democrats unless the law is so cut-and-dried she has no choice. I don’t know if Joshua’s prophecy is real, and I’m not sure what it means. It’s interesting, though.

I’m not sure, but it looks like a Michigan win would leave Pennsylvania as the state that would determine the outcome. I don’t see how Trump can win without Michigan. Am I mistaken? I guess he could do it if Nevada went his way, but Nevada doesn’t look great.

The polls were wrong about Trump again, regardless of who wins. Is it because pollsters are incompetent (yes) and dishonest (probably), or because voters are afraid to say they support Trump? I think the last factor is a big deal this time around, but the more I look at polls, the more I realize the people who compile them are extremely inept. I’ve seen at least one pro-Biden result in which the vast majority of people sampled were Democrats. If you can do something that dumb, you have no business conducting polls.

I can’t recall ever hearing of a poll that oversampled Republicans. I wonder if it happens. If not, we should be asking why not.

The worst possible outcome, barring extremely unlikely events, is that Biden will win after getting stomped in states where he was expected to sleep his way to victory. I don’t see how this would help America, but it would provide some comfort.

My state made a big mistake. The public created a $15 minimum wage. Say goodbye to thousands of low-end jobs. Say hello to increased hiring of illegal aliens and higher unemployment. People never learn.

Ballot referendums threaten to make Florida a volatile state. Fringe nuts tried to put an anti-semiautomatic-weapon law on the ballot once. They could have caused real problems. Moms who vote with their maternal instincts instead of their brains could have turned Florida into Virginia.

I will continue to pray and hope for the best. My own peace, safety, health, and success come from God, not politicians, but a lot of people depend on presidents.

Things to do While America Tries to Kill Itself

It has been a pretty stress-free day. I woke up at 7:00, which was way too early because I was up past midnight. I prayed and so on, and when I woke up again, it was nearly 11. Not bad!

I had a strange dream. My grandmother was still alive, and she was driving me and another grandchild to Lexington, Kentucky. She was old, but her mind was clear. Nonetheless, her driving was scary. I kept suggesting she let me drive, but she said her doctor had told her driving was good for her.

We had to stop at a government facility where everyone emptied their pockets and set the contents in baskets on conveyor belts. I didn’t put my carry piece in the basket. When I got to the other side, my stuff didn’t come through. I remember longing for the good old days when Americans could get in the car and drive from place to place without stopping to be searched. Apparently, in the world of my dream, those days were over.

I don’t know if the dream means anything. My mother generally represents the church in my dreams. Who, then, does her mother represent? Catholics? The Jews? You would think it would be a body that gave rise to the modern church.

Last night and today, I received nice packages that gave me something to do.

I don’t want a bulky, expensive grill that costs $2000 and does nothing a cheap grill won’t do, so I have a turkey fryer and a small stainless Pit Boss Grill. For a long time, I’ve had them on the patio on a cheap Home Depot table. The heat did a number on the plastic, so I ordered myself a stainless prep table. They sell them on Amazon for a little over a hundred bucks, but the Amazon jobs use thin steel, and their lower shelves and legs are galvanized, so they will rust. I decided to splurge and get a real commercial table with stainless shelves and legs. It’s very sturdy. I should be able to clean it very easily, and any rust should be negligible.

I also got a stand for my smoker. They cost a lot, but it’s no fun putting meat in a smoker that sits nearly on the floor. I now have a much more convenient height, and the stand has wings for things like BBQ tongs, sauces, and seasonings.

I had to assemble everything. Putting the smoker on the stand was quite a job.

I’ll post a photo. Yes, there are shovels on my patio. I’m still not done removing the stump from the poolside planter.

I haven’t bothered getting a real patio table. I looked around, but I didn’t see anything good on the web or at the local consignment place. I don’t want to blow $1500 on a new set. It doesn’t matter. My plastic folding table is very practical, and no one seems to mind.

Tomorrow, I expect to receive a wireless BBQ thermometer with two probes, and it should be accompanied by some other items.

I installed an induction stove a while back, but I did’t get nonstick pans, and somehow, a couple of my saucepans didn’t make the trip from Miami, so I ordered two induction-ready skillets and some replacement saucepans. I have several pans I should get rid of because they don’t cooperate with induction. Time to visit the Salvation Army, I guess.

The thermometer will make barbecuing easier.

The runup to the election has been unpleasant. I would hate to see a great president who honors God and puts his country first put out of office by witches, terrorists, a corrupt and vile press, the Chinese, and a lying, demented hack no one in his own corrupt party respects. Now that there is nothing to do but watch and pray, I feel better. If Biden wins, it won’t harm me personally. God looks after me regardless of what happens around me. Other people won’t fare so well, but they will be getting what they chose, and I don’t have the power to control their actions.

I will try not to watch the returns, and I hope I can sleep without help. I don’t want to find myself staring at the computer at 3 a.m.

I hope I won’t continue watching the news after today, apart from occasional glances. I hate reading the news. Smith Wigglesworth wouldn’t allow newspapers in his house, and he did just fine.

It’s nice to have pleasant projects to pass the time during what could have been a rough day. Hope everyone who reads this has peace. Don’t forget: our president isn’t the source of your safety and blessings, so there is no reason to despair if a man the Democrats rejected for three decades somehow wins the prize. Like all hard times, a Biden rule would be hardest on people who don’t know God.

“You Have Already Been Found Guilty; Now we Must Look for the Evidence”

They say the Internet is forever. I have thought about this a lot. When you have a blog that amounts to more writing than a medium-sized dictionary, and when there are uninvited organizations that gather and store whatever you publish, there is zero hope of deleting your words and claiming you never wrote them. When twisted leftists rivaling Castro and Pol Pot run America, they will have a mountain of evidence to use against me when they purge society of deplorables and bitter clingers.

I’ve written a lot about firearms, and recently, I’ve written about my concern that the terrorists whose events are erupting like carbuncles all over America will one day show up on my farm to do me in, making it necessary that I either shoot them or accept martyrdom quickly.

“Red flag” laws are popular now. The idea is that if there is evidence a person is likely to commit violent crime, the state should drop in, take all of his firearms, and take whatever other action it finds appropriate. Have I red-flagged myself by writing about the possibility that I will have motivation to shoot people? Are you in the same boat? Have you posted things on the web that might tick the right boxes?

When the true kooks take over, the red-flag threshold will be very low. Owning a gun should do it. As of now, in a time when those in charge in my state are only mildly kooky, I believe you have to be a genuine, obvious head case to get in trouble. That’s probably more true in my county, where, my guess is, the sheriff himself would stand beside me and lay down fire from my front porch.

One of the things snowflakes look at when they determine whether a person is a dangerous nut is the number of firearms that person owns. They also look at ammunition. Anyone who has more than two guns or a hundred rounds has what is known as a “home arsenal.” The correct term for a big stockpile of arms and ammunition is “armory,” but never mind.

Snowflakes don’t know one type of gun from another. If they knew anything about guns, they wouldn’t be snowflakes. They think rifles and shotguns are the same things. They think semiautomatics are machine guns. A person who has 10 hunting weapons and one pistol for self-defense has a “home arsenal” as far as your average journalist is concerned.

Snowflakes don’t know the difference between a cache compiled in anticipation of conflict and a sporting weapons collection. They don’t know how many rounds a normal, law-abiding enthusiast might reasonably go through in a month. They can’t distinguish between stockpiles created by crackpots and ordinary reserves gathered by ordinary people who have nothing but good intentions.

Contrary to what snowflakes think, a box containing a thousand rounds of ammunition is not a cache. It’s enough for 10 normal range days, assuming you’re a frugal shooter. It’s completely reasonable, and for someone who likes to practice, it makes good economic sense to have 20 or 30 times that much. Every time you buy ammunition online (the cheapest way), you have to pay for shipping, and very often, the cost is the same whether you buy 1000 rounds or one round. You would have to be simple to buy small amounts. Also, America has a history of shortages now, so stocking up is just common sense. On top of that, it’s a good investment. If I had bought 1000 boxes of 9mm ammo at $8 per box last year, could sell it this year for $30 per box, and people would kiss my feet to get it.

Snowflakes can’t tell the difference between Fudds, 2A proponents who are firm but not aggressive, and Boogaloo, NFAC-style morons who pray for the day they can put on their plate carriers and shoot random citizens.

A Fudd, named for Elmer Fudd, is a left-of-center fake 2A proponent. Somehow, these people have gotten the idea that the Second Amendment has something to do with hunting. They think they should be allowed to have low-capacity rifles and shotguns for shooting animals, but they’re all for banning weapons that are actually useful for self-defense. Fudds are a problem because in their ignorance, they contaminate the true 2A community and drag everyone else down with them.

A sane 2A proponent understands that our Constitutional was written solely to allow citizens to own and carry military-style arms. Such a person objects to laws that infringe those rights, but he doesn’t sit around at night playing violent video games and wishing they were real.

Boogaloo-style nuts are mindless, hateful anarchists who are socially stunted and haven’t developed normal human characteristics like love, compassion, or a concern for fairness. They like firearms and firearms rights for the worst possible reasons, many are not conservative, and they probably represent less than 1% of the 2A crowd.

Snowflakes think anyone who has a lot of guns is a maniac waiting to snap. Well, maybe I should not do this, but I’ll be transparent. I have a fair number of guns, but when it comes to defensive weapons, the list is pretty short. I have a small number of defensive rifles and pistols. The other guns are for fun.

It’s true that my other guns COULD be used defensively, as could kitchen knives. I don’t think of them as tools of violence, though. I admit, I ordered myself a red dot scope just in case anyone ever needs to use my AR-15 to preserve human life or prevent a forcible felony, but I consider the AR-15 to be a poor choice for self-defense, and I bought it for pleasure. I have some revolvers, but revolvers are sorry choices for violent confrontations. They’re heavy, they take a long time to reload, they have low capacities, and they jam just like automatics.

Some people defend revolvers, but the truth is that a revolver is always a second choice. No informed person carries a revolver unless there is some reason why he can’t carry a semiautomatic.

So anyway, as HOME ARSENALS go, mine is pretty ordinary, except that I was smart enough to buy ammunition before things went crazy.

As for my intentions, you would have to be extremely determined and very persistent to get me to shoot at you, and you would almost certainly have to be in the process of invading my home. Do they red-flag people for threatening to process home invaders? Not yet. Not in Florida, I mean. Next year? Maybe.

I have never desired to join a militia, where I might have to take orders from a guy who works at Tractor Supply, and I am positive guerrilla warfare and civil war are not the answers to our problems.

I suppose I’m safe until the hard core wack jobs take over. May I be gone from the earth before that happens. I’m sure they would join me in that wish.

Maybe you’ve been cagey and kept your beliefs and capabilities off the web. Good for you. The rest of us will understand if you put on Biden hats and wave at us when they haul us away.

One More Cloud in the 2020 Perfect Storm

For a long time, I’ve been expecting a Trump victory followed by a huge, prolonged, possibly unending explosion of leftist terrorist riots. Tonight, it occurred to me that something even worse might happen.

Most Democrats have already voted. They’re terrified of coronavirus because they’re addicted to the screeching, unscientific nonsense coming from leftist networks and politicians, so they were afraid to go to the polls. Republicans have generally chosen to wait until election day to vote. As a result, we have a situation in which conservative votes could be disproportionately suppressed if terrorists rioted and kept people away from the polls.

The question is whether the terrorists are smart enough to understand this. If they are, they will surely riot. If that happens, and there is significant voter suppression, the election may be delegitimized, and we may end up in a situation in which the President justifiably refuses to vacate the White House until a fair election is held. That would throw the nation into chaos for months.

I’m writing this to ask people to pray terrorists will stay home tomorrow. Maybe God can influence them without violating their free will.

It looks like Pennsylvania is the new Florida. Florida used to be the state that gave everyone heartburn during elections. Trump is doing very well in Pennsylvania, the state’s attorney general has made an ass of himself by declaring that Trump can’t win the state, and Philadelphia is a current terror hot spot. Maybe Pennsylvania will be the spark that sets off the civil war.

Of course, it maybe that terrorists will disproportionately suppress Democrat votes, since they concentrate in leftist strongholds. Maybe their plan will blow up on them. But I don’t think that could happen. Even in cities, the remaining voters are probably mostly conservatives.

Anyway, I’m throwing the topic out there and suggesting people pray.

Isn’t Democracy Wonderful?

Today I dove deeper into the sea of pre-post-election-dystopia preparation. I picked up some more panic-related items while I was shopping.

I grabbed a bottle of ghee. I don’t know how well butter will keep if left-wing terrorists manage to mess with the power, but I want to be able to make macaroni and cheese while the apocalypse dawns. I picked up 8 cans of evaporated milk, and I may go back and buy Velveeta. It may not be cheese, but it’s pretty close, and bacteria are afraid of it.

I bought oatmeal and disinfecting wipes, too. Oatmeal can be eaten raw, and sanitizing wipes are supposedly in danger of vanishing again, just as they started reappearing on shelves. I love sanitizing wipes. Being without them is not an option.

I should dry apples. I should do that whether or not the world ends. Dried apples are wonderful.

Right now, I’m smoking a chicken. I still haven’t produced a decent smoked chicken with the new smoker. I used too much of this and that. Hoping for a home run this time.

I injected it with Jim Beam, salt, and sugar, and I gave it a cautious sprinkling of my BBQ rub. I’m smoking it with citrus wood taken from the diseased trees I had to cut down. I don’t know if citrus is the best choice, but I want to see what it tastes like, and even if it’s not optimal, it will surely be good.

I have a wireless thermometer on the way so I can keep a close eye on future smokes. It has two probes. One will go in the food, and the other will measure the smoker temperature.

I guess I should have waited until tomorrow to smoke the chicken, because I still have some smoked ribs. Oh, well. I’ll manage to deal with the surplus.

Some time tomorrow night, we should have some idea whether or not America is irredeemably insane. They say mail-in ballots may delay the election results, but we’ll probably have strong evidence as to who won. I hate to think of Kamala Harris running this country. She strikes me as a nastier person than Biden, which is saying a lot, and she’s the farthest-left senator we have. She will do incredibly stupid things if she finds her way into the Oval Office. When I pray, I keep feeling very strongly that Trump is going to win. That would be wonderful. The morning of November 9, 2016, was one of the best of my life. Reliving it would be even better.

I just found out I’m better prepared than I thought. When I moved 3 years ago, I left a box of junk in the garage and ignored it. Today I looked inside and found 4,000 pistol primers, a bunch of brass, and unused pistol bullets.

Anyone who says laziness doesn’t pay is a fool.

More

The chicken did not make me happy.

I have come to the conclusion that the people who wrote the directions that came with the smoker know a lot about how much wood to use but not much about anything else. Today I set my smoker at about 225, and I cooked the chicken until it hit 172 inside. The directions said to go to 165, but it just didn’t seem right. Anyway, I was only a few minutes off, and the chicken was extremely juicy but tough.

I think I need to go back to my old ways. Go down to 200 and go 4 hours. It invariably worked. If you can pick your barbecued chicken up by the leg, it’s no good. The leg should fall off. I don’t want a chicken that fights with me.

I stuck the chicken in the oven in a covered dish at 300, and I’m giving it an hour and a half. I know I can save it.

As for the citrus wood, I don’t like it. It reminds me of the smell of burning shrubs. Next time I’m using hickory again, and I’m going to cut up some oak so it dries out for future use.

The mac and cheese was wonderful, but I think I can make it better. I think I should forget about baking it, because that breaks the cheese into chewy clods. I like the chewy clods, but I also like smooth, silky cheese sauce. Next time, I’m going to make it in a saucepan on very low heat, move it to a casserole dish, and only bake it long enough to set the bread crumb crust. It will be magnificent.

Citrus might be good for smoking fish. People say it is. It’s not for chicken. Avoid.

Read This and Get Triggered

I finally got to try out my new Timney trigger at 100 yards. It looks like it works.

That’s 22 rounds from my Ruger Precision Rifle. I started in the center with two fouling shots of cheap ammo, and then I went around the bullseyes, starting at 7:00 and going clockwise. I put 5 rounds into each. The bullseyes on the left were shot with Hornady ELD Match 140-grain, and the ones on the left got 147-grain. Before I shot the last bullseye, I adjusted the scope to put my shots in the center.

I would call myself “giddy” at this moment.

There are three kinds of shooting problems. Lack of ability, bad equipment, and failure to understand the equipment. I was concerned that I might be dealing with the first problem. Not any more! Obviously, if I can get the right equipment and learn how to use it correctly, I can hit things.

The trigger that came with the gun was good by hunting standards, but Ruger fixed it so it would not go below a certain pull weight. I think the number is 2.5 pounds. You can change this by removing a spring, but I wanted to go first-class for once, so I bought a Timney trigger. I believe it sets at half a pound and goes off at a pound. I don’t remember. Anyway, it’s a very easy trigger to shoot. You can see the difference it makes. I would say it reduces the diameter of my groups by around 2/3.

My second group, not counting the fouling shots, really opened up, and it was still well under 1 MOA

The gun can shoot. The ammo can shoot. I can shoot. What a relief. Now instead of despairing about my potential, I can think about fine-tuning.

Hornady ELD is showing up for sale again, and I wanted to find out whether my gun preferred 140-grain or 147-grain before ordering more. I can’t see a difference, so I think the best thing is to get the weight that has the best ballistic coefficient. I can buy enough to keep me going until I figure handloading out.

Does my experience mean the original trigger is bad? I don’t know. I would think there must be people who could shoot this well with the stock parts. I am inclined to believe the problem wasn’t so much that the trigger was bad, but that I was not good at fighting suboptimal triggers. If that’s true, then I should be able to improve with all my guns.

Now that I have a load I like, I can head out to the long-range gun range I found and start learning. The cheap Sellier & Bellot FMJ I used today for fouling shots will be good enough for nearly anything I do out there, and when I get better, I can break out the good stuff and try to tighten my groups more.

The cool weather is starting here, so I should have a lot of good days for shooting at 100 yards on my farm. Tonight the bugs tried to eat me, and it rained in the afternoon so I couldn’t shoot until it was starting to get dim.

Should I buy any more junk for the gun? It has a new bolt shroud and the Timney trigger. Some people like Atlas bipods, but I’m not sure how a bipod can make a gun more accurate. Some people like fancy buttstocks, but I have no problems with the one the gun came with.

I think there are people who attack the equipment too much and their own problems too little. It really helps to have a gun you don’t have to fight, but tactical pants and $2500 scopes are not substitutes for criticizing your technique problems.

Should I try a real sniper caliber, like .300 Lapua? I see no reason to. The ammunition costs more, and it beats up your shoulder. Also, 6.5 Creedmoor is a real sniper caliber. It’s just not a super-crazy sniper caliber. If you can hit people at almost 1400 yards, you are a sniper. Carlos Hathcock couldn’t do that with his .30-06.

Next, I have to get the Tikka T3x out. If it shoots better than the RPR, I’m going to have mixed emotions. I have over $1600 in the Ruger, the Tikka was about $1000, and it’s a deer rifle.

Remember to stay out of my yard. It gets more dangerous every day!

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This is How You Prepare for Guests in 2020

Today I decided to take a small step toward preparing for post-election leftist terrorism. I looked into protective gear, and I ordered a red dot scope and a better laser for my rifles.

I have been through a number of elections, and I have been concerned about election outcomes before, but I can’t recall being concerned about the other side trying to harm me physically or take my home, my possessions, and my wealth. This is new, for the United States of America. I don’t think we’ve seen an atmosphere like this since Sherman marched through Georgia.

I’m not overreacting, either. Leftist terrorism started months ago, so no one can say I’m concerned about something that isn’t going to happen. It’s happening today. It happens every day. The only uncertainty concerns degree and duration. Will the terrorism decrease or increase? Will it go away quickly, or is it a permanent part of a new way of life?

It’s a permanent part of a new way of life. You can take that to the bank. The terrorists have no goal, so they have no reason to declare that their campaign of violence is over. When sane people fight for a cause, they have a goal in mind, and when they reach that goal, they stop. Leftist terrorists don’t have a goal that has been articulated or which can be achieved. Some say they will stop when racism is abolished. Of course, that can never happen. It would be like the abolition of bad table manners or shoplifting. There are nearly 8 billion people on earth, and they can’t all be changed. Even if they could, leftist terrorists redefine racism all the time. These days they say all white people are racists. That means racism can never end until all white people are killed. Terrorists have come up with a farcical goal which, to them, justifies unending anti-white racism and violence against innocent people.

Will terrorism decrease or increase after the election? I think it will ramp up until our cities and suburbs are Iraq-style “red zones,” at least where Democrats are in charge. Terrorists in such areas have no reason to quit, and they have ample incentive to continue. They get free stuff by looting. Many are paid by BLM, which is a multi-billion-dollar concern funded by insane Caucasians. The lowest people on earth, who would ordinarily be ignored, are now given bullhorns and the privilege of cursing at random citizens; they enjoy a certain type of local fame, so their already-swollen egos are pumped up. They don’t face prosecution. They don’t have to compensate their victims. What possible reason could they have for quitting? It’s not like they have productive careers they’re putting on hold.

Today I went so far as to look into body armor and helmets. I couldn’t resist. I’ve even considered spending $3000 on an infrared rifle scope so I can kill terrorists who invade my property at night.

Helmets are interesting. These days, armies use plastic helmets which can turn small-arms fire. They’re more resistant than the steel helmets our soldiers wore in Vietnam. There are problems with them, however. If you hit one near the rim, it’s much more likely to let a round go through. If you hit it once, you will shatter the plastic where the round lands, and the next round will either go through or push the shattered plastic in so far the round will shatter the wearer’s skull. Plastic helmets are only good for a few rounds.

A couple of companies have tried to market steel helmets made from better steel than the old Vietnam helmets. When you shoot these helmets, it doesn’t matter whether you’re near the rim. The protection is the same. And they don’t shatter, so if two rounds land in the same area, you aren’t relying on a floppy mass of kevlar to protect you. They don’t deform as much as plastic helmets, so if you’re hit, the round is less likely to push the helmet into your skull. A damaged helmet can be pounded back into shape. And steel helmets don’t weigh any more than plastic ones.

People ridicule steel helmets. Do they know what they’re talking about, or are they like the backward folks who resisted the use of rifle scopes for 50 years? My guess is that steel is better, but asking me about ballistic helmets is like asking a podiatrist about astronomy.

Steel bashers say plastic helmets confine bullet fragments after they’re hit, while steel bounces them in random directions. You can coat a steel helmet with stuff that supposedly reduces this problem, but does it work? And is the risk of being hit by fragments more important than the higher risk of being killed by an intact round while wearing plastic? I don’t know.

You can get a used military helmet for $200 on Ebay. A new steel helmet costs the same amount, without accessories. A new plastic helmet from a top company like Wendy will run over a grand. That’s a lot of money for a helmet that caves in and becomes flexible after one round. Are you supposed to buy several and keep spares on hand in a conflict?

Here’s the only thing I know for sure: protecting your head from bullets is very expensive.

I checked out vests called “plate carriers.” They have pockets for armor made from steel and other materials. Depending on how badly you want to stay alive, you can get different types of plates. Supposedly, ceramic is the best, but if you drop one, you ruin it. I don’t get that. How can a plate that can’t be dropped survive a rifle round? There are also bare steel plates, which throw fragments, and there are coated steel plates which throw fewer fragments. And some plates are heavier than others.

It looks like I would have to blow close to $700 to get something that would work against typical rifles.

When you start thinking about preparing for war, you understand how inexpensive peace is.

There is good news. The best material for building bulletproof barriers is cheap. It’s sand. You just need bags. It’s too bad you can’t buy a vest full of sand, plus a sand helmet.

I think it will be a long time before terrorists make it to my farm, but many people aren’t so blessed. I wonder what people who are stuck in cities are feeling right now. I wonder about people who live in suburbs that are close to cities. They used to be safe from rioting, but the terrorists are now making a point of taking it to people who fled cities for protection.

Not only are people close to cities more likely to be harmed; they are more likely to be prosecuted for defending themselves. Look at the McCloskeys and Kyle Rittenhouse. Where I live, the McCloskeys would never have been charged, and Rittenhouse–as pure a victim as has ever existed–would have been given a parade. If you’re trespassing on my land with a weapon and bad intentions, I can shoot you dead, and that will be the end of it. If I lived in a place like Chicago or Austin or Atlanta, and an armed invader approached, I would have to choose between death and a high likelihood of a bankrupting prosecution followed by an unjust imprisonment.

I’ll say it again: the rapture can’t come soon enough.

The Bible calls the tribulation “the hour of temptation.” Murderous feelings will increase, and people will menace each other. Leftist terrorists are in tribulation mode already. When you know a group of evil, incorrigible, unthinking people are out to get you, you will naturally be provoked to anger. Provocation is a form of temptation. It’s one of the things raptured Christians will be spared. God doesn’t want us to be down here dealing with extreme temptation which is likely to land us in hell due to bad decisions.

God raptured me out of Miami, and if I play my cards right, he will rapture me off the earth before I find myself looking up the barrel of my rifle at a deranged animal in man’s clothing.

I’m still preparing a little. If I had more certainty about the immediate future, maybe I wouldn’t bother.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Harder

I have to point out that there is nothing as great as living in the South. It’s like a big playground for adults. If you’ve ever watched Ducky Dynasty, you’ve seen exactly what I’m talking about. You may think that show is all fantasy, but the truth is that it shows exactly how Southerners live.

If you’re jealous, take heart. You can always move. My Uncle Jim was born a yankee, but he moved to Kentucky, and in a few years, he was totally healed.

Today I went to the heterosexual barber shop where I always get my hair cut. I wore a MAGA hat, and I thought I might stand out among the customers. A couple of guys who only spoke Spanish were in the chairs when I arrived, and they kept quiet. Soon afterward, another man arrived.

The barber said, “It’s Mr. Trump himself.”

The man was about 5’11” tall and weighed maybe 135 pounds. He was wearing a MAGA visor, the sides of his head were cut close, and on top of his head, he had a puff of orange hair that looked like a pom-pom.

Best of all, he had a Bush tall boy in his hand. And no intention of getting a haircut.

I told the barber I didn’t realize alcohol was allowed, and he asked me if I wanted a beer from the fridge. I turned it down, but the gesture warmed my heart.

I could not drink; I had to drive to Harbor Freight. Also…Busch.

Mr. Trump told us about the rallies he had been to. He said there was one in The Villages–the giant retirement complex to the south of me–drew over 10,000 golf carts. I don’t recall the exact figure. Golf carts! How Southern is that? And of course, he had a story about an idiot who grabbed someone’s Trump flag and ripped it. The perpetrator ran off in a pickup, but his triumphant escape was cut short by a traffic accident. Remarkably, no one in the shop gloated.

Only one person–another quiet individual who could have been Mexican–wore a mask. The rest of us criticized coronavirus hysteria and talked about the horrors of a Biden administration. The barber said if they tried to lock the shop down or pull any more shenanigans, he would just go to jail instead of cooperating. Of course, jail is one of the few places in this county where you’re highly likely to catch the bug.

If Biden wins and the rapture doesn’t come this year, at least I picked a great place to die.

By the way, Harbor Freight has a 15% coupon on tool chests. That’s pretty rare. It expires tomorrow, so strap one to your golf cart and take it home.

Scratch That off the List

Three projects are behind me now: my welding cart, smoked ribs, and mac and cheese. Well, four projects if you include my new kitchen blackboard. I put a list of things to do on it. “Paint cart” is at the top.

The ribs are fine, except I think I should decrease the salt and avoid using too much rub. The mac and cheese was gritty in spite of using starch instead of flour. I’m melting the cheese too fast. The cart is just about perfect. Here it is.

I was going to wait for the paint to cure completely before assembling it, but it looked like it would hold up, so I moved ahead.

I already put two welders on it. I need to get a bigger C25 bottle. Perhaps tomorrow.

Once I get things settled, I’ll decide where to put cord hangers.

I hate to sell my Harbor Freight Vulcan cart. It’s a great tool. I just don’t need it any more. My Eastwood carts are okay, but they’re cumbersome, and they always seem to be in the way.

I plan to build a second cart as soon as possible. The workshop has to be tamed, and welding carts are central to the plan. Today after I finished this one, I experienced a taste of my future. Some Vise Grips and other tools were lying around in the way, and I grabbed them and put them in the cart’s drawers. It felt wonderful. I couldn’t see them any more.

I should probably be building a bulletproof cart with rifle ports so I can welcome uninvited Biden supporters (undocumented guests) in November and December, but maybe they’ll be too busy killing Republicans and running over cops in their own cities to visit me out here.

I wore my MAGA hat while running errands today and yesterday, and it seemed like I couldn’t go to a single store without being accosted and congratulated on my good taste. A guy who was rounding up grocery carts told me we had to keep praying.

I have 48 cans of tuna, my own well, and enough ammunition to kill a small city. I hope the rapture comes in December. If not, I think I will still make it through January.

Jim Beam and Corn Starch Trial #1

Our nation is hurtling downward toward chaos, BLM is trying to kill cops in Philadelphia, Christians are predicting a 2020 rapture, and what am I doing? I’m smoking ribs.

I’ve been eating cheeseburgers for lunch. There is nothing wrong with that, but I don’t want to eat a big cheeseburger every day from now on. When I got my new smoker, one of my hopes was that I would be able to increase my protein and fat consumption in style, while–I told myself–reducing refined carbs. Ribs and many other smoked meats aren’t served with buns.

I’m going to try to smoke once a week. That will cover me for three dinners.

Yesterday, I went to Walmart to buy motor oil. You should know about Walmart’s oil prices. Advance Auto Parts had a sale on oil, and it would have cost me about $40 to do one change, with a dubious filter included. I bought 6 quarts of synthetic oil at Walmart yesterday for about $16, and I bought a Fram Titanium filter at Advance. My total cost will be around $28. Not bad.

Anyway, Walmart’s price for St. Louis ribs was pretty good, so I picked some up. They’re smoking right now.

I wanted to marinate them, but I don’t like wasting marinade. I like to use liquor, so a pint costs a lot. Today I tried a new strategy.

Ribs come in shrink wrap. I have giant cattle hypodermics. I made a mixture of Jim Beam, sugar, and salt, and I shot it into the rib package through a tiny hole. I tried to cover the hole with tape, but it wouldn’t stick. I should have tried a waterproof bandage. Anyhow, it was not a problem. The plastic confined the marinade close to the ribs, and none spilled. I was able to rotate the package and distribute the marinade, and I put the package on the counter, meat side down, for half an hour.

It worked really well.

I used around half a cup of liquor. I can’t think of a better use for it. I wish it wasn’t a brand promoted by Mila Kunis, a well-known proponent of the murder of unborn babies, but it will do the job.

Last year, Jim Beam (part of a Japanese company) suffered a huge warehouse fire and lost 45,000 barrels of liquor. They told the press the lost whiskey was “young.” Eerie.

Smoking meat with a rub is not hard at all. I make my rub, put the meat on a towel, apply the rub, put the meat in the smoker, shake the towel out in the yard, and put the towel in the laundry. No mess to speak of.

As for my carb intentions, things are not going as well. The other day, I was starving after a long fabricating session, and I decided to throw some old stuff together and make macaroni and cheese. I got to thinking about it, and I wondered if putting flour in the sauce was a good idea. Flour doesn’t convert completely into a gel. Even in gravy or a roux, it’s slightly gritty. It occurred to me that starch might work better.

I Googled around, and sure enough, people do use starch. I’m going to try it today. I’m also going to use a block of cheese instead of shredded, because shredded cheese has tiny cellulose fibers in it.

The trick to making ribs part of a healthy diet is to stop thinking of them as special-occasion food. Ordinarily, when I eat ribs, it’s a big deal, so I want Texas toast, beans, mac and cheese, and dessert. The key is to think of ribs as just another protein.

Clearly, I have not met that goal yet.

The Smokin-It smoker is a joy to use. Highly recommended.

Workshop-Destroying Decluttering Project Nears Completion

The welding cart project is 95% done.

Today I welded some upright tubes on the tank platform. I thought they would be useful for holding little bars for hanging cables and cords. I haven’t welded any bars to them because I want to put the machines on the cart first. I thought that would give me a better idea where the bars should go.

When I was done welding, I separated the project from the chest and shot truck bed paint on it. It’s drying now.

Tomorrow, I plan to bolt the project onto the cart, put the machines on it, stuff it with welding tools, and clean up the shop. Then I’ll make decisions about welding hangers on it. I’ll have to grind some of the paint off in order to weld them on, but I thought it was better to do some of the paint over than to have to cut bars off and move them. That would require removing paint anyway.

I managed to flash myself while doing a tack weld. I had reading glasses on. Presumably, they absorbed some of the UV rays, but how much? I’ve been praying and using my supernatural tools to prevent pain and discomfort from developing.

It’s not a big deal. Every welder flashes himself sooner or later. Flash injuries are fleeting. Still, it’s frustrating to forget something so important.

There have been times in the past when I thought I had flashed myself, but I never had any pain later, so I was wrong, I was healed by God, or I didn’t get enough radiation to cause problems.

Once this thing is up and running, I’ll use it to make a second one for two other machines. Two new tool chests will really free up storage space.

So Close

I’m here to give an update on my welding cart project.

As usual, I am spending a lot of time trying to get materials and tools, and I am also making errors and changing the design. As a result, I’m not finished yet.

The cart will have an upper restraint for the bottles, and it will be steel plate. It will have 4 holes in it for TIG wire tubes. Today I drilled the holes.

I decided to make 2″ holes. I can’t see myself using tubes any bigger than that. I did not have a 2″ hole saw, and my hole saw arbor was lodged pretty well in a 2-1/4″ saw. I would guess it took me 20 minutes to get the arbor out, and then when I went to Tractor Supply to buy the saw their website said was in stock, I got skunked. Had to drive to Ace Hardware, miles away. I’m glad I did, because they had a saw with carbide teeth.

I measured carefully and started drilling holes. Then I looked at the finished work. I had drilled one hole about 1/4″ away from its intended location. It’s not easy getting a hole saw pilot drill into a small pilot hole, and apparently, I missed.

I wasn’t having it. I took a disk of steel I had just cut out of the plate, welded it back in, and ground it fair. Then I drilled a new hole. I guess I added 45 minutes of work to my day. Polishing the holes up took a while.

After that, nothing important went bad.

I made two tabs to attach the restraint to the cart. I drilled holes in them and attached them to the cart. Then I held the restraint in place and marked the locations of the tabs. After that, I had to weld them to the restraint.

With that done, I needed something to prevent the bottoms of my TIG tubes from sliding around. I bent a piece of flat bar on the finger brake, but I could only put one bend in it, and I needed a U-shaped bar with two bends. The required bends were too close together to work on the brake. My solution was to heat the bar with a torch and bend it in a vise.

I welded it to the bottle platform, and it came out pretty well.

I still needed two restraints for the outboard tubes. I cut 1″ pieces off a length of angle iron, cleaned them up and welded them down. Two of them are only tacked. It’s not possible to get behind them to weld, so I’m waiting until I take the platform off to weld them.

What remains? I plan to drill four holes in the upper restraint. I’ll use false links to attach chains to two of the holes, and I’ll use snap links to attach them to the other two. Then I’ll put tabs on the bottle platform to keep the bottles from wandering.

After that, I have to think about brackets to hold cables and cords. I may paint the existing work and finish it first. Once I’ve used the cart, I’ll have a better idea how to handle the cable brackets.

That’s about it. It’s going to work. The next cart should go much, much faster. I’ll know exactly what to buy, and I’ll have it on hand. I’ll also have a finished plan.

My workshop is in chaos. There are chips and filings all over the floor, along with cardboard from the tool chest box and bits of fallen metal. Tools are all over the place. I can’t wait to start shoving things into the new chest.

I may put the Titanium welder and the plasma cutter on this cart. I was thinking of putting the AC/DC TIG on it, next to the Titanium, but I seem to use plasma a lot, and I want this to be my number one cart. I don’t need two bottles for a welder and a plasma cutter, though. Maybe I can use the current shelf on the next cart and make a different one for this one. I could set it up for one bottle and use the extra space for a bracket to hold the plasma cutter’s air filter.

Anyway, success is fun.

Project Revived by Dose of Plasma

I got myself some more metal today, and I went back to work on the welding cart project.

This project should take a day, plus time for paint to dry. I had problems locating bolts, however, and then I decided to make the job harder than it had to be. I could have made a very simple top bracket for the bottles, but I’m making a fairly nice one that will hold TIG wire.

I had to make a plate with round recesses for the tanks. I didn’t HAVE to; I could have put something simple together from flat bar, or I could have made square or V-shaped recesses. But I wanted round recesses. That meant cutting steel.

I decided to use plasma. That meant I would need something to guide the torch. I thought a lot, and then I remembered I had several large cans of pizza sauce. They’re just the right size. If you press a torch against one and go around it, you get a cut just right for a 7″ bottle.

I won’t go into the complicated workholding solution needed to make this work, but I found a way to fasten the metal down, and I made the cuts. I left a little steel uncut to hold the plate together. Then I cut out the unnecessary steel and used the flap wheel to clean everything up.

Here is the result.

Should be perfect. I just need to weld brackets to it to attach it to the cart. I also have to drill the TIG-wire holds.

It should take half an hour to weld brackets on it, and if I don’t blow it, cutting the holes should be another 15 minutes. Then I have to add chain attachments and paint.

It’s basically done. Not hard at all.

Some carts like this have widened wheelbases under the bottles. I don’t see a need for that. You could knock it over with a car if you tried, but then you could also do that if it were 6″ wider. Short of a vehicle collision, nothing is going to topple it.

If I decide I’m wrong, adding a little steel and moving casters will be easy.

I can’t wait to get finished. The more I work on this thing, the more I realize I need it. There is clutter all over my welding table. I can barely see it. Most of that junk would be inside the tool chest if it were operational.

As soon as this thing comes together, I plan to fill it up and move one empty cart outdoors. Then I plan to get another tool chest and do the job over again, for my other MIG and my plasma cutter. Then I can sweep about 50 pounds of chips, steel filings, and grit off the workshop floor.

After that, I may actually buy a real welding table.

I’m in a frustrating position. The shop is a mess because I’m doing a project, but the finished project is needed to conquer the mess.

The pizza sauce can was not harmed. Thank God for that. That stuff is gold.