Halloween

Well, it's the second scariest day of the year (the scariest will be next Tuesday), and my day looks like this:

As soon as it's warm enough to work outside, I need to windrow the lawn then go back over it and suck up all the chopped litter. Drought has kept it dormant, genetics has kept most of it low, and Autumn has spread tons of pine straw across the majority of it. It's grown so little that I have not cut it for over a month, and I'm afraid that some little goblin will sprain an ankle on an errant pine cone tonight.

After I finish grinding the debris in the yard, it's off to the Firing Lane. I've got too much .45 ACP laying around the house, and the Smith needs the exercise. What am I saying? One can never have too much ammo. This fits my occasional philosophy: If some is good, and more is better, then too much is Just Enough.

When I've acquired a semi-permanent scent of burnt gunpowder, it's back home to be here when the Lovely Sara gets home from school. She can do her thing on the computer, and I can do my therapy cleaning the gun.

By the time she's picked up by her folks, it will be time to put Wally the Weather Dog in the fenced yard, and the little spooks should be hitting the driveway. I hope we have a ton of them. In years past, our neighborhood in Monroe was the easiest one for the folks south of town to hit. Thirty years of growth and new construction have created better places to Trick or Treat. There are other, more generous, areas for the candy seekers to visit, but we still get our fair share of short people being herded around by their folks.

Marilyn should be home from work at the local ER about the time the "looting" peaks, so I should be able to retreat to the den to recover.

It looks like it should be a good day.

If you're going to be out tonight, be safe and watch out for the short people.

OK, I've Been MIA for a While

Sorry. Y'all can flog me later.

But to make up for it, I'm going to shamelessly steal something from a good friend, and give it to everybody who reads this.

A couple of weeks ago, it was my good fortune to spend a Saturday in complete idleness, sitting near a campfire in the Georgia Mountains. The highlight of the day was my friend Greg, who is wasting his life messing with computers. He should have a big mushroom shaped white hat and an apron as his signature look. The man can make a Webber Kettle sing.

Thanks mainly to Greg, the menu at our camping excursions has progressed from Beenie-Weenies and sardines to White Bean Chili and Asian Marinated Flank Steak.

Herewith, the recipes for the Chili and Marinade.

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White bean Chili

This is Greg's creation and is very flexible. This is what he used on the "Saturday-to-die-for". You can adjust it in any fashion you wish,



4 lbs of ground chicken (Note, this is a LOT of meat).

8 to 12 tomatillo’s depending on size. He had ones that were about the size of a golf ball or just a tad larger. They can get like a medium tomato so if they are that large, use less.

3 cans of canelli beans

Green chili’s (He had one large can of whole and use about ¾ of it. Chopped) not hot, mild

2 serano chili’s or jalapeno seeded or not. If you want the heat, leave the seeds in

Juice of 3 limes

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon of black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt to taste

1 ½ quarts of chicken stock

2 medium to large sweet onion’s

2 or 3 poblano peppers. Charred, seeded and diced (to char place the pepper whole on a burner gas or electric and let the outer skin start to blacken. Keep turning till the entire pepper is charred usually about 3 to 4 min. then place in a paper or plastic bag for 5 to 10 min. closed. Then take the pepper and peel the outer skin off and remove the seeds and dice)

2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced



brown chicken with some canola oil in a pot, then add the onions and garlic when onions are ½ half cooked add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 60 to 90 min.



That should get you there.. use any kind beans and peppers you want and it will still work great.


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For the Asian marinated flank steak or any other kind of steak.

Marinade for 1 steak.

1 tablespoon of Sesame oil (dark oil)

2 tablespoons of fish sauce (you can find this on the ethnic isle of the store)

2 cloves of garlic chopped or minced

1 tablespoon of fresh ginger grated

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

Juice of 1 to 2 limes

½ cup soy sauce

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Stir together until oils and remainder of ingredients are mixed.

Take one flank steak and score with a knife across the grain on an angle about every 2 inches going 1/16 of an inch deep. Place the steak in a plastic bag and pour marinade over the meat and let sit at room temp for about 1 hour. Then refrigerate over night. Remove from refrigerator at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. Cook over the hot coals of the grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side or desired doneness.

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There you are. I hope this makes up for my absence.

My Dad and Big Boy's Toys

Disclaimer: If the pictures offend you, the "Back" button will take you someplace else.

My father, before he was my father, was a Staff Sargent with the 87th Infantry Division during WWII. He walked, rode trucks, and otherwise crossed a good portion of Europe (Cherbourg, France to Czechoslovakia, via Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany) from the Fall of 1944 through V-E Day in 1945. Along the way, he participated in the relief of the Bulge, and helped to liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. Before they sent him to Europe, he qualified Expert with most of the small arms in the U.S. inventory.

Suffice it to say, he knew which end of a firearm was the loud one, and his philosophy was that it was better to have one and not need it, than to need one and not have it. He did his best to impart this information and philosophy to me. He tried to teach me to be safe with weapons, to think of them, both edged and firearms, as tools, how to properly handle and care for them, and to enjoy trying to become proficient with them. I think it worked.

He's been gone for almost 18 years, and there's not a day that passes that I don't miss him. But, finding myself halfway down the long and winding road, I can look forward to seeing my sons pass this knowledge to their children, and look back with appreciation to the father that taught me.

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A couple of weeks ago, Bobby, Slade, and I descended on The Firing Lane in Athens (very much worth a visit if you're into guns) for an evening of good, loud, dirty fun. My .45s, .22, and Slade's .45 spent the best part of 45 minutes shredding paper at the indoor range. Between the three of us, we burned about 500 rounds of .45 ACP, 150 of .45 Colt, and 150 of .22. We reduced 6 targets to confetti, completely covered the floor with spent brass, undoubtedly did some permanent damage to our hearing, and absolutely enjoyed the heck out of the whole evening.

I enjoyed it so much, that I convinced my buddy Teddy to accompany me the following week for another 30 min session. I'm going back this week, too. It's fun, and I'm not nearly as good as I should be with the .45 auto. Practice, practice, practice. If I expect to live up to my father's example, I'll need to make this a regular event.

Besides, it gives me an excuse to share what I've learned with friends, sons, and sons-in-law and to have a wonderful time doing it.

There's not much more a man could want from a hobby, or a family.

Who needs The Weather Channel?

I certainly don't. I've got Wally the Weather Dog.

Here's how he works. You put him outside for a while, and when he comes back in, you know what the weather is like. If he's shivering, grab a coat. If he's coated in white, grab a snow shovel. If he's panting, it's gonna be hot.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the astute reader to determine what today's weather is doing. (Hint: So far today, it's done 2.91 inches of it.)