April Jam!

New Google Ad!

I get one for Combat Arms, a 1st Shooter game that is apparently programmed by the guys from Jackass because they seem to take great joy in the nut shot.

Not cool.

Warning Stupid Story Ahead!
One time I was playing paintball with a bunch of friends at a bachelor party and we were playing a scenario which was the equivalent of clearing a building. Somehow I managed to sneak into the ground floor and through a hole in the floor, popped up in the middle of an upstairs room full of the “enemy.”

Normally, I would have pulled the trigger but refrained because of the upward angle of my gun + what body parts I could see and considering the poor accuracy of the gun, I would have more than likely bagged several of my friends (including the groom) with paintballs moving at 250 feet per second. I did not and instead called them out to surrender.

My act of mercy was rewarded with getting my head plastered with paint proving yet again that no good deed goes unpunished.

They did not realize how their reproductive lives were at my mercy till the post game beers as they did not see me till I yelled at them.

I’m getting a ‘work at home’ ad, which is funny because I rarely actually “work” at the office.

OMG Tommcatt your puppeh is the cutest! I literally squealed when I saw those pics–good thing I live alone.

Okay, Tommcatt.

I understand why you can’t say no to him. Damn puppy dog eyes.

Wow what a cute pup. I look at that picture and the inside of my head starts to feel like a warm sunny spring day. What a handsome boy he will grow up to be! Some babysitting maybe he needs? You know, when you need some respite from the exhausting job of basking in the cuteness?

@ManchuCandidate: No joke. Best. Puppeh. Sad. Eyes. Ever.
Kitteh is the war zone is such a touching picture.

@ManchuCandidate: After close study of the picture of your old cubicle, I began to wonder if you had called in a professional interior decorator for it, and if so, where said decorator hailed from. My guess is Sparta.

Conehead puppeh v. Conehead kitteh!!!

TommCatt, your baby is SOOOOOOOO cute!!! My head and teeth are aching from the cuteness.

Senior canine and Otto are v. adorable too.

Cynica – how’s your boy?

@lynnlightfoot:
Mostly true, I’ve preferred the Spartan but messy office. All the Dilbert cartoons clippings are on the hidden portions.

Cyn, you cat looks reeeeealy pissed.

OMFG Tommm that is one adorable puppy! I gasped! I also like that it looks like his penis is sort of sticking out, which somehow reminds me of you. Apropos, as it were.

@SanFranLefty: Gwyddy goes back to vet on Monday, but he’s not healing as well as they–not to mention I–had hoped. I just need reassurance from them that it’s NOT cancer and that he isn’t suffering. Past that, I can deal. But right now, I cry a lot.

@homofascist: Your niece and nephew are very cute, too. I guess we overlooked them in our excitement over the furbabies.

Finally got on the webz today. See the SM Stinque Out on the Jam!

@redmanlaw: You would never confuse that group with a bunch of proto cannibal anarchists. Y’all clean up real nicely!

baked, I love the Purim photos!

@redmanlaw: Good job by RML Jr. taking pictures of the Stinque up. You all look so respectable there.

@redmanlaw: Great portrait shot wih the reflective profile of the waitress, though you were obscure a little too much. Still, slick composition.

The beer. What is it? What was it like?

@redmanlaw: @Nabisco: @SanFranLefty: @FlyingChainSaw: I enjoy the composition of the two straight guys with beers and the homo with the martini. It just seems so…right.

@FlyingChainSaw: Newcastle Nut Brown Ale.

@homofascist: “The Homo With The Martini” is a title you can do a lot with.

Whose Orkney photo? I was there 12 yrs ago and loved it. Took a great sunset photo taken at the stone circle that looked like a Van Morrison album cover (in a good way). All photos lost somewhere along the line, unfortunately.

@redmanlaw:
I was looking for a nice tight six shot spread on the target serving as background for the revolver porn. Are we to assume you completely missed the target with all six shots?

@Dodgerblue: “The Homo With The Martini”

I think that’s an unreleased Capitol album by Sinatra.

@Hose Manikin: Check the jam.

@nojo: I was dying for a martini myself but I gave it up for Lent, as Mrs RML reminded me at the table.

@Mistress Cynica: It’s mine but the compression kills the chromatic nuances of the moment. The processor lost many of my compositions – one roll; only time it ever happened – from that excursion though I still have a number of presentable compositions of the standing stones of Callanish at the Isle of Lewis, which is where I more or less started that Hebrides idyll. Gives me an excuse to return. Still got a wee bottle of Highland Park in the cupboard, but not from that trip.

@nojo: I never liked the Nelson Riddle arrangements. Just let the guy sing, fer chrissakes.

@redmanlaw: Impressive. And the martini looks good too.

Added a pic from a fall trip to Michigan that fits with this month’s guns and dogs theme. It was that or a picture of my messy desk.

@homofascist: Well, it’s not like TommCatt had a cosmo – that would have been a cliche come to life.
@FlyingChainSaw: Are cameras allowed at the SF stinque up or do you want to continue to be incognito?

@libertarian tool: Puppeh seems to be looking askance at the rifles. He’s adorable.

@Mistress Cynica: Close, but not quite. He is looking askance – not at the shotguns – but rather at the gun bearers, who were unable to hit any of the birds he flushed with great effort and enthusiasm. The correct translation of that look is “Hey – I’m doing my part. WTF is it with you guys?”

@libertarian tool: I have a Savage Model 28 12 ga pump action shotgun built between 1928-34 that looks almost exactly like your Model 1897. Originally my father in law’s duck and goose gun, it also has an aftermarket Cutt’s variable choke on it. Has a little bit of a feeding problem from the magazine that the gunsmith could not fix to either of our satisfaction so it’s effectively a single shot now. It was the backup for turkey hunting to my Mossberg 500 20 ga until I got a 3 in Mossberg 500 12 ga in cammo w/cool fiber optic sights for turkey. I’ll be heading out in about three weeks or so for the spring hunt and to shoot something for the May jam. Love that photo.

@redmanlaw:
We did not actually shoot the “1897”. It’s in great condition, and we took it to a gun shop to get it checked out. The guy there said it was fine but that we shouldn’t shoot it because it is a collector’s item. In fact, there was a collector in the store who asked us if we wanted to sell it. No interest in selling a family heirloom, of course, but we decided not to use it anyway. Our concern was whether modern loads would be too much for the gun. Perhaps that is something you can advise me on. I just have this overwhelming sense that my grandfather would be rolling his eyes and smacking the both of us on the back of the head saying “It’s a gun. Use it!”

Anyway, the conversation in the gunshop stimulated my interest, so did a little internet research. It turns out that model had quite a history. You can load six shells, and it does not have a trigger interlock. If you hold the trigger, it’ll fire as fast as you can pump it. A militarized version of the gun was the weapon of choice in WWI, and known as the “trench sweeper”. It was also favored by law enforcement during prohibition. First guy through the door always had an “1897”.

Good luck in May. I’ll be back in the UP end of May, but it’ll be strictly a fishing trip. We’ll probably annoy some more birds and shoot up the foliage again in the fall.

@libertarian tool: I don’t shot the ass kickin magnum turkey loads out of the Model 28 (anymore). I’m sticking to the lighter game loads now like (riffles thru ammo locker) 2 3/4 in – 3 1/4 dram equivalent – 1 1/8 oz powder charge by Kent, Winchester, et al in shot sizes 4 through 7 1/2. I have shot the 3 in 12 ga mags through the new Mossberg and they kick like fucking hell, so I stepped it down to the 2 3/4 in shells for the 12 ga.

I was shooting clay pigeons with my 20 ga and really liked it, but it’s nothing like going for a real game bird. So far the doves are kicking my ass out here, although I got some grouse last fall up near the local ski area. Found an old WPA trail marker up there from 1942 that I’ll have to shoot – er, photograph – for an upcoming jam.

Getting my 2009-10 general hunting and fishing license this week. Also gotta put in for draw hunts for deer and elk.