Easter Egg Hunt

With the kids getting a little older, we decided to take the tradition of an Easter egg "hunt" a little more literally.

Raw eggs make a lovely mess

But plastic eggs filled with flour make an even more satisfying "poof" sound and visual effect

Cleanup isn't as bad as you'd think; a .22 round leaves just a small hole

The Trials and Tribulations of Internet Access

 Ah, this rural life. For almost five years, we had no internet connection out here.

The tower-and-receiver-based service we were using when we first moved in became extremely unreliable, as the racist, sexist, bigoted, ignorant old hillbilly who provided it decided that an Xbox, UNPLUGGED FROM THE WALL, was somehow using too much bandwidth. He was able to remotely view exactly what we were looking at (and did it often; and told us what perverted things our neighbors were looking at, so I know this is something he spent a great deal of time doing), but was convinced we were circumventing his system, somehow. We were not. And we made sure to look up as much of the most disturbing porn we could just to piss him off before he disconnected us. Good riddance. He kept trying to sell us broken equipment anyway, and claimed we were somehow allowing it to get damaged within an hour of him installing it. Nope. Come get your crap, we're done here.

He never did come to get it, and we've left it on the roof, as our house is very tall, and on a high hill. Each time he comes to the neighborhood for another customer, I hope it fills his heart with joy to see the extra-large tripod he convinced us to install at the very end of our relationship, but we refused to pay for until it gave us results. It never did. But it's still there if he wants it. Along with the last receiver he said was "new." It's probably weathered a bit in five years, but with no visible damage to the roof, so it stays a bit longer.

Thus, five years without internet at home, and only checking in about once a month at libraries.

 Well, that is one thing that has changed. Satellite technology finally caught up to the fact that not everyone lives in an area with DSL lines, so NOW services are offered that work completely off the satellite receiver (as opposed to receiving through satellite, and sending through DSL. Now the signal goes both ways). SO rural customers can now get an internet connection without either relying on cell service (which is also bad in most rural locations!) or investing in military-grade equipment. Hurrah!

After being almost 100% offline for five years, Google decided to lock my account two years ago. I tried everything to get back in. Changed passwords. Contacted them with many different "trouble shooting" forms. Nothing helped. Everything lead back to an infinite loop. Until this week. I was in a waiting room with a sick kid for two hours (another joy of rural life: the walk-in clinic), and out of desperation, decided to create a Google Play account on my phone. What's this??? My Google account is magically accessible again!?  Well go figure! All it took was access to massive amounts of private real-time information and the potential to bill me for in-game purchases. You corporate pig sons of bitches.

So. Again, I blog.

Getting Out the Big Guns

The kids have been shooting bb guns and .22 rifles for a few years.  After a very long gun safety lecture/reminder and lots of instruction, they got to try out some of our 'big' guns this weekend.

R shot a single 9mm round through my husband's CZ 75 and was satisfied enough not to ask to fire another.  I believe it was the equivalent of letting a kid have a sip of beer so they realize they're not missing out on anything they would like just yet.

For W, we put a 410 insert into the 12 gauge.

Playing with Fire

Is there anything in all the world better for a kid than a magnesium fire stick? 

Didn't think so.

New Holster

Much sleeker; i could almost concealed carry with this baby.

That Gun is Too Big for You

I was driving through the country the other day, over the MO/AR state line, and came across a big, bright, shiny shooting range. I have no immediate need to visit a range, having a big back yard and no neighbors close enough to bother, but i thought what the heck, i could go in and see what they had to offer.

The guy behind the counter seemed nice: an older guy, Vietnam vet, and he did obviously know his stuff. I asked about his CCW, tactical, and self defense classes. We engaged in some friendly conversation, he asked what i did for a living (i'm a housewife) and what i was interested in firearms-wise.

However, a few things he said were a bit...well, contradictory. But not blatantly so. Example: I live just over the state line, and i mentioned that i had tried to buy a handgun in his state before, but was surprised to learn that it wasn't legal for a non-resident (shipping it to another dealer in my state was not offered as an option, so i didn't know that's how it's generally done). He said, "That's not true at all! You can absolutely buy a firearm in this state if you're a resident somewhere else. I ship all over the country!" But he didn't specify that he couldn't sell me anything but a hunting rifle and hand it to me over the counter that very day.  And he didn't specify that he wouldn't be mailing it to another dealer.  I think he should have mentioned that specifically, because let's be honest: not everyone knows how it works.

He's running a business and he's also a dealer. I totally get that. He has classes and merchandise to sell, and that's really tough in rural America. But the whole thing kind of reeked of salesman-ness and that made me a little uncomfortable.

Then he asked what i shoot at home (i obviously wasn't carrying), and i told him i have a Sig Sauer SP 2022. He actually winced and said that was way too big for me. I was shocked, because i have absolutely no trouble at all (open) carrying, chambering, shooting, or cleaning the thing. And i'm only vaguely interested in concealed carrying (i asked about the classes mostly to gauge his rates). Also, i'm not exactly a small lady at 5'6" and about 150 lbs.

Having never prepared a retort for such a statement (because no one that knows me has ever even joked that my gun was too big), I told him, "Well it seems to shoot just fine," but he proceeded to bring out several .380s for me to look at. I did politely look them over and handle them, and ask a few questions because i was trying to figure out why i "needed" one of these tiny things (which do not fit comfortably in my big-for-a-chick hands, btw), and the best i can figure is that he is one of those guys that really pushes concealed carry (which i
admittedly couldn't do with my SP 2022), and/or wanted to sell me something.

So what do you think? Honest guy making an honest living? Should i be offended? Was he right?

Kids Shooting