Brilliant Diversion

The noise of my wife showering awoke me, and I rolled over to sleep s'more - but peeked an eye out the blinds. Gray. I got a half-cup of coffe and turned on the 'puter to check the Surfline webcam for Steamer's Lane over the hill, and saw bright sun and clear skies at 9:00AM while everything here in Silicon Valley was wrapped in a cold layer of gray gloom and shadow.

Yay!! It was hard to believe given the vastly different circumstances, but we hurried to shower, grab a bite, and get on the road! My wife didn't want to waste valuable Vacation Hours sitting around in a drab and damp inversion layer.
As we climbed Highway 17 past nearly empty Lexington Reservoir, through tall trees and cloud-cover, we rose near the summit into brilliant blue skies. It was like flying an airplane (maybe F-150 as P-47 Thunderbolt), to see the clouds below and behind, and ahead stretched the hazy-bright steel-blue skies and a distant. fuzzy, horizon (Monterey across the Bay, socked-in). We dropped down the sinuous road into Santa Cruz and made for the coast and spent the day wandering from the Harbor to Capitola and back to the Crow's Nest (nice Bloody Mary's) doing some shopping.

I'm just the driver sometimes, but in this case it was a nice drive and a good getaway. The weather was warm and so I had the A/C on in the truck (and just a t-shirt) between various Hawaiian inspired shops and stores. The air was fresh and clear with the windows rolled-down, and the sun glinted brilliantly on the water and the sailboats going out to sea.

I just checked it a few minutes ago and I could still see some diehards out on boards, waiting to catch one last wave before darkness envelops them entirely...

UPDATE: linked to Surfline webcam at Steamer's Lane.

Oh Tannenbaum

We're gonna (try and) have a quiet and non-stressfull Christmas, hope it works for you like that too.

Christmas Surfari

I gots me some Christmassy tuneage. The Blue Hawaiians Christmas on Big Island is way bitchin' dude, and The Ventures ominously rock out Teh Merry Gentlemen with a Peter Gunn backbeat, while Los Straightjackets bring a spicy and tequila ridden La Bamba riff to Feliz Navidad and Christmas in Las Vegas is like a drunken pinball at a bowling pin match, pure Gin. Only The Makaha Sons present a reasonable bit of slack-key decorum.
UPDATE: Oh yeh, Our great Akua looks out for us, each and every sand flea, Shaka Kalikimaka!

Ninjariffic Cheapness

Clearly the stealthy boys in black with the soft-shoes are not out there busting the economy with their wheelbarrows of cash - they're Ninjas and they're thrifty. So how come nobody told me about Ninjacheapassery?

It doesn't depend on rubber-bands, those are for silent-but-deadly assaults.
It's the old Weaver 1-inch scope-ring light-mount trick!

Mounted at a 6-O'clock hold the fore-hand pushes on the momentary switch and a blinding shaft of light spears the eyes of the Ninja-foe! Arrgh!

Bam!

Next up, a VFG made from dried and tanned banana skins that has a natural jungle camouflagerie.

Winter Wonder-what? Global Warming My Ass!

It's always a bit surreal to see snow fall around here, especially when half the sky is bright blue with little fluffy white clouds and seagulls. But all around the mountains are ringed and capped with white - it's just The Bay that's absent any signs of winter. Driving up De-Anza Boulevard and staring up into the snow-covered hills above the reservoir was unusual, and looking back the other way to see the Est Bay Hills and the lower slopes of Mt. Hamilton briliantly lit-up in sunshine AND covered in snowe was also weird. I'll have to go out and grab some pictures.
Oh well, it happens more and more frequently - and the oceans are NOT rising - and Global Warming is nothing more than the world's biggest bullshit Long-Con, a job to tax you for what you exhale and make you permanent prisoners of The State, and keep sleazy Politicians and lying Bureaucrats employed. To paraphrase George, "We have always been at War with Global Warming..."
Merry Christmas, Bastogne!
Update:

Pretty cloud formations though.

Old Redfield One-Inch

I'm not a scope guy but I acquired an old 4x Redfield scope about which I'm trying to find data. Like how old is it really? It says it was made in Denver.
The Internet wants to sell me a similar old scope, or better, but can't tell me much else about it or even it's name.
Redfield was sold in 1989 and has since changed owners (a couple times?) and now Leupold & Stevens owns them - but their model history and serial numbering scheme seems to be lost.

It has Weaver rings and bases and a serial number - but I don't think it's the "Frontier" model because the elevation turrets are not as centered (like the one for sale on GunsAmerica).
The glass is clear and the two cross hairs are clean and sharp. And that's about all I know about it. I'm not a scope guy, except for the Aimpoint red-dot I don't have optical enhancers on anything I shoot.

Irony, Coincidence, Fate - or all of the above

What are they teaching the kids in History Class these days? Doesn't anybody else think it's slightly more than mere coincidence that only one miserable day after a very prominent Illinois Pollock Serbian-heritage politician publicly threatens an old and venerable Banking Institution founded by the Pisanos, over a measley-minor factory loan, that he gets a dime dropped on his ass? Don't mess with B-of-A, formerly Bank of Italy. Bam! Who do you think kept the Pacific Stock Exchange humming after the Chicago Mercantile and New York had already closed for the night? Bam! Where does your money go to get laundered and come back clean? Overseas! Bam! Chinese Laundry-whatever! Bam!
Suddenly the expendable nitwit Blagojevich gets slagged with a top-tier corruption indictment and full media slam - and brought to him by a Fitzgerald no less. Is that some poetic justice or what? This is one hello-wake-up call to the Union Thug boys to show them who's boss - it's a kind of muscle they'll never have. It's also a bit of Hello-Kitty-Kabuki playing to the Political class - "You think you know how to run a bid'ness, punk??" Word to Politicians: steal from the public but not from Us moneymen - watch your step and get back over the line. Blagojevich - do not pass *Go* or collect your bag-money, go directly to Capital Indictment for corruption, your career is over. That's showin' 'em.

UPDATE: Thanks to bowling-pin shooter Jason, I can now spell Polack correctly, and Bagospit's no Polack, he's a Serb and He's about as Polish as a 59/66 SKS.

Le Roi du Trois

Have Teh Forumz failed in their job of play-penning the aggressively verbal and myopic arrested-adolescents? The Intertubez seem to have sprung a leek, and squeeged out onto the sub-strata of gun owners has emerged a protozoa of proudly self-marginalized singular polarity. Ok, alrighty! I don't have a persimmon to pick with them - they have lemons, they can go make lemonade.

One of the reasons I abandoned the forum-culture several years ago was when I realized I was a top-poster on a particular off-road Usenet group, and then went back to read something I had written. The awful and ashamed horror that descended upon me while attempting to wade through an unctuous diatribe was a wake-up call.
The combination of over-caffeinated sub-wit super-glued onto increasingly large words and layered sentence structures without much theoretical underpinning and the happy abandonment of objective reality in the use of argumentative persuasion - one would almost begin to believe that a disagreement could somehow actually be "Won" on the face of such a display - and that an Eiffel Tower of Popsicle sticks was a legitimate form of architectural debate or even perhaps boatbuilding.
So I'm not going there, especially with provocative people I don't even know. I know Sebastien and others of you-guys. We've met and talked and drank and laughed - and shot guns - and there are many more I would like to meet and know better - and some maybe not so much. Not everybody is always gonna get along, and some even less so.

The dirtbike group had similar passions and was also a demonized sub-culture, hated by the Ecoweenies and taxed by Governmental interference and legislation. They have the narrow-minded and puritanical Killers of Spodeley Joy against them as much as Gunners have the spasticated Brady Bunch. We also gathered together in different parts of the country to ride, a loose-knit group of Enthusiasts sharing the trail and trying to pass and out-do each other depending on the size of our egos and level of skill. We meet-up with other flamers and talkaholics. We rode and crashed and rode some more until the evening bonfire with even more jabbering and bottle-passing. It was a lot of fun but in the end I couldn't do it all the time or plan my vacation or life around it. So anyhow, I'm more or less committed to going forward on the basis of triangulation - it helps me see the terrain better - and can't get wrapped up or trapped in the double-bind of "either-or" polarities.

The 100 meme sickness

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. (Practically accidentally - I'm not musical and a trombone isn't much of an instrument except of torture.)
4. Visited Hawaii. (Which one? There's more than one "Hawaii" - but yes, all of them including snorkeling the shores of Ni'Ihau.)
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a Praying Mantis. (Wicked kewl creatures, so are Walking Sticks.)
10. Sang a solo. (I do NOT sing.)
11. Bungee jumped. (Oh HELL no.)
12. Visited Paris. (Although I'm not sure "visited" is the correct word, once it was a week or so of bumming around drinking cheap wine in the lowest places, and another time it was about the same but with some pan-handling on the street too...I'm a lousy tourist.)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. (One of these days though...)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. (But really, what is "Art"?)
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. (One word: Guatemala - except that wouldn't be the only word, there's Calcutta too...)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (Never had much use for New York.)
18. Grown your own vegetables. (and and killed the green bastages)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train. (Too damn many to recall - but third-class from Calcutta to Hyderabad with all the people stuffed in like vegetables, leaning on each other and draped everywhere, was lightened by arriving on Christmas Morning. German trains are dull by comparison but the food is better, while Danish ones have incredibly pretty Danish girls...)
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked. (Across the U.S. and back.)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. (Duh! It's my sick-time I can do what the hell I want with it.)
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.(In a town reservoir at night in Germany, and in the ocean by Denmark, and..."free beaches," you name it.)
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice. (Nor Venice-Vegas either.)
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. (Moonrise and set too.)
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise. (Not in the least interested in the Big Floating Porta-Toilet and Seasick Gluttony Industry-Experience - on a sailboat yes, but The Travel Industry no.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. (Lots of other falls.)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community. (I think I hitchiked past it)
36. Taught yourself a new language. (Failed Calculus twice)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. (It was a brief experience that didn't last, but it was real, if real brief.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock (wall) climbing. (I had to, in order to climb the mountain.)
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke. (No way in HELL)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. (I was tempted, she was awful cute.)
44. Visited Africa. (Stop-over in Egypt doesn't count, even though you could see the Pyramids...)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. (Not a lot of fun and rather too-expensive for the brief thrill, and then they come after you with collections threatening if your insurance doesn't cough it up immediately.)
47. Had your portrait painted/drawn. (Not photographed either.)
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person. (my neck still hurts)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud. (whaddya think Dirtbiking is?)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. (I miss 'em.)
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. (I suck at bid'ness)
58. Taken a martial arts class. (With my buddy the future Ironman winner, 8th Grade was a bitch mainly because of the 9th Graders.)
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. (I could have but didn't.)
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.(Pan-Am used to be the awesomest airline...)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. (No, I burned my Gi-Joes at the stake and immolated them in a pyre of gasoline that nearly caught the backyard on fire.)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job. (I never get *fired* - I always get laid-off.)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone. (Ice-skating in 8th Grade, some ribs much later.)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. (Sorry to report it only went to 135 with a tailwind and hugging the tank, all the other guys were faster and I was Tail-end Charlie, exposed to the CHP...)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car. (It aint happened yet, so it aint never gonna happen.)
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. (Magazine?)
85. Read the entire Bible. ([sigh] The challenges one takes-on at Church-Camp...)
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox. (How about that eighteen-inch tape-worm, eh? Dontcha love the tropics? :-))
89. Saved someone’s life. (What does it take to do that? Not telling *someone* something about someone - or does it mean real sweaty intervention and chest pumping/squeezing stuff?)
90. Sat on a jury. (They always kick me off before it starts)
91. Met someone famous. ("Fame" is an overrated, grossly applied, and misused currency.)
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone. (that is so trivial, why is it even on this list?)
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Zero, Holdover, or Offset

What's your zero? I've been reading some discussions recently on the topic of offset and zeros. About Army vs. Marine zeros - about setting the regular battle zero vs. the QCB zero - and other stuff that goes along with it: offset, bullet rise and fall, and engagement distances -- but this looks like nearly point-blank to me.
I mean here you're on the green already and couldn't miss the hole with a seven-iron.

HT: Random Nukular Phil.

Hollister Dirtbike Sunday

The new trails they opened up in the Lower-Ranch section are marvelously bucolic. They twist among meadows and beneath old craggy oak trees, meandering up and down steep hills and in and out of leaf-strewn dales.
The sky was a light wintery blue, warmed by the sun and the grass a gray-green from the season - a bleached color. Rain from a few days earlier had persisted in the loamy soil providing thick traction - unlike on the higher and more exposed elevations where the soils are composed of decomposed granite and it drains about as fast as you can watch it come down.
It was a good day to ride and Baxter, Petey, and me roamed the Black Diamond trails dodging from sunlight to shadow in and out of the folded hills, with me just rolling-on and -off the big KTM's throttle to tractor up the climbs, dirt chunking off the big knobby tires. Wonderful. No hair-on-fire juvenile riding, it was the even quick pace of older guys just out and about.
Until I tried over-quickening it. We had traded places all day long and the sun had begun to cast longer shadows. Pete was behind me and closing which always quickens my pace a bit, and I must have gotten tired of steering the bike with my hands because when I stuffed it into a downhill rut and the rear-end was coming over I tried to steer with my thigh. That's my story.
The only biff of the day to speak of - which for us is kind of an accomplishment - but no ride ends without the Ibuprofen simply because we are getting older and our joints creakier. I could bruise-blog the hand-sized hematoma but my hairy leg isn't particularly attractive and there's no X-rays to be had which are usually more interesting. Day-2 and the swelling isn't getting any worse so it's over.

Gear take-aways and other stuff:
My old Diadora boots still suck but worse now. They're too tight in the wrong places where you can't stretch them - plastic over instep. I bought them as big as they came when I was sponsored (and at a sponsor-discount), and when my size was 11-1/2's and 12's - but now I'm buying 13's so it's no surprise. They're also built for skinny Renault Euro-toes and I've got big Crown-Vic Anglo clodhoppers.
My Moose jersey is old and getting threadbare - time for some new stuff.
I just noticed - why do my Fox gloves have comically absurd little pointy rubber knuckle-studs?
The big KTM stonks up a hill in 3rd gear like Ivan's red tractor - it just luggs.
There was a rat-pack of old-guys all on spiffed little KTM 200's who went like the blue-blazes. We couldn't (except Baxter) keep-up. It's a smaller and lighter bike with an absurd amount of power (except for the torque thing), and easier to handle in the slick stuff when you get all sideways - and the bastards were ALL were shod with trials-tires(<- hi Eric!) making it even more of a cheat - I want to be like them!!
Riding in the right conditions and at the right pace is still serious fun.