Get the lead out

Mango chicken over chow mein noodles

4 kinds of rolls. spicy tuna, philly, mexican (crab with jalapeno) and eel.

Red White and Boom

For the 4th, Fort Irwin had 2 bands (Bad Company/Elton John Tributes) and fireworks. $15K in fireworks right across the street, so they were right in your lap. We also had food, beer and stuff for the kiddies and still some families complained. You can't please all the people all the time!!

Burgers, Dogs and Catfish, can you get more American.

Carnival food!!

Yep, the Prius says its 111 in the shade. But it's the dry heat. 

Boom set-up

The stage on wheels

This thing has been sitting in a yard for like 5 years. It just wouldn't hold air, too bad, because it's pretty damn cool when it's inflated!!

You can use the trashcans for scale. See them right in front of it, the blue and green ones?! Takes 12 blowers and we kept frying circuits, the wind kept trying to make it fly and we tore 2 holes in the base where it was staked down. ugh!!!

Raptor eyeing the outside waterfalls and pools at Bass Pro Shops. Reminds me of the raccoons that decimated the Gerwen fish pond. Free snacks, can't pass it up.

I joined Scott Nerdbinski on one of his lead free shooting demos. In Cali, raptors, especially the condor eat the leaded gut piles and poison themselves. Some might call this natural or unnatural selection depending on how you look at it. But with copper bullets costing twice as much as lead cored bullets, it takes some serious convincing that they are better before many folks will buy them. this event was in Kernville on a pretty sweet range, and while they guys were uber anti-obama, reminds me of my father-in-law, they were still pretty nice guys. We hit the Kern River Brewing Company for some Ale Sodas and grub before and after the event.

The berms go to 200yds, then more targets all the way up the road to 550yards then up the mountain there's a little pole at about 700. I took a poke at the steel sheep at 550 with Scott's .30-06 but was about 2 feet short. He's sighted in for 100 instead of max point blank range, so it needed a lot more hold over.

I like targets that sing when you hit them. Blaze orange steel pigs squeal like Ned Beatty. 

the Lead free test subject. 

they blast water jugs and gelatin to show the penetration and weight retention of lead alternatives. Our test subject shot a .223 and got upwards of 18" with the copper. Yowzers.  

Nerdbinski pointing out lead fragments that would be in your ground venison. Not necessarily overly detrimental to me, maybe kids and pregnant women, but almost always lethal to Eagles, Hawks, and Condors. It's pretty sad to see a Bald Eagle doubled over and eyes glassed over from lead poisoning, unable to keep his head up or focus on anything at all.  

the large grey specks are .223 bullets. Left one near the front 1/3 is lead, right is copper way down near the last 1/3 of the block. 

Scott talking to the guys. It's pretty impressive to see it happen in real time, no way to fake the funk when you have one of the locals behind the trigger with their ammo versus yours through their gun.

Fish and Game sent out a couple chicas to see what it is all about and help get the word out. They both shot larger calibers for the first time. Starting with a .223 bolt gun they had the steel singing, then they upped it to .270 but the .30-06 wasn't as pleasant. Kate here is saving up for a .270 of her own to blast pigs to feed captive condors. Attagirl! Save me a ham and some pork belly, I want to try to make some charcutterie, maybe prosciutto and homemade bacon. Yummy.

Random Pics

This is the new Scion FRS. A modern sportscar, it gets a little over 30mpg and is designed to look fast. Pretty sweet.

This is what I've got, 2009 Prius. Great on gas mileage, low 40s. After having some $700 and $800 gas months, I traded the 4Runner in on this bad boy. I added the tinting though. After a few brutal days, I talked to several folks that recommended getting it done to save the dash and while it still gets hot inside on the hot days, the AC starts to pump cold a lot sooner and all the windows now block out over 90% of the UV. You can't really tell but the tinting slowly gets darker from front to back, which almost makes it look like it isn't tinted at all.  

Zombie targets.

zombie defense spray, zombie slingshots and zombie ammo storage boxes. 

What's next zombie camp for kids?! I can't wait for Walking Dead's next season. 

I too love zombies. 

Couch Fireworks

Helendale, the small community I reside in currently, had their fireworks last night to celebrate the 4th. Tony told me the fireworks were down towards the beach end, however, they were actually at the docks end. Which means I could see them from my big window while sitting on my couch. No kidding. Fireworks from the couch. The show lasted about 20 minutes, while I watched the Alamo, the Billy Bob version. It was a treat, I'd watch some movie, watch some pyro, watch some movie, then when the big finale started, I ran up to the window to take in the full action. I love the furious final minute of fireworks shows, i wish the whole thing was that way, but I expect it would make it cost prohibitive!!!

My Consumer Saturday

I live less than an hour to 30 million people, which means lots and lots of shopping opportunities. In fact, if you looked up just about any box retailer that you know of, from groceries to restaurants to fashion, you'd be hard pressed not to find them in either Rancho Cucamongo or within a few minute drive. There are something like 4 or 5 major shopping centers right around where I15 and 10 and 210 meet. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself yesterday. I kicked around the idea of going to San Diego to look at paddleboards, but knowing myself, looking often turns into buying, which I don't have the extra scratch to do and putting it on credit, while the American way, would be irresponsible and now that I'm 40 I'm not supposed to be irresponsible in money matters anymore. Right! But I am trying. So instead I decided to see a movie, Moonrise Kingdom. I Fandango'd the film but the closest theater with showings was down in Ontario. Ugh! Really. One of the 5 theaters in my local area won't carry a film with Bruce Willis, Ed Norton and Bill Murray in it. I guess that says a lot about how lower middle class american Victorville and Apple Valley are. A short drive through the whole thing made me realize a long time ago, this is corporate thought hell. Oh well. C'est la vie. I decided to make it worthwhile and hit the movie, Bass Pro, Ontario Mills, a nice restaurant, and whatever else I could squeeze in. I've realized why I've never liked shopping. While it is pretty cool to see new product, it is pretty depressing realizing how little of it I can truly afford. Being frugal ain't fun. I know some people really enjoy the challenge, but not me. If I want a vanilla frap, I don't want to have to worry if I'm going to be able to retire before the reaper comes knocking. I just want to order it and enjoy its creamy cool goodness.
I started off with a quick trip through the drive up, handed the lady my paper saving ceramic mug and rolled on down the road sipping on a vanilla latte as I headed down the hill to LA. The drive was super easy and before I knew it I was in the Bass Pro parking lot. I parked near the walkway in the middle and immediately saw a blue heeler do a backflip while on leash. I soon realized it was a rattlesnake training course, a serious threat out these parts, and the poor little guy had taken a jolt from his collar. A great training aid but I bet it isn't pleasant on the receiving end. I watched them train, he got hit with volts at least twice more before I headed inside. I went directly to the little boys room and emptied my latte strained bladder, then into the Zombie section. It was hilarious. They have half a row of zombie prep stuff, from bullets to boxes to targets, to just about anything for the zombie concerned among us. (Later I saw a Jeep Zubicon, prepared for Zombie defense with big biohazard badging). Then I roamed the aisles gawking at the sheer volume of stuff for sale. The guns and ammo sections were the busiest in the whole store, especially the black rifle area. It was cram packed. Prepping for the lean times ahead I guess. After thoroughly exploring the store, I decided to grab lunch and was already near the restaurant in the store which had a couple fish specials for lunch, fish tacos being one. They were quite delicious. After the tacos, I had some time to kill before the movie and headed to the Mills. I watched the RC helicopter guy for a little while, he even landed the copter in my had once for a crowd of kids that were lingering around, but he never let me give the controls a try. i did some clothes shopping and fought off a pretzel urge then ran into the massage chair area. it was $20 for 30 minutes. A deal I decided and had them work out the rough spots in my posture for the day. More clothes shopping then it was movie time. Movie theaters in big cities are different than elsewhere. At Disney, they had true dinner theater with a waiter that delivered to your seat. This wasn't that nice but they had pizza, dogs and burgers on the menu plus the usual movie foods. I skipped out on food but grabbed a rootbeer, the 60oz variety. The movie was great. I recommend it to everyone. There were a couple uncomfortable parts but they added to the character of the film overall. Afterwards, I headed back to Bass Pro as I had decided I needed something afterall. Some .45 ammo for my pistola. I snagged up a box of zombie specific for collector purposes and a box of critical defense for home protection, not that there is much of a need in my neighborhood but who knows where I'll land in the coming months. I hung out around the fish tank for awhile then headed back up over the hill for the house. Total, I had spent about 10 hours out of the house, and about 5 hours of just walking and shopping. The day went by quickly but I didn't really feel that i had accomplished anything seriously worthwhile, so I hope not to repeat it too soon. A hundred years ago, guys just grabbed their guns and headed to the woods, no seasons, few limits, no plastic, all in the name of meat in the smokhouse. How far we've fallen. As Matese says, I just need to go fishing. I wonder what is in season?!