Shootin' at Dave's, again.

Went up to Gatesville last President's Day to shoot with a few good friends. It was our friendly way to celebrate the day.

Dave's dog Red doesn't like loud noises, so she kept her distance when she saw the guns being stacked on the back of Dave's flat bed truck. You can see her head sticking out of the tall grass there in this shot.



But she's got good reason not to like the sight or sound. When Dave's family found her she had a scar, like a grazing shot down her side. Someone had taken a shot at her. She's a survivor, fer sure.



Dave and I work for the guy on the right there. Jim Nixon is a great guy, an old hand with a six gun, and a decent boss to work for. He was an award winning pistol shooter in his day, almost an Olympian, and he's still not half bad. I've got a huge amount of respect for him, and I'm not saying that because he might see this post. I'd want to hang with him even if he hadn't been my boss since I started working of the college on the base in 1995.



He's been hearing about our shooting events and wanting to come up and shoot with us at Dave's for a long time, and it finally came to pass.

He's a huge fan of old guns, and even new guns with a classic old design. He's a pistol guy. It's funny how that goes. Dave's thing is Civil Car muskets and rifles. My thing is the Kalashnikov, and other military rifles. The Dean there mostly goes for pistols, and really likes older, western movie type stuff. But he's got a HUGE collection of lots of stuff. It's big. Mythic.

There's a joke that goes around the campus on base. The guys say that if the shit really goes down, they're all gonna come to my house. I've got enough stuff to fit out a squad or so. Then, were all gonna go to the Deans place. That'll be the stronghold.

Of course, very few of us expect the shit to go down any time soon, but bein' ready is fun enough. He's always giving me shit about the stuff I like. He thinks AKs are crap. Well, on a certain level, they are. But you like what you like.

Kalashnikovs worked their way into my consciousness early, lookin' at pictures of folks in Asia, Africa and the Middle East carryin' the things around. I've been hooked ever since then.

So it was particularly fun to get him to shoot one of my Kalashnikovs. Turns out, even after two tours in Vietnam, he'd never shot one.

He's always giving me shit about them, wondering why I don't want to get "a real gun"... like a Colt six gun or a Winchester '74. Hey, to each his own. If I have the time, and it all doesn't become illegal soon, I'll end up with all that stuff too.

Here's a shot of some of the gear I brought for the days fun. That's my Hungarian side folder, a Russian bayonet and Bakelite clip. That short clip is a ten rounder for shooting blanks. The blanks were to test the home made rifle grenade you see there on the top right. You see it's in two pieces. A work in progress.

This is a shot of our buddy Joe's stash. That's a Yugo folder on the left. I worked on it for him a while back, putting that new top cover and scope rail on it for him. The cover didn't fit when he took it out of the box. He asked me about a good gunsmith. I told him "Hell, just bring it to the house." So he left it with me one Saturday and I did my magic. It was fun. He added the scope and now he's poppin' head shots on the targets like a pro. Good times!

That "Pistol" you see there sitting on the case there in the center is a Kel Tec PLR-16. It's a pistol that shoots .223 from M-16 clips. It's one of the loudest friggin' guns I've ever seen. He's got a collimator sight on the top of it, and a flashlight (Laser pointer?) there under the nose. Mmmm, home defense! Ya gotta love it.



These are brother Dave's two new Winchester Garands. Ever since he and I were hired to be full-time Profs, he's gone nuts, buyin' stuff from the CMP. He's got about four M-1s now, produced by various folks. He ordered me my Garand last year, and still slobbers on himself when I take it out and let him shoot it.



Of course, he's a good shooter. I'm tryin' to pick up a few things from him when I go up there to shoot, but he's been doin' it seriously for about as long as I've been alive. So I've got some serious catchin' up to do.



We all took turns shooting from his handy, home made bench rest, set up at the 50 yard mark.



This is Joe, gettin' ready to shoot his "pistol". I was eggin' him on, dyin' to let the Dean see this little toy in action. Of course, I had a plan of my own.

Joe stepped up and started blastin' away, one shot at a time (the PLR is semi-auto), tryin' to hit the targets from our position at 50 yards.



As he did, I took up my Kalashnikov and folded back the stock. I focused on the pile of rocks that had been bulldozed up at the edge of the field when the power company came through and cleared the land next to Dave's burm and sank poles for new power lines. You can't see them here. They're far to the right of these targets.

I said somethin' like "Naaa, this is how you do it," and started blastin' away, holding the rifle at my hip and pullin' the trigger again and again, as fast as I could. Pieces of bolder went everywhere, and there were heads shakin' and smiles all around.



A little while later, Dave and the Dean were carefully shootin' one of Dave's new Garands, sighting it in when we heard a shout from the road. Apparently someone had been driving along the road that runs near Dave's shooting range when I was killin' those rocks. They called the Sherri's department. Next thing you know, we're standing there and hear "Sheriff's Department! Can you come to the fence?"

We all laughed our asses off as Dave sheepishly walked over behind the cypress scrub by the fence and talked to the authorities. I was hopin' they'd walk on up to where we were shooting. It would have been fun to see the look on their face when they saw my AK, or Joe's PLR-16. Those pictures would be great.



In the end, we went on to shoot pistols, in this case it;s the dean shooting an old 1911. He was plinkin' the target at 50 yards. Damn good shootin'.



In the end, it was a fun day. The Dean said somethin; about how we should do it all again, and maybe build a fire and grill some steaks. Sounds like a wonderful time.

I got a call from Dave a while back. There's a Gun Show in Belton this weekend. We made basic plans to meet there at about noon on Saturday and check it out. Should be a good time.

Anyway, you guys have a good time this weekend. Denise and I are going to Austin tonight to see Johnny Lang at the Paramount. The plan is to hit Pappasito's first and have some more of that good Mexican food you saw in the last post. I've got someone covering my classes in Florence Friday morning, so my weekend's already begun.

So, we'll talk again next week. Cheers!

Valentines weekend.

The little woman and I slept in last Saturday and then surprised one another with gifts. I had to dive for the floor at one point as I snuck into the bedroom with flowers and a big balloon. It looked like she was rollin' over and wakin' up. It was funny as hell. Made for a fun morning.

After that we drove down to Austin and had dinner at Pappasito's. It's a place we love, and consider a special treat. It was already crowded with valentines day revelers when we got there, so we had to sit outside under the space heaters for 45 minutes or so before we got a table.

When a table out there opened up we snagged it, and got started with the first rounds of drinks and chips-n-salsa. That's a Shiner Bock for me on the left and a Strawberry margarita on the right for Denise. She swears by their margaritas. Loves 'em.

When we got inside it was time for round two of everything, with the added pleasure of a bowl of their queso dip with the spicy ground beef added.

We both ordered enchiladas, and I got a side order of four Brochette Shrimp.

Denise ordered two chicken Enchiladas and I got the combination; one chicken and one beef.

Don't get me wrong. The enchiladas are wonderful, but it's always the shrimp I look forward to. They're split, stuffed with a wedge of bell pepper and cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. They pour this wonderful butter, garlic and white wine sauce over it when they grill it, and then give you more of the stuff to dip the shrimp in before you put it in your mouth. Mmmmmmm.

I know. I should just stop. Well hell, get down there and get yourself some!

OK, that was Saturday. After we left Pappasito's we went to Macy's for a bit, and then drove on to Fredericksburg. We had a reservation for Saturday night at the Sunday Inn, just up from the main strip there on the east side of town.

It turned out to be a bit old, but very comfortable and reasonably priced. And you can't beat the location for the price. You can easily walk to the Nimitz Museum and the rest of the strip from there.

The VERY first stop Sunday, after rollin' out of the hotel at noon, was the Auslander. Why, you may ask? Check out the beer selection there above. The lighting in these shots is a bit weird, the sun showing through the slats in the lattice over our heads. We were sitting out in the beergarten section.

Furthermore, check out the 34 oz. Paulaner Hefe Weizen I had for brunch! That's Denise's "Shandy" (Shiner Bock amixed with 7-Up) there on the left.

We kicked brunch off with and order of beer battered, deep fried 'shrooms. Denise loves the ranch dip but I prefer the honey mustard. I've found few things in my life so far that aren't improved with a dollop of the stuff. Few things!

There were a few younger couples sitting in the table next to us, so when my beer arrived it set off a little comotion. One of the guys said "Oh man, that's cheatin'," as if I'd gotten an unfair advantage on the days drinking.

In the end he ordered himself one, peer pressure being a beotch, and then had it half finished by the time I downed mine and we got up to go. His buddy looked up at me and said "Well he can walk!" I said something about how I loved to corrupt people, and we all laughed and parted company.

When the main feed began, Denise went for the Jaegerschnitzel burger. It's like chicken fried steak, if you've never gone there. Denise lived in Germany for many years and learned to love the stuff there.

I went for the Bacon Cheeseburger with all the works. It's so friggin' huge they have to bring it to you like this. You have to gently hoist the one half up and place it on the other, and then I cut the thing in half so it's a bit more manageable.

It's just delish!

After all that we walked up and down the strip, visiting stores and buying some of the local wine. I'd sit outside, smokin' a cigar while Denise went in to check out the stores. Usually she'd come back talkin' about how nice the stuff was, but how silly the prices were. She's a pretty sensible gal, that little lady of mine.

In an hour or so I was ready for dessert. We stopped at one of the local places there on the strip and I got one scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Denise went for the Butter Pecan. Mmmmmmm, good stuff.

One of the places we stopped was this little shop. "Bath Junkie" sells all sorts of bath items. Lotions and soaps and the like. I immediately fell for the little rubber duckie in the window.

I had to have the James Brown in the red jump suit! can you make him out there? Sixth from the left, front row. Denise thought I was nuts, but I begged like a fool and she went in and got it for me. She's SUCH a sweetie!

Now, the hardest workin' rubber duckie in show business has a place of honor on my desk at home. I couldn't be happier.

On the drive back north we headed by Enchanted Rock, and stopped at one ranch to look at the elk. We've been by there before and seen them, but this time a few of them had come right up to the fence. So we joined the crowd and stopped to take pictures. Ain't he majestic?

They had other exotic critters there too. Any ideas what this one is. It's about the size of a White Tail.

The elk were amazing to watch, almost really hamming it up for the camera.

One of these days I'd love to have one of those heads over my fireplace, and the hide on my couch. Mmmmm, and them's good eatin' too.

Finally, on the drive East on 29 from Llano to Burnet, we stopped along the road to see some Eagles in a nest along the Llano river. They were far enough away that I could barely make them out with my little camera, but you can clearly see the white head there. Maybe momma is feedin' the kiddies.

Anyway, we got home by about 5PM on Sunday, and then it was the couch for Denise and the computer for me, trying to get as many of these shots done as I could. If you want, you can go to my FlickR site and see more of them. Cheers!

Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuts, at the House of Blues in Dallas.

oSo, my girlfriend and I met a few very close friends in Dallas a week or so ago and spent the night enjoying some great food and music.

There was some drama attached to the evening. There was a HUGE cluster fuck with the balcony seats I bought. I won't harsh your mellow with those details though. Suffice to say, we all had a great time consuming great food at the Hoffbrau in the West End, and then listening to excellent music at the House of Blues; Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuits.



First, the great food. The Hoffbrau makes a killer Teriyaki steak. Wonderful stuff. Denise ordered this one, and a baked spud. Next time I may have to get this myself.



I went for the bacon cheeseburger and the wedge fries. It's fillin', I wanna tell ya. Wonderful!



Both Jim and I went with the tall Shiner Bock off the tap. Denise had a shandy, and I think Terry had water. She's not much of a drinker.



Of course, when we got to the gig, the drinking continued. I think Jim got the first few rounds and then I took over. Those are 7&7s for Denise and Jim, and a Rum & Coke for me. I think we must have gone through about four rounds.



The Disco Biscuits came out at about 8:30PM and played for about an hour. I'd checked them out on Youtube and wasn't expecting much, but they grew on me. By the end of their set I was really enjoying them. They do a long instrumental thing that reminded me of some of the stuff I used to love from bands like Yes, But mostly they did a lot of hippie noodling, like The Dead or Phish. The guitar player, Jon Gutwillig, can play his ass off. He really jams!



After about 20 or 30 minutes to switch out the gear, the main attraction hit the stage. Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule played a set of their own music for about two hours. While the others sat back and kept their seats at the table we found near the bar, I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd. The music was bliss, and the vibe was all friendly.



If you've never seen these guys, you need to work them into your schedule. Warren is one of the best Blues/Rock guitar players that's ever lived. Hands down, he's one of the best alive today. He took a position with the Allman Brothers about twenty years ago. Hitting it off with his band mates, they formed formed a side group, affectionately called "The Mule", in about 1995 with Allen Woody and Mat Abts, all of whom had been added to the Allman Brothers line up in about 1989.



Allen Woody passed away in 2000, and since then the band has gone through some other personnel changes. The current line up includes Haynes on Guitar, Abts on drums, Danny Louis on keyboards, and Jorgen Carlsson on Bass.

They took a break for a while after playin' for about two hours, leavin' Abts on stage to bang away on his drums. Abts did an amazing drum solo, switching from sticks to hands at one point. Then Carlsson came out, stood in a spotlight and began a steady bass beat. In the end, the Mule played for three hours, from about 10PM to 1AM. It was wonderful.



In the end that beat turned into the Pink Floyd tune "Pigs On The Wing". They did a few Floyd tunes, and then "When The Levee Breaks". After that the guys from Disco Biscuits came out and they played Nirvana's "In Bloom". After that the show ended, and we spilled out into the street, blissfully happy to have sat through the four and a half hour experience. You can check the pictures here at my FlickR page.



And after the ticket drama I just went though with this concert, it feels good to have the next set of tickets in hand. Denise and I are set to see Johnny Lang in a week or so in Austin, at the Paramount theater. It should be good. I'll have the camera, so You'll see what I see. Cheers!

My Monday routine in San Saba.

If you've been readin' here for a while, you know I drive to San Saba four days a week to teach at the TDCJ unit there. I drive about 150 miles a day, four days a week, goin' from home to Florence, then to San Saba, and then to the base and back to the house.

I have classes in San Saba at noon Monday through Thursday, and then I have a class at 5:30 PM on Monday and Wednesday nights. So on those two days I stay here in town all day. Two afternoons a week, I find I've got time to kill there in the pecan capital of Texas.

In the last few months, a routine has emerged for my Mondays. After I get out of my noon class at the prison, usually around 2 PM or 2:30, I head straight to the Dairy Mart.

It's a wonderful little family place right off the main drag that the locals all told me about. I think it must have been Ellis who really turned me on to it.

Every time I come in I see these same folks... a bunch of little old men, occasionally a little old lady, always sittin' at this same table while Fox News lays out the drama of the day on the corner TV.

My daddy used to call such a gathering "the D.P. Bench", referring specifically to the gathering of little old men on the bench outside the barber shop in Belton. I'll leave it to your imagination what "D.P." stands for.

The guy with his back to you in the blue shirt, looking up as the lady on the right gets set to leave, is the proprietor of the place.

He's always there when I come, and he's always wearin' dark glasses. Always... like he's a rock star or somethin'. Between that and the Conway Twitty hair cut, he sports a pretty cool image. I'd wager he's got some stories to tell.

When I first started goin' to the Dairy Mart I'd usually get the Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a diet soda. It's my one day of the week when I allow myself a fatty lunch. Otherwise it's grilled chicken at the local Dairy Queen.
But then Roger Ellis and a few others out at the prison started tellin' me I needed to try their Jalapeno Sourdough burger. You can see the sign for it there on the bottom left, on yellow paper.

So, one Monday I went in and asked them for the works; a Jalapeno Sourdough Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a soda. With that, a Monday tradition was born.

Since then I've become a regular, hittin' that place each Monday afternoon, so long as I'm workin' that day, and they serve me up a meal for the ages.


For whatever reason, they're never open when I get out of the prison on Wednesdays. Their hours are a bit strange.

I think they only open for breakfast and lunch during the week, closing at 2PM. But maybe Mondays and Fridays they stay open longer. So, Monday is my lucky day.


By the way, that ham and cheese Po Boy on the right is also wonderful. I found that out one Wednesday when I was lucky enough to get out of class a bit early and they whipped one up for me. And they make some kick ass onion rings too.

I think if I lived in Saba I'd steadily work my way through their menu, but at this point, goin' there once a week, I think I'll stick to the good stuff.

After I eat my fill, I get back in the ol' Silver Bullet and head East towards the court house square. The county seat there is a nice old building.

The local Library is just off the square, and that's always my ultimate destination. I go in and the nice lady there scans my library card and signs me up to use one of the half a dozen nice, new Dell computers they have there.

I kill about two and a half hours there, checking emails and trying to catch up on reading blogs, checking Facebook, and posting stuff to the blogs I'm associated with.


It's a nice, clean, comfortable atmosphere to work in. Usually I get so involved with what I'm doing, the time flies by and next thing I know the lady that runs the place is telling me it's time to hang it up. They close at 5PM, so I get out of there just in time to head back to the jail for my 5:30 class.

So, this is what my life has become. One of these days, maybe, if things evolve the way I think they will, Denise and I will end up getting a house in Lampasas, about 30 minutes from San Saba. Then I might switch from teaching the dual credit classes in Florence and start doing it there at the high school in San Saba. We'll see how that all goes.

For the time being though, my routine doesn't look like it'll be changing much. So I'll be hittin' the Dairy Mart and then the library each Monday for the foreseeable future.

And you know, that's cool with me too. I've grown to really like this little place. Cheers!

Stuff that's goin' on.

It's been a busy week, and it's lookin' like a fun and busy weekend to come.

Denise and I took Monday morning off so we could relax and enjoy the concert in Dallas Sunday night. The Mule played a great set from about 10 PM till 1AM, and then we hit the Holiday Inn Express in DeSoto. I took a bunch of pictures at the gig, but I haven't had a chance to work on them yet. You know that when I do, you'll see them here and at FlickR.

Went back to the grind Tuesday morning and started giving exams. I think I've given about five this week. Have one more to give Friday afternoon. Fun, fun, fun! LOVE to see 'em sweat.

I got out of my noon San Saba class early Tuesday afternoon, having given an exam, and stopped at the grocery store in Lampassas on the way back. I picked up a dozen pale yellow roses and some chocolate covered strawberries for the little woman. Then I stopped at Arby's too get her a late lunch. She loves their Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich. I'm kinda partial to their Southwest Mini Egg Rolls. Wonderful, spicy little egg roll bites, with a spicy Chili-Lime Ranch sauce to dip them in. They remind me of the wonderful Southwestern Spring Rolls that we get at BJ's in Temple.

She called me while I was drivin' up to the campus and I led her to believe I was runnin' late and couldn't come by to see her. You should have seen the look on her face when I walked up there, flowers and food in hand only moments later! She was tearin' up, and all the other women on the floor were in a flutter, tellin' her how lucky she was. I love the hell out of doin' stuff like that. I guess I feel kinda partial to Denise too.

I went to work 0on the base, with the weather lookin' ugly. people were talkin' about a tornado warning and rain. Maybe hail. I tried to concentrate on "How a Bill becomes a law" while the music teacher across the hall was playin' incredible stuff; Cream, and some other old blues stuff. I had a hell of a time, pausin' now and then to head bang while my students laughed.

By 9PM, the storm had hit, with driving rain and small hail, and to everyones surprise the power went off in the building we teach in. All of a sudden the lights went out and the computer died. I made and executive decision and told everyone to fend for themselves.

I had a hilarious time escorting two scared females out of the building. They wanted me to guide them down the dark stairwell with my little pen light. So I took the point, only to stop half way down and turn out the light, witch brought blood curdling squeals from both girls. I tell ya, it was almost as fun as playin' with a rubber snake.

I was drenched to the bone runnin' to the car, but then I got home and found the little woman in a fabulous mood. The flowers had done their work. I tossed my jeans in the dryer, opened a huge bottle of Sutter Home Muscato, and the rest of the evening was history.

As I sat down on the couch an episode of Without A Trace was ending, and they were playing the old Band classic, The Weight, as one of the characters gave some sort of tearful soliloquy.



I hadn't heard it in a while, so I was inspired to ask Denise if she'd ever seen the movie "The Last Waltz". She said "No.", so I asked her if she wanted to watch it. I have the DVD. We spent the next few hours singin' along (well, I sang) with the music and enjoying the film. She loved it, saying she'd have paid to watch it in the theatre. Here's another personal favorite, this time a clip from the movie.



For some reason this one made me think of Daddy. I teared up a bit while I was singin' along. Denise just hugged me a little harder till the moment subsided.

Anyway, we shared the chocolate covered strawberries and did a lot of snugglin' on the couch while we watched the flick and drank that bottle of Muscatel. It was a wonderful night.

Aside from all of that, the weekend is set. We're gonna go down to Austin and eat dinner at Pappasito's on Valentine's Day, and then we've got a room reserved at a nice hotel on the strip in Fredericksburg. After spending Sunday afternoon there strollin' around and sampling all the wine we'll eat a good meal at the Auslander and drive home.

Monday is a holiday for most of my students, but the high school is still having classes. So I'll have to head down to Florence for a few hours Monday morning while Denise sleeps in, and then I'm loading the car with guns and heading up to Dave's place in Gatesville. A bunch of us are gonna meet there at noon and shoot stuff, celebrating Presidents Day in our own particular way.

So you guys have a great Valentines day and President's Day, and well see you again on the other side. Cheers!

We're headed to Big "D" Sunday to see Gov't Mule at the House of Blues.

The ticket drama has been a pain, but it looks like a pretty good time is comin' together nicely.

I ordered two general admission floor tickets and two balcony seats (third row center) for the gig about five weeks ago. But none of them arrived after a month or so, so I had to call Tickets Now and bitch a little.

In the end, they emailed me the GA tickets and left the others at will call. They supposedly were "lost in the mail", so they voided the bar codes on those and will run us off some new ones. I tell ya, if I get there and some fucker is sittin' in those seats, like my mail man, there might be a new episode of COPS in the works. But everything is on track now and it looks like it'll be a great time.

My buddy Jim and his wife Terry from Ft. Worth are gonna ride the train over and meet us at the West End. We were plannin' to drive up Sunday and get a room at the Hyatt, but the Hyatt has dicked themselves out of our business.

We used to stay there for something like $115 a night, and be glad to have it, close and convenient to all the stuff we wanted to do. But now they're askin' something like $240 for one night! I don't think so. So we'll get a reservation somewhere else and drive to the gig. No sweat. One thing we're sure of, nether of us want to have to drive home for two and a half hours on I-35 after the concert, what with all the adult beverages we'll be consuming.

We're gonna try to find a new restaurant Jim's heard of recently. We'll eat a great meal, probably have a few adult beverages to start the night, then try get to the gig at the House of Blues in time for blast off.

Denise has taken Monday off and I'll be off till about 3PM. Terry'll probably have to try to keep Jim from talkin' out loud, drunk off his ass, about the squirly folks they always see on the train back to Ft. Worth in the middle of the night. It's happened before.

Anyway, I think I may have posted this one before, but I love what they do with this tune.



That's about the view the GA tickets will get us. Can't wait. And dig this.



I'll have the camera, so you'll see what I see. If you're in the vicinity, see if you can get tickets. Maybe I'll see ya there. Cheers!

What the hell?

I mean, how long will it be till we get over this stupid thing with weed? I mean, if this is a lesson about ANYTHING, is says that you can be a fully functional human being, at the VERY TOP of your field of endeavor, the friggin' greatest Olympic athlete of all time, and still take a drag now and then. If he'd been shot with a cocktail in his hand there'd be no press. And booze kills people every day. Wait a moment... THERE, another drunk driver just killed someone. Sheeeeiiiiitttt!

I mean, I was so stupid back in the day. Bought into all the shit my folks told me. Passed up so much fun, in so many ways. I say leave the guy alone. Hell, he's already rich, so it can't really ruin his life. They can just fuck his whole future, chances for 2012, everything, and for what? Please!