So I do agree with what I learned today in many ways. I agree that citizens legally have a right to own and bear arms (thank you Supreme Court, for your current ruling agreeing with that). And I agree that we as citizens need to take a lot more responsibility for our own safety. Because let’s face it, 1: police don’t protect us, they enforce the law – which means that until a law is broken they can’t do anything. True, some will protect people, but it’s not legally part of their job to do so. The military, other than the National Guard, doesn’t fight on our own soil – they fight overseas. Security guards are hired by companies to protect business, not (job-wise, again, they could choose to protect people around them even if it isn’t their JOB) to protect the citizens. SO! Who is protecting us against the average criminal? Yes, there are preventative measures, but crimes still happen. This isn’t an ideal world. Terror still happens. So since the police aren’t obligated to protect you, and the military isn’t around, who should?
Right.
So for that purpose, I enrolled in a (somewhat expensive) Pistolcraft seminar for today.
It was cool.
Now I haven’t shot a handgun in about 5 to 7 years, and that was only once with my dad’s 9mm revolving pistol at a little target about 20 to 30 feet away. My sister, whom I admit is a better shot than I, would hit that little paper target 3 or 4 times out of 5. Me? 2. It made me sad.
Today, I borrowed an acquaintance’s 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol instead. The kick is about the same, I’d say, between that and the pistol (though since it’s been so long, I may not have a good feel for that). However, I will say that I probably won’t get one for myself when I get around to getting a handgun for myself. It was impossible for me to remove the slide myself (I had to have a guy rotate the button that allows it to be removed), and then had a hard time getting the spring out. The button for ejecting the clip was fine, but if I wanted to lock the slide backwards I had a hard time of it. I will admit, I liked the ability to de-cock the hammer with another button near the trigger well. The grip was alright – maybe a smidge big, but not too bad.
We had a couple practice-shot areas to the right and left of the ‘head’ of our target. I’m proud to say that my shots formed a hole about half the size of my fist. =D I definitely improved. Course, I was also closer this time. But I think I did a pretty good job of shooting consistently.
And at the end of the day, I took my target home with me. His name is Burt. He’s hanging behind the coats.
On entirely different news, I made an apple pie! It turned out really good. I’m not actually a big fan of fruit, so fruit pies, following that idea, are also not high on my list of things I make or eat on a consistent basis. However, I claim this one a success! The crust is rather buttery (it was supposed to be made with shortening, but I didn’t have any so I substituted), which is awesome, and I mixed some of that crust-dough in with some oatmeal, nutmeg, and ground cloves and sprinkled it on top for some pretty awesome topping. The filling itself I made a while ago by putting my apples in a covered pot with cinnimon, milk, brown and white sugar, oatmeal (for thickness), and a bit of water (and some pineapple bits that were starting to ferment on me) and cooking it on medium-low for 3 hours. And over that filling I sprinkled a liberal amount of more cinnamon after I put it over the crust.
Now the last four days it’s been gloomy, cloudy, and rainy. And since it’s been getting steadily colder this week, it wasn’t a nice warm rain at all. I rode the bus a lot this week. But it was worth it! For at long last, after those four days of miserable cold liquid, God has deemed it time to transform that liquid into a more solid state..! (In other words…it snowed.) Now it actually snowed a bit last Sunday as well, so it wasn’t the first snowfall of the year, but it was still exciting. And it was slightly more emphatic this time (from ‘a flake here and a flake there’ to a veritable flurry!) So I was outside in this cold weather, fully enjoying myself for the brief moment of flurry that I was able to experience.
Then it stopped, and I was just cold. The apple pie helped this once I got back to the room. That, and a long sleeved shirt under a fleece under a hoodie under my spring jacket. Remember kids: Wisconsinites aren’t physically better at dealing with the cold. We just know when and how to layer up.
That aside, I’m a bit too warm for that now, so I’m going back to the fleece layer…
Sorry for the lack of picture, folks, but maybe I’ll get the pic from Pistolcraft up here at some point, of me and Burt. ^__^b Keep cool!
