Posted on 01/03/2008 6:35:58 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
That washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is anoble thing!
O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain.
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smokes and steams.
O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer, if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.
O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!
Cus it feels soo gooooooooooooood......
got the bulk of thegarden in... and completed the field day of the theworkshop... sprayed herbicide on the weeds in the yard... I’ll put lime down this week... weed-n-feed in the next few weeks...
some quick weapons maintenance followed... mrsnad invited some families from church over for a cookout tomorrow... s’posed tuh be clear and 75 degrees... figgered with weather like that, gotta have a shoot... ammo stockpile is maxed out... so it’ll be an excuse tuh load...
osage, how were them ribs?...
oh... the redbuds are comin’ on... the Dogwoods won’t be far behind... the serviceberries have been bloomin’ fer a few weeks, and I just noticed that the blackberries are bloomin’.... mmmmmmmmmmmm... blackberries...
We don’t have any tulips up yet, just the greenery of them. The viburnums are leafing out, as are all the trees. I’m seeing forsythia blooming, though, around the neighborhood.
dude... you gotta get out more...
I WANTS!! That is just beautiful! Where did y'all get it?
our forsythia has been bloomin fer over a week... and itsuh big bush... it has it’s own zip code... I been meanin’ tuh trim it back, but I never have the gumption tuh wrangle it...
Bunnies have trimmed my forsythias down to nubs. One I dug up and brought inside and I put a little bunny fence around the other.
Is this so you can spin your own wool, to make your own yarn, so you can continue be clothed in case bad things happen to society? ;o) As the Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared”!
WooHoo! Then we'd actually have something Tolkienesque to discuss for a change!
I keep forgetting to put that on our Netflix list. It looks like a lot of fun.
When we moved into our first house, the line of forsythias the previous owner had put on the back lot line were just blooming. It was a beautiful sight!
It’s got some moments.
Here it is next to my S&W M-60-2-NY, which is about as small as I care to go for an effective defensive weapon. If we're talking desperate, then some sort of derringer can be considered. It's only two shots of .22 magnum (the availability of FMJ hollowpoints keeps it interesting), but it has the advantage of less bulk, and a slimmer profile.
Lifting the latch "breaks" the barrel, and if you do it smartly, might even eject the fired brass. However, I don't see any encounter using a derringer needing more than two shots, one way or another.
For me, the most important features are the flat profile, and absence of any moving external parts, except for the trigger itself. This allows for a better chance of firing from a pocket, without the risk of something getting wrapped around the hammer of cylinder. It is also quite likely to set your clothes on fire, but that would be only a minor inconvenience in that kind of situation.
I've seen min-revolvers smaller than this, old-time derringers, and some big honkin' modern ones:
Now that's a solid, well-made weapon firing a round not to be sneezed at. A handgun that shoots .410s is some series firepower. But it comes at the cost of larger size, an external hammer, manual safety, and trigger guard. For me, it's approaching the envelope size of a sub-compact 9mm, or even .45. But that takes me away from my original requirement, which is two rounds of something in the smallest possible package that still allows for reliability, and the least number of exposed moving parts.
Actually, considering liability lawyers and the government, it might be impossible to make the DM101 today, so I'd better keep mine in good shape. Fortunately, it's very simple internally:
The only safety on the weapon is a extremely hugh trigger pull. It doesn't look it in the diagram, but part number 1958, the mainspring, looks like it came off a truck suspension. It gives a trigger pull of 25-30 pounds. It's long, heavy, and grating, and doesn't lend itself to the fine motor skills of my trigger finger. I've found it easier to fire it using my middle finger, with my index finger acting as a "pointer".
I decided to see if I could improve the trigger pull a bit without compromising safety or reliability. I carefully polished some parts that showed drag marks, and applied a tiny bit of moly grease on pivot points and sliding surfaces.
I had to use my postage scale to check the trigger pull, since it goes up to 40 pounds. After the trigger tuneup, it registered 18 pounds.
Now 18 pounds of trigger pull might seem a bit "light" when it comes to something with no trigger guard, and no other safety. But 18 pounds is also what my scoped H&K-91 weighs with a loaded magazine. The "improved" trigger pull on this derringer is the equivalent of lifting that rifle with one finger. I think the safety issue is sufficiently covered.
I hope I didn't offend anybody's "pet" hideout weapon. We all have different criteria, and the High Standard comes closest to what I'm looking for. It would have been a real cutie in stainless steel.
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If you're still reading at this point, the following bit of news has nothing to do with guns, but it does concern our Hobbit Hole knife program, which is still functional, even though it has a much lower profile.
The Gerber LMF has always been a popular knife, and I grabbed as many as I could when there were good deals. So the other day I received an email from a dealer announcing a "closeout" on a variation of the LMF I had never seen before. The original aircrew model in "coyote" had the separate shroud cutter, while the later "infantry" model, in black, didn't.
Now, all of a sudden, there was a green model being closed out:
At half off MSRP. I bought two, just to have for the "special occasion". The "closeout" knife was not green, but the new Army ACU model in foliage green;
The Army is becoming anal about color fidelity when it comes to the ACU camouflage pattern, and all of the exposed surfaces of this knife setup are the proper shade of foliage green authorized for use with ACU. It's a difficult color to reproduce accurately here, so I tweaked the image as best I could. It's the correct color match for ACU gear, in this case my P90 mag pouch.
So if you know anybody in the ARMY who would like a Hobbit Hole sheath knife, this one is kosher. I ordered six more (I hope I still get "foliage green", and not the "green green"), so we will have a decent supply. Keep this knife in mind if you come across any deserving Soldiers. Marines will just have to make do with our other Hobbit Hole sheath knives.
Amazon.com somewhere. He picked it out all by himself. I likes it, too!
Or a nice warm blankie in case of a nuclear winter. ;)
We saw The Waterhorse, finally. It was marvelous. One of the LOTR producers did it and WETA was involved so the CG was off-the-charts excellent. Sweet story - will make a sensitive soul weepy at the end.
Gonna be some grilling going on this afternoon.
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