The Only Thing That Stays The Same Is Everything Changes

1st Inning.

Highlights of the Brew Crew...Vacation.  The week after the 4th of July was the annual family vacation week.  This year we loaded up the RV and traveled to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore.  A recap of our trip follows.

Day 1, Sunday July 6th:  A.I.S.(Ass In Seat) was set for 10am, but the wife and the kids had not finished packing by then so we eventually got on the road around noon.  After spending 6 hours northbound on I-29, we finally made it to the Big Sioux Recreation Area campground in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The campground was nice.  It was clean and well manicured with electric and water hookup sites (which we reserved).  Finally getting out to stretch our legs and let the dogs stretch their legs was much needed.  As the girls took the dogs for a walk, I started setting up our little portable grill to cook a quick dinner before we called it a night.  Well, after a few minutes outside the skeeters welcomed us to their stomping ground.  It was like the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Birds" but with mosquitoes.  They were everywhere and no matter what you sprayed on your body they laughed at it and kept coming.  So, after a quick meal everyone retreated to the RV. (Continued)...


2nd Inning.
Articles of the Week...

• Warp Drive..."A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein's law of relativity."  I hope to see this become a reality in my lifetime.  Think about the advancements in your grandparents or great grandparents lifetime...horse drawn carriages to space shuttles.  It could happen.  
• Let Them Be Kids..."...at a time when doctors and trainers describe what we're seeing as an "epidemic," with another baseball draft fast approaching (it begins on Thursday), and more and more of the available pitchers having already had Tommy John surgery or likelier than ever to need it in the years to come, it's probably worth paying attention to some guys who didn't need to get cut."  I grew up remembering a few pitchers that had Tommy John but like the article references it seems so common to have multiple pitchers for ONE franchise each season having the surgery.  Let your kids rest during their youth.  I will never understand the need to have a competitive team for 8 year olds that plays over 50 games a year.  I'm old school I guess.
• Black Gold, North Dakota Tea..."Walmart pays wages that reflect the economic conditions in a
  
  local market based on the supply and demand realities of the local labor market. In other words, Walmart can’t really set wages independent of market forces and it’s really at the mercy of the market in every local community. If Walmart offered the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in the Bakken area, it wouldn’t be able to staff its stores."  Oh, the humanity!  That evil Wal-Mart!
• Slaves and the NRA..."'We want to inform United States senators that we will be notifying urban pastors, business leaders and other black voters of their legislators’ position on the Second Amendment—especially blue senators in red states currently up for re-election.' The news conference is to rally behind the tradition of former slave and great American orator Frederick Douglass who said, 'A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.'"  An excellent history lesson on one of the reasons the National Rifle Association was formed in the post-Civil War era.  
• X-Ray Vision..."Superman had X-ray vision. Now, so does the United States military, in the
  
  form of an X-ray gun that can see through fabric, rubber and aluminum to find drugs, money, explosive liquids and even people."  I want one please! 
• Rollin' Down The River..."The Missouri 340 is called an endurance race. A third of the 400 or so entries won’t finish the route, which starts in Kansas City and ends in St. Charles. Crews must hit nine checkpoints and finish within 88 hours."  I really want to add this one to my bucket list and give it a shot one year.  But I sure as hell will not be carving out my own canoe.
  
  Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article599198.html#storylink=cpy
• Commissioner Gordon Speaks..."Veteran actor Gary Oldman might be the last person you'd expect to opine on politics and culture. He's best known for his screen versatility, commanding respect in both blockbusters and indie fare."  It's always nice to read comments from a celebrity when they break from the norm, especially in Hollywood.
• Double Duty..."Before they took the field for Wednesday’s Double Duty Classic at U.S. Cellular Field, Josh Stowers and AJ Lewis had a history lesson.  They heard about life in the Negro Leagues from one of its players, Ernie Westfield, a pitcher who started the last East-West All-Star Game in 1960 at Comiskey Park."  Some perspective from young black baseball players who aspire to play in the Majors, a demographic that is dwindling.
• See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil..."The unfolding sectarian violence in Iraq is just the latest crisis where the Obama administration seemingly has been caught off guard. From the Veterans Affairs scandal to Russia's swift annexation of Crimea, news of the world somehow keeps taking the commander-in-chief and his team by surprise."  I would love to get away with problems at my job in the same manner the President is getting away with this stuff.  

3rd Inning.

Firearms Corner...Semi-Auto Pistols.  The world of semi-autos!  The Truth About Guns website put together a primer on semi-automatic pistols that is very informative that I would like to summarize as it contains some very good information for the newbie to guns as well as useful information for the well-versed.  There were a few before it but ever since the introduction of John Moses Browning's Model 1911, the world has been dominated by the semi-automatic pistol.  It helped that the military and eventually police departments adopted the use of this type of handgun.  Then along came the conceal carry movement that has kicked the widespread use into overdrive.

When you think of pistols some think of every modern action movie or tv series involving police or military.  You might think of Jack Bauer and his Heckler & Koch P30 or Raylan Givens and his Glock 17.  Or you might think of the Boondock Saints and their Beretta 92FS pistols, or you might think of James Bond and his Walther PPK.  You get the picture.  All of these examples are a part of our modern gun culture and are becoming interesting pieces of our history and the history of firearms as they grow in popularity in various colors, sizes, and calibers.  With gun manufacturers tailoring newer pistols for the conceal carry/personal defense crowd you are seeing more and more of them adhering to simplicity and conceal ability.

First, you have to extinguish the myth or misnomer of 'automatics' as these are sometimes called.  True automatic firearms fire multiple rounds with each trigger pull while semi-automatics fire one round with each trigger pull just like a double action revolver.  Also, semi-autos hold their ammunition in magazines not clips (I addressed that debate in a previous inning post).  Magazines hold a variety of number of rounds depending on size and caliber and most often more rounds than a revolver. Per TheTruthAboutGuns.com, "All semiautomatic pistols work on the same basic principle: Firing a cartridge harnesses the energy of

firing to push a heavy metal slide back against a powerful spring that keeps the action closed until pressure drops to a safe level. On its backward travel, the slide extracts the fired case from the chamber and ejects it through the ejection port on the slide. When the slide hits the rear stop, it is propelled forward under spring tension, picks up a fresh cartridge from the magazine and inserts it into the chamber. This process is very fast and appears as a blur to most.  A powerful spring in the magazine pushes each fresh cartridge upward, ready to be fed into the chamber. In most designs, when the last round has been fired, the magazine spring pushes the magazine follower–the plastic part between the magazine spring and the cartridges–upward to engage the slide lock, forcing the slide to lock fully open (back) to notify the shooter he has shot his weapon dry. This cycling may be accomplished by a blowback system (the most common in contemporary handguns; there are several variations of the basic principal), or a gas system. Many semiautomatic pistols have an external, manual safety device of some kind."

Pistols come in four action styles.  1)Single Action:
The hammer is manually cocked before you fire the first round.  This model is where the line 'cocked and locked' comes from as you cock the hammer and put the thumb safety on.  After firing the first round, the hammer will cock through movement of the slide. You see this in the 1911 style pistols.  2)Double Action/Single Action: This works the same as a double action revolver in that in that you don't have to manually cock the hammer to fire the first round. Once you fire the first round (there is a long, heavy trigger pull), the movement of the slide will cock the hammer so that the subsequent shots feel like a single action trigger pull.  3)Double Action Only: This style has no exposed hammer therefore every trigger pull is cocking the internal hammer and will have a long, heavy trigger pull.  4)Striker Fired: These pistols have no external or internal hammer.  Instead of a hammer, they utilize a heavy firing pin and spring that when compressed through moving the slide back releases the firing pin sending the round down range.

Semi-automatic pistols come in a variety of sizes from large models (think Beretta 92FS) typically seen in competition or folks that open carry to mid-size or compact size (think Springfield Armory XDS) for conceal carry to pocket size (think Ruger LCP).  The materials used to make pistols also varies from all steel (think 1911) to a mixture of steel and polymer (think Glock). Obviously the advantage to a more modern pistol that uses both steel and polymer is the weight, especially for the conceal carry crowd.  Capacity in pistols can range from 30 rounds (Kel Tec PMR30) to 7 rounds (Colt 1911) but average between 10 to 15 rounds.  Another fad that has caught on in the last year or so is different colors being used for the polymer portions of the pistols. Now you can take your pistol and apply a Cerakote coating or have it dipped in one of a plethora of choices of patterns but gun manufacturers are releasing some of their popular models in a variety of colors such as rasberry, pink, od green, and flat dark earth.  When it comes to safeties, pistols employ a variety of features, both external and internal.  Some come with a simple external safety switch usually in the area where your thumb can flip it on/off while others use a trigger safety that must be depressed before pulling the trigger back and others that utilize a grip safety that must also be depressed before firing (some use multiple methods).        

There are a variety of calibers used for pistols.  You will find them chambered in .45ACP, .40S&W, 9MM, .380ACP, and .22LR, along with other calibers.  What you will also find, and as defined by ATF rules, are rifle caliber pistols that resemble their rifle brethren but with no buttstock and shorter barrels. These are typically found in calibers such as 5.56/.223 or 7.62x39.  My first pistol was a Springfield Armory XDm chambered in .40S&W and this year I built an AR15 pistol chambered in 5.56/.223.  One has been a carry gun while the other will be a bug out/home defense gun.  Major manufacturers of pistols these days are Glock, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Kel Tec, Springfield Armory, Colt, and Taurus to name a few.  Most of them make the traditional single action 1911 style while others manufacture a mix of traditional and modern polymer pistols.  For more information on this topic I highly suggest the primer from The Truth About Guns.  Also, I have added a quick informative video from Hickock45 below that provides a valuable tip on how to NOT shoot a semi-automatic pistol.  Enjoy!



4th Inning.
Music...Tracy Lawrence.  Lost Country Stars of the 90s Top Ten countdown #9.  That era of the mid-1990s was busy producing country artists left and right. This week's entry into my personal Top Ten list of artists who were getting record deals and radio play time but ended up fizzling out of the national scene is Tracy Lawrence. Per Wikipedia, "Tracy Lawrence was born in Atlanta, Texas, and lived most of his early life in Foreman, Arkansas. He wrote his first song when he was four years old. His mother had to write down the lyrics for him. He played in his first band at the age of sixteen and later attended Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas, where he was a member of the Epsilon Kappa chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity. In 1990 Lawrence left Arkansas for Nashville, Tennessee where he planned to find success as a recording artist.  Lawrence worked as an iron worker and in phone sales while he tried to break into the music business. He began participating in talent shows and earned enough money to live on. He began working with Wanda Collier, a music publisher, doing some shows and co-writing some songs, while learning his way around the music scene in Nashville. He had a gig at the Bluebird Cafe and met Wayne Edwards who became his manager."

Tracy signed his first record deal in 1991 and released his first album later that year.  In May 1991, Lawrence was shot four times in a robbery attempt after walking his former girlfriend back to her motel room.  He still has a bullet lodged in his pelvis.  His first CD, 'Sticks and Stones' saw success with the title track hitting #1 on the charts.  Other singles released from that CD were 'Today's Lonely Fool', 'Runnin' Behind', and 'Somebody Paints the Wall'.  In 1993, he released his second album, 'Alibis', released 4 singles. These singles included the title track along with 'Can't Break It to My Heart', 'My Second Home', 'If the Good Die Young'.  All of those singles went to #1 on the charts.  It was also in 1993 when he was named 'Top New Male Vocalist' at the Academy of Country Music awards.

Tracy released his third album, 'I See It Now' in 1994.  The title track and 'As Any Fool Can See' were released as singles along with 'If the World Had a Front Porch' and 'Texas Tornado'.  All of them were hits with 'Texas Tornado' reaching #1.  In 1996, he released 'Time Marches On'.  This CD's title track was his longest lasting #1 hit.  He also had hits with 'Stars Over Texas' and 'Is That a Tear' which both reached #2 on the charts.  He released his fifth album, 'The Coast Is Clear' in 1997. This was his first CD to not chart a #1 hit.  Singles from this CD were "Better Man, Better Off', 'How a Cowgirl Says Goodbye', and the title track.  

Since 1997, Tracy's success has been minimal.  In 1997 he had domestic issues with his wife which lead to criminal charges against him.  He would release a few more albums, including a greatest hits compilation, a Christmas album, and a Christian album.  The only notable hits among those CDs were 'Paint Me a Birmingham' from the 'Strong' album and 'Find Out Who Your Friends Are'.

I owned most of his early CDs and his songs had a bit of fun and a bit of romance when it was needed with ladies.  The fact that he put together a list of #1 hits is impressive and makes you wonder if his personal life, like too many others, impeded his ability to keep focus.  Oh well.  One of his songs that I liked the most is 'Time Marches On'.  A video is below.  Enjoy!




5th Inning.

American History Lesson...Battle of Little Big Horn.  With my recent vacation to the Black Hills in South Dakota and the history lessons involving the settling of the land in that area I thought it a good time to visit the Battle of Little Big Horn. Per History.com, "Determined to resist the efforts of the U.S. Army to force them onto reservations, on June 25, 1876 Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wiped out Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and much of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn."

"Sioux Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had been

Lt.Col George Custer

successfully resisting American efforts to confine their people to reservations for more than a decade. Although both chiefs wanted nothing more than to be left alone to pursue their traditional ways, the growing tide of white settlers invading their lands inevitably led to violent confrontations. Increasingly, the Sioux and Cheyenne who did try to cooperate with the U.S. government discovered they were rewarded only with broken promises and marginal reservation lands. In 1875, after the U.S. Army blatantly ignored treaty provisions and invaded the sacred Black Hills, many formerly cooperative Sioux and Cheyenne abandoned their reservations to join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana. They would not return without a fight."                                                                               

Sitting Bull

It was later in 1875 when the U.S. Army ordered the Indians, which they described as hostile, to return to their reservations from Montana.  If they did not return they risked being attacked by the U.S. Army forces. The order was ignored by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and they instead sent messengers to more Indians, such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe, in an effort to unite the tribes so they could meet the U.S. threat.  By the end of the spring in 1876, the Indians had gathered in numbers totaling more than 10,000 and along a river called Little Big Horn in southern Montana.  In a quote reminiscent of Ben Franklin's 'Hang Together' quote, Sitting Bull told the gathered Indians "We must stand together or they will kill us separately. These soldiers have come shooting; they want war.  All right, we'll give it to them." 

Crazy Horse

While the Indians were gathered at Little Big Horn, 3 columns of U.S. troops were heading toward their camp.  The first column, under command of General George Crook, was overwhelmed by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Crazy Horse on June 17th. The other two columns, with no knowledge of Crook's defeat, continued toward Little Big Horn.  On June 22nd, General Alfred Terry, commander of one of the two columns, ordered Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his 7th Cavalry to scout ahead for the Indians.

On the morning of the 25th, Custer was told by his scouts that a very large Indian village was nearby along the Little Big Horn river. Custer would dismiss the scouts' information on how large the camp was as a mere exaggeration.  His primary fear was that the Indians would flee before he could attack.  Instead of waiting for reinforcements, Custer moved towards the Indian camp immediately to stage a mid-day attack.  Upon entering the valley to the camp, Custer divided the 600 men under his command while keeping 215 with him.    

It didn't take long for word of the approaching U.S. troops to reach the Indian camp.  Sitting Bull, who was too old to engage in battle, rallied the warriors and saw to the protection of the women and children.  The leadership on the battlefield fell to Crazy Horse and he hurried off with a large group of Indian warriors to meet Custer's forces.  While Custer's divided troops advanced towards the camp, they immediately realized the number of Indians that Custer felt were exaggerated was false.  Custer quickly sent orders to regroup his troops, but unfortunately the remainder of the 7th Cavalry were also facing a large Indian force.  It didn't take long for Custer and the 215 men under his immediate command to find themselves cut off and surrounded by as many as 3,000 armed warriors.  The battle took less than an hour before Custer and his men were wiped out.  The other troops of the 7th Cavalry were badly wounded and beaten but were able to hold off being decimated until the Indian forces withdrew the following day.

Per History.com, "The Battle of the Little Big Horn was the Indians' greatest victory and the army's worst defeat in the long and bloody Plains Indian War. The Indians were not allowed to revel in the victory for long, however. The massacre of Custer and his 7th Cavalry outraged many Americans and only confirmed the image of the bloodthirsty Indians in their minds, and the government became more determined to destroy or tame the hostile Indians. The army redoubled its efforts and drove home the war with a vengeful fury. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. Crazy Horse was killed in 1877 after leaving the reservation without permission. Sitting Bull was shot and killed three years later in 1890 by a Lakota policeman."




6th Inning.

Have you seen it?...The Hollywood Knights.  There are many movies from our youth that slip through the cracks and don't always become the 'Big Hit' but stick with you as a personal favorite.  An example of one of those and a favorite of mine is 'The Hollywood Knights'.  I would describe this movie as a cross between Animal House, Porky's, and American Graffiti.  I remember first seeing it during a late weekend night watching HBO as a kid (this is not child appropriate as it has an R rating).  Awesome cars, good music, pretty girls, and lots of hi jinks.

A plot summary from Wikipedia, "On Halloween night in 1965, a group of high school pranksters – the Hollywood Knights – enraged by the Beverly Hills Residents' Association's success in arranging for the shutdown and demolition of their favorite hangout, "Tubby's Drive-In" diner, which is to be replaced by an office building, launch a sustained and comically vengeful campaign against the principals of the association and two bumbling local police officers charged keeping the "The Knights" in check during their last night in Beverly Hills. The ensuing antics include, among other things, a sexual encounter involving premature ejaculation, a punch bowl being "spiked" with urine, an initiation ceremony involving four pledges who are left in Watts wearing nothing but the car tires they are left to carry, a cheerleader who forgets to put on her underwear before performing at a pep rally, several impromptu drag races, and the lead character of Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl) wearing a majordomo outfit and singing a version of 'Volare' accompanied by the sounds of flatulence. "Mooning" also plays a prominent role in the film: one of the advertising slogans exploited the recent Apollo space program by touting that The Hollywood Knights was the first movie "to moon a man on the land." During a mooning incident in the film's final scene, the character Dudley Laywicker, becomes absolutely "all eyes", transfixed by the bare buttocks. So much so, that he takes his glasses off for a better look."

The film stars a few actors/actresses early in their careers such as Tony Danza, Robert Wuhl, Fran Drescher, and Michelle Pfeiffer.  So, if you are looking for funny movie to watch try to pick this one up on Netflix or order it online.  You won't be disappointed!  The red band DVD trailer is below.  Enjoy!





7th Inning.
Park Maintenance Memories...With summer upon us I felt it relevant to share memories from my summers after graduating from high school spent as a temporary employee with the Grandview, Missouri Park Maintenance department doing the grunt work but having some fun with a buddy that worked there too!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was the newbie with the Park Maintenance staff but I had the joy of being partnered up with my good buddy, Billy.  Those hot days of summer weed eating and mowing the pools were draining on us.  So, on some mornings, before the park pools at old John Anderson Park and Meadowmere park were open we would sneak in, sometimes with help from the lifeguards that were there early getting ready, and strip down to our underwear and jump in and jump out with an occasional trip down the water slide.  It was also during those hot days that I would attempt to look cool while mowing and driving the old blue Ford tractor that we used for brush hogging.  With sleeves pulled up over my shoulders and a grade A farmer's tan on, I would drive by the pool and give the cute female lifeguards a little head nod and wave (BTW-I never got anywhere with that move).

It was during those days of weed eating and mowing that allowed Billy and me to discover some treasure while we made our way around the parks.  The guys playing basketball were always leaving items on the court or nearby picnic tables such as pocket knives or Oakley sunglasses.  Sometimes, while spending my days in ditches with a cranky weed eater I would discover snakes that had me screaming like a little girl until I had a sanity check and realized in my hands was the perfect snake killing weapon.  But the jackpot was one day while we were on leaving one park we saw a large box in one of the steel drum trash cans.  It was sticking out due to not fitting in the can so we inspected.  Within that box was a nice collection of Playboys from the 1970s to the 1980s.  A decent collection of magazines minus the sticky pages.  Well, we carried it back to Park Maintenance HQ (PMHQ) to share with the other summer temps.  It was a glorious day!

To finish up this week's recollections, I will leave you with this nice memory from one of our lunch breaks. Billy and I decided to go to Taco Bell one day.  I can't remember what I ordered that day but I do recall what Billy had.  He ordered a few tacos and as we sat at our lunch table in PMHQ he took a big bite into the first taco and as he began to chew he stopped.  Something was afoul with the taco.  He reached into his mouth and pulled out a Band-Aid that one of the Taco Bell workers was surely missing right about then. Needless to say all other Tacos were disposed of in the nearest trash can and we didn't eat there for lunch again.  In my next post I will devote an inning to stories about racing, CB radios, and 71 HWY.


8th Inning.
FFL Factoid...Top 8 Questions Asked by FFLs on the ATF website.  #8: Can I transfer firearms from my FFL to my personal collection?

Yes. If your business is a sole proprietorship, no ATF Form 4473 or NICS check is required to transfer a firearm from your business inventory to your personal collection. However, the acquisition and disposition (A&D) record must reflect the disposition of the firearm from business inventory to personal use, and the date of such transfer. Please note that if you wish to dispose of the firearm prior to it being held as part of your personal collection for one year, you are required to re-enter the firearm into the A&D record, complete an ATF Form 4473, and conduct a background check on the transferee. However, if the firearm is maintained in your personal collection for one year or longer from the date the firearm was transferred from the business inventory, you are not required to comply with the provisions of § 478.102 or 478.124. Reference 27 CFR 478.125a.  An ATF Form 4473 and NICS check is required when a corporation, LLC, or partnership holding a Federal firearms license transfers a firearm to one of its officers (or partners in the case of a partnership) for his or her personal use. The disposition of this firearm must also be recorded in the A&D record.

9th Inning.
Baseball Video...Royals top ten highlights over the years...This week's entry--To Motley...for the title.

Happy Independence Day! (Video Edition)

1st Inning.
A favorite of mine is listening Johnny Cash talk about that ragged old flag...




2nd Inning.
Although Red Skelton was from well before my time, his humor and his love of country crosses all generations...




3rd Inning.
John Wayne talking about his love for America...can't argue a bit about that.




4th Inning.
Benjamin Martin finally gets revenge and helps lead the Continentals to a victory.  Love it when he grabs that flag and turns the troops around to hold the line.




5th Inning.
Elvis singing anything is great but singing 'America the Beautiful' is special.




6th Inning.
It was a special moment that October in 2001 when Lee Greenwood sang 'God Bless the USA' during the World Series.




7th Inning.
One of the great movie speeches that is fitting on Independence Day.




8th Inning.
The Star Spangled Banner is a tough song but Carrie makes it sound amazing!




9th Inning.
While searching for all these videos, I ran across these guys.  A patriotic rock band.  Very cool rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.




Extra Inning.
10th Inning.
Elvis bringing it home with some traditional American themed songs.  Sing it Big E!