[what I should eat at age 74]

At 74 you have earned the right to eat whatever you want to.  Just cut the size of the portions down.  

[Trick or treat]

On 11/1/2025 at 12:10 PM, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

So you had some thirteen year old candy for them?

Oh Hell no.  

 

I keep mini Baby Ruth and 3 Musketeers on hand all the time.  You don't have to be trick or treating to come to my house.  The single mom next door drops by to talk guns and pray for me all the time.  A couple who live down the street and work at the local library drop by talk books. 

[I wonder if it is possible to get unadopted?]

4 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

In Iceland there is an app so that one can determine how closely one is related to someone else, before dating.

Once they turn "of age" (21?) they should be able to do what they damn well want to.  They are adults and the various governments should no longer have any jurisdiction over their personal choices....kind of like owning and carrying a gun.

[Einstein’s first Halloween]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Einstein moved to Princeton on 10/17/33. Two weeks later on Halloween, a group of kids knocked on the door called out “Trick or Treat!" Einstein, unfamiliar with the tradition, came to the front porch and provided a musical treat: he serenaded them with his violin.

One of the coolest photos I ever saw of Einstein was him riding a unicycle.

 

He was also reported to have said that he never memorized something he could look up.

 

I would liked to have met him.

[Oh No!!! It's Happening Early This Year]

On 10/30/2025 at 2:46 PM, Cypress Sun said:

 

I actually saw this on one of those FDOT signs near the Sunshine Skyway a few weeks ago.

 

Enjoy camping in one of our State Parks,

Not in the left lane.

 

 

Last time I was in Virginia, I found out that using radar detectors are illegal in that State also. Just glad I didn't find out the hard way.

 

 

Why is it illegal?  They can snoop on us but we can't snoop back.

[Last Minute DIY Halloween Costumes]

21 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

I went to a Halloween party earlier tonight as a AAA Roadside Assistance driver. I walked in with my jumper cables over my shoulder and the bartender pointed at me and yelled, "You get out of here, I don't want you starting anything!"

Oh BOOOO....hisssss!  ;D

 

[Last Minute DIY Halloween Costumes]

On 10/31/2025 at 7:57 PM, Blackwater 53393 said:

I went to a Halloween party last weekend.  I hadn’t picked out anything to wear and at the last minute, I grabbed a plaid flannel shirt, a black stocking cap, a pair of carpenter jeans, and my high top lineman’s boots and went as a lumberjack!

 

With the shaggy beard and long hair, it worked perfectly! 
 

I’d done the cowboy thing twice before at this party with guns and all!

 

I went once as my alter ego, Elwood P. Suggins, hog farmer from Lickskillet, Alabama, right down to the “muddy” boots, straw hat, and raggedy bib overalls with the faded red union suit.  (YES!! Lickskillet is a real place!)

 

Add an old blue Sager double bit axe to finish it off.  Tree climbing spurs wouldn't hurt, either.

[anyone play other gun games?]

I don't suppose that Russian Roulette would......Nah!  There aren't any winners, no buckles, trophies, etc.

[The Broadcast That Spooked America]

My parents were on their honeymoon in the forests of Oregon when that aired.  The never heard it until I found cassette tape of it about 30 years ago.  I gave them the copy (and a tape player) for their anniversary.

 

Dad's first comment was "and here I thought being stupid enough to believe that sort of thing was something new."  They enjoyed it, in spite of that.

[if you could own a historic weapon]

Come to think of it I have a number of "historic" guns:

   1. a 1894 model Winchester . 30 30 made in 1912

   2. a S&W Model 1 1/2 first issue 32 rf with a scarce 4" barrel

   3. a S&W Model 1 1/2 SA . 32 S&W witha4" barrel

   4.  A S&W SA  Second model with a 4" barrel

   5. a Hammond "Bulldog" .44 extra short rf

   6. a Remington "Iroquois" round cylinder version in .22srf

   7. a Remington Model 8 autoloader in .35 Remington made in a 1911

   8. a Colt third model derringer .41 rf in marvelous condition 

   9. six "mystery guns", makers unknown; two in .32 S&W, three in .38 S&W, and one rimfire that I haven't yet figured out what center fire caliber it is.

 

I gave my son-in-law (He's a mighty fine guy.) my dad's Stevens 12 gauge pump gun (model 520???) made in 1914, because he sat for three hours in my den one afternoon fondling it.  I had it checked out by great gunsmith who passed it...without even mentioning that it looks mush worse than it really is.

 

I have reproduction of a few dozen true historic, antique, or just interesting guns, but the ones listed here are all over a century old.  I am only fifteen years away from being an antique myself.  I wonder what I'd go for on an auction block.

[if you could own a historic weapon]

On 10/31/2025 at 12:49 AM, Dapper Dave said:

I have a few, almost by accident. My gunsmith buddy bought some wall plaques from a bar, (closing? Not sure), of old pistols that had been hanging there for who knows, 50 years plus? He loves to tinker and make his own parts, so he restored these to functional. I bought two of them, one for me, and one for Da Boy, both 38 SW.

The Harrington and Richardson American. Pain to unload with that fixed cylinder, but it works.

 

The Iver Johnson Second Model. Note the small brass piece - that's the part he replaced due to it being welded open.

 

They weren't exactly what I was looking for in a classic historic firearm, but I could afford them.  A lot of the old Suicide Specials are still around, but being fired with smokeless powder before people knew different, being far cheaper made, b t the look in my son's eyes when I told him, when these guns were made, Wyatt Earp was still walking this Earth, (sometime between 1895 and 1905, IIRC), well, that was neat.

Then from the same guy I fell into another oddball piece of history, this Australian Lend Lease US Made Smith and Wesson Victory Model in 38SW, factory rebuilt in Australia in 1954. 

So, yeah, I'm good with these for now, 

I have an H&R Young America.  It looks exactly like yours except mine has about a 2 1/2" barrel.and black gutta percha grips/

[Trick or treat]

We bought this house about twelve years ago.  Narrow two lane street with no shoulders, blind driveways, no curbs, gutters, sidewalks, or street lights, lots of trees and shrubs almost in the street, and no fire plugs.   A perfect Hallowe'en street.......if you want a scary, dangerous, and gloomy place to visit.

 

Last night I had two little girls come to the door and five minutes later two boys and a girl showed up.  None of the kids were over six or seven years old and wore some really cute costumes.  Both groups of kids had Momma drive them over and pull in the driveway.  Good thinking and great common sense.

 

They were the first trick-or-treaters we have had visit in twelve years. 

 

Did my heart good to see them and I hope more come by next year.

[Last Minute DIY Halloween Costumes]

On 10/30/2025 at 8:21 AM, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

 

That guy needs to be locked in a padded room.  But he is funny.

 

I wear a Hallowe'en costume every day...except Halloween.  I buy a businessman's hair cut.  Then I get out one of my suits left over from my business days:  Three-piece dark suit, white shirt, power tie with a classic style tie tack or pin, highly polished boots.  Add a pocket watch or a classic wrist watch, find a breast pocket bill fold.  Throw in a couple of lapel pins if I want. Drag out my attache  case.

 

There stands a model of a well-to-do professional businessman...like I was before I retired and "went native".

 

Next day I take most of it to dry cleaner and put it away for another year...or until a wedding, funeral, or some other occasion that calls for it.

[Making a Corpse]

I have always wanted to play a joke that I'll never see the outcome of.

 

Do one of these skeletons (that's the part that I didn't know how to do until now), dress it from the inside out in some really ratty old clothes.  Add an old wallet, some odds and ends in the wallet and pockets.  Do a full blown job of it, then bury it under your sun deck or someplace similar.  Leave nothing behind to identify yourself.

 

Sit back and imagine what will happen someday when they tear your house down to build a shopping mall or whatever reason they have.

 

That site will be shut down for an investigation, the place will smell like human excrement for days, and somebody is likely to have years of nightmares.

 

I'd try to come back from the dead to see that and laugh myself to death....uuuuh, too late for that.

 

 

Or it might be something to do for NEXT Hallowe'en.  

 

[if you could own a historic weapon]

4 hours ago, Yul Lose said:

I’ve always been enamored with Gatling guns so how about one of these?

 

1 hour ago, WD Farren said:

I will be 75 years old next month.

I own a historic weapon.

 

😁

You ARE a historic weapon.  Many of us already are.  

 

[somebody finally gets it]

Florida was called "New York South" when we lived in South Carolina.

[Any Marbles of Gladstone, MI knives & Axe collectors out there?]

My dad had a Marble folding safety knife since before I was born.  He used it gut deer and elk, one black bear, several hundreds birds and probably thousands of fish.  Over the years it took a terrible beating and when Dad died I got the knife.

 

I never intended to use it so it got framed and hung on the wall.  Around 30 years ago I was grazing around and found brand new knife identical to Dad's, except for three things, none really obvious.

 

Someone had found a warehouse full of Marble blades....nothing more.

 

1. The markings on the outside cases were a bit different

 

2. The originals had nickel plated brass handle parts, the new knives are plated aluminum.  

 

3. The new knives are genuine Marbles except they were built by Marble in Taiwan in a plant owned by Marble.  No markings on he knife say where it was made.

 

Now the original is in the frame and I made room for the new knife.  I can get it out whenever I want and I carry it a lot.

 

Dad also had a Marble folding hatchet.  I have no idea what became of that.

 

I think it sold for something like $35.00.

[On A Moving Train]

WHY?

[that baby has a powerful finger]

I gotta get me one of those.

[Places That I Would Not Want To Be Today]

Well, Tell, I live about 15 miles from the largest Ponderosa pine forest in North America and this area is pretty well treed up where ever you go.  I personally own one of the few properties that don't have some grass for miles around and I've hired a gent to cure that.

 

We have warm summers (I'd guess the average high is under 85 degrees) and usually moderate winters, sometimes with some snow but never very much.  We get "Arizona Monsoons" every so often that give us wind and rain galore.  Most of the surrounding miles run close to a mile above sea level ( some places well over 11 thousand feet) and we don't have lot of air polluting industries which allow some of the most beautiful blue skies you've ever seen and about twice a year we get a "rose moon" at night.  Also we are lucky to get some really spectacular sunsets anywhere.... and some really strange and wonderful cloud formations.

 

It takes some getting used to because the air is so unpolluted and breathable and maybe you aren't used to the altitude..

 

We have vast numbers of kinds of wildlife from Bald Eagles and several kinds of hawks, falcons, and owls to bears, bobcats, three or four species of deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, and snakes and lizards of every kind you can think, many tortoises and the once-in-awhile cougar.

 

Now, you have been lead to believe that Arizona is all desert.  We have some like the Sonora Desert down south of here where saguaro cactus grow...the only place that they are natural and others are scattered throughout the state.  We also have eye-popping scenery like Hollywood made famous because of the mesas and rock formations, canyons, mountains, and lookouts so you can see it all.

 

And I really hate to break the news that we can beat Texas a dozen ways that you will neer believe until you come to Central Arizona and use it as a center to look over the rest of the state.

 

Let me know when you're coming and I'll see to it that you get a tour of a lifetime.

[Places That I Would Not Want To Be Today]

40 minutes ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

Are you aware that you’re living in the desert??

Son, I grew up next door to the Utah Salt Lake Flats, hunted up and down the Rocky Mountains, suffered killing heat and ten foot deep snow, blizzards, hurricanes, tornados, monsoons, earthquakes, massive rain and hail storms, a flash flood, a volcano, epidemics and pandemics, broken bones, eight or nine animal attacks including two rattlesnake bites, hostile gun fire, a helicopter crash, and raced and wrecked a few cars.  I have never lost a fight permanentIy (though several are still waiting for a finish for up to five decades now), have had a lot of men and women friends, a few lovers, a 100% perfect wife....and a huge pack of wonderful dogs.   Many friends are gone, some just vanished, some left for various reasons, and some under hostile circumstances....and I have made  a LOT of friends over the years and all over the world.  I have written and published two novels, six or seven instruction manuals, and two text books, written a weekly newspaper column, and hosted a weekly TV show.  I am or have been proficient with dozens of kinds of weapons.

 

I regret almost none of my life and am quite proud of much of what I have been given, accomplished, and what else fate has sent me.

 

I was a Captain in the Army and later a Marine Gunnery Sergeant.  I have had more jobs than most people and done really well in some and been a horrible failure in others.  At one time or another I have been a teacher in eight countries or states with students from six years old to 97.

 

I have also visited 47 states and lived in 10, owned property in Utah, California, Hawaii, and now in Arizona.  I have visited 9 foreign countries and lived in 3......2 of them twice.

 

Living in a desert, this desert in particular, is just about as close to heaven as I can imagine.

 

Your mileage may differ.

[This is different, a machine gun]

Isn't it amazing how much progress we have made since the '60s?  Hundreds of new ways to kill our fellow humans, computerized gadgetry, computerized nearly everything, self driving vehicles, AI, space ships being sent to all over the place, new and nastier diseases and cures for a lot more, and the list goes on.

[Places That I Would Not Want To Be Today]

I have NO DESIRE to be anywhere but right here in Central Arizona.

 

This is HOME!

[What to wear in the courtroom?]

On 10/27/2025 at 3:04 PM, Texas Maverick said:

Cuz Alpo already knew the answer to this question cuz he spends every other week in court for something. LOL

 

TM

Felonious mopery with intent to gawk.

[dubbing a movie requires dialogue change]

My only experience with dubbing was in a hospital room waiting for some test results.  The TV over my bed had 140 something channels.  Most were crap but I found one with old My Three Sons On Horseback reruns dubbed in Spanish.......with English subtitles.  Strange at first but I adapted and before I left they put on Gun Smoke dubbed in Spanish.......with English subtitles.