Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L

Congratulations Ringer! It was a pleasure shooting with you at Dark Day. A finer Cowboy you would be hard to find. Worked the entire time, spotting, setting targets, whatever was needed, and still won the match. Smooth and Deceptively Fast is how I would describe his shooting. Hope to see you again next year!

Just popped back into this thread to give everyone some additional information. The Governor of Maryland just closed all bars/restaurants/movie theaters/gyms closed effective 1700 today with no social gatherings more than 50 people. This carries the force of law and violators will be prosecuted. An additional 1,000 National Guard troops have been activated and they will assist in enforcing these measures. I didn't catch an end date, but I suspect that will be a moving target. Restaurants can still do delivery and grocery stores will remain open, although I have no idea how they will enforce the 50 person limit, there were 50 people in the checkout line at Costco this morning! It's too late to buy TP, Kleenex, etc (at least around the Dunedin, FL area - I checked) but as fair warning, there is still time to stock up on your favorite brand of disinfecting Alcohol! With New Mexico just instituting a limit of 100 persons, I suspect we will all be migrating to the 50 person limit in the near future. I also won't be surprised if this condition persists until sometime in late April or early May. Be safe everyone!

Was talking about the possibility of this happening with Smart* at Dark Day on the Santa Fe. The Maryland Governor enacted the same 250 limit on gatherings last week and I had initially thought it was a National ban. When I researched it and found it was being enacted at the State level, I thought Maybe, Just Maybe, the Ides would still happen, but alas it appears that will not be the case. While I am extremely disappointed with the cancellation, everyone needs to understand the severity of this virus. It is transmissible by aerosols (cough & sneeze), and by surface contagion (someone sneezes into their hands then grabs a door knob) for extended periods. Eventually everyone will have been exposed to it, EVERYONE! The goal is to slow the spread of the virus for two reasons. The first is to slow the rate of infection. A very significant percentage of those who become infected will require hospitalization for extended periods and require assistance with breathing via intubation and ventilation. There is not enough hospital capacity in the entire US to support the projected number of patients that would require simultaneous care if the spread is left uncontrolled. The system will collapse under the load. If the rate of spread is slowed so that the medical community can keep up with the number requiring hospitalization there is a chance that we, as a Nation, will come through this intact. I'm not saying it won't be ugly, if the projections hold it will, but at least we won't have people dying at home or in the streets because there was no room at the Hospital. The second and equally important reason is that if the spread can be slowed enough, then the likelihood of having a vaccine ready for distribution before the majority of the population gets the virus is much higher thus easing the burden on the medical system, Doctors, and Nurses. The timeline I am hearing is that a vaccine will be ready sometime this fall, but it is anybody's guess if that will be the case or if it is wishful thinking. If you want to understand why the limitations are being put into place by .Gov's, the linked article gives a very good explanation of why it is important and the dangers of unfettered exposure as far as the transmission of the virus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/ Those most at risk, of course, are the elderly, those with compromised immune systems or issues with their lungs or breathing as the Virus appears to predominantly attack the lung tissue. Looking at the age distribution in Sunny Florida there are a lot of people who will be at risk. While I truly an saddened by his turn of events, I would be even sadder to loose my Florida Pards to this disease. Looking at the tiny bit of bright side in this, at least, the cancellation was early enough that I can cancel our hotel reservations and Lil Feathers return flight. She left on a plane for home today for three day and was returning on Wednesday evening. I guess I will spend the day tomorrow and pack up for the return drive home. Be safe and well everyone so I can see you all Next Year (or maybe at the 2020 Ides - Redux if the schedule works out for us) Dogmeat Dad P.S. I am not a medical doctor nor do I play one on TV, I just read a lot (maybe too much), although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express during Darkness Falls and Dark Day on the Santa Fe.....

Three and 1/2 Days till Darkness Falls, and it got an hour closer thanks to Daylight Savings Time! Not sure how, but I got enough stuff done and made the train with 30min to spare. Even had time to stop to pickup some BBQ from Dixie Bones in Woodbridge, VA for dinner. Thanks to my son Doo Dad who pre-ordered it for me! Left Lorton,VA a shade before 4:00pm with planned arrival in Sanford, FL about 9:00am, assuming no scallywags try to rob the train. . Good thing Lil insisted I take the train, I'm whooped like a rented mule. Got to my seat, setup a little but, and promptly passed out for about a half hour till we started to move. Would have been a long, hard, drive. Hope everyone is well and see ya in a few days!

Man, hard to believe it's been almost a week since I posted on my own thread! Seems to always be the case when I am heading out of town. The universe seems to know I am trying to sneak away and decides to make me work three times as hard before I go anywhere. Guess I can catch-up on some sleep on the train. Did manage to get plenty of ammo loaded with the help of Lil. One of these days I really need to get that Dillon out of the box and retire the old Lee reloaders. They work fine, and with two of us we can churn out about 250 an hour (assuming the brass is already inspected and primed) but it is certainly but it is certainly a delicate dance. Make for an entertaining YouTube video I'm sure, if I was into making that sort of thing. Taking the truck up for a warranty service tomorrow and will just go ahead and let them do the oil change and it will be ready to go. Then the packing begins! Made the trip in the Prius one year, but I kept thinking how bad it would be if there were an accident. I can just imagine the fireball from an electrical fire in a Prius loaded with a few thousand rounds of BP ammo. In the Suburban, it feels more like this... OK, now Back To W*rk!

They would have to stop me at the border to keep me away! (Of course, maybe that's why I'm sneakin' in on the train! ) As mentioned above, my time on the wire (or anywhere else for that matter) has been severely limited for quite some time now, and this series of matches is my little escape from reality, even if just for a little while. I do have to bring some w*rk with me for the time between the Dark Day and the Ides, but it sure beats being back home. One of these days, I am going to just rent an industrial shredder and be done with it! That or a dumpster fire, maybe both, or maybe I will just dispose of it the way the do at the alphabet agencies, shred it, pulp it, burn the pulped paper, stir the ashes, and then spread them indiscriminately across multiple states. Maybe that can be my new job! The Feathered One says Howdy. See you in a couple of weeks!

There are not enough moderate Democrats, and even if there were, they will never gain enough power to change the laws. Maryland is in the same cesspit of liberal politics, constantly trying to gain the lead on California when it comes to enacting this kind of BS. Note that it doesn't matter where the ammo comes from, store bought or home made, the RANGES are the ones that will feel the pinch if a patron violates the law. They will shut down SASS in a heartbeat if push comes to shove. Until a more conservative court is in place, one that constantly smacks down the stupid laws and lawmakers that enact them, they will continue. There is too much dirty money flowing to make the Democrats stop.

Travis James, Thanks for posting the links. I had intended to do that in the initial post, but it would appear that I failed miserably at that task. For a great many reasons, I have avoided the "Book Of Faces" so thank you for those links as well. Likely that's where all of the real activity is these days as the Wire has certainly lost much of its activity. See You At There!

Just a little weight, as to the hair, lets just say Photoshop is my friend. As I always say, Grey hair is not given, it is earned, and I earned every dang one of them! Looking forward to the visit for sure. Been far too long since I had the chance to sling lead into the either that exists between the muzzle and the target that mysteriously turns a perfectly aimed shot, into a miss! Take care and I will see you at the Ides!

Managed to get 3200 38's sorted, inspected, and primed and about 960 32's sorted and inspected over the weekend and Lil managed to churn out about 250 12ga this weekend too. I should get all of the priming done this evening, then we will be cranking the press for a few more evenings to get the ammo done before next weekend. Next it will be time to pull out all of the guns and give them a look over and fresh oiling after their long hibernation. That will just leave the ugliest job of all, and no it's not packing. That job is to pull out all of the Cowboy Clothes to see if anything still fits!

OK, I know I've been out of the loop for a while (Life has been beatin' the ever loving He77 out of me this last year), but I come on here to the Wire to look for the thread about the Fabulous Florida Spring Fling and NOTHING? Seriously, I leave you guys on your own for 11 months and NOTHING? Well, there are only Three Weeks Left until the Hills of Fort White will be white with SMOKE and I for one seriously need the break that this series of matches provides! Haven't shot a match since May of last year, so I suspect I will be a little rusty (not that anyone will notice) but I'm planning on having a BLAST! Looking forward to seeing all of my Florida Pards as well, even that Waimea fella who sells them stolen bullets. Finally cracked open the ammo locker last week only to discover that I had all of about 3 rounds ready for the match (I eventually found about 200 more, but that ain't even close to enough!). Started inspecting and priming brass that very same night. Glad I didn't wait until the day before departure, like normal, because THAT would have been UGLY! Now if I can just remember to bring the right rifle... (For those of you that didn't see me kicking myself last year, I managed to grab my 38/40 rifle and not my .38. Needless to say, the .38 ammo didn't want to work too well. Lil was kind enough to share her rifle during the Darkness Falls and Dark Day matches and she brought my rifle back with her for the Ides. Still catchin' flak on that...and deservedly so. ) Been a very strange winter here in the Peoples Republic of Maryland, too warm, no snow, still feels like fall. Normally I'm talking about snow and ice and cold weather but nothing yet. Lil Feathers is hoping for a blizzard up here on the 15th so she can cancel her flight back and just stay down for the gap between Dark Day and the Ides. She just leaves me down there (supposedly to save the cost of the extra flights) but I think she likes the quiet of not having me around yelling at the massive pile of Tax Papers in my office. I'm heading down on the AutoTrain this year. Lil says I need to be getting more than 4 hours of sleep per night if I'm gonna drive that far by myself. I keep telling her that the ringing in my ears gives the voices in my head something to sing too, so I am never alone but she ain't buying it. Anyway, I will be arriving in Florida on the 9th and off to Dunedin, pick up Lil at TPA on the 11th and we drive up to Alachua on the 12th to get signed in and maybe even extricate the cart from back so I don't have to mess with that Thursday before the match. Looking forward to seeing everybody again, and I've got a hankering for some Fish & Chips at the Hideaway, too. Dogmeat Dad & Lil Feathers

Can I use my massive stack of accumulated (and now useless) Rank Points to pay of my (as yet unearned) Warning Points?

Necro-Thread Rises From The Dead. Of course the subject matter will never go away. There are, have been, and will be, valid reasons for and against both scoring methods but, at least at the moment, SASS has made Rank Points a requirement at State and Above matches. Most of the top shooters understand this, and adjust their game to meet the requirements of the match. Scoring method may shuffle the positions a place or two, but the cream still rises to the top. Based on my personal experience of being firmly established in the top of the bottom third in the scores, it doesn't matter to me much at all, and I would suspect that is also true 80% - 90% of the shooters, I've heard people lament about losing by one rank point and I've heard them lament about losing by one one-hundredth of a second, just as I have heard them celebrate their wins by the same small amounts. Go out, enjoy the game, enjoy the time with friends, celebrate their wins, console their losses, and play cowboy. At the end of the day, you will be driving home in the same vehicle that you came in 'cause there ain't no Cadillac waitin' for the winner. Life is just too short to worry about it.