Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L

It's the cold up there. Everything is shorter when it's cold.

Thanks for the Info! I will definitely keep my eye out. My wife's family (on her Mothers side) was from Rensselaer, NY and my wife lived on upper Long Island as a kid when her Father was stationed near there. We used to travel up there for Thanksgiving every year to visit her grandmother until she passed some years back. Always loved the area, just hated the politics (and the CITY! Man do I hate Cities!) Haven't been back since, but think about it every year. Maryland is much the same way. I have lived my whole life in the same county in MD and, for reasons I can't fully explain, I suspect I will likely die here too. it was a great place to grow up, 50/60 years ago, these days, not so much. MD has a lot to offer, but the politics have just about destroyed it. Time to branch out I guess and see the rest of the N.E. Besides, as I get older, life in prison just doesn't carry the same weight anymore!

This coming weekend for us is West Virginia State, then the monthly match I run at Damascus (10/14), then the Cops & Cowboys match I run at Damascus (10/28), then NC State in November, then the November monthly match I run at Damascus (11/11), which is the last match of the year for us. After that, it will be January when we escape to Florida for about 10 days and, hopefully, catch 3 monthly matches while there. Then it starts all over again with the Ides of March! Still working on our 2024 match schedule. FL State, DE State, PA State, MD State (I have to be there, I run it! ), then we thinking of trying to make Black Gold in KY so we can add a new state to our list. Then in all likelihood we will make it to VA State again, then WV State again, then who knows. We are also considering Hell of a Ruckus (NY State) next year and/or Purgatory in the Pines (NJ State). It depends on how lucky I feel carting firearms into enemy territory! Of course, folks say that about Maryland too! See you at North Carolina! Dogmeat and Holli

It's been on my bucket list for a while. Always hear good things about it. Maybe next year...

Thanks to everyone that helped put on this great match! We had a great time and, good Lord willing, we will be back next year! Dogmeat Dad & Holli Docaday P.S. I'll get you next year Bingo. I might even practice between now and then. Awww, who am I kidding. Neither of those two thing will ever happen!

This was our first trip to this match for Holli Docaday and I, but I can assure you, it won't be our last. Everything was great, from the stages, to the people, to the food, everything. Well, the weather could have been 10 degrees cooler, but nobody has control of that and, as Scarlett said, they had fans on the stages as well as tents. Major B.S. Walker and the crew at the Cavalier Cowboys put on a fantastic match and we really enjoyed ourselves. And as I told Scarlett at the awards banquet after coming in 2nd in FCGF......"Considering the "theme" of the match, it seems appropriate that I should come in #2." We will absolutely be back!

Prayers Up! I miss seeing his posts on the Wire. He was a fixture here when I first signed up 20 years ago. Tell him we miss him on here! Dogmeat

Storm Surge, along with the heavy rainfall, is going to be the biggest problem with this storm I think.

After a mild start, it looks like the hurricane season is getting serious. All you folks down in Northern Florida, South Georgia, and coastal North & South Carolina, especially the folks along the coast of Florida between the Tamp Bay area and Apalachacola. With the water temps in the gulf being sky-high, this could end up being a major storm. Prayers Up for all in the path of this storm! Let's see if this works. If it does, it will be an automatically updating version of the map above....

Prayers Up!

For anyone who hasn't read my tag line, here it is...Announcin' your plans is a good way to hear God laugh. The appointment that was originally scheduled for Friday morning got rescheduled, which will add complications in a few weeks, but the good news was that we were able to leave earlier on Friday morning and that allowed us to make the 10 hour drive and still get there in time for the Post Luck (just a little bit late), visit with a few folks, and get our cart built and parked for the night making for an easier morning on Saturday, the first match day. Missed seeing the Night Shoot as we wanted to get checked into the hotel and settled before too late, but that's par for the course when we travel on Side Match Day. Overall, we had a great time. Posse 1 was awesome and, despite what they had heard about me from the Wire , they welcomed Holli & I with open arms . Everyone at the match was great, the food was great, the stages were fun, and the targets were all hitable, at least when we could see them through all the smoke. I only had three misses for the match, and they were all my fault (although I will blame the smoke for 2 of them )! Speaking of "Fault", I have no idea where the heck my head was on Stage 7, our first stage of Day 2. Started with Shotgun, I grabbed it, loaded it, and nothing...I forgot to cock the hammers when I staged it . I should have restarted, but I just kept going. Cleared the 4 shotgun, and moved to the rifle, which was staged vertically. Now the sweep (They call it a Montana Furball Sweep) is something we have shot here in Maryland many times, but their target arrangement was a bit different and my brain went into Full Stupid Mode. They had it set with three across the bottom and one in the center above them. Supposed to be Outside, Top, Center, Top, Other Outside, Top, Center, Top, First Outside, Top, starting on either of the bottom outside targets. I had planned to start on the left, but fore reasons unknown started on the right, and shot it Right, Top, Center, Top, Right, Top, Center, Top, then restaged the rifle with two in it and turned for the pistol position. Everyone is yelling One More, One More! (It was actually Two More) so back I go, stare into the action where I can SEE the bullet in there, grab the rifle and shoot the Top target (because that's where we were "Supposed" to finish) and then cycle the action a second time, you know, just to make sure it was empty this time, which sends my 10 round flying back over my head. I start to restage the rifle again, when everyone starts One More, One More. At this point, I'm thinking... I was about to just take the miss, when I realized that I had already bought the P, so I didn't need to add the miss too, so I picked up the rifle, do a reload, and then shoot the bottom center target as I have no idea what target was unhit at this point. Restaged the rifle for the last time (much to everyone's relief) and then just moseyed off to the pistols, no sense running at this point. Same sequence, same target setup, and I managed to shoot them correctly, but not with out a lot of gears being ground to dust in the old brain box, and with a little guidance from the TO. I swear, you could smell the brain cells burning... So, in the end, I ended up with a 97.14 stage (87.14, clean, with a P) and a lot of laughs. I still am not 100% sure what happened (there was certainly a lot of well deserved discussion among the spotters and TO) but it's all good. Heck I wasn't even drinking the night before! Sure would have liked a Do-Over on that one! A big Thank You to all to folks that helped put on this match, especially Big Iron Bohannon and Little Iron Lucille, and the all the folks at Paradise Pass. We had a lot of fun and we will be back. Dogmeat & Holli P.S. If anybody has it on video, I would love to see it. Maybe I can figure out what the heck actually happened!

Brass or Bronze would be best so the bushing will be the sacrificial part. Got to the hardware store and buy some brass tube that has the outside diameter you want, and drill the hole to match. If you go a little under-size on the hole, it will be a press fit. Then drill the inside diameter to match the pin, or as close as you can get. Amazon sell brass tubing in all sorts of sizes in packs for under $10 depending on the size you end up needing. One example...K & S 8129 Round Brass Tube, 3/16" OD

Well, it looks like we have a slight hiccup in our plans. We are still coming, but we won't be able to hit the road until about High Noon on Friday due to an unplanned appointment. That will put us at the hotel in Warsaw about 10:30-11:00pm (depending on how many Steak & Shake stops I end up making! ) but, barring any additional glitches, we will be there. Probably make Saturday morning a bit of a scramble but, as anyone that knows us well can attest, that is not unusual for us! Will miss seeing Folks Friday night at the Pot Luck, but such is life. See you all Saturday Morning, just 8 Days Away! Dogmeat & Holli

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Application! I've already booked the hotel for Holli & I. See Ya There! Dogmeat

What? No love for 8-Track Tapes or Reel to Reel? Yes, I've done them all, and then some...

We used to do a Pot Luck dinner on SideMatch day, but that was years ago. I know they still have them at the PA State shoot, and a few others. Around here it seems that most folks want to Shoot & Scoot, but I'd like to see it return. I spent a lot of hours watching Cowboy Kent Rollins on YouTube learning about Dutch Oven cooking. That guy is a master of it and actually spends part of his year as a real camp cook on cattle ranches. https://www.youtube.com/@CowboyKentRollins

Misty, Thank You! For us, a lot will have to do with when we can actually hit the road. It's about 600 miles and around 9 1/2 hours to get there from home. Wish we could head up there on Thursday but life won't won't let us head out until Friday morning. Maybe, if I can get Holli poured into the truck at 0'Dark Thirty, before her coffee kicks in, we might get up there by 4:00pm on Friday, but that will be pushing it. It would be really awesome to get to see it in person. I lived through the remodel vicariously via the internet. Looks like an awesome place to have settled down, hopefully for the long haul. Next year, maybe you guys can think about doing a Meet & Greet at HQ on Thursday night for a couple of hours, (Heck this year would work for most folks). I can think of a bunch of folks that would love to see it! Looking forward to seeing you, and Ruby, and the rest of the folks at the match. Us BP folks always seem to figure out how to have a Good Time! Dogmeat

Holli and I are going. Be our 2nd trip, our first being 2021. We had signed up last year but had to cancel due to "life". Won't get there until late afternoon Friday so we will miss side matches, but we will be there for both main match days. We had a good time when we were there last, it's an interesting range, and as always the folks are great. Hopefully we will get to at least do a drive-by of the new SASS HQ!

Group Buy? Where do I sign up!

Prayers Up for you, Kay, and your extended family. 95 was a heck of a run, but that doesn't make it any easier. May the Good Lord grant you peace and comfort during this sad time.

Around these parts, if you are/were in the SatCom business, it's hard not to work for one of the "Listen Only Phone Companies". But that was decades ago, I'm sure they stopped tracking me by now... Nope, they used these...

Shred the documents, Burn the shredded documents, Stir the ashes vigorously, Soak the stirred ashes with water to form a paste, Roll soaked ash paste into a flat sheet and dry, Grind the dried paste into dust, Separate the dust into multiple containers of no more the 1 quart volume, Send each container to a different state, Place each container in the open bed of a pickup truck and remove the lid, Drive on any highway with a speed limit of 55mph or higher until all of the dust has been sucked out of the container. And if the material to be disposed of contains any magnetic storage material, it must first be demagnetized three times (once on each axis), then ground into dust before processing as above for paper documents. At least that is how I was taught!

Yes, I just got a second for my wife for Christmas. Just as nice as the one we got 10+ years ago.

Ides of March in Florida on the 3rd weekend of March (duh) has attendance of 200 +/-. They used to hit their max of 300, but not since the whole COVID thing.

Holli and I heard about it this weekend when at the Delaware match. What a shock! We shot with him at several matches over years in Florida and, as stated above, he was a super nice guy. He and I emailed a few times about other aspects of life as well. Tragic loss. Prayers up for his family and friends. He will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.