Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619

Lots and lots of churches have used lectionaries, and it is common for there to be widespread use of the same gospel passage on particular dates.

One of my favorite Western quotes is from that great movie. Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott) asks Steve Judd (Joel McCrea): "What is it you want, Steve?" Judd answers: "All I want is to enter my house justified." Taken, of course from the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee in Luke's gospel. Sam Peckinpah's dad was a preacher, and this influenced his movies in several ways.

Speaking of leftover dough, my dad would bake bread for the week on Sundays in the early 1960s, what with 6 kids and short cash. With leftover dough after he'd made the number of loaves he wanted, he'd roll out a few long 'cylinders', maybe a half-inch in diameter, fold in the middle and twist, then fry the twists. Great stuff!

It's good. Who's the narrator? A good narrator would really make an audiobook of Screwtape!

My Oz friends on an outdoorsmanship website say that most of the fires are out. But the 'season' is not over yet. One of the guys had the fires come to within a quarter mile of the bush cabin he has been building and documenting on that site. We all had our fingers crossed but he made it ok.

I do like Birdgun's Holland and Holland story. With my dad, it was Purdy shotguns. As he got older and more prosperous, he moved from Winchester Mod. 12s to Beretta and Browning over-and-unders, but he extolled the Purdy's. When he and my ma visited London in their 60s, she told me he went to the Purdy shop in Mayfair and had the time of his life looking over the shotguns. 40K was about the lowest price.... Time came when he could have afforded one, but there was no point, given his good guns. He just liked the idea that he could have bought one, but chose not to!

The only thing I'd add is that if you hit your head hard on anything (maybe not just a bump, but a hard hit, as from a fall or a real slam against something) report forthwith to the ER, tell them you are on blood thinners, had a hard head hit, and ask for a scan. Do not wait for symptoms! Traumatic subdural hematomas are about 60% mortal, even without blood thinners, and are common enough as people get older. Everything is fine, then you drop dead. I had one from when my feet went out from under me on ice, and I took a real hit to the head. Felt fine. A few months later, my left hand stopped working right and I was found to have a big subdural that had, luckily, just stopped bleeding before it killed me. It had started 'leaking' again, which led to the symptom.

Remind her that the marriage vows say in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, but nothing about cauliflower soup.

Exactly right, and it sounds as if your timing is much like mine. I liked the profession, but it became harder. I'd been recruited by the Attorney General's office to try cases for the state, at age 60, and this probably extended my career 2 or 3 years because of the high level of institutional support on cases there. On the other hand, I always expected to retire at or before 70, and not 'die in harness' if I could avoid it. I've seen several instances of lawyers who didn't do well after 70. They still had their marbles and skills, but their attention to detail flagged. I always wanted to go out before somebody tapped me on the shoulder and suggested I retire! But what was interesting was that moment of clarity in that deposition. It was low on the scale of contentiousness, but it was long and dreary. In mid-afternoon, I looked about the room and said to myself: "I'm not going to try this case". The decision was made then and there. It was, in fact, a lot like that long-ago day on the Rugby pitch. I felt a real sense of satisfaction with the decision. I'd loved the profession (though 'liked' would be more accurate in later years), and-- it was the right time. I've been retired 3 years and enjoy it. I keep my license, but only to keep it. I practice no law whatsoever. The last thing I want to see is a trial date and a bunch of case-schedule deadlines!

Time is everything. It gradually will get easier; the payoff is immense. Nicotine addiction is the one addiction that really gives no return. Alcohol or drugs; well, you get high, feel pleasure for a time, at least. Cigarettes, you just get addicted, and that's about it. Even the idea that it is calming is really an illusion. I was never too heavy a cigarette smoker, but in my middle years I'd smoke during times of gearing up for trial and trying cases; lot of stress. You think then you can't do without it under stress. But actually it increases physiological characteristics of stress. When you stop, you find that not only you didn't need it, it was useless. As has been pointed out, a lot of it is habituation: certain circumstances and settings, watching the smoke rise, the physical, oral side of it-- these are significant elements of it. I do think that there can be a pleasant side to tobacco. I will smoke a good cigar 3 or 4 times only per year, and will smoke a pipe around a campfire also 3 or 4 times per year, and I get pleasure from it, but I quit regular use of cigars and pipes many years ago. In addition, my addiction to tobacco was mild, so this rare usage is not a problem. Those harder hit should stay away from it all.

They are released from the oath when they can no longer be called as a witness in the trial; i.e., when it's over. As you note, there are often circumstances where a witness is called back to the stand; the usual situation is where a witness who testified in the plaintiff's (or State's) case is called by the defense. Theoretically, a witness could be called during jury deliberations, where the jury called for it and the judge agreed, but I have never seen or heard of it actually done.

You clearly played at a way higher level than I did! I went to Cal undergrad in 1966-67, and get down to Berkeley at least once a year to meet up with old frat brothers. We always go to a Cal Rugby game. They are always a top team, and have their own spectacular field in Strawberry Canyon, above the football stadium. (note-- I did not play for Cal!) As old club Rugby guys back then we always hoped that the game would take the land by storm, but of course, that wasn't the case. But it has been making great strides in recent years, and people know a lot more about it than they once did. I think it will continue to expand. One big reason is the huge concern now with American football head injuries. Rugby is a rough game, but produces fewer injuries than football, and way fewer head injuries.

Hank Williams? Doug Kershaw knows:

I've never sent or received one here, so I don't know how it works. I was founder and first president of the Tacoma Nomads Rugby Club in 1974. The club is going strong 46 years later; a lot stronger than in my day, and I have to say I'm proud of it. I quit playing in my mid-30s; at halftime against a local Army post team at Fort Lewis I realized I didn't really want to smash into people anymore. So I quit after that game; I'd never gotten seriously injured in the game, but figured if I continued with that attitude, I would. I had a similar moment of clarity during a mildly contentious deposition 4 years back when I decided that I wasn't going to try that case, which was set for trial about 9 months later. Just didn't want to smash into it anymore, to continue the Rugby analogy. So I retired six months later, just after I turned 69. Just figured it was time; I'd been trying jury cases for 44 years. Rugby is a great game, and I take in a few games per season.

Any recommendations concerning his Westerns? War Wagon with John Wayne was well known, as Gunfight at the OK Corral was, with Burt Lancaster. The others seem to have good casts as a rule, but I've never seen any of them. Quite a guy.

One thing about this movie: it's exactly as advertised.

I was a second-row man, myself. My contribution to the game was mass and forward momentum.

As the obit says, some say The Wild Geese was based upon him, at least loosely. So happens I rented that movie a couple of years back; it's quite good, and has a real all-star cast of mostly big Brit actors of the time: Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and several others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Geese

A blast from the past, you might say-- had no idea he'd been alive all this time. An interesting life, for sure: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/obituaries/mike-hoare-dies.html?searchResultPosition=1

It's just a Britishism that means 'gear'. I have for many years been a member of a site devoted mostly to traditional outdoorsmanship; it was founded by a Brit and has a large British and American membership, with a lot of Aussie, NZ, and Scandinavian members, and a smattering of other nationalities. The Brits say kit, the Yanks say gear; as the years go by we often use each others' terms. Same with their 'fettle' and our 'repair'. As to camp and hiking stoves, the Yank term is kerosene, Brit paraffin. 'Petrol' is gasoline. Over the years, we notice the Brits mostly now say 'kerosene' and the Yanks 'petrol' for stove fuel-- the latter because 'gas' is very ambiguous and confusing internationally regarding backcountry stoves: our 'gas', after all, is a liquid, not a gas. And so on. It is--- no big deal.

All is explained... So write to your legislator about gun control bills....who knows what the effect might be?

You won't find it in quantum mechanics. You'll have to consult the special theory of relativity.

It was a mission, not a plot. I enjoyed the movie, though the subject is grim.

Mary can't put the child up for adoption. So there is no legal issue, weird or otherwise.

I know a Canadian guy who hunts regularly with a Ruger American #1 in .303. He says that in Canada there is never any shortage of cheap .303, and not likely to ever be....