Maggie begins second grade today:
Took my Beretta 81 to the range yesterday, and it functioned flawlessly. I don't think this thing was ever used much, if at all. I ran a cleaning patch through the barrel before going to the range, and there were only some minute trace amounts of schmutz (no more than one would see after running a patch through the barrel of a brand new firearm that had only been test-fired at the factory). The barrel has excellent rifling and a near-mirror finish. Easy take-down and reassembly.
Interesting little piece by Dwight Longenecker on the subject of men's hats, why are they now so rare, will they come back. I'm not entirely in agreement with some of his comments. For example, it's quite possible to wear a fedora and look natural. A lot depends on how you wear the hat. It takes attitude. You don the hat as if it's the most natural thing in the world. You don't give a damn whether other people notice it or laugh at it or stare at it. I used to get compliments all the time, and more than once, someone (often a young urban fellow, or his 60-year-old grandmother) would smile and say, "Man, you wearin' that hat!" I'll even admit that, once or twice, a fedora and pinstriped suit and dress overcoat saved me from a potentially unpleasant encounter with young toughs (usually intoxicated) who, at the last minute, backed off, having decided that I just might be a cop ("You a cop?" "Why don't you break a law and find out?" "Aw, I'm just messin' wit' you, man. No offense") Also, I found a hat to be more than merely ornamental. We had some cold winters in Northern Virginia, and I had a pretty long walk from the parking garage to to train platform, so a fur felt fedora served to keep my head warm.
Good lord! Even in Australia? "A vegan woman sued her neighbors for barbecuing in their backyard".
18 comments:
Veganism is big here. Can't help noticing that it's mostly women, and instead of making it a quiet invididual choice they have to signal it as part of their indentity to the world and form virtue mobs.
A recent case of a couple whose baby was severely malnourished by a fanatical vegan mother, the father was not a vegan and said he left those decisions to his wife, but he got blamed by the judge for not 'taking charge' yet another case where a father smashed his 13 yr old's phone, they jailed him. Men are blamed even while whatever power they once had is turned against them.
Can't live with them, can't live without them as my Dad used to say.
PS Maggie looks very Southern Belle there. :-)
Well, we got to get her ready for her pavilion, which I hope doesn't cost anything like a cotillion dollars.
On the subject of hats - I favour the Akubra Stylemaster during the summer months.*
https://www.cityhatters.com.au/products/akubra-stylemaster
Time and genetics are redistributing my uppermost follicles to places on my body that are neither in need of them nor aesthetically enhanced by them. But a hat adds a certain style, too.
*I don't wear the hat in winter - it's hard enough to hold on to an umbrella when the southwesterlies blast through the wind tunnels of Perth's CBD.
Perth Sou-westerlies. You live on the Indian Ocean, I live on the Pacific, and Paco lives on the Atlantic. Must be the 21st century alright.
A cotillion in a pavilion is the way to go Paco.
Prayers for the Bahamians.
Paco, you're so dang cool. I remember the picture of you in the three piece with the fedora. So cool. Not many guys would go to the range as a hurricane approaches. How far are you from the beach?
Wow! Second Grade! And about the pavilion cotillion... maybe they take payments.
All the vegan lady had to do was go inside, turn on some nice music, and make some tofu or other vegan food. But the 600 pages that she filed demonstrates a need for a project, among other things.
Thanks, Deborah. My theory was always, if you're an empty suit, the suit better look good.
We're only about four miles from the nearest beach. Going to be interesting (but not too interesting, I hope).
Does firing something that old take down it's value any? Like a car with an odometer? Or an old Colt with "patina" that gets shined up?
Jonah: I don't think firing it hurts the value, especially with this little Beretta, mainly because it doesn't have a lot of intrinsic value to begin with. Might be different if I had an original Colt Peacekeeper that had never been fired.
Maggie looks ready to conquer her homework! I have a grandniece who started pre-school this year -- she's VERY excited. Or was, the morning of the first day. Her mom has yet to publish an afteraction report, though.
Yeah, it sounds like your Beretta was an armory gun, maybe never issued. Likely, fired on a limited basis, if at all. Nice! Firing won't hurt the value, it's a recent model, not a classic (as you noted). A firearm has to be really abused for it to lose value; a well maintained weapon can last years, including being able to fire reliably and safely. The exception are those built when metallurgy was not an advanced science, and the barrel and/or receiver may have hidden stress points that get worse with age (and, yes, metal does age).
Hats ... .... I wear them, more for utility than fashion. That comes from being in uniform for so long, I imagine. The only non-utility hats that I own are Civil War replicas -- a Kepi and a slouch hat. With officer braid, of course. I bought them at Gettysburg, right before I visited you and the missus, Paco. I believe I showed them to you.
Still, a fedora worn properly is nice to see. Even I can see that!
Oh, and I forgot to say that I hope Dorian bypasses you -- it looks to be a monster. You sound well prepared, but my motto (one of them, anywho) is "Plan for the worst, but hope for the best".
Jeff: I well remember that slouch hat with the officer braid! As fine a piece of head gear as I ever saw.
My grandfather and father proudly wore Stetsons. Mr. H only wears his Army billed cap. He has too much hair to look good in a fedora.
Maggie will be breaking hearts in school. She's beautiful.
We're on the northwest Gulf shore of Florida (spit be upon it), so we were never in danger from Dorian. I do worry about my Marine grandson and his little family in South Carolina, though.
Rebecca: Hope the Marine and his family do ok, I'm sure they will.
A couple of funny things about hats and me.
I was walking down the street in the town of South Miami one particularly windy day, and a Panama I was wearing blew off my head, right into the path of a big Cadillac, which proceeded to run right over it - providing me with the world's first Panama beret.
One time, as I got off the Metro in Northern Virginia, an older man (I was in my late fifties at the time, he was probably mid-70s or so) came up to me and said, "I like your fedora. My father used to wear one just like that."
I had forgotten you moved. Well, prayers for you, the grandson and family. God bless!
Revenge of the carnivores is at hand!
There are already three thousand plus bbqers signed up! I wonder if her fellow vegans will rally round. And does she regret starting this.
What a lovely young grand daughter you have. I've got three of my own. They are precious.
Post a Comment