Saturday, November 27, 2010

Back in Fairfax

Mrs. Paco and I had a splendid visit to the Outer Banks over the Thanksgiving holiday; we even went to the beach (but not in the water, of course). Here's Mrs. P. trying hard not to fall in.



Ma Paco lives on a rural property in Manns Harbor. This is a shot of the last of the fall vegetable crop.



Stepfather Jim kindly set up a little shooting range consisting of bottles and cans, some on sticks planted in the dirt, some suspended from a rope four feet off the ground (I regret that I don't have any photos of the plinking area). Let me tell you, the Ruger Blackhawk .41 Magnum is a mighty handful. I was firing 250-grain flat-heads, and that revolver bucks! It's fun to shoot; the only drawback is that the fine, checkered pattern on the hard-rubber grips acts on the naked hand a bit like a cheese grater. Gloves solved the problem.

The Thanksgiving table was piled high with turkey and green beans and rice and gravy and all the rest of the typical trimmings. Ma Paco gave me a couple of sweet potato pies to bring home (I know this doesn't sound very objective, but hers are the best I've ever had).

Mabel was boarded over the holiday, but at least she scored a nifty kerchief at "camp".



And on the way to drop off Mabel, I think I found my next car.



I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and thanks to all who dropped by to leave a comment.

Oh, and by the way: Sheila Doherty is, and always has been, a blond. Here's an example, from the old yarn, "Detective Paco and the Brewer":
She walked briskly toward my desk. She had spent Memorial Day weekend at the beach, and was thoroughly bronzed. Her long, golden hair flounced about her shoulders...
And here's another piece of evidence from "Detective Paco and the Case of the Cretaceous Crap":
I was sitting in the office with my feet on the desk, nursing a hot cuppa joe, reading an article in the Washington Post about the bazillion dollar stimulus bill being floated by the Democrats – and wondering if a more appropriate medium for the story might not have been True Crime Magazine - when Sheila poked her golden head through the door.

14 comments:

JeffS said...

Heh! Mabel lurves her that scarf, huh?

I had a good Thanksgiving, even though weather kept me home; crossing the Cascades in near-blizzard conditions is not done lightly! But friends invited me over, and we had a great time!

(We had an early winter storm here in the Pacific Northwest, which shows no signs of abating. It's snowing outside now....AGAIN.)

BTW, you might consider Pachmayr grips for your bullet launcher. I have them for my .45 ACP -- they are quite useful!

The link gives you an idea of the variety, but you might want to hit a gun store to see what suits you best.

TW: calmily. Yes, that's ALWAYS a good idea.

RebeccaH said...

My bad. I must have been thinking of some other Sheila.

Glad it was a sweet Thanksgiving with family.

Anonymous said...

I know Detective Paco says "golden" blond, Rebecca, but I always pictured strawberry blond myself.

Love the pictures, and the menu sounds FABulous, Paco. Prepping for our Thanksgiving Sunday myself, right now...biggest bird I ever fixed, other than that it's all easy-peasy!

Anonymous said...

Forgot to mention - that car is SO you!

JeffS said...

The one problem with that car, pc55kc, is that it lacks running boards.

That way, Sheila can drive the car after the bad guys, while Detective Paco hangs off the other side, blazing away with with his trusty .45 pistol.

(No, Wronwright can't drive. Isn't that obvious?)

Paco said...

Jeff: Perhaps more importantly, it also lacks windshield wipers. The interior looked in pretty good shape, though.

There's a body shop not far from where I live that specializes in restorations. Last week, I noticed that there is a 1948 Dodge DeSoto sitting out front; sweet!

Minicapt said...

Running boards?
Doc Savage!

Cheers

Minicapt said...

... so, in the absence of 'running boards', those must be "horizontal aerodynamic ground effects devices"?

Cheers

Merilyn said...

Welcome back Paco and Mrs Paco. Good photos, glad you had a wonderful time.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and didn't eat way to much, you still have to fit in Xmas yet!
Has everyone done all their Xmas shopping?

JeffS said...

Paco, the lack of windshield wipers could be handled by tying Wronwright to the roof with a rag.

But the 1948 Desoto does sound like a better deal.

Running boards?
Doc Savage!

Heh! That's exactly whom I had in mind, Minicapt!

richard mcenroe said...

JeffS -- Dibs on Monk!

richard mcenroe said...

So wronwright as Ham?

richard mcenroe said...

That leaves Long Tom and Rennie, who else? Oh, and which of the femposters here gets to be Pat Savage, Doc's sister?

JeffS said...

Dibs on Monk!

KEWL!!

I'll be Renny, natch.

Wronwright as Ham? More like Haebeus Corpus, methinks. Or Chemistry. But I live with him being Ham, all things considered.

Long Tom? A good question.

But Doc's sister......hmmmmmm! A tough one there. Rebecca, maybe? Certainly not Mrs. Paco!