Sounding Off

I'm taking a sidestep today, and commenting on a post from Famergeek over at OPN regarding concealed carry.

Since Ohio passed the concealed carry law, these signs have popped up more often then dandelions in the yard. I've seen very few places without them...they're everywhere. Now I'm not sure who all knows, but I spent 11 years in the gun business before I went to turning pipe wrenches. I'm not afraid to express my opinion on gun issues, and I can get pretty defensive about it. It's something dear to me that I believe in 100%, as did our forefathers. We all have issues that we stand for, and this is mine.

These signs are just rediculous. They are nothing but fear propogated by the anti-gun crowd, whether that is a group, a person, or the general media. Take a good look at it and tell me what it says. Take a really good look. Do you see it? It says "Welcome Criminals!", it says "Please rob us!", it says "Armed Robbers Welcome!", and lastly, it says "We don't care about your rights, but have the cheeseburger and fries anyway". We are letting places of business choose whether we can exercise a right given to us by the state. (and don't forget that silly constitution thing)

I remember seeing the tv and newspaper all over this one when it was up for vote. Reporter after reporter interviewed countless morons that have no rational thoughts whatsoever. I heard one person say that she would be afraid to go to the grocery store....why? Because she thought someone in the express lane with 13 items instead of 12 would get in an OK Corral type of gunfight right there in the supermegamart. Has the media ever ran a pro-gun story? Ever seen anything about someone stopping a home invasion with their .38? What about someone who held a knife weilding attacker at bay with his .45 while he called 911? You won't. It's this same exact kind of thinking that causes places of business to put up the signs. Someone might not like the way another guy cut in front of them at the buffet line, and lookout, it's a duel right there in the resturant. (can you count heat lamps as a high noon sun???) Honestly, people need to stop watching television and movies....These are the same people supporting the assault weapons ban because they actually think that your SKS or Ar15 are fully automatic. Turn off the mob & gang shows on HBO folks, read a book and learn the truth.

Tell me, will someone ILLEGALLY carrying a weapon care what the sign says? Will that guy carrying that stolen 9mm in his coat suddenly say "dammit, guess I can't rob this place, they have a sign"????? Has ANY criminal paid attention to any signs or laws? Ever? NOOOOOOOO...thats why they're called criminals! Are there signs on the roads saying "you must be licensed and insured to drive here"? Of course not, it's common sense. Then why isn't it also common sense that someone carrying a firearm LEGALLY has had proper training, a background check, and is doing so under full permission of the state?

OK...now that I've let off a little steam, how about looking at a way to tell these people how you feel. Go inside, talk to the manager and tell them that you will not shop/ eat at a place that obviously does not care about your rights. Write a letter, make a call, contact their coorperate offices and express your opinion. Tell your friends to do the same. Tell anyone you know that OWNS a firearm, whether they carry or not. Do something whether YOU carry or not. On your next trip anywhere, make a note of all the places with such signs, then think about how often you go there. If you had a permit, would you just leave your weapon in the car and go in anyway? If you can't carry anything in all the places you regularly go, then whats the point of carrying anyway? We support the rights to get such things. We wrote to congressman to voice our views on getting this passed. Now we need to voice even more to these businesses or our votes, views, and rights are worthless.

Fun weekend

Saturday morning I took Lisa to work, ran back home to get cages and the address, then went to get the freebie roosters. I was going to get all 6 that were available, but she said that somone had called crying, wanting one for a pet, (PET rooster? LOL), and asked if I minded only taking 5. I was fine with that and took them. We talked a bit, and I added her as a member to our local homesteading group. Now when she gets some kind of farm animals that need a home, she can check with us first. Hopefully it works out well for all of us....and maybe more for our freezer, lol. Before I took her to work, we realized that we really didnt have room in the freezer for all 5, so I called Divahick and Farmergeek and offered 2, which they gladly accepted.
I got the birds home and put them in the opposite side of the garage, then came inside for a bit. After I realized that I had 2 more hours before I had to pick Lisa up , I got a big steaming cup of coffee and set to work on the first bird. I have a turkey frier that I haven't used in a while, so I used the burner with a big stockpot on it to heat water for plucking. It worked GREAT. I really didnt have a table set up to do any butchering, and definitly didn't want to use my workbench, so I just nailed a piece of scrap plywood on a sawhorse, and cleaned the first one. I gotta admit, this was actually my first time killing and cleaning a chicken, but it went well....no different than cleaning a pheasant or duck at all. To avoid neighbors seeing anything, I was in front of the garage doors, behind the wood pile, with the big open field to the left. After a quick hatchet guillitine, I tossed the bird in an empty 55 gallon drum rather than let him flop around the yard. Cleaning went really well. A little rusty, but well. I got the bird completely cleaned and rinsed, and in cold water then went to get Lisa.

When we got back, she washed and rinsed the 1st one while I set to work on the others. Farmergeek called back and asked if I would mind cleaning their 2 since he was feeling sick, so I cleaned the next 2, and Lisa cleaned and wrapped the birds for them. The sawhorse rigged tabletop was a bit low for me, and my lower back was screaming, so I let the last 2 go till this morning. I sent FG a text and invited them to dinner, so we all had the 1st bird with all the fixin's. Everything was good, just a tad dry since they didnt have time to eat......well....they had time after we sat and talked and drank coffee for an hour or more, lol. Ah well, the dumplins were a bit dry and their dog probably made a mess in the crate at home, we had fun. Lots of stories and laughs, some of which Lisa and I carried through the night when my friend Bill came over. After the 2 of us saying "squeaky wheels!!" back and forth a few times, Bill finally asked what the hell we were talking about, hahaha. I guess we didnt quite tell your story as funny. Though he did laugh like hell at the story of your friend looking for sky-bound "bidgemops".....hahahahahah great time guys, glad ya came over.
Today I finished the other 2 birds, then finished the 5 gallon buckets. YAY no more pickle smell!!! One is full of brown sugar, one full of white sugar, and another of bread flour. The other order of new buckets should be here this week, so they'll be packed with rice, more flour, beans, and homemade noodles. Lisa spent the entire day from 9am till about 6pm in the kitchen baking again. She made the usual 4 loaves of bread for the week, plus she made biscuits to freeze (6 dozen), donuts, some new kind of sweet cornmeal muffins, and more of her vegetable tomoto soup that I inhale as fast as she makes. Everything but the muffins are for the freezer or canner again, so it was another productive day for her and her food preps.

Right now she's feeding the pack 'o hounds and letting them out, starting some coffee, then we're gonna settle down to the table and play some scrabble. I'm really beginning to enjoy not having cable. I did decide to keep the cable internet for now, just because I cant get this ^$&^#(*@ wireless card to work in the desktop. Though not my origional plan, dropping the digital cable and just leaving this took the bill from $115 to just $42. I'm happy with that $73 difference.
OK...off to the table to get my ass whooped by the Scrabble Queen....just ask her, she'll tell ya thats her name, lol.