Friday, February 26, 2010

Contemplating...

I ran across this picture on my phone this morning. It was taken June 2009 in Ocean City. It was beautiful. Seeing it this morning reminds me how much I truly love my husband.
I think we forget sometimes where we start in a relationship. We tend to take little things for granted, but honestly little things are what make up life.
I don't know what he was thinking here, but I hope he is thinking about what a wonderful life we have built together. I want him to remember not only where we started but what we have accomplished.
All I really know is my life is much better with him then it ever could be without him.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My new Taurus .38 Special Ultra Light

Well, having decided to buy a handgun I had my heart set on a Taurus, although not the one that I ended up buying, which is seen in the photo here. The one I wanted was a semi-automatic 22, but it was almost impossible to find.

I went to a gun dealer in Oshkosh and found this one and I liked the feel of it in my hand. I personally prefer a rosewood handle. I have no idea why.

Anyway, we took it to Shawano and went with my friend, Brenda, and her boyfriend, Bill, and found an out of the way place where we could fire our new guns (because Brenda got one too) without scaring the neighbors or getting arrested. It was super cool. Bill even made a target with a bullseye for us to shoot at.

I was happy I had taken my gun class, and I was ready for about everything except for the sub arctic weather. It was FREEZING outside. I imagine that if we were dead on the target in that weather if a bad guy comes into the house where it's warm he hasn't got a chance in hell of not getting hit.

Anyway, what I thought was funny was every single man that saw my revolver had the same response. "It's a pretty little thing." Wow. I had no idea that guns could be pretty little things. However, if a bad guy comes running through my house and manages to get past a German Shepherd, a crazy cockatoo, and a passel of ankle biters that "pretty little thing" is going to shoot his patootie.

For any other ladies out there looking for a hand gun, I have to say I really like this revolver. It's not just pretty - it's accurate, effective, and not nearly as loud and kicky as some others I've shot.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

My nomination for the first Lufthansa A380

My nomination for the first Lufthansa A380: "The A380 the new Lufthansa flagship, a special experience, the Lufthansa A380. Find out more about the fascination of a new era in air travel. Take part, Raffles, Downloads, Photos, Video, Gallery, First Flight in 2010."

Friday, February 19, 2010

Animals of Montana


Honestly, I had no idea that such a place as Animals of Montana existed. However, upon reading their story I was shocked and appalled at how these people were treated by the US government.
Long story short, the people purchased a tiger from a place that had been selling tigers for years. They did everything they were legally required to do and yet they were closed down and fined because 1. the US government official did not send them the written approval and gave them verbal authorization and 2. because the nimrod that sold them the tiger didn't have the licensing that he supposedly was supposed to have had.
There are serious losers in this story, the main losers being the animals. It is unfair and seriously unjust for innocent animals to have to be euthanized just because some government official decided that he is the god of the animal kingdom in the US.
Looking further into the story I found that the seller of the tiger, Kenneth Kraft, was not an altruistic animal person, but he was simply in it for the almighty dollar. He was knowingly falsefying papers to sell animals around the US and he was also killing animals and selling pelts. The guy and his wife are losers that were severely fined and had to serve some jail time.
In my opinion, Animals of Montana is a victim of the Krafts and their illegal operation. He didn't do anything against anyone else. He is now a victim of the US government. The animals, in the meantime, are not getting the care they are used to and are being severely penalized.
I say: write your congressmen and senators and get these unjust charges changed so these people can be put back in business.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Women on Target Gun Class

I was lucky enough to get into a class offered by Fox Valley Tech called "Women on Target" sponsored by the Women of the NRA. I have to admit this is an awesome class with super instructors. I even learned about a program for women in the Fox Valley called "Fox Valley Women's Shooters." I'm seriously considering joining this group.

What I think is super about these programs is that they are teaching firearm safety and awareness. If you are ever going to handle a gun or pistol you should know what you are doing so you don't accidentally shoot your foot or other body part or perhaps the body part of someone else unintentionally.

The set up they had was extremely well done from the goodie bags with cookies and grapes to the indoor basement range with balloons and paper plates. They incorporated the Valentine's theme for the season. All the women, even those taking the class, were exceptional. It was 4 hours that went by very quickly.

My shooting instructor is John Bauer whom, I have to admit, knows his stuff. He is an excellent teacher and very patient. I would definitely take other lessons from him.

So why the interest in shooting lessons? Well, I recently purchased a hand gun and a rifle. I have been shooting before, the first time when I was about 12 years old. I've handled guns but never really had a single lesson except from men that didn't really teach me gun safety only how to shoot.

After several upon several years (we won't get into the age issue here) of not shooting I found I was still pretty accurate. What I also found out is that with the training I received not only was I more accurate than before, but I could now handle a gun without accidentally killing myself or someone else.

Kudos to my hubby, though. He said, after I mentioned taking lessons with him, " I have to swallow that, 'I'm a man and know how to handle a gun' idea. I know I could benefit from shooting lessons, it's been about 20 years since I've left the marines and actually shot a gun."  I knew I had married a very intelligent man.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Making Friends with . . .

So, who do you want to make friends with? I never thought about making friends with Death.  I also never considered I might need special instructions for making friends with black people, or yellow people, or even white people. I kinda figured it would just work itself out based on our personalities. Now I do realize that making friends with girls is kinda tricky sometimes. Women are fickle. Don't really want to make friends with Hitler especially since he's dead. I also had no idea that there were instructions for making friends with shadows on the wall. Now that I do I will come back and look if I ever get lonely enough. As for making friends with my food - not a good idea. I can't eat my friends and I'd starve to death.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Brad and Angelina Sue Tabloid

Brad and Angelina have had more than their fair share of rumors printed in the gossip rags. I think it might be time to throw the rags out the garbage because that is exactly what they print. Now they are stepping up and suing them for printing the falsehoods. I say, "Bravo."
I realize that people that are in show business who become successful are always in the limelight and others who have less glamorous lives seem to thrive on their supposed misfortunes. It's a shame. I honestly believe that people should just realize that these are just successful people. Why are they successful? Because they are good at their jobs. These aren't gods that walk on water and they haven't asked to be anyone's role models. They have chosen a career that puts them in the public eye. Period.
I think it's great that Angie and Brad have chosen to come forward and do something about the supposed media reports that are causing their family undue stress. These people have children they are trying to raise and lives they are trying to live. They have given money to the less fortunate and have even gone out and worked side by side with people to provide better lives for those that don't have nearly as much. Yet instead of publicizing the good they do people seem to want to thrive on lies and gossip.
I've read on news sites where people are still talking about Pitt's failed marriage to Aniston. They don't stop to realize that he has been with Jolie for longer than he was married. They also don't stop to think that this couple has small children. They have also gone so far as to name divorce attorneys that have never even been in contact with either party. What did they do? Open the yellow pages and point to a divorce attorney? Now that's great journalism.
I commend them on fighting back and protecting their family. Maddox, who was with them at the Super Bowl yesterday, is old enough to read in the check out lanes or on the internet. It must pain him to see lies written about his parents and cause him to fear. Shame on those that think that a dollar is more important than the well being of a child.
In this case you can see that Jolie and Pitt are not doing it for the money, they are doing it for their family and their peace of mind. They simply asked for a retraction which the tabloids denied. I hope the tabloids have to pay for it dearly and perhaps they will give people something more entertaining and at least partially honest.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones is a great novel, well most of it anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and getting caught up in the realistic portrayal of the Salmon family truly feeling for their tragedy. Parts of it even made me cry just from the thought of someone losing a child in such a horrible fashion. But toward the end the book lost some of its umph. I think it's because it was told by the dead girl and it was hard to let her pass on as she watched her family grow older without her.

I thought the movie would be equally impressive. I was reading how it has a phenomenal director and how the girl chosen to play Suzie was perfect for the role. Perhaps those two things are true, but the movie fell extremely short of phenomenal. On a scale from one to ten I'd have to give it a three, and that's being generous.

The best parts of the book were missing from the movie. The parts that made the book so poignant and heart rendering were gone. In the place where these important factors that made the book a best seller were computer graphic images of the girls heaven. We could have used a little less graphic imagery and a lot more story.

I'm well aware how difficult it is to put a book into a movie without making the movie extremely long, but in this case they would have had a lot more storyline if they had forgone the imagery.

My best advice is to read the book and forget the movie.