We Did It

This is just a quick note to tell everyone that we made it. What was gathered on the fund raising site, along with what came to us dirrectly from local friends, and our own efforts raised the required funds.

I went to the tax offices of the two counties involved today and got everything paid up to date. In addition to our paperwork I got an extra copy for our "friends" at the bank that I will deliver tomorrow.

Posting this fund raiser was one of the most difficult and embarissing things I have ever done. I am both humbled and graitifed by the response of friends and strangers alike. I want to thank the folks who came forward, and those who helped get the word out.

In happer times have given to such fund raisers. God willing I will again.

Good By S-10

Good by S-10

It was right around Christmas of 2010. I was finishing up some shopping in Bryan, Texas and getting ready to head home. I pulled the Chevy S-10 out of Sam’s Club and was and was just building speed to enter Hwy. Six when the damn thing died. Being a standard I tried a rolling restart but no go. As speed bled off I timed my entrance to the Cinemark parking lot (thank you dead stick landing drills from another lifetime). If it weren’t for the other vehicles on the road and lights in the parking lot I would have been looking for the UFO.

By eleven that night we determined the truck was not going to be an easy fix and our son came with a trailer to pick the two of us up. That night was the last time the S-10 moved under its own power in almost a year. 2011 was the year of transportation hell. I will spare you details, mostly.

We have always considered our isolation here at HomePlace a great asset. Lack of mobility went a long way toward wreaking our finances. Having to depend on other people for transportation is a losing battle.

Suddenly getting to jobs, getting to meetings, Helene’s substitute teaching assignments, even selling young rabbits at Easter was either difficult or impossible. Few things are more heart breaking than turning down a job because I can’t get to it. Our isolation had become a huge impediment.

Finances got harder and we cut corners, made partial payments and delayed what could be delayed. We made a point of staying up to date on property payments. I will be the first to say getting behind on property taxes is stupid, but went faced with groceries and utilities the delay didn’t seem that bad. We had already worked out a schedule with the taxing entities to get caught up. With only a few years left on the note the bank is latching onto the tax situation for a land grab.

We are beating bushes, already black and blue, to raise the needed funds. Not that a new complication was needed but my prostate cancer (under control) has made it necessary to travel back and forth to the doctor frequently. Our son has lent us a truck until our ford’s engine is rebuilt, but the S-10 has resisted all attempts at repair. The two times we got it running it lasted less than twenty four hours before going down again.

So the treacherous Chevy is being sacrificed for the cause. We pulled the fuel tank, hauled it up on the trailer, and then removed the tires. The battery wasn’t powering the windows so in order to exit the vehicle once it was on the trailer the driver’s window was broken out.

Yesterday I took it to the crusher and added the funds received to the tax kitty. This is just one of many paths taken to save the property. Another was a difficult choice, requesting assistance through a fund raising site called Indiegogo. I have been surprised and humbled by the response and generosity of both friends, and people we have never met. I am posting a link to that site here;

http://www.indiegogo.com/SaveSeniorsFarm?a=1007680

Followers of this Blog have come to know me after a fashion. Other come here from Face Book and are learning who I am. If you have ever listened to anything I have said, please pay attention now.

I do not want ANYONE to feel obligated to do this.

If this fund raiser strikes a cord with anyone, we would be grateful for whatever you felt like sending. If you would rather not, please don’t.

We will keep you posted.

I have a mental image of some guy that has been beat with-in an inch of his life rushing up to this sigh with a ladder.

I Got Hacked

A few days ago James at hellinahandbasket got hacked. Luckly he got everything back up the next day.

Today it was my tern, only this time it was my facebook acount. I got a call from my adopted sister about an hour ago scolding me for upseting a another friend. Evidently the third party got an IM from "me" asking for a loan and "I" didn't react well to being refused.

When Charlie (my adopted sister - long story) told me I had sent the message earlier tonight I knew I had been hacked. My last message had been sometime on Tuesday.

So, I think this is restricted to facebook - but maybe not. I have a favor to ask.

If any of you get a message from me asking to borrow money, suggesting we join the French Foreign Legion or challenging you to a duel check with me before you send your second to HomePlace to discuss terms please.

I would be grateful.

Eye Protection

A few days ago I recieved the following E-Mail from Paul at Lucky Gunner:

Hey Art
Andrew & I tested both cheap and expensive ballistic eye protection,
"box-o-truth" style, to see how well they stand up to hardcore damage.

Many sryofoam heads later, we learn't that older lenses are much more
easily broken (probably because of exposure to UV light), and cheap eyepro is
cheap for a reason!

Because of these tests, I have decided to upgrade the cheap eyewear I carry
in my range bag for guests.

If you think your readers would find this interesting, perhaps you could
share it on your blog.

Kind regards,
Paul

It certainly makes me think twice about the eye protection my guest and I have been using here at HomePlace. I believe you will find this well worth checking out.

Art

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/eye-protection-shooting-glasses-review/

English .65 Double Barreled Flint Lock Handgun

.One of the joys of the Internet (for me anyway) is a weekly E-mail from INTERNATIONAL MILITARY ANTIQUES listing wonderful specials I usually can't afford but love to look at. I think of it as a weekly visit to a museum. Personally I think there is an advantage to IMA's website. At the museum you look at the objects behind glass. You have no way to turn it this way and that to look for details.

IMA gives us eighteen beautiful, large images of this icon exposing loads of detail.

Perhap it isn't as good as actually holding the weapon, but how often will a museum let you do that?

OK, some of the smaller museums...maybe.

This week one of the offered items was, as the title suggest, an English .65 Calibur Double Barreled Flintlock Handgun.

The barrels are about nine and a half inches long.

The weapons over-all length is fifteen and a half inches.

The weight isn't listed, but one look and you know it isn't going to be light.

As ono of my old friend used to say, if it wasn't love at first sight it was very serious lust.

This beauty would have been a personal purchase item for a British Officer. They were built in the Napolenic Wars and saw service for some years after.

The maker was Durs Egg of London.

I confess to a second reason for being so fascinated by this weapon.

Of late I have been re-reading S.M. Stirling's Nantucket series.

I can't help wondering if Mr. Sterling had seen one of these before writing, or while researching the books.

You can bet Marian had.

If anyone is interested, it's available. I don't recall the exact price, but it was between $14,000.00 and $15,000.00. I won't be inquiring about it at this time.

Should International Miltary Antiques object to me using these photos let me know and I will take them down at once.

Strange Bed Fellows

Apologies for my absents of late friends and neighbors. I won't bore you with excuses, I have been a touch preoccupied. An incident occured a few minutes ago that got my heart racing. Once I calmed down a bit the thoght came to me "This would be an interesting blog." So here it is.

Being a plesant Texas day of not terribly over 100 degrees I became restless and could think of nothing that would be more relaxing than shooting holes in something. Running down the list of hole punching aids I thought of my trusty Colt 1917 revolver.

This loyal companion currently spends most of it's time under my pillow where it is readly to hand in the evenings should the need arise. Before any of you say anything, there are no children of any age allowed in our bedroom, so no lectures about gun safes and trigger locks please. But I digress.

I walked down to the bedroom to fetch the colt for our outing. Most of the time I would simply run my hand under the pillow to get it. I am SO glad I didn't this time and picked up the pillow instead.

The main difference between this photograph and real life is that the scorpion was under it, right in the path my hand would traveled to get to the revolver. Here's a better look.

This boy and girls is the Bark Scorpion, a well known villian in these parts. I have lived in the West and South West all my life and have encountered these guys on a regular basis. I never got stung until we came here to HomePlace. My poor, long suffering Helene has been stung twice.

BUT NOT THIS TIME

In this case the villian was dispatched by the enthusiastic, adrenaline driven application of another battle tested weapon, the house shoe.

Helene frowns on me shooting anything on our bed. By the time I was finished the vile creature was an unrecognisable stain on the sheet, which is now in the washing machine. I'll go shooting once I get it into the dryer.