Au Gres River mini Report

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 19th, 2009 in Fishing, Shootist | Comments Off

From the mouth of the Au Gres River,  there is NO ice visable (other than some shore pileups).  The river is still muddy but pretty much ice free.  I hear they’ve been catching a few Walleye,  and some Steelhead while trolling the shallow water near the mouth of the river.  Still nothing exciting at the halfway point though,(the river, halfway betweeen town and  the bay).  Twas cold today,  and I didn’t see anyone Bay fishing.  I did see a couple of guy’s setting up to fish on the river,  out toward the mouth.  (considered part of the Bay, so Walleye are still legal)

Speaking of “still legal”;  I’ve been entertaining the idea of a new plastic handgun,  this time as a possible replacement for the better half’s carry piece.   With a load of (5) 200 grain .44 special rounds in it, her current Charter Bulldog Police,  is sort of heavy,  and packs a bit of a kick.  She’s been having a few problems with her hands,  and it might be time to consider something lighter,  with less kick.     I’ve handled, (not shot) a friends new Ruger LCP,  and is it ever light!  He say’s it shoots pretty good, and doesn’t kick to bad with the .380 acp round.   Small, light,  and marginally enough power to get the job done with the right ammo and round placement.  The Ruger LCP.

  This would be the alternative.   It comes in +p capable .38 special.  A little more power,  with a similar trigger action, (double action only),  it’s said to have an incredibly smooth trigger pull.  It’s also available with Crimson Trace night sights.   I haven’t held one yet,  but it’s said to be extemely light,  (the entire rear half is plastic),  and supposedly the plastic soaks up the recoil and it doesn’t have a bad kick.  The Ruger LCR.   I hear they’re both kind of hard to find right now,  but we’re in no real hurry,  (yet!)

Quotes of the day (or maybe of the Decade)

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 18th, 2009 in Political | Comments Off

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“If people want machine guns, let them join the military. We got em! But for public and personal use, absolutely not.”

          U.S. General Wesley Clark

“We’ll fight them (gun owners) in Springfield, in the courts, in the community,  and even in the home!”

         Arne Duncan (new Secretary of Education)

“We ought to ban hunting, It should be against the Law,  It’s time now”

         Cass R. Sunstien (new Regulations Czar)

“As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons.”

         Attorney General Eric Holder 

Voted NO on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. Voted NO on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse.  Wants to Prevent unauthorized firearm use with “smart gun” technology.

          Obama’s Chief of Staff,  Rahm Emanuel

“If any citizen wants to possess arms, let him join the Party.” 

          Adolf Hitler (NAZI Dictator, war criminal)

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As has been said many times before, “you can tell a lot about a man, by the company he keeps”.

Employee Free Choice Act or Card Check

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 16th, 2009 in News and weather | 1 comment

“For more than 60 years, American workers have decided whether to form a union with a private vote… neither management nor union organizers know how each individual worker voted. The secret ballot lets workers vote their conscience without risking job loss or physical assault for making the ‘wrong’ choice… . The EFCA would make it easier for union officials to pressure workers. Under the card-check process, union organizers would publicly solicit signatures on union authorization cards… Without secret ballots, union organizers know exactly who has signed union cards and who has not. In the past, union organizers have repeatedly approached and pressured-and, in some cases, threatened-reluctant workers. They have also used pro-union co-workers to solicit signatures, putting peer pressure on ‘holdouts’ to change their minds.”

This thought has crossed my mind many times since I first heard that the Unions and Obama were pushing for the “Card Check” system of union voting.   Mainly,  because I was an active union member for 30 years,  and for all of those 30 years,  the union heavily pushed the idea that “Card Check” was a great evil,  that the company was trying to push on us.   And it made sensc,  how can a secret ballot be wrong?   Aren’t our government elections done with a secret ballot?

Sorry,  but I’m not buying the “Card Check” thing,  not from the union,  or from Obama.   Just like I don’t advertize who I vote for in government elections.   There is an adjenda here,   actually two adjenda’s.  The Union has one adjenda,  and Obama has another.  I’m guessing that neither is good for the common man.

GM radio unlock codes and contracts

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 16th, 2009 in Technology and Music | Comments Off

This has to be one of the brighter moves by the auto industry.    My 2001 Silverado lost it’s battery charge on one of the icey cold nights this winter.   Since it was the original battery,  I didn’t feel to bad about it,  until I noticed the “LOC” letters on the display of the radio.  With a little investigation I learned that it’s a “security” feature.    “I’m” supposed to be able to put a security code into the radio,  and once enabled,  if it loses power,  the owner (me) has to enter the security code to get it working again.  Unfortunately,  some not so brightly shining star,  enabled the code for me and didn’t bother to tell me what it was.

I go online to see if I can find a  remedy,  and find thousands and thousands of people with the same problem,  I also find companies that will unlock the radio for me,  FOR A FEE!!!    Yeah,  this was really a bright idea.   I hope who ever came up with this thought,  didn’t get one of those ridiculous bonus’s.    And speaking of bonus’s,   the banking industry’s excuse for giving million dollar bonus’s ( using bail out money ),   was,  that they were required to do so by contractual obligations.   BULLSHIT!   I retired under a contract,  and my contract isn’t worth the paper it was written on!!   I suppose the bottom line here is,  my measley pension,  doesn’t carry enough lawyer clout to get someone to enforce the contract,  but when we’re talking millions of dollars,  the lawyers come out of the woodwork!

End of Day update:

The radio in the Silverado now works again.   For $15 Generous Motors kindly supplied the locking code, that THEY INSTALLED and FAILED TO INFORM ME OF.     I also learned that with newer vehicles,  they’ve updated the so called security systems.  NOW,  various parts of a car,  will only work in the car they were originally installed on.   Say you want to exhange the radio in your car,  for a nicer one from a salvaged vehicle.   NOPE!  At least not until you visit a Dealer,  and get the thing reprogramed to work in your particular vehicle.   I’m sick of this crap!!!   I think I’ll start looking around for a nice shortbox pickup,  built in the 60’s.   

A beautiful day today

Posted by Greybeard on Mar 15th, 2009 in Fishing | Comments Off

The last day of inland Walleye season was beautiful,  Sunny and warm.   We did a little river fishing off the sea walls,  and kinda came up bust.   Total catch 1 Sucker on a chartruse leadhead, baited with a Mr. Twister.       

It’s little early for me to have a boat in the water,  but we drove out to the River’s mouth,  to check it out.   There were a bunch of boats in the water,  plus,  ice fishermen,  just yards away from the boats.  (a strange site indeed).  The River itself is fully open (not counting a few small ice flows),  but the Bay  is -FAR FROM OPEN- despite what I’ve been told on the network news.   There was a strip of open water connected to the river,  running north and south,  that was maybe 1oo yards wide at it’s widest,  and a mile to a mile and a half long.  Long enough for most of the boats to be trolling.  Beyound that,  all we could see was ICE!  We didn’t talk with anyone,  but are guessing that with the number of people out there,  they were catching fish!

I’m still dreaming of open water,  and looking into an early June Charter trip.  I figure going out with a Pro,  should be a good way to learn some new tricks, and plug in some GPS co-ords.   I’m lookng into a trip with either Capt. Mike Veine  , or Capt. Ron Horton.  Both of them are experienced in our area and have good word of mouth.  Should the trip come to be,  I’ll write it up here.