Gun Safety Class and Best Ho Dinner of all Time...

So, we went to the gun safety/CCP class Saturday – all day. It went from 9am to about 8pm. We ended up shooting about 200 rounds each during the day. At the end of the day, we had the test and Pam got a 94% and I got a 96% - dammed trick worded questions…

The instructor loaned us a couple of different .22lr pistols, a smallish auto and a revolver, to use and we swapped the Glock and the .22s back and forth. We both did better with the Glock than the .22s, but Pam says that the Glock seems a little large feeling for her hand.

From the start of the class until about 3pm was classroom instruction, learning all about how the various types of pistols work, and all the details of how to use each of them safely. The instructor had examples of them all there so we could check them out. It was a very informative class. Then, after the all the classroom instruction, we went out to the range for some hands on training.

First we did bench shooting, then standing two-handed in a variety of ways, then wrong handed two-handed standing and finally one handed standing. We also tried a competition 22 with a red dot sight and the instructors Versa .380, which is a nice little gun for Carry. I did real well with the red dot sight.

My shot groupings were real good at first but got progressively off to the right (me being left handed). I need to figure out what is going on there… I think my lack of right side neck to shoulder muscles and fatigue was probably at the base of it. Holding up my arms for extended periods and shooting 200 rounds over a 4 hour period gets pretty tiring.

Towards the end, Pam had loaded the magazines and I was shooting the Glock and it kept jamming. I unloaded the magazines and reloaded them again and it worked fine. I am thinking that she wasn’t pushing the rounds all the way to the back of the magazine, but ?? We shall have to work on that. Besides that, the Glock worked great. Nice gun…

The class consisted of 4 women and me. I guess I must not have asked the right questions when I signed up for it... There is probably a more 'guy' oriented class somewhere. But, that being said, I really enjoyed the class and bonded with the instructor a little more than them…

The instructor was great. He brought all sorts of guns for demonstration and for us to checkout. He is also a gunsmith and has a FFL. General nice guy…

All in all, it was very educational and also big fun. Now, we have to fill out the CCP forms and go see the local Sheriff to get the permit process started. It takes about 8 weeks to get it all back, from what I hear.

Well, that is all about there is to say about that, as Forest Gump would say.

After the class, we were hungry and there was this going away party for one of the best pool players in the area, Cary, whom I have written about in this tome before. He is moving to Montana soon, going to be a dental floss tycoon, er plumbing tycoon - a little 60ies flash back there...

Anyway, the Town Tavern, a bar he played out of for many years had a going away party for him and we went. They had all sorts of great food, featuring bacon wrapped fillets as the main course. It was the best 'free' meal I have had here in DaHo. So, good free things actually do happen now and then - Good stuff...

Then, Sunday after church, we went and got a couple of soft air pistols, that shoot these large plastic BBs, and a 'sticky' target for indoor use. The gun class instructor had a couple of them and recommended them for training and practice. They are made by Crossman and the two pistols, ammo and the target was $29.95. They are big fun, accurate and safe for indoor use. We have been playing with them ever since. They would also be good for running off varmints and stray dogs as they wouldn't hurt them but would sting a little.

I am feeling much better than I was last week. My back has been hurting more than usual lately, but besides that, I am doing pretty well. Well enough to mow the lawn, which hadn't been mowed since the fire and was starting to get out of control.

Then, last night we had a truly great dinner here at DaHouse. I picked up some prime fillets that were on quick sale at Fred Myers. They have this little area at the end of the meat counter where they have discounted meat that needs to be sold and I always check it out for good deals. These fillets were a great deal and and some of the best meat around - Like the stuff you get in good restaurants which is usually hard to find in a store. Anyway, we had them, some great bread and fresh asparagus done in garlic, salt and olive oil that Pam does so well. She rubbed the fillets with chopped garlic and spices and also made some Bearnaise sauce for it all. It was great. When I was done eating, everything was gone and all the serving dished were cleaned shinny. It was all just too good to waste - and we had no vampire problems ALL night here in DaHo...

August Newsletter Article...

Free Help is Seldom worth the Price...

By Lanny Keithley

A concept that ends up causing unnecessary troubles for many, is one of accepting offers from people, usually friends or family, to do some work or activity at a less than normal market price. You may think you have saved all sorts of money by having friends or family do things for you, like taking you someplace, going shopping, going out to eat, running errands, or maybe even cleaning your house. To have someone do these types of things for you is fine. Just keep in mind that nothing is free and be sure you know what is the real 'cost' of these acts of kindness. There is always an implied payment. Is it worth it? It is usually much better to get all such issues resolved before hand, so there will be no hard feelings later, on either side.

There are jobs or activities that must done correctly and/or on schedule. They include such necessary things as: home enhancements or repairs, car repairs, getting you somewhere on time, and whatever else you need done the right way, on time, and guaranteed.

Let me tell you a story to elaborate my point. Back some forty years ago, I was a young computer programmer for a local school district. We were one of the few school districts in the nation fully utilizing computers to manage all the daily activities of the schools. Because of all the new capabilities the computers provided to our school administrators and teachers, they wanted to try new things. Many of these new ideas required that we redesign our student attendance computer system, without the budget funds to do.

Within this progressive school district, we had large and active student 'computer clubs' in each high school, consisting of very smart future computer 'nerds'. They even had their own computer in our data center and terminals in all their classrooms. They wrote their own computer programs and were doing great student level computer things throughout the district, and had received national recognition for their work.

They came to us, through their teacher/advisors, and offered to write the new student attendance system. All of the school administrators and management thought it was a great idea and felt they did have the capability to do it. So, even though we, the professionals, had concerns about it, it was approved and we were tasked to provide all necessary guidance and structure so it would fit within our overall district wide systems.

We managed the overall design but they had full control over writing all the programs and designing all their own data files. They were a little over schedule, but we kept them under close watch and it turned out to be an impressive endeavor. The system was started and was a great success for all concerned.

Then, shortly after the students had left, changes and new requirements were needed in the new attendance system. We started looking into the details of how the programs were written and how the data was stored. If there was a more complicated way to do something, they took it. There was no way to change the system without redoing the whole thing. The concept of having to allow for changes, or even considering the possibility they might be needed, hadn't been part of their thought process or system design. When I presented our director with this news, he looked up at the folks in the meeting and said, "Well, once again, this proves that Free Help is Seldom Worth the Price."

That was the first time I had heard that saying. Since then, it has come to be proven many times for me. I cannot count the number of times I have taken a friend's offer of doing some repair or construction project which ended up costing me much more money, time, and frustration. I have come to fully respect and realize the value of what that saying really means.

People are selfish, goal striving creatures who have a reason for everything they do. Out of all the possible options they have available, at any given moment, they end up selecting one to do. This is done 'selfishly' and I am not using the term 'selfish' in a negative way at all, it is just that all choices and selections are made personally. The person's goal might not be immediately obvious, but there is an expected reward, of some type, in every offer of help given by everybody.

There is an old saying "Anything that is worth doing, is worth doing right". And, there needs to be some value or reward to them for their effort if you have any expectation that they will put in the effort to do it right. Without the specific reward and expectations being known by all up front, the opportunity for frustration and failure is high.

Usually, inherent in 'Free Help' is the lack of proper credentials, skills, materials, and/or tools necessary to do the work - compared to the 'professionals'. The lack of these skills and materials necessary to do the job correctly is usually what causes most of the failures and resulting recovery/repair costs.

Schedule is also a major consideration in certain work. Can you go without your car being fixed for a week, or go without a toilet? Choosing non-professionals to do any schedule sensitive job is a problem waiting to happen for you.

What if something doesn't go right? What if someone gets hurt on your property? What if anything that could possibility happen, does? How will these problems be resolved and who will pay for them?

Finally, the ongoing problem of supporting or guaranteeing the work must be considered. What if their labor, or some of the materials that were used, fail in the future? Will they have the resources to fix the problems without causing you a lot of additional expense and trauma?

Assume that "Free Help" doesn't even exist, except for a few very personal situations. It all works out much better for all concerned if there are no surprises on either side when the task is done.


"There is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"

Weddings, Hot Weather and Poor Performance...

This has been a big month for weddings here in DaHo. First, Jeremy and Jaycee got married on 7/7/7 in Sin City with a few thousand other folks. Then Pat and Mel Brown, pool and fishing buddies, got married on 7/16 and then last Saturday, Storm and Jenny.

I was asked to cook for Storm and Jenny's wedding and it was quite a challenge. They had been to a number of our parties and loved my cooking. They rented this very unique event location. It was an old barn that had been redone to have a full commercial kitchen, full bar area and all sorts interesting additions. I was to cook for 100 guests and about 75, or so, showed up. So, there was more food that needed - as usual. I cooked 18 racks of baby back ribs, 3 - 13# beef roasts and a ton of my 'special' rice and a few sides. One of the roasts was sliced at a carving station to make up sandwiches. Jenny's mother runs a pizza restaurant and brought in all sorts of salads and pre-made appetiser sort of dishes. This place had two giant BBQs, one gas and one charcoal, and a full 60" commercial stove with two very large ovens, 4 burners and a grill. It had a full sized commercial style restaurant hood, which looked great, but wasn't vented...

It was a lot of work and little help was available, as everybody was trying to get the 'real' event going. That was my first time in a commercial type kitchen, with little guidance, and I learned a lot. I wasn't feeling that well before and have been recovering since then.

The last three weeks have not been going that well - since the fire. I haven't been sleeping well at all, which is probably at the base of this malaise. Also, I am not playing pool very well and have only had one good fish bite in many days of fishing. I don't know if its just from the hot weather, or just not feeling that good, or what at this point.

Speaking of the fire, a number of the plants and lawn that were so radically affected by the firestorm are now starting to show some recovery which is great news. On the downside, the fountain, which I thought I had fixed and had been working for a couple of months now, started leaking and I must repair it again.

This weekend is the gun safety/CCP class and then there are no more scheduled activities for a few weeks until Grandson Oliver arrives for a little fishing vacation. That is always BIG FUN here in DaHo...

Recovery - Sorta...

Some of the plants are starting to come around and some are still getting worse. The leafy plants and trees have lost their leafs or will with a good wind. The evergreens needles are all brown and looking dead, but I think the trees will survive. The lawn is actually starting to get green again - a little here and there. So, it is what it is, but it is better than I first expected...

This Friday night, we had some neighbors over for dinner - Boyd and Annette. He is the president of the home owners association and told us of many strange, but scary, firestorm stories. One neighbor had a trailered fishing boat in his driveway that Boyd saw spinning around in the wind as we was going to other neighbor's houses that were on vacation and turning on their sprinklers. He said that if you looked up, you could see lawn chairs, tables and all sort of stuff spinning around 300 to 400 feet up in the air in the storm wind.

He also reminded me of the fire planes. When I got home, there were all these little, very loud, planes, that reminded me of the WWII fighters in size that were flying all over the neighborhood real low and loud. They were dropping this orange stuff on the ground to keep the fire contained. At the time I was too busy with other stuff to check them out much, but it was pretty amazing. Sorta like in a couple of scenes in Pearl Harbor with the fighters going around the ships.

We had a great dinner for Annette's birthday. Boyd is a big steak eater so I fixed some large rib eyes for us and a couple of fillets for the birthday girls. Pam made Bearnaise sauce, and a salad, and I made a great rice dish and we had some of Costco's best bread and flavored oils. All the steaks came out as ordered, which is challenging when they were 3 different thicknesses of meat, done to three different styles. But, that is why it takes and 'expert'...

I am in charge of cooking all the meat for Storm and Jenny's wedding this weekend since they have tasted my work before, which should be challenging but fun working in a real professional equipped kitchen.

Then, Saturday morning, too early, Pam had to be off to setup for the annual Dell family picnic. She was on the committee to make it happen. She took down a couple of those pop up shades, she borrowed from Boyd, her Karaoke machine and lots of other stuff. I came later, about 10am, and brought the salads and lots of other stuff. It was quite an event. They had dunk tanks, blowup jump things for the kids, a train ride, snow cone machine lots of good food, tattoos, a good raffle and bingo. Pam spent most of the day calling bingo with the Karaoke machine as loudspeaker. There were probably 20 picnic sized permanent tables and benches in this covered area that were full of bingo players most of the day. She has played bingo a lot in some previous life. She knew all sorts of very strange bingo games that everybody loved.

It was very hot all day, in the 100-106 degree category, but there were lots of dell families there most of the day having big fun and wining all sorts of great prizes. It lasted until about 3pm. Then we had to clean it all up and put everything away. That lasted until about 4:30 or so.

Then, we had to race home to put some stuff in the freezer and race off to another friend's wedding. They are fishing and pool playing buddies of mine. His family is one of the local, long term pool playing families of the area. Most of the local good players, along with all the operators of the pool playing establishments were there. It was a very nice outdoor ceremony but was too hot. We left about 8pm, or so, to come back to a very hot house. I guess the Air Conditioning unit froze up during the very hot day and it took me a few hours to get it working correctly again.

Then, early Sunday morning, about 7am, I was woken up by hammering on the roof, just above the bedroom... The roofer was here fixing our roof that had been torn up by the firestorm. He was up there banging around for about 2 hours. Pam mostly slept through it, or at least didn't move much. But, after it was over she could barley talk and had been coughing all night. So, after I did my yoga, I went into town and got her some throat/cough/cold meds. I told the pharmacist that she had a bad case of Bingo, which she was confused about, but thought it was pretty funny with some explanation. Anyway, after recovering most of the day, Pam is all better and somewhat rested after a very busy and action packed weekend here in DaHo...

Fire Plants...

This weekend we got a lot of stuff done around the house. Pam is still recovering from her Mini-Trail 'event', but decided to do some weed spraying and weed-eating as 'exercise' after church...

I got all the sprinkler lines fixed and tested, replacing all the sections that were melted by the fire or got destroyed in the process. I also tried to find as much of the lawn furniture and trash of ours that was blown all over the neighborhood and bring it back to be dumped.

The current and growing problem at this point is the plants. They seem to be showing more and more of the effects of the fire as time goes on. This weekend, I used Miracle Grow on them and watered them heavily a number of times, but them just seem to continue looking worse. Here are some pictures of them...

This is a 'before' picture of one type of tree that was spared the main brunt of the Fire Storm...

Here is the same type of tree that was in the Fire Storm Winds...

Here is another type of tree 'before' picture.

And, what it looks like now.

I sorta expected the taller plants, trees and shrubs, to be affected by all the heat of the fire, but the thing that amazes me the most is the grass. As you can see from the following picture, the grass that was closest to the fire and is where the main Fire Storm wind came from, was burnt badly, even though it is on the ground. I just cannot imagine how hot and powerful that fire wind must have been to cause that... The evergreen trees there are also almost totally brown now along with all other plants in the area.

The above picture really doesn't show the impact of the damage but does give you an idea of what its like. We have spent a lot of expense and time working on the lawn and plants and this is a real bummer. But, hopefully, with good care and time they will recover. I guess the same goes for us here in DaHo...

Fire Update and ...---...

Fire Update...

We got the newspaper today and the main headline was 'Firestorm'. With a picture from our subdivision on the front page. The story continued on the third page and right there on the top of the page was this picture...



That is our house and this picture gives a better view of what happened. You can also see this picture and others in our area on the www.Magicvalley.com website...

The morning after the fire, I went down to the sprinkler supply place and got the parts I needed to repair the melted drip lines around the hill. I was telling the guy there about the fire and he said that a customer was in there yesterday, when the fire was happening, and got a call from his frantic wife about the fire. The customer said that as he was talking to his wife, she said that their new gas BBQ just took off in the wind and was gone...

All I can say to that is WOW! The winds must have been strong here, but that is impressive...

We have gotten most of the significant problems resolved now. This guy that was the lead forman for the Great Garage Flood of '06 came by, he lives in the area, and is going to do the roof repairs for a reasonable cost today. So, that is good and timely...

The power and cable/Internet kept going up and down today as the utility crews repaired all the lines and poles. So, we watched a movie on the laptop and waited for it all to get back together.

...---...

It all came back on tonight just in time for the Live Earth Concert on TV. And, after watching some if it, I feel overwhelmed and must comment on it, even though I try and keep from commenting much about such things on this tome...

It was so touching that I have decided to do my little part to stop this Global Warming disaster. I have decided to only use just one finger when typing any online message from now on. I know this will consume a lot of my time, and will cause me many hardships, but it will be worth it. I can relish that the sacrifice will be for a good cause, and hopefully, I can get everybody in the world to also do this one little thing with me, thereby slowing down all online activity in the world. So, if you are reading this - Please send it to at least 10 of your friends and tell them to send it to 10 of their friends, etc...

If successful, it will reduce the overall amount of electricity and air conditioning required to support all the Internet servers in the world. I figure, that if we all just do this one little thing, no matter how painful it might seem to each of us individually, we could save enough energy to offset the methane gas of at least a couple dozen dairy cows, and thereby save the world...

Even if it doesn't save the world, at least we will all feel better about having sacrificed our time and resources to try and do it - and isn't that what it's all about?

I have also developed a new yoga pose to demonstrate to the world how to free up all their pent up tensions and concerns about the Global Warming issue. If Al Gore, and all his followers, will just do this one Yoga pose, it will show the world what is really going on...

Scareeee Fire at DaHouse...

Let me start off by saying it was 106 degrees here in DaHo and then this weird storm came up in the afternoon.

Then, we had a really scary fire here in DaHo. It almost burned DaHouse... Pam and I were in town getting her checked up at the hospital, due to a little Honda Mini-Trail 'event'. I had gone to get some dinner when I got a phone call from her that the neighborhood was on fire. I guess one of our neighbors was also there at the hospital and had broken an ankle trying to warn other neighbors about the fire. Anyway, I had just been served and got the call and had to take off.

The police had all the roads blocked off, but I was finally able to get home using some little known side roads. The main fire had already been past DaHouse and burnt everything around it on all sides. It was probably saved, or at least saved much more damage, by Pam's two month effort at eradicating all the surrounding weeds. On the only area where the weeds were not cut down, on the neighbor's land in back of the house, it burned into our little 'garden' which is about 10 feet from the back of the house.

The winds must have been unbelievable during the fire from all the damage to our house and all around the neighborhood. I will point it out with the pictures below...

Front Side of House...
This shows all the area that was burnt on the front side of the house.


Rear View of House...
Here is the back side. Notice one of our lawn chairs out there in the field. They, along with all the outdoor 'stuff' is mostly gone.


Back Yard View...
Here is the back yard with all the tables destroyed and stuff all around.


Driveway with Cleanup Firetruck...
Here is the driveway view with a fire crew doing hot spot cleanup hours after the fire.


Garden...
This is really weird... That park bench that is inside of the 'garden' use to be outside of the fence and in front of the three large planters. It somehow was lifted up by the wind and placed inside of the fence. O, and did I say three planters, well, the other one I found melted about 200 feet away...


Roof Damage...
Almost every ridge on the roof has been pretty much stripped of shingles along with other areas.


Neighbor's House...
This is the neighbor's house right across the driveway. Their dog pens and antennas and roof have been really trashed. They had a sod 'floor' on the dog pens and was ripped up and moved along with the pens. Their roof was lifted up, there above where the pens were.


Other Neighbor's Garage Door...
Here is another neighbor's garage door that has been destroyed by the winds.


And, I hear that on the upper side of the subdivision, by the freeway, there were three houses lost to the fire. When I took these pictures, the place was pretty locked down so I am sure there will be a lot more to see today. A whole bunch of our drip sprinkler lines got melted and I am sure there are other currently unknown problems that will fill up our day... Well, I must go get to it.

Happy Fourth of July...

Everybody is getting ready for the all the 4th celebrations today. There are parades all over today and later on this afternoon, there is a free concert featuring the Clumsy Lovers... Weird name for a band, but they are good. Then, when it gets dark, all the local fireworks displays start. From DaHouse, we can see them from 5 different towns, with the largest one, from Twin Falls, being right across the canyon from us. We can also listen to the accompanying sound track on the radio, so that should be big fun.

I heard some policeman on TV the other night describing the difference between legal and illegal fireworks. He said if it goes up in the air higher than 15 feet, its illegal. Well, I guess my stuff is WAY illegal then... We now have a county sheriff living right in front of our house, which is usually a good thing, but I don't know him well enough to know what he will say/do if we shoot up some mortars.

I got some new tires for the Jeep. I had on these “V” rated road tires that were low profile – great for the freeway, but sucked on rocks. SO, I got some rock friendly tires that gives me 1 ½” more ground clearance which is good – real good. I have been high-centered twice and had to dig and move rocks to get freed – way out in the sticks.

So, Monday I went back down the Scott Access – the new fishing hole – and took the clippers and trimmed the shrubs that scratch the Jeep along the way – One side going down and the other coming back up. I had some old bait and didn’t catch any fish, but did get two bites, so I could have – just didn’t. My first skunk down there. But, the good news is that it is only about 10 miles round trip to get there… And, it sure is prudy with all the waterfalls and trees.

Pam's good friend from Dell, Tina, went on vacation to Las Vegas and points south. Which is having a major heat wave I hear - like 116 deg... Anyway, she has two teen age daughters and Pam fixed Mac and Cheese with them last night and they all went to the movies and shopping. I guess they all had big fun. They were awake when I got home from playing in the weekly 9-ball tournament last night.

I should have won the tournament last night, but ended up coming in 3rd place. I was playing fast again and missed some shots I should have made. That is my biggest problem these days.

Well, I hope everybody has a fantastic Forth. It is a very big deal here in DaHo...