The Outlaw's Den

Brewing report

2009-02-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

So much for the once a month posting. Two beers to report. The Belgian was brewed on Dec. 20 and the Dry stout about 3 weeks later. Bottled the Dry stout today. The Belgian turned out really well, but seems to get more banana flavor over time. At first it was very spicy and clove like. The Dry stout it will be two weeks till I know. Yeast fo the Belgian was the White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale yeast, and the Dry stout was White Labs WLP004 Irish ale yeast.

Nov. Posting

2008-11-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Just in time to have a post for November. Brother Tyler and I bottled the Poor Richard's Ale. Tastes...uh...I guess we'll see what it's like in a couple weeks. If you google around for "poor Richard's ale extract" you'll see the recipe. The only change I made was no corn, and slightly different hops (kent goldings). I used the White Labs Scottish ale yeast. I might, might, be brewing next weekend. It would be a solo brew, and I think it will be a plain ol' stout.

Also, finished my single speed conversion/referb of my dads old Firestone "Dix Vita" 10 speed. There is not a straight joint on that cheap frame. But, it was all about learning, and learn I did. I have to un-thighten a couple of links in the chain, as it wants to skip a little, and the seat needs to go up, but asside from that I am happy with it. All told, I have $50 into it, mostly for tires and getting a new axle for the rear wheel. I guess if it really sucks, I can take it apart and build a garden cart, or something.

2008-10-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

Howdy all. I changed the links a little. The VanOeveren Standard has been dead for a while now, so I got rid of it. To bad, it was nice to have some alternative view points linked here. Big Damn Heros went the way of the doo-doo what with Adam being real busy getting his phd in Economics. Also, I added a link to the Every Day Carry Forums. Lots of neat info in there about the stuff we do, or should, or would like to, carry with us. Everything from pens to guns to flashlights.

Brief brewing update: Brother Tyler and I have 20 gallons of cider a bubbleing away, and this weekend we are bottleing the first 10 gallons. Huzzah! Carl, Brother Tyler and I are spliting it 3 ways. We did 5 gallons each of cider yeast spiced and unspiced and mead yeast spiced and unspiced. Should be interesting.

2008-10-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I was over at action-squad, and the little tag thing that pops up with my link is "beer and guns...but mostly beer", and that is true. It's been a while since I had a nice gun post. Much to my chagrin, it's tougher to find the time to head off to the range then it is to putter around the ol' home stead and make beer. Brother Tyler and I are knee deep in cider season, and it will be at least 3 weeks before we get a beer going.

I did head out to the range Saturday. I wanted to test out some loads for Cousin Tyler's 7mm Remington magnum. Wow, does that thing have some recoil. Brother Tyler and I split the shooting, and both of our soft shoulders were a little sore. Even so, I got the data I needed for my reloading. Looks like 65 grains of IMR 4895 gives me 3000fps with a 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. That is just about perfect. So, the next step is to get some loaded up for Cousin Tyler, and hope he gets a deer.

The other goal was to test out some loads for my Model 19. FAIL! IMR4227 and .38 loads do not mix. Lots of unburnt powder. Drat! I guess I'm going to have to look else where for a hotish .38 load. I do have good luck with Win 231, and I have read reports of people going with weights up to 5 grains with good results. I'm at about 4 grains now. I really need to get the pistol metering rotor for my powder measure. Seems like that would give more accurate results a smaller weights.

In other pistol news, Brother Tyler and I are planing to take pistol class next year. I'll need to save up, and buy at least a case of ammo, but it will be good to have some formalized training. I'll need to keep the bike riding up as best I can to make sure I have the stamina to get through the class, but I don't forsee it being overally demading.

Up coming beer will be a amber of some kind most likely. Brother Tyler got his hands on some fresh hops of an unknown variety. Hopefully we can get that knocked out and move on to some Oatmeal stouts. It will require a partial mash, but we have purchased a mash tun for just such an occasion. That should take us to end of December, and if the weather co-operates Carl and I will be making some lagers. What a brave new world.

Hops

2008-08-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

There they are! I have about six little hop cones. Hopefully next year I will have more. These are the Cascade hops, and thus far the only ones that have produced any cones. The Zeus hops have grown lots, but no cones yet. The Centennial and Fuggles, almost no growth at all. Tyler called and said that the price of hops is around $30/lb, and he thinks we should sell them locally (when we have more then 1/2 oz that is) .

FHAPA? What style number is that? 23R?

2008-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Beer first!
I tried the "APA" that Carl and I made yesterday. Well, where to start. It can't really be called an APA at this point. Because I used the CaraPils malt, there was a lot of unprocessed starch in there. And because of all that starch, I think it got a infection. Now, this may seem like a bad thing, and it could have been. However, as luck would have it, I got a "good" infection in my beer. Wether it was a wild yeast or Lactobacillus it turned sour. Good sour. So, now it tastes like a Belgian style farm house ale, or maybe a little lambic. Either way, it is pretty good. I need to drink it up fast so things don't get worse, but when was that a problem?

Note to self: NO MORE CARAPILS & GO TO ALL GLASS FERMENTORS.

Brew Report...and Gun Report

2008-08-16T17:58:00.001-07:00

Guns first. My mom called me Friday from an estate sale. Long story short, she found an Enfield No. 1 Mk. V, which is a kinda rare variation, only 20K made (No.1 Mk.III's made: 3 Million or so). Did some looking around and if it was mint: $600-$800. However, it was sporterized, which means some knuckle head made a "deer rifle" out of it back when. So, it's only worth about $150-$200. Also, the safety was busted, and that is specific to the rifle (big "V" on the side). She paid $50 for it, and I sold it for more then that at the gun show. She let me keep the profit! A win all around. At the same show, I found a nice 1100LT 20 Ga that my step dad wanted me to find for my mom to hunt birds with. Really nice looking gun, and I got it for $435. New, it would be about $600-$800. This one is interesting in that it has a straight "English" stock, and most have semi-pistol grip.

So, beer. Carl and I bottled the American Pale Ale last week. I'm a little concerned that my choice of Carapils as one of the speicalty grains was a bad choice. Apprently, it's kinda a crystal malt, kinda not. It's "suggested" that you mash it, but you "can" use it steeped. Needless to say, the beer is kinda cloudy with all the unprocessed starches. Should taste fine, but it may not be "on style". One more week before I can test it to find out. FG was around 1010, and it reached it before we racked. In fact, the beer fermented out between Saturday when we brewed, and tuesday when Carl checked it. Huzzah for temps.

Tyler and I racked the RIS before he left for Ireland. Gravity at the time was 1030. We are going to bottle in a couple weeks. Looked, smelled and tasted awesome at racking!

Today I made the above recipe, all by my lonesome. I used white labs WLP013 as the yeast. OG came in at 1041. Ah, session beers! Basement is around 70 deg.

Brew Report

2008-07-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Last week we made two beers. Carl and I made a APA, like the above recipe except I split one ounce of the cascade into .5, and did 45, then 30, and one ounce at 10. FG of 1050. Carl reported no bubbles as of Tuesday, but I think it finished before Carl got there. I'll find out tomorrow as I am going to rack then.

The RIS. Well, that thing when crazy go nuts. Tyler and I deviated from the recipe by using the Willette at 5 min, and we used Crystal 120 inplace of the British Cara. FG of 1090 I made a starter, and by Monday, the beer was busting out of the fermentor. So much so that Tyler had to do a blow-off tube.

Temps were in the 68-72 range at both places.

2008-07-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

Had me 6 month (or so) EPA tonight. Seemed to really maintain it's flavor. For some reason, it was way carbonated, and over flowed from the bottle. Tasted fine, a really malty subtlety. Bought all the ingredients for the Russian Imperial Stout today, and sounds like an ESB or a Amber in the works also.

Heller

2008-06-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

While I am pleased that SCOTUS found in favor of the Individual Rights interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, I'm not wholly happy with it either. My main concern is that Scalia pretty much wrote the decision for "Hunting and self defense in the home", and left lots of room for plenty of stupid licenses, permits and other constraints. Balderdash!! This gives the gun controllers far to much room to make owning a gun like running a obstacle course. Free people, who are other wise no danger to anyone, should not have to continue to prove they are not a danger. But, at least it said, at the end of the day, you can own guns. Also, I think that it allows for you to own pretty much any type of gun. Scalia gave a "common use" test to that which is allowable. I think it's pretty safe to say that Semi-auto hand guns are in common use as self defense weapons, if not the most common one. I guess we will have to wait a couple of years and see how this pans out.

IPA Done

2008-06-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

Bottled the IPA with Brian last night. FG came in at 1020, which is a little on the high side, but maybe not off for the yeast strain we used. Man, those dry hops that Brian put in there on Sunday look GROSS! Hopefully it's worth it. The name we came up with for the beer is: Empress of India IPA, after VR herself. I kinda doubt she was a IPA drinker, but she was the first Empress of India. Here's to you Vicky!

Good luck to Brian with his car. Kinda sounds like a heater core. Those suck, ask me how I know.

Weekend Brewing Report

2008-06-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

Went over to Brian's to brew on Saturday, along with Carl. Things went great, the only off thing was we came in a little low on gravity due to adding to much water. I think around 1055-1057. Not a big deal, for a English IPA that's still on style. Brian reported Monday that it was bubbling away. Basement temp is in the mid-60's to 70. I think I'll have him check the beer Sunday and see if it's still got krausen. If it does, we might wait till mid week to rack. Lesson from my Amber.

I'm pretty much set on getting a third Carboy, as Tyler's ginger ale is going to be in carboy 2 until doomsday.

So, next? Koelsch maybe. I don't see any extract recipes, but I think I could do a close approximation with the right yeast and hops. Dead on? No, but I find that a lot of how one defines a flavor in a given beer comes from the yeast. The difference between my wheat and Cody's first one was the yeast, I'm convinced. Plus, I think Carl would love to make a Koelsch.

Recipe for Brew-Day on Saturday

2008-05-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the recipe for our English IPA on Saturday. I made a yeast starter for it, as it's on the high side for gravity. I've never done that before, so we'll see how it works. I guess if it completely craps out on me I can just buy another vial of yeast on the way to Brian's. The yeast, by the by, is White Labs WLP005 "British Ale Yeast".

Amber done

2008-05-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

Came in at 1010. Smells great, and no issues bottleing. Should be ready to drink in 2 weeks. Due to a delay in getting together with Brian for our IPA, I'm thinking about making a Special Bitter. Should be quick and cheap. We'll see.

Green Facism

2008-04-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

I think that this column by Jonah Goldberg is very descriptive of the potential evils of environmentalism. It also kind of reflects his new book Liberal Fascism, a theory I always held, at least in concept if not in a defined thought. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a self proclaimed lefty say "Oh, I'm open minded, unlike you mean old conservatives" I'd be rich. The sentiment underlying that is so fascist. "Everything I think is right and 'open minded', everything you think is wrong and 'closed minded'" Ah, irony. The truth it seems is that we are all more or less closed minded about most things. I would hope I'd never say I'm "open minded". I'm not on many, many things that do not require an open mind. Child abuse and cold blooded murder don't really have any good qualities. A better way to have a manufacturing system however, I'm all ears.

Amber Progress

2008-04-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I racked the amber into the secondary today. Oddly, there was still a lot of krausen (foamy yeast) on the top. I've never had that before. I think the temp in my basement was pretty low for the WLP001 California ale yeast, so it's in my closet now. Seems to be bubbling along fine at about 1/10sec. Gravity was 1021 or so, and I'm shooting for 1017-1012. The krausen returned to the beer shortly after being put in the primary. I guess that I will leave it in the closet unless it looks like it's going to blow, but there isn't much more sugar to eat. Uummmm....

Amber Ale

2008-04-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Amber Ale recipe of my own making. Pretty straight forward, simple. I've never used glacier hops before, so this should be interesting. Brew day is Saturday, the 12th.

2.5 gallon 60 min boil
5 lbs Amber DME
1 lb British 40L Crystal Malt (Steeped)

1 oz. Glacier 60 min
1 oz. Glacier 5 min

Should come in around 1047 o.g., 32 IBUs

California Ale Yeast WLP001

Total cost was $35, or $0.72/beer.

EPA

2008-04-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

My english pale ale really came into it's own this last week. After a few days in the bedroom closet, the carbonation really hit. Man, this is a good beer!! I'm really happy how it turned out. I don't have anything in the primary or secondary right now, just Tylers ginger ale. I'm thinking about brewing either a Steam Beer or a Amber Ale. They aren't really all that different when you look at it from a malt profile. It's the yeast and hops that make them distinct. I think that the clock is running out for making a steam beer, and maybe that is best left for next winter at my place. Amber then? Greedo is on board for a IPA after that, and then Tyler and I start work on our Imperial Porter for next winter. Next? Brown ales, porters and stouts for the fall I guess.

Beers in the works

2008-03-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

I'm writeing this down here so as not to forget.

English Pale Ale. EPA Kit from Northern Brewer. Brewed by my self, Brother Tyler & Greedo
O.G. 1050
F.G. 1005

Brewed on 09 Feb 2008
Racked on 16 Feb 2008
Bottled on 25 Feb 2008

Comments: Still waiting on this one to carbonate correctly. Looks good, and the taste is nice, but as of a week ago no CO2 to speak of. Brought the bottles upstairs and put them in my closet (warmer), and gave each one of them little stir to get those yeasties going.

Wheat Beer. Weizenbier kit from Scilliano's, with the addtion of 1 lb Wheat DME, 1 lb crushed wheat malt specialty grains, 1 orange peel, and 1/2 oz corriander. Brewed by My Self, Greedo & Der Sieger

O.G. 1054
F.G. 1018

Brewed on 08 Mar 2008
Racked on 17 Mar 2008
Bottled on 29 Mar 2008

Comments: Looks and smell are dead on for a Weizen/Hefe. Has some nice Banana aroma, but not overwhelming like Bell's Winter White. I'm letting it rest in the basement for a week, then then I'll put it in the closet. It's really starting to be apparent to me that waiting longer is better. 6 weeks is killer to wait, but it seems to be worth it.

Tales from the NICU Part III

2007-10-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

Part 3: Fellow parents.

Here we come to the meat of the issue. It would have been nice if our fellow parents had been concerned, upright, clean, respectful people. People who were striving towards the same goal we were, namely, healthy kids. In stead they were dirty, nasty, low class, stupid, and unconcerned for their children. The majority (not all by any means), were low income, low education, low class and dirty. To understand this, you have to understand why babies end up in the NICU. First, the majority of patients were preemies. In this day and age, what group of people tend to not do all the required prenatal care? Who is more likely to live with, or be, a smoker? Who is more likely to be morbidly obese? This may sound like the most uncharitable of perceptions, but read a few of the following stories and you’ll see why.

One day, while watching my daughter in the larger room, a new baby was admitted. She was a preemie. About 3 or four hours later, the mom and dad came down to visit. Mom seemed normal enough, in a hospital gown. Dad however, was dressed in the style that can only be called “urban”. Baggy white T-shirt, low hanging jean shorts. He was also dripping in tattoos, not the least of which was three tears under his eye. I thought “oh, nice, a gang couple, wonderful. Well, they will stay in their area.” A little while later, dad returns with what I can only assume are his “family”. One of who is slightly younger than dad, about 19 or so. He has a open wound on his head. Not dripping blood mind you, no it looks like it clotted, but most decidedly still wet looking. It looked to me, and this may have been my imagination taking over, not unlike a wound one would receive from a broken bottle on the noggin. I couldn’t help but wonder “Isn’t there some procedure that the greeters follow that says something like ‘Hey buddy, seems like you got a wound there. Why don’t you get that taken care of, and then you can see the sick babies with out spreading your filthy germs about’”. The facilities of the NICU that where available for parent and sibling use where trashed. The bathrooms regularly had crap or pee all over the seats. The computer, which is there to update carepages, was often being used by unruly children to update their myspace page. The kids never got out of your way for anything. Never moved a chair if it was blocking the path to the fridge, not a foot if it was in the isle. Now, when I say dirty, you might think “Kyle, they weren’t dirty”. Oh, they were, I assure you. Not the majority, I’ll give you, only about 20% or so. One thing my mom said to me when I was a kid really stuck with me “There is no shame in being poor, there is shame in being poor and dirty”. In 2007, in the USA, there is no reason to wear clothes to what is supposed to be a fairly clean environment that have dirt ground into them. I mean it folks. Detergent is not that expensive, and you can get new T-shirts at the dollar store. I’m not expecting people to ware a fine new hat and a mourning coat, but clean clothes is never too much to ask. Which brings us to the tale of the Hobo. For a week or so prior to discharge, we were moved to the NIM – Neonatal InterMediate. We roomed with a very nice lady, Leoronda, and here son Jamaquel. Jamaquels dad was a, how do I put this, person of different housing. A bum, a tramp, a little homeless. Now, as far as pity and love for my fellow man goes, I’m just dripping with it. When it comes to germs being spread to my baby by some hobo, I have some issues. Dad, only really visited at night, as this gave him a place to sleep, namely the NICU’s lounge area. Also during this time, a day or so before we left, a different mom came to pick her baby up. It took the NICU staff a day to find her, apparently she was not at the phone number she had left, and had not been down to visit her baby in a few days. Her urchin of a son she brought with her was coughing all the time. Maybe it was allergies, but as I told the charge nurse later that day, I didn’t care at what the reason was. The last thing I need is for my daughter who has just had major surgery to fix her chest cavity to get cholera or typhus.

If you can avoid it, stay out of the NICU. If you end up there, I’m sure you will get great care from the staff, but for your sanity, try to get out of that place as much as you can stand being away from your child.

Tales from the NICU Part II

2007-10-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Part 2: Nurses

With only one exception, I think it would be safe to say that we received excellent care. That one exception was a nurse that Montelle didn’t feel at ease with. We brought it up to the Charge Nurse, and she saw to it that we wouldn’t have her again, and we didn’t. I wish the same efficiency could be said for the “primary nurse system”, which would more accurately called the “if you could, no rush” system. The idea is that you get to know nurses you like, and can request that they get assigned to your child. I think what was not conveyed to us was that they “might” get assigned, as it was often the case we would get a new nurse, when obviously a primary was free or otherwise assigned. They should have just told us at the out set “we’ll try to get you the nurse you want, but by no means is that assured.”

One nurse, lets call her Alice, was on duty during nights. She had been assigned to Fiona before, and had even been one of the ECMO techs back in the bad old days. Needless to say, we knew each other. So I called up to check on Fiona one day, and nurse Alice answers the phone. “Hello, this is Kyle” says I. “Hi. Did you miss me” sings the voice on the other end. “Yeah” I replied, because I really did miss as she was a great nurse. Then, there was a pause. “Oh my God” she exclaimed “is this Mr. TOK?”. “Yes, how is my daughter doing” I answered. “Oh, I thought you were Kyle the respiratory therapist who was just here. I thought he called back because he forgot something.” she said. “Oh. Well, did you miss me also?” I said. “Oh, uhu….yes of course Mr. TOK.” she cautiously, and in a low voice, replied. Ever since that little exchange, I always asked her if she missed me today, and the reply was always cautious yes. So funny.

The nurses RAN that place, as Jess noted in the comments on Part I. We were lucky enough to have a Nurse Practitioner who is a fellow member of our church. NNPs are, as near as I can tell, one step short of a doctor. This NNP was very involved in our case, and even was the one who installed Fiona's PIC line (a kind of IV). Unfortunately, she had to put it in her scalp, which means that she had to shave half her head, which was tough for Mrs. TOK. I can't give the nurses enough praise, as they were right along with us, up or down. You would think that they see so many babies that they wouldn't get involved emotionally, but they certainly did with us. Here's to the nurses!

Tales From The NICU part I

2007-09-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

Part I: Doctors

For those of you not aware, my wife, my newborn daughter and I just returned from a 8 week stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU-pronounced “Nick-You”). Our daughter was born with a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). She spent almost three weeks on ECMO, and the balance of the time recovering from surgeries and working on feeding issues. The former is, for now, taken care of while the latter is still being worked on. This is all set up for the topic: Some observations from the fathers prospective about life in the NICU. It is a interesting, insular, peculiar place. This first post I would like to discuss the top of the food chain, namely doctors.

There are several kinds of Doctors that I interacted with while in the NICU, Delivery Docs, Neonatal Docs and Surgeons. (I should state at the outset that except for one occasion, we recived top notch care from all the staff, right down to the greeters. This little exercise is just to try to explain some of what happened.) Of course the first one I meet was our Doctor for delivery, Dr. Doctor. I am going to change the names to protect the innocent, except in this one case. That was his name Dr. Ben Doctor. I never got around to asking him about that, not that he doesn’t get it several times a day. The question I had was “Did you become a doctor because of your last name, or did it never enter your mind?” Oh, well. He seemed like a very competent, if a bit Dickensian in his naming.

Dr. Beauford is one of the more senior neonatalogists. He is the doctor that Mrs. TOK and I met with prior to our daughter being born. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but after seeing him almost daily, something started to dawn on me. He only wore black scrubs. Why? It seems odd that some one who works with children all day dresses like Johnny Cash, or the western personification of death. I mean, aren’t these guys supposed to wear poo bear scrubs, and hand out lollie-poops? I keep expecting the guy to challenge me to 3 games of battleship for my daughters life! Not to mention that his temperament and personality matched the somber attire.

Dr. Young always called me Mr. TOK, and Montelle Mrs. TOK. which I found refreshingly formal. So much so that it was surprising. Casual is the norm in the world today, so it was nice to see someone act so 19^th century. I was always caught off guard by it, and did my best to remember to call him “Dr. Young” in response. He was the only one who used names at all regularly. Most of the time, if the doc addressed us it at all it was “Mom” or “Dad”, which I found both informal, and impersonal. The doctors also use this to avoid any unpleasantness if the parents are unmarried. Don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings you know. For example they will ask “Where is Mom?” if asking about Montelle’s whereabouts, instead of “Where is your wife?” A minor issue, I suppose, and maybe they just go tired of people yelling “She ain’t my wife, she just my baby momma.”

Maybe, not so much...

2007-08-09T19:07:00.001-07:00

So, it looks like climate data that is most preferred by the climate "change" folks may not be as accurate as they would like. I think this guys post also makes a great point in that of course this will be denounced by the zealots as "heresy" and no doubt global big oil funded this readjustment of the incorrect data. Me..I'm just putting it out there.

Helping people without using force

2007-07-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

One of the great, and most common, arguments against libertarianism and for statism is the following: If the state doesn't do it, no one will. Therefore, we must collect taxes at the barrel of a gun to make sure "x" is taken care of.

May I call your attention to the RNLI (here also). They are completely voluntarily funded and staffed. They have saved over 137,000 lives, and they did it without forcing one pound out of anyones hand. Could this be done for other services we consider essential? Certainly! Most fire departments in the US are at least volunteer staff. Forest service, park service, perhaps even some police functions. Charities as well could be better funded, and run, if people had more money freed up from lower (or no) taxes. Mostly, I wanted to raise this point to show it's not impossible to do, no matter what the statists say.

Tyranny & Theocracy

2007-07-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

This article relates the business of Iranian "Fashion Police". I think it is very instructive about the corrosive nature of government, and the difference between looking holy and being holy. Because these women are forced to dress more modestly, does it change their hearts? Do they think pure thoughts? Can or should we force people to do that? No. All government can do is effect the outward parts of peoples lives. In this case making women, who in the western world would be considered modest already, wear a longer coat. I'm sure that the government of Iran cloaks it self in legitimacy, as all governments do. I ask you: How can you be legitimate if you spend time and money measuring coat lengths or determining if a woman is showing too much hair?

Seek liberty in all things. Not just for your self, but for you fellow man.

Brief and Poems

2007-06-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hi. Sorry for the dearth of posting, but I have been engaged elsewhere. Those of you who know what is going on, I need say no more. If your confused, feel free to comment, and I will bring you up to speed. I present to you my favorite poem of Mr. Rudyard Kipling. This poem always helps to give me courage.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

And also this one which I think appropriate to the doctors and nurses who are working so hard with my daughter:

Man dies too soon, beside his works half-planned.
His days are counted and reprieve is vain:
Who shall entreat with Death to stay his hand;
Or cloke the shameful nakedness of pain?

Send here the bold, the seekers of the way--
The passionless, the unshakeable of soul,
Who serve the inmost mysteries of man's clay,
And ask no more than leave to make them whole.

President Bush Saves Environment

2007-05-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm no great fan of President Bush. I know, hard to believe. He's not conservative where he should be, liberal where he shouldn't be, and no where libertarian. Meh. But, he did save the planet from certain doom! One should give credit where credit is due. It happened on his watch, ipso facto, he gets the credit. Now, I still don't give a lot of credence to the environmentalists. Sure, I like clean water, soil and air, who doesn't? When those things were mostly cleaned up (or much better then they were 20-30 years ago) all those hippies at EPA and DEQ weren't going to just, you know, get real jobs that produce goods or services people will voluntarily pay for. So, they had to come up with the latest religion of Gia scare, global warming. Now, if they had just stuck with "Hey buddy, clean up your trash or you'll make Indians cry", then I'd cool with that.

Anyway, poor George II will get no credit for this, alas. As we all know it's who ever is at the top that has the levers of power. No, I mean real honest levers. There is one that is marked "Jobs", and one that is marked "Cheap Health Care", and one that is marked "Pollution" and one that is marked "War" and one that is marked "Kittens". The mean ol' Re-thug-licans always pour on the "War" and pull back on "Jobs" and "Kittens". Jerks. The "Cheap Health Care" lever you ask? Heck, who knows how to work that thing.

Life Update

2007-05-21T04:48:00.001-07:00

The basement is now full of couches, desks, chairs and TV's. At first, we were not sure we were going to be able to get everything down there that we wanted to. As I said to Mrs. TOK "We have 6 pounds of poop to go in a 5 pound poop bag". Now we are using the basement, and it is awesome.

I spent my Saturday doing a work day at the Red Flannel Rod & Gun Club, of which I am a Free and Accepted Member, 4th degree. We put in some conduit for the sign, laid some stone around the building, that kind of thing. I really need to shoot more than I have been, and I should have some time this week. I have to go re-test my Smith & Wesson Model 19. The guy who had it before me backed the hammer spring screw way off to get a lighter trigger pull. As a result, with my reloads I was getting light strikes(a.k.a. not firing). Hat tip to the Smith & Wesson message board for the advice.

When I got back from the RFRGC, our friend Kyla had painted the babies room for us! Huzzah! She did a far better job the I would have done. Montelle spent the day at our garage sale. We made $35. It was almost worth the 20 hours of work to get the garage cleaned and organized, and the stuff laid out.

Later on Saturday I went to Founders with brother Tyler, Mom and Uncle Kent and Aunt Elaine. I told Tyler they had a braggot there he and he was all up-on's. It was pretty good. Tasted more like honey then other kinds of honey beers have. Sometimes fermented honey has a wintergreen flavor that I don't like, but this Braggot didn't seem to. I wouldn't want a half gallon of it, but the 8 oz snifter was really nice to try. Then I had a snifter of the Kentucky Breakfast Stout. MMMMMM....good. If you ever have the chance to try that on tap, do it. You won't regret it.

2007-05-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

If anyone as ever finished off a basement, you know how hard it is. Luckily for me, I married a girl with a above average level of handiness in the family. By that I mean her cousin is wicked awesome and did about 85% of the work in my basement single handedly. Attached you'll find he pics of my basement. It is done! The carpet went in Wednesday and it looks great. All we have to do now is move in all the stuff. Next on the docket: finish the baby's room.

Here you see the built in safe. A must for any self respecting American gun owner.

Bringing it Back

2007-05-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to wear hats. They look so cool. So, I figured "I'm almost 30 years old, I'm going to be a father soon, there is no reason I can't wear a hat if I want too". Life is too short to not do little things like this if you want too.

This hat is a Akubra Fedora. I ordered it from Hatsdirect in Australia because even with the airmail, the exchange rate is so good that one can get it cheaper then buying in the US. I wore it for the first time yesterday. Really comfortable, soft and it got positive comments from most of my coworkers. I have a great wife that tolerates my eccentricity. That, and I look all kinds of dapper in it. So I've been wearing it around for a couple of days and I really like it. I haven't received any comments from strangers, but that's fine with me. My goal is simple: Bring Back the Hat.

Suggestions

2007-05-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

My good friend Jon over at The VanOeveren Standard has made mention of wanting to do a series on posts on firearms in America. First, I think it’s an interesting idea to look at for a public policy stand point. Second, I think there is very little that is left to be said on it. Third, 95% of articles I have read that are written by "non-gun" people are littered with either ignorance of the current laws, hyperbolic language or inaccurate terminology.

So, my suggested reading to anyone interested in the current state of the US Firearms laws is as follows:
1934 National Firearms Act

1968 Gun Control Act

1994 Assault Weapons Ban

Some ATF Opinions

2005 Federal Firearm Regulation Reference Guide

Note: I only supply wiki links as they are a good clearing house of information. Go to the actual laws linked for varification.

Welcome!

2007-04-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hello. I'm The Outlaw Kyle. You might remember me from such blogs as Logjammin' , Action-Squad, Territory Michigan and Edge of the Swamp. This is my second foray in to the dark world of blogging. May it go well, may we all learn from each other, and may God Save the Republic.