Baboon Pirates

Scribbles and Scrawls from an unrepentant swashbuckling primate.

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Location: Texas, United States

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Missed It By *THAT* Much!!

Good Thing I'm Not Married To The Blog.  I'd Be on The Couch For Sure...

Hey, guess what I forgot!

October 23rd was the Bloggy Birthday for Baboon Pirates!

Nine years! 

Wow.  Gotta stop & think about that for a minute...  Nine years...

I don't think I've done a "Best Of" collection since Year Six or so.

Well, maybe for Year Ten!

Thanks for tuning in, sports fans!








 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Humor Of The Elder Gods

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!







 
 
Woops...  Forgot one!
 


Friday, October 25, 2013

Shopping For Shooty Things

The Gun Locker Is Starting To Get Crowded...

Once again, I've got some spare cash and I'm looking to expand the collection.  Diving into the Ruger collection scene will have to be delayed for a while.  Right now I've got a wicked long gun jones that needs a fix ASAP.

As usual, Collector's Firearms is there to feed my habit.  The only difference between them and street dealer is that the dealer usually gives you your first taste for free.  I had to pay for everything from Collector's...

This week's candidates:

Finnish Mosin-Nagant:



In the manly and effective caliber of 7.62 x 54R, this is a Russian rework.  At some point the Finns pried loose an old Model 91 from some frozen Russki corpse and redressed it in a Finnish-style stock and with meter sights instead of the old Imperial Roosian "arshins".

I don't yet have a rifle in that caliber, and I'd surely like to have a relic of the Winter War.  A bit pricy at $450, but it looks to be in great shape for its age.  Plus, hex receiver!


Bubba-ed Swiss K31:



The truth is, I've already got one of these.  I took an as-issued K31, butchered the beech stock to fit a scope mount, and hung a Redfield 4X on it.  It's scary-accurate with the Swiss 7.5 x 55 round, but a bit heavy to carry through the Texas brush.

This one's got a custom stock and looks to be about 3 lbs lighter than mine, even with the Leupold 2.5x scope in the scout-style mount.

Sorely tempting, knowing the inherent accuracy.  Also, the scope itself is almost worth the $500 price tag.

Remington 1100 12 Gauge Autoloader



I'm rifle-rich and shotgun poor.  The only scattergun currently in the arsenal collection is the side-by-side 12 ga coach gun.  Fun, but not much use for turkey, doves or waterfowl.

This maple-stocked beauty would certainly fit the bill for bird-busting.  It's a skeet gun, but I imagine it'll do as good a job on real pigeons as on the clay ones.  It comes with a full set of Briley screw-in chokes, so it's certainly versatile.

About $600 to get it out of the store.  Sure is pretty, though...

Webley Mk 1 - .45 ACP

This is not a long gun.  However, it's almost badass enough to justify the $1000 price tag.

Almost...

Thursday, October 24, 2013

I Ain't Laughin'...

The Umpteenth Post Where I Whine About Getting Older

Whilst inspecting the mirror in the post-shower face-scraping ritual, I noticed that sometime recently I seem to have developed some cavernous fissures next to my eyeballs.

Call 'em laugh lines, crow's feet, whatever, I call 'em another sign that I'm circling the drain...

Sigh.  It's not like I'm a particularly vain person.  You can't weigh as much as I do and take excessive pride in your appearance.  (Also, all that fat has filled out the wrinkles up 'til now!)

Still, I hate change.  And this is most certainly change.

Monday, October 21, 2013

First, There Was SHARKNADO!!!

Never Pass Up A Cheap & Easy Post Idea...

Coming to a crappy cable channel near you!!!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Gettin' Hungry?

Pay Up, Suckers!

Almost time to pack up and go home.  I'm about hungry enough to gnaw the leg off a dead moose.

Fortunately for my health, dead moose are rather thin on the ground in these parts.

How does this sound?

GRUEL

3 tablespoonfuls of oatmeal
1 pint of water (16 oz)
Salt

Mix the oatmeal with a little cold water to make a paste
Put the rest of the water in a pan
Add the mixture and boil for 10 minutes
Add the salt

Oh, sorry.  That's what you get to eat after you've signed up for ObamaCare and paid for your premium.

Try this, while you've still got some spare cash!

LAMB STEW

1-1/2 pounds lamb stew meat
olive oil
3 large onions, quartered
3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can beef broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons minced chives
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

In a big pot, brown the lamb chunks in 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Remove with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add the onions, carrots and more oil to pan. cook for 5 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes, broth, salt, pepper and lamb; Bring to a boil. 

Remove from the heat. Cover and bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender.

With a slotted spoon, remove meat and vegetables to a large bowl; set aside and keep warm. Pour pan juices into another bowl; set aside. 

In the cookpot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in pan juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the parsley, chives, thyme, and meat and vegetables; heat through. Yield: 4 servings.

No Lego For You!!

I Have The Answer You Seek!

AlanDP nailed it in the last post...  The world just isn't cool enough to have Monty Python-themed Lego sets!

All the other stuff, you can buy!  Even the uber-stupid Laser-guided Beard Trimmer!

Thanks for playing!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Which One's Not Real?

For People With More Dollars Than Sense...

One of the following products isn't real.  All the others you can buy!

Which one is it?

DOG STAIR LIFT


GIANT CONNECT FOUR

HELLO KITTY CONTACT LENSES

5 LB GUMMY SKULL

TROJAN RABBIT LEGO SET

LASER-GUIDED BEARD TRIMMER

Friday, October 11, 2013

One Of Everything?

How Many Do You Need For A Collection?  Just One More?  OK!!

Given that I've already got a bucket full of Ruger sixguns, I occasionally debate the wisdom of starting down the road of trying to complete the set.

There's a local group called the Houston Gun Collector's Association that sponsors gun shows and allows members to show off their collections.  They've got enthusiasts of every manufacturer, WWII specialists, and their displays at the shows are always interesting.

All you need to jump in the game is a display board and some knowledge of what you've got.  I have no idea what their membership dues are, but it can't be all that much.

What is expensive is filling out that collection.  There's so many directions to go.  Do you know how many different variants there are on just the Ruger Single Six .22 revolver?

Then, there's Old Models and New Models.  Brass frame, steel frame, polymer frame, double action, single action, this grip, that grip, fluted vs. unfluted cylinders, blued, stainless, case-colored, and so on.

Ah, there are worse hobbies, I suppose.  You could always collect yachts or cross-eyed grizzly bears...








 

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Nose To The Grindstone!

Every So Often, I Actually Do Some Work...

Sorry for the lack of content today & yesterday.  I've been cranking away on a project at work.

I've been tasked with updating one of The Man's administrative procedures, and it's getting a lot more involved than it should, and we haven't even gotten to the vetting process yet.

Started off as a plan for a 3-5 page document with 2-3 attached forms.  Now, I'm up to 18 pages and 9 attached forms.

You want to know who spews out all the red tape?

Today, it's me...

Monday, October 07, 2013

A Major Pain In The Ass

The Trials And Tribulations Of An Aging Marshmallow

Y'know, you'd think someone with an ass as big as mine would have no problems sitting on it...

My ass is increasingly intolerant of having my body perched on top of it. I'm starting to get some discomfort in my tailbone.

It might be this crappy office chair, but my chair at home does the same thing.
I'm reminded of that episode of 'King of the Hill', where Hank Hill was diagnosed with a disappearing ass.  He ended up having to get some sort of gel-pad appliance to strap onto his keister.

Sigh.  My ass looks as big as always.  It's surely not disappearing.  

Maybe it's just getting chewed away from the inside out by The Man's minions...

Friday, October 04, 2013

Slowly Grinding To A Halt

Some Critters Are Too Ignunt To Lay Down & Die...

I probably mentioned this before, but at a blogmeet way back when, the discussion turned to the future of blogging, and Jimbo said something to the effect of "Are we still gonna be doing this when we're 80?"

Man, I wish I knew...

So many of the bloggers I read before starting this one have hung up their spurs and gone on to other things.  Hell, Jimbo hasn't updated his since last June.   More than a handful have ended theirs due to a sudden case of death catching up to them.  The Book of Face seems to be the primary means of people posting things online.  Not being an Instagrammer or Tweeter, I can't say how much goes on there.

Years past I was pretty rigid about posting once a day, whether I felt like it or not.  Now it's a good week if I get three posts up, and in terms of creativity or effort, they don't come close to the early days of Baboon Pirates.

So, when to pull the plug?

I don't have it in me to do what a few bloggers have done, just walk away after burning the house down.  I don't know how much time got spent writing all this crap, but it seems an awful waste to just delete the entire thing.

OTOH, leaving it up is like owning a slowly decaying structure, growing more and more out of date and less accessible as links break and sites wither away.

I've made quite a few friends as a result of blogging.  Shutting it down won't necessarily end the friendships, but it does chop off their window into my affairs, leaving me out of sight, out of mind, and eventually forgotten.

Well, it's not like I'm much of a social critter to begin with...

Just for giggles, here's my blogroll, condensed into who's posted within the last month or so.
To the commenter who asked why I never update my blogroll, well, look for yourself.  With all the dead links, it's just too damn depressing!!

Blogroll:












The List

























The Other List








Good Stuff, But Infrequent:
Gone! All Gone!
I'm Too Lazy To Make Tags For These Links:
Tall Cool Drink Of Water
Ronni's Rants
RealClearPolitics
TacJammer
Neanderpundit
Scott
Oleg Volk
Ambulance Driver
View From The Porch
Gone, But Not Forgotten: