Protect your stuff - from EVERYONE

Short and sweet.  Gun safes have a lot of different functions.  They keep little fingers off of things they shouldn't be touching.  They do the obvious of protecting your stuff from criminals and fire.  Oh, and one last thing.  It can be one last layer of 4th Amendment protection for you at your most vulnerable moment.

Soooo...  It's a justified self-defense shooting.  I don't know why in the world law enforcement would take it upon themselves to confiscate firearms and ammunition that were not involved in a shooting.  Maybe there were other circumstances (ie felon in possession), but I would think you'd be reading about the arrest of the homeowner as well.  I'm not even a fan that they would confiscate the firearm used in a self-defense shooting in a home.  This is a perfect example of why Clint Smith and Massad Ayoob say you should have a scripted response for after an incident and then say you will cooperate fully after you speak to your attorney.  And no, you cannot take anything from my home without a warrant or without speaking to my attorney.  No, I'm not opening that safe without a warrant.  Now the homeowner is potentially defenseless against the retribution from thug friends and/or family.  Good police work there, Barney.

Also, based on the comments of the Commonwealth's Attorney, Virginia is in dire need of a well-written Castle Doctrine.

Glut

There was a recent birthday in the family and that is a great reason to drop the kids off with the grandparents and head to the nearest big city and eat everything in sight.  I wanted Mrs. 45er to have a good one, so I got recommendations for places which we had never been and planned out the entire day.  As usual, the best laid plans and all... 

Still, we had a fantastic time and I just had to share a few of the high points.  Advice that I will give, since you didn't ask for it, is not to be afraid of trying new places.  Take a laptop with you and park next to places with free Wifi if you get stuck for things to do.  It really paid off for us this trip.

So, the first place we went was a trendy little place, not usually our thing but it came with a recommendation and sounded great.  We opted for a big brunch and skipping lunch so we wouldn't be stuffed for dinner.  All I can say WOW when the food came.

Sweet, sweet nectar

Our first stop was Max's Wine Dive.  We thought it best to start with orange juice mimosas.  That is, until we saw they had Prickly Pear Mimosas.  Well, I'll have one of those TOO, please.

I will just say that I could not resist the temptation of trying their fried wings and pancakes.  What I was expecting was a few wings (like bar wings), you know tiny little things, on top of pancakes.  What I got instead...

Dear Lord, I give up already

So, when they set down the plate, I almost gave it my wallet and backed away.  It was that intimidating.  That is 4 full-sized wings.  Or, better described as the WHOLE darn chicken arm.  They soak them in jalapeno buttermilk, fry them up and serve them over two huge fluffy pancakes.  Mrs. 45er and I each ordered a side of applewood smoked bacon.  Well, because why the heck not?  It was the best bacon EVAR.  And I've eaten a LOT of bacon.

That is my orange mimosa and prickly pear mimosa haunting the background in the above picture.  We went for a nice shopping walk after this brunch battle.

So, what did Mrs. 45er have for her special day?

Get thee behind me, breakfast

White Chocolate Raspberry French Toast.  I was allowed one bite and it was magnificent.  Also ordered with a side of bacon, and orange and prickly pear mimosa.

After the glut-fest we did some walking and shopping in a nearby shopping area and then saw a movie (loved it).  I'm surprised we didn't just sleep through the thing.  After that, on to the Japanese Tea Gardens.

Revisionist and stereotyping, a two-fer!

I know, wait I thought he said...

I did say Japanese Tea Gardens.  We have a bad habit of being revisionist with our history.  During World War II, the Japanese family that was living in the Gardens and were the caretakers were shipped off to an internment camp.  They put up the sign so no one would think it had anything to do with Japan.  I'm glad they left it up so people would be curious and confused and, hopefully, ask questions.  Learn history and do not repeat it.

The rock-work is quite amazing.  And, so is the duckwork...

Someone has their wings full

After spending a little time in the tiring heat, we headed over to Orange Leaf Yogurt.  This was a place we visited while on vacation in another state.  Self-serve frozen yogurt and great toppings.  I'm glad we found it, it's just awesome.

So, here plans took a twist.  The restaurant we chose ended up being closed that night, so we found a free Wifi spot and found a great fish place.  We ended up at Wildfish. 

We shared a warm goat cheese arugula and endive salad with fresh-made honey mustard dressing and wild mushrooms sauteed in butter.  The goat cheese almost turned me off, as I can find it a little too tangy for my taste sometimes.  I'm glad we went with the waiter's recommendation on this one.  It was great.  My entree was seared Ahi Tuna.  I told the waiter to have the chef show it the grill on the way out.  It was cooked to perfection and served with wasabi mashed potatoes on a sweet chili sauce.

Mrs. 45er indulged in broiled Red Snapper with lump Jonas Crab meat and butter sauce.  We ordered a side of scalloped potatoes to go with hers and they were good, too.

Then came the pineapple upside down cake with Amy's Butter Pecan Ice cream (out of Austin), alight with Bacardi 151.



The perfect ending, pyrotechnics and dessert

Just wow.  The flaming rum caramelized the syrup a little (and lit the cake on fire a little, too - seen bottom right).  We put it all out and dived in.  It was just amazing.

All in all, a great birthday trip for Mrs. 45er (and me, too).

SAVE yourself (buy a book)

A while back, I fell all over myself talking about a new book coming out from Larry Correia.  Then, a shorter while back Larry put out his own begging post trying to get some more attention for his newest book-child.  Trust me and do yourself a favor.  Run to the computer and put this one on order.  While you're at it, if you haven't read the first two, save shipping and put them all on the same order.  Don't say, "yeah, yeah I've heard how good books were before, but..."  No "buts", this is an awesome book series.  You're falling behind.  Here's what is going to happen:  You're going to wait and then you're finally going to succumb to the temptation because you just HAVE to know what the big deal is.  Then, you're going to get sucked into the crack that is the writing of Correia and have to read 5 or 6 books in a row without being able to put them down.  It's going to affect your whole life.  Your wife/husband/partner will despise you for sitting in the chair reading all of the time (or EXTRA time from all of the video game playing they normally put up with).  You might lose your job because you take so much time off just because you can't put them down.  Oh, my goodness.  Do yourself a favor and start now before it's too late.  Save your marriage and your job and order now before you're in the weeds.

See what I did there?  That's my version of Obama's "the social security checks might not go out".

But, really.  Do it for your own sake, if not your family and friends.

Enjoy.

Heart of a Lion

I'm not a fan of Chihuahuas.  However, this little guy wins the internet for the David and Goliath stand he took.  There is obvious distraction on the part of the bad guy.  Then the little ball of fury takes the fight to them all the way out.  Awesome.

CZ P-01 Range Report

Ahh, CZ.  Ceska Zbrojovka.  A well made, solid line of firearms from the Czech Republic that has been making in-roads with a lot of sport and defensive shooters for years.  I have to say that I've been pretty impressed with the experience that I've had with them and a friend of mine over at Rock in a Sea of Chaos has a few of these and they're great guns.  The ergonomics are one of the first things I noticed.  They fit the hand pretty well.  They're steel framed, so they have some heft to them and it tames recoil pretty well.

POP

So, I made it to the range with a little bit of a different handgun this weekend, The CZ 75 P-01 (or just CZ P-01).  I asked to borrow this one so I could do a review because I haven't had any actual hands on with this particular model.  I've had trigger time with the larger CZ 75s, but not the CZ P-01.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed.  So, for those of you wondering how to pronounce it, here is a video (not the best audio) from The Firearm Blog of the name of the company being pronounced by a native.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96R3qGaShoc

Blue Box of Goodess

And here are some pictures to give you an idea of how it fits in the hand.

It feels good as you would expect a CZ to feel.  It has some heft, but the size is very nice.  I could easily see switching this for a mid-size Glock or XD.  The trade-off would be in the weight with the CZ being noticeably heavier.  You would gain a little bit of recoil dampening with the weight.

This is a double action/single action handgun with a decocker and no safety.  That is different for me.  I have had experience with decockers, but do not own any handguns with them.  The first thing I had to do was orient myself with this style of handgun.  I found later that time spent getting to know the P-01 was very important for safety reasons.  When you start shooting and stop to do some things you realize, "uh, this is cocked on single-action with no safety".  That's where the decocker comes in.  I had to adjust my routine to remember to decock when I stopped shooting or before I re-holstered. 

Or until you shoot it to lock-back

And shooting to lock-back is so much more fun.  The gun comes with two mags that are 14 rounds each.  One thing I noticed was that the grip was pretty large.  All that steel and double-stacked mag goodness made for a pretty big grip to wrap hands around.  For me it wasn't too large, but it could be an issue for some.

The sights were on the small side, but not difficult to use.  Below is the front sight as seen on target.  It wasn't difficult to bring the sight back into play under recoil.  I didn't think that would be the case, but follow-up shots were not an issue.



How accurate were the sights?

Smoking hole

A ten shot group from 10 yards freehand.  That is really not bad at all.  I would attribute that to the sights and single action trigger.  It is really nice to shoot on SA.  Speaking of triggers, the DA pull is firm but smooth.  Exactly what you want.  The SA is light and crisp.  When you are used to shooting either DA OR SA the light, crisp second shot can catch you by surprise.  I hope that didn't show too much.

I also decided to do a video to show the gun under recoil.  It gives the reader a good idea of how the gun acts in your hand.  I threw a mag-change in for good measure.  I was pretty happy with how easy it was to pick up the gun and go.  I thought I did ok for only putting 50 rounds through the gun.

So, I'm not surprised I was happy with the performance of the P-01.  They make a good product and I can definitely see how they have pulled in a following of loyal users.  This definitely goes on my recommended list.



linkback love to SayUncle.  Thanks for the link.

Molecular Gastronomy Kit - It's HERE!

I thought I'd give it a try.  I have a lot of chemistry under my belt and I'm a geek about it.  That and cooking.  So, I ordered a Molecular Gastronomy kit.  It has some pretty cool recipes.  My first round of tinkering will be with cocktails.  That Guy and I have talked out some really interesting ideas.  I'll keep you apprised.

Honor, Dedication and Technology - Story of the recent Medal of Honor recipient

This is just a really cool story from beginning to end.  The reporters account of meeting the Medal of Honor recipient is humorous, touching and respectful.  As I read on, though, and learned of how excited the soldier is about the attachments for his new bionic hand I just knew I had to share.  Bow hunting release attachment?  Attachment for culinary knives?  What a great way to give a hero his life back (and pretty amazing, too).

Then, there is his account of the story.  It is so difficult to grasp the kind of person that deals with this kind of thing with such amazing resolve.  This is a great read.

"Enough people telling me I can't do it anymore, I should probably listen to them. And that's when I found out, when they cut off my uniform, that I was shot through both legs."

What a truly amazing person.