The Orange cat… he’s not doing well.
Life
Slow speed skills
I love riding my motorcycle on early Sunday mornings. Sun starts to rise, fire up the bike and head for the hills. The weather is cool, the roads are mostly empty and quiet. It’s a wonderful time to ride.
This morning I hit a lot of back roads on the foothills of the Texas Hill Country, going around Dripping Springs and Wimberly. On my way back home I ended up in Buda so I opted to stop into Cabela’s. Why not? 🙂 Look for a S&W 640 (nope) and for .22 LR ammo (nope). Ah well. I did get to fondle a Ruger LCR. Comparing to a S&W 642 they had, the LCR was noticeably lighter than the 642. Specs say the LCR is 13.5 oz and the 642 is 15 oz, and you could certainly feel that difference. Of course, the LCR is .38 +P only (642 could do .357 Magnum). Size wise, they’re ultimately the same in terms of outer dimensions, but the LCR does “bulge” a bit more than the 642, e.g. the LCR’s trigger guard is a bit more rounded out than the 642. Nothing that should really affect carry or concealability, IMHO. I’d be curious to shoot an LCR side-by-side with a 642 and a 640 (all shooting the same loads) to see how they all felt. I wasn’t able to get a pinky on the LCR (I honestly can’t remember if I tried with the 642). Anyway, nice little diversion.
I arrived at Cabela’s before they opened. Instead of sitting around, I used it as an opportunity to practice. Cabela’s has a huge parking lot, including an area in the back for large RV’s, people hauling trailers, and the like. Just wide open space. So I took the opportunity to practice some motorcycle riding skills, especially slow speed skills. Things like turning tight circles left and right, figure 8’s, weaving, starting into a turn from a stop , and even some emergency braking. I actually need to pull out my Jerry “Motorman” Palladino “Ride Like a Pro” DVD again and review a bunch of those techniques and practice drills. I think I could make it a regular thing: if I visit Cabela’s, take 15 minutes in the back parking lot and do some drills.
I was doing fairly well, but for some reason I was having a tough time with counter-clockwise circles (turning to the left). I couldn’t get those circles as tight as clockwise/right circles. I’m not sure what it was, need to work at it more to try to figure it out. I can say that I love Palladino’s approach for slow speed, which is to keep the clutch in the friction zone, keep power to the rear wheel, and feather the rear brake. I recall from my Rider Safety Class that they only taught the friction zone, no rear brake technique. But it’s really the feathering of the rear brake that makes it all happen. You have so much more stability and control with the rear brake use.
Everyone likes to focus on high-speed riding skills, and certainly those are important. But slow speed skills are important too. If you haven’t checked out “Ride Like a Pro” you should. The skills he teaches are valuable and will make you a better rider at any speed. Ugh… this just sounded like a commercial… it wasn’t supposed to. I’m just a satisfied customer.
I feel like Hank Hill
Morning randomness
Went out this morning for a bit. A bunch of little things came up that aren’t worth a whole blog post, but I wanted to put down somewhere. Make one big post. 🙂
More from the snub-nose files
I opted to do a little snubby shopping this morning. I think I’ve settled on something like a Smith & Wesson 640: J-frame (or the like), all steel, chambered in .357 Magnum, fully enclosed hammer. Note that while I would like it to be chambered in .357, I don’t think I’d ever really want to shoot .357 out of it; probably just shoot .38 Special +P. I just think it’d be ideal to have it chambered in .357 so I could shoot it if that was needed; for instance, I needed that extra oomph, maybe that’s the only ammo I could find and would be better than nothing, etc.. The versatility and options from the chambering would be nice, but not required; I would be happy with just .38 +P.
Went to McBrides to see what they have. They had some stuff, but nothing like I wanted. In fact, on the drive home I also stopped into a pawn shop and a sporting goods store. Basically what seems to be carried has at least some aspect of what I don’t want. First, the predominant models are lightweight models, which I’m not sold on wanting. The all-steel models aren’t much heavier (tho I was amazed at just how lightweight that S&W M&P 340 felt, and I did like that U-ramp rear sight) and will be nicer to shoot. Then if they had a steel model it would have an exposed hammer. Or one third thing might be laser grips, which I don’t want. So, nothing in stock that I’d want, either new or used. But I do think that going used would be a way to go, if I can find it.
Questionable Fund Raising
At many intersections here in Austin you’ll find people begging for money, food, pot (yes, I’ve seen requests for this on their signs), various other things. Oh yeah, they’re also disabled vets, anything helps, God bless. I’m not insensitive to the plight of the homeless, but the vast majority of the folks I see do this as their chosen way of life. I’ve seen them at various intersections around town over the years. If they’re truly someone in need of help, Austin is loaded with help; instead of walking up and down the intersection for a few hours and spending any money they get on booze, they could walk to the help facilities or buy a bus ticket or any manner of things to help themselves. But they don’t, because they don’t want to; they don’t want help. These folks are just freeloaders and parasites and I refuse to support that with my hard-earned money.
So then I see kids out there with signs saying they’re fund raising for their baseball team’s trip, or to help the basketball team reach the finals. Or some such thing. While that seems a more noble cause — and how can you place kids in the same boat — I have to question the tactics. That some adult leader of that group thought that begging for money would be a good way to raise funds, and that the rest of the adult leaders in the group went along with it and said yeah that’s a good idea. What a wonderful thing to teach the children, eh?
Motorcycle Parking Spaces
Do you know what a motorcycle parking space is? The same spaces that cars park in, unless a specific motorcycle parking space is designated (I’ve seen such things).
What isn’t a motorcycle parking space? Sidewalks, crosswalks, the walkway in front of a business door (that’s under the awning and out of the rain, but certainly isn’t a place for vehicles), handicapped walkways. I’m a motorcycle rider myself, but I just cannot stand when other motorcycle riders think that because they’re on a bike, because they’re afraid of getting their bike tipped over or rained on or merely because they’re small enough to fit in some spot (or maybe they’re just arrogant or lazy riders), that they can park wherever they want to. Sorry, no, you can’t.
At the sporting good store, a Moto Guzzi was parked in the handicapped area. You know how those spaces can be set up in the parking lot, with a wide space then lots of paint bordering things, leading into the middle, then through the median as a “cross-walk” so that people with wheelchairs can safely get around. Well, Mr. Moto Guzzi parked his bike right in the median break; no chance of a wheelchair getting through. Why does this bug me? Because I have a nephew in a wheelchair. I’ve had times when we’ve gone out and his van couldn’t be parked in a handicapped space because of people abusing handicapped parking hang-tags. Or in a case like this, the only way for a wheelchair bound person to get around would be to navigate through the parking lot instead of the designated lane. Not a safe and sound thing.
If you ride a motorcycle, don’t be an asshole. Park your bike in a proper parking spot. If you want special motorcycle-only parking, lobby for it.
Conversation I Overheard When I Returned Home
Wife: (Calls Youngest to come downstairs).
Youngest: (Eventually shows up).
Wife: Where were you?
Youngest: I was in my hamper.
Wife: You mean your clothes hamper? You were inside your hamper?
Youngest: Yes. I was sitting in it, clothes piled on top of me.
Wife: Why were you doing that?
Youngest: I don’t know. It was comfy.
I’m not even going to try to understand it. I’m just going to chalk it up to some random cuteness. I later found out he decorated his hamper to look like a monster, so when you open the lid to put in your clothes it’s as if the monster is eating your clothing. Fair enough. 🙂
No smoking
Some group wants any movie with smoking in it to be rated R.
Reasoning?
“Won’t someone think of the children.”
Gosh, if you never want your children to see someone smoking, I hope you keep them locked up in the house and that no one in the house smokes.
But I’ve got a better idea. If you think the movies are so horrible because of what they depict, then don’t go see them. Stop telling others how to conduct themselves.
Found my grandfather
Via Sebastian I learned about the WWII Veterans Registry.
Pet food – label knowledge
Before Wife and I were married and we had solo cats, we fed them expensive food. The more cats we amassed, the more food we went through, and so we had to mind the budget and as a result for the past some years the cats have just eaten what we find at the grocery store (the past some years it’s been Friskies Feline Favorites). We do feel them table scraps as well.
Thing is, older orange cat has always had vomit issues, and as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the blog we believe his problems are something else. We have tried dietary changes for him and currently are on a big dietary change for him, but still there’s vomit. Thing is, one of the younger cats has been throwing up a little more often than one should expect. Plus when she does, it’s fairly undigested food. So Wife and I have begun talking about making another switch in food. Given all the discussions we had with our vet regarding orange cat and how diet might be involved in his problems, our current thinking is the cheap ingredients.
I’ve been Googling and researching on pet foods, and found an excellent resource:
While it’s talking about dog food, the Label Information 101 page is most informative, giving you a Rosetta Stone for interpreting food labels. How to sort the wheat from the chaff. A list of Ingredients to Avoid.
Fantastic resource.
As a result, I’m headed to the pet store. I’m going to pick up a bag of Royal Canin Indoor Adult 27 and see how that does for the cats.
Horses
Yesterday, Daughter got her first ride on a horse.
It was graciously arranged by a buddy of mine. He keeps his horses at Graymar Farms and arranged a session with the owner, Peggy Goff. It wasn’t a true lesson, more of a one-on-one overview and introduction. Daughter got to work with Bruce (a retired show horse), leading him, brushing, tacking, mounting, basic steering (both with the reigns and feet and body “english”… I don’t know all the proper terms). A little walking, a little trotting, weaving cones and riding around. Then some western showmanship stuff with leading, judging, pivoting and walking backwards. Just a basic overview of riding and showing.
Daughter was stoked. She had an ear-to-ear smile all day. Consequently, so did I. 🙂
What will come of this? I don’t know. Certainly Daughter wants to continue. I’ll look into lessons. I’m not saying no, I just have to figure out how to afford it.
Little girls and horses…. lord, what could I be getting myself into? 😮 😀
I did want to use this as a forum to thank Peggy for her generosity and kindness. She spent about 3 hours of her time with Daughter, and she didn’t have to (on paper it was to only be about an hour). This was all done for free, out of her own kindness and generosity. Peggy’s enthusiasm was off the charts; you can tell she loves what she does and has a true caring about horses. She’s funny, goofy, relaxed, knowledgeable, friendly, approachable. And while I may not know horses, I do know a lot about teaching, especially beginners. Peggy knew her stuff and was just fantastic. I’m not a customer, I have no vested interest here, just speaking as a happy father.
Fast or accurate?
Fast or accurate? Pick one, because you can’t have both. Yes sure you can always be faster, you can always be more accurate, and to some degree you can always improve your level of both. But in the end, to get the most accuracy you’ll have to give up some speed, or to get the most speed you’ll have to give up some accuracy.
Caleb is participating in the Bianchi Cup and posted his results from The Mover.
The thing that I’ve learned about Bianchi is that accuracy is EVERYTHING. No one cares about how fast you are, because just about everyone can make the time limits here. Shooting IDPA or USPSA isn’t great practice for Bianchi…but shooting Bianchi will make you better at IDPA and USPSA.
I know I focus a lot on speed. I think about defensive shooting and how seconds are critical, so my brain thinks “must be fast”. Lately I’ve been trying to pull myself back on that. When I do my dry fire practice, I’ve been working on being slow and smooth: “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. I’m trying to be accurate, I’m trying to be precise and correct. I wanted to go to the gun range yesterday and do the KR Training 100 Round Practice drill, but given the impending holiday weekend figured I was better off getting job work done first then visiting the range after the weekend. Still, that sort of drill is all about accuracy (not speed) and what you must to to be accurate.
I think about my last black belt testing or even being in normal classes. One frustrating thing is how there’s so much emphasis on speed. Maybe not directly, such as the instructor saying “OK, everyone go fast” but when you get in a group there’s all this pressure to not be the last one done… so everyone zooms along. I kinda hate to see that because accuracy goes down. You watch the group and it can look like a sloppy mess. If I’m in class and get to do something like forms on my own pace, I take my time. Sure I try to still apply the five principles of form, movements are still meaningful. But I try to be accurate, I try to be correct first, fast later.
I’ve often said that no one cares about the first person to get the wrong answer. That can apply in many ways. To throw a fast kick that doesn’t find its target, to rush a draw and peel off a shot that misses the A-Zone on an IPSC target. It all doesn’t matter. I want to make every shot count, every punch matter. So, I have to slow down. I know this, I’ve known this. I’m still struggling to apply this, but thankfully it’s happening. 🙂
No competition for me, yet.
I mentioned before that I’ve wanted to get into competition shooting.
Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club has a steel match this Sunday, but I just got the email about it and it seems like it’s going to be a big shin-dig that’s kinda appropriate for folks that have been around for a while… not exactly the place for a n00b to show up to. I could, but I think I’ll wait a month and go when things are more subdued.
Instead, I’m going to try for a nice long motorcycle ride on Sunday morning.
It’s the perfect weekend for it.
Stuff From Hsoi 