RIP The Good Dog Mr. Audie Murphy

Some sad news to report.

Murphy's Law's dog Audie Murphy, after 12 years, with most of them spent living his best life with one of the best dog owners ever, has gone on to heaven to await his master and friend.

He'll be there waiting with Ms. Memphis Belle. Losing two dogs in two consecutive months is horribly tough.  Audie Murphy was a darn good dog, loyal and man's best friend to the end.

If you want to head over to Murphy Law's blog, Lagniappe's Lair, and extend some condolences, I'm sure he'd appreciate them.

An Update From Murphy of Lagniappe's Lair

Murph of Lagniappe's Lair  just called.

He has no power or internet connection so don't expect much in the way of posts on his blog for awhile.

He's doing all right and has running water, food, and hot showers.

He and the dogs are doing all right and they're sitting tight. 

No flooding on his street, just a lot of wind damage to power lines etc, and it's going to take a long time to get power back up in New Orleans.

Further Murphy Adventures Postponed

The plan was to take Murphy and a friend of his up for a flight today.

Thunderstorms moving in and out of the planned route of flight and low clouds put the kibosh on that, not to mention some gusty winds and turbulence that would have made it unpleasant for Murphy's friend who hath not been up in a small plane before.  

No point making the first impression of small aircraft flying a lasting ugly one.

Ah well, we'll get up another time.

Sunday USPSA Range Day With Murph

So today I headed off to pickup Murphy who was in town visiting and then to a USPSA match at my home club.

I was RSOing as usual and had three shooters on the squad that had never shot USPSA before, Murphy among them.

Overall thing went well.  But I'll let Murph describe how he did if he chooses to do so (hint: lookup significant advantage procedural penalty...).

Unfortunately one new shooter (not Murphy) when being told to unload and show clear thought that meant dropping the magazine and then pulling the trigger to discharge the round in the chamber.   

Not quite what we're looking for there.

We explained that to him and worked on a few other issues he had and he did alright for the rest of the match.  Not a DQ as it was in a safe direction and was before the slide forward, hammer down, holster command was given.

I did ok, but certainly not great.  Missed a hidden target in  two different stages which sucked and cost me some badly needed points. One problem I'm finding with RSO'ing is it takes my attention  away from  my own shooting and planning for the stages as I'm really focused on the shooter, safety and scoring which really is as it should be and not on my own stage plan.   I'll learn to handle both in time.

On the upside, the last stage of the day I had a plan, stuck to the plan, and did it quite well in reasonable time, with only one C and the rest A hits.  Rather pleased with that one.

So, it was a darn good time had by all and overall a really good squad.  Had one Open class shooter who was an older fellow and  a bit of an attitude - first stage he started pasting before the targets were scored which is not helpful.  He also didn't like when I said he should not do that as we need to score them first and the shooter has a right to see them before they are pasted.

Then he argued with me about range commands as he apparently was used to the much older ones.  "Nope", I said, "we're using the standard USPSA commands here, sir".

Then finally on the last stage he said he would be shooting from the back of the free fire zone and didn't want me in the free fire zone.  That's not really up to him as I go where I need to be to do this properly and I'll note I did not block a single shooter at any time during the match (or in prior matches I've RSOs for that matter.  You often need to be behind the shooter in the FFF ZOne in order for the timer to pickup the shot sound, not to mention be able to handle a safety issue if it comes up, and scoring issues as well.   In any case I simply said "make ready".  Dolt then did not actually shoot from the back of the free fire zone.

Even better, I beat him at that stage on time and accuracy, and I was shooting carry optics with my carry Glock and he was slinging a $5,000 gun.   Shooting well is the best revenge I suppose.

So, it was a good match and everyone had fun in a safe manner.

Then home to my place to eat some ribs I had smoked in the smoker last Wednesday, and enjoy an adult beverage while going over the events of the day.

Anyways, more adventures are scheduled for tomorrow with Murph, weather permitting.

Onward to Fort Sumter!

The day after our tour of Patriot's Point, Murphy and I headed over to Fort Sumter.

After all, if one is in Charleston, one should take the time to see the location of the first clash of the Civil War.

To get to Ft. Sumter you either do an endurance swim which is frowned upon, or take a Ferry.  I'd highly recommend the ferry.

Leaving the harbor you get some nice shots form the water side of Patriot's Point:

 

USS Laffey

 

USS Clamagore

 And of Course the USS Yorktown:

It was nice of that boat to give the Yorktown and Clamagore a sense of scale.

It's a working harbor so there's many a civilian ship doing work on the water.

The Ocean Jazz, a US-Flagged Heavy Load Carrier was in port.

As we left the harbor, a tug was coming in.

On the way to Sumter you pass by other fortifications.  This one, I believe, is Ft. Moultrie:

Then we reached Ft. Sumter:

Maneuvers With Murphy's Law - To Patriot's Point

One of the cunning reasons that Murphy's Law had come along, in addition to the fact that he's a great guy and friend, was that he and I could go forth and do some guy things while the ladies went off to do their things.

To put it another way, the family was not about to have me traipse them all over, up, down, and around the Aircraft Carrier, Destroyer and other features of Patriot's Point.  They sadly just lack appreciation and the attention span for studying our nation's military history in sufficient detail.

Now with Murph, traipsing everywhere at Patriot's Point where we were allowed to go, and, ahem, some places we weren't, was just what was in store.

In short, this was a win-win scenario.

First, I must declare that if you are traveling in the Charleston area of South Carolina, Patriot's Point is not to be missed. 

As you approach the dock, you see the DD-724, USS Laffey

Behind the USS Laffey, and much more on this historic ship later, sits the mighty USS Yorktown, CV-10. Named for the carrier Yorktown sunk at the Battle of Midway, this Yorktown was to blaze its own path in the history books in World War 2 and beyond.

We decided to explore the Yorktown first.  We also signed up for the special guided tour, which was well worth it.

You begin to get an appreciation for the sheer size of the Yorktown as you walk up to it, and it's about a third of the size of today's supercarriers.

Up those stairs you enter the Yorktown and see the ships' bell and the Presidential Unit Citation Awarded to the ship:

Quite a proud service record, and the Yorktown was surely in the thick of the fighting in the Pacific.

Then we walked into the ship and began to explore the hangar deck.

Back From A Week's Respite

We left the snow and cold of Michigan last week to head to Charleston. South Carolina.

On the first leg, we drove to Cleveland and stopped to check out Case Western Reserve University as a potential university choice for the eldest daughter. This was on a Sunday and the place was rather deserted and pretty locked up and locked down.  The grey bleak weather didn't help much, and Cleveland seemed rather deserted.  However, the open Insomnia Cookie store helped, as did a nice Chinese restaurant that was open for table service, which was a nice change as Michigan does not allow such at the moment and has not for quite some time.

The next day we departed Cleveland and headed south.  The weather began to  improve the farther south we got on Highway 77.

We reached Charleston late Monday night and checked into our condo on Folly Island that we had rented for the week, and then I went and picked up Murphy's Law at the entrance to the complex. We got settled in and then headed out for a light meal and some drinks.

The next day offered a beautiful clear sky, highs in the 60s and the promise of adventure that awaited - and no need for winter jackets.

 

New Orleans Day 1

I took an airport shuttle down to the French Quarter and met up with Murph.

Had a decent lunch and then we wandered around a bit.

We walked the beasts around the French Quarter a bit and then at dusk headed out for dinner.

As we did he took me to his favorite watering hole, apparently he's a regular there ya know.

He asked me if I noticed anything about the patrons.

Yep, it was a gay bar. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it was apparent within the first 10 seconds, tops. No challenge there. Beer was cold, decent, and affordable, so I can see why he likes it

Murph is trying to Épater la bourgeoisie with me filling in as the bourgoisie. Didn't work.

He then announced we were going to a show. On our way, we stopping by St. Louis Cathedral and saw a street performance in the square nearby.

We went to a cabaret.

A very classy show indeed. Great blues and bluegrass music and some nice talent on stage. Yep, that's the story and we're sticking to it.

A good day out in the city.

Sleeping on the couch, the night was interrupted with Murph the dog shoving his cold, wet snout into my armpit to check if I was still alive. I assured him I was and he went off satisfied and I managed to get back to sleep until Belle decided that she had to lick my face to see if I was alive, she was similarly assured I was in fact alive and she went off happy, only to return again later just to make sure.

We shall see what this day shall bring. Murph has announced he has plans.

Murphy and Belle Were Unavailable For Comment

Good thing they're now in New Orleans and no longer in West Virginia, or Belle and Murphy would be the prime suspects in this event:

The Detroit News: Joy-riding pups crash into West Virginia Wal-Mart

Shoppers told WSAZ-TV that two dogs were in the car — one in the driver’s seat and one in the passenger’s seat — as the vehicle rolled into the building in Wayne on Friday. No injuries were reported.

Destination NOLA By Way Of WV

Since Op Sec on Operation Move Murph N' Mutts has been formally blown, I can finally comment on it here.

Yes, I will be heading to WV to help him get to New Orleans on time. Prayers are appreciated in advance.

Mainly I'm there to keep him on course and get him back on track every time he says "Hey look, squirrel!". Otherwise, we're going to end up hitting every museum, historical site, and dive bar on the way down. Not that that is bad mind you, but he needs to get there on time. Oh, yeah I'm helping to pack and unpack as well.

Thankfully, we will be staying at a secure and gracious location on the way down. Friends are good to have.

Yes, I will bring my infernal naviguessing device to make sure we get there. My bet is he's forgotten to put the maps in the vehicle so we're going to rely on tech to the routing rescue.

I'm currently trying to slam a week of work into two days so I can make this happen, so it's a little hectic right now.

Expect updates on the progress of Operation Move Murph N' Mutts as we go.

Sunday Funday

Murphy's Law and his nephew the Spud met up with me and Abby and Leah at Zap Zone for some Laser Tag. ML has a good description of the events up as well, including his mauling at the hands of the Spud in Game 3.

Laser tag was a ton of fun.

For Game 1, it was the five of us versus eight other players and they beat us by two points, but for one reason only - Leah's Laser stopped working within one minute of the game starting so the score ended 60,602 for us to 60,604 for them. Leah ran through the game as a human meat shield that game. The staff noted they had never had a closer game, ever. On the upside, the guy gave Leah a ticket to a free Laser Tag game or go cart as compensation for her gun not working.

Game 2, as Murphy describes, he started signing Men of Harlech just before the game began and I almost fell down laughing.
Luckily no one on the other team caught the reference. We didn't do too badly considering we were outnumbered 13 to 5 on that round. We certainly held our own.

Game 3, it was a free-for-all and I ended up in first place - yay me. Even though it was supposedly a free-for-all I had to promise an alliance with Abby and Leah and the three of us swept the floors with the opposition. ML got pasted by us and the Spud, with the Spud doing the most shots on him. Good times and the kids had a blast.

Then Leah got her free go-cart ride. Did I mention Leah had not driven a go-cart completely by herself before?

So she happily got in, started taking the course and then went a bit fast and this happened:

That was one heckuva bang and she ran right into the wall as she was going too fast to make the turn. It was good she was wearing the seat-belt in that go-cart. They apparently didn't tell her that the brakes aren't quite immediately able to slow a go cart.

Impressively enough, after that crash she didn't quit nor cry. Instead, she kept right on going around a few more times until the ride was done but with no more crashes. She did again take that turn at a good clip on her final run, successfully clearing it that time.

After leaving the ride she complained of an ache at that spot by her shoulder where the seatbelt held her in place, and she had quite a mark from the seatbelt. At home she got some ice, some ibuprofen and some heat applied and she's fine. I'm quite proud that she stuck through it even, after the minor heart attack that she gave me from my watching her hit the wall.

The kids all had a great time with ML and his family, as we always do, and they want to do it again.

Range Trip!

Murphy's Law is in town so I met up him and his sister after I finished up some work at the office and then we headed to the range.

ML's sister is still a novice shooter, complete with a new M&P Shield 9mm. We went over safety and handling procedures and then went on to loading and firing.

With a bit of instruction from me and ML, after a few runs she started settling down and knocking down some steel plates with aplomb.

She did quite well with the Shield, using both FMJ ammo as practice and some Speer Gold Dot which will be her carry ammo. You can say the pistol is now well and truly broken in and should serve her well.

I took the opportunity to put another 150 rounds through the P30, making it 950 rounds so far with no cleaning and no issues of any kind.

I shot the M&P 40c as well, putting another 100 rounds through it with no issues, including some Winchester Ranger ammunition, and the TRUGLO TFX Sights sights are dead on and ridiculously easy to pickup quickly. I really like these sights.

I then brought out my Glock 17 which I haven't shot for awhile. The grip angle on it was distinctly different from that of the P30 and M&Pc and took a bit of getting used to, but after shooting the M&P40c, the by contrast low-to-no perceived recoil of the 17 made it very easy to shoot quickly and accurately. I had also brought along another gun which will be the subject of my next post.

ML had brought along quite a few nice handguns, including his Walther PPK.

On drawing it, you could hear him say: "My name is Law, Murphy's Law".

I can guarantee that he's a better shot than Daniel Craig.

It was a darn good range trip.

Trip Day 2 - Flying!

So the next day after arriving at the Lair it was time to take to the skies.

Murphy's Law had promised an aerial adventure, the weather was good for flying, so after a quick breakfast it was time to go.

First the pre-flight:

Checking the oil, adding some air to the tires, and doing a walk-around the plane and checking the fuel for any signs of water and we were good to start her up.

And then we were up.

Then I got to fly for a good bit, which was just a ton of fun.

We headed towards an airport in Pennsylvania, flying past the Camp David restricted zone at a respectful distance.

We did a touch-n-go at the York, PA airport with Murphy showing me how a slip worked to drop the airplane's altitude to get down like a rock to a proper landing glidepath without rocketing up the airspeed.

After our visit, we headed back and I again got to do a little bit of flying. Much too much fun. Now I really need to take some lessons and become a pilot.

Where we went will be the subject of the next post.

The Howl Of The Lair Dogs

A ferocious round of barking greeted me as I drove up to the Lair.

Murphy and Belle were standing watch and gave some god ferocious barks as my car pulled up the driveway.

Once inside and reintroduced, both dogs were quite welcoming, likely remembering me from prior visits both here and up in Michigan.

Once we were introduced and inside they were happy to see me, and a couple begging strips I had brought along and we were best friends.

Good dogs.

Blog Shoot In T-34 Days and Counting

Yes, Virginia, in West Virginia, there really is a blog shoot.

And it's all for both fun and charity.

On November 1st in Jefferson County West Virginia to be precise.

Expect to run into a lot of the great bloggers from the area at the shoot, all of whom are a bunch of darn nice folks (and heavily armed to boot).

Check in with Murphy's Law at MartiniHenryWV@gmail.com for more details.

If you're closer to West Virginia than southeastern Michigan, then distance is not an excuse to miss it....

The Airborne Obsession Of Murphy's Law - The 0-2 Skymaster

Some men obsess over guns, some cars, some women.

Murphy's Law is continuing his obsession with the 0-2 Skymaster:

A centerline thrust twin engine aircraft built by Cessna, the 0-2 served as an observation and Forward Air Controller Aircraft over the skies of Vietnam. With a push-pull design you can actually shut one engine down and keep flying, or have them both running for more power.

With a maximum speed of 200 mph and a range of 1,3215 miles, I'd reckon it'll take him wherever he wants to go quite a bit faster than in his trusty 172.

He came back after the aerial demonstration finished to talk again with the pilot and admire it:

It turns out the pilot is quite the expert on the 0-2, and assisted in restoring many to flying status on the civilian market. ML got his number, so you know what that likely means.

They are beautiful aircraft, and I suspect one will be tied up on ML's ramp sometime soon, replacing his 172.

Friday Range Time

As Murphy's Law mentions, yesterday we went to my favorite outdoor range to get some shooting in.

The weather was cool but with no wind it was downright comfortable.

We had Proud Hillbilly's Son-In-Law D. came with us, as well as did ML's Spud.

D. is waiting on issuance of his CPL permit, and decided to come along to get more practice in.

Here he is rockin' his revolver.

As expected, he shot very well indeed and I'm quite sure he'll be a very competent CPL holder. I figure I can talk him into coming to a USPSA match with me and we should have a great time.

He also generously let the Spud try out his revolver:

I then let the Spud try out the Tavor:

Overall Spud did well and paid attention and only had to do 20 push ups in the snow for minor safety infractions or for failing to pay attention.

The Tavor worked great as expected, and D., ML, and Spud all enjoyed firing it. ML fired it left-handed and there was no issue with brass hitting him even with the Tavor setup for standard right-side ejection.

Murphy's Law came up with his J-Frame and then made the J Frame Challenge - 5 shots to knock down 3 steel poppers from the distance as shown. D., ML, and I all did it successfully, and Spud almost made it.

I did bring another fun item out but since I neglected to take any pictures I'll do a separate post about it later.

We all had a great time.

I did have a weird failure with the M&P 40C - shooting Federal 180gr 40 S&W (purple box), my standard carry magazine worked 100%. However, in both the magazine with the finger extension and a 15 rounder, the slide was visibly dragging and slow to close and almost felt like the slide was stalling while dragging over the round in the magazine before loading it. You could actually see it hesitate for a long moment with the slide back and then move it's way back into battery with a "snick" sound. However, loading the magazine with Winchester white box 165 grain in the exact same magazine resolved the problem and there was no hesitation of any kind and it functioned 100% without a hiccup.

I'm thinking the Federal Purple Box stuff is underpowered, but if anyone has got any ideas as to what may be causing this that would be helpful.

Thunder Over Michigan 2013

Today I and the kids got up early and headed over to the secret location where Murphy's Law and the Spud spent the night.  Once we picked them up we headed out to the Willow Run airport and the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show.


Arriving as the gates opened, we got in line and headed in to a great show indeed.

In addition to aircraft ground and aerial displays, there were World War 2 and Vietnam era reenactments complete with an air assault from a Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopter and plenty to see and do.

Thanks to Murphy's Law, we had earlier decided to upgrade to the Bomber Club seats and it was a wise choice.  Even though it was a cloudy day, the sun still beat down and having access to a tented area to rest in, seats, and all the water I could push on the kids to avoid dehydration helped a lot.

Lots more pics and posts on the subject later.

Getting out of the Air Show was a pain however with traffic way backed up not only due to volume but due to having road construction dropping the access road to one lane heading outbound. After an hour in traffic we finally made it to the highway, only to find more construction on northbound 275.

In short, it was a great day, the kids had an awesome time, we got to see some awesome airplanes and I'm wiped.

A Good Range Trip With Spud and Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law was in town so this afternoon he dropped by with his nephew the Spud, and we headed to the Lapeer pit range.

We arrived around three, and the range was packed shoulder to shoulder with what Tam would poetically call "Cleti".

In short, we had idjits bump-firing to the left of us, idjits bump-firing to the right, and missing every target with ammo wasted all over the place. While bump-firing apparently feels cool and all that, and while some can manage to hit a target while doing so, these folks sure couldn't.

This is part of why we have an ammo shortage - idjits wasting it left, right, and down-range.

Adding to the fun was watching people who clearly had no training and no clue how to shoot, or teach how to shoot, instruct others.

One guy farther down the line had what appeared to be his girlfriend out shooting, of course he was bump-firing and generally hitting the berm and not much else. She was fashionably attired in pink ear protectors and a lime green t-shirt that tightly advertised her rather sizable tracts of land.

What made her really stand out was the really impressive back-bend she was doing while shooting a pistol aimed some-whence in the direction of the berm, I mean this back-bend was gymnast quality.

Often a good thing to remember for pistol shooting is "nose over toes". In contrast to this adage, she had enough of a curve to her back that it was upraised mammary glands over toes, and her shoulder blades a solid foot behind her ankles.

The recoil from the full-size 9mm pistol she was shooting was practically knocking her over with each shot. Not a helpful experience nor could it have been very comfortable for her methinks.

So after watching the yokels, uh locals, we waited for a cease fire and got our stuff together for shooting.

I had brought out a carefully selected array of targets to shoot - cardboard boxes, a computer that deserved to go out in glory, a printer that died at a needed time and which deserved to be done in, and some other sundry stuff, as well as trash bags and gloves for hauling away the shot-up remains once finished. Sadly, because the Cleti denizens of the Lapeer pit famous for not picking up after themselves, they've passed an ordinance that only paper, clay and cardboard targets could be used. Dammit. Slobs are why we cannot have nice things.

We finally got a cease fire and put targets out and then got to shooting. I shot my Uzi, Saiga-12 and 300 Blackout AR. Murphy's Law shot his pistol, his Mini-14 and an M&P 15-22.

Spud got to shoot the M&P 15-22 and had a great time and was safer and more accurate than about 90% of those present.

Murphy's Law demonstrated yet again that a Mini-14 can be quite accurate, busting clays out past 100 yards that the cletus who had put them out was busy constantly missing while bump-firing at them.

There were a few nice people there and we chatted a bit about guns and the route and process to legal full-auto ownership, and I let them handle the Uzi.

The weird guy who seems ever-present wandering around with a Long-Reach Pick-Up Gripper, grabbing everyone's brass off the ground and putting it in a bucket he carries while smoking a cigar was there - he never shoots, just scarfs up brass. He's said before he doesn't reload, he just grabs all the brass he can see and sells it for scrap apparently. He's quite the odd duck, and since I reload I take some offense at this guy trying to scarf up my brass while I'm shooting and before I can pick it up.

Ignoring the cleti around me, aside from awareness of their muzzles as some of them had no idea of muzzle awareness, I was hitting my targets nicely with short bursts from the Uzi, and the Saiga nicely hit where it was aimed at, as did the AR. This was again in contrast to most of the Pit denizens at the time. They were noisy, but if you were their target you were likely pretty safe surrounded by bump-firing impacts everywhere but on target.

The AR is still having trouble with the occasional round of ammo from the local manufacturer. Most shot fine but a few did the same thing as before - loaded, but the bolt would not fully lock into place and the charging handle wouldn't work to pull open the bolt. it took a flat-head prying at the bolt and then it released relatively easily allowing the round to be removed. Very strange. If anyone has any ideas on the cause I'd love to hear them.

In any case the Aimpoint PRO it is now nicely zeroed, and hitting targets was a snap, at least on the times it went boom.

After about a couple hours we tired of the environment and headed off to have dinner with our families and had a great time. Leah got to hand feed Murphy the dog and the beastie quite enjoyed the experience, good dog. Murphy and Murphy's Law will be around for a bit more, and I expect further adventures with Murphy's Law while he's in town, so stay tuned.

Happy Birthday To A Certain Blogger

Do take a moment and head over to Lagniappe's Lair and wish Murphy's Law a Happy Birthday, for today is indeed his day.

I'll otherwise maintain Op Sec and not reveal his age on this fine day, and hope he has a great one doing many fun and enjoyable activities.

Happy Birthday ML from all of us to you.