Random Picture Thread

The other day I came across some gun ownership statistics that placed Texas in 18th in the country and my thought was all these transplants here for the business friendly environment are watering down our numbers.


*bada*boom*waa*waa*waaaaa-a-aaa*

 

Yep, I even have family in Pikeville, Ky in Pike County. There are some beautiful lakes in the region for the freshies who like to trail their boats.

Very old technology to tie stonework or masonry together are the bowtie or butterfly links. In case you have a mind to utilize the technique.

 

You really need to get the correct statistics.
I have relatives who have two gun safes, both full with other stuff scattered around.
Another co worker built a house around a jumbo safe. He has too many guns to keep the ammo in the safe.

You really need to divide total guns by # of people.

Or you could count "real" texans

Myself I only have 4 rifles - but they are just miscellaneous 22's - they don't really count.

 

I am not a real Texan. My folks dragged me here kicking and screaming back in 1967. I was but a mere lad, still in high school. Somehow, I was never able to escape and am still here after all these years. My dad however was a gun nut from northern Wisconsin. Hunting up there was almost a required pursuit. I remember as a small boy the big build up to deer season and the resulting trophies. He had an assortment of rifles for deer, shot guns for water fowl and hand guns for plinking. We lived in Alaska for a while in the early 60's and he bought even bigger rifles to hunt moose. He made the mistake of trying to bring it all with us when we were moving to New Hampshire and driving down the Al-Can Highway. The Canadian boarder folks could care less about the huge arsenal of long guns but freaked out about the hand guns. They finally let him lock them in a metal tackle box onto which they attached an official Canadian seal. We had to go the shortest route to the lower 48 where they were waiting at the boarder to check the seal and inspect the hand guns. We then mailed them to his cousin in Wisconsin while we popped back up into Canada to drive most of the rest of the way. After my dad passed away years ago, my mom got rid of all the guns. I wish I had a few of them like the Parker double barrel 16 gauge or the Winchester 40-82 with the octagon barrel. They were real museum pieces.

 

Random comment: for anyone who watched the X-Files movie the bit at the beginning that was supposed to be in North Texas, which as everyone knows is just chock full of caves , but the kids in the show have Deep East Texas accents, the landscape looks like Amarillo, and the city skyline in no way resembles any city around here.

 

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287 kilos of cocaine found in Brazil, kind of festive looking.

 

Artists G Johnson's rendering of Charles W. Morgan's whaleboat in hot pursuit

 

What's that stuff worth?
Interesting that I worked for 35+ years at the same job and won't have 1% of what that stuff is worth.

I guess I can see the lure of easy money.

 

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Bison skulls, 1870.

 

... which you might spend on boats?

 

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May 16, 2011, space shuttle Endeavor...

 

a good friend of mine Greg owns this tall ship out of Long Beach Ca.

 

Just found Banksy was inspired there by the below cartoon from ‘‘Punch’’ magazine, 10 July 1858 . . .

-- Link -- Link -- Link -- Link -- Link -- Link --





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A damnable shame, that; not just for the bison but for the aboriginal peoples as well.

 

Found here an article about it . .