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In Memory of One of Our Own

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If you have seen Joe’s blog post, then you may know who I am talking about.  For those of you unaware, on November 21st, a good friend and devout Boomershoot attendee, Scott Keszler, passed away. 

In his memory, I would like to put together a slide show of pictures, stories, quotes, etc. for the Boomershoot dinner.  Since Boomershoot was one of Scott’s favorite activities to partake in, my goal is to keep his memory alive and have fun the way he would have wanted. 

If you have pictures, stories, or quotes regarding Scott, please email them to me with Scott’s name in the subject line so I can add them to the slide show. Thank you all. RIP Scott (29 Aug 1963 – 21 Nov 2015); you are greatly missed.

I did not want to get involved, but…

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A person on twitter decided to make derogatory statements towards me, behind my husband’s back, so to speak. She had the audacity, without knowing me, to call me fat. My husband was in a debate/argument with her about firearms, more specifically the AR 15 platform. She went into PSH and escalated from there.

Her statement makes me believe that she is a bitter old hag who is angry at life for having a disability. The disability she mentions I don’t have much sympathy for.

Especially since she still has her fucking foot. My dad is an amputee. My disability, radial nerve palsy, has essentially rendered my dominate hand useless. I empathize with people who have disabilities. Also, she seems to not have reading comprehension since my husband did not generalize disabilities. He specifically stated that she doesn’t understand MY disability.


Further, the AR15 platform she is freaking out about has provided a way for me to safely and effectively shoot a rifle.

For starters, it has a low recoil and therefore doesn’t kill my muscle atrophied shoulder. The pistol grip allows me to hold the rifle so as to not torque my wrist like a standard rifle. The front post gives me stability to safely fire the firearm without causing strain to my good/working arm. Due to my disability a bolt-action rifle is not a viable option for me.  I can not easily operate a bolt with my injured hand.

This woman is nothing more than a miserable old person intent on spreading her misery to others.  Which isn’t surprising since “Gun Control is a Movement of Old White People.”

I’m not miserable or upset by my disability unlike that woman.  Why?  Because I had one of the best role models in the world for dealing with it.  She is dead set on spreading her misery and ensuring that everyone be as miserable as her.  Heaven forbid they find the freedom and empowerment that comes with shooting firearms.

Lastly, my family hunts to stock their freezer.  The meat is by far healthier for our family and we know full well where our food came from.  You don’t get much more “free range” or “organic” than bagging your own buck.

Then again she doesn’t really care, she just hates anyone who does anything that she doesn’t like.  If you looked up the word “Puritan” in the dictionary, you would find her face next to it as a shining example.

Well, its not broken…

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My thumb that is.

See, No Breaks!

See, No Breaks!

I can’t say  the same about my laptop though.

Last Friday ( 12.28.2012) my laptop decided to go tango-uniform.  The stupid CPU decided to overheat and die.  The crappy part is I hadn’t backed it up in a while.  Hopefully when the new stuff comes in to build a new computer my darling husband will be able to retrieve the lost information.  I don’t recommend AMD CPUs.  My husband says this is yet another data point for him in the negative.

Then, to top it all off, my left hand got smashed in the sliding door of a mini van while at work the following day.  Hence the reason I have the X-ray above.

F*ckin' Really?!

F*ckin’ Really?!

What makes this really bad is the fact that my left hand is my good, working hand.   My right hand is not fully functional due to radial nerve palsy from the car accident.   Having both hands down really sucks, between them I have 1 full hand.   Sadly I still need to wear a splint with a thumb spica for the next couple weeks.

Sometimes, when it rains, it pours and now I can’t play my flute or continue my new adventure into learning to play a violin… which I should probably blog.

And thank you to my husband for acting as my dictatorial machine and as my editor correcting grammar and the like.  Not to mention the pictures too, he made me look pretty.

Morons of the male persuasion

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Bloomberg is such an asshole!

Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hospitals to hide their baby formula behind locked doors so more new mothers will breast-feed.

Really?! Blocking the accessibility of formula to new mothers?  For some women, they are not able to produce milk with their pregnancy.  Some, even though they are producing, aren’t producing enough colostrum and therefore are starving their child.  I wonder if they will charge the mother with child abuse if the pharmacy is closed and the baby wants to feed?

Legislative fiat and nanny statism does not change biology or the way the real world works.

Women don’t need a lecture about choosing formula over breast-feeding.  Breast is not always best.  Especially since not every mother produces enough milk.  My husband was raised on formula because his mother was unable to produce milk as he was born by C-section.  A friend of mine didn’t produce milk for her child and didn’t realize it until she had starved her child for a day not knowing she wasn’t producing enough milk.

Some asshat politician who doesn’t understand biology or the medical sciences has no business telling me, my doctor, or any one else what is best for me or my child.

This is one big reason why I don’t want to be in a hospital when I have kids.  I don’t need some moron telling me what to do with my own body!

If you’re female and work in his office, do the rest of us of the female gender a big favor and kick him right between the uprights.  Then again I’m reasonably sure he’s lacking functional equipment down there which is why he’s spouting off about shit he doesn’t know about.

h/t Weer’d

Five Years Ago

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I married my best friend.  He is the love of my life and I am happy and proud to be called his wife.  Even though the last few years have had ups and downs, I wouldn’t change a thing. The various trials and tribulations ha ve made us stronger individually and as a couple.  I love you TMM now and forever. Happy Anniversary!

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July 7, 2007

Embroidery Woes

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Thursday night (14JUN12) I started doing some test samples for a large embroidery project I’m working on.  The first test started out well, but by the time the last color was being added the needle broke.  This did not bode well for the project.  I replaced the needle and tried again.  It got through maybe two stitches before breaking the needle again.  I can’t emphasize enough that when sewing or embroidering, safety eye wear is very necessary.  Now, I was lucky and the needle didn’t fly at me, however, the way it breaks is rather violent.  Please be careful with sewing projects of any kind.

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The needle breakage was the end of sewing for the night.  Friday after work I opened up the software program on my computer to rework the stitch types for the design and figured out a potential solution.  Then Saturday after work I implemented said solution.  I let my machine do its thing, periodically changing colors as it progressed.  When the final color started, I backed away and nervously let the machine work.  I was very relieved when It finished stitching with no hiccups.  The design stitches, however, still need some work along with fixing the tension on my machine.

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There should not be any white coming through the dark colors, but I am happy that the design was able to be stitched out.  The next step for this design will be putting it on a hat.  I have reworked some of the stitch patterns.  What you can’t see in the picture is super long stitches in the blue that have the potential to snag.  I hope I solved the problem in my software program and will see how it stitches out on the first hat.

Now my next goal is to fix the tension.  Bobbin thread should not be showing through the top thread.

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That is a test embroidery for a future project.  I felt it would be a good start to see if I managed to fix the tension.  The design looks good and solid, but upon closer inspection white was still coming through.  Granted it was nowhere near as bad as the last design, but it clearly needs more adjustment.  I will be testing one more single color design to determine if the tension problem has been solved.  After that, hats that have been preordered can finally be embroidered.

Be careful what you wish for

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I participated in the Worlds Jet boat Marathon as a HAM operator for emergency communications during the races.  Because of work I was only able to participate one day during the Snake River run of the marathon.  Last year I participated in the Thunder on the Snake and my position on the river was rather uneventful,  so I wanted to be in an area that would have more action so to speak.  Well, I got that alright and much more.

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Some of the boats were coming within 5-10 ft. of my safety boat, which I thought was pretty cool and we were located in a section of rapids known as the Captain John Rapids.  It was interesting to see the boats run the rapids and see the effects of the rollers on the boats.  That is, until someone was injured.  I wanted action and excitement, but I didn’t want to see anyone hurt from it.

One boat in the second leg of the race hit a roller in the rapids.  His nose went straight up, then the rear of the boat hit, followed by a slap of the front end, landing the boat back in correctly.  What I didn’t realize was that the seats in the race boats are bolted to the frame and have no suspension whatsoever.  This means the occupants of the boat feel every little bump on the river.  I continued to watch the boat, praying he would continue passed. That didn’t happen.  He slowed down and turned toward the area of beach where we were located.  The boat captain, EMT, and boat hands went flying out to the racer as I called net control about the disabled boat.  Next thing I knew, the EMT returned as the driver of said race boat requested medical attention.  I again relayed the update to net control.  Shortly thereafter, another member of the safety boat returned with more information to relay.  A backboard was needed and with that comes emergency crews, on the water and land.  I stayed at my post and continued with communications.  Another safety boat arrived along with the Asotin fire boat and the Sheriff boat.  An ambulance was called and my boat headed across the river to flag down the ambulance when it arrived.  Another ham eventually arrived on the road side and took over for flagging the ambulance and the fire and Sheriff boats arrived to wait for the ambulance.  When we saw that we were no longer needed we headed back to the other side by the race boat.  It was decided that the race boat would head down river to church camp and wait to be trailered.  I informed net control that we would be following to church camp.

Later I learned that the injured racer left the hospital around 1700 hours that evening.  I was happy to hear that he walked out, but I still didn’t know the extent of his injuries.  turns out he did fracture his back and that is something I can empathize with.  I’m glad he is okay and that he wasn’t injured any worse.

Apparently I did very well with my communications and stayed calm and collected.  I heard a lot of sincere expressions of appreciation after the races ended for the day.