A little bit of everything:

1. I realized (a bit late) that not everybody knows that Patriots’ Day is celebrated on the anniversary of April 19, 1775 – the day the shot heard ’round the world was fired at Concord bridge. If you’re unfamiliar with the significance of Lexington and Concord, educate yourself here. (My dear Inconvenience would argue that the war began long before April 19, perhaps with the Boston massacre or HMS GaspĂ©e affair – but we celebrate Patriots’ Day all the same!)

April 19 also marks the anniversary of the siege at Waco (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), neither of which I find occasion to commemorate. I believe both of those events were clashes between two sides generally lacking in sympathetic characters.

Anyway, we observe Patriots’ Day with shooting and festivities to honor the American traditions of independence and marksmanship. Last year, the Inconvenience proposed (on a bridge!) and we followed it up with shooting. This year, we happened to have access to Tannerite, so we had a bit of fun with the effigy of a Redcoat. I of course have no intention of blowing up any actual subjects of the Queen. :)

2. I really hope you’re all watching John Adams, or making arrangements to procure the DVDs. It is simply incredible. I dare you to watch this – just the intro – and try to avoid coming away inspired:

The casting is brilliant, the script is excellent… it’s truly history come alive. It’s also caused me to have a bit of a crush on Thomas Jefferson (as if I didn’t already), played perfectly by Stephen Dillane. The Inconvenience has been pleading Hamilton’s case for months, but it’s falling on deaf ears… And the miniseries isn’t helping. I hate that sleazy little self-serving parasite. I’m totally on Team Burr.3. In addition to spending copious amounts of time fangirling over the founding fathers, I’ve also:

  • Continued on in my position at the ice rink, with new and improved summer duties.
  • Helped found the Palouse Sons of Liberty.
  • Organized a team for and participated in the Relay for Life – for which, by the way, I also owe late donation thank-yous to JJ and Brody. :)
  • Kept an eye on Heller, the elections, and other news and current events with the potential to affect our lives profoundly. Idaho Republicans will finally get around to holding the primary on May 27th (when it totally matters, hurrr…) – but there’s still an ongoing pissing match about the closed primary rule, so who knows – maybe I won’t even get to vote.
  • Gotten rather involved in a potential lawsuit and am developing a cursory involvement in another… Don’t worry, I’m not in any trouble, nor is the Inconvenience. I’m just a fan of putting my time and money where my mouth is, and as much as I’d like to elaborate at this time, I can’t. Trust me… they’ll be intriguing stories sooner or later.
  • Started talking about an entrepreneurial opportunity with a friend. This, too, is in the works, with more details to come once I have a clue what they are!
  • Been running here, there and everywhere with this friend’s party and that friend’s shower and on and on… May is only going to be worse. Out of nine weekend days in May, I currently have plans for eight. *thud*

So anyway, those are my lame excuses for severely neglecting the politics, guns, and politics-as-pertaining-to-guns portions of this blog lately. Forgive me?

4. Don’t forget, those of you who have occasion to be on a college campus this week – the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Spring 2008 “Empty Holster Protest” is currently in full swing. You can find details here, along with guidelines for safe, effective participation.

5. On a personal note, I’d like to congratulate Mike – my dear Inconvenience – on his new job, which he started today. He’s also preparing to graduate on May 10th with his B.A. in History, with a Political Science minor… and a 3.5 GPA! ‘Bout damn time one of us graduated. ;)

Politics, Guns & Beer.

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4 Comments »

Comment by Daniel J. Tanner Subscribed to comments via email
2008-04-21 13:18:35

I’m glad you had a good time with Tannerite exploding targets. It’s a safe and fun way to enhance an evening of shooting.
God bless,
Daniel J. Tanner
http://www.tannerite.com

 
Comment by Tux
2008-04-22 11:39:24

I’ve been doing my part for the protest along with my wife. Surprisingly there’s more participants than expected. I’ve ran into a decent number of others at WSU with holsters.

As for John Adams, it was quite good. If you have on demand you can watch them all again. They did an extremely good job of following the biography by David McCullough they based it off of, and personally feel it commensurate of Band of Brothers miniseries.

Congrats to your husband on finally graduating. My wife is graduating next week as well, and I should at the end of summer. Sadly my GPA won’t be as pretty as 3.5, thats what I get for being an EE, long nights, zero sleep, and instructors that think if 3/4 of the class doesn’t fail they didn’t do their job.

Also as a reminder on the note of tannerite, this weekend is boomershoot in Orofino. I’ll be out Friday and Saturday for the precision rifle clinic, and I may go back out on Sunday if any positions have become available currently two are listed on the site. Long range targets + explosives = AWESOME!

 
Comment by hawkhavn Subscribed to comments via email
2008-04-26 09:02:03

Laurel,

Great web site, I stumbled onto it from your comments at Oleg Volk’s Appleseed photo. Oleg took that at the Puryear, TN shoot as one of the students got his Rifleman patch from his father.

That was a great way to celebrate Patriot’s Day!

We hosted one of the 14 Patriot’s Day Appleseed shoots at our range here in Indiana with 65 new as well as experienced shooters out for the weekend.

hawkhavn

 
Comment by Blaine
2009-06-05 08:13:18

I’m currently watching John Adams. I know this is a bit late (only like, 14 months-ish) but I bought the DVD’s to watch in Rome so I could keep some connection to America while in Europe. I’m going to say – I’m not too impressed with the petulant, childish, federalist Adams. Jefferson is a badass though (of course you knew that).

 
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