Last Monday, Sweet Daughter and I went to the Regional Amusement Park. The good news is that I found some great discount tickets online, and the weather was perfect like only the back side of a hurricane can be. Mid 80’s, sunny, breezy, and no humidity. Not only that, there weren’t any lines. Nada. None. Zilch. Zippo.  The longest we had to wait was for any given attraction to finish its current run and then it was our turn.

The bad news is that they don’t let you go armed. They don’t even let you carry a pocket knife -- although they did let me check it at the front gate so I didn’t have to go back to the car. (Well that, and the fact that none of the roller coasters that SD could ride had enough room for my knees.)

SD wanted to wear matching shirts, and while I’ve always secretly laughed at families that do that, I will admit that there are some distinct advantages. The people running the rides can tell which kid you belong to. If, heaven forbid, you were to get separated, you can point to yourself and say “she was wearing a shirt like this!” But best of all, if you choose wisely, you can influence how you are perceived.  Because nothing says “I’m not a victim, nor am I a threat -- unless you mess with me first” like matching Kalishnikitty shirts.

Oxymoron

In lieu of actual content while we wait for Irene to show up, I present one of the more interesting searches that have shown up in my tiny little corner of the internet:

I mean wouldn't a "milf dog" be a contradiction in terms?

Black listed

SayUncle linked to me last Thursday and the hits started rolling in. And then I saw this, which I found hysterical. S.W.A.T. Magazine's Facebook page? Linked to me? That's like a gourmet magazine linking to my scones recipe or something. It tickled me to no end.

But getting black listed? That was best of all. Thanks!

Magazine Maintenance

I won't go into the care a feeding of magazines here, because what do I know about it, anyway other than you need to keep the lint and dirt out of them, and clean them thoroughly from time to time? What I do know is this ... you're supposed to label them. This is so you can tells yours apart from all the rest when shooting with friends. This is so you can narrow it down in case there is one magazine that is causing problems with your firearm.

I hadn't gotten around to it because, well, I don't have that many magazines, and I knew I'd spend way too much time obsessing about some sort of obscure code that would indicate if that mag was for my defensive ammo or my plinking ammo, the date I purchased the it, etc. I'd research the best labeling method, and select the best font for readability. Basically, I was over-thinking the whole thing. Sweet Daughter solved the problem for me today. What do you think?

Two of them sit on the right side of my shoulder rig to balance the weight of the pistol on the other side. Yup. They sit there right along my ribcage, bottoms facing out. So much for staying "low key".

Another OC update

I’ve got a dark brown t-shirt that sort of blends in with the leather on my shoulder rig. It’s got a floral/leafy design on the front so it looks kind of feminine, and I wear it when I’m trying to stay low-key. I wore it to dinner out last week, and I ran into a co-worker who didn’t even notice the gun. A few days later, the nice young man behind the counter at Chick-Fil-A certainly did, saying that he wished he could carry like that.  (WIN!)

The shirt didn’t seem to help much with the low-key part when Sweet Daughter, Shorter Half and I went to the Large Sporting Goods Store last weekend and the staff commented on the shoulder rig. And all the extra ammo. Can someone please tell me what it is about shoulder rigs? I know I’m a n00b, and don’t yet get all the nuances and inside jokes, but I feel like someone stuck a sign on my back that says “HEY, LOOK! I think I’m a bad-ass! And don’t forget, I’m bristling with ammo, too!”

So much for staying low key.

Life's a beach

Sweet Daughter and I had the opportunity to join my sisters in Chincoteague and the end of July for a few days. The weather was beautiful. SD learned how to ride a boogie board. She watched a guy reel in not one, but three "baby' bullhead sharks (bull sharks?). That is if a two and a half foot long shark is still considered a "baby". She thought they were really cool, especially since we were swimming right by the fishing lines. The next day, she watched one of these get reeled in.

She wanted to help. I discouraged that notion. Then I noticed these beautiful little clams smaller than my little fingernail in shades of lavender and peach and pink. And I showed SD how they dug themselves back into the sand when uncovered by the tide.

And she FREAKED OUT. The shark made her laugh. The ray had her wanting to get up close and personal, but the clams had her spending the next half hour yowling about how there were some without shells and they were hurting her feet.

Adolescence is going to be fun, I can already tell.

Product Review – UpLULA™

I had the pleasure of meeting Larry Weeks from Brownells at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh last spring. I was standing around, listening While Grownups Were Talking (and trying to learn something) when he looked at me and asked me how I loaded my magazines. My first thought was “Is this a trick question? Is this some sort of secret gunnie inside joke? Should the answer be ‘one round at a time’? ACK! What do I say??”

I believe my answer instead was “Um, slowly”.

I guess that was the right answer, because he said he had something to help with that, and to expect a package in a few weeks. Well, a few weeks passed, and what showed up from the Brown Truck of Happiness but a cardboard box with my name on it from Brownells. (And seriously – if the job they did packing that box is indicative of the care their shipping department takes, I’m seriously impressed. The packing tape was even folded with hospital corners.  Serious attention to detail, here.)

I opened the box to find something called an UpLULA™ . The small print said “Universal pistol mag. loader & unloader”. There was one sized for 9mm to .45ACP and the other was a BabyUpLULA for .22LR to .380ACP. Tonight the R. family put them to the test -- a middle-aged n00b mom, a dad with a broken hand, and a five-year-old girl. Hint: Dad had the hardest time as you really need two hands for these, but he managed handily (hardy-har-har) even with one hand in a splint.

You position the UpLULA™ over the feed lips of the magazine with the magazine resting on a table, or something, squeeze the two sides the UpLULA™ together, push down, slide in the round, and release the sides of the UpLULA™ so that the follower pushes it back up. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sweet Daughter loaded my XD mag (9mm double-stack) with 8 of the 16 rounds before she needed help, but those springs are still pretty tight. She then loaded 10 rounds of 8mm PA stage prop ammo into its magazine (it’s the only small caliber gun in the house), needing help only with directions: Squeeze, push down, load round, release.  Shorter Half had no problems other than manipulating the rounds with his gimpy hand.

And the unloading feature? None of the three of us had any problem other than keeping track of where the rounds ended up, because it unloads FAST.

They seem to run somewhere around $25 - $30, and I sure wish I’d had one when I first got my pistol. Just the thought of loading those new magazines and pinching my thumb was enough to keep me from the range. With an UpLULA™ it wouldn’t have been an issue.

The three of us would recommend these if any of the following apply:

• New magazines with tight springs (far superior to the loader than came with my pistol)
• You have weak, damaged, arthritic, and/or digit-deficient hands.
• You like gadgets.
• You must have everything that is tacti-cool. Hey, it’s black, plastic and steel.
• You really like your manicure.
• You have to load lots of magazines in a hurry because the Zombies are headed your way.
• You’re 5 years old and really want to help defeat the Zombies but you’re not old enough to shoot unsupervised yet.
• You don’t want a callous on your loading/unloading thumb.
• You’re a n00b and need graphics to tell you which way the round goes in.

If thought of loading another party pack of ammo into magazine makes you twitch, you may want to spend that money on one of these instead.

*Obligatory FTC Disclaimer. Yes. Brownells sent these to me for free so I’d review them. There’s precious little I’m qualified to review as far and gun stuff goes, and these are one of those items. I like them. If I thought they sucked out loud, I’d say so. But they don’t. Go tell the BATFEIEIO to go buy a bunch.