Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

Random Musings and Idle Chit Chat

Arachnids, Governor Romney, Congressman Ryan, Shooting Sports, Summer Olympic Games, Random Musings and Idle Chit Chat, Schuetzenfest

Last Saturday I was rearranging the dirty dishes that my pal Lawyer had loaded into the dishwasher.  Everyone knows that you cannot just lay your plates in the bottom rack so that they all lay against one another.  Plates that are laid cattywumpus are not going to be clean after the wash cycle.

So I lined them-up in an upright, orderly and tidy fashion.  After which Lawyer informed me:

Tom.  You're too picky.  You need to embrace the chaos.

Here is a totally orderly Guard Tower Deer Stand that Braumeister, New Guy, the U-Boat Commander and I knocked together on Saturday morning.  No chaos here - it is extraordinarily precise.

Number two for us.  Very nice.  We have a good feeling about his location.

Speaking of which I'm beginning to see some additional order out of chaos. How about that pick by Mitt Romney to put Paul Ryan on the ticket as Veep?

This is a REALLY BIG BET and I have to admit that I am exceedingly impressed.  Having survived the poorly vetted selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate (and resulting pathetic, disorderly campaign and humiliating loss of the election) this strikes me as possibly a very smart bet. 

Furthermore, having endured years of Joe the Plumber assuming the mantle of Republican intellectualism it would now appear that there might be a refreshing whiff of genuinely rational and cerebral thought in the air.  The addition of Congressman Ryan to the GOP ticket might just mean that we'll have a real policy debate about pressing and important issues.  To see a smart intellectual make strides and gain acceptance in Republican circles gives me the tingles.

Nevertheless, big bets come with big risks and already the Democrats are warming to the task of painting Paul Ryan's plan to revamp an arguably popular entitlement program as pure poison.

It is going to be entertaining to see how the subject of Medicare reform plays-out over the next three months.

Speaking of poison I found a black widow spider in my machine shed the other day.  It was traipsing across the floor so I picked it up with a piece of paper to examine it more closely.  Sure enough - Latrodectus mactans.  The distinctive orange hourglass marking on the black critter was the dead (pardon the pun) give-away.  

I got to thinking about how a reach into a tool box or a lower shelf might disturb this spider's web - the result of which would be a bite.  A consequence of which is that I would likely go into anaphylactic shock. Which would probably ruin my day. So I squished the eight-legged interloper.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Although I am reminded that there are likely more of them lurking in the dark corners.

Yeech.

Speaking of having a good day several good days - this year's Schuetzenfest was a rousing success.  Not only was there a whiff of Autumn along with all of that intellectualism in the air - there was also the smell of spent powder.  Barbecue and testosterone too.

Check-out these ribs.

Before.  (Three racks seasoned with Penzeys  - Galena Street and three more with BBQ 3000).

And after.  Gas Pains' signature Carolina BBQ sauce on the left and Rudy's (Leon Springs, TX) BBQ sauce on the right.  Cooked low and slow for four hours on the Weber kettles, indirectly with Grove natural charcoal and chunks of mesquite.  Grilled sweet corn from Pierre and German potato salad from Marchant's grocery.

The only thing better might be this fine-handling firearm. 

A WWII era Mauser - sportsterized and fitted with Bausch and Lomb optics.  Perfectly balanced, this baby shoots one inch groups at 100 yards and stands a very good chance of making it into my modest Mauser collection.  And quite possibly the firearm of choice for the fall gun deer hunt.

Which reminds me that I have a bone to pick with NBC and the Olympic Organizing Committee.  I sure didn't see much of the shooting sports during the Summer Olympic Games.  Nothing on television covering pistol, rifle, shotgun or archery marksmanship.  At least that I observed.  Seems like every time I turned on the tube there was beach volleyball.  Sure, what's not to like about an Olympic event that specifies the maximum amount of swimsuit so as to expose the maximum amount of skin for competitors of the female persuasion.  But let's keep things in perspective folks.

Men's archery cinched the first U.S. medal at the London games and unless you looked it up on the web you'd scarcely know it.  And when Kim Rhode becomes the first American athlete to win five medals in an individual event in five consecutive Olympic games - hardly a peep.

It's a screwy world for sure that we live in.

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