Concealed Carry

This is a subject that crops up in my thoughts from time to time, seeing as how I do have a concealed carry permit.

The direction of my thoughts today are not the why, but the how.

See, we setters don't have as many options for concealed carry as the pointers do, simply because of how we're built, and how clothes are designed to fit us.

So far, I've only discovered a few that work effectively, and even those are bound by certain things I just can't do and keep my concealed weapon concealed. A couple of these are listed here, and I'd be glad to hear any suggestions from my readers on expanding or altering these.

Shoulder holster. I don't personally use this one, as I haven't yet found a shoulder rig thats built for women, much less one as small as I am. Custom work is an option, but I haven't had the money, or the access to someone who can do the work, to try it out. The difficulty that I see for the average woman in these is twofold. Fit, and angle. The angle is important, because frankly, no one wants to catch a boob in their gun. This same problem rears its head with hip holsters. Not to mention the boobs getting in the way of the draw in the first place. Also, wearing a jacket or such at all times is just not practical in summer heat.

Inside the waistband holster. I've used this, and its the best method I've found for myself personally, although I do have a few requirements that others don't. I use what I've been told is called a "cavalry" draw. I'm right handed, and as a child I broke my right arm in such a way that I don't have complete movement of it at the shoulder. So when I draw, the options are limited. many carry styles leave me sweeping areas around me with the barrel of my gun that I don't want to. As such, I carry in the small of my back, with the gun positioned so that my right hand goes between my body and the grip, and my draw is out, down to my side, and up to firing stance. However, this carry has dress requirements as well. I have to wear a baggy shirt to cover the imprint of the gun. Not a big thing, in the scheme of things, but annoying enough when I really want to wear something a little cooler.

The major problems for women in concealed carry, as I see them, are the chest and the hips. Hip carry sticks the butt of the gun out, or shoves it into a woman's side, depending on her own build and how low on her hips her pants or jeans ride. Shoulder holsters, and some hip holsters, pose the problem of the breasts simply getting in the way of the draw. No matter how big or small you are in that area, they get in the way. If men wish to understand this, borrow a female friend's bra, stuff it with whatever is handy, and attempt to do the things you normally do. And remember, breasts don't just stick out in front, they stick out to the sides as well, stuff accordingly. Better yet, have said female friend help you make it as anatomically correct as possible.

(From the stories that Farmmom has told me of her classes when she became a posse member on the Sheriff's department, this should be a requirement for male firearms instructors. So should having the skin of their chest right by the armpit pinched in the hammer of their gun.)

Like I said, any suggestions or comments are welcome.

And, if any of the male readers are brave enough to try the experiment I mentioned, I want video!

I still don't like cities...

You know, a city is a nice place to visit, what with all the shopping and restaurants and such right there. It could spoil someone used to driving forty five minutes (longer, with the road construction) to get to Wal-Mart and Micky D's.

If it weren't for the people.

I swear, I don't know what happens to city people that's different from small town people, but jeez those folks have bad attitudes.

If city people were half as polite as small town people, I'd probably live closer to a city. Not in it, of course, I like my elbow room, but closer.

The Springs was fun, we had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, then spent an hour and a half searching for a club that no longer exists, then gave up and hit a pool hall for a while before finding a liquor store and heading back to the hotel.

Did you know that Go Fish makes a heck of a drinking game?

I bought a new top while we were up there, after being mistaken for an Old Navy employee. Now, I don't consider myself to be a trend setter or very fashion conscious at all, but I like to think I have my own unique style, aside from "work clothes."

Being mistaken for a fashion drone pushed my buttons, so I went to Hot Topic and bought a pink plaid corset top.

I got looks almost as weird at Hot Topic flipping through what I like to think of as the "hussy" clothes in the outfit that got me mistaken for fashion drone status as I did when I wore the new top out to the pool hall.

I also got a random comment as we walked by a group in the pool hall, from a girl.... "Damn, girl, you need to eat some beans, or somethin."

The guy she was sitting by said "No she don't, she needs to give me her number!"

From the sound I heard, he got smacked.

But I felt better.....

I need older friends...

Headed off to Colorado Springs for the afternoon and tonight in a bit, going to hang out with T, go out dancing, and generally have a good time and behave irresponsibly.

Unfortunately T is only twenty so I had to search all day yesterday to find a couple of places that allowed 18+ in. One of them is probably going to be a juice bar type place, no alcohol, and one of them is a Carribean style club which sounds like a lot of fun. We'll see how things work out, and what we can find otherwise.

Anyway I'll be gone tonight and part of tomorrow, but I'll try to have something interesting to post tomorrow afternoon or evening. If nothing else I'm sure I'll manage to embarrass T in a big way at some point, I usually do.

Aunt Jerry

All my life, I've had an Aunt Jerry. Aunt Jerry isn't related by blood, but by love, and has always been a fixture, and the one who spoiled myself, and my brother, unmercifully.

Oh, and Aunt Jerry is a man. He's the roughest, toughest old style cowboy I've ever found in north Texas, and he does a fabulous Reba MacEntire impersonation.

It never seemed strange to call the cowboy with the chest hair peeking out of his shirt collar "aunt," mostly because thats what I always knew him by, and my parents never made a big deal out of it. When my brother and I were old enough to understand that there was something "different" about Aunt Jerry, and ask questions, he answered them honestly, fully, and always.

I love my Aunt Jerry.

He also has a very twisted sense of humor about his sexuality, when he wants to. Homophobes beware, he'll turn from down home country cowboy to flaming butt pirate in 2.5 seconds, if you can't treat him as a human being.

Most guys my age who have met him, generally push past a slight homophobia when they find out that years ago, he was married to a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, if only to ask him what the hell he was thinking, being gay.

Aunt Jerry claims veto rights on my boyfriends, which is why he rarely gets to meet any of them (ok so they don't always last long enough to make it to that stage...) This story shows exactly why I take care who I introduce to my favorite Aunt....

A few years ago, I was dating a kid from up by Pueblo... not much of a cowboy, but he knew what to say to get my attention, and I was young and stupid. Still am, but I hope I've learned some lessons along the way.

Wes was in need of a job, so I got him in on flagging, and the Farm Parents agreed to let him stay with us until he could get a place of his own. Except somehow it never happened.

He would sit around, drink beer, and watch tv all day, not help out around the house, not pay rent, and generally just leech off of anything he could find. By the time we went to Aunt Jerry's house for an evening, we'd already had a couple of discussions about this. Farm Mom was getting pretty exasperated.

So, we haul him with us for dinner with Aunt Jerry and his boyfriend, on Jerry's ranch out in the middle of nowhere.

As we walked in the door, Jerry brushed aside both of my parents, his long time friends, and picked me up in a big bear hug, exclaiming over how beautiful I was getting, and bemoaning the fact that I didn't dress to show off my figure, as he always does. Then he turned to Wes.

"So this is the boyfriend, huh?" Jerry stuck out his hand to shake Wes's, and Wes, knowing from talking to me how important this man was to me, stepped forward with a smile, holding out his own hand.

Jerry did something I'd half expected, and decided to "play" with Wes.

At the last second, Jerry changed direction, and grabbed Wes's crotch.

He spent a moment feeling around with a puzzled, thoughtful expression on his face.

"Where is it?? Did you leave it at home?? Farmgirl... do you have it?!?"

At this point I was shaking my head over Jerry's antics, knowing he was just playing around, but Wes was terrified. His smile was half frozen on his face, his eyes looked as if he might bolt for the back forty, and his hand was still hovering, outstretched, to shake a hand that wasn't there. A strange man had hold of a favorite part of his anatomy, was insulting said favorite part, and to top it all off, Jerry had thrown in just a dash of his you-go-girlfriend gay attitude.

"I... Um.... That is...."

"That, honey, is not a dick. I'll show you a dick. TONY! Come in here, darlin, and show this boy what a grown up looks like."

At this point, I had to step in, before I had to track Wes across half of Texas when he spooked.

"Aunt Jerry, I'm young and impressionable, I don't need to see that."

"Oh, you're right, fine, fine. But does your boy toy at least know how to use it??"

"I wouldn't know."

"Good girl. Come on folks, steaks are almost done!"

Jerry played nice as everyone ate dinner and had a couple of beers. Later on in the evening Jerry put some music on, and herded everyone into dancing, at which point he decided that he simply must teach Wes how to dance properly.

So he taught Wes a ballroom style dip.

By dipping Wes.

Repeatedly.

When Wes started getting uncomfortable with the whole process, my much loved Aunt looked down at him from the upper hand of the dip, gave him a sultry wink, and said in a low, seductive tone "You're cute when you blush."

Wes struggled out of Jerry's grip, ended up on the floor, and spent the rest of the night sulking because I was laughing too hard to help him up.

He didn't last long after that night, and shortly I'd chalked him up as one of those young and stupid mistakes we all make, and moved on. Jerry helped me realize the mistake sooner than I might have, and I still chuckle to myself every time I think of the deer in the headlights expression on Wes's face when "the gay dude" had ahold of his tallywhacker, making comments to the room at large.

I love my Aunt Jerry.

Silence

Hey folks, just dropping a line to say I AM alive still... just been really busy and really exhausted when I'm not running my butt off, so I fall into bed like a sack of potatoes.

I do have several ideas fomenting in the back of my head for good long story updates, I promise! I just have to get one of them to ferment past the vague cloudy stage and into the put it down in words stage.

I'll try to do that tomorrow (blessed day off, how I adore thee!) because I hear the ugly mutterings about torches and pitchforks, and I like my skin the way it is.

Say WHAT?!?

Human Greed takes Lion's Share of Solar Energy

This is just insane. Its what Law Dog might call rabid Moonbatism.

Apparently, humans are taking up twenty four percent of the available energy produced by plants. Yes, the title of the article is about solar energy, and the subject of the study is about plant energy. Granted, the one fuels the other, but come on.

Oh, and the biggest majority of that so called "greed" is harvesting crops.

Um. I planted the dag blasted crop, I'll do whatever I danged well please with it, thank you very much.

The study basically says that we take up too much of the plant life on the planet, which in some instances might be true. I'm all for replanting trees, and such, but it can be taken too far.

"Here we are, just one species on the earth, and we're grabbing a quarter of the renewable resources … we're probably being a bit greedy."

....................... Re. New. Uh. Bul.

That means... they grow back! Surprise, plants grow, get eaten by LOTS of things, or die at the first frost, and then... miracle of miracles... they grow back!

Apparently in addition to not eating meat (which is a whole other rant) we're not supposed to grow crops and eat them either.

Thats it folks, lets have a world-wide fast. Everyone who believes this bunk, stop eating all together. And don't drink coffee, or tea, either, they're plant products. And don't drink water because as you know its a water conservation century. Ya'll just go sit in your corner, don't eat or drink, and I'm sure that our worldwide consumption of plant energy will decrease.

The study also doesn't take into account situations like here in the US, especially here in Colorado, in which wild herbivore populations have exploded since large scale farming operations have been here. When this area was settled, deer and antelope were few and far between, but since they have a steady, reliable food source, and hunting is controlled (and also paid for in the form of licenses, thus funding programs through the Fish and Game organizations to help the critters that NEED it) the populations have expanded to suit the food supply.

Not to mention... apex species. Even though sometimes I wonder about whether the human race actually is the "best" species out there, we are an apex species, ecologically speaking.

*sigh* We can't stop here. This is bat country.

Freedom

For me, the best expression and feeling of freedom is riding.

I love to ride, whether its riding to accomplish something, or just going out and going riding. There's a lot of it that is mediative for me, and there's a proud feeling when I teach a horse something new, and they get it right the first time.

There's also that wild, free feeling when you give the horse its head and take off across a field at full tilt, like riding an avalanche.

Its a stress release, and a joy.

Its a rush, its humbling, and its the time when I feel that anything is possible, and everything is probable.

The sun shines a little bit brighter, the breeze is just a bit sweeter and all the cares of life just wash away in a feeling of contentment and quiet partnership with a gentle giant.

I guess its appropriate that I finally got to ride one of the new horses on today, of all days.

Happy Independence Day, folks. I hope that each and every one of you gets to have a moment today where you feel completely free.