My one political quote in this letter:
Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time...
and your government when it deserves it.
-Mark Twain-

WATCH YOUR HEART! It controls the issues of life! No. I am not talking about the pump though it too is important. I am talking about the attitudes and emotions that make up and govern our life. Do not allow hatred of others in your life. I AM NOT SAYING THAT WHAT OTHERS DO IS NOT IMPORTANT! I am not saying to agree with them.
BUT
I am saying our attitudes will affect us more than those we disagree with.
HATRED WILL AFFECT OUR PHYSICAL HEALTH AS WELL AS OUR MENTAL HEALTH.
It is like eating poison and hoping it will kill our enemies.
Guard your heart! Get rid of hatred.
You do not have like or agree with ... and you do not have to hate!

A Suggestion For Happiness
-look for the opportunity to do unexpected acts of kindness for someone
-help someone you do not know and who most likely you will never find out how your help affected
-stop any judgmental thoughts that may come and do your best to see the person simply as a fellow human being

One of the problems today is "under-defining" grace. We tend to weaken grace and make it just one of the resources of God that helps us do things either for ourselves or for God. We have lost the understanding that grace is the foundation that everything is built on. Somehow we have forgotten that salvation is God's plan and His doing. We did not find the Lord! He found us and included us in His love. It was totally His doing, not ours. In doing this He gave to us everything that is needed for life and godliness. He made us perfect and complete and we can stand in His presence with no fear, no shame, no guilt. Not because we did so well but because God through Jesus has completed everything that needed to be done to make it so. We often get lost in trying to do when all along we need to realize, it is done! Religion says "Do" while grace says "Done." Remember, religion is "do-do!"

"Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who declares the ungodly "Not Guilty", his faith is counted as righteousness."
Romans 4:4-5
Did you see that? God is not asking people to "shape up" and "try to be better." He declares THE UNGODLY "Not Guilty" and when the UNGODLY believe that, God says, "Not only are you not guilty, you are righteous!" That means we can stand in His presence without fear of punishment. He ain't out to hammer us! He is out to pour His love upon us.

This is the great mystery of His grace, that He would come and seek us out, rescue us and save us.
We do not deserve it.
Yet He has done it!
It is called "GRACE."

Celebrate the Birthday of our nation ... but even more, celebrate Papa God's Love for humanity!

Blessings!

Jim

Murphy

~Precious memories, how they linger, how they ever flood my soul~

Unissued, unfired, and sitting in a PD armory for almost 50 years.

I intend to correct the unfired part ASAP

BTW, anyone interested in a 1952 K38 Combat Masterpiece? I love it, but can’t justify two almost identical revolvers, especially when I have three other K-frame .38’s

My first groups with it were with Winchester M-1152 The US Army's high pressure 9mm 115 grain flat point load that is purportedly used in the Sig M-17. It is very fast and is probably +P+. I wish I had taken images of those groups at 25 yards. My 9mm reloads with the RMR 124 Flat points and 5.6 grains of Bullseye 86 were almost as good.

They were a foot high and 3 inches to the left. I had to file the front sight down to 2/3rds its original height and bend the front sight to the left slightly. In the image below is a 50-yard group using a 6 O'clock hold on a 6-inch bullseye using the M-1152 loading. Knocking over the plates at 50-yards is extremely easy.

For an average of 20 shots that Winchester M-1152 115 gr load averaged 1276 fps and a 45 extreme spread for 416-foot pounds of energy. With the 115 grain flat point bullets it should be a good straight-line penetrator.

Although the barrel of this six-shooter is only 3.5 inches the long cylinder makes up for a total of 5-1/4 inches of barrel (compared to an auto pistol) for velocity gain despite the cylinder gap (which is small). The M1152 in my Glock 17 it averages around 1310 fps.

For a $459 Italian Colt replica it is surprisingly smooth to cock and handle. Pulling back the hammer is really light and easy compared to an Uberti, but the trigger pull is not near as good. My other complaint is that the ejector housing feels like I am rubbing the ejector against a hacksaw. Pietta has the inside edge sharp as a knife and the ejector lets you know it while ejecting the empties.

That is another complaint. The 3.5-inch barrel barely allows the ejector to clear the empties. If you Lolly-gag around while ejecting them they don't make it all the way. But if you are deliberate and forceful it will spit them out fine. This handgun needs a birds-head grip frame.

Feeling pretty good ... enjoying the sunshine and getting out. Not having any pain issues which is nice. I cut most of the meds except Tylenol or Ibuprofen and only taking those if needed which I don't most of the time.

I find some cognitive issues ... mathematical things are not working as well as they did previously ... some of the medical websites have defeated my attempts to sign up to see the results of scans etc. I have some "memories" that I now know never happened but sure seemed real at the time. One for instance .. I thought my sister was here with me when I crashed, but it was my oldest daughter. Yet all the "memories" have my sister in them. Weird.

Maybe getting a hard whack on the head ain't really such a good thing?

But I am healing and getting stronger. THANK YOU FOR PRAYING! The Lord has been very real and very close and I appreciate it.

By 1974 the news on the telly scared the snot out of us little ones. Tricky Dick #37's visage sweating drops the size of butterbeans filled the whole screen as he neared utter political self-destruction. Then there was still much talk about the war in Vietnam. But the main stress for the grown-ups, stresses that trickled down to us was the high prices and short supply of gasergene.

We, that is to say my people and their antecedents, had never owned a brand new automobile. The newest was always said to be at least four years old. You know, trade-ins at the end of a usurious bank note. In that era we got hand-me-downs from Pa's boss, mister Bowden. Mister B. always bought new cars and would offer them to Pa just about the time that they needed such inconsequential and inexpensive replacements such as tires, brakes, alternator & battery.

There was a '58 pickup that the local "special" handicapped vocational school had resprayed in the ugliest green that would have made pond scum proud. We sure loved that truck but the most that it would "comfortably" haul in the cab was four. If you wonder at exactly why comfortably is bracketed, well times were hard and our primary source of proteins were beans and peas and hen fruit hence "comfortably" being a relative term in winter when the windows were up. So there were times when me and "the beast", (my middle sister) were glad that we were delegated to the truck bed. Cold rain & sleet & snow being preferable to the noxious atmosphere exuded by the grown-ups and older siblings.

The only problem back there other than climactic exposure and the danger of being flung-out in an accident were the holes in the floor of the truck bed. That particular model's bed had as much wood as metal and the wood was punky after a decade and a half of sitting under those pecan trees. So there was me and "the beast" rolling around in the back clinging to one another as we endeavoured to avoid dropping down onto the treacherous rotating drive shaft. For some reason that was never clearly explained, Ma was compelled out of necessity to ride in the back once or twice. This precipitated the purchase of the '66 panel truck.

This one was as green as the '58 but it was of a kinder shade if you know what I mean. This kept me and the beast and the grocery sacks dry but there was absolutely no air circulating back there and we ate almost as many limas and black-eyes as our parents and older siblings. So you can imagine the quality of the hot close atmosphere.

Both the '58 and the '66 had manual transmissions. Seeing an ugly green panel van with the hood up on the roadside or an even uglier green pickup excited no surprise to other motorists. There was seldom a trip that the gear linkage betwixt the steering column and the transmission did not hang-up. The fix was quick and simple but you had to pull over and raise to hood to accomplish it. That led to the next pony in the corral.

The '63 & 1/2 Rambler was not a large car but we all were able to fit. My place due to my smaller size was lying port & starboard on the back dashboard shelf forward of the rear window. Kid you not ! That was my general quarters/battle station, pretending I was mister scott, the chief engineer of the starship enterprise. My peeps heard "captain, the dilithium crystals are deteriorating !" so often that I was gagged with a handkerchief most every trip to town. If the handkerchief was not handy and I had been eating limas & crowders whilst in the mood for my "tom jones" or "robert plant" impersonations then into the car's trunk I went. The sacks of groceries took my place on the rear dash. I was never exactly claustrophobic but then again I never learned to like the rubbery smell of the spare tire or the fumes of the leakey exhaust either.

I'm no mechanic by any metric but that '63 & 1/2 Rambler had an odd transmission that Ma never quite mastered. It had no clutch pedal but then it wasn't exactly automatic either. She would try to make it go from a dead stop in second or high gear or else we would return all the way to home from town in low and screaming at 4,500 rpms at only 30 mph speed. This made it belch the blue smoke the more which didn't exactly help my respiration as I languished in the trunk.

It also had something of an ignition glitch. Willys & Nash & A.M.C. collectors and enthusiasts are adamant that that year model had a modern overhead cam inline engine but ours, (maybe because of the half-year designation) had an antiquated flat-head engine that caused moisture to drip onto the points after cooling overnight. Long story short, the stubbornness to crank in the morning led to the '67 station wagon.

Now if that Rambler had been the engineroom my own imaginary starship enterprise then the rear facing bonus seat of the '67 wagon with its electric actuated window was the equally imaginary bridge/conn. & combat control of that stalwart spaceship. It was a win-win for everybody. No matter how much legumes or or how many boiled hen fruit I had consumed, I was far enough removed from the middle & front seats that, especially if Ma or Pa overrode my control of the rear window & kept it open then the sulphrous atmosphere was kept at a minimum. The car's AM radio also had loud speakers in the doors of the middle row so that the voices of glen campbell or olivia newton-john easily overpowered my "tom jones" & "robert plant" impersonations/crooning. Did I mention it was a win-win for everyone ? Not being gagged with a handkerchief or confined in a dark trunk was certainly welcomed by me.

But every eden has its serpent as "they" say. Again, I was no automobile mechanic at age seven nor am I one now at nigh-on sixty but the narrative complaint then if I understood it correctly was that that '67 station wagon was designed around a massive engine of 455 cubic inches give or take (pardon if I have the numerology wrong). An option of a smaller engine of 350 cubic inches was available ostensibly for fuel consumption economy but it did not quite pan-out as planned. The smaller engine actually gave less miles per gallon than the larger. 19 mpg. (350 ci.) & 21 mpg. (455 ci.) theoretically on paper with real-life results of endeavouring to aircondition the whole twenty + foot long conveyance at 14 mpg. & 17 mpg. respectively.

I bring you back to the opening theme of this silly tale.....1974 and the long lines and exorbitantly high prices for petrol. Pa had the use of a company owned car or truck as chance happened for commuting to and from his work. We still used the gasergene guzzling gargantuan V-8 sled for personal uses but the trips to town were now rationed to a main comestible forage expedition on saturday and Sunday School and preaching on that sacred day. Wednesday night prayer meeting & subsequent suplimental grocery run on hump-day. Any other necessary purchases were made by me on my bicycle down at Peanut's bodega there at the lopsided "Y" where railroad & rosewood & 40 th. all intersect.

It followed that many of our neighbours were forced to economize as well. There was a sheeny cigar chewing goomer on one side who was queer for my eldest sister despite he being married and her lacking the age of majority by at least two birthdays. He traded his four-barreled muscle-rod for a v.w. beetle. This dropped his prestige in her eyes substantially which was a relief to Ma & Pa if you know what I mean (I did not understand back then).

On the other side, Mister LeBourgeois, a foreigner of some sort and a retired d.o.d. civil servant at the nearby army fort & ordinance depot bought something odd-looking called a Citroen.

Of that automobile Pa jokingly opined, "that contraption looks like the toy car at the circus tent of the county fair where the clowns all pile into it ! It being french, there is no way you could pack thirty froggies into it !"

I was confused. What had frogs to do with it. After all, unknown to Ma, I had had nearly that many frogs (or toads) in my Lee Majors in character as Col. Steve Austin bonifide licensed school lunchbox at one time or another. It took quite a few more years for me to ken Pa's meaning re. "frogs" in this context. After all, language(s) is/are all about definitions aren't they ?

Nothing like a good nights rest!

Wish I could have been there.

While it was touted as a "car stopper" for Police work, it did duty as a game-getter from it's birth. Major Doug Wesson and Elmer Keith were the first notables to use it on game and write it up. Today it is fashionable to pooh-pooh it as a Big Game gun but these men did not see it that way.

There is some reason, however, to at least (in principle) agree with those who are hesitant about the use of the .357 on Big Game.

First, the factory loadings today are loaded to less pressure than the original loads and consequently have less power. The early .357's were loaded in cartridges that utilized a Large primer and heavy loads developed quite a bit of pressure above the established levels of today's factory offerings.

357 Magnum Testimonials from earlier days

1935
Major Douglas Wesson
Antelope - 200 yards (2 shots)
Elk - 130 yards (1 shot)
Moose - 100 yards (1 shot)
Grizzly Bear - 135 yards (1 shot)

The Antelope was hit the first time at 125 yards. It ran, stopped and was shot the second time at 200 yards. The second shot killed it.

The Bull Elk was killed with one shot through the lungs.

The Moose was shot in the chest near the base of the neck. It cut the 2nd rib, passed through both lungs, sheared the 8th rib on the off side and stopped just under the hide. No follow-up shot was required.

These animals were taken on a Fall hunt in Wyoming, near the West entrance of Yellowstone Park. The Grizzly was taken later in Canada.

The above game was taken using factory loads which were a 158 gr. bullet at 1515 fps from an 8 3/4" barreled S&W producing 812 ft. lbs of muzzle energy. (S&W later shortened the barrels to 8 3/8" as we have today)

To those who criticized, the Major replied that they "..had not the slightest conception of what we have accomplished in ballistics.." - a statement that still applies today.

1936
Elmer Keith
"When the new .357 cartridge and gun came out I gave it a very thorough tryout ... and found it had more actual knockdown killing power on all game that I shot with it than any other factory loaded, real revolver cartridge on the market.... (It) proved to have much more actual shock effect and killing power ...than any factory loaded revolver or auto pistol cartridge including the .44 Special and the .45 Colt..."
Sixgun Cartridges and Loads  pages 29 & 30

1938
Walter Sykes
Wildebeest - 100 yards - complete penetration, knockdown on the first shot.
His Guide, John Hunter (of "HUNTER" and "AFRICA AS I HAVE FOUND IT") wrote that the .357 was "the one and only hand-arm for African hunting"...

1938
Sasha Siemel - Professional Hunter in South America
6 Tigres - Amazon Jaguar's - using the S&W .357 Magnum
He wrote, "...It does all the work of a rifle and is light and easy to carry.."

WW II
General George Patton
He referred to his S&W .357 Magnum as his "killing machine"....

1980
Skeeter Skelton
"No automatic cartridge is as powerful as the .357 Magnum........Years ago I stated that if I could have only one gun, it would be a Model 27 S&W."
Skeeter Skelton on Handguns page 16

With the past weeks in mind, here is a message I received that I share with you …. this is from Ed Rush's newsletter Flight Brief. Ed is a decorated Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot. He was the #1 instructor in the Marine Corps for 1-against-1 dogfighting and was instrumental in the training development for the new F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. He has flown close to 2,000 tactical aircraft hours, with over 50 missions in combat.

Most people review their failures like this:
1. Mentally go through the highlight reel at 2 am (especially the embarrassing parts)
2. Wince in the dark.
3. Feel guilty.
4. Try to forget it ever happened.
5. Re-roll the highlight reel the next night (or at least once a week)

That’s not a debrief. That’s just self-inflicted psychological waterboarding.
In the Marine Corps, every single flight ends the same way, no matter how it went. You land the jet, you walk into a room, and you debrief.

This isn’t done to punish yourself, beat your chest, or anything in between. Instead, it’s done to answer one question: What can we do better next time?

So instead of relying on ego or excuses, or saying, “yeah but here’s why it wasn’t my fault,” we bring cold, honest clarity about what happened, and what you’re going to do differently.

But you don’t need to be in the Marine Corps to practice honest debriefing. In fact, that same habit, done right, might be one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines you've ever learned. Because most believers handle mistakes in one of two ways:
1. They beat themselves up for the mistakes (often ones they made years ago).
2. They brush it off and pretend it didn’t happen.

Neither one is faith. That’s fear in two different directions.

But a real debrief is different. You sit down with God—not to confess and sprint away—but to review. You ask honest questions. You listen for honest answers. And then you move forward with better information in mind.

David did this.
Peter did this.
Every cool cat in the Bible did this.

And I believe that one 10-minute debrief with God—done consistently—will do more for your growth than years of guilt, vague intentions, and “I’ll do better next time” speeches. So tonight, before you fall asleep, try it.

Ask Him three questions:
1. What went well today?
2. What went wrong today?
3. What do I do differently tomorrow?
Then listen.
You might be surprised by what He says.

Mister R. Cronan who died in 2015 at the age of 92 was one of our local WWII veterans and was in the third wave on Omaha Beach and said in an interview,

"me and pappy, so far as we knew, were the only survivors of our boat. We called him pappy due to his age. He was at least 20 or 21. At some point up the beach the smoke was so thick that we were compelled to stoop under the smoke to see our way over the fallen wounded and dead and around obstacles. Under that smoke we saw forked rivulets of blood flowing back down the beach into the water."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M_ylKgyRy7A&pp=ygUXUm9sYW5kIGNyb25hbiBpbnRlcnZpZXc%3D

as if I had a good side

here is a good song for today...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPrPtDoaB3s