G - Guns

Guns, guns, guns. There, now we've weeded out the readers who have wet themselves and run away crying. If you're still reading, you are either interested in guns, or you can at least hear or read about them without panicking and descending into gibbering hysteria.

I am not a gun-nut, Rambo wannabe, anti-government zealot, or any other appellation used by hoplophobes in an attempt to denigrate gun owners. I am simply a husband and father who chooses to take responsibility for the protection of his family. Besides, I like shooting. It's fun. It can also be a useful skill when those dad-burned bucktooth varmints keep trying to eat all the plants in the yard, garden, and barn. I hate rabbits! Is it obvious?

I learned to shoot at the tender age of four. I didn't shoot anything close to regularly until I was in my mid thirties. Since then, I've bought four guns and sold one. I'm still looking to buy a few more, but prices and availability these days are less than ideal. I finally got my wife interested in having her own gun. We set aside the money from this year's tax refund to get one. Then we went shopping for the gun she wanted. (She found one she liked last year.) Guess what? No one has them in stock. Can they get them? Maybe. WILL they get them? Maybe. Will it cost more than it did last year? Definitely! Oh well. Prices will come down eventually. Right?

F - Flying

I miss flying. I got my pilot's license 19 years ago. I last flew an airplane 18 years ago. If you didn't know, flying is very expensive. It's also one of the greatest experiences you can have. I love the feel of freedom that you get when you're 3000 feet above the ground, no flight plan, no passengers unless you want them, and nothing but the sound of the engine to disturb the peace and quiet. I used to love flying through western Oklahoma where there is nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles. Until you get to the artillery range at Ft. Sill in southern Oklahoma. Then it's miles and miles of high-speed steel and sudden death. Note to any pilots flying anywhere near Lawton, OK: make sure the winds aloft match the forecast and you are not 30 miles south of where you think you are. The Army is not amused when you fly through an artillery live-fire exercise. (On a scale of 1 to 10, that's a pucker factor of about 12.5!)

Flying definitely has its ups and downs. (Pun intended)

Ups

Landing on the 13,500 foot runway at the former Clinton-Sherman airport in western Oklahoma. It was used for B-52 training and then for C-141 cargo planes. I got to follow a C-141 on a 5 mile final. It was like a roller coaster without rails. The wake turbulence on Starlifter will toss a Cessna like a child's toy.

Taking off from Clinton-Sherman on the parallel runway at the same time as the aforementioned C-141 takes off on the main one. Most lopsided drag race in history!

Taxiing in a Cessna 152 between two F/A-18 Hornets at Fayetteville, AR.

Night flying. 'Nuff said.

Aerobatics!

And much, much more.

Downs

Artillery. Stay away from it. Seriously.

Air traffic controllers forgetting you are in their airspace and routing a Southwest 737 right over top of you. If you can see the faces of the passengers, you're too close!

Getting lost on your first solo flight away from the airport. GPS would have been nice back then.

I'll stop there. I could go on forever talking about flying. Someday I'll have the money to get current and get back in the air. Until then, I'll continue trying to sneak rides in the simulators at work.

E - Eggs

Who knew farm fresh eggs were in such high demand? I have people at work begging to buy eggs from me. At $3/dozen, I only need to sell 12 dozen a week to pay for my gas to get to work. Too bad I don't have 12 dozen eggs a week to sell. And too bad they're my dad's eggs I'm selling, so I don't get any money from them. I'm basically an unpaid deliveryman. Glad I got that college degree!

Seriously though, it's a way to help out people at work that want better quality food and help my dad make a little money from his surplus eggs. Win/win for everyone. Except my gas tank. It's still thirsty. Anyone know how to get an engine to run on sunny side up?

D - Dogs of War

D is for what else? Dogs of War, my NaNo novels from 2011 and 2012. I still need to finish the first edit of Dogs of War and need to finish the first draft of Dogs of War: Infiltration (BTW, the second book's title was changed from Dogs of War: Havoc). My beta readers were expecting to have Dogs of War by the end of December. I had planned to finish Infiltration by the end of January. Why are they not done, yet? See yesterday's "C" post for all the explanation you need. Gold medal, baby!

C - Crastinator

I'm not sure exactly what a crastinator is, but I have decided that, contrary to what some would have you believe, I am not a pro-crastinator. No one pays me a dime for any type of crastination. Therefore, I must be an amateur crastinator at best. I wish it was an Olympic sport, because I would win the gold every time. Really. It wouldn't even be close. Need a good example? See tomorrow's "D" post. You'll see what I mean.

B - Bearry Sheet

Who's got a voice like Barry White and lives to share the love of God? It's none other than Bearry Sheet! Bearry Sheet is one of the characters I voice for Torah Puppets. If you are not familiar with Torah Puppets, it's a puppet show that teaches children Torah lessons. Hence the name. It was created by +Stan Randall as part of B'nai Torah Ministries and will be airing on Hebraic Roots Network later this year.

Bearry Sheet just loves to teach children about the book of B'resheet (Genesis). When the show goes live, you can check out Bearry and all his friends.

A - Already

This will be my first post for the A to Z Challenge. Today's letter is A. A is for "already" as in, I'm already behind. I had planned to pre-write most, if not all, of my blog posts for this challenge by the middle of March. Instead, it's March 29th and I'm writing the first one. At least I got it done before April 1st! Let's hope I can keep on track and finish out the month.