Lacey Chabert has been a staple on the Hallmark Channel for about 8 years. The Queen of Hallmark if you will. Whenever they did one of their big budget extravaganzas (Africa, Italy, Belgium, “Genovia”), Lacey was their go to gal. She has also been tearing up the screen for them on their ‘Movies and Mysteries’ channel in these detective sagas, a channel we don’t get. There is not a bigger fan of Lacey’s than me. When Hallmark was having a “meet the stars” convention in the LA area I seriously considered driving out there. All of this is to say I wish her no ill will, its just how I see it.

I just caught a few snippets of last nights premier of Sweet Carolina (8 pm to 10 pm), I’ll catch the full movie tonight 6 pm to 8 pm. There are several reasons I thought it was so lame. Hallmark has to employ the worst writers that ever laid pen to paper. Maybe its just me (10 years viewership), but after awhile it seemed the story was always the same, they just inserted new actors and gave it another title. Hallmark’s emphasis has always been on having attractive people in beautiful settings. Writing was an afterthought. Living in a ‘Thomas Kinkade‘ world.

Chemistry, that was the other missing ingredient. Tyler Hynes (beard guy) is no doubt a fine fellow, but he just ain’t getting it done for me. Not believable. Lacey does her thing it looks like, but she needs some help. She turns 39 in a couple of months. She’s been the most beautiful woman in the world for 20 years now, maybe its run its course. It happens. Having been a student of old Hollywood for years, I’ve watched the most amazing women have what seemed like a switch thrown when they turn 40. They’re no doubt going, “What the hell just happened?” I’ve noticed like with a lot of cinema’s great beauties, they make their breakout movie before they’re 25. Prime time.

Disinformation on the internet was never really a concern of mine. I figured I was too smart to be fooled by that. Boy was I wrong. Nothing major, just annoying little stuff. It just made me wonder, “Who does stuff like that?” Is it government actors like the Russians? Disorganized sadistic trolls seeing who they can fool? I definitely read a story where that’s exactly what several sites did, see how widespread they could get their bullshit to go.

The media was certain that’s how Trump was elected, by the nefarious Russian disinformation campaign! No, Hillary was just a dolt who didn’t think she had to go to Wisconsin. She thought the election was just a formality and that the Crown would soon be hers. I suppose my eyes were first opened to the bullshit going on was during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.

Going around conservative circles at the time was a photo from the early 80’s purporting to show a topless Christine Blasey-Ford passed out drunk on a picnic table to show her irresponsible ways (danged if I could find that photo now). That happens a lot in conservative circles. Some “Twitter screen-shot” of some outrageous comment AOC is alleged to have said. Liberals love doing this so they can then claim how stupid conservatives are.

The culmination of all this was having the “gay diaries” opened this past year. I got kicked off Twitter years ago (2018 maybe?), but while I was there I was subject to a lot of “well you knew he was gay didn’t you?“, like what kind of naive moron are you? One of the funniest was an interview of Tony Randall’s widow. She knew of the public’s perception of Tony’s sexuality, but she assured us he wasn’t gay. She’d said he wouldn’t have been able to fathom where it had come from.

One of the most outrageous assertions was Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Everybody “knew” he was gay. Until it turned out he wasn’t. 2 wives, 3 children. And its not the point if he was, why are people pushing these stories about a person’s sexuality? I just don’t get it. The last 2 were the strangest: Alex Trebek and Patrick Stewart. Nope. Each had multiple wives. Why are people pushing this shit? (Trebek was a Canadian though) Then there are the ones like Rock Hudson that it didn’t come out until a year before his death! Oh, and The U.S. Men’s Ice Skating Team.

[Watching ‘Return to Mayberry‘ last I was reminded I had seen some article years ago claiming Aneta Corsaut (Helen Crump) was a lesbian. Which is laughable as it came out years later in the book ‘Andy & Don’ that she had had a flaming affair with Andy Griffith during the run of the show! Where this crap comes from is beyond me. And further on in the woman front was the assertion that McNichol and Nancy McKeon were also! I believe nothing now.]

Who doesn’t want clean brass? The shooting industry is ready to help you get spotless brass. $180 dollar Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler, holds 30 pounds! Hornady Ultrasonic amphibious assault cleaner, $200! You can’t afford not to have them! One-Shot magic cleaner, $20! What’s funny about it is I’ve gotten the cleanest brass I’ve ever seen using a screw-top quart jar from Dollar Tree and a few household chemicals. The video claims you can find bulk amounts of corncob media in the pet department and ground walnut as blasting media for polishing at automotive stores, I haven’t found that to be the case yet.

I do know that a pint of near boiling distilled water, a cup of vinegar, a half cup of lemon juice, five drops of Dawn dish soap and a tablespoon of salt will get you the cleanest brass you’ve ever seen in 5 minutes. The rotary tumbler and ultrasonic cleaner want you to do it for an hour or two! I did 200 rounds of 9mm in that $1 plastic jar from Dollar Tree, shaking it for 5 minutes. Then I rinsed. Neutralized the acids with a baking soda rinse. Finished up with another cup of distilled water that had about a teaspoon of Flitz gun wax (liquid car wax works too) mixed in it for 30 seconds. Let room dry overnight. You want the wax on there to prevent the brass from tarnishing if it sits for any length of time, plus the coating helps the brass slide in and out of the reloading dies.

You only need to use distilled water first and last. If you want you can finish it off with a 2 hour spin in a vibratory tumbler using Hornady corncob media for a final polish. This stuff is a joy to use compared to what I had 20 years ago. That stuff was about a quarter inch in diameter and all it did was get stuck in the case and in the primer pocket. You spent about as much time picking the stuff out of the brass with a paper clip as it spent in the tumbler. This new stuff by Hornady is smaller than the head of a pin and goes right in and out of the inside of the case and the primer pocket. It is a joy to use. The vibratory tumbler is completely a luxury, I had it so I used it.

I really don’t recommend corncob or walnut media for cleaning though, just as a polisher. Wet washing the cases confines any possible dangerous elements from the primers or spent powder to the wash and it goes harmlessly down the drain. Then if you do tumble, your media stays clean as the cases have already been washed, and all it has to do is polish! The media lasts forever, and any dust that is there is from the essentially harmless corncob or walnut. So there you have it, the ultimate brass washing guide. The key steps are a vigorous wash, neutralizing the acids, a final rinse (with distilled water) with a few drops of liquid wax to prevent tarnishing, and air dry overnight. Total cost: $9 (somewhat better than $300).

20 some years ago I started reloading and one of the first things I bought was a Lyman tumbler similar to this. What no one had considered for all the decades prior to that was that when you stuck brass straight from the range in those vibratory tumblers, you were shaking the leftover dust from inside the cases into your lungs. Largely from the primers (lead and mercury), but also powder residue. And anyone who has used those tumblers can tell you about the dust. It only took 50 or 60 years for people to think, “Hey you know we shouldn’t be doing that.”

Hence the rise of wet rotary tumblers and ultrasonic cleaners. Both using a cleaning solution that contains the lead and mercury so it just harmlessly goes down the drain. With the rotary type they used a stainless steel “media” (quarter inch pins) to act as an abrasive on the brass. Separating that from the brass afterwards has to be every bit as irritating as poking corncob from the primer pockets with a paperclip.

People recently have discovered you really don’t need the stainless steel pins. Good riddance. I have to wonder if the ultrasonic isn’t the way to go. Though I’ve found out myself the distilled water, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and a few drops of Dawn dish soap stirred in a bucket for 5 minutes does a bang up job. Plus the added benefit, if you then wanted to put them in a vibratory tumbler, it would be perfectly safe as the carcinogenic powders would have already been washed off.

Funniest of all, is that I and others have taken their own brass (not dirty range brass) straight to the reloading bench without cleaning them at all! A lot of the push for ultra clean brass is just marketing, and not a real concern with carbide dies. You could spend well over $500 dollars and into the thousands if you wanted to for the ultimate brass cleaning experience. But then something I’ve recently discovered, besides the fact I like clean brass, is that there are 2 advantages to having it bright and shiny. When your semi-auto ejects it to hell and back, it’s much easier to spot shiny brass on the ground. The other thing is that once you are getting ready to reload it again, before you stick it in the reloading press, its much easier to spot splits, cracks and other defects on shiny brass, then it is on dull and tarnished brass.

See that’s a witty play on ‘7 of 9‘, her character’s name on Star Trek Voyager. Born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany (an Army brat). When her dad retired they settled in Paducah, Kentucky (say it with a hillbilly voice). Went to Northwestern University, won several beauty contests while there (no shit). Caught the attention of me and every other male in America with the arrival of Star Trek Voyager to the TV screen. IMDB bio page has some funny quotes and trivia: “Often plays powerful, authoritative women. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Voluptuous figure (ya think?). Seductive deep voice. Miss Illinois 1989. Was fourth in the 1990 Miss America Pageant and won the swimsuit competition (now that’s a surprise).” Several other great stories there about her Voyager and pageant days. I find her interesting in that she doesn’t seem like a twit, and might be a nice person. YouTube put a clip of her on Voyager in my recommendations. It occurred to me then that of all the Star Trek iterations, Voyager seems to be the least played in reruns. Around here anyway it always that creepy Deep Space Nine or that metro-sexual Next Generation shit.

Having watched some more “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Star Trek: Voyager” and clip shows, I learned a lot. It turns out Jeri Ryan was brought on in the 3rd season to save a sinking ship. Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) really resented that the show couldn’t make it on its merits and had to bring in the sex bomb Ryan. She said in a 2020 interview it was “all on her”, meaning the tension on the set was in no way Ryan’s fault. Then they had various shows where an ‘alien’ would inhabit 7’s body, or 7 would become drunk, and Ryan was able to act out of character in a hilarious way! What I really would like to know is what kind of incredible confidence does she have that she was able to walk around in that skintight costume for 4 years showing every minute detail of her body and not be self conscious at all?? Most women would curl up and die before they’d do that.

As one of the commenters on YouTube said, “Do you hear this stuff on the radio?” Oh hell no. I recently ran across another song of his ‘South of the River’. Original stuff, not following the herd. Corporations still control who gets playtime, not the listeners.

The morning walk took me out into the woods today. Its that time of year in Iowa to be looking for morels. Essentially all mushroom hunters if they come upon a dozen mushrooms will take all 12. The idea of leaving any for the next guy is unheard of. I used to work with a guy who loved to brag about how many bags he brought back. I should have thought to ask, “How many did you leave?” I think if fishermen could fish out a pond they would. Kind of like at the start of the Toilet Paper Apocalypse people were picking up an entire case off the pallet at Walmart. The idea of leaving any for the next guy was completely foreign to them!

Having done a certain amount of camping I was exposed to the old time ‘conservationists’ way of thinking, not the modern environmental whacko. The conservationist had a creed as it were. When you left a campsite you left a small stack of wood. You cleaned it up better than you found it. You would make sure to throw away any sharp metal or broken glass. You would never hunt or fish more of an animal than you could eat. You didn’t do your bathroom business near the water or a likely campsite. You weren’t noisy or disruptive. You weren’t a jerk.

That no longer applies. When I was at Bass Pro the other day for their Saturday morning ammo frenzy, I quickly decided I’d never be back. Bass Pro was still under their pre-pandemic ammo limits: 5 boxes per caliber. That’s ridiculous. They only get in 10 on average. 1 guy walks off with half the stash. I watched 1 guy at the checkout and really should have asked him if he’d contemplated leaving some of the five for the next guy? And this type of behavior is for stupid things like ammo and toilet paper.

God help this country if we ever face a food crisis.

[“2021: The year where handing over your wallet to a mugger is cheaper than shooting them”]

Uncle Jim’s Country Brass Cleaning Recipe

1. 1 pint water (distilled)
2. 1 cup white vinegar
3. 1 tablespoon salt
4. 1 teaspoon Dawn dish soap
5. 1 / 3 cup lemon juice

5 – 30 minutes stirring occasionally with wooden spoon

rinse well, neutralize acid with a good teaspoonful of baking soda in about a cup of water

rinse well, add a few drops of gun wax to 8 ounces water (per 50 cases), stir well, empty, lay out on towel paper overnight laid flat (don’t want water to pool in upright case). Letting the wax dry on it acts like a case lube for the dies and protects the finish.

Lemon juice can be replaced with Lemishine powder. Probably a teaspoonful.

Can also “pre-wash” the cases by rolling 5 or 6 between your hands with a teaspoon of Brasso liquid. Rinse before washing in the solution.

Never underestimate capitalists (shysters). A couple of years ago I’m reading either Runner’s World or Trail Runner and I see the latest ‘must have’ accessory, walking sticks. I’m not joking. Running or walking is pretty simple, a pair of shoes and some sort of attire and you’re good to go. Nowadays they have these people convinced you need to have all manner of electronics strapped onto you and the latest Gor-tex underwear to “wick” away moisture. Not to mention all the hats, gloves, sweat pants, water bottles and nutrition bars. Makes you wonder how people did it 50 years ago.

The gun industry easily has as many shysters as the running industry. The leading indicator of this is how they now rave as the second coming a pistol that actually works. That wasn’t always a requirement in the past. A pistol with a grip that actually functions as a “grip”. A trigger that isn’t a Bow Flex for your index finger. A magazine and feed system that puts a round into the chamber most of the time. Sights you can see. In the years 2021 (after 100 years of arms making), gun makers are quite convinced they are hot shit.

So now they have taken to selling “red dot” sighting systems that cost more than the gun. In this video Hop, purveyor of the cheap and tawdry, combines two of the most, Bushnell and Taurus. Taurus is riding high after getting a couple of pistols that function. Bushnell has long been a supplier of optics people can actually afford, a match made in heaven. Combine that with the gun slut Hop and it makes for a great video. The comments on YouTube are what make it for me.

[All this is promulgated on the idea of self-defense shooting, which is going to be within a few feet if at all, and not at 35 or 40 yards which is what these red dots take you out to. Not to mention how they greatly increase the size of the pistol, that they have been working very hard to miniaturize! But like I say, none of this has anything to do with the practical, its just about selling you crap.]