The Pack Meets Again

Roger and Maddy are pretty well established in their new little home on Grand Lake.  Maddy is leaving her teaching position here in Tulsa to take a part management part charge nurse position in the lakes area.  Mike and Jodi are back from Hawaii.  We all had tales to tell.  

We had agreed to meet at Asiana in Claremore last night but I suggested we move it back to Tulsa at the last minute because of the possibility of icy roads. Roger and Maddy were already in Tulsa and could have spent the night if the roads had iced before they left. So, we wound up at one of our usual haunts, Beijing Gourmet at 61st and Memorial

The Chinese lady who serves as maitre' de gave us a big smile when we showed up and showed us to an out of the way table where we could chat and not be in the way.  The food was good as usual.

It seems that Mike and Jodi did not enjoy their Hawaiian cruise as much as the last one.  It rained most of the time and they encountered heavy weather at sea.  Mike has sworn off of cruise ships but I suspect we will be able to win him over in time for the next Pack Cruise in January, 2015.

As we were chatting, one of the folks guessed that I heard a lot of heartbreaking stuff in my profession.  I do.  I don't talk about most of it because I have a duty of confidentiality to my clients and at any rate most of it is anything but good conversation material.  The saddest part of that is that much of that heartbreak is self inflicted. Sometimes, a huge part of my job is getting my client to step outside of the hole they have dug for themselves and look at their situation as the rest of the world sees it.  I didn't share this all with the pack. Being a downer is no fun for anyone.

We had a good chat and several good laughs.  We broke up early and went home before the ice set in.  And a good time was had by all.    

A Tale From the Hood - The Tabby Cats

Last night, we let our twin orange tabby "yard cats" sleep in the house because of the cold.  I guess there was a certain amount of mercy involved in that decision on my part but I also thought a lot about having to locate a dead cat by smell from someplace deep in my storage building where they normally sleep.

The way that we "acquired" those cats is a story.  A while back, the guy who lived next door at the time was letting a pair of teen-aged lesbians crash in and probably work out of his house.  (Sheila literally chased the next girl that stayed there out of the neighborhood when she began working the corner in front of our house.)  This pair had a newborn baby with them and a pair of identical twin orange tabby kittens.  Once, they left the baby with their host/landlord with nothing to feed her.  The neighbor knocked on my door and told me he was broke, the baby was crying, there was nothing to feed it and he didn't know where the mom's were.  I kind of lost it. I went up the street and bought a box of very

expensive formula for the baby and then warned him if he didn't call DHS I was going to. The kinky young beauties were gone within hours never to return BUT they left their twin kittens.

At first the neighbor fed them but soon he went to jail.  Then his parents fed them for a while but that eventually stopped.  We pestered everyone we met trying to find them a home to no avail.  In the meanwhile, I used them for moving target airsoft practice in the back yard to encourage them to find another home in somebody else's yard.  Before you animal lovers go nuts about the airsoft practice be advised I used a low velocity, spring powered pistol that modern kids regularly shoot each other with.  It just stings a little.  No permanent damage.

I couldn't figure out why the cats didn't move on until I caught Sheila feeding them on the sly.  I demanded she stop.  I might as well have saved my breath.  She just did it anyway.  It's me and Rodney Dangerfield all the way on some issues with Sheila .... like feeding stray animals.  I soon had to lock up our cat door to prevent our one cat  house from becoming a three cat smellathon. Soon, they spent a lot of time begging for food or entrance at the cat door.  I ignored them.  But, the fact that it was VERY cold last night and I didn't want to try to recover a dead cat carcass from somewhere deep in our stored furniture convinced me temporarily call a truce.

Ironically, the truce may have accomplished all that I wanted.  Once they were in the house last night, I locked the cat door to keep them in.  They tried to escape multiple times and I just ignored them.  When one sneaked up on to the bed, I shot my empty airsoft pistol in his general direction.  This one makes a LOUD pop from the CO2.  He disappeared instantly.  Today, they are no place to be seen.  I haven't heard a peep out of them.  I've left the cat door unlocked all day and haven't seen hide nor hair of them.  Maybe one night in the house was enough.  Who knows?  But stop and think about this.  What other neighborhood can you imagine where someone as boringly normal as Sheila and I would be recounting a tale like this?

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A postcript.  They were back as soon as Sheila came home from work this evening.  They shot in the front door as soon as she opened it.  They know who their friends are I guess.

My Great Grandmother Was A Cherokee Princess

You would think that after the recent Elizabeth Warren controversy, folks would learn to think twice before making a dubious claim to Native American heritage.   Perhaps the most dubious is the claim to be the descendant of a "Cherokee Princess."

I was sitting at lunch at a very swanky country club a few weeks back when my host's wife made one of those statements that makes any Okie and particularly a Cherokee Okie want to laugh in their face.  This lovely, polished, otherwise classy lady said with a perfectly straight face, "My great grandmother was a Cherokee Princess but we can't prove it."  Proving that would be a problem.  All Things Cherokee makes an interesting statement on this subject: ".... many Indians consider "my grandmother was a Cherokee princess" to be the mantra of the wannabe. There is no faster way to lose credibility and respect from an Indian than to speak these words." Link The photograph below is the header of a very well written and pointed blog that addresses this issue. Link I think the photo itself pretty well tells the story but this same writer has also written an excellent post on the subject. Link

The statement that you are a descendant of a Cherokee Princess is a common urban myth.  First, Cherokee leadership was not hereditary. Cherokee leaders were almost always elected or appointed when there were any leaders at all outside the clan.  So, without hereditary titles, the "princess" concept becomes somewhat problematic.  Further, it was common for Cherokee men to refer to their wives in the linguistic equivalent of the term "princess."  It was a statement of affection and respect not title.  Finally, in later years before statehood, it was common to publish the title "Cherokee Lady of Quality" when a white man married a Cherokee woman.  This was to let the ignorant readers in other states know that this man had married a civilized woman who was not an uneducated barbarian.  

Another commonly held myth about Cherokee's is that there is a "Cherokee Reservation" in Oklahoma.  The relationship between the Federal Government, the State of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation has always been murky and is seldom understood by outsiders.  The Cherokee Nation was never a "reservation" but rather a constitutional republic which occupied approximately the northeastern quarter of the State of Oklahoma.  When people from out of state ask to be taken to the "Cherokee Reservation" I am tempted to drive them to Catoosa, point out the Casino complex and then say, "Here you are.  It continues to the Arkansas state line east and the Arkansas River south."  Trying to explain checkerboard Indian country to an outsider is usually not worth the trouble unless they are a lawyer.

I am a blue eyed and fair skinned with only a small blood percentage. There were two branches of my father's family, the predominantly white and the predominantly Cherokee.  I never knew the white side.  But, my Cherokee great aunts and uncles were wonderfully gentle and kind. I have very fond memories of meals in their homes and get togethers at their churches and cemeteries.  They were almost all stalwart Baptists, honest to a fault and very family oriented.  But, some of the fondest memories of my childhood are from time spent with my half blood great aunt Ada Miller who raised my all but orphaned father.  Aunt Ada and her full blood husband John Miller were remarkably kind people who took in a sickly, orphaned boy and raised him as their own.  I am honored to have known them.

That's More Like It ....

For over a year, I struggled with the defacto modern state-of-the-art backup/pocket/concealed carry pistol, the KelTec P11 9mm.  It took a chunk out of my thumb once.  It left my hand sore every time I fired it. But worst of all I could never hit squat with it.  I was all over the paper with no rhyme or reason.  I couldn't even fire enough of a pattern to figure out what to correct.

So, I went to a much larger and more expensive weapon for regular carry, a Glock 19, which, after a reasonable amount of practice, I am able to fire fairly accurately.  But, it is a larger weapon, summer is coming and I really wanted something small to just stick in my pocket in the yard, around the farm, etc.  After a ton of research on the internet, I found something startling. Probably the most accurate pocket pistol around for non expert shooters is a less than hundred and fifty dollar Saturday Night Special, the Phoenix Arms, HP22A. Yes, it is a .22.  I ordered one online.  It arrived today.

The target above was shot at ten yards.  Nine out of ten rounds are in the kill zone.  The tenth was a flyer. The headshot was aimed as a headshot.  I have since adjusted the sights to correct the left side error in pattern. After a year of work, I never got anywhere close to that kind of accuracy with KelTec. Granted, as target shooting goes, the pattern above is nothing to write home about.  I expect to keep my rounds within a six inch circle after I have gotten used to the weapon. But, for the first time out after having fired approximately a hundred rounds with the little guy, I have to say that 90% in the kill zone at 10 yards is not a bad start with a 3 inch barrel pocket pistol.  Further, the little gun fired flawlessly right out of the box.  I had

one FTF and FTE out of a hundred rounds.  Not bad for a brand new gun.

The downside of the gun is that the "California" safeties on it are ridiculous and it is a royal pain to field strip. It took me an hour to take it apart, wipe off the excess oil from the factory and put it back together again. The same operation with a Glock would take about a minute.

But, all in all, I am very pleased with the little gun and am glad to have a pocket gun again.  The gun comes in either brushed aluminum or blued finish.  It also

comes in a number of different combinations.  The basic gun with a 3 in. barrel costs about $130.00.  The Rangemaster kit comes with a 5 inch barrel, an extended magazine and a cleaning kit all packed in a lockable hard plastic case.  These sell for around $160.00.  The Rangemaster Deluxe kit includes a 3 inch barrel, a 5 inch barrel, two magazines, the cleaning kit and and the lockable case.  It's a great value.

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Postcript:  The reason the Phoenix is more accurate than the more expensive KelTec goes back to basics. The KelTec has no safeties and relies upon the striker fire mechanism and a long, hard trigger pull to avoid misfires.  Compromises in accuracy are a natural result of this combination.  The long trigger pull makes real accuracy impossible and the light weight combined with a powerful round make it a weapon nobody is going to fire enough to get accustomed to it.  

The Phoenix is an old fashioned, single action, hammer fired weapon.  It relies on too many safeties to prevent misfires but the trigger pull is short and relatively crisp for an inexpensive weapon.  The annoying safeties can be modified leaving a small, old fashioned, little pocket pistol that shoots quite well and is still safe enough to carry if you know what you are doing.  BTW it will half cock.  Anyone who has ever carried a 1911 or a Browning would be at home with it.  Half an hour with a Dremel tool, a tiny shim or two and some luminous sight paint to make the tiny sights light up and you have a fairly nice little weapon with a lifetime warranty.

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A later note.  Yesterday, I decided to practice drawing this little guy from Condition 3 (no round in the chamber).  This is commonly known as the "Israeli Carrry" method.  It requires you to quickly rack the slide to load a round into the chamber after the draw.  If done right it adds only half a second to the time it takes to get your first shot off and is a much safer way to carry the weapon.  This is important in Israel where it is common for citizen soldiers to carry handguns.  It also has the advantage of working on any semi auto without requiring intensive drills on the safeties of that particular weapon.  The first time I tried a "combat draw" with the HP22 it ripped a chunk out of left forefinger.  I naturally went looking for the problem and saw it immediately.  The top of the hammer safety had not been finished completely and was razor sharp. So, if you are following this saga while considering buying an HP22 be advised you will probably need to spend an hour or so with a Dremel tool or a piece of emery paper to take the sharp edges off some of the roughly finished parts on the weapon.

EZ Pawn .... My A**

This afternoon, I did a quick check at a few pawnshops looking for my stolen guns from the farm.  You never know where they may show up and I will not give up until I have the weapons back or the name(s) of the person who took them .... preferably both.

The EZ Pawn in the 3700 block of Admiral Place had a weapon that looked very much like one of my stolen weapons. When I asked the teen-aged black girl working the counter to unlock it for me she asked, "Are you going to buy it?"  I told her that I sure wasn't going to buy it until I inspected it and made sure that it worked.  I didn't tell her that I am a PI working on a case close to my own heart and need to examine the weapon closely to see if it was stolen property.  She unchained the weapon.

I was disappointed that it was not one of my stolen weapons but it looked clean and I figured I might go ahead and buy it and put it away for my grandson in case I never recover the original that was a gift to me from my father.  Problem was, they had the action locked up with a zip tie and the little girl said that she couldn't take it off so that I could look down the bore, examine the extractor, etc.  So, I asked her to call her manager.

The first person to show up was a pencil necked geek of an assistant manager who told me that their FFL license would not let them show a weapon with an unlocked action.  I told him that was bullsh*t because I have read a big chunk of that law and it doesn't say anything like that.  By this time, the MANAGER" had shown up.  She was about nineteen and looked like she couldn't tell the butt from the bore of a rifle.  She insisted that they could not allow a weapon to be unlocked before selling it.  Furious, I told her that she apparently didn't want to sell guns from her store.  

By this time my BP was up and my patience was gone.  I asked to talk to HER boss.  She gave me an 800 number.  I am now waiting for a call from the "REGIONAL MANAGER."  I suspect it will not come.   I have never been treated so stupidly when trying to purchase a weapon.  EZ Pawn must have real personnel problems to collect the crew that I talked to.

I have one word of advice.  Don't try to do business with EZ Pawn.  They're apparently so ghetto minded that they think everyone will put up with their BS.  There are a dozen great pawnshops in town that will sell you a gun or a musical instrument or tools without handing you a line of BS.  Do business with them.  Second Hand Rose on 3rd Street and Green Country Firearms on 31st are two of the best.  The only reason I will ever step foot in an EZ Pawn again will be to do exactly what I was doing today, look for stolen property.

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This is an update to the post shown above.  The Regional Manager for EZ Pawns here in Tulsa called me shortly after 1:00 PM this afternoon.  It is indeed the corporate the policy of EZ Pawn not to allow the customer to examine firearms before purchase.  This is not the law as their local assistant manager tried to tell me.  It is simply an EZ Pawn internal policy.

This is another example of what is wrong with many American businesses concerning firearms today.  The corporate idiots at EZ Pawn would not expect a customer to buy a television without turning it on first or a power tool without watching it operate.  But, they are perfectly comfortable in insulting gun purchasers by asking if your are going to purchase the weapon before they even pull it out.  The Regional Manager "apologized" for this of course but the corporate policy of "special treatment" of gun purchasers makes such inappropriate behavior not only understandable but probably inevitable.

If I walk into Second Hand Rose, Green Country Arms and Pawn or Sooner Firearms, they will let me examine a firearm any way I want to within reason.  They may ask that I not dry fire it or may not depending on the weapon.  But, they may also provide a snap cap to dry fire it safely.  I will be able to handle the weapon, work the action and even look down the bore if I want to.  If I ask for a bore light they will provide one.  

EZ Pawn should get out of the gun business.  If they can't trust their employees enough to tell which customers are a threat and which aren't, they certainly don't need firearms on the premises.  

Bill and Sheila Go To The Mad(dy) House

It was a sad little evening Friday night at the Freeway Diner.  Tulsa is losing one couple of the Pack.  Roger and Maddy have now officially moved to Grand Lake.   We had a good visit Friday evening over the usual diner fare.  Saturday, Mike and Jodi spent the day at Grand Lake helping Roger and Maddy move.  Sunday, we went up to help them unpack.

We headed out around 11:00 AM and had lunch at Asiana in Claremore.  If you don't know about it, Asiana is the best Chinese buffet restaurant I have ever known.  There is a full time sushi chef manning a good sized sushi bar.  The sushi is as good as any in Tulsa where you have to pay an arm and a leg per serving.  The buffet food is well prepared and there is a dazzling variety of offerings.  

After a more than ample lunch, Sheila and I headed up Route 66 and then east on 28 toward Grand Lake. Maddy and Sheila were both a little confused about the directions.  At one time, I had to firmly tell Sheila that I-44 and Grand Lake are BOTH east of Route 66.  But, despite the confusion, we arrived without a hitch.

Roger and Maddy's home sits on a peninsula with the lake on three sides.  Roger's pontoon boat is docked within a short walk of his back door.  It is a small but very well designed little house that should be perfect for a retired couple.  It was already well furnished and well decorated.  They bought it furnished.

Sheila came prepared to work but there was little work to be done.  I helped Roger program his new smart TV to use the internet and Sheila helped Maddy unpack a few boxes.  But aside from that, we mostly visited.  Roger's brother Randy who lives nearby stopped in for a while.  It was a very pleasant little afternoon.

Around 3:00 PM we headed back.  I decided to take Highway 82 back to to 412.  That took us south to Lake Spavinaw then over Spavinaw Mountain.  It was a pleasant little drive and a great way to end a quiet little Sunday afternoon.  And a good time was had by all.

The Rat Pack "Tweens" 2013

I like to call the time between Christmas and New Year the "Tweens."  It's a holiday of sorts since little business gets done and nobody really wants to work.  It's a good time for visiting that didn't get done on the actual holidays, chores etc.

Sunday night, the Rat Pack met at the Freeway Diner.  The Freeway Diner is a great place to eat in a bad neighborhood.  I regularly run across the President of one of Tulsa's best known manufacturing companies there.  It is a hangout for north Tulsa's fast car folks. You may seen anyone from a millionaire in camo to a street vet eating there. It is quickly becoming the Pack's go to place for comfort food.

Maddy and Roger were full of tales from their recent cruise to the Caribbean.  Mike and Jodi are gearing up for their cruise to Hawaii in a couple of weeks.  We missed the Caribbean this year because we had to babysit our grandson, Little Ben, while our daughter and son in law took a belated honeymoon ... on the same ship Maddy and Roger took a week later!

We all agreed to do another cruise together in January, 2015.  Maddy came up with a savings plan where

you put one dollar in the bank the first week, two the second week, etc. for a year.  At the end of the year, you have enough money for a modest cabin for two on a seven day cruise.  We don't all need to save that way for a vacation but the plan should be fun and if it is followed, it should allow a couple or two that we would like to come along but normally couldn't to participate.

As we were leaving, an odd thing happened.  Sheila got a terrible cramp in her leg and had to lie down on the bench by the door as we were leaving.  Maddy, who is an experienced RN as well as a professor of nursing at one of the local colleges, immediately got on her knees, isolated the cramped muscle and massaged it back to normal within seconds.  The whole place was looking on open mouthed.  Maddy shrugged it off.  Said she had done too many shifts in a dialysis ward where that kind of cramp was an everyday occurrence.

After dinner, we took the guided tour of Mike and Jodi's son Josh's new  house.  His place was torched in a revenge attack by the neighborhood drug dealers.  To the best of our knowldge they are now behind bars. Mike and Jodi served as the defacto general contractors over the insurance repairs and I have to say that Josh's place is about as nice a small home as you are ever going to find.  Josh is about as far from a metrosexual as you are ever going to find but his house would make one proud.  Mike is a retired electronics specialist/engineer.  While the drywall was being replaced, he wired the place for just about everything including state of the art video security.  The place is impressive.

It was just a quiet evening with friends but that is a good thing at our time in life.  A good time was had by all.