I could take this over to Lawrence’s, but I have two very good reasons not to.
One, Lawrence would tell me “Get this s–t out of my house.”
Two, I can post it here, where perhaps a handful of people who were on old school USENET will get a small chuckle (maybe) out of it. Heck, for all I know, he might even show up in the comments.
There’s nothing in the local news article that makes me gag. Except maybe the name “crookie”, and that’s still better than “cronut”. As for the fair’s website, only the “Fat Bacon Pickle Fries” trip my gag reflex. Though I will say to the inventors of the “Lay’s® Potato Chip Drink”: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” I’m also not wild about the “Hot Cheetos® Korean Corn Dog”.
Also, what’s the thing with “street corn”?
And I kind of want a “Milton’s Giant Amish Doughnut” right now.
Wasn’t “Cheeseception” the title of Christopher Nolan’s abandoned sequel? And isn’t the “Beso de Angel” really just a re-structured ChocoTaco?
I do not want to say this is the highest and best achievement of Western civilization: that would be either Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or deep-fried butter on a stick, depending on my mood.
Personally, I’m not that big a ranch dressing fan. Also, this loses points for not being on a stick (as far as I can tell). But it is a pretty solid effort. Perhaps we will see this at next year’s State Fair in Texas.
Naomi Pomeroy, prominent Portland chef. She appeared on a few reality shows, but probably wasn’t that well known to my readers. The obit is interesting, though.
She and her first husband, Michael Hebb, got started by hosting “underground suppers”. They proved popular enough that they were able to get investors and started opening brick and mortar restaurants. They got widespread acclaim in Portland for “revitalizing” the restaurant scene there, and some national acclaim.
Ms. Pomeroy was left holding the bag. The “Portland Monthly” article and, to some extent, the NYT obit, make it sound like she was the real talented chef of the two, while Mr. Hebb was more of an idea and hype man.
Ms. Pomeroy did manage to recover and re-enter the restaurant business. She was 49, and died in a tubing accident on the Willamette River.
I’m glad to say that this year’s hotel (which we were also at in 2021) was very very happy to see us. Last year’s hotel…wasn’t, and I’ll just leave it at that. The Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center, on the other hand, could not have been more accomodating. (They did have “No Firearms or Weapons” stickers on the doors, but I never heard anything about anybody being hassled by the hotel staff.) I was privy to a conversation between one of my friends (who is a S&WCA officer) and one of the hotel managers, and the manager was very excited about having us back. We tip well, we don’t throw loud obnoxious parties, we have our own security, and we don’t trash the place.
There are two popular questions people ask me. Well, maybe one “popular” question and one not-so-popular.
“Did I buy any guns?” Answer: yes, but we’re still going through the transfer process. Once that’s complete, I plan to do a post. Here’s a hint:
“Did I buy any books?” asked nobody, ever. Answer: Yes! My book buddy from the Association came down from Canada and brought a stack of books. He thought I might be interested in “some” of them and planned to put the others on his sales table. I bought the whole lot, which came out to ten books by my count. This includes two new-to-me Samworths, one duplicate Samworth that’s in better shape than my copy, three Jack O’Connor books that I didn’t have, and some miscellaneous books from other publishers. I will be annoying my loyal reader with posts on those books as time permits.
Additionally, I happened to be working the registration table with another gentleman who, it turned out, was also a gun book person. He had somehow wound up with a spare copy of a recent gun book and gifted his spare to me.
I also picked up a fair amount of old paper, some of which my book buddy threw in as part of my purchase and some of which I bought from other dealers. I may scan and post some of this, especially when I do the gun post.
(And as a side note: the night before I left, I got two huge and heavy packages from an auction lot I’d placed a lowball bid on, and won. The lot was for old “gun and ammo” books. So I’ll be sharing interesting bits from that lot as well.)
Since Sunday was an off day, I drove up to Oklahoma City specifically to see the 45th Infantry Division Museum, which is now known as the Oklahoma National Guard Museum (and which is moving to a new facility). You may recognize the 45th Infantry Division Museum from such hits as:
I thought it was a very nice museum. They had me when I discovered there was an entire room devoted to Bill Mauldin.
Here. Have a random photo of some bazookas.
I’m very glad I went, especially now. As I noted above, the museum is moving to a new location. And I got into a conversation with the curator, who told me that they are planning to deaccession some things, as the new museum will be placing more emphasis on “telling stories”. I think that’s kind of a shame. Where else are you going to see this?
I encourage you to go now, if you’re in the area and have the opportunity. I would actually like to spend more time at the museum, but I wanted to get back in time for dinner and to take a couple of photos in Muskogee:
I took a group of my friends to Siegi’s Sausage Factory and, as far as I could tell, everyone loved it. Another large group of my friends took me to the White River Fish Market and Restaurant, which I liked, but which was in a really gritty part of Tulsa.
We also went to an Abuelo’s one night, because it was very near the hotel. I went by myself one night to a place Mike the Musicologist calls “The Laugh-In Restaurant”: Sake 2 Me Sushi. It is all-you-can-eat, but I wasn’t wild about the sushi.
And Sunday night’s celebratory dinner was at The Chalkboard, because I haven’t been in forever and wanted some Beef Wellington.
Everything went smoothly. No complaints here, except that eight hours in a car does get a little tiring.
Usual thanks to the usual suspects. You know who you are. (It appears that word has gotten around within S&WCA circles that I have a blog.)
Yesterday was an extended travel day. I got in around 5 PM last night, and had to unpack the car and take care of other business. So blogging opportunities were limited.
Oddly, I have to work today, and have meetings tonight. But tomorrow is a company holiday. I’m planning to post something of a trip report then.
The people at Underwood Ammo are really nice. Go buy stuff from them, please. It doesn’t even have to be .356 TSW ammo. I bought a shirt, because you can’t buy guns or ammo at the meeting.
Miles walked today: 4.2. We finished off the entire lower level and got about halfway through the upper level. I expect to be finished before the show closes tomorrow and have enough time to go back to a few places. We haven’t quite made it to the Smith and Wesson booth yet, but we have been within feet of it.
We’ve had excellent meals so far at Royal China (repeat, took friends, still great) and Taste of Europe.
Best swag today: nothing really outstanding, but Fiocchi did give me a hat. They seemed to be really pushing 5.7 ammo.
Someone else gave me a book: Rod Of Iron Kingdom, by Hyung Jin Sean Moon. They told me it was a Biblically based defense of the Second Amendment. I haven’t read it yet (we just got back to the room) so I can’t tell you any more about it. Here’s their website, but I can’t get past the front page on my phone.
Most interesting thing seen today: the LabRadar LX. It looks a lot like the Garmin Xero C1, and appears to be close in price. Unlike the original LabRadar, it can only measure out to 15 yards from the muzzle rather than 100. But the LX can measure up to 5,000 fps: the original LabRadar is limited to 3,000 fps. (I know, it probably sounds silly. But when I get around to chronoing my .220 Swift, I expect the loads to be well over 3,000 fps.)
Superior Outfitters is opening a new store and asked me to note that. So noted: the new store is in Terrell, behind the Buc-ee’s, and they make a point of saying it is behind the Buc-ee’s, which amuses me.
No, we did not go to see Trump or Abbott. Nor did we go to the actual meeting, though our friends did. The big news is that the motion to move the NRA to Texas was rejected: it seems that people think it is premature and not enough work has been done on what it will cost.
I’ll vote that ticket. I went by Wilson’s booth to ask them about gunsmithing: I have a gun that I’d like for them to work on, but they aren’t taking any work for non-Wilson guns rught now. According to them, they have…two gunsmiths working right now. So nobody can get sick or take a vacation.
We went by the Hornady booth and I got to talk to the folks behind the podcast, which was cool. Thanks, guys! Also got a poster with all their bullets on it…I believe actual size.
We also had nice conversations with people at the Ruger/Marlin booth. The best was with one of their factory reps about the left-hand market and Ruger’s catering to it. According to this gentleman (and he was truly an old-school gentleman) 20% of the firearms market is left-handed. Many of them have learned to shoot bolt guns and other rifles right-handed, but Ruger thinks there’s a market for left-handed guns. They already have done left-handed Gunsite Scouts, and a left-handed 10/22. And there’s plans for something new this fall…
Worth more investigation: TagMe by Ocufil. This is a beacon system that transmits to a local base station: you can have up to 10 beacons per base station. The beacon is attached to something you want to protect, like a gun. When the beacon moves because someone picked up the item, the system sends an alert to your phone. It definitely isn’t like an AirTag or Tile because it doesn’t do motion tracking: it only alerts you if something moves your stuff.
Okay. I’m tired again. Strange how that works. I did also want to mention from yesterday the neat little Tippmann Ordnance .22 Gatling gun. You could have a bunch of fun with that.
Time for to go to bed. More tomorrow on this station.
