aka, The 2010 Census.

Don't get me wrong - I'm completely on board with the Census for it's Constitutionally mandated purpose, and when my form arrives, I will cheerfully and willingly mark it "3", and return it.

Sorting through the mail today, I found an envelope boldly marked CENSUS, and I thought, "Great, it's here." Imagine my surprise when I opened said envelope, and found a letter reading "About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail."

Really, Robert M. Groves, Director US Census Bureau? Wouldn't it have made more sense just to send me the form in the tax-payer funded first class envelope now relegated to my trash can? Wasn't the point of spending 2.5 Million dollars for 30 seconds of air time during that big football game so that I would know that you'd be sending me said form? And really, isn't the point of spending umpteen millions in tax dollars to fund public schools for the purpose of having children read the Constitution of the United States, so that they already know that the government is going to count them every 10 years?

Unbelievable.

For a few days at least. The wife is off to the Big Easy for some industry mingling, leaving me to wrangle the baby on my own. Add in two dogs, a handful of realtors, and an open house, and I'm going to be busy.

I knew this case was being argued, but was not following closely. This quote is being passed around the web, and deserves it.

"Justice Sotomayor, States may have grown accustomed to violating the rights of American citizens, but that does not bootstrap those violations into something that is constitutional".

Alan Gura, Arguing before the Supreme Court on McDonald V. Chicago (pg 5)

Here are a couple photos from a few days after the blizzard. I haven't pulled the neighborhood photos from the other camera yet.

This is not a snow post...

I've spent the last two days preparing my house for sale. One "task" was to clean and organize the basement. The basement is the home for all of my "stuff" - guns, magazines, ammo, reloading gear, tools, food storage, survival library, and the like. To say this was an overwhelming task is an understatement.

Generally, I'm pretty organized. At the very least, I know which pile to dig through to put my hands on something. I prefer to have things stacked and labeled, but that doesn't always happen as I get busy.

So, I began digging through gear, put all my (paper) magazines in a box, all my AR magazines in a box, all my HK91 magazines in a box, bullets over here, loading gear over there, tools in this box, canning equipment and supplies in those boxes, outdoor equipment, garden seeds, matches, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies.... All into boxes, all labeled, all hauled to an off-site storage unit. I certainly made the bunker look bigger.

I still need to straighten up some things, and try to hide the balance of the gun stuff. Having strangers walking through my house doesn't make me terribly comfortable, but it is a necessary evil to selling. I will likely have the movers empty the storage unit, which means strangers who know what I have and where I live.... Maybe I'll get some of that out in advance.

The upshot to this nastiness is a) better organization, and b) better house & property. Going to be a good time - I'm very excited about this move.

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On a snow note, predictions are for 4-8 inches of snow tomorrow!

Another nor'easter is moving in the next couple of hours, with estimated snow fall in the 18-24 inch range. A lot of places have already announced closures for tomorrow. The wife and I have made plans to hunker down at home with the kid, and ride it out.

Update: 2/10/10, 0900
Woke up to about 5 inches of heart attack snow on the ground, wet, heavy snow. Cleared the driveway, sidewalks and cars in anticipation of the next dump, predicted to start in earnest around noon local time.

Update: 2/10/10, 1825
About 16 inches of new snow down, still heavy and wet. We've had a couple of branches fall off of trees, including a big one off of our maple tree that fell across the power line. Fortunately the line held, although we've experienced several brown outs. The wife is preparing to bug out to a local hotel with the baby if the lights go out. If we can get her there.

Update: 2/10/10, 2330
The snow seems to have ceased. We've had a couple more brief power outages, but nothing substantial. Wife and baby are firmly ensconced in their own beds upstairs. The accumulation is substantial. I'm going to get some pictures tomorrow. This kind of global warming snowfall deserves to be recorded for posterity.

Final Update
The official total for the town was 23.5 inches.

We had a nor'easter come through and dump about 2 feet of snow on us today. While that is a substantial amount of snow, it really was a non-event. I suppose I can say that since it was a weekend and I didn't have anywhere to go.

I spent about an hour clearing the cars, driveway and sidewalks. It made for a pretty nice day, and reminded me why winter is my favorite time of year. A thick blanket of snow just quiets the world down, and makes it easier to think. The only thing that could have made it better was sitting in the woods while the snow fell around me. Can't beat that.

One of these things is not like the others....

Click the pictures to embiggen!

One of those muzzles is more than twice the size of the other. That is my new AR-15 upper from Rock River Arms, chambered in .458 SOCOM. You may recall I posted on Nov 2 my thought process on choosing this round over the .50 Beowulf, the other contender to scratch my "Big Bore" itch. After an 11-week wait, it was delivered.

I've not had a chance to haul this to the range, but once I do y'all be the first to know. However, my initial impressions are favorable. It came with a single rail gas block and a free float aluminum handguard, as well as an oversized A2 style flash hider. Mounted on an A2-stocked lower, the gun is a little muzzle heavy, but not as much so as my 24" stainless barreled AR. The barrel looks like a 3/4" water pipe - very solid and impressive.

I did purchase a couple of boxes of commercial ammo to get some immediate gratification before I start cooking up my own. Loading recipes for this caliber are few and far between despite the vast selection of projectiles available. I've gathered a few from the internets, but will have to be careful about working up a good load. The commercial stuff should help by serving as a baseline.

I've already got a nice selection of components in hand, including a couple hundred of the the 500 gr Barnes TSX-DG solid shown above, in case I need to put down a charging cape buffalo in southeastern Pennsylvania. I've also got a few 300, 325, and 350 grain hollow points and "Flex-Tip" on hand or en-route to play with. I fully expect this to be a blast to shoot!

To one and all!

Hermit wrote a great post on building a rural home - go read it!