Upon Us All A Little Rain Must Fall. Just a Little Rain?

About mid-week we were hit by the remnants of a tropical storm and we received (at least at Casa Williams) about 7 inches of rain in 24 hours. I didn't mind the rain since we needed it, but as normal, I did find something to gripe about.

It seems that the newscasters/weather wonks on T.V. just HAVE to try to scare John Q. Public to death when the weather turns bad. I guess because of all the money they have spent on their toys, they have to justify the cost by dramatic reporting.

Case in point, on the afternoon of the storm, all the local TV stations cut into their normal programing, fired up their quadruple Doppler radar, put live radar pictures on the air and started talking non-stop about the storm. This was only with a tornado watch. A little later, when it became a tornado warning, they really cranked it up. Now something that I don't agree with is that the weather service issues a tornado warning when their radar shows a "possible" rotation that "might" indicate a tornado in the storms that they are following. I guess that is the safest way to do it, but it sure does scare folks, sometimes I think way too much. Remember this was not with any tornadoes being reported on the ground or any damage being seen. All during this time, the TV folks are telling people to take cover and get out of mobile homes and vehicles where ever the storm was. The reporters were justifying their doing this by saying that a tornado COULD drop out the storm "at any moment"

Another cute trick they use is to do a close up of the radar and showing where the the various roads are underneath the storm then giving ETAs for the next target areas. We had one of the bigger storms headed our way and they started that kind of thing. I just sat and kept watching the coverage. (You see, I have just a wee bit of fatalism in that if it's my time, it's my time. No matter what happens or what I do) They showed the road where Casa Williams is located on the radar and started the "take cover" chant. My good wife was downstairs in the kitchen and it freaked her out so bad that she took cover under the kitchen table. I went down to check on her and found her there. The dog being no ones fool, was staring at her with a great deal of interest from the other side of the kitchen near the food bowls. I assisted in getting the good wife out from under the table when the all clear was sounded. Suffice to say, other than a lot of rain, nothing dropped out of the sky and the Williams cabin and all it's contents was left unharmed.

Other than that, I have been messing around with various projects of both guns and leather.

On the gun front, I have been working on a old nickle plated Model 36 Smith & Wesson revolver. This model is also known as a Chief's Special (It is a small 5 shot .38 spl. revolver) Back when I was first coming up in law enforcement this was one of the "must have" firearms that every cop wanted. (Well, if you were a Smith freak like I was) I never could get up the scratch to get one at the time. I picked this one up from a buddy and thought I would trick it out "old school" just like I wanted to do with one so long ago. The first thing I did was to swap out the worn wooden grips with a new set of faux ivory ones from Ajax grips. Much to my delight, I found that they fit with only a tiny bit of work required. (Unlike the grips for my single action army revolver, which is a story for another time) I then invested in a Tyler T-grip since I have a very large hand and it would make it easier to control but not add to the weapon's bulk. I also bought a trigger shoe which gives the perception that the trigger pull is a bit smoother and again gives you better control. With all these "bells and whistles" added, it gives me both a better functioning weapon for concealed carry as well as giving it a retro look that I love. Handling this ol' girl brings back some fond and happy memories of a young, still wet behind the ears rookie, trying to save the world.

On the leather working front, the holsters are coming along as well as a leather covered bottle but I got somewhat sidetracked on another project. Believe it or not, I am the sole manufacturer ( In the U.S. that I know of) of leather chin straps for WWII British Airborne helmets. I have some good friends that do WWII Canadian Paras and since I do leather, they contracted me to make up a few. They have been very pleased with my work so far. I don't know that there will be any other leather stuff that they might want to have done, but as always I am open to trying anything, for the challenge if nothing else.

I need to push myself just a bit to finish up the leather since I am starting to get the urge to get back into horn work. Each time I pass by the pile of unfinished powder horns in my study, I feel guilty. -GRIN-