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I can think of nineteen better places to check out of "Hotel Earth" than Wong-Mart......glad you had a pard to help you out.
Speaking of Bills, forum member Bill Moore and his charming wife Valerie dropped by yesterday on their way home to Silver City, NM after taking their kids to the airport in Tucson. A great visit, with much stimulating conversation. I just wish they could've stayed longer.
Hang in there, Ranger.
:salud:
Yup, Bill Moore is a good'un to be sure. Would love to have a sit-down with both of you guys! Bill fixed me up with a classic .45 mould that drops slightly oversized slugs for a pistol, but is PERFECT for my .45-70 rifle. Now I got 250 gr Keith style SWC's for my levergun. Too cool....
Bill, from across the road, and his neighbor/brother-in-law, Allen, do tend to keep me outta trouble when they can. They married sisters and live on adjoining property across the road. Between the four of them Bill is a fellow guitar player, Allen is a shooter, and their wives keep us all humble with their common sense. :speechles
I recommend any with the opportunity to stop and visit the Phantoman and his lovely wife. A tour of the "museum" is really a thrill, but we came at an unique time when the "hot rod" was in the garage. What a beauty, (and although I hadn't forgotten), it was refreshing to once again hear what a "real" engine sounds like!
(Roger has the cutest grand daughter!)
Well Ranger I am glad to hear you survived Wal-Mart, I loath that place....but where else can you get a Henry Rifle/cat liter/tomatoes, fried chicken fingers and diapers all in one stop?!
Hope you are feeling better. Wish there was something i could do to help. Hang in there and keep on shooting!
The sad part is that the following day I began to experience horrible congestion in my head and chest. Got real weak and felt just awful. Damn if I didn't catch something from someone at WallyWorld!:mad: The bad part is that I cannot take anything for it as any decongestant will cause my BP to go into the stratosphere and kill me. So for all of the weekend and most of this week I've been flat on my back and super sick. I try to watch what I touch and steer clear of anyone that even looks sick. But being in distress that day I could have had a guy cough right in my face and not known it. I was really reeling on my heels that day.
Haven't pulled a trigger in a week nor touched a guitar in two. Just feel flat out miserable.... Just double up on vitamin C and been toughing it out. Being a true recluse has it's rewards by not catching stuff from people. But..... when you do venture out into the world there's always some sniveling little snot slinger just waiting to infect you!:XRE
The twenty-first century equivalent of a Wynn-Dixie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Volumeknob
:up
In our town, you can get everything at Wal Mart, including STDs by the women who come there to pick up guys who look like they already have STDs. 10pm Friday night is Stuff Your Fat Into Tight Jeans and Wear A Halter Top Night--make sure that your badly tatoo'd tramp stamp is fully visible even if it means seven inches of crack is exposed, and remember to push your butt together so tightly in those jeans that in the back it looks like your crack goes halfway up your back.
I am not exaggerating. You see it in your mind now, so I'm not alone in this, not alone.
Ranger, you have to keep playing. For every note you play, you negate the Wally World aka the actual Bowels of Hell.
These creatures are known as "Wal-Martians".Quote:
Originally Posted by ch willie
:laughing:
That explains a lot. I think they were looking for a probe.Quote:
Originally Posted by phantomman
The males may have been preparing to beam back to their home planet. You know......"Yeranus".Quote:
Originally Posted by ch willie
Watch your six!
:D
An update of sorts.....
Sold a pistol I didn't want any longer to a neighbor. Then I took the cash and got my Epi Dot Dlx out of hock. The LP is still in, but I should be able to get it out soon enough I think. But back to the subject.
The strings on the Dot were shot. Installed my favorite D'Addario EJ20 (10-49 with a wound G) and tuned to DADGAD and forgot about the pick. Plugged into my little Fender Mustang I amp and set it for a simulated Twin with a decent amount of reverb and just a hint of delay.......
After 45 minutes of sheer melodic finger picking delight and such with the gorgeous tones from that Dot, I decided to keep playing after all. Oh, I had it in mind to sell that Dot to Bill, across the road, as he always drooled over my Dot. In fact he has a black one on layaway at a music store in Tyler TX.... But on second thought, after hearing how good that Dot sounded and how easy it played (great set up when my hands worked good) I figured as nice a guy as I am (hey! It could happen!!) Bill can go and find HIS dot just like I found mine.... Besides, he's got three of my old amps and two guitars that used to be here at my place.
Now I'm still gonna be trimming down the inventory as I cannot rationally justify keeping five or six guitars. That's ludicrous thinking to have that many, but I'll still pick one up and wail. May not be like I used to be, but it's OK. I believe de Melo said it best when he said "We play because we have to." :Banjo: Sometimes the old man needs to pay closer attention.....
Oh, and one more time..... That Dot sounded great and Bill ain't gettin' it!:roflmao
Glad to hear that you have rediscovered playing so to speak, Sometimes a break and a bit of reflecting will do wonders for the soul....
Glad you got your guitar back, Ranger, but sorry you had to sell a pistol to get it. Everytime I sell/trade a firearm, I later regret it, (well come to think of it, same with guitars!)
Great news! Hang onto that Dot! I've been looking in to one.
Congrats on coming out of the other end of that tunnel!
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE's BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/xq...ohnny.gif~c200
Put the Dot back into standard tuning and piddled a bit more today with it. Got about 10 minutes in and then started dropping the pick a bunch. So again, I just used my fingers again. Pinky kinda goes out on me, but the rest work OK still. About 30 minutes was all I could handle and then stuff started getting numb and such.
Oh, Bill called me and said he could hear me wailing earlier. Said he thought that I was gonna sell the Dot. After a huge guffaw and further outright smart-ass laughter, I said he's gotta go buy his own Dot if he wants one. Mine ain't for sale. I thought I heard sniffling for a moment.:bawl Oh well.....
And Bill (our Bill here on the forum, Bill that is)... The pistol I sold was a bottom feeder auto that was not really what I called my favorite by any means. I was going to sell it regardless, so no loss for me. Shucks, I'm a wheelgun man! :D
You've gotten some good encouragement here and I hope that you hang in there with your guitar playing. I know the stroke took a lot away from you, but the brain is an amazingly elastic thing. Many people recover completely from strokes, usually through a combination of physical therapy and the sheer will of not allowing their body to shut down. I've also known people that accepted their condition and never improved. Even if your playing isn't where you want now, playing through the frustration may lead you back closer to where you used to be. It may not be all the way, but it doesn't necessarily need to be where it is now.
As far as the hearing loss, that is rough. I'm assuming you've got some level of inner hair cell damage and that is making it difficult to understand speech in noisy situations. With any hearing aids, that is difficult to fix (amplification helps more with outer hair cell damage). If music doesn't sound like music anymore, it's possible that your hearing aids aren't adjusted right or the aids themselves have too limited a bandwidth to be useful for playing/listening to music. If you haven't already, I would contact your audiologist and explain what you feel is lacking and have them work with you until you are happy or feel that it is as good as it is going to get.
I wish you the best of luck with everything.
Welcome back, older Brother!
And don't sell the dot, you deserve to own it!
"Nothing wrong with revolvers......a lot of old-timers carry those."*Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Ranger
:couch
*Mel Gibson to Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon"
"Shucks, I'm a wheelgun man!"
Me too Ranger, unless the course requires standing in one box, and firing more than 12 rounds! Then it's time for the Para-Ordance with 20 round mags.
(I may be getting back a pre model 15 Smith that I gave to my (now ex) son in law).
They frown on that at pistol matches!Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyF
That's fine, I would enjoy watching Old Ranger ball up a coyote with his 45-70. I enjoy all types of shooting, although I don't have the patience/skill to try to put all my shots in the same hole.
That's something I can sink my teeth into......Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyF
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...psf8mzcbrt.jpg
:cool:
Accessorize that thing too much and you'll end up with the world's first crew-served carbine.Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyF
:up
Once of these days I'll get around to putting an EOTech on that Bushmaster M-4. The Colt CAR-15 is already heavy enough with the 4X optics and its 40-rd box.
My friend Richard, and I shot a 3 gun match last year, (he's in his 70's). I think we were the only guys there shooting open rifle sights, (the longest shot was just a little over 100 yds.) Everybody had huge scopes, and dot sights, but weren't hitting. The last part of the last stage was 3 clay pigeons against the back berm, I took 4 shots, and Richard didn't miss.
Listening to the range officer talk, you would have thought we were marksman! (Richard was ribbing me about my miss!)(I did take 2nd overall for the match, and he was 10th, or 11th.)
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyF
Sorry lads, but I got no use for those new fanged plastic toy guns...
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1400508248
The result of an 80 yrd dumper shot on a hog with my .45-70 Lever gun.
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1401466765
The ORIGINAL 50 Cal.!! When you boys can take a muzzle loader .50 and make consistent hits with a patched round ball beyond normal sight then come and talk to me.....
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1387234503
And who needs those black plastic auto loading toy guns when ya got these babies around? Great grandpa was far from being disarmed!
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1375230522
OK, the top one is a new M629-6 in .44Mag and the bottom is a 1956 M&P .38Spl from the good old days when I was real young. Yeah, you can keep the little light weight plastic toy guns fellas. I got Real Steel!http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1368296488
An if ya don't like it....
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1377419959
Me and the Gunny march to a different drummer. :laughing::arhhh:
Can I get a Hoo-ah?!!
http://www.keepandshare.com/userpics...?ts=1397494300
Ranger, out...... Oh I crack myself up at times....:roflmao
Being from a family of shooters, I am drooling over those colts and that remington.
BTW I ain't American, but we all know that the US set many culture standards for the whole western civilization (as did the Btitish, but that's another talk for another topic, to be discussed with some Earl Grey and a drop of lemon).
Those Colts, the Strat, the Les Paul, the 50's Chevrolets and the Ford Mustang 1967 are some essential designs that made the world a better place.
Uhh......Quote:
Originally Posted by de Melo
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...psa8924bf8.jpg
I think my '69 Chevelle SS396 *epitomizes* the classic muscle car era.
That's yours!?!?!?Quote:
Originally Posted by phantomman
Oh, man....that is one awesome piece of American Muscle.
I'm in awe....just in awe...
Thanks, smitty!
Good lord, Rog, why can't you be my next door neighbor? Why?
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...psa8924bf8.jpg:applaudit:applaudit:dude:dude:appl::wow:bonk:odie ::bluesbros
Although I am more of a Ford guy when it comes to muscle cars, that chevy of yours is SWEET!Quote:
Originally Posted by phantomman
Sorry to get back to the original subject, but tell ya what, Wade, I nearly quit today too.
My carpal tunnel that I had fixed a few years back is now back with a vengeance... Not happy!:mad:
I had the arthroscopic surgery (only 2 tiny incisions on each hand) and it was working fine for a while, but now the pain and numbness has re-appeared. I'm gonna have to look into getting it fixed again, but with all the time I had off work on workers comp, I don't think it's going to be anytime soon. And when it's time, I'm going to insist on the full open palm repair.
I'm going to use thumb and finger picks for a while, and see how I go.
Gripping a pick at the moment is fine for a minute or two, but then it starts to get all painful. Heck... Even typing this, is getting painful!!!
But anyhow, Wade, don't give up. There is, to use an old idiom, more than one way to skin a cat... Or a skunk... Or a racoon!
If you need thin thumb picks, I can send you some that I filed down to about .050... Let me know, brother.
Take care.
Alex out...
Any chance that cortisone injections might be of any benefit, Alex?
Even if they only provide transitory relief and need to be repeated, it's still a less-risky therapy than surgery.
I initially was given cortisone, about 3 months prior to the original surgery. It helped a little to keep the inflammation down, but didn't really have any major effect in the longer term. After 2 injection cycles (I think they were 6 weeks apart), the surgeon said surgery was the only possible hope in getting back to normal.Quote:
Originally Posted by phantomman
I may see a different surgeon this time, and see if there's anything else that can be done to delay surgery. TBH I really don't want to be cut open again... I've had 3 ankle reconstructions in the past 2 1/2 years, so that's enough surgery for me for a while. If I can find something that helps, I'll be one happy guy...
What size fuel line does that that have? 3/8" or 5/16"? One of my favorite colors beside code 72's and code 76's. It's nice to see the original 14's on it too. Protect-o-plate?
Alex that business sounds painful just thinking about it. Had a Sgt some years back that went through the "big cut" surgery to fix that same thing. They did one hand at a time so he'd not be 100% crippled while mending up. After it was all over he was doing pretty good. When I had moved to the area where I am now, I met up with him long after we both had retired. His hands worked well enough for him to have his woodworking workshop and small business from it. And he was ancient when I saw him again and he said that the hands don't bother him as much as they did before the surgery. And that surgery was like in 1990 and I'm sure that the methods used now are far more sophisticated than in those days.
I played last Saturday at Bill's for almost an hour or so. Dropped the pick so many times I threw it in a corner so I'd loose it. Played the Dot, and though it was running through a fine old Peavey, I sounded awful. Yeah, I believe my days of "really playing" are over and now I'm just "Piddlin' around" with guitars. So I'll likely sell off all but one or two guitars and keep one amp and call it good. I believe that is a realistic view and then I won't be trying to fool myself that I can still play.:brood:
But on the bright side I can still shoot! :spin: