I want to shoot the black rifle!
Jonathan Ryan
Age 9
June 26, 2007
Me giving instructions to my nephew Jonathan. Photo by my daughter Kim.
[And so he did. It was interesting to me that he came up with the name of “The Black Rifle” on his own. We were shooting lots of other firearms but the kids all seemed to like the AR-15 the best. Scott, age 18 and with lots of shooting experience, said it was the most fun to shoot gun he had ever shot. Yeah, they are pretty fun to shoot.–Joe]
Then why are we going?
Xenia Huffman-Scott
June 23, 2007
When informed that our vacation location did not have cell phone service or an Internet connection.
I took the video with one eye incapacitated. That it’s usable is a testimony to Xenia’s editing ability.
Xenia’s graduation and party were on Friday night. Friday morning a little before 8:00 I took her to the ceremony practice and then I went straight on to the “Doc in a box” to have my eye looked at. It was red and painful. I got a prescription for some antibiotics but things kept getting worse and worse. I called the doc back about 15:30 and he referred me to a ophthalmologist. He gave me a prescription for a wider spectrum antibiotic and by the time Xenia’s graduation was over my eye was feeling much better. Here is a picture after it was feeling better:
The more pleasant pictures from her graduation are here.
Update: Thanks for all the email suggestions that it might have been something other than a bacteria infection. The new antibiotics worked great. As of this evening nearly all the red is gone and my vision is very near normal again.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Aristotle
[We just returned with our daughter Xenia from her High School graduation ceremony.–Joe]
I haven’t seen the article yet but it’s supposedly out:
Idaho Magazine–Outdoor Sports: It’s a Blast, by Barbara A. Scott.
In the spirit of full disclosure–the potential exists for some bias in the article. I’ve been sleeping with the author for over 30 years now. It was a long term investment and I’m hoping it paid off.
Heisenberg used to house sit for Schroedinger, and would get annoyed when his buddy would call home from out of town and ask “Where is my cat? And how fast is it going?”
I thought this was quite funny. My son James responded with “*groan*” but my friend Sean wanted to know what the punch line was.
You must not assume Sean didn’t “get it”. That thought crossed my mind for only a few milliseconds before I dismissed it. So I told him that was it and explained that I thought it was funny just the way it is even if it is a bit obsure. Two minutes later he delivered his punch line for the story:
So Heisenberg put the cat the box with a gadget that released poison gas based on radioactive decay. Schroedinger called again, asking, “Where is my cat? And how fast is it going?”
Heisenberg replied, “Let me check. Oh! It’s dead. You killed it.” And hung up.
I support the war against the Islamic extremists who insist we must convert to their religion or die:
They are willing to die for their beliefs and I am willing to help them with the dying part until they are willing to leave us alone. But it’s tough when the cost of those convictions are brought home:
An explosive device built in Iran (not really an IED) nearly killed our nephew Jason. He lost his right arm, the vision in his right eye, and his face, his buttocks, and his left arm were severely wounded.
Adam Plumondore was a Boomershoot Precision Rifle Clinic Instructor. He was killed by a car bomb in Iraq. His partner at Boomershoot, Walter Gaya, was injured a few months later by an explosive device in Iraq.
A friend of mine was shot in the leg while invading Granada. He never completely recovered from that wound. That and numerous other injuries suffered both in combat and training took him out of the Army and are now a permanent part of his life.
Growing up I just missed the draft for the Vietnam war by a few months. I knew people and relatives that participated in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Even by the time I graduated from high school I can only think of one person I knew who was even wounded in combat–a friend of my Dad that I only met a half dozen times. It was all “just numbers” in the history books and on the news. It wasn’t real. Reality is different.
I don’t think that teenage and early twenty-something males really have that good of grasp on reality. Certainly their judgement center is insufficiently myelinated. This causes them to take risks they shouldn’t and to have a high rates of organ donation compared to the general population. For the survival of our species this is a good thing. Young males are best fit to fight predators whether it be a man-eating tiger or the people trying to finish the job Hitler and his gang were unable to complete. They are better fighters and they are more likely to survive their wounds than women and older men.
For them to not really understand the risks makes it harder for me. I know the job must be done. I know we can’t let the predators have their way. Their way would be to go back to the dark ages. Because I know a little more about the risks, the costs, of defending or freedom my inclination is to keep our young men and women off the ground in the Mideast. I think, “Glass over the entire sandbox! Better that that lose another one of our people.” But that’s my emotions talking. That’s not the right thing to do.
It’s a tough battle with my emotions. Logically the right thing to do is much different that what my emotions are fighting for. It’s particularily difficult for me right now. Not just because it’s Memorial Day but because my daughter’s boyfriend, John, is shipping out next month.
John just turned 18. Good luck John. Please come back in one piece. Thank you, and all the others, for your service.
See also Xenia’s Live Journal post.
Since my post on my colonoscopy last week was so popular (over 100 referrals in the last 16 hours) I thought I might bump the readership numbers still more by reposting something from UseNet from nearly 17 years ago. The details of my vasectomy:
From joe@proto.COM Wed Aug 15 11:59:07 1990
Path: proto!joe
From: joe@proto.COM (Joe Huffman)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Vasectomy
Summary: I am pleased with the results.
Message-ID: <1392@proto.COM>
Date: 15 Aug 90 18:59:07 GMT
References: <SCOTTP.90Aug14093250@bwdlh461.bnr.ca>
Distribution: misc
Organization: Prototronics; Sandpoint, Idaho
Lines: 110In article <SCOTTP.90Aug14093250@bwdlh461.bnr.ca>, scottp@bwdlh461.bnr.ca
(Scott Pace) writes:
> I would like to hear from anyone out there who has experienced a
> vasectomy (or knows someone who has).What do you want to know? As a means of birth control it has been successful.
I got mine about 2 years ago and I haven’t got anybody pregnant yet.The operation was relatively painless. The doctor and I talked about
computer programming most of the time during the surgery. I had some
slight internal bleeding in the scrotum area that left a bruise appearing
discoloration for about a week and a half. This is normal. The doctor
told me to take some pain pills before the novacaine wore off, go home put
a ice pack under my shorts and go to bed for the afternoon.
I got bored in bed and keep waiting for the pain to kick in after the
novacaine wore off but it NEVER did ache or hurt. I finally got up and
went to work on my computer in the other room. No orgasms allowed for
one week after the surgery (one of the toughest parts of the whole thing).
No heavy physical activity allowed either. It was a bit tender for a week
or two but no big deal as long as the kids didn’t jump on me. A month after
the surgery it was nearly impossible to see the incision marks. In 2 months
it was impossible. I had to use other methods of birth control until I got a
0 sperm count. That normally takes about 3 months. My first count (at 3
months post surgery) was 2 dead ones. A month later it came back 0. So 4
months past before other methods were deemed unnecessary.—–
>>>DETAILED<<< DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURE FOLLOWS
—–The doctor had a pre-surgery consultation and advised me of all the risks.
The ones I remember were:
1) About 1 out of 200 fail and have to be redone.
2) Some number (I forget how many) develop a nodule at the point of
blockage. This may get as large as 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Usually it
is painless but sometimes it must be removed with surgery. I think I have a
very small occurance of that on my right side.
3) It should be considered permanent. Reversal rate is about 80% but it is
much more involved, more costly, and of course less successful.This was our GP and I asked how many he had performed, he told me about
300. I asked about complications that he had observed. He told me that he
had one patient that had to be redone, he had done nothing different in that
case that he was aware of. One patient was riding his motercycle about
three days later and ending up pushing it some distance when the engine
failed and he was bedridden for a couple days afterwards. With one
procedure the guy was more nervous than most but made it through one side
without freaking out. The doctor put in the stich on that side and said,
“Now we’ll do the OTHER side.” At which point the patient did ‘freak’ for
a while. 🙂He instructed me to shave the front of my scrotum the morning of the
surgery. The surgery was to be at about 10:00 AM. I went in a bit early
and they started early due to a previous patient canceling. The nurse
(Viki, beautiful woman, but that’s irrelevent, or is it?) had me take off my
pants and lay down. She draped my stomach -> thigh area with sterile
sheets with an opening for my scrotum and penis. She complemented me on
the shaving I had done and said she wouldn’t have to do any more. She then
scrubbed the front of my scrotum for (a timed) five minutes. We had a nice
chat about how it had worked out for her and her husband (she was very
pleased and indicated he hadn’t had any problems with it). She draped
that area and got the doctor. He put on latex gloves and manipulated the
vas deferens to the front of the scrotum (it is normally near the rear).
He then used a clamp to hold it place near the surface while he got the
syringe in his hand. He warned that this would hurt for a little bit. He
poked the needle upwards skewering the vas deference lengthwise, this HURT
until he started injecting the material. He then pulled the needle out of
the vas deferens, but not the scrotum, and repeated in the downward
direction. He then made an incision about 3/8 inch long vertically above
the vas deferens between the jaws of the clamp where he had made the
injection. He cauterized a few blood vessels that were bleeding and
pulled the vas deferens out of the scrotum so that about a 1 inch section
was exposed. I could feel some tugging on my testicles but it was not
painful. He ‘stripped’ the sheath that contains blood vessels from
around the vas deferens being careful keep damage to a minimum. When about
3/4 inches of the vas deferens was exposed he tied it off in two places
about 1/2 inch apart. He then used a scaphel to cut a section about 1/4
inch long from between the two places that were tied off. This section
was set aside to be set to a lab for “identification”. I asked if he had
ever had a lab report indicate he had made a mistake and he said, “No”
(then why do it? I didn’t ask, but I suspect it is insurance against
lawsuits). He then cauterized the two ends of the vas deferens. This was
to seal the ends (in addition to being tied off). He then put the severed
vas back in the scrotum and put in a single stitch.Repeat for the other side.
Through all the surgery Viki would come in and ask how things were going
and chatted with us a bit. The doctor had a mother cat that had kittens and
Viki had picked up one of the kittens a couple weeks earlier…They gave me some pain pills (which I only used one doseage of), some gauze,
and instructions on how to care for the incision site. No big deal, I was
to keep it dry for 24 hours, and change the dressing if it became blood
soaked. I had some minor external bleeding for about 1 1/2 days and had to
keep the gauze pads in place to avoid bleeding on my underwear.From the time I walked in until I walked out it took about an hour and 45
minutes. Actual surgery was about 50 minutes or so.I think it was about 4 days later I went in and had the stitches removed.
Anything I left out?
—
—
netcom!proto!joe
joe@proto.com
Yesterday I took off work early to get a guided tour of a place I’ve never been before. Actually a place no one has visited before. I’d been putting it off for a while now. I hadn’t had a physical for about three years now. The last time I did the doctor said that when you turn 50 it’s recommended you know.
Tuesday night I had my last meal with solid food. No solids until after the procedure. Wednesday I had a few six ounce cans of apple and grape juice, and a can of Cherry Coke for my sustenance. I noon I took four little pills. About six that evening they were starting to work their magic and it was time for me to go home and spend some quality time with the porcelain goddess. I had four liters of some sort of stuff to drink that would clean me out from end to end. It did. It continued to clean me all night and I didn’t get much sleep.
Yesterday morning I had nothing but water for input. At noon I stopped the water. About 13:30 Barb and I drove to the to the medical center. I was required to bring someone with me to drive and receive my care instructions afterward.
I filled out the paperwork, took off my clothes and put on the hospital gown that opens, full length, down the back. They put me on a stretcher, put an I.V. in my arm and wheeled me in to a room with a T.V. monitor and some other instruments. I knew what was going to be on the T.V. monitor. It was going to be me. All me and nothing but me. The nurses hooked me up to the other instruments. Oxygen saturation: 100%. Blood pressure: 100 over 60. Pulse: 61 to 64. All very good. That was before the doctor showed up.
The doctor showed up introduced herself and a student who would just be watching. An audience–the two nurses, a student, and the doctor. The doctor started to give me the meds that would mess with my mind. She said, “This is very fast acting so you will start to feel it right away. I presume you want to not feel…” I cut her off before she pushed the plunger on the syringe. “Actually”, I said, “I would rather you go light on that stuff.” “Would you like to try it without meds?” she asked? “Okay”, I agreed. I think the audience all started smiling. Something different I guess. I was going to be their entertainment for the day. I couldn’t see the doctor. She was behind me–of course.
One of the nurses announced she used to work in OB/GYN and that I needed to focus on something and take some deep breaths. “Relax”, she told me, “And keep your muscles soft. This is going to be a lot like having a baby.” The doctor quipped that I wasn’t going to be doing any pushing though. At my suggestion they agreed there wouldn’t be an episoitomy either.
It wasn’t bad a first. At the turns the pressure increased. At the third turn I asked to doctor to stop for a moment. She offered the meds and I said I just wanted to relax a bit. It’s tough to keep your stomach muscles relaxed when there is a five foot long snake writhing around in your large intestine. Now I wonder what my blood pressure and pulse were. At the time I didn’t really think about it.
After a few seconds with my breathing coach praising me and putting her hand on my stomach to help focus on the relaxing of the muscles I told the doctor okay and she continued pushing the one eyed snake until it’s head reached the junction with my small intestine, my cecum, and appendix.
The trip out was much easier. And that was when we got to really see things. But they pumped me full of air, inflating things so the snake could get a better view of things. That air pressure caused some discomfort but not too bad. Especially compared to the pushing around those corners. I focused on the monitor and the doctor explained all the different things we were looking at. The student, with a great deal of glee said, “It’s rare we get to give guided tours.”
After it was done they all praised me. “Wow. That’s not something you see every day–no meds.” The student asked the doctor if I get a two for one deal next time. The doctor said they should have some gold stars to hand out for people like me. I was just glad to have the alien out of my belly.
Everything was normal. The doctor told me I didn’t have to do that again for seven years. And the question she wanted answered is if I was going to do it without meds next time. I said I didn’t know. I liked being able to see what was going on but there was a lot of discomfort.
They gave me pictures of the various places we visited. Sort of like those pictures you get at tourist attractions except these were much, much, more expensive. I’d post them but I don’t think the pictures were taken from my most flattering angle.
Via Dale and the Lewiston Morning Tribune we have more information about the suspect in the shooting over the weekend:
Crime scene investigators began searching the suspect’s brown, single-story house at 1020 Juliene Way. Neighbors gawked at the FBI suburbans and a Kootenai County crime scene trailer parked out front. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted with the search.
Juliene Way is in a rather poor, isolated, and unkempt part of town. While in high school our daughter Kim had a friend just a block or so further east she frequently spent the night with. The friends father was in jail and her mother, in her late 30’s, was living with a 19 or 20 year old boyfriend. Then the boyfriend committed suicide and things got so messed up that Kim didn’t visit much anymore. What I’m trying to say is that some of the people in this area of town have more than their share of problems.
I find it very interesting that the FBI and ATF are involved. Some Federal law(s) must have been broken. The first thing that comes to mind is that perhaps the SKS rifle had been converted to full auto. That would explain the reports of “automatic rifle” in some of the early news reports and what the assistant Police Chief said at the news conference yesterday. It’s a little odd that Kootenai County would be involved too. Kootenai County is 90 miles north of Moscow.
Something that bugged me on the drive back to the Seattle area and as I was trying to go to sleep last night was that part of the Federal Building and Post Office were taped off by the police:
The picture above is looking north at the Post Office. The one below is looking south at the taped off area with the Post Office just out of the picture to the right. 5th and Jefferson is the intersection where the barricade is in the middle of the street. Use the two police cars parked there on 5th street for reference between the two pictures.
The Post Office/Federal Building is two blocks west of the dispatch center that was shot up. It’s out of sight, down a hill, and on the opposite side of the building from the window and door that were shot up. But looking at maps and where the police officer was killed it looks like bullets intended for him could have continued down the hill and street and connected with the Federal Building. I suppose this could also be reason enough for the Feds to get involved.
The next news conference is in 90 minutes. We’ll all learn more then.
From the air we have these pictures. At the center bottom is the Latah County court house, sheriff’s office and dispatch center. The at the junction of the white roofed north-south building with the darked roofed east-west building is the dispatch center where the first shots occurred. If we could stand in the parking lot you could see through the glass in the door through a glass window into the dispatch center itself. There were three people in the dispatch center when the bullets came through the glass. Two women, one a trainee, and a man. They called for help and were escorted to the basement where the jail is.
At the press conference they reported the dispatch center was messed up pretty good. There is broken glass everywhere, bullet holes in the wall, and some equipment was broken, etc. They have an alternate dispatch center at the drivers license office at a shopping mall at the east end of town. They opened it up and are “back in business”.
It was at this Sheriff’s office that I got my Idaho concealed carry permit. I taught a NRA Personal Protection firearms class in a room at the north east end of the courthouse, just across the street from the high school.
The Moscow police officer that was killed came to investigate and was shot some place outside. The second officer shot was a Latah County Sheriff’s officer who was attempting to come to first police officer’s aid.
Just north of the court house is another white roofed building. This is the high school Xenia attends. The shooter entered the building just to the east of the high school which is the First Presbyterian Church and killed the caretaker.
Police attempted to negotiate with the shooter but to the best of my knowledge never got a response from him. The last shot heard was about 1:00 AM this morning. This was probably a self inflicted gunshot to the head.
When I arrived about 7:30 this morning the police were still taping off the area:
I walked their perimeter as did numerous news people:
There were lots and lots of police present. Officers from Lewiston, Whitman County (just to the west from Washington State), and Washington State University Police officers came. Idaho State Patrol from Coeur d’Alene to Twin Falls (by airplane from hundreds of miles away) were there as well. The ISP will be doing the investigation since both city and county police officers were victims.
The Sheriff’s deputies below were well armed. AR-15’s or maybe M-16’s. I did not see any unloaded guns or unsafe gun handling. All appeared to have iron sights.
The picture above and the one below were taken facing north at the intersection of sixth and Adams at the south west corner of the Latah County Courthouse, Sheriff’s office, and jail. In the picture below you can see the radio tower for the dispatch center. One block further north is the Moscow High School.
The 9:00 AM press conference was at the Moscow City Court House at 3rd and Washington. It was well populated with news crews:
(Photo by Xenia)
Xenia and I took lunch to Barb at the hospital. While waiting for her to meet us across the street at Therapy Central I took a picture of someone lowering the flag outside the hospital to half-mast:
Update: Complete video of the press conference Xenia and I attended is here. It includes my question about the SKS rifle being an automatic.
Some of the main stream media coverage is here:
Xenia and I got back from the press conference a few minutes ago.
Two police officers were shot. The first one shot took multiple hits at about 11:31 PM last night. He wasn’t able to be evacuated until 12:05. He was dead on arrival. The second officer was shot a few minutes later and was taken to Gritman hospital (where Barb works) his condition is “serious”. A private citizen was shot in the same time frame as he came out of his house and approached the area to “try and help”. He has been in surgery for hours and his condition is satisfactory.
The police did not fire any shots. None of the police officers could determine the exact source of the gunfire. The shooter is believed to have started shooting while on the street then moved to the church nearby where additional shots were fired. At about 1:00 AM this morning the last shot was fired. About 5:45 AM three police entry teams went into the church while a diversion was taking place at the opposite end of the building. They found two people dead inside. One of them had a rifle next to him and is believed to be the shooter.
David Duke, assistant Police Chief, reported that a “SKS type rifle” was found. Earlier he had said the rifle was an “automatic” so I asked, “You said the rifle was an SKS but the SKS is not normally fully automatic. Are you sure it was a fully automatic rifle?” He only clarified to say, “It was an SKS type rifle. The exact rifle has not been determined.” He also said that four empty magazines were found. He did not know the capacity of the magazines or the type of ammo used.
Barb came home a few minutes ago to change her clothes after a patient vomited on her (unrelated to the shooting). She reports police officers are outside a patient room at the hospital.
Xenia wanted to go to the press conference. One of her best friends, Jessa, is the daughter of the Paster of the Church where final shots were fired. Jessa wasn’t answering her cell phone and calls to the house went unanswered. Xenia reports on her Live Journal here. At the press conference we learned, indirectly, that Jessa’s father is OK.
More later after I take a shower and get some breakfast.
Update: The best coverage I have seen so far is from the Daily News (you need an account to read the article but Dale has a copy up) and KXLY. KXLY has officer Newbill’s time of death wrong. He was probably dead at the scene and certainly was dead on arrival at the hospital.
You’re alive!
Ry Jones
7:16 AM May 20, 2007
[I was in bed. A call came in from Ry and those were the first words he said. He then told me what he knew about the shooting in Moscow were I live. I went to investigate. I took lots of pictures and had a minor confrontation with the police. Xenia and I just now got back from the Press Conference. More blog posts and pictures to follow.–Joe]
No hair transplants for me. I would consider regrowing it though.
I hadn’t fired (or cleaned) my pistol since last November. I did both on Sunday. I came in fifth out of twenty people. My only complaint is that I showed Adam what I thought was the best way to shoot “Secret Agent Double-Oh-Spud”. Then he was the only person to beat me on that stage.
Xenia is polling people about their sex education. If you have a Live Journal account you can participate. Even if you don’t you can still view most of the results.
BUUURRRRRP!
Bet you’ve never seen a fairy do that.
Xenia Huffman-Scott
May 5, 2007
[She’s 18. It’s too late to teach her manners now.–Joe]
Heavy sigh. Barb cried watching it. I felt my eyes getting moist.
Today we started making the targets. It started with Scott, Barb, and I setting up the canopy, table, and other stuff. Barb brought Ben and Tim over then a little later when daughter Kim showed up Barb brought her over too. Together we built hundreds of targets. The worst thing that happened so far is that I printed some of the labels on the wrong side of the paper. Other than that everything has been going great. Gene Econ put on his Precision Rifle Clinic today finishing up with the consumption of 40 4″ targets and 20 7″ targets. The only ones that didn’t detonate were the ones they didn’t hit or a couple that were just nicked and the contents drained out.
Things are going very well so far. The weather today was great and the forecast is looking great for both percipitation and wind–actuallly the lack of both.
My cousin Julia from Santa Barbara showed up to visit for a while. She had lunch with us onsite and then hung around watching us build targets for a while before going on to visit my parents and brothers. Not the typical thing you experience when visiting your cousin. But then she did a little boomershooting of her own a few years ago.