After a couple evenings of caliber-based cocktail fun, we have the American .30-06 based WuFluSour (M1-Prepper), and then last night’s British influenced .303 Colonial Tonic…. so what’s a raggedy band of pirates supposed to finally do? Rum!! And herewith we present the piratical themed, stabby-pokey, knife-based, Stroh Sanitizer!. 
At an astonishing 160 proof, it does the job of Mack the Knife, all by itself!
Our guest metal artists are, from right to left, a Desert Storm Ontario Knife Company OKC-3S with a very fine edge (fits on the Mossberg 590A1), in the middle a kinda rare but dull WWII Aerial Cutlery M1 Carbine bayonet with leather stack-handle, and finally on the right a factory polish shiny-steel 1900 stamped US Krag bayonet that has a real *gladius* feel. Heavy and pointy, you couldn’t let it rest tip-down in the palm of your hand, because it would just penetrate and drop through to the guard. That’s what my dad taught me anyhow – and he was an Eagle Scout.
.303 Colonial Tonic
Quinine in The Colonies was a necessary Malaria suppressant, from the Dutch in Java to the French in Pondicherry and Goa, but mostly the British in India and polite society demanded a social response – which was to add Gin. So the Gin and Tonic was invented.
About a mile and a half from my own birthplace is the Ishapore Arsenal, from which this fine 1942 “Smelly” was produced, and which is not very far from the old Dum-Dum arsenal where the concept of expanding projectiles originated. The arsenal imprint “GRI” stands for “George Rex, Imperator” for George VI the last king of India.
1942 was a very dark time with the clouds of war literally on the horizon, and armed forces of Imperial Japan running amok and unimpeded throughout Asia and the Malay Peninsula…so a Gin and Tonic was a civilizing agent in a time of disaster and uncertainty.
WuFluSour M1-Prepper version
Leadslingers Rye Whiskey, bunch of lemon, some ditch-water. Ice – hahaha there was no ice in the Pacific Theater in 1943. Bayonet by Utica Cutlery, NY., .30-06 ammo (in pouches) by John Moses Browning, Fighting Spirit Rye by Leadslingers, picture of Marine corpsman with M1 Garand and fixed bayonet in the Pacific Theater circa 1943. Good stuff, Maynard….
I should do another one with my 1942 Ishapore .303 – a Bombay (or Calcutta) “Gin and Chloroquine-Tonic” – got to cut your limes with a bayonet… Pretty sure that as a Missionary Kid in the old China Burma India Theater (CBI) region I did my fair share of anti-malarial preventative chloroquine, it goes back a long way. But what I do really remember most was the painful effects of the typhus-cholera booster shots every 6 months, especially when my older brother punched my arm. Because then I slugged him in the face, or pushed him into the wall – and war broke out, as much as we could given both our respective conditions. Boy that stuff hurt.
64-Degrees Farenheit
Weeding the embankment today, supervised by the white dog. Neighbor’s grandkids were running around, shouting, bicycling up and down the long driveway, and the dogs were all excited and barking…so I went up and shut the top-gate and let the white dog join in the fun. After getting acquainted, the barking diminished and I pulled tiny butterfly-bush invaders, and plucked the quinces.
Rain coming tomorrow, and snow in the Sierras – where all the ski resorts (and casinos) are shuttered during the WuFlu pandemic. Our local restaurants have converted to take-out but the devastating economic impact may be hard to weather, and they have been forced to reduce or lay-off staff.
Happy St. Paddy Chinese Bat-Flu!
Looking almost emerald here. Was a sopping wet mess after four and a half inches of rain in three days, but the drainage is drainagizing and water is moving off-property. Snow on the surrounding hills too, so cold and more rain in sight – hope everyone is having a nice quarantining!
Swampy
A bit of Lion Winter has returned to remind us that it’s not entirely over and the Lamb has yet to yield…and that my rain-gutters needed cleaning otherwise they wouldn’t be overflowing. 
So an inch and a half of rain yesterday, and the same today and tomorrow – and feets of snow in the High Sierra. And some ski resorts are closed because of the heavy snow.
Friday I pulled the spike aerator-spreader around the acre and deposited two 50-lb. sacks of grass-seed mix. “Tuff Turf Mix” consists of about 10% Kentucky Bluegrass, 44% Bingo Tall Fescue, and 44% Essential Tall Fescue…which might have all washed away but certainly has been watered-in by this rain-event. At any rate the drainage is working.
Groundhog Spring
Punxsutawney Phil said it was going to be an early Spring and given the situation I’d have to agree. We got a doggie pool at Wal-Mart and some toys. Maybe a bit of astro-turf from Home Depot and nail it down. Ready for Summer!
I’m fixing to mix-up some vinegar and salt weedkiller (with a dash of detergent for surfactant) and try to keep some of the weeds at bay…
March of the Solar Orb
Yesterday’s high of 66-degrees recorded at the airport was much higher than any of the weather forecasts. This morning, under the same conditions it’s already a degree warmer. With no rain in sight I have to think this is the beginning of Springtime.
Meanwhile I wrestled with mounting the heavy-duty front replacement bumper on the John Deere X570. It is stronger and capable of handling “suitcase” weights added to the front that prevent the front-end from lifting when pulling ground equipment, and I intend to pull the spiked aerator/spreader with pre-emergent and plant some grass in the new fenced-in dog area.
The John Deere instructions were a bit…obscure. The four replacement bolts (on each side) are self-tapping “screws,” and it took a trip back to True Value to figure that out. Also the 3-foot long socket extension (arrow) that I found years and years ago, somewhere I forget where, finally came into use as I needed it to thread a hole in the frame and tighten up a replacement screw for the spring-loaded lift-assist for raising the mower deck – another component that was not at all obvious or described in the assembly instructions…and required the removal of some sheet metal and octopus like gyrations and contortions to accomplish – and some minor blood-loss. But it’s done.
Sunrise over patio furniture
Surely this Blog is going to hell with a title like that, but what happens next inside the house is a very strong and bright side-lighting of all the doggie hair and every speck of dust on the hardwood floors – there’s no escaping the daily vacuuming necessary…
Superbowl Sunrise
Not that I give much of a hoot about ball-sports, between the two of us we really only watch the World Series – but it’s one if those hyped-up Big Event days, and that means the grocery store will be busy and crowded when I need to get milk and eggs and doggie treats – and so will the bars and eateries… Meh.
The morning sky lit-up like pink fire, illuminated by the big ball-o-fire called The Sun as it arose across the Eastern prairie, beneath the clouds over the High Sierra – but after a brief display of promising weather everything went gray and the overcast hung down. So I went up with the dog on leash and shut the upper gate, and released her to romp around the acre+ of old, wet cow pasture.
The drainage is doing its job, but there is a new weed everywhere, and since every bit of weedy stuff out there has a burr, or a sticker, or a thorn, or some sticky nastiness, I/we have been grateful for the rain-softened soil because it’s easy to weed and pull it out.
Meanwhile I’ve been considering lighting improvements for the Fat Boy… Like LED replacement indicator bulbs. That (from what I’ve read) may require some kind of resistor in-line. The double-nutted hollow stalks hanging off the handlebars are not CHROME for one thing, and show age and mild corrosion and are not particularly attractive. Anyhow a change in placement will probably require some wiring modifications. A different set of bars would ideally see those forward indicators re-located to the triple-clamps instead…
Then the storm blew across the Valley and cleared out. Clear and cold tonight. 