I've Got Some Catching Up To Do

I often get asked questions about how much beer I drink. Some people think that since I'm public about my appreciation for good beer, I must drink a lot. It's about quality folks, not quantity. The Boulder County, Colorado government, in a part of the country that is no stranger to craft breweries, has a "Drinking Limits for Health" guide on their web site.

In Boulder County, more than 15 percent of residents regularly exceed the recommended alcohol limits. Drinking limits to maintain health (low-risk drinking limits) are: 

• Women: No more than 3 drinks on any day, and no more than 7 drinks in a week.
• Men: No more than 4 drinks on any day, and no more than 14 drinks in a week. 

To stay low risk, keep within both the daily and weekly limits. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, or who are breastfeeding should not drink. Both men and women over the age of 65 should have no more than 3 drinks on any day and no more than 7 per week.

Wow! I don't even get close to hitting either of those thresholds. I might even not be drinking enough to stay healthy. I'm going to have to reevaluate.

The web page also has a quiz you can take to check your own drinking levels.

I passed...

Hitler Hears About the Obamacare Website

Offered with no apologies to the sensitive types out there...

Adventure Brewing Finds a Home

The Fredericksburg area's newest brewery is one step closer to reality. Adventure Brewing posted to their Facebook page recently that they had signed a lease, and submitted their Brewers Notice to the federal government. The brewery will be located at 33 Perchwood Dr, Fredericksburg, VA 22405.

Musings readers are familiar with my fondness for enjoying a good beer after some fun at the range. As such, when I looked at the Google map of the new location I couldn't help but notice the brewery will be located just around the corner from the local indoor range. I haven't gotten out to The Range in some time, but I might be tempted to make a combination trip!

The Fredericksburg Business Insider also has information on the brewery's progress.

Walnut Ridge Match - Yep, Summer's Over

It's been a few months since I got over to the monthly Walnut Creek Practical Shooters USPSA match at Summit Point, West Virginia. Last time I made the early morning drive it wasn't dark (or cold) for the start of the drive. The cold and dark early morning made me briefly wonder why I do this, but I was still looking forward to the match and the friends. My dashboard thermometer read 27° when I arrived at the range, but we saw a "warmer" 32° by the time we fired the first shot. Fortunately it warmed further to a tolerable temperature as the morning progressed.

The first stage I shot was called "Goblin's Run." The shooter started seated, with the loaded gun on a table. It was a pretty straightforward stage from there, the final shots made on a swinging target. A good stage on which to shake off the cold.

Next up, "Don't Go Outside," was very well laid out and required the shooter to make full use of the free fire zone; going in and out of the corners and "jags." For me it took some extra thought to plan out. There were targets that were obviously, at first, engaged from certain positions. But as a Production shooter limited to 10 rounds in the magazines, I saw traps of standing reloads if I took the obvious route. There was also one target that had to be engaged from a extreme lean around the left side of a wall. The Walnut Ridge stage designers frequently place targets in positions that put the shooter off-balance, adding to the challenge. Most often I try to end a stage on those shots, but in this case my plan put the target in the middle of my run. I had a good run on the stage, despite one D hit.

The third stage our squad shot was the Classifier, "Can You Count?" I had never shot this popular standard stage, but was looking forward to it. The directions are to draw the gun, put five shots on a close target, perform a mandatory reload, then put five hits on a second target. It's truly a "go fast or go home" stage. After the first string, the RO stated, "That was a sub 5 second run." I ran the second stage and as soon as I finished I saw a lone hole out in the C zone. "D'oh," I exclaimed to the amusement of my squad mates. But, again the time on the string was good. My total time for the two strings was 9.40 seconds, with 19 A's and 1C, for a hit factor of 10.4255. I think that's good enough to add a B-Classifier to my records. Given my recent string of poor Classifiers I was VERY happy with this one, and it also gave me a 6th place finish on the stage.

"Black Cat Alley" had 28 paper targets and 2 Pepper Poppers arranged in a long line among some angled walls. Most of the paper targets were arranged in pairs, one on top of the other, leaving only a portion of the top target exposed. While there were no hard cover or no-shoot targets, shooting too low would put an extra hit on the lower target and earn a miss on the top. I took my time on this one, but did have my only miss of the match on this stage.

"Freddy's Revenge" was an interesting stage that was essentially a U-shaped run with targets on both sides of the "legs." Depending on how a shooter decided to run it, they could be shooting while moving backwards, or running up range past a target and turning around to shoot. Either way there were targets that could be engaged at point blank range. Targets frequently had pasters blown off, or the target destroyed by muzzle blast. I opted for a conservative approach and crossed the "U" at each end to avoid retreating back up range. Granted, it was fun to shoot the targets point blank while running past them, hitting 20 A's, 2 C's and 1 D. That seemingly good run was actually my second lowest stage finish of the day.

The final stage for me was "Trick Or Speed." From a single shooting box, there were three arrays of targets to be engaged; five falling steel poppers, a Texas Star, and finally three paper targets. A mandatory mag change was called for between each array. I struggled on the last two plates of the star, but at least finished with 6 A hits on the paper.

I was extremely pleased with how I shot on this chilly Saturday in West Virginia. Just one miss and two D hits, gave me a 13th place finish out of 25 Production shooters. I finished three of the 6 stages in the top ten. But most exciting personally, was earning a personal record of 90% of the available match points. It was a fun match and a very satisfying day of shooting. I'm glad I didn't let the cold and dark deter me from playing.

Tab Clearing: For The Love of (Bad) Beer

Like most readers of these Musings, I love a good beer, and many of us will make extra effort for a chance to drink a new or special beer. But other folks are making the news for doing some pretty extreme stupid things for beer, and some bad beer at that.

Man Calls 911 After Being Over Charged 1 Penny For a Beer

This good citizen in Memphis was trying to purchase a refreshing 16 ounce Heineken when the hapless clerk over charged him by 1 cent. The green bottled beer fan was so upset at this slight, he called emergency services, twice. His third call to a non-emergency number cost him $250 in bail money. That's not good beer money budgeting.

Man enters burning house to rescue beer

Six adults and two children escaped a house fire in Columbus, Georgia, but getting out alive was not enough for one resident. The determined drinker went back into the burning house to rescue his beer. I'm sure some readers are thinking about a special bottle or two they might be tempted to save from destruction. Sadly, in this case the man went back inside retrieve a few cans of Bud Light

They say there's no accounting for taste.

There Are Still Virginia Beers to Discover

When I sat down at the bar at Capital Ale House Wednesday evening, I asked David the bartender for beer suggestions. I knew he could give a better rundown on what's new and good than I could get looking through the extensive, and quickly outdated, beer menu. He listed off a few new beers, but I decided to order a glass of the Green Flash Green Bullet I had enjoyed last week.

Colleen started out with a big glass of Sixth Seal Stout, from a Virginia brewery I'd never heard of, Apocalypse Ale Works in Forest, Virginia. The dark beer had a light mocha colored head and aromas of dark chocolate and coffee. The flavor was slightly sweet, with dark chocolate, espresso and a hint of citrus bitterness. I stole a sip two three many sips from her glass. It was a nice find and a flavorful beer.

After finishing my Green Bullet IPA, I was torn between two beers for my next selection. Although pumpkin beers aren't my favorites, I was tempted to have Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. CAH was also pouring Get Bent Mountain IPA by Parkway Brewing Company of Salem, Virginia. Parkway is another Virginia brewery I've not experienced. Colleen helped me out by offering to order the Pumpkin Ale for herself. She's a team player! 

Weyerbacher Pumpkin Ale has a decent balance between the actual pumpkin flavor and pumpkin pie spice flavor. The flavor is a little bit on the boozy side as well. I enjoyed the few sips I had from Colleen's glass. It's beer worth seeking out, but not one of which I could enjoy multiples. 

The Get Bent Mountain IPA is an excellent, citrus-rich IPA. The aroma was strong in juicy and pithy citrus. The flavor was more of the same. The citrus notes are a combination of juicy citrus fruit and bitter zest. The slightly sweet malt backbone helps to keep some balance, but this is a classic citrusy IPA lover's beer. The moderate 7.2% ABV is very well hidden.

Of course, it wasn't all about the beer, we had to eat too! Since I was enjoying big, bold beers, I decided to go big and bold with my food selection, with "The German," off the burger menu. This burger is topped with sauerkraut, melted Havarti cheese, and a grilled bratwurst! The sandwich is served on a pretzel bun, with a side order of warm German potato salad and red cabbage. I've noticed a preponderance of pretzel rolls or buns on many menus lately. It seems to be a new fad, but one that I am very happy to see. I like the flavor and texture of the pretzel breads quite a bit. Oh, did I mention, there was a burger and a bratwurst?

Great food and great beer, and a great time spent with my wife. I must say we're both enjoying taking some breaks from our busy lives to enjoy a bit of time together trying out new beers.

North Mountain Halloween Match

There was "frost on the pumpkin" when I stepped out of my car at the North Mountain parking area for their October USPSA match last Sunday. Shiver! It was my first frost sighting of the season, and I'm really not ready for Winter, but fortunately the sun warmed things up quickly. As I glanced over at the range I could see that match directors Dan and Elaine were in a Halloween mood. Spider webs, goblins and pumpkins were the order of the day.

The first stage I shot was a "memory stage," consisting of 10 USPSA targets. After a bit of study, the challenge proved to be fairly straight forward, as long as you had your plan well in hand. For a Production shooter the stage was balanced with 5 targets engaged from two shooting positions, just don't forget any targets.

The next stage was not so Production friendly. With a minimum of 22 rounds needed, the options were to shoot from three positions, or engage all the targets from just two positions and do (at least) one standing reload. It was a interesting choice, on a fun stage. The steel plate "pumpkins" where perched above no-shoot "goblins."

Next up was an interestingly themed stage that had two shooting boxes. From the first box, the "pumpkin" plate rack was engaged. Moving forward to a second shooting box there were four paper targets guarded by two frowning ghosts. The fun, or evil part, depending on your point of view, is the targets were marked with black "spider webs." And those black areas were hard cover, meaning a hit in the black counted as a miss. 

The next stage had three "tunnels" through which we engaged the target arrays. The portals were placed such that we had to merely stoop for two of them, and the large middle obstacle required a deep squat or kneel to engage the targets. The first group had two paper and a steel popper shot through the open-ended barrel laid on it's side. After completing the end array, you moved to the middle tunnel which was a large black drain pipe set on the ground. Two pepper poppers were engaged which released two swinging paper targets. Shooting the steel and swingers from a knee was only part of the challenge — I had to then get back up in order move to the next position!

The final stage was the classifier, CM 98-03, "Six." This stage provided a fast finish to the match. Two on paper, a pepper popper and smaller US popper, followed by two more shots on paper. Three or four seconds and it's all over, for better or worse.

The November North Mountain match provided courses of fire that were fun to shoot and fun to look at. Kudos to the match directors for their time and imagination in setting up a seasonally themed shooting event.

Responsible Decision Making?

The problems with the obamacare website could have been predicted by anyone looking into CGI Federal, the company behind the debacle. The parent company of CGI Federal was fired by the Canadian government for failing to meet its contractual agreements.

Given the historical failures of the developers, you'd think the web site would have been tested before launch. Ah, but it was. Just days before the October 1st launch, the site failed under the load of a few hundred users. Despite numerous warning signs of eminent failure, the public launch went forward, with the expected results. The companies incompetence was more evident after reports that the healthcare.gov website contains copyrighted software code, used in violation of the licensing agreement.

The public's experience with the obamacare web site is so bad, the administration won't answer questions about successful sign ups. They did however trot out a successful enrollee for the press to fawn over; until it turned out that Chad Henderson didn't really sign up, he was just a shill from the Obama election campaign. Most recenty, HHS Secretary Sebelius tried to claim the White House didn't know about issues with the site "until days into" the launch, despite widespread reporting and complaints.

Are these really the people you want making decisions regarding your healthcare?

It hardly seems responsible for this administration to award such a critical project with no public notice and no competitive bidding. Some explanation of the sweetheart deal for CGI Federal might be in the early access to the White House and president Obama granted to company executives. But there might be another explanation for the Obama administration's fondness for the Canadian company. It turns out the same company was also behind the failed Canadian gun registry program. Is the administration hoping to leverage that project as well?