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God Bless all the brave men that stormed those beaches 76 years ago today.

Thanks David, you beat me to it this morning. Yes the whole free world owes a huge debt of gratitude and respect for this brave group of men & women. A few years back our secretary's dad was a tank driver on Omaha beach June 7, 1944 and he could never watch a war movie. He said as a 17 or 18 year old he could never put it out of his mind the fact that they were driving over dead American corpses that they didn't or couldn't move out of the way. My wife's Uncle will be 95 in October and served in the Navy in the Pacific. I was wondering if all those that fought for our freedom's are cringing at what has happened to our nation this past week. Thanks to all the vets that have served and are now serving! May God bless you all!!

When I lived in Gallatin I had these same feeders up and could not keep them full. I would have 25+ birds fighting over them all day long. I was thrilled to see that youngster show up and he came back today several times. I have been looking from time to time all day but still only the little one but I know if there is one there will be more or already is and I just have not looked at the feeders when they are on them. I get great pleasure watching them perform their games......

Well, I'm late to this party as usual and have read about 6 pages before jumping to the last one. When I first heard and read about it I began to prepare with the necessary items such as food and paper products but didn't go crazy on paper products like many people did. I can't eat those and I focused more on the food end of it. I made sure my freezers were full and cabinets were full and my SIL and daughter do my weekly shopping for me when they do theirs. I have not been off the property in almost 3 months but I do go out and walk the property as we have 5 acres to walk around on. I have company come by and visit from time to time and we visit while doing social spacing. mostly out on the back deck. I do have about 10 N95 masks my SIL got for me from his work place. They have to buy them by the cases because they are used in the performance of their job. They spray a product that is a fire proofing agent in commercial buildings while they are under construction. I really don't care about going out and tempting fate. I have a heart condition, I am diabetic, I have had lung conditions since the both collapsed when that truck hit me back years ago and I am 72 years old so don't see much need to push the envelope and tempt fate!

Precious few of those extremely brave souls left. We should all honor them...today and everyday.

There's a marked difference between "the best" and a "good quality" pistol. The former is an opinion of skeptical validity, and the latter is a wide ranging choice of options that meet the criteria. The right gun is one you're comfortable with (grip, weight, maintenance), will stay proficient with, and will carry with you. That could be any number of options, so you need to shoot different guns until you find one that strikes your fancy.

The one you are comfortable with and will carry. I learned the right belt and holster is way more important than the gun for comfort.

In any disease case, it's always interesting to look at the numbers. There is so much speculation amongst our political class and the media - the first wants to protect their jobs, and the second needs something to fill the airwaves. It's hard to know what to trust - but the data rarely lies. There's still so much we don't know, but the following chart would indicate that the US(the first largest economy in the world) are on the same path as Italy(the eighth largest economy in the world) - just about 11.5 days behind. Also note the presence of Germany, France, the UK, and Spain (fourth, seventh, sixth, and thirteenth respectively.) A week is not much time affect the slope of an exponential curve. By the end of next week - Friday or Saturday - we could be looking at serious restrictions to combat community transmission. This isn't a time to panic - but you know when Noah built the ark? Before it started raining. It's probably worth making sure you've got a little bit extra set aside. If you have underlying health issues - especially COPD or other respiratory conditions - maybe a little more. Think about being in close contact with large groups. Wash your hands.

Thanks for the pics. I like what you've done here. I believe I'll be looking into this myself.

Nope. Just Albatros!

These kinda go together

Doug, I put out my feeders about 30 days ago, saw one, and nothing since. We normally get the swarm in late summer. Today is cleaning day, I'm always hopeful someone will show up!

My concealed carry is a Kimber Micro .380 in my front right pocket and Beretta APX outside the waistband at 845-9 o'clock position. My attire allows me to carry a full size all the time; the risk of flashing and certain restrictions force to me to stow the APX and pocket carry only. As others have urged, spend the money for a good belt and avoid budget, universal fit holsters. How concealed? You mention rural. If weight doesn't bother you and printing is less of a concern, bigger can be better. Longer sight radius, more bullets, more gun to hold on to, etc. What's your budget? From $300+ in $100 increments, there's a bunch of choices, especially if you will consider pre-owned. Good luck!

Looks like a Mini and he will go to hell for that!

"...(15) .40cal Shields" lol. I shot one...once. It hurt even before I really started having these issues. But I must admit that I like the idea on principle. Just not in practice. Guess I'll just have to call a halt to my love of lightweight pocket pistols. I haven't tried some of my FS poly guns yet, just several metal frames. I seem to be ok with them. So far. Hey...I might even go to carrying a Hipower. Maybe even that Kareen I just got. lol

One of the great pleasures of my life has been watching hummingbirds with my grandpa out his big front window, talking about their journey, being surprised more than once at how aggressive they can be. Amazing critters!

Some topical metal...

I prefer a 1911 but conditions usually make more practical to carry a Shield or P938. If there were a "best pistol" I wouldn't have a safe full of different models.

I had an issue with prescription pills for 2 years after having multiple back surgeries. I went to 2 treatment centers/ detox in a year. I’m 3 years clean now by the grace of God and a program I work daily. Anyways.. I’ve never had an issue buying firearms since then.

For me it's a Kahr pm 40 for deep concealment. For times when I think I need extra round count it's a Beretta 92. Truly it's whatever you're most comfortable with. Even a .22 beats nothing.

I will say I have had a LOT of CC pistols and the only one I have ever had that was pleasant enough to range shoot and also daily carry has been my Sig P365...my 2nd favorite carry is my HK USP45compact but it dwarfes the sig and isn't really comfortable for summer wear. I highly recommend the Sig P365 (non XL)...its shockingly comfortable to practice with.

whichever one you will carry and are proficient with

Well, that leaves me out, I've not worn one yet. I was going to when I went to attempt to get a haircut, when they finally opened, but it was just for active duty at the time. Not that I don't take precautions, but wearing anything not rated for this is senseless to me, and since I'm not sick, it doesn't help others either. There is nobody in my household more susceptible than any other healthy person so not worried about that, and I don't socialize with anyone who is either. I'm not stupid, I'm not going around licking toilet seats or even shopping cart handles, but I'm also not doing more than washing my hands properly a bit more often than usual. I think it's actually worse wearing masks and gloves, with people constantly having to adjust the darn things with their potentially contaminated hands, gloved or not. I do think it's serious, but not to the level everyone seems to make it out to be. And now that the riots have once again brought out out all the masses, any progress the forced quarantine may of had, if any, is out the window.

Buck up guys. Take the political posturing out of it. It's some bad s h ite for sure. All you can do is take care of yourself and those who matter to you. Pay attention, be vigilant and don't be a macho jerk when it comes to wearing a mask. I expect a higher level of responsibility from TGO'ers.

Yeah and we also painted rocks and palm trees!!!

1. A gift 2. join military 3. Find a willing seller through your contacts

I'd challenge you to re-think the statement to be "They are upset because an elected politician is telling them what to do" and strike the party line out of it. People, in general, are starting to become very tired of elected representatives acting like ordained directors or dictators. It's happening with elected representatives across party lines, but is perhaps more prevalent in the Democrat side of the problem.

You don't support freedom through intimidation. That's exactly what these morons are trying to do.

Exactly what I've been telling friends/family, starting a month or so past. Don't panic but do be prepared. There will be those who panic and that will have supply/economic impact. And of course the MSM stokes the fire. On the local news today it was reported that over 50K hotel reservations in Nashville have been cancelled. Along with other factors, that's a $25M loss in revenue. The economic ripple of this virus will be felt. I'm not a world-will-end prepper but I do prepare in the same manner that I buy insurance, own fire-extinguishers and sensors, and CC everywhere I can.

From a first responder standpoint, there are a lot of lessons to be learned here from the emergency management / planning side of things. It's actually surprising to see these issues pop up now, given that this isn't our first rodeo with pandemics. Things like not relying on "just in time" logistics model for mission critical items (such as masks), considering it's obvious even to the layperson that this sort of approach doesn't hold up if there is a sudden surge in demand, a sudden collapse in the supply chain, or in this case, both. It was never meant to. It's in the interest of national security not only to maintain a sufficient stockpile of these items, but also maintain the capability to rapidly ramp up production domestically so that if our main supply route from China is no longer available, we are fully equipped to deal with a pandemic with organic assets, including surges even more significant than what we're seeing with COVID-19. Where we do have domestic production, we find ourselves sorely lacking in the manpower and facilities to meet anything beyond predicted levels of demand. Single points of failure are not uncommon -- 85% of all the worlds IV bags are manufactured in a single facility in Puerto Rico, and severe shortages occurred after Hurricane Maria. There are also additional downstream effects -- prescription drugs that we developed that may have nothing to do with this (ie, blood pressure medication, medication for those with end stage renal disease, etc) are often made in China and India to save money, and we're seeing a shortage in those active ingredients. Healthcare providers will often not simply write you an extra months prescription so you can "shelter in place" / "self quarantine" because they're more worried about you selling your drugs on the street than hardening our ability to deal with unexpected situations (including natural disasters and pandemics). With the flu season being as bad as it has been, a lot of people have already used up their sick days and there is no "national crisis" exception protecting workers from punishment in case of a pandemic on top of that. Companies are telling people they can no longer call out sick, and considering most Americans live paycheck to paycheck they can't afford to anyway. Simultaneously they are not permitted to wear a mask themselves because of dress codes and the companies desire to maintain a professional face to the customer. Coronavirus may not be that deadly to the general population, but experience in Italy has shown that the vulnerable demographics can and will still overwhelm our ability to respond to them, with the result being hospital staffing shortages, delay of routine care that would ordinarily happen in the absence of the pandemic (surgeries, cancer treatments, etc) to repurpose those assets towards expanding ICU capability and staffing. In the end, this means mortality rates that would normally be pretty low because we're able to provide focused care to those who are especially vulnerable are instead significantly higher than they ostensibly should be because we're simply don't have the assets to give everyone that same level of care we're used to when the resources aren't saturated. Some of the anecdotes coming out of there are, conservatively put, unpleasant for both the populace and provider (ie, people arresting in ICU with no interventions made) Social Media is, of course, polarizing as it is with all things. "It's the end of the world", or "it's nothing at all to be concerned with"... and like most things the truth is somewhere in the middle, and depends on your perspective. Losing a loved one can certainly feel like the end of the world, and it's cold comfort to console them with the statistics that it wasn't very likely. The economic repercussions to the global economy stemming from a single person eating a single bat on the other side of the world turns out to be immeasurable and yet to even be fully realized. Our response to this butterfly effect, a tragedy of the commons. Perhaps ameliorated if we were all on the same page, but when have we ever been? The mainstream media is no help, they've long since dropped any veneer of being unbiased and left journalistic integrity by the wayside, sacrificed at the alter of clicks, views and ad revenue so they of course continue to sensationalize everything. I'm not as upset by that I suppose because that's what I've come to expect from them, and I'd prefer too much noise to too little signal, with the recognition that we as citizens should be equipped with the judgement and experience to be able to pick the useful bits out of the din where we can. So in a broader sense, it's not Coronavirus itself, it's what it represents and the illumination it's provided on some serious cracks in our ability to effectively to respond to natural disasters, including pandemics. Upon discovering these issues I can't help but get a sense of incredulousness. Are you kidding me? Many of them are entirely preventable and were simply policy choices. To find out with trillions spent this sort of thing has been going on decades, spanning administrations.... It's common sense to even the layperson, even if just in principle, that this is not the correct approach, and it was only a matter of time until these problems were revealed, if not through corona virus than something else. There are far too many people earning a comfortable GS10 and above salary throughout Government, the CDC, FEMA, DHS for this to be a thing. Yet here we are. We've all heard "when seconds count, police are only minutes away", and I often tell people that despite our best efforts, first responders cannot be everywhere at once and so as a sovereign individual you share at least some of the responsibility for your own well being until help can arrive. Even for those who espouse the state over the individual this is the case to at least some degree, yet the very thought is met with by gawking by those who has come to be utterly dependent on the state. This experience has only reinforced my understanding that the Government, even if well intentioned, is not a monolith acting as a single entity... it's instead a big ship to steer, and getting anything done through the bureaucracy can be a real challenge, with these delays measured in lives. Penny wise and pound foolish, hundreds of millions to tens of billions in expanding and hardening domestic infrastructure for surety sake is significantly cheaper than the hundreds of billions in economic impacts that failing to do so can bring, especially considering deadly pandemics have always been a matter of when, not if. Here's a recent thread from events in Italy: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1237142891077697538.html

The real impact of this disease isn't physical, its economic. People are told not to go to work, others are afraid to go anyplace that could be crowded. Companies are losing productivity. Stores have difficulty restocking needed goods. There is a manpower shortage. People are neither making or spending money. They're just sitting at home, wringing their hands and waiting for this to blow over. Getting sick is just the tip of this iceberg.

Maybe we'll taking an annual combined shot for Covid, Zika, flu and gawd knows whatever else. Much like the various combo vaccines for kids. I walked the Knox waterfront from Ned McWherter to the Rowing Clubhouse and back. Calhoun's and Ruth's Chris both packed. Looking at outside folks at Calhoun's, biz as normal, no masks, 6-10 folks at tables, normally spaced. All the text pickup parking spaces empty. Etc. I imagine we'll be back up against it sooner than later, hence the IHME estimates. I suppose that until a city's hospitals are completely overrun, we'll just not worry about it. - OS

Now that the mosquitoes are coming out how will this effect the greatest pandemic humanity has ever known?

Something you may not have thought of: Can you carry it in a horse?

You making fun of my phone?