Danger Rane

I wouldn’t consider myself a pro welder by any means, as there is so much to welding, fabrication, and metal work that it’s undoubtedly a lifelong study to reach that level. But I am certified, own my own mobile welding rig, and make a fair amount of money welding as my side job. I’d be happy to answer questions on here, or at some point link up and put on a small class. I’ve taught quite a few military guys to weld, if they can figure it out anybody can .

Does it bother anyone else the way reporters throw around the term “decorated” when talking about service awards that pretty much everyone gets as long as they don’t mess up? This video is an eye opener on many levels.

Welcome to the group Randy.

If that’s the case how do you explain the states and cities that have been requiring masks most of the year having the same seasonal rise in numbers as the areas that have left it up to the people whether they will wear them or not?

My friend, I may be completely off base here, or maybe somebody deleted something that would have provided context, but your couple comments in this thread make no sense to me all. I’m truly interested in what you are trying to say, but it’s not coming across in a manner that I can put together.

Lots of damage, but thankfully no fatalities reported as of yet, just a few minor injuries. They either sucked at their planning (timing wise), or it was meant to be just an attention getter. It’s also possible they were intending to set it off once the streets were crowded, but the early detection by law enforcement made them change plans.

Our local Fire Departments (the paid and the volunteer departments) had the option to get it Monday and Tuesday. I know a handful that did, most passed. The Hospital my wife works at started giving it to those that wanted it Tuesday. Again, she only knows a handful that got it. Most either don’t trust it or would like the priority of it to go to those that are actually high risk. Most of those that I know that got it are in poor health (high risk categories). Depending on which service you work for, some say that you are not eligible to receive it if you are within 90 days of having COVID. I know one relatively healthy guy who just recovered from COVID, he’s only been back to work about a week, and he managed to talk his way into getting it, which I find pretty selfish. As noted by someone above, each person that got it should get their 2nd shot 4-5 weeks after the first or all is for not. By that logic, the period between the first shot and the second you would not be protected. Those that got it were told it’s good for 4-6 months max.

Just speaking from what I’ve observed where I live, more people have been wearing masks the last couple months then at any point this year.... yet the numbers continue to climb. I can’t think of the last time I was at a store and saw more than one or two people in the whole store not wearing a mask. I’m certainly not suggesting masks are the problem, I’m saying they are not the solution that has been fed to so many to give them some semblance of hope, by feeling like they are “doing something”. I learned many years ago in the military that if the “leadership” at any level doesn’t know the answer to a problem, they pull some BS out of their ass to make it look like they are “doing something”. What we have been seeing at our state level, and many of the larger cities across the country is exactly that same mentality.

I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite between my Rossi Ranch Hand in 45lc and my Marlin Dark 1895 45/70. Both very different but both so perfect in their own way.

I use Excel to keep track of the few I have. Each gun has a couple different tabs. One tab has the info on the purchase date, price, vendor/seller, plus all the info about any upgrades or accessories. The next tab is the overall round count to include details of exactly which ammunition was used for each shot, how it shot, any malfunctions etc. On the round count tab I also keep track of who I shot with and where. It’s nice to look back and see which guns my kids took their first shots with and where we were. I hope they will appreciate that info someday too....or they might just think I was an OCD nerd. I also detail when and to what level of cleaning I perform on each gun. Some I clean every time I shoot them, others I clean at a certain round count or level of accuracy degradation. I then have other tabs for my ammo inventory. For bulk ammo I have metal cans with numbers stenciled on them. Within my spreadsheets the ammo can number corresponds with info about the ammo, how much, what it’s worth etc... I used to update the ammo value every year buy stopped a couple years ago. If I updated it with current values my wife would think we have won the lottery. For many years I’ve bought a box of ammo every time I walk into a Walmart or a gun shop. I’ve always told my wife and kids that I’m investing in precious metals, which has certainly turned out to be accurate. I might be a weirdo, but I enjoy cleaning guns, collecting ammo, and cataloguing the above mentioned data as much as I do shooting the guns. It’s all part of the “gun” experience for me.

If you think 0.6% is a pretty small number, would you agree that 0.087% is also pretty small? That’s the percentage of COVID deaths within the US population based on a US population of 331 million and current US COVID deaths estimated at 290k. If you factor in only about 6% of the 250k deaths (15,000) dying from COVID alone, that brings the COVID alone death rate to 0.000045%. Pretty hard to justify what’s been done to our country over numbers like that.

The information I stated was verbatim what our agency was provided by our medical direction, which is a reputable middle TN hospital. If what you are stating is correct and they are wrong than it just reinforces the point I made earlier. Who can you trust?

If it makes you feel any better about your chance at getting the vaccine sooner than later, a lot of group 1 doesn’t want it. Our fire department conducted an anonymous poll yesterday to determine how many doses they needed to get. Only 6% of our department is willing to take it, and yes it is optional. Similarly my wife (nurse) had to participate in a similar survey today at her hospital and only 14% of those polled so far are willing to get it, and yes it’s optional for her as well. I’m a casual observer in a few first responder forums and FB pages, and this thought process is pretty common across the board. A few people had asked earlier in this thread why we wouldn’t want it, and someone had asserted that we were possibly in the wrong line of work if we weren’t willing to get it. To the former I would say that I deal with some form of physical risk ever single day at my job. We are well versed in identifying and mitigating risk when possible. The virus is a known risk, the vaccine is an unknown risk. One I can take precautions for, and even if I do get it my chances of recovery are extremely high. The other is completely unknown as to the short term and long term effects. Once it’s in your body that’s it, you aren’t sucking it out later. The vaccine requires two shots to be effective, and has to be re-administered every year. Other than being a bit overweight I am not in a high risk group for dying if I get the virus, if I was then I would factor that in and it might or might not tip my risk scale. My 22 years of working for federal, state, and local Govt has taught me to trust them 0%. It’s a keep your friends close and your enemies closer situation. There are plenty of good people that work for the Govt, but at every level where decisions are made their are people driven by greed and fear. For those driven by greed it is both in the financial and fame sense, they will do anything to achieve either or both. Those driven by fear just want to maintain the status quo and retire comfortably, and in most cases they are so afraid to make a wrong decision that they are almost frozen and can’t make any decision, or when they do, it is so risk averse that it is ineffective or misguided. There are also those in it for all the right reasons, but they typically won’t make it very high before being choked out by the other two. All that to say, if the Govt is pushing the vaccine so hard, to include some legislators wanting to tie the next stimulus check to you getting the vaccine, then I absolutely don’t trust anything about it. To the individual that thinks we are in the wrong line of work because we don’t want to take the vaccine, maybe we are, but I guess we’ll have to stick it out until you and your friends that have all the answers are willing to come take our place. For some reason there is a nationwide shortage of EMS personnel, so the sooner you can get your initial year of training knocked out to start at $12 an hour would be great. I hope you don’t have an aversion to smells because there is ALOT of vomit, poop, and piss involved. While I personally don’t trust or want the vaccine, I do 100% support your right to choose to get it if you want to. I respectfully request that you honor my right to choose for myself without disparaging me and my profession. I would’ve thought that in a 2A group we would all know first hand the frustration and danger of other people trying to choose for us what they think is best for us. Stay in your lane

I’d sell them both and get them a Glock 43x . If the option is only between those two I’d keep the Taurus since it’s the right color, and you can shoot multiple calibers, and it has a usable hammer.

If she already works there they cannot force her to get it, they can however make her life a nightmare with PPE requirements. If it’s a new place of employment that requires it before she can work there that’s possibly a different story. I only know because several friends have gone through this with their places of employment in regards to the flu vaccine. They were made to wear a mask before masks were cool, and had the equivalent of a scarlet letter placed on their ID badges.

You are correct. My Dad had GBS in 2018, and is finally mostly recovered. He cannot get the flu vaccine the rest of his life and has been advised not to take the COVID vaccine also.

I’m not familiar with NFO?

I don’t personally know any first responders that are willing to get the vaccine, and most of the hospital “front line” workers that I know don’t want it either. My circle is admittedly pretty small, maybe a hundred or so people, but it makes me wonder how many similar minded workers around the country will do the same. Undoubtedly some city’s and states will try to mandate it for their workers, similar to how they try to mandate the flu vaccine, but thankfully here we can’t be required to take it. Maybe that will free up some doses for those that it would theoretically benefit the most.

I went with a set of steel plates from AR500.com a few years ago and have been happy with them. I bought a 3rd plate to test for myself and the only thing I had pass through it was some AP .308 and eventually some 5.56green tip after I hit the same spot about 15 times. There are pros and cons to any type of armor. The only real con, in my opinion, to the steel plates are the weight. Mine are 7lbs per plate for a large, and that of course varies by which size plate you use. If you go steel, spend the extra money on the spall mitigation. The biggest pro to the steel plates is durability, followed closely by price. I had great ceramic plates in the military (expensive) but managed to break three plates in 7 years, and thankfully never got shot. Now is a great time to buy as AR500. Com does a big Black Friday sale every year, usually 15-20% off. It will probably take several weeks to get them. I don’t carry my armor with me everywhere at this point. Hopefully won’t ever feel the need to. But if I do have to strap it on my mindset would probably be that I’m going to do whatever I can to buy my family time to get somewhere safe. In my limited experience seeing guys get hit in their plates they were almost always hit other places also, and needed prompt medical attention on a scale that I will not have in any home defense or loan wolf situation. I absolutely think it’s a necessary tool in the toolbox, but no matter how little or a lot you spend on them they will not make you invincible. It’s important going into any type of fight to mentally brace yourself that “this is really going to hurt” to lessen some of the surprise when it happens.

@xsubsailor I have no idea how their rules are written in Florida, but in TN a DNR tattoo would not be recognized. The only acceptable DNR order here is an official document provided by your Dr. that you have both signed and dated. If a patient in a hospital or care facility has a legitimate DNR order it is clearly documented so that a mistake is not made. If they get transported by ambulance for something the DNR order (or verified copy) goes with the patient to the receiving facility. If the said patient passes at home the family needs to know where that DNR is and present it when EMS arrives or resuscitation attempts will have to be made if there is any chance. I say all this just to dispel any misconceptions about the process and in hopes that anyone who has that wish will know what the process is.

If she’s mainly going to use it around the house connected to WiFi you can save yourself some money and get the non cellular model. I bought a non cellular 10.2” with 32gb memory for right around $200 last year when Amazon had their Black Friday week sale going on. I’ve been very happy with it. Mainly use it for TGO, Netflix, and YouTube. Just recently figured out I can download some movies and shows on Netflix to the iPad so I can watch them while I fly/travel. This is the one I got. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XL7G4H6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Welcome to the group.

It was trick or treating as usual in our neck of the woods. I saw a couple of the older folks that were giving candy wearing masks, which I understand, other than that it was pretty normal. My son said that he thinks that they gave out better candy this year, as in a lot more chocolate and even some full size candy bars My in-laws covered down on candy dispensing duties while we were out, they said about 50-60 kids came by. Couldn’t have asked for better weather. I have family near Seattle and some in Northern California, they were not able to do it at all.

I wouldn’t be in the line of work I am if I felt the way that your comment implies. One can have a realistic view about a situation and still be saddened by it. An elderly person died in our town last night (unknown if COVID related), as they do several times per week. I can be saddened by their loss and the effects it has on their family and still objectively know that it’s going to keep happening.

Sounds like you are well stocked. You are probably already aware of it, but in case you are not you might look into an adapter that allows you to refill your 2lb propane tanks from your 40lb. I have about 10 of the 2lb bottles, and refill them whenever I get about 5 empty. There are a plethora of YouTube videos that show how to accomplish this safely. I think I bought the adapter off amazon for $16.