Happy New Year!

This is my obligatory Happy New Year post. Happy 2011. So long and good riddance to 2010.

I had an enjoyable New Year's eve, although my august years dictate a much more sedate celebration than in times past, which is just as well in some ways. For one thing the idea of a group of people having an early morning swim in the indoor pool of a local hotel while still dressed in formal evening attire no longer carries the appeal it once did. Another good reason is that the police are getting serious about this drunk driving business, and the patience of the local constabulary is notoriously thin around the holidays. The topper is that New Year's Eve is the original amateur night, something I want no part of. I'll just miss out on all the fun, thanks.

My brother Big Mike suggested we go to the Bullet Stop and perforate some paper targets then follow up our success with a short stop at the Maumee Bay Brew Pub. I observed that Mike can always be counted on for good suggestions where guns and drinking are concerned, and so accepted his invitation.

Ruger .22

I started off with my Ruger .22 and didn't do badly. Here's a typical example of 30 shots at around 30 feet. I fired ten with a two handed grip, another ten one handed in my primary hand and the final ten shots one handed on my weak side. I managed to put everything on the paper but the groups are not outstanding.

Big Mike's Glock

I shot 10 with Mike's 9mm Glock, two handed at 30 feet or so. I like the sights on the Glock and the recoil is much better than most 9mm pistols which tend to have a nasty snap to them, but the pistol is small and a little hard to hold even with my small hands. As I've mentioned before, Big Mike has enormous chow hooks and I can only guess how long it took him to come to grips, so to speak, with the miniature Glock.

Betsy

I ended up shooting one handed most of the time. My eyesight is crap, and if I hold my pistol one handed the rear sight, the front sight and the target are all blurred. Holding my gat one handed and extending my arm as far as possible I can bring the sights into focus, leaving the target blurred. On top of this the lighting at the Bullet Stop leaves a little to be desired. Bluntly, the range is shadowy even when you align your target just right and get it illuminated by the overhead lights, which I think are 40 watt bulbs instead of the 250 that we older gentlemen require.

Oh well. If I ever have to get up in the middle of the night to deal with a misguided choir boy or two I can't very well stop the proceedings and politely ask them to stand under the light so I can get a clean shot at them, so I'm putting this down to good practice conditions. Besides, the owner of the Bullet Stop is an old guy too, and is cranky into the bargain - meaning it's no use asking him to replace the lights, because he won't.

Mike ran a clip or two through Betsy and got a new battle scar on his hand for his trouble. The web of Mike's chow hook overlaps Betsy's beaver tail just enough to put it within range of the hammer, so if Mike is careless he can get bitten. Which is what happened.

The Maumee Bay Brew Pub is doing a brisk business, which is nice to see. I had a cup of the cheese beer soup and a few red hot chicken wings, all washed down with two beers. Then it was home to rest up before taking Main Lady out to dinner.

Main Lady suggested we go to Mac and Tong's Place (4330 W Central Ave; Toledo, OH 43615-1669; (419) 531-3103) which I highly recommend. They have live piano music and excellent food, if a bit pricey. I had steak Diane for about $35, and while the dinner lived up to the price I can understand that not everyone wants to spend the best part of $50 a person on dinner. Mac and Tong's is a proprietorship, and the owners are on the premises when the place is open. Tong does all the cooking and Mac handles the front. We've been going to Mac and Tong's for some years now, so when I got stuck with a bad server last night my irritation was mitigated by the fact that this was the very first time I'd ever had bad service at Mac and Tong's, and secondly I knew what to do about it. I went over and talked to Mac who apologized profusely before he adjusted the waitresses focus. She was one of those waitresses that refused to look in my direction and wouldn't stop by the table. Mac fixed the problem, which is what counts.

Perfect Manhattan

I had one drink, and one drink only before dinner, and nothing buy water after. Main Lady and I drove over to the video store and rented two DVDs, neither of which was much good. We walked Excellent Rachmaninoff at midnight, bringing in the new year in fine style. A few minutes after midnight I watched one of Sylvania's finest come tearing through Lincoln Woods, doing around 50 in a 25 mph area with his bubblegum machine off. Clearly the man was on a mission. Like I said, amateur night.