Unlucky, lucky or just plain dumb?

For as long as I can remember, every time I read a story or heard one on the news about a gun accidently going off and injuring or killing someone, I was skeptical.  First of all, if you drop a gun 100 times it may go off once or twice.  Even then what are the chances that when it does it will be aimed at someone and not just blank space?

The other day I was sitting in the kitchen reading my book and my loaded pistol was lying on the counter.  My pistol is a type of pellet gun but does shoot lead pellets powered by a shell about the size of a 22.  Anyhow, I put my book flat on the counter and pushed it inward so it would not fall on the floor.  I pushed it just a little too far and the pistol fell off the corner of the counter and was heading toward the floor.  I reached over to grab it but was too late.  It hit the floor, went off and I felt immediate pain in my forehead!  A weapon had been dropped and injured a human being, ME!

When a pistol drops, it has basically 4 places to land on: left side, right side, bottom and top.  In order to discharge, it must hit directly on the hammer.  What are the odds?  If it does hit directly on the hammer what are the odds that the barrel will be pointing directly at someone's head?  If you think of the range of the pistols aim like a circle, wherein it could shoot in any direction, a human head takes up a very small portion of that circle.

Well, as they say in the westerns, it just grazed me.  It put a furrow about 1/8 inch wide and 2" long in my scalp just above my right eye.  Unlucky that it hit me when it went off; lucky that it just grazed me and didn't hit my eye; and, dumb for putting a loaded pistol so close to the edge of a counter!

New blogger on the block!

My daughter Kim and her husband Billy are flying their plane from Orange County, CA to Chicago following Route 66.  She has started a blog that will chronicle the journey.  I found the first installment very entertaining with good pix and videos, but of course I am prejudiced.  You can check it out at www.flyingroute66.blogspot.com

Rain

We finally got our first rain of the season  but it is no much to talk about.  It rained a couple of hours two days in a row.  Just enough  to keep the dust down and show me where the roof leaks.

I was enjoying posting from the patio and then all of a sudden no more internet.  My neighbors had to take down the little broadcast antenna that made it possible for me to pick up their signal.  Apparently it becomes a lightning rod!

I am posting this morning from the El Chaco RV restaurant.  Great food and super fast internet.  Until I again have internet on the hill (November) my blog will have no regularity to it.  I will try to keep you updated regarding the important stuff.

Attacked on my patio . . .

No, not banditos this time just a crazy bird.  We have very large blackbirds here with long tail feathers.  They are just a little smaller than a crow but make just as much annoying noise.  I was just standing out on my patio, taking in the view and minding my own business when one of them decided to buzz me.  It came to within inches of my head several times in a row, screaming all the while.

I went back inside and read a few pages of my book and then ventured out to the patio once more.  I looked down the hill and about 50 yards away in the top of a tree stood my attacker!  It left the palm tree and flew straight up and started with the attack again.

I considered getting the pistol out to scare it but with my luck I would probably wind up hitting it.  I limit my killing to rats!

June 3rd, a day to celebrate

Just a quick post.  Today is my payday (always worth a celebration) but also, as Jesus and I were cleaning up the lower lot this afternoon the first rain drops of the season fell on my old bald head!  I don't expect much from these clouds but is is the sign of better and bigger storms to come soon.

I am posting from my patio so I have to sign off quickly as I am sure my laptop will not appreciate the rain!

Some notes on my trip back to Aticama

You may remember the 40+ hour bus ride I took from San Blas to Tijuana when I headed north.  Well the trip south was much easier but still took almost 24 hours even though more than half the distance was by air.  I left Bakersfield at 3 pm on Monday via Greyhound; transferred in Los Angeles; and the final transfer was in San Ysidro for a bus that takes you straight to the Tijuana airport.  I arrived in San Ysidro around 8 pm but it took almost 2 hours to go the 15 miles between San Ysidro and the airport.  They never used to but now they check very closely when you cross into Mexico by bus.

I arrived at the airport at 10 pm for a flight that didn’t depart until 1:45 am.  Luckily there was a bar right next to my departure gate.  Unluckily, airport drink prices in TJ are very similar to the ones at LAX: very high!  50 pesos for the same bottle of beer that would cost 10 pesos at a bar in San Blas.

I enjoyed a very smooth flight on an airline I had never heard of before: Volaris.  The plane was new and very clean.  It landed in Guadalajara at 6:45 am (including time zone changes) and I took a cab to the central bus station.  To leave the airport you must use the airport taxies and they are incredibly expensive.  It cost $26. For the trip which was less than 10 miles. It only cost me $20 for a bus ticket for a 200 mile trip from there to Tepic.  Another $5.00 for a bus from Tepic to San Blas and $8.00 for a cab ride from San Blas to Aticama.

A total of 5 buses, 2 cabs and one airplane all within 24 hours.  I will definitely find a better way next time!