One thing about the snow we’ve had, it has provided unexpected opportunities to meet new neighbors, and to get to know familiar ones a little better. After trying to get my walks shovelled this afternoon I noticed there was an ice jam in the drainage of the street, so that when the sun came out and we got a little meltage we also got a lot of water backing up… so much that it began to flood the intersection up the road from my place. So I got the shovel and spent an hour working about two blocks of sidewalk/street gutter to get it all flowing again. My ‘crossthestreet neighbor was coming home about the time I was getting it all under control and I waved as he went by.
Next thing I knew he was on the sidewalk with me with his own shovel. I love it here. I hope your neighborhood is good like that. After we got the flood handled we stood about talking about the economy and the future, and the kind of things we were doing to prepare for what appears to be a coming storm. The usual things, you know, like keeping the credit cards paid off, having some cash on hand, plenty of food stocked, all the bills paid up, and making sure our business plans were similarly focused and conservative. I made a joke about my Sweetie thinking I probably had enough guns now so I didn’t have a pressing need there (just the usual dull want). He allowed as how he was planning to purchase a handgun after the first of the year, and his wife had been instrumental in that decision. He mentioned taking the CWL course and getting that taken care of too. He asked if I had one so we talked about that for a bit, and I offered to take him to the indoor range.
While we were talking, a man from the next block over walked by with his dog. He stopped to join us when he heard the gun talk and introduced himself. His wife had been concerned enough by a recent home invasion in our town that she raised the subject to him. He plans to purchase a .357 revolver before the end of January. Both men talked about “just in case the laws change and it gets harder to get one”. Both men also said their wives wanted to learn to shoot as well. Neither is too keen on the idea of waiting for the cops to come, or of meekly ceding their right to protect themselves and their families to “the government”. Nice guys. Good neighbors. I’m glad to know them, and know that they are there.
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December 23rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
This is a great opportunity for your new friends to each buy TWO guns; a centerfire for serious work, and a .22 for lots of trigger time.