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Well, sir... make it two great posts that I've read on TGO now. You have my utmost respect.

This is easily the best post that I’ve read on TGO. Being in my fifties, not a lot matters to me besides keeping my wife happy and attempting to maintain a stress free and peaceful mind. As for diversity, I realize that it’s difficult to change the mindset of older people unless they have deathbed conversions. It is what it is. What I’ve seen and love from the youth over my 31 years of being a parent is that they are trying to break the mold. They are trying to be inclusive. They are trying to be the melting pot that we claim America to be. The efforts of the youth aren’t perfect, but their efforts are better than the examples that my generation, and those older than me have set for them. I’ll give an example. My wife and I were fortunate enough, although at great sacrifice to be able to send our kids to the best private schools in Memphis. They were in safe Christian environments, and got superior educations. My kids were always a part of a very small handful of minorities. I watched as my son and two daughters had a diverse group of friends in lower and middle school. In high school, my daughters group of friends increased while my son’s group decreased. This is not to point fingers at anyone or make accusations, but the kids that my son had been around his entire life started to make racial slurs and distance themselves from my son. It seems to them, my son was no different than the riff raff that they heard about everyday at home or on the evening news. Though all the adversity, my son became an all star football player and a academic super star. The following opinion is based upon a small sample size, but based upon my life experiences, and those of other black men that I know. Our lives are a daily stress filled existence that leads to health problems and early death. Several members have given excellent examples of what it fills like to not feel welcomed in in gun stores and other situations. My favorite story was about the family outing to Chipotle. The feeling that the member had that day is the feeling that I have everyday. I don’t walk through life feeling like a victim, but I go out of my way to not be perceived as a threat or stereotyped. Everyday I’m conscious of my dress, my speech and my body language, and many times that still doesn’t exempt me from being treated poorly. I don’t whine about it. I just put on thicker skin and drive on, because I have young men watching me and I want them to navigate this life with the same strength, confidence and dignity. Finally, I’ve been a long time member of the NRA. I briefly gave up my membership when they labeled the ATF jackbooted thugs. As a government employee I didn’t think it was a good look. I carry my NRA membership card in my wallet daily, and I read The American Rifleman magazine that comes with my membership. That being said, I never feel like I’m the demographic that the NRA caters to. I view the NRA in the same way that I view labor unions. They are both necessary evils. The fundraising scare tactics are ridiculous, and get worse every election cycle. The one positive thing I can say about the NRA is that based upon the paranoia that I witness from many gun owners, they are getting their message across to those people they are trying to reach.

Over the years I have gone back and forth with the 1911 platform. Roger,Colt,S&W, Ed Brown, Les Baer, and for one reason or another ended up letting them go. I have since replaced ALL of them with Dan Wesson’s. My very favorite being the “Wraith”, a BEAUTIFUL example of the perfect 1911 for ME! It may not be for everyone but I have found “the one”! It effortlessly shoots perfect!! https://imgur.com/a/2v4BMwr https://imgur.com/a/dHEmNur https://imgur.com/a/AlNFOZa The grips on this pistola are the most functional I’ve ever used, 200 rds and my hands were great, although if you have girly tender paws, not for you then

PIcked up a new RDB a few weeks back. Literally picked it up the night before going out of town for 3 weeks. Finally got a chance to shoot it today. I love this gun, ergo's are surprisingly good. Only one FTE, but that was intentional, it was while i was tuning the gas system. Currently sporting a Burris AR 332 (3x prismatic sight), but will probably get swapped out for a 1x prismatic at some point. I think KELTEC has a true winner with this rifle. I've shot the original TAVOr, the X95, and a few other bull pups. Honestly I think i like this one more. Oh got it for a little under 900 out the door.

You always say that. Can’t BS me.

Nein, you are quite mistaken Herr Johnson! It is clearly a microphone. lol

I have had friends concerned about me living by myself and all the time I have lived in this rental friends have added stuff to my doors and there are so many motions lights outside that you canot approach the house from any direction without triggering at least 4 to 6 dayight bright floods. I have dead bolts on a steel entry door plus handle lock. The only weak point in the whole place is the sliding glass door and I have it secured so it will have to be broken to come thru it. I asked the first landlord I had if he minded me securing the door and he said do what you want to do so I screwed the door to the frame so it cannot be lifted out of its track. I have a clear shot of the door from the bedroom so will shoot them if they are stupid enough to come in after breaking it and then like someone else said , will be time to call Serv-Pro! I also have Darby with hearing beyond anyones wildest dreams. Her ears are like radar detectors and when they stand up I turn my hearing aid down cause I know she it getting ready to cut loose. I swear she can hear those lights out side trigger and she starts. Someone mentioned having a John Wick effect in their house. I do have one in mine. Any time family is coming to visit they call an hour ahead of time if they are bringing the children so I can put up any guns out in the safe till they leave. When I move all my floods are going with me to the new house. SIL has already replaced the doors with steel ones and added dead bolts.

I totally understand and yep, Honda does make great products including their outboards but even new things break. One of the guys on one of our tournament trails bought a new Triton back in 1997 and it had a 200 Honda on it and it was in the shop all the time. He finally told the Triton dealer to keep the Honda motor and put him a Yamaha 200 on it and when he showed up at next tournament he was running a Yamaha. Any company is capable of making a Lemon and James got one on his Triton. He traded boats every three years and every year after that he had Yamaha's. But they break to. I had to put the boat in the picture in S&R while it was under warranty and they put a brand new lower unit on my outboard and it was on 10 months old. I don't know how some folks are buying these new top of the line fishing boats. I was looking at a ZX 21 Skeeter at a dealer last week while picking up a part for my boat and the price was $94,895.00. The saleman asked me if he could wrap it up for me and I replied maybe but first you need to show me which storage compartment the pot of gold is stored in and he got an ugly look on his face and walked away. A new Ranger is over $100,000.00.

You either have a virus, or stumbled upon a web page that is hijacking your browser. Sometimes a set of drivers will call home and see if there are updated versions, but it's unusual, and they usually aren't too in your face about it. First try to determine what is popping that window up. If it's just in a browser window (Chrome, Internet Explorer) then it's one of the above. Clear the browser cache, and a good reboot may clear it up, if it's just in your browser. If you have a full-blown virus, you'll have to clean that off. I like to use Malware Bytes https://www.malwarebytes.com/ for removing a virus, and malware. Download the free version, install it, run it and let it clean up your PC. Make sure you have a good Antivirus. Sounds like AVG didn't do it's job very well. Make sure it has the latest definitions installed. Look through your installed programs occasionally and see if there is anything that looks suspicious, and uninstall it. The first and best line of computer security is the component that is in between the keyboard and the chair (you). Don't go to shady web sites. Think before you click on anything. Do not mindlessly click on any pop-ups. Don't download and run anything unless you intended to, and trust the download. If a web site says you need to install something, you probably don't. Probably way over your skill set, but for the benefit of others that may be reading this, and are a little more tech savvy, Google "No Ads Host File", and consider using a custom hosts file on your PC. It will prevent you from even being able to connect to a bad web site. The first thing I do when someone brings me a crapped up computer is put on a hosts file. I'm sure they are pissed afterward when they can't get to their favorite porn sites, but they never bring it back to me with crap on it.

I can fish now, as I have a boat. I was just thinking of upgrading. No more than I get to go, however, it's probably a bad idea. The reason I'm thinking about a Honda motor is the fact that we now own a Honda 4 wheeler and a Honda car. They are both 100% trouble free except for routine maintenance which is minimal. My boat works fine, but it's older, so I do have to work on it from time to time. The only reason I'm considering a new boat is the hope of not having to work on it. If I thought it wouldn't be trouble free, I'd just stick with what I've got.

View is from Unaka Mtn. (my back yard. LOL!) Yep, nice quiet lil' town and everyone knows everyone. No railroading in my blood, just moonshine running on my dad's side of the family, coal miners and share croppers from Va. on mom's side. National Forrest Shooting range is 5 mins from my house. Nice! lol!

I've converted plenty of fixtures and it's super easy. All you have to do is bypass the ballast and direct connect the power to the led tubes and you are done. Can be done in 10 mins or less and much cheaper.

Hello from NC today but East TN next week. The Charlotte part really caught my eye.

Well I recomended S & R Marine in Cookeville as a place to start because I know the owner and he was my service dealer of my Skeeter boat while it was under warranty and I got to know him and his company fairly well and I have sent several people to them that bought boats from them and got good deals on what they bought. They have Triton Aluminum Boats. If your really wanting a 4 stroke I suggest a Yamaha over the Honda for 1 reason. There are very few places if you need some major repaired on the motor after the warranty expires that work on the Honda Outboards so you would pretty much be stuck going back to your dealer that sold you the boat and Honda motor. I'm not saying Honda is not a great motor cause they are. Just just very many mechanics out there that work on them. Now with that said Mac is talking about his F115 Salt water Yamaha be 10 years old. I have a 1998 Skeeter with a 130 Yamaha on it that has had one major shop visit since I got it and that was a warranty lower unit replacement which is where and when I met Wayne at S&R Marine. Other than that it has been normal wear and tear repairs. Spark plugs Lower unit oil change, water pump kits every 2 years that Yamaha is 20 years old in August and from 1998 till 2014 I was on the lake every day till health put me on the night shift. Meds keep me out of direct sunlight so I had the skeeter rigged for night fishing. Black light jacks in the deck and head lights that will light up a football field. https://www.snrmarine.com/s/search/inventory/

Finding a good hull and running gear, then the motor could save you a bunch of money. May be an option depending on how soon you want to fish. My only experience with a Honda is my buddy has a 50 4 stroke on his pontoon, it is quiet and smooth.

We have monitored security and signs posted on the 4 corners. 14 year old deaf alarm dog...if she sees a stranger, bark on. Asleep or looking the other way, you are good to go. Motion lights, 4 corners. No overgrown hedges, bushes, trees. Handguns strategically placed John Wick style. Not actually, I do keep most secured. Master bedroom can be defended with handgun; shotgun and carbine also at hand...it might really be John Wick. No kids, no reason to defend other parts of the house. Not SWAT trained to clear a house, so I'll wait patiently. From my perspective: 1. No one home, break in, I got insurance 2. Home, before bedtime, forced entry, I'm armed 3. Forced entry, after bedtime, hunker down and know if that BG comes up the stairs, we're going to need ServPro. Cameras would be an extra deterrent and for 'out of site of road' or more rural property owners, a nice doorbell. Added value, could help ID perp and/or vehicle.

I've always wanted a Honda four-stroke. In little engines - think 2, 5, and 10 hp, they're the bee's knees. That said, I've got a saltwater series Yamaha F115 on my center console, and it has been a strong engine for 10 years, doing everything I've ever asked of it. I spend a lot of time in saltwater. So, my maintenance is probably overkill for someone who only sees freshwater. But, change your oil, change the gear lube at recommended intervals, and don't neglect your water pump. Do those things well and you'll likely be happy with any of the major manufacturers. I've come to like the fact that on my Yamaha, I can do all of the prime maintenance myself.

Welcome aboard!

Hello and welcome , Burns Tn here

Glad it was mostly benign. I'd have my wife call it in immediately. They might not get to your house in time, but they might catch the guy at one down the road.

I’m glad that everything worked out in your favor. In addition to ADT, I’m up to six Arlo cameras, a Ring doorbell and nine of the new Arlo flood lights. I still don’t consider them as deterrents, just early warning systems. When the kids were home, we had a German Shepherd. My wife won’t agree to another one until one of us retires. I can’t wait. One of my favorite features of the Arlo camera and motion detection lights is that you can decide between all motion or people, and get your notifications accordingly.

Glad it ended well for you. I installed a door kit from Armor Concepts (TN Company) a couple of years ago and have been happy with it. https://armorconcepts.com But there is still more I'd like to do. Mostly, I know that a determined thief will get in no matter what so my focus now is going to be on cameras. I want to make sure that if someone does get in, I have as much video as possible to try and help catch them.

I'm just the plumber, Links. I keep the pipes running and the drain flowing. The members are what make the place great. Edited to add... PS: Thank you. I am very humbled by that.

Your post explains my feelings on this better than I could have put it in my own words. There are people in this country who have gotten wealthy pretending to fight against racism. Any chance of actually getting rid of it means their income is over. Thus, I doubt it will ever cease to be an issue, real or perceived. Further, many seem to use the word racism like a club to swat any perceived shortcomings in themselves, rather than taking a look in the mirror and addressing the real problem. I attempt to treat everyone like a human being as long as I'm allowed to. Tiptoeing around black people, women, etc. seem disingenuous to me. As far as being treated differently in a gun store, I think one gets treated according to his attire and demeanor rather than skin color most times. When I was a young man, I had long hair, wore jeans and a t shirt. I was treated like a thug at many businesses. Today, thanks to male pattern baldness and perhaps a touch of wisdom that comes with age, the long hair is gone, and the t shirt is replaced with a decent looking button down. I find I am now treated respectfully just about everywhere. My skin color hasn't changed. In short, dividing people into groups is a democrat tactic that I personally despise. My group is American. You are either with me or against me. United we stand, divided we fall.

Diversity and inclusion. I've lived this all my 50+ years without giving it a second thought. I respected everyone that deserved it based on the way they lived , worked and and treated others, never on the color of their skin. The fact that this has become a political talking point for years upsets me to no end. It's a manufactured crisis caused by the previous presidential administration and promoted by the news media. Call me a nut if you want to but that's how I see it. I'm supposed to have white guilt? Why? Who is running away from diversity and inclusion?

I'm going to offer a few thoughts for perspective. Have you ever been somewhere where you just felt like you didn't belong? Maybe there was nothing obvious. Likely nothing was said. But, you just felt like you didn't fit in. Many of us have never had that experience - or would need to really stretch our thinking to do it. Looking for a church is a perhaps a good analogy. If you've ever left home and felt compelled to find a church in a new town - it can be daunting. I recently had a family member move to Murfreesboro. For a couple of years they tried probably a dozen churches. They were at one of the bigger ones for about 6 months because their kids went to school with a lot of the kids at that church. They really put in the work, but still ended up leaving. When I was talking to my family member about it, she said, "there are some really great people there - but after 6 months I've got people still introducing themselves like I'm a visitor multiple times - and I don't really know that we're wealthy enough to afford to be able to go to church here." There's a lot in that statement that breaks my heart - but there's a lot of truth, too. There's nothing obviously wrong with that church - they're serving a lot of people - but maybe there's more that they could be doing. -- When it comes to the 2A community - maybe more than one thing can be true at the same time. I'm going to explore that a little bit in this post. 1. The NRA as it exists today is doing just fine - Its membership is as large as it's ever been. It raises more money than it ever has. It has a string of legislative and judicial wins at the local, state, and federal level. As an organization, it is feared by it's opponents, and may be the most effective lobbying group that's ever been. When many of us go to the conventions - we see a floor packed with guns and gear. We hear people speak that are talking about things that we care about. It's probably the furthest thing from most of our minds that most everyone there looks like us. And, that's fine on the surface. The NRA is doing great. Why change something that is doing fine? If people don't feel welcome, that's their problem, not mine. I'm welcoming and affirming and tired of people telling me that I'm the problem. All of the above can be true, and this likely is pretty accurate for most of us. But, something else can be true, too. 2. The NRA as it exists today isn't going to be enough to see us through the fight that is coming - The conditions on the ground are changing. I'm convinced that we're going to see gun regulation be a more dominant force in our political arena in the next few years than it's ever been. Opponents are mobilized, growing, and increasingly well funded. The NRA (as a proxy for all of us) is not ready for this coming fight. We need as many allies as we can get - and what's worked so far - being a culture that's predominantly included white, middle class, generally "conservative" males - isn't going to get us where we need to go. We're going to need a bigger team. -- I think a lot of us read stuff about diversity and inclusion - and we're made to feel like we're somehow the problem. We're tired of being made out to be the problem. I'd love to redirect our focus a bit. We all view things through a lens of our experience. We can't change that. But, occasionally something comes along to put a scratch on that lens and make us think. Let's go back to that church hunting analogy a bit. Many of you who've gone through this process would likely echo feeling something like this. My family member did wind up at a church where they're happy and engaged. When talking to her about it, she mentioned that the first Sunday that they were there people went out of their way to make them feel included. People didn't just introduce themselves, the pastoral staff met them and learned about them. Other kids introduced themselves and showed their kids where to go. People invited them to lunch after church. They made sure they knew about small groups. All of this could seem overwhelming - unless you're looking for a community to get engaged in. Then, you see it through a perspective of people going out of their way to make you feel welcome. That church was fine before this family got there - but when they showed up they went out of their way to make them feel welcome. And now, they're all better for it. If I were to extend that out to the NRA (again as a proxy for all of us) what does that look like? Let's say I'm a young Hispanic man here in Nashville, or a single black mother in Memphis who has bought a gun to defend her family, or maybe I'm a dad in government housing who can here gunshots weekly from my stoop as my kids play in the yard. Let's say I've joined the NRA to learn more about guns because that wasn't a part of my upbringing. I get a copy of American Rifleman or American Hunter in the mail every month. How do those publications speak to me? What would those publications look like if they included stuff that was important to the non-white, non-suburban, non middle class male reader? Off the top of my head: Let's talk Philando Castile - here was a young (black) man who did everything you're supposed to do as a permit holder when engaging with law enforcement. He notified them of his permit, was respectful, and didn't go anywhere near his gun - and still wound up shot. That's terrifying - and the NRA was silent on it. Let's talk firearm security when a $1000 safe may not be an option Let's talk firearm safety and handling in an environment where people aren't going to look at you crossways just because you're there Let's talk cultural issues where your family and your community may look at you crossways because the only people they know with guns are thugs Let's really open up some channels with law enforcement, and be an advocate, and have some hard conversations about interactions with our members who are terrified that they're going to get shot for something stupid. A lot of things can be true at the same time in life. As I look at our community of gun owners at large right now - we're as strong as we've ever been. But, that likely isn't strong enough to get us where we need to go next. America is getting browner. That is something that many of us welcome and celebrate. The 2A community of the future can't look like the one of today if we're going to remain as strong in future generations as we have in this past generation. Maybe the point of this thread isn't necessarily to call us out on doing something wrong - rather it's to start a conversation about how we can be more welcoming - even if at times we go out of our way to do it. How much stronger would the 2A community be if it were in fact a leader when it comes to inclusion? That's the thing. Leaders don't just show up one day with a group that is like, "yeah, I guess we'll follow you." No. Leaders create a space that people want to be involved in - and know that in doing so everyone is better.

Well I got my questions answered with out even asking it. I actually laid awake last night trying figure out why ethnicity was even mentioned in the discussions. I don't believe or cannot ever remember anyone here that has brought it up, not saying it has not been and I missed it. To me all members are equal and have just as much right to be here as the next person unless they prove they do not or cannot follow the site rules and then it is up to the owner or moderators to handle that situation. I honestly don't care if you are from another planet. If you enjoy shooting and you enjoy talking about Firearms or anything else pertaining to them all I can say is welcome to the site................JMHO

Good grief, you could have planted an acorn, harvested the tree, and whittled out a new stock by now.

Glad my wife doesn't poke her head in here often. She learned to drive using her oldest brother's scout and every now and then mentions that she would love for me to get one and restore it. Not only do I not have time for that I scratched that itch on multiple projects in my younger years. I still enjoy doing maintenance on our vehicles but I've had more than my fill of walking in to the shop and and looking at a vehicle that is in multiple storage crates...

Just messing with you bubba. You know how I feel about this.