It's fall.

The temps have fallen. Labor Day has come and gone. The kids are back in school. And I'm a happy man!

I like these "in between" seasons: Fall and Spring. Everything is right between the xtremes. Not so cold, not so hot.  Not so sunny, not so cloudy. Not so wet, not so dry.  Not so Elwood, not so Jake.

The MN State Fair has gone. I like the Fair, but I'm glad it's gone. I don't think you could make the Fair 13 days long, that would be too many....and 11days wouldn't quite be enough. 12 seems about right.

Skyride!*

*Notice the KSTP tower in the background. Photo by fellow fear of heighter, Birdchick.

It's well known that I like a good car fire. Anywhere! A local car fire is even better:

Thanks to Edna for the pics of her Dad's little fire problem! Everybody got out okay, and it was a beautiful fire, too!!  I sure hope the boat got out okay....

And lastly, take close look at this photo:

You can spend some time wrapping your head around this Photo Shopped beauty....

NYKWIK

On vacation at my brother's farm in ND a couple of weeks ago we shot up a bunch of stuff: A TV (see last blog), a computer monitor and tower (see below), a dorm fridge (boring), my old printer, and just some targets.

My computer and TV rifle of choice is my British Lee-Enfield:

Now on to the destruction: Here's me shootin' the crap outta the monitor and tower. (*take note of the second shot when I shoot the monitor stand out*)

I also brought my .30 Carbine:

I brought a couple of hand guns too; Springfield Armory Model 1911:

and my Glock 36:

My brother Jeff took a great pic here. Look closely. You can see the shell leaving the gun:

Here's the closeup.  A really fantastic picture!

I'm also glad I'm not making some sort of scared face. Whew!

NYKWIK

Back from vacation in ND! My little brother lives in northern ND on a farm....with three dogs, (Sandy, Pepper, and Diva) one chicken (Chicken), one rabbit (Cocoa), one turtle (Cecil), Filbert the duck, and the cats -- Dancer and Spitter.

It's nice to see the stars at night....all the stars. It's really dark and quiet in rural NoDak.

...and we shoot stuff!!

Here's everything before we got started. The dish washers make great targets AND target stands!

You can also see the fiberglass gas cylinder and behind that the large mailbox. New stuff from left to right: Computer monitor, computer tower, mini fridge, printer (left dishwasher), and TV (right dishwasher).

Let's get to shooting!!

Don't inhale whatever is coming outta that hole!!

Have you ever seen the glass in your tube TV? It's thick!

I done shot that TV with my Lee-Enfield rifle:

The bayonet is always a nice touch.....

Here's the Black Brothers: Paul and Jeff: (and my old truck)

More next week!!

NYKWIK

Cars on fire!! Cars on fire!!! CARS ON FIRE!!

60ish VW bug:

Another rear engine car:

A locksmith Astro van:

Road side Toyota Camry:

Not sure what this car is......

Couldn't he just grab something outta the back?

This one is most painful: A shiney new Ferrari:

...the inside all full of smoke. (*nice*) Open the door to ignite the inside too; come on!!

Whew!!

Man I love cars on fire!!

NYKWIK

This week's blog does not come from the dark seedy back alleys of the internet like I usually try to.....

This week's blog is from the well lit Science Museum of Minnesota. More specifically the Stars Wars exhibit. I took the entire family to the Science Museum on Saturday and spent almost 6 hours there.

Before I get to the Star Wars bit....let me say: the museum is always fun; always. There's like 17 floors of cool stuff, a boat on the roof, dinosaur bones, great food, warm and cold fronts crashing into each other, computer quizes, colored shadows, a pretty damn cool gift shop, a movie screen that makes IMAX look like a black and white 19 inch TV, and more.

...I even ran into the Birdchick, Sharon Stiteler!!

Now to the Staw Wars exhibit part of the epic Science Museum visit:  My phone doesn't have a midi-chlorian filter. I wish that it did. You'll see it here in a moment....

For the Star Wars exhibit, the museum has Star Wars people wondering all over the place, just ripe for photos:

Let's start with a Storm Trooper:

He was nice to hold me up. Then I ran into Boba Fett:

...he was nice to point his gun at me too.  Then a Storm Trooper with a Jedi:

Then I saw Lord Vader himself:

The picture is a little jittery......I decided to try it again a little later.....

...this one is even worse. I must admit I was disappointed, sad, and even a little mad that my photos with Darth Vader didn't turn out. It almost ruined the rest of my day. The whole Star Wars experience was awesome. The exhibit, the "making of" movie, the Star Wars people wondering around for pictures, the museum itself; it was all great!! But I found myself really really excited standing next to Darth Vader.....and the pictures didn't work out....at all.  I now know why:

My phone doesn't have a midi-chlorian filter on it. Let's relook at the photos. Storm Trooper -- no midi-chlorians / clear picture. Boba Fett -- no midi-chlorians / clear picture. Jedi Knight: some midi-chlorians / a little jittery. Darth Vader -- the highest midi-chlorians ever / super jittery. Closer photo of Darth Vader -- tons of midi-chlorians / massively unfocused.

Maybe I need a new cellphone. Does the new iPhone have a midi-chlorian jitter filter?

NYKWIK

.....I'm still a little sad the photos didn't turn out....Sharon's picture did.....