English .65 Double Barreled Flint Lock Handgun

.One of the joys of the Internet (for me anyway) is a weekly E-mail from INTERNATIONAL MILITARY ANTIQUES listing wonderful specials I usually can't afford but love to look at. I think of it as a weekly visit to a museum. Personally I think there is an advantage to IMA's website. At the museum you look at the objects behind glass. You have no way to turn it this way and that to look for details.

IMA gives us eighteen beautiful, large images of this icon exposing loads of detail.

Perhap it isn't as good as actually holding the weapon, but how often will a museum let you do that?

OK, some of the smaller museums...maybe.

This week one of the offered items was, as the title suggest, an English .65 Calibur Double Barreled Flintlock Handgun.

The barrels are about nine and a half inches long.

The weapons over-all length is fifteen and a half inches.

The weight isn't listed, but one look and you know it isn't going to be light.

As ono of my old friend used to say, if it wasn't love at first sight it was very serious lust.

This beauty would have been a personal purchase item for a British Officer. They were built in the Napolenic Wars and saw service for some years after.

The maker was Durs Egg of London.

I confess to a second reason for being so fascinated by this weapon.

Of late I have been re-reading S.M. Stirling's Nantucket series.

I can't help wondering if Mr. Sterling had seen one of these before writing, or while researching the books.

You can bet Marian had.

If anyone is interested, it's available. I don't recall the exact price, but it was between $14,000.00 and $15,000.00. I won't be inquiring about it at this time.

Should International Miltary Antiques object to me using these photos let me know and I will take them down at once.

We Went To The Movies Last Night

We went to the movies last night, ONE FOR THE MONEY, but no one who reads this Blog will be surprised by that. Helene and I went with her friend Maggie. So I don't keep folks waiting, the movie was great!

Helene and I have read all of Janet Evanovich's books and have been looking forward to this film for years. The ladies books are so funny; we have BOTH read everything she has written, even the romances. This Movie was the first Evanovich offering Maggie has ever been exposed to. A good time was had by all of us.

I normally hate standing in lines, but was delighted to see there was a line for ONE FOR THE MONEY. There were no lines for any other films.

The great majority of the folks in line with us were women. Of the men I was in the minority, having read the books, but all of us were interested based on the trailers we had been seeing on TV.

I will not include spoilers here. For those of you that have read ONE FOR THE MONEY there is plenty about this movie to like. I am on record as having enjoyed it compeletly.

For folks looking for a reason not to like the movie, you can probably find something. There are a couple of reasons for this.

The biggest reason is the time they have to tell the story. This is true with any book. In this case the audio book is eight hours and thirty two minutes long. For a movie to include everything it would have to be about the same. A eight and a half hour movie is going to die on the vine.

The target length for both film makers and theater operators is ninety minutes. ONE FOR THE MONEY is one hundred and six minutes, which will allow for five or six showings a day.

This means the characters can not be developed as fully as they can in the book where a chapter can be devoted to introducing someone new. Sadly, a lot of favorite scenes will be shortened, combined or lost compeletly. Does the movie keep the feel, pacing and flavor of ONE FOR THE MONEY? Oh Yeah!!

There are a couple of delightful moments that aren't in the book. One I will discuss is shown in a trailer.

Stephanie is looking out the window when a car explodes. Both she and Joe hit the deck and she say's "They blew up our car!"

"Who's car?" Joe demands!

"Your car," Stephanie answers. "Do you want it back?"

Old time fans know that's not the way it happened in the book. But it's a great movie line. As for how it did happen in the book, READ IT! I'm not spoiling it either.

There are folks posting negative reviews. There were folks that didn't like Indiana Jones or Star Wars. Think what you would have missed out on if you had taken those fools seriously!

Last, I have been hearing that ONE FOR THE MONEY isn't the top box office winner so far. To that I say, hide and watch. Plum fans are not near done promoting this film. We want to see more of the books made into movies.

Big Things Happening With Stephanie Plum

This is a busy time for Stephanie Plum, and her fans.

In June of this year SMOKIN' SEVETEED was released. The bond office had moved into 'The Mooners' RV temporally after...for that you need to read SIZZLING SIXTEEN. I don't want to ruin it for you.

In SMOKIN' SEVETEED Stephanie ends up with several bad guys trying to get her. Ranger and Joe Morelli are franticly trying to keep her safe, but you won't believe who finally takes the villains out. It's been a busy year and it ain't over yet.

The next book will be EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN. It was hinted that either Joe or Ranger would be coming to Hawaii with Stephanie, but we don't know which.
The next book opens with a grumbling Stephanie coming home after a disastrous vacation. Getting on the plane in Hawaii alone for the return trip is the highlight of the next few days.

So when is the new book coming out? I believe that depends on how you're going to get it. The release date is Novemer 22, 2011 - Tuesday of this week. Unlike the Harry Potter Novels, there are no midnight release parties for Stephanie Plum.

Or Are There?

More and more of us have started using electric media. The release for the Nook and Kendal versions are also listed as November 22, 2011 but I am guessing that will mean after midnight Monday. Its possble night owls could be reading EXPOLSIVE EIGHTEEN tomorrow night!

For years Helene and I have gotten the Plum books in audio format. It prevents fisticuffs over who will read it first. Then there is the "have you gotten to the part - DON'TTELLMEDON'TTELLME!DON'TTELLME!" With the audio books we hear it together.

So are we out of luck? I don't think so.

Audible.com has all the Stephanie Plum books available to date. I'm pretty sure EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN will be available at 00:01 AM Tuesday morning. We have already started gathering the pop corn, pizza, wine, cheese and crackers and enough tuna and raw meat to keep the cats off our food.

Along with EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN a movie tie-in edition of ONE FOR THE MONEY is being released on November 22. There is an electronic version of this as well. We may pick up a copy next time we are in town, but we won't be reading it until January.

January 27, 2012 is the long awaited release date of the Stephanie Plum Movie adaption of ONE FOR THE MONEY. You may find Plum fans a bit 'Testy' over the wait we've had. The date was changed so often the faithful were gathering torches and pitchforks. Now we have a trailer and several sites have stills from the movie. I posted some eariler in the year.

One Site I can highly recommend is STEPHANIE'S OBSESSION. Her listing for the trailer is a September 23, 2011 entry. If the link doesn't work cut and paste it into your search bar. In addition this site has lots of articles and interviews related to the movie.

http://stephaniesobsession.blogspot.com/

The tralier can be found on U-Tube as well. The pictures can be located with most search engines.

Quiet Day at Home

Today I celebrate my birthday with a quite day at home. The weather is nice, not too hot or cold. Looks like we can expect rain for the next couple of days, but not freezing thank goodness.

Helene and I have been indulging in an audio book, S.M. Stirling's Protector's War. This is an old favorite, but the audio book is new and we can enjoy it together. For anyone who hasn't read "The Change" series I recommend it highly.

I am breaking one rule this evening. Rather than a cake I am allowing my self an early Cherry Cream Pudding. For those not familar with Cherry Cream Pudding, check my December listing for an explaination and the reciepe.

I remember large, loud parties and friends that tried desperately to throw a surprise party I didn't find out about in years past. I didn't try to spoil the surprise, really. I just kept stumbling into the plans. Helene was successful once in Houston. That day I hadn't a clue.

As nice as big parties are, it's hard to beat a quite day at home with my wonderful wife.

The Stephanie Plum Movie is a GO!

Wake up the kids and call the neighbors! There's finally going to be a Stephanie Plum movie, we hope, we hope, we hope

As exciting as this news is, it's been a long time coming. For as long as I have been reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series there has been talk of a movie. Janet sold the movie rights years ago but nothing happened. At one point she even tried to buy the movie rights back but the studio wouldn't let them go.

A few days ago Columbia Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment announced they had cast Katherine Heigl in the movie version of ONE FOR THE MONEY based on the first book of the series. If the film is successful there is lots of material for follow ups.

Readers have love/hate relationships with their favorite books being make into films and I was one of the worst. There is no actor or actress in the world that will fill everyones expectations of what Stephanie, or Ranger, or Lula will look like. Then there is all the neat stuff not filmed. I personally think we have a winner in Katherine Heigl. As for the neat stuff not filmed...

Ten plus years ago I started working background in historic films and learned the ugly truth. Movies are in a constant battle for time. The time it takes to film a movie can make or break a project. And then, if the film is too long it suffers. The question should be dose the film respect the book it's based on? I have high hopes for this project

One of my earlier post, titled Could They... delt with the problem of Stephanie shooting a would be killer while her gun still in her purse. I will be curious to see how this part of the story is handled

For the Stephanie fans the next book, SIZZELING SIXTEEN will be released on June 22, 2010. Helene and I will be at the Barnes and Noble in College Station, Texas that day to get ours.

I will post more information about the ONE FOR THE MONEY movie as it comes available.

Books to Look For In The Coming Year

Our camera woes are not over it seems. The beastie we picked up from Wal-mart Monday isn't going to work out. Helene and I will return to Bryan on Wednesday and try again.

It isn't like I would be outside anymore than I have to be right now. The weatherman said we could expect tonight to be the coldest in ten years. Another station said if their projected low develops it would dislodge the record set in 1913! That being said I'm here to tell you the days aren't that much warmer.

Bear, Helene and I bravely trudge out for feed in the mornings and then rush back to the heater. Bear is torn between going outside to do his business and seeing how long he can hold it.

Once we are back inside we look for things to do. There is only so much computering we can handle. Our taste in day time TV shows vary a bit. Helene has seen about all the World War Two she can stand for a while and I can't deal with RachelRayOprahJerrySpringerMontel. About the third time you hear the same news on Fox or CNN it wears thin. Thankfully both of us are avid readers.

I'm currently working on They Rode for the Lone Star / The Saga of the Texas Rangers by Thomas W. Knowles. It's an excellent book on a fimular subject. Like most history buffs covering a perferred subject as much as anything I look to see what new view points or information this book may offer. This author doesn't disappoint.

There are a number of fiction series Helene and I follow, science fiction, mystery and fantasy are all covered.

The first of the books I am looking forward to snuck up on me. For years Patrick F. McManus has entertained readers with his short stories about outdoor adventures, misadventures, near and complete disasters. We first picked up one of his short story collections when driving cross country on a vacation. Helene read while I drove and there were several points where she had to stop reading until she could get over fits of laughter.

Two years ago at, Barnes and Noble, I found a mystery novel he had written titled The Blight Way. It was the adventures of the Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Pap his scoundrel father and his best friend 'Dave the Indian'. It was as funny as I expected a Patrick McManus book to be and an extremely well crafted mystery in the bargain.

I bought the second book in the series, Avalanche, the week it was released and found it to be every bit as entertaining and well crafted as the first. I recently discovered the third book in the series, The Double-jack Murders is already out. If at all possible I will be getting it Wednesday depending on which camera we settle on.

In April there will be a treat for those of you with a liking for hard boiled PI's who are also wizards. Jim Butcher writes a wonderful fantasy adventure series called The Dresden Files. Many of you will have seen the short lived series on the Syfy channel. You owe it to your self to check out the books regardless if you loved the TV version or hated it. Harry packs a .44 magnum revolver for times when magic just won't do. Through the books he grows into a force to be reckoned with.

They are well plotted, fast paced mysteries that will have you cringing in some places and laughing so hard you can't breathe in others. The twelfth book in the series, Changes, is due out sometime in April 2010. There is no exact release date listed on Butchers web site at this writing.

In June of 2010 we change gears with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mystery, adventure series. Sizzling Sixteen is due out on June 22, 2010 and Helene and I have it on our calendar. We will be in Barnes and Noble that day. Stephanie Plum is a lovable, completely incompetent, incredibly lucky bounty hunter. These books are also extremely funny and don't make the mistake of thinking you have them figgured out. There is always a sting.

Helene and I make a point of buying these as Audio books so we can hear them together. In addition to being entertaining they avoid the fisticuffs over who will read them first. They also eliminate the "have you gotten to the part/DON'T TELL ME! DON'T TELL ME!" eruptions.

Janet started as a romance writer and it still shows in the Plum series. In fact, I have a confession to make here. Helene and I (yes - I) enjoy her writing so much we have tracked down her romances as well. There are always hilarious situations and stories that want to be mysteries or action adventure. Look for the crazy old lady with the gun!

'The thugs scattered like roaches when you turn the lights on. One was heard bellowing "Where did that old bat get that bazooka!"'

Not an exact quote from any of the stories but a re-occurring theme, usually staring a ".45 long barrel" revolver, that always delights.

For some years, in addition to the numbered books (One for the Money, Two for the Dough - you get the picture) Janet has also written what she called the "Between" books that feature a hunk named 'Diesel' who calls himself an 'unmentionable'. Stephanie thinks he's something between a 'Super Hero' and an 'Alien'.

Rather than another between story, this year Diesel is getting his own book. The title and exact date have not been released yet but look for it to show up sometime in late August or earlier September 2010.

This will make September a busy month. For those of you who like post crash, or disaster or post apocalypse books S.M. Sterling has what folks call 'The Change' series.

Imagine one day electricity stops working. Engines no longer work, or fire arms. In the words of one character "They took all our toys away!"

No clue who "they" are but the series starts with Dies the Fire and traces civilization re-establishing it's self from chaos. Weapons and tactics once thought obsolete re emerge in a fantastic tapestry of different approaches by diverse groups.

I personally have two problems with the series.
1. If an archer holds their bow correctly it is possible to shoot, even a heavy long bow, without hitting your bracer with the bow string every single time. Perhaps I havn't used 100+ pound long bows but I did pull an 80 pound recruve.
2. I don't see how a culture that relied on knives as much as this one could make such little use of the Kukri. Truth be told, I can't recall them ever being mentioned.

In something well over 2,000 pages these are my only complaints.

The High King of Monitval will be released sometime in September 2010. I will list the date as soon as I learn it. Helene and I will be at Barnes and Noble that day to pick it up.

If anyone feels I have over looked a special book, stand alone or series, that is going to be released this year, please tell me about it.

It is supposed to be in the 50's this coming week so I will be getting to work on the range. Hopefully I will have pictures to show my progress.

Inoue’s Flag

I really don't recall when I first started collecting militery items. Relics of past conflicts were all around me. The canteen I carried as a Boy Scout was marked 1918 and the canteen cup that came with it was marked 1945. Even some of our pack and cots were army surplus. I didn't think of them as artifacts until I was grown. While living in Houston I aquired a Japanese flag.

This flag was never intended to fly on a flag poll, it wouldn't have lasted a day in a good wind even when it was new. It also had writing all over it. I had seen flags like this in war time photos of Japanese soldiers cheering. Often they would tie them to their rifles.

I have no idea who to credit for this and the next photograph. If anyone knows, or if the owners object to the use, let me know.

I learned that these were flags given to a young man by friends and family prior to entering military service. Not unlike a high school yearbook, well wishers would write their names on the flag. Sometimes they would add words of encouragement. To my knowledge these flage were unique to enlisted men. If anyone knows different please let me know.

A great number of these flags were battle field “pick-ups” carried home by American GI’s after the war.

For years I have done history programs at schools, civic clubs and writer’s conferences. This flag was a useful prop when displaying and talking about Japanese equipment. It always bothered me that I couldn’t read what it said. Finding someone who could translate it proved elusive…until earlier this year.

Many of the folks Helene and I know from Brazos Writers are associated with A&M University in one manner of another. I asked some of them if they could put me in touch with someone who read Japanese.

One of our friends, Jean Marie, had a friend who had moved here from Japan. Jean Marie arranged a dinner party at her home where we could get together and let her friend (I will call her K as I have not ask if it’s alright to use her name) look at the flag. There were a number of folks in attendance who thought this sounded interesting.

I am put in mind of two sayings.

First - the more you learn, the more you find out you don’t know.

Second - be careful what you ask for.

When K first saw the flag she seemed to pale a bit, she knew exactly what it was. She asked where it came from. I couldn’t tell her beyond I got it in a trade from someone who bought it at a Gun Show. There was no way of telling where it was acquired.

“Most of the writing is names”, she said. “That isn’t uncommon.” Working clockwise she began to translate.

The large lettering across the top is a prayer. “Eternal Long Fortune Fight Prayer”, Good luck in the fight so to speak.

Part of this section contains another prayer. “I Pray That You Will Fight Bravely”.

One of these is the Soldiers last name – Inoue. I don’t think we ever found the first name.

Sasaki Kojiro wrote “Win by Death”Sasaki Kojiro wrote “Win by Death”

Neiko Masao wrote "In the final battle shoot Roosevelt".

I have to admit this one surprised me a bit, but it shouldn't have. How many times have we seen posters, post cards and war planes with despairing images and remarks about Hitler, Tojo and the epmeror? I know intellectually axis soldiers did the same thing but this was the first time I have encountered it.

This section reads "Shoot Americans and English" Understandable.

A girl named Keiko said "If you fall down 7 times you must get up 8 times

K was visibly disturbed. "What are you going to do with this," She asked?

I explained it had always been used in my history programs but this answer didn't please her. She insisted I didn't understand. To the Japanese this was like the soul of the soldier or the ashes of the deceased.

Now that I thought about it, I understood better than she thought. Countless Japanese Soldiers lay in mass graves. Others mangled or lost in the debris of the battle field were never buried at all. Every year bones are still being found in jungles and caves all over the Pacific. Thousands were never reported dead. Their records showed they were ordered to a ship or island. After that they ceased to exist. I know because there are still huge numbers of American MIA's from World War Two alone.

"This should be returned to his family," K insisted.

I know people who have returned Japanese Swords to the families in Japan. Robert Adams, the late science fiction writer who wrote the 'Horse Clan Novels' was one of them. I am not opposed to returning the flag but if I give it up I want it to go to Inoue's family. The problem is I have no idea how to locate them.

Any Suggestions?

Deer Hunting with the HomePlace Touch

Several weeks ago Matt arrived with the deer stand he wanted to put up here at HomePlace.

We aren't talking about a one man blind or mini tree house.

Oh no! You must remember this is Matt's deer stand.

Some assembly was required.

I told him that was no problem. I was going to use it for guest quarters in the off season.

O' Dark early the first day of deer season Matt and his six year old son, Spud, made their way out to the Bambi Hilton. By sun up Spud was board and preparing to perform Sponge Bob's greatest hits. In interest of sanity (his) and survival (Spud's) Matt brought him to us at the house...bless his heart!

While walking back to the Bambi Hilton he spotted an eight point buck staring at the thing trying to figure out what it was. He droppeed the distracted beast from less than 50 yards.

Matt dragged the beastie back to the house and he was showing me where he had first seen it. A moment later I realized he was handing me his rifle and whispering "This one is yours." Halfway between us and The Bambi Hilton a second smaller buck had wandered to the edge of the electricity right of way. He was quartering us facing away and never knew what happened.

This one was not as large as the first, but still respectable. It just barely made seven points. We had taken two in less than 30 minutes. Of course that's when the real work started. We had to hurry because the marauders were gathering. Don't laugh; these thugs haven't let me keep a single squirrel I've shot for the last two years.

I would be all day trying to list the things we have learned from my best friend, Hangman, over the years but key for the moment was to bleed the deer (or anything else) and have the meat on ice as soon as possible. It was my job to hoist the deer to be skinned, bled and dressed.

If you have a Dodge M-37 with an 8,000 Lb. winch it would be foolish not to use it. Matt got started on the first deer while Helene and I went to town for salt, baggies and ice.

In about three hours both animals were in Matt's big cooler with lots of ice and salt water to help draw out the blood. About seven last night I dumped the water, rinsed the meat and repacked it in ice for the rest of the night.

This afternoon Matt, Helene, Matt's wife Stacy and our Grand Daughter Ali processed the meat and packed it for freezing. I thought when hauling it around last night there must have been 100 Lbs. worth of meat. Matt estimated after boning there was closer to 125 Lbs. Either way it's a lot. With the way beef prices are soaring that will go a long way toward feeding our extended family in the coming months.

As the Mackenzie say in S. M. Sterling's Change novels, "We take in need and not in wantonness." That's a thought even a Presbyterian can get behind.