Adventures in Hoplophobia
- Thread starter CathyInBlue
- Start date
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Well, I've been knocking down 50' tall trees. Stick frame dwellings fall just like trees, don't they? :sarcastic:
glocknload
New member
Treatments for Hoplophobia
Normally, a person with hoplophobia is encouraged to undergo some therapies that deal with some gun training, sometimes for reality, sometimes just good for the imagination to bear.
At times, therapies that use some slides and pictures of guns and some firearms are also recommended. These are actually considered as the best means to conquer the fear for firearms gradually but surely.
However, if therapies alone won’t work, medications will then be advised as well. There are a lot of potent drugs out there but some can actually cause much trouble, so it’s vital that you take some cautionary measures beforehand.
I think a good initial treatment would be for the individual to take a good dose of Valium and then watch a bunch of old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. Then go for the gun training after the medication has worn off. :biggrin:
Phillip Gain
New member
Interesting. I think my Home Firearm Safety and Basic Pistol courses would be just the things!
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon felling another tree, the smallest of the bunch, but it produced it's own set of challenges.
Being Saturday, there were people all over coming and going, including the PH, SNB, and other members of their familial unit. At one point, I hear her daughter's voice, "Can I ask her, mommy?" "Okay." "Hey, lady? Can you give us our ball back?" The kids had been playing with a little fuzzy green tennis ball in the tree limbs next door and it had bounds over that piddly little 3' chain-link of mine. I can only guess what her sphincter factor might have been in letting her little girl commune with the big, bad gun-wielding maniac next door.
At the time, I was wearing my new IWB holster in the small of my back without the sidearm in it, figuring someone would challenge me, "I see you have that gun on you again." but no one did, even though I found plenty of excuses to straighten my shirt and flash it. When I looked where the girl was pointing, it took me a moment to see the green ball in the green grass. "Oh, sure," I smiled and put the chainsaw in my left hand on the ground to fetch and toss her her ball back.
Several minutes later, the little boy, the non-SMB of the story so far, needed to ask the same question. At that time, I was wielding a mighty limb saw with it's awesome 1 1/2" wide tapered blade. *gasp* Rather than put it on the ground, I flipped the blade over so I was grasping it in my mechanic's glove and just handed the ball to him directly, as the girl had managed to fumble my gentle toss requiring me to hand it to her directly anyway.
That was it. The gun owner whose mere presence caused such sturm und drang two nights before was allowed to genially interact with their children yesterday. Even though the PH could then be heard trying to herd the children over to another part of the yard to play with their ball, presumably to lessen the probabilities that it would bounce over into my yard again, I think we've made progress.
The PH could also be heard most of the afternoon screeching, "Dottie! House! Dottie! House!" apparently trying to get a little Jack Russel Terrier to go inside. I had to bite my tongue to keep from calling out, "I don't think Dottie knows that word."
@ Phillip Gain:
I just noticed the four-legged member of the family in your avatar. What's his name? He looks exactly like our last dog, a German Shepherd/Huskie mix named Maverick. He turned about 15 and his body just fell apart.
Being Saturday, there were people all over coming and going, including the PH, SNB, and other members of their familial unit. At one point, I hear her daughter's voice, "Can I ask her, mommy?" "Okay." "Hey, lady? Can you give us our ball back?" The kids had been playing with a little fuzzy green tennis ball in the tree limbs next door and it had bounds over that piddly little 3' chain-link of mine. I can only guess what her sphincter factor might have been in letting her little girl commune with the big, bad gun-wielding maniac next door.
At the time, I was wearing my new IWB holster in the small of my back without the sidearm in it, figuring someone would challenge me, "I see you have that gun on you again." but no one did, even though I found plenty of excuses to straighten my shirt and flash it. When I looked where the girl was pointing, it took me a moment to see the green ball in the green grass. "Oh, sure," I smiled and put the chainsaw in my left hand on the ground to fetch and toss her her ball back.
Several minutes later, the little boy, the non-SMB of the story so far, needed to ask the same question. At that time, I was wielding a mighty limb saw with it's awesome 1 1/2" wide tapered blade. *gasp* Rather than put it on the ground, I flipped the blade over so I was grasping it in my mechanic's glove and just handed the ball to him directly, as the girl had managed to fumble my gentle toss requiring me to hand it to her directly anyway.
That was it. The gun owner whose mere presence caused such sturm und drang two nights before was allowed to genially interact with their children yesterday. Even though the PH could then be heard trying to herd the children over to another part of the yard to play with their ball, presumably to lessen the probabilities that it would bounce over into my yard again, I think we've made progress.
The PH could also be heard most of the afternoon screeching, "Dottie! House! Dottie! House!" apparently trying to get a little Jack Russel Terrier to go inside. I had to bite my tongue to keep from calling out, "I don't think Dottie knows that word."
@ Phillip Gain:
I just noticed the four-legged member of the family in your avatar. What's his name? He looks exactly like our last dog, a German Shepherd/Huskie mix named Maverick. He turned about 15 and his body just fell apart.
Treo
Bullet Proof
Treo's first rule of police interactions: If you talk to a cop long enough you will eventually say something they can use a gainst you.
Treo's second rule of police interactions: Once you do they will .
I wouldn’t have had about half of that conversation, once it was clear that I was legal and the police had no legitimate reason to be on my property I would have been asking them to leave and refusing to answer any further questions and quite possibly dialing up a lawyer.
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
This is all true, and now that I'm a known good gal with the THPD, that's what I'm gonna do from now on.
In addition, I still want to find a way to physicly, if not legally, prevent the police from disarming me. Then, I won't have to wait for them to give me back my sidearm before ordering them off my property.
In addition, I still want to find a way to physicly, if not legally, prevent the police from disarming me. Then, I won't have to wait for them to give me back my sidearm before ordering them off my property.
darthjasper
New member
Personally I prefer to keep the neighbors in the dark about anything I might own or carry. I have a couple of the same caliber of rental properties within visual of my property too. Anything they saw might have them a little more prepared should they attempt to breach my domicile. Of course there is something to be said for visual deterrent. Hope things work out OK.
DJ.
DJ.
The_Outlaw
~The Dude Abides~
It was at this point that you should have just sat back down outside with a lit cigarette while still smiling at your neighbor with her bratty kid. I.m.o., you should have made it point to sit out in the yard with your loaded sidearm on your hip just to show her that you could.
Then you should do it almost everyday or whenever possible.
Just sit out on your porch with your firearm on your hip and drink your iced tea, read the paper or whatever.
Do it all of the time just to show that nosey neighbor of yours that she cannot win.
It's your property and you can sit out there with your sidearm whether she likes it or not.
Phillip Gain
New member
Hi Cathy. His name was Jarvis, and he, too, was a Shepherd-Husky mix. He was my dog in 1995-1998, just before I left WV. When I left, I gave him to a relative's boyfriend. I saw him a couple more times on visits, and he always remembered me. But as time passed, I drifted apart from that particular family member. I sometimes wondered how the old boy was doing, and eventually just figured he had passed.
Fast forward to 2010. My mother passed away after a short but hard-fought battle with cancer. I arranged for her to be transported to WV and buried there. This relative was at the funeral. As we talked, she mentioned Jarvis in the present tense; he was alive and kicking, at 15 years old! I had to go see him! That was when this photo was taken. Finding out my old dog was alive and well was an unexpected shot of joy in an otherwise sorrowful time. He made it another year before he had to be put down.
Phillip Gain
New member
I'd like to offer a few suggestions. Not as an instructor, but as a guy who spent a lot of years living in crappy neighborhoods.
You hear all the time that "Good fences make good neighbors." I agree with that to a point, but I also believe that good words and deeds make good neighbors. I think that your genial interactions with the children were a good start to that. But maybe in future interactions, you can introduce yourself as Miss/Mrs/Ms Whoever..and learn the children's names as well as the PH's name. (As I'm writing this I realize you may already know their names but are omitting them from your post...and if so, disregard my presumption.)
Another thought: Invite the PH over for iced tea on your porch. "I apologize for the misunderstanding... I just didn't want your little one to get hurt when I was cutting down the tree... I carry a gun for self-defense... I'd never hurt your children... If you'd like to learn more about firearms here's a good place to take the course... etc" An apology for a misunderstanding is not an admission of wrongdoing. It's simply a way of extending an olive branch and saying "I'm willing to set my ego aside and be a good neighbor, and I'm inviting you to do the same."
This can also be a good opportunity to set some expectations. "Your kids are welcome to play in my yard now and then, but I would prefer if they would knock on my door and ask first, each time."
If you are on neighborly terms with the PH...this gives you a little leverage with the kids as well. "Please leave my yard, before I call your mother!" They may not be scared of the police, but they are DAMN sure afraid of Mama!
And if the kids continue being a pain...then give mama a call or knock on her door, let her deal with them.While I understand that sometimes there are people with whom you don't want to get very involved, a little congeniality can sometimes go a lot further than you expect. Just my $0.02 worth.
The_Outlaw
~The Dude Abides~
I'd like to offer a few suggestions. Not as an instructor, but as a guy who spent a lot of years living in crappy neighborhoods.
You hear all the time that "Good fences make good neighbors." I agree with that to a point, but I also believe that good words and deeds make good neighbors. I think that your genial interactions with the children were a good start to that. But maybe in future interactions, you can introduce yourself as Miss/Mrs/Ms Whoever..and learn the children's names as well as the PH's name. (As I'm writing this I realize you may already know their names but are omitting them from your post...and if so, disregard my presumption.)
Another thought: Invite the PH over for iced tea on your porch. "I apologize for the misunderstanding... I just didn't want your little one to get hurt when I was cutting down the tree... I carry a gun for self-defense... I'd never hurt your children... If you'd like to learn more about firearms here's a good place to take the course... etc" An apology for a misunderstanding is not an admission of wrongdoing. It's simply a way of extending an olive branch and saying "I'm willing to set my ego aside and be a good neighbor, and I'm inviting you to do the same."
This can also be a good opportunity to set some expectations. "Your kids are welcome to play in my yard now and then, but I would prefer if they would knock on my door and ask first, each time."
If you are on neighborly terms with the PH...this gives you a little leverage with the kids as well. "Please leave my yard, before I call your mother!" They may not be scared of the police, but they are DAMN sure afraid of Mama!
While I understand that sometimes there are people with whom you don't want to get very involved, a little congeniality can sometimes go a lot further than you expect. Just my $0.02 worth.
That works too!
Catching more flies with honey than vinegar eh?
Good idea!
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Wow. What a night and day, or rather north and south, difference. Yesterday (4/3/12), I had a very pleasant chat with my neighbor. Well, the neighbor's landlord. The owner of the land to my south. The bruhaha that started this thread was due to a hoplophobe to the north. I wanted to get his input with regards to replacing my existing 3' chainlink with a 6' wooden privacy fence. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." And do you have any issues with me cutting down these trees growing in the fence row? "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." And this last one is growing entirely on your side of the fence, not growing into the fence at all. It's growing straight and tall. I'm of the opinion that it can stay and I'll just bump the fence in on my side to give it space. You have any opinions about that. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." And I thought, for safety's sake, there should be a panel of the fence that acts as a gate so if you need to come over here or I need to come over there, we don't have to go all the way around. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me."
One couldn't ask for a more amiable and agreeable guy. Chatted for several minutes after he'd finished weed-wacking his side of my chain link. (Yet another reason to rip it out and put in the privacy fence. It gives me the opportunity to lay a 6" wide strip of 3" thick concrete to keep both weeds and neighborhood animals from getting under the fence.) Chatted about tragic losses of loved ones. About the state of education today. About the culture of do-it-yourselfers. I get along with him so well. I get along with the asshats to the north so poorly. I don't get it.
Oh, and having lost Internet for about 7 hours (That's a long time to masturbate without porn.), I finally went back through some backed up reading material and closed out a lot of browser tabs. One of them was this. Raging Against Self Defense: A psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality, By Sarah Thompson, M.D. Could be helpful for people in my situation.
One couldn't ask for a more amiable and agreeable guy. Chatted for several minutes after he'd finished weed-wacking his side of my chain link. (Yet another reason to rip it out and put in the privacy fence. It gives me the opportunity to lay a 6" wide strip of 3" thick concrete to keep both weeds and neighborhood animals from getting under the fence.) Chatted about tragic losses of loved ones. About the state of education today. About the culture of do-it-yourselfers. I get along with him so well. I get along with the asshats to the north so poorly. I don't get it.
Oh, and having lost Internet for about 7 hours (That's a long time to masturbate without porn.), I finally went back through some backed up reading material and closed out a lot of browser tabs. One of them was this. Raging Against Self Defense: A psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality, By Sarah Thompson, M.D. Could be helpful for people in my situation.
BuddhaKat
The Big Happy Fat Kat
It just chaps my ass that you can't even be on your own property, minding your business, not breaking any laws, and some ignorant SOB, or in this case DOB, has to start a bunch of crap like this. What's worse is they now know you have a gun and will likely talk about it to their friends, who will likely try to steal it at the earliest opportunity.
I cut down trees for a living. In the real world, I own a company called Mike The Firewood Guy. What you said you did to cut down the tree is not the safest approach. First of all, the bird's mouth, (actually called a notch), should be no deeper than 1/3 of the way through the tree. Then make the back cut parallel to the notch, about an inch or two above. When the tree falls the remaining uncut wood acts as a hinge that will keep the tree from falling off axis. Also, just because a tree trunk is straight doesn't mean it will always fall in the right direction. Branches, especially big ones, can put a heck of a lot of weight on one side of a tree. Wind gusts can wreck the best of plans. To give you some perspective, I park my truck a minimum of twice the distance of the height of any tree I'm going to fall, in any direction. Using a come-along can add another element of danger too. Don't put a lot of tension on it or you can cause the trunk to split prematurely. It's completely out of control if that happens and massively dangerous.
Get in touch with me on my website forum if you want to learn more. Link Removed. I'm BuddhaKat there too.
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Yeah. I've been avoiding bright, clear, warm days that would otherwise be perfect for working out in the yard because I ain't gonna try to fell any of the remaining trees with gusts to 25 MPH. And I have, from time to time, put too much tension on the come-along and it's complicated matters when I'm cutting the trunk. But about the only major mistake I've been making according to what you said is cutting half-way through the trunk with the bir— notch instead of just 1/3.
Tomorrow's gonna be another calm clear day, so I'm felling another one tomorrow. My concern with this next one is that though it's actually leaning in the direction I want it to fall, it has a limb jutting out that will be interfered with by the tree immediately adjacent to it. Just not sure how that interference is gonna affect the fall. Just spin the tree without changing its direction? Just deflect the tree without spinning? Prolly a combination of the two. I'm just gonna use the counterweighting log trick tomorrow. I'll still use the come-along, but only to steady the counterweight. As I said, it wants to fall in the direction I want it to fall. i just need to make sure the interfering branch doesn't make it change its mind.
There's another tree elsewhere on the property that I've already made peace with the fact that I'm gonna hafta get an arborist in to at the very least top it. It's just too damn tall, too damn close to the house (not to mention power lines), and leaning too damn far for me to be able to remotely deal with it safely. I know I have limits and that task lays beyond them.
Tomorrow's gonna be another calm clear day, so I'm felling another one tomorrow. My concern with this next one is that though it's actually leaning in the direction I want it to fall, it has a limb jutting out that will be interfered with by the tree immediately adjacent to it. Just not sure how that interference is gonna affect the fall. Just spin the tree without changing its direction? Just deflect the tree without spinning? Prolly a combination of the two. I'm just gonna use the counterweighting log trick tomorrow. I'll still use the come-along, but only to steady the counterweight. As I said, it wants to fall in the direction I want it to fall. i just need to make sure the interfering branch doesn't make it change its mind.
There's another tree elsewhere on the property that I've already made peace with the fact that I'm gonna hafta get an arborist in to at the very least top it. It's just too damn tall, too damn close to the house (not to mention power lines), and leaning too damn far for me to be able to remotely deal with it safely. I know I have limits and that task lays beyond them.
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Small update:
Yesterday, I went out and noticed that my new 96 Probe GT had been egged. At least three eggs were used. One on the driver's door, one on the driver's window, and one on the roof. I called the police and filed a criminal mischief complaint and gave them the SNB's name as the culprit. I know he's been witnessed with a penchant for throwing things at my property and the north side of the house is covered in egg from his previous bouts. I'm gonna build this kid a paper trail that'll lead him right back to juvie if he keeps this up.
Today, I was out cleaning out the back of the car from junk the previous owner left (two dozen CD-Rs? all scratched to Hell? really?) and the PH's husband was out getting the grill ready for a cookout. I knew when he'd lit it from the 4' high flames due to all the lighter fluid he'd used. I didn't need to see it, I actually felt the IR from 25' away. The PH herself came out and saw me (and my gun rig) working in my car and she called out, "So, you got a new car?" "I got an old car." "Looks nice." Now, I don't know if she's just willfully blind to the deeds of her son or if, by this assessment of a teal Probe with clear coat pealing off the nose like an Irishman with a sunburn, she may actually be going legitimately blind, but the irony was just too delicious to pass up. The SNB wasn't out yet, but even if he was, I'd have just had someone to look directly at while I said this. "It'd look better if people would stop egging it." She had no retort.
Yesterday, I went out and noticed that my new 96 Probe GT had been egged. At least three eggs were used. One on the driver's door, one on the driver's window, and one on the roof. I called the police and filed a criminal mischief complaint and gave them the SNB's name as the culprit. I know he's been witnessed with a penchant for throwing things at my property and the north side of the house is covered in egg from his previous bouts. I'm gonna build this kid a paper trail that'll lead him right back to juvie if he keeps this up.
Today, I was out cleaning out the back of the car from junk the previous owner left (two dozen CD-Rs? all scratched to Hell? really?) and the PH's husband was out getting the grill ready for a cookout. I knew when he'd lit it from the 4' high flames due to all the lighter fluid he'd used. I didn't need to see it, I actually felt the IR from 25' away. The PH herself came out and saw me (and my gun rig) working in my car and she called out, "So, you got a new car?" "I got an old car." "Looks nice." Now, I don't know if she's just willfully blind to the deeds of her son or if, by this assessment of a teal Probe with clear coat pealing off the nose like an Irishman with a sunburn, she may actually be going legitimately blind, but the irony was just too delicious to pass up. The SNB wasn't out yet, but even if he was, I'd have just had someone to look directly at while I said this. "It'd look better if people would stop egging it." She had no retort.
CathyInBlue
Tool Maker
Interesting (and terrifying) new developement in my saga with the SNB.
Yesterday, I was relaxing in my home when I hear a *BANG* on the side of the house. I go to the back-back door (I have two back doors), and peeeeeaked out through the curtains to find the SNB, his cousin, and a third unidentified boy with golf clubs (drivers, I think) and they were chucking rocks in the alley with them. I thought that if they didn't chuck anymore at my house, I could let it go, but I wanted to refamiliarize myself with the city police central dispatch phone number just in case. Just as I had put the phone book away, there was another almighty *BANG* that was a rock hitting the back storm window. Whelp. I gave him the chance, and he took it.
Called the "po-po". They came. They caught the SNB and gang in the act and "put a stop to it" in the words of the officer who came to my door to let me know the situation had been handled. Well... not quite.
I went out to my car this morning to go to an appointment and noticed rocks scattered around on the street. I and my houseguest have noted them "having fun" in the street with their golf clubs several times in the past, so I did a slow walk around all three of my automobiles, and sure enough, there was a nice little rosette in the middle of my windshield and the rock that fit the marks laying nearby. Great. Gotta call and make yet ANOTHER criminal mischief complaint against the SNB... after I get back from my appointment.
When I got back home at lunch time, I ate my lunch and THEN tried to call the police business line and make the report, but the officer who answered asked for my name and number to call me back because he was already engaged taking another complaint. "Sure. No problem."
About an hour after I got home, and had been chatting with my houseguest, I turn to him and say, "You smell smoke?" "Yeah." We rushed out the front door to look around and see what's what, and there was already a fire truck parked out front with hoses tailing out to the back of the house next door. "Backyard!" I ran through my sideyard, expecting to see my project car ablaze. When I got there, though, it wasn't my property on fire, it was the back of the apartment block right where the SNB's kitchen probably was located.
Link Removed
In the video, the woman standing in the foreground at 0:25 is the PH and the little SNB pyro's mother. Pity her.
I looked around and couldn't see the SNB or any member of his family anywhere, just everyone else who lived there in the other three apartments. I would have loved to have stayed in my own back yard to watch my nightmare scenario play out with the structure which comes within 6' of my own home on fire. Actually, I never saw flames. The FD was that quick and efficient. Still, the acrid smell of burning vinyl siding chased me back into the front yard to catch my breath.
Here's the Flickr set documenting today's drama. Karma's a ***** - a set on Flickr
Yesterday, I was relaxing in my home when I hear a *BANG* on the side of the house. I go to the back-back door (I have two back doors), and peeeeeaked out through the curtains to find the SNB, his cousin, and a third unidentified boy with golf clubs (drivers, I think) and they were chucking rocks in the alley with them. I thought that if they didn't chuck anymore at my house, I could let it go, but I wanted to refamiliarize myself with the city police central dispatch phone number just in case. Just as I had put the phone book away, there was another almighty *BANG* that was a rock hitting the back storm window. Whelp. I gave him the chance, and he took it.
Called the "po-po". They came. They caught the SNB and gang in the act and "put a stop to it" in the words of the officer who came to my door to let me know the situation had been handled. Well... not quite.
I went out to my car this morning to go to an appointment and noticed rocks scattered around on the street. I and my houseguest have noted them "having fun" in the street with their golf clubs several times in the past, so I did a slow walk around all three of my automobiles, and sure enough, there was a nice little rosette in the middle of my windshield and the rock that fit the marks laying nearby. Great. Gotta call and make yet ANOTHER criminal mischief complaint against the SNB... after I get back from my appointment.
When I got back home at lunch time, I ate my lunch and THEN tried to call the police business line and make the report, but the officer who answered asked for my name and number to call me back because he was already engaged taking another complaint. "Sure. No problem."
About an hour after I got home, and had been chatting with my houseguest, I turn to him and say, "You smell smoke?" "Yeah." We rushed out the front door to look around and see what's what, and there was already a fire truck parked out front with hoses tailing out to the back of the house next door. "Backyard!" I ran through my sideyard, expecting to see my project car ablaze. When I got there, though, it wasn't my property on fire, it was the back of the apartment block right where the SNB's kitchen probably was located.
Link Removed
In the video, the woman standing in the foreground at 0:25 is the PH and the little SNB pyro's mother. Pity her.
I looked around and couldn't see the SNB or any member of his family anywhere, just everyone else who lived there in the other three apartments. I would have loved to have stayed in my own back yard to watch my nightmare scenario play out with the structure which comes within 6' of my own home on fire. Actually, I never saw flames. The FD was that quick and efficient. Still, the acrid smell of burning vinyl siding chased me back into the front yard to catch my breath.
Here's the Flickr set documenting today's drama. Karma's a ***** - a set on Flickr
