Actually, I am pushing 260 lbs. The girl ain't no petite thing either, but she's not what I'd call butch. She's got beautiful long black horses mane hair (did I mention she's half cherokee?), curves in all the right places, and wears D cups. She's got lots of muscle, but she's properly proportioned. I like going to the gym with her because she works out with the same weights I do. What I don't like is all those young males pausing in their workout routines to watch her. Of course SHE likes it when they watch her. Thank God I am as big as I am. I can still whoop her butt wrestling her on the floor, though it is quite the workout.

I've watched her send boys running off the field crying from the beatings she gave them on the line. I've seen girls upended on the court trying to get through her after she'd planted and was standing there like a big brick wall. I had to intervene on behalf of the idiot boy who insulted her one day and caused her to slap his cheek. Spit and lips were everywhere. He's lucky he kept all his teeth. Obviously she was holding back. Surprisingly, her teammates seldom asked her out, although her sophomore year she went with the star halfback of the team to the homecoming dance. I think that was the first time an offensive lineman was invited to the dance by a back. Now that she's in colege, she keeps bringing home these big brutes that I have to feed. I always make sure that her visits coincide with my gun cleaning sessions.

As for carry, I guess for folks like us, having a pistol at times when it may not be imminently warranted is a lot like carrying a flashlight around in your pocket during the daytime. I used to think being up in the woods way out yonder was insular from the predations of man. Alas, one day I found myself heading to the hilltop of a remote radio site to do some work, only to be confronted by a group of young men carrying beer and firearms with them, and no means of egress except through their group. I got lucky, but it could've just as easily been my bleached bones on the hillside to this day. Fortunately, they'd rolled their rig off the side of the road, and I was able to pull it back up for them and send them on their way.

I will never feel safe unarmed. Just different experiences have conditioned me to different perspectives I guess.

Baghdad can make you feel mighty small.