Steve,
I DO understand the 'Model 12 thing' and the 28 gauge thing too, I just don't do the collector's item thing. I don't mind it if other people do, I don't condemn it or make fun of it. I just don't do it myself. Can't see spending money that way- I'm a tightwad if you want to put it like that. Example: two of my favorite neices got into a squabble last time I saw them. They weren't fighting over great aunt soandso's china, or Grandma's silver or her full set plus of blue willow ware. Not these two, oh no. These are two pretty and smart Southern girls, who have more sense than to fight over geegaws and gimcracks like china and silver.
These two were fighting over cast iron cookware.
So I promised them both I would make sure there were two sets of cast iron ready for them when they got ready to set up housekeeping (one just started college, the other is still in high school). Anything to keep peace in the family, you know. So I set out to compile an extra set of oldfashioned cast iron. Not the new stuff, it's good enough for people who don't know any better, but good cast iron of the old school was not just sandcast and left rough like the modern stuff is. The old stuff was surface ground on the inside, sometimes on the outside too. That made it a lot thinner and a lot smoother to boot.
So after several decades of seasoning through use, that old cast iron is actually superior to any modren miracle nonstick finish, long as you know what not to do with cast iron (mostly don't cook acidic stuff in it like tomatoes, or let it soak in the sink). My favorite old cast iron is a brand called Griswold, made in Erie, PA, most pieces with the distinctive cross in a double circle trademark molded into the bottom. But what do I discover when I went looking for more of it? Why, Griswold cast iron is now a COLLECTIBLE! Lord help us and preserve us from collectors. I care not one whit for variations in the trademark (large vs. small, block letters vs. slant, etc)- I just want it to cook in. I like finding it at yard sales and thrift shops for a buck or two a piece. That won't last long now... .
Same thing with shotguns- I just want 'em to shoot. Don't care about little gold birds and bird dogs stuck into the engraving like chocolate chips in a cookie. Don't care to drag beautiful wood through the brambles and briers. Oh, I like to look at pretty shotguns all right, I appreciate the materials and fine workmanship. Just don't care about owning them, or paying the cost of a used (or new) car for them, thankye.
Oh, and as to the Big Dog- we don't sic her, we don't have to. She sics herself, and in truth it might be awful hard to stop her if she decided she wanted a piece of somebody. We don't fully trust her around people she doesn't know, just because it's the nature of the breed (Fila Brasileiro) to dislike strangers. One of the Texas breeders we know boasts that they "even have one Fila you can touch." And it's true, but it's because she is an outstanding trainer and it meant a lot to her for her dog to stand to be judged, so she worked on it a lot, and her dog will stand for strangers to touch (see
http://www.nodibkennels.com/ , that's Primo at the top of the page). Most all dog show judges know better than to touch an adult Fila, the rest often learn the hard way. We haven't done that, since we aren't showing this one- we just did normal socialization with our dog, and so we are careful with her.
And anyone who comes to visit other than family she's known from puppyhood, has to sleep in a hotel. Sorry, nothing personal, we'll pay for it. It's safer that way, and we don't want to have to keep Big Dog in her kennel overnight.
I hold Big Dog's leash when there are strangers about, or when she is out in public. Number one because I outweigh her, and number two because I am the alpha dog in this pack and she knows it. Big Dog is here to help make sure the homestead stays secure as possible, that's her job. It's my job to see she doesn't get into trouble, and to shoot anything she can't handle with a growl or a bite.
Y'all come, anyway. One good thing about Big Dog, she isn't gunshy.
lpl/nc