First, look at my horse! Even subtracting the fluffy winter hair, this is the best his topline has ever looked. Riding better really is helping him! That goofy bald area on his mane is just never going to grow back in, either. He is lucky I love him, big ugly mug.
Here is K yelling at me about how MY HORSE (Champ) suckered her into breaking ice all week for him. I told her that he knows perfectly well how to break ice, but she said he came up and made a pitiful face and sniffed the ice and made her break it.
Here's Stacey's pic! I tossed a stick about 3 feet out for Cersei to fetch. You can tell she was trippin' out about the water-that-she-could-walk-on.
Afterwards, we walked back to the big lake and went shooting. I brought my .40 semi-auto and a box of ammo, which went away very fast, and K brought her antique .22 revolver and a box of ammo, which went very slowly. There's a lot of teeny tiny little bullets in a box of .22!
Here's our target: a beer can, on a dirt backstop, with a line of hills behind.
But not just any beer. It was a Bud Light can, and all Bud Light deserves to die. The big holes are from my .40, and the teenincy little holes are from the .22.
(No, we weren't drinking and shooting. Found the beer can out there, left over from drinking and fishing this summer.)
I was really pleased with my shooting. I blew a lot of holes in the can with my last round with my gun. Tried kneeling and laying down with the .22, and that was kinda cool. A lot more accurate. Now I just need to find my cleaning kit, ugh!
Cersei, who is terrified of fireworks, wasn't fazed at all by shooting. One of us always had her by the collar when the range was live, because she desperately wanted to go grab that beer can whenever it jumped. I do wish I had a duck-hunting mentor, or that it didn't seem so daunting to teach myself. She really would be a hell of a duck dog. :)
Hey Funder,
ReplyDeleteCan I request that you do a post, with pictures, on how to clean a hand gun.
I have the gun.
I have the cleaning kit.
No one has ever shown me how. Somehow when I do it, I go through 1000 qtips and I never feel like it's clean. And then how much oil to put on it???
I have a 9mm Sig p226. With night sights. I loves it.
I'd be happy to show you how I clean my gun! (Disclaimer: it may not be the most correct way.) I'll get something up tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime: as little oil as possible. I've always been told that the oil helps lubricate and prevents rust, but it also collects residue and gets fouled up, so too much oil is bad.
Hahaha, I am what I am! ;)
ReplyDeleteyea...you are making me want to go shooting soon! I did best with the little 22 over the other 3 guns we took last time(don't ask me). I said, "I am gonna hit the middle of that sign"(we took) and I did!
ReplyDeleteHA!
Fun stuff Fund!
KK
Well, a large part of it is just cultural. A lot of people down here, men and women, have guns. A .40 is fairly unusual - lot more 9s and .38s around - but not extraordinary. Going shooting (safely) in the woods is one of the perks of living in the country!
ReplyDeleteI encourage you to try target shooting if you ever get the chance. It's just another skill, just another thing I know the basics in. Learning to shoot gave me a lot more respect for guns, but a lot less fear about them. Does that make any sense?
Yes.
ReplyDeleteBut I come from Detroit.
So I want to maintain a healthy fear of guns.
I've also never done more than looked at them... they freak me out. I do have to say though that I would like to at least learn to shoot one in case a horse of mine breaks a leg somewhere far away from vet assistance and I have to humanely euthanize them. Sort of in the way that I'm completely terrified of needles coming anywhere near MYSELF, but I will give shots to horses all day long.
Andrea, I feel the same way. Guns freak me out. I grew up in a white, rich, suburb of Houston; about as far away form a gun as from a minority.
ReplyDeleteI prided myself on being a Texan opposed to guns.
Then Katrina happened, and Rita. And people started killing each other over water. And if you believe in sustainable food and how we're only one good blight away from famines due to our monocropping, things could get a lot worse. I got scared.
Plus, before eventing, we did a lot of back country camping. Days away from civilization. And if the worst happened, I didn't want to use a knife. A 9mm hand gun is a nice "entry" gun. Could possibly protect you. Less likely to kill you through accidents.
Now that I am on the farm, I look at the coyote tracks around the chicken coop and hear reports of bears and wonder if maybe I should add a rifle or perhaps a shotgun to the arsenal. Something with range.
I still am freaked by guns. But I have learned to shoot them and handle them safely and even though my entire family is disgusted with me, I think they're an important tool in a rural life.
I also have more irrational fears, like two women living alone type of stuff, but that is hardly justification to buy a gun. My needs are more practical. Small farm owners will need a gun at some point.
good for you. i've always wanted to learn. i'd never shoot anything but targets, but it just seems like one of those skills a person should have, like using power tools, changing fuses and checking your oil, etc. i was going to have my dad teach me in the spring...
ReplyDeleteI shot a gun once. Funder, I think you would have died laughing. I don't know particularly what kind of shotgun it was, but it had a 'kickback' like most of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I weigh all of 100 pounds soaking wet.
You bet I fell backwards. LOL.