Friday, March 25, 2011

Me too

JANE SEABROOK is an illustrator and designer who lives in Auckland , New Zealand . In recent years, her artwork has focused on paintings of wildlife for the Fury Logic series of books. She shares her life with her husband, two teenage children, and a growing menagerie of assorted animals.

Monday, March 21, 2011

At last, I have a shooting sister

Not to say anything bad about going to a shoot and having your partner/spouse as a shooting buddy, but from a woman's perspective, it is nice to have a female friend along.
Jeanette's husband has been shooting for many years and now that she has retired, Jeanette has the time to enjoy the sport along side her sweetheart.
Yesterday Sunday, Mr C and I were up very early ( I woke up at 4am, groan, and could not get back to sleep) so we could catch the ferry at 6:35 am to take us across to the mainland for the drive to Puyallup . The ferry ride is usually about a 20 minute ride across to Mukilteo but the dock there was closed over the weekend for repairs, so we docked instead at Kingston, a 50 minute ferry ride.


This was just the second time Jeanette has competed in a match, and I must say she did very well indeed. All the practice she has put in certainly shows, as she is a very accurate shooter and will gain speed as time goes by. I know she was nervous, but we all are when we first start out, and still are at times.

The stages at this particular match were a challenge indeed. Some called for concentration and accuracy instead of all out speed. This stage had three small steel white plates in front of a large black one, and on the other side, three small red ones in front of a large white one, and waaay back, in the center, a very small white plate, called the penalty plate.. You can just see it above Jeanette's shoulder. Here is where the concentration and accuracy played a part.
The object was to not hit any of the white plates, if you did, you could take a shot at the penalty plate, and if you struck it, the penalty for hitting one of the white ones, was canceled out.
On one string, I missed one of the red plates, muttered "oh crap" sent up a nano second prayer for accuracy, gritted my teeth and sent a round down range at the small penalty plate. Whoo hoo! I hit it, whew! it would have cost me a 5 second penalty if I missed.
Jeanette also had to take a shot at the penalty plate, and she also manage to save herself from a five second penalty by striking it.
All in all we had a great day, even though it turned out to be an unusually long match due to many shooters showing up, some shooting more than one gun, then after the match, seven of us went to the Hanger restaurant for dinner, and of course sat around talking. Mr C and I left Puyallup at 7:20 pm and instead of taking the chance of a long wait for the ferry, decided to drive back to the island via deception pass.
We arrived home at 11:25pm I was in bed by 11;36pm and thought I would get a peaceful nights rest. Jeez! my mind would not shut down, so today I feel like a zombie, thank goodness I have just one two hour shift at work.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A sight for sore eyes

From our house, we look across at the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsular WA. This morning they were spectacular in their beauty.

We never grow tired of seeing the mountains, covered in snow, or gilded in lovely sunset colors.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thursday humor


The teacher said; “Take a pencil and paper, and write an essay with the title ‘If I Were a Millionaire.’” Everyone but Joe, who leaned back with arms folded, began to write feverishly.

“What’s the matter,” the teacher asked. “Why don’t you begin?”

“I’m waiting for my secretary,” Joe replied.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Awwww you are so cute

Sometimes I simply don't have a whole lot to blog about, especially during the winter months when I am not venturing far from home. I have decided, for your entertainment, to post pictures from the extensive collection of photos I have taken during the past years.

Here is the cheeky little semi-tame black bunny, who decided to rest on top of a potted fern. Of course I shooed it off, and moved the pot away from the other pots, so the rabbit did not have something to jump up on to enable it to climb onto the potted fern. This little rabbit is very friendly and will come hopping up to me as soon as I open the front door. Naturally I nearly always have a treat for "black Bunny" Mr C and I are of the opinion, that years ago, some kids in the neighborhood had domestic pet rabbits, and when they no longer wanted to care for them, or had too many babies to look after, they released the rabbits into the wild, and they have bred with the local cottontails. Now we have golden, brown, gray, and a couple of black rabbits of cottontail and domestic heritage, happily living in the neighborhood.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Pray for the people of Japan.