Bang bang! YAY!!!!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post, y’all, but I spent last night in the ER getting emergency Botox injections to remove my shit-eating grin 🙂  (No, actually, Mike was feeling feverish when I came home, so last night was spent domestically.  More on that later.)

To the family and friends who make up my (usual) tiny audience, you probably won’t be interested in my blog for the next couple days.  Feel free to take a vacation and come back later when I have more cat stories, and I love you!  (And a special shout out to Wisconsin Jen and Jenny, my only regular commenters, thanks!)

A huge, big thank-you to Jay Gfor organizing that fiesta, to everyone who loaned me their guns, to everyone who showed me (again) exactly where the safety was, to the host and hostess, and to everyone who laughed at my inane jokes and laughed (in a friendly manner) at my “omgGUNS!!!1” approach to the day.

Goodness, where do I begin?  (Cue the chorus:  “At the beginning, dumbass!”  Gee THANKS.)  I was the first to show up at the Sooper Seekrit Blogger Meet, which was a bit embarrassing; I budgeted an extra half-hour to get lost, but the Garmin held me straight and true throughout.  Doubletroubleand Mrs. Doubletrouble were incredibly hospitable and nice people; plus, Mrs. Doubletrouble let me feed the horses, so we have a “omgPONIESANDGUNS” start to the morning!  People trickled in over the next hour-plus (our Great Organizer JayG was late, but he DID remember the keys to his gun cases.  This time.  Ha, I wasn’t even there when he did that, and I still get to bust his apples!) and we kicked off the festivities with the Ceremonial Firing of the Cannon (I have a video too, but Bruce already posted his, so skip over there whydoncha).

I stood around, mouth gaping, as the guests started making holes in targets.  Apparently everyone starts out as a new gunner, so maybe the other folks will understand when I say: It’s a bit intimidating.  I was the only person who brought neither weapons nor ammo to the party and very clearly had The Four Rules mastered and nothing else.  I’ve gone shooting three times before in my life, over the last six years; that’s not exactly regular practice.  Tack on the fact that we had a pretty homogeneous demographic going (gun-loving men and two of their gun-toting wives) and I looked like either a) a teenybopper tagging along with Daddy, or b) Affirmative Action At The Range.  (Note to self: next time skip the purple shorts and pink top, and go for basic black.  Lara Croft suits the image a bit better than Rainbow Brite.  It’s amazing that people handed me guns instead of the TeleTubbie that got whacked.)

Luckily for me(!!!!), every single person at that meet was gracious, friendly, willing-and-eager to instruct, and kind enough to OFFER me their toys.  (I was too shy to say, “Oo pretty!  I can haz rifle?”  Seemed rude — guns are both valuable and, often, sentimental — and, besides, I’d probably pick something way out of my skill range and knock myself directly on my ass.  I’d have been okay with that for the entertainment aspect, but that’s not good range-safety.)  Time after time, someone would say, “Hey Lissa!  You ever shoot a [fill in the blank]?”  Me:  “No, but I’d love to try!!”  Then s/he would generously hand me the treasured weapon (often explaining the history of said weapon along the way), generously fill it up with ammunition, and let me bang away.

I’d like to send a special thanks to Mrs. Doubletrouble, who let me pet her horses, loaned me her favorite little .22 rifle, and kindly remedied the flaws in my technique that were causing me to eject live rounds instead of making bangs.  (Of course I’m not offended, Doubletrouble, just grateful that the Mrs. straightened me out.  Not only is it dangerous to eject live rounds everywhere, but it was making me wicked sad that I wasn’t hitting ANY of the targets!) 

Since this post has been pretty self-involved so far, I think this one will be All About Me; Part the Second will examine the shooting experience in general (weapon types, etc.), and Part the Third will be All About Everyone Else.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a new Blogroll to create 🙂

“Every time Sarah Brady cries, an angel gets its wings.”

UPDATE:  Linky-love ahoy!  Thank you to Breda and the Pretty Pistolera, as well as plenty of folks from yesterday (your blogroll is now up).  Coming soon, “Fresh eyes at a private range”