Monday, December 26, 2016

Christmas 2016...






Three Shotgun Shells...

Because my son and his wife hosted our family's Christmas this year and thanks to yesterday's warm weather my family and I were able to break away from the traditional sitting around inside the house because it's too cold to go outside and have a little fun in true redneck fashion.

One of my son's Christmas presents was a new skeet thrower.

By the time we finally got it put together we realized it was much stronger and sturdier than his old one we decided we had no choice but to test it out.

The only problem was the giant mud hole at the one and only entrance to his pasture.

Solved.

Because everything was wet and muddy I figured we'd have to walk out to his pasture so I went about looking through his garage for a tarp or something we could use to sit the clays and ammo while we were shooting when I heard someone backing up to the garage door.

It turned out to be my son in an old Jeep Cherokee he bought for $300 a year or so ago and is in the slow process of restoring (I didn't even know it ran) popped open the back hatch and said, "load er up."

We threw in 4 shotguns, 15 boxes of shotgun shells (10-12 gauge and 5-20 gauge), 4 cases of clays, (90 each) and the new thrower and slammed the door shut and headed out.

Because of the (deplorable) condition of his old Cherokee (restoration project) I had my doubts about being able to get through the giant mud hole I mentioned earlier.

Because one was all smashed up and the other one had long ago rusted out, the two front front fenders had been removed. There was a short in the wiring which led my son to tearing the entire dash apart and throwing it in the back seat, and the exhaust was shot.

I asked him if he was sure his old junker (restoration project) would make it. He just laughed and said, "you worry too much, old man."

Just before we hit the giant (about 50 or 60 feet long) mud hole at the entrance to his pasture he stopped to put it 4 wheel drive, smiled, and said something like, "hang on."

The mud hole was everything I expected it to be, muddy and sloppy, and because of the missing front fenders, we probably shot mud 20 feet into the air, the windshield was covered but his old junker (restoration project) was more than up to the challenge.

Once we got to the other side my son just smiled and said, "told ya."

And like any true 32-year-old redneck would do, he backed up and hit it again.

Anyway, we got everything set up and started shooting.

Because it had been quite some time since we'd been shooting I was out of practice and missed more than I shot but that was soon corrected.

We hadn't been down there but maybe 30 minutes when my wife with her .22, daughter-in-law with her .410, son-in-law, (who is still fairly liberal and hasn't shot a gun in years) my youngest son and his girlfriend all came walking down and together we all had a blast.

But like everything else in life, sooner or later all good things come to an end.

The wind picked up and it started drizzling again.

We loaded the guns, ammo, and the thrower back into my son's junker, (restoration project) and with a smile on my face, I wished the rest of the bunch good luck on the walk back to the house and opened the passenger side door.

What I didn't realize was that my wife was standing right behind me and slid into the seat before I had a chance to do anything about it.

She laughed and said, "yeah, good luck."

And there went my ride.

I gotta admit, watching my son hit that mud hole from my new vantage point (walking) was pretty cool. But because his mom was now with him he didn't dare take a second shot at it.

On the walk home we laughed at shots we'd taken and missed and bragged about the one's we'd made.  I encouraged my youngest son's girlfriend to stick around and told her we'd make a redneck our of her yet. 

She just laughed and said, yeah, good luck with that.

As for my (still fairly liberal) son-in-law, he had a great time and said shooting may very well become one of his new hobbies.

Maybe there's hope for him yet.

Obviously I can't predict the future with any reliable degree of accuracy.

But one thing I can predict with certainty is that Christmas 2016 is one they'll remember for the rest of their lives

16 comments:

  1. Sounds like he has a place that he could use a Argo track vehicle, my son has one to sell 8 wheel drive with out the tracks on it. All the option and it is amphibious also, never been in the water. I will send a couple of pic's he only used it in the snow. You can also look up Argo.com

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  2. Oh, he's got the room but I'm afraid if he tries bringing any new toys home his wife will kill him...

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    1. I hear that, Mike doesn't seem in a rush to get rid of it, I may have to do all the work doing doing all the advertising on it. But no harm in mentioning it.

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  3. Fantastic.
    Your family won't forget, Kevin.
    Priceless and timeless the memories are.
    Great job man!

    And as far as losing your seat to your wife? Hell, you should be used to that by now.
    I am!

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  4. Sounds like a great time, and the memories created will last a lifetime. Who knows, you may have just started a Christmas day tradition no matter how cold it gets. Something you can carry on to the grand kids, and shotguns are always a good Christmas present to teach the younger generation. And, I always enjoy the aroma therapy when either shooting clays, or hunting. It always makes me feel better:))

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  5. I noticed just moments ago this article on the CBS weblink.... it was posted earlier this evening.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shinzo-abe-japanaese-prime-minister-arrives-in-hawaii-for-historic-visit-pearl-harbor/

    It is a good thing that the Japanese Prime Minister visited Pearl Harbor to honor the Americans who died.



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    1. From reading the script of Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech, Hirohito expressed regret. Maybe that is why Japan's Prime Minister chose not to publicly apologize for the attack on Pearl Harbor -

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    2. Honestly though, I feel it would have been more than appropriate if Japan's Prime Minister would have apologized for the attack.

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    3. I think I disagree here. I'm so sick of international apologies. History is full of mean things. Pearl Harbor was nasty business and the Bataan Death March was worse. So was firebombing Tokyo to say nothing of the A-bombs. Our enemies have done mean things over the years. So have we.

      Nobody needs to say "I'm sorry" for anything, though. History simply is.

      I see your point, but I don't think I can share it. We show our good intentions by moving forward. Japan is an international good citizen now. They don't need to abase themselves. Japan and Germany have more than made right. No need for "So Solly" or tolerating vast numbers of criminal refugees.

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    4. Thank you Captain for your honesty - I respect your position on this. After I wrote these posts, my thoughts wandered over towards the seemingly never ending complaint that some (not all) African Americans complaints on slavery and how they still want retribution.

      So I see where you are coming from also.

      The hostility needs to end sometime...

      Hugs, Rikki

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  6. Kevin, I am convinced my Christmas card with the old Russian man carrying the shiny brass rifle was a perfect card for you and Linda.

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  7. Well...they just can't help themselves, over at that little leftist propaganda rag, the Urinal:

    http://cjonline.com/news/local/2016-12-26/conservative-losses-factory-shooting-among-kansas-top-associated-press-stories

    First observation is that these are top "AP" stories, which means that it doesn't matter much to Kansans what the freakin' AP writes. We already know they're totally dishonest.

    Second is that the Urinal thinks it's worth trotting this lame "Top 10 List" out, in the first place. But, we know they do it for a reason, and we know what that reason is.

    Third is that...REALLY?!! "Conservative losses" were a "top 10" story?! Not "Devastation of Democrat Party, and complete repudiation of Obama policies", or "Hillary gets what she deserved", or anything like that? Of COURSE not! Since the commies are controlling the narrative, it's "Conservative losses"...as if the Kansas legislature has just flipped totally liberal! What a bunch of crap!

    And, of course...the "factory shooting"? Well, we all know why CJ wants THAT dredged back up! Liberals never miss a chance to point out how bad guns are, and remind us of how much we need "gun control". "Put that in the headline, TOO! Makes for good propaganda!" According to them, all over America, guns are becoming animated creatures, going out all by themselves, and killing people! It's "Gun Violence"!

    Throw in the "Islamophobia" Somalian thing, there, too. "Now, THAT'S NEWS fellas! We can use that against those damned Christians! Get on it!"

    As for the rest of the irrelevant AP "Top 10", the only one in there that might even merit a spot in the top 10 of Kansans concern and continued coverage, is the budget.

    The fact that the Urinal even ran this tripe, even though they know it's all crap, is evidence that the Topeka Capital-Journal has not gotten the loud and clear message from America that we are sick and tired of lying mainstream media's bullshit, don't trust them one bit, realize they are every bit as "fake news" as who they are condemning, had better clean up their act, and restore "journalistic integrity" and "objective reporting".

    I'm betting those butthurt clowns are going to just double-...no...make that TRIPLE-down on their dishonest lying crap the next four years.

    They're too invested in the left to turn away from their pure evil.

    Did I mention their new site SUX?!! (They probably took more bad advice from Batty and St. Jockitch to design that mess) ;^)

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  8. And, here we have that supporter of all that is Islam, that scribbler of REALLY BAD "poetry", that "blame-Christians" serial writer to the Urinal...the "Rev." Michael Poage, and more of his completely disconnected unreality:

    http://cjonline.com/opinion/letters-editor/2016-12-26/letter-resisting-trump-s-authoritarianism

    "A few days ago, most of us had never heard of Jones, but now he has been added to the growing list of President-elect Donald Trump’s dangerous and very careless practice of blaming the victim."

    "Blaming the victim". Hmmm...that kinda sounds JUST like what obama has been doing, along with his tacit support of that domestic-terrorist group, Black Lies Matter. ESPECIALLY regarding our fine law-enforcement personnel.

    More babble:

    "As we move closer to Inauguration Day, I hope to see a strong creative resistance, a thoughtful critique and helpful action to counter what appears to be a growing national leadership leaning toward militarization and the shutting down - even personal and public shaming - of any dissent or disagreement we may have with the coming frighteningly authoritarian administration in Washington, D.C."

    "...strong creative resistance, a thoughtful critique and helpful action to counter..."

    Doesn't take genius to figure out what he means by THAT! What the hell..."create chaos", with the "resistance", "thoughtful" (think hate) "critique" against Trump, and "helpful" (to OUR cause...even if it's violence and anarchy) "action"?

    More analysis:

    "...the shutting down - even personal and public shaming - of any dissent or disagreement we may have with the coming frighteningly authoritarian administration in Washington, D.C."

    We've already had THAT, in spades, from the lawless Obama regime. NOW you have a problem with it?!

    I really don't understand why ANYONE in their right mind would consider ANYTHING that Poage character says as relevant...or even sane.

    But, then...I suppose that "right mind" thing DOES exclude liberals...and that's who he is sending messages to.

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  9. for dinner tonight ground turkey patties with diced celery, onion, and some ground sage.... to be topped with golden mushroom sauce, and for the sides.... mashed potatoes and green bean casserole

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