Monthly Archives: October 2016

Branson Triple Classic

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It's show time in Branson! In more ways than one. The city of shows – magicians, singers, acrobats, comedy acts – and then there are cowboy action shooters.

Yes folks, the Butterfield Trail Cowboys hold the Branson Triple Classic. Missouri State Wild Bunch, Black Powder and Cowboy Action Championship. Three shoots, one place, a whole heap of fun rolled into one action packed weekend.

Our dear friends Alvira Sullivan Earp and Virgil Earp from Australia were in the room next to us at the hotel and other Cowboys were starting to roll in for the next four days of competition.

Wednesday and Thursday mornings we shot 10 stages of Wild Bunch. Black Powder shooters shot 10 stages of holy smoke over the same two days. We had a small good mix of Traditional and Modern shooters – Brisco Kid, Alvira Sullivan Earp, Virgil Earp, MO No Name, Long Ranger, Cletus, Coffin Sam, R. J. Rust, Shortgrub, Doc Hurd, Luke McGlue, Jackaroo and myself.

 

Thursday evening was the banquet for Wild Bunch and Black Powder awards. Jack finished 5th overall in Modern and 2nd place Modern Senior. I finished 1st in Ladies Traditional and 2nd overall in Traditional. Both Virgil and Allie placed 1st in their Modern categories also!

 

Friday and it's day 1 into Cowboy Action match. It's early morning, about 5C if we are lucky (think the temp was showing 35F in the car), the sun is rising – right in our eyes! – suddenly smokeless gunpowder appears as if you were shooting black powder! There goes the clean match on the first stage.

 

Needless to say, we had fun, finished strong for the day and did have a good Posse. Our Posse, Posse 6, Brisco Kid, Kiamichi Queen, Alvira Sullivan Earp, Virgil Earp, Slipnoose, Ozark Outlaw, Hawkshaw Fred, Annie D Vine, Lil Feisty, Django, Rose Webb, (oh my goodness, I've forgotten someone's name and didn't have a photo of the posse!!), Jack and myself.

Given we were finished early a group of us after lunch headed to the cinema and watched the new version of Magnificent 7! We thought it was very well done and enjoyed it.

Friday evening they had a cowboy social – basically another banquet with a band and a separate room with gaming tables and slot machines! We had vouchers that you took and got chips or tokens so you could play roulette, black jack, Texas hold 'em, or slots. At a certain time in the night, the games were closed off and you traded in any wins for more tickets in the side raffles.

 

Saturday and its last chance to shoot well, have fun and see it through to the end. Lunch was provided every day at the range which was good and varied.

 

An afternoon rest, beginning of packing and last catch ups with friends before it was time to get ready for the Awards Banquet.

It was all very convenient to be staying in the hotel where all the banquets were held. No having to drive anywhere, just take the stairs or elevator and you were there.

We had a guest speaker that night who had started her film career working on the Lonesome Dove series. A great western series that just about every cowboy will have watched at least once in their time. Kelly told us of her beginnings, working with the actors and the many unforgettable moments during the filming of Lonesome Dove.

It was also a pleasure to meet Dusty Rogers, son of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (Virgil and Allie have known him for years and were glad to see him again). Dusty is a member of the Butterfield Trail Cowboys and he was the compère for all the awards. It was great to hear the odd little piece about his parents during this time.

Onto the awards and Allie placed 1st in Lady Silver Senior and 5th lady overall. Virgil placed 2nd in Silver Senior Duelist.

 

Jack finished 1st in Silver Senior and 14th overall with the 'Geezer Gang' and all out Oklahoma team. In 2nd place, Snake Oil George (right) and in 3rd place, Matt Valentine (left).

 

I placed 1st in Lady Wrangler with my very good friend in 2nd place and Missouri State Champion, Belle Vaquera!

 

Missouri Lefty won Men's overall and myself for the Ladies overall finishing 11th outright.

 

Of course a huge congratulations for the two Overall Missouri State champions Missouri Lefty and Belle Vaquera.

 

Another good shoot, another lot of fun, time to head back to Oklahoma and get ready for the SW Regionals, Red Dirt Rampage next weekend.

Cheers!

Kat xo

 

Hell On Wheels

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Not only is Hell On Wheels my all time favourite series, it has the perfect eye candy both in actors and costumes!

Three costumes were at the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame during Land Run (that we missed this year due to Jack's health). So I hope you had a chance to pass your eyes over Thomas Durant, Cullen Bohannon and Eva Toole's outfits during that time.

As AMC has won 3 years running at the Western Heritage Awards and have an exceptional relationship with the Cowboy Museum, they offered up a short two month exhibition. It's just a shame it's not there for just one more week when 300 Cowboys will be gracing the halls of the Museum for the Red Dirt Rampage banquet.

The Hell on Wheels exhibit features 7 costumes from the series, along with maps, books and railway tools generously loaned from the Oklahoma Railroad Museum. There are two televisions with film showing how the series was made and other historic information. A well displayed exhibit in the main entry hall to the rest of the exhibit halls.

First up we have costumes of Collis Huntington (played by Tim Guinee) and Thomas Durant (played by Colm Meaney). I now have new gear to make for Jack but it's about time we jazzed him up a bit more. Looking forward to it!

 

Of course it wouldn't be an exhibit without Cullen Bohannon's signature wardrobe! (played by the handsome Anson Mount) I need to speak to fellow cowboy shooter Cullen Bohannon about this!

 

Next, the beautiful Eva Toole's (played by Robin McLeavy) jade, burgundy and gold outfit worn towards the end of Season 4 and the first half of Season 5. This one is also earmarked for a fellow cowgirl shooter. I must say my heart did sink a little not being able to see the exquisite blue one she wears in the second half of Season 5 – THAT will be mine I feel. 😉

 

The railroad was not built without help and this meant a good mix of African American (freed men/emancipated slaves), Chinese (migrants working hard for a better life) and of course the larrikin Irish (also migrants escaping the potato famine mostly) The costumes of Elam Ferguson (played by Common), Tao (played by Tzi Ma, costume worn by an extra) and the ever loving, whiskey drinking, up for a fight, bartender Mickey McGinnes (played by Phil Burke, costume worn by an extra) were also on display.

 

I've talked about railways before but it is just totally mind blowing, to fathom just how they made it, in the conditions and landscape they had to endure during that time period. This map had printed on the back fares for different routes and steamer passage to the Far East including New Zealand and Australia!

 

It was a romantic notion that East meet West and the engineering marvels, competitive railway companies, along with both individual and government backing, made this happen. The completion of the railroad in that day and age was the equivalent of man landing on the moon!

 

The trials and tribulations of both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railway companies were brilliantly brought to light in AMC's five seasons of Hell On Wheels. I for one was sorry to see it end. We have watched up to Season 4 twice, relived Season 5 prior to the second half being released this year and I look forward to watching it all again!

 

Make me another old western series please AMC!

Kat xo

 

Lotz House

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The home of the Lotz family built in 1858, occupied for 3 years prior to the Battle of Franklin.

He was a humble man, a woodworker on a 5 acre lot with some animals. Not well to do but would have had better furniture and fixtures than most (not to the calibre of the plantation owners) due to his craftsmanship. His house was a showcase of his talents, both for structural woodworking and for instruments, he had no slaves so everything was done by the family,

Mr Lotz had heard there may be a battle but Federal officials also said that there wouldn't be a battle here, that they had planned a battle for Nashville. Mr Lotz' home was a timber structure and was concerned for his family. Across the way was the Carnton Plantation, there home made of brick. The Carters would allow the Lotz family to come stay with them should a battle occur in Franklin.

The youngest, 2 year old twins, had died before the battle after drinking contaminated or poisoned water the Federals had tampered with prior to the Confederates coming into Franklin.

This family had already endured the rigors of war before the battle had even begun.

One night when a Union officer came knocking at his door Lotz gathered up his family (and his toolbox) and they hurried to the Carnton Plantation.

It must have been difficult for him to watch his house be ruined by unruly soldiers who were merely cold, hungry. They pulled out all his out houses, barns and fences, cut down trees etc and when hungry started killing his livestock for food.

His house was severely damaged from fire, cannon's and bullets. His house was used as a field hospital for both Confederate and Federal soldiers. (Hence the red flag I the picture below)

The Battle of Franklin rendered 10,000 casualties in its short 5 hours. It is said that once the troops moved on the towns folk would see the devastation that would be forever burnt in their memories.

Death and destruction like no other, as he took his family back to their home they literally had nowhere to put their feet that they weren't stepping on bodies. Seventeen horses lay dead in the front yard and no way to move any of them as he now had no stock to pull the wagon. For two weeks they lay there.

The family then lived in the root cellar (where you stored your root vegetables duri the winter), a dirt floor next to no heating during cold weather while Mr Lotz began repairs on the home, mending floorboards, walls, taking out broken windows and boarding up the right side of the house. Burnt boards were taken off and flipped over to be re-affixed. With no nails or anything, Mr Lotz pulled the horseshoes off the dead horses to use the nails for fixing floorboards.

What an overwhelming thought of grief, pride, yet sheer resilience this man and indeed his family had to be able to go on wih their lives.

It took him four years to restore his home to livable conditions. Now Mr Lotz was trying to gain commissions again for furniture and instruments. He built a piano and inlay a confederate flag one end and an American flag the other. A wingspread eagle through the centre had its talons clutching the Confederate flag.

The Klu Klux Klan was a 'good' group in the very early days. They supported Confederate families who had lost loved ones during the battles. They had heard about Mr Lotz piano and they set out to see the masterpiece. At the knock on the door Mr Lotz was excited they may be coming to see his work and purchase the piece however it took a turn for the worse. They were so outraged and felt it dishonourable to show the eagle clutching the flag that after heated discussions took place Mr Lotz was threatened that they would be back to tar and feather him.

Mr Lotz feared they would definitely be back, he quickly packed his covered wagon, sold as much as he could and left the rest, selling his house to the Buchanan family …… And along with it some other items of furniture AND the piano. By the way, he moved clear East to San Jose, California.

For the poor family who bought the home, awoken by a crashing noise, found the Klan had indeed come back and broken into the house, retrieved the piano, took it outside, smashed and burnt it.

Anyway that's all I can remember from Miss Helen's guided tour of the house. No pictures could be taken inside unfortunately. There were some truly magnificent pieces of art, china and furniture. Only a few have been returned to the House historical society that belonged to, or was made or painted by one of the Lotz family members.

You can see on the outside of the house the different cornice above the windows to showcase different styles of his work. Evident also in the very different mantlepieces, staircase and triple crown moulding he had carved and made using hand tools.

 

A humbling, interesting end to a long day.

Kat xo

 

Wartrace, Tennessee

Posted on by kathousekelli70

What a neat range! Permanent facades for every stage, built on private property where it is purely for Cowboy Action Shooting.

The Regulators Reckoning, Tennessee State Match was held this past weekend and the weather was, if not, back to normal and a little on the hot side of the gauge.

We arrived into Tullahoma on the Wednesday afternoon and did a recon out to the range.

 

Thursday was some side matches and then we participated in a 4 stage Wild Bunch match. Hot, with tired legs and aching feet we didn't stay for the man on man event and headed back to the motel.

 

Friday we began with 5 stages of main match finishing just after 1pm. After lunch they had a team event. Names were draw from a hat to decide the make up of the three person teams. A clever concept! Jack and I were both lucky. It was Jackaroo, Prestidigitator, Marshall Rico. I was with Blackfish Kid and Ocoee Red.

It was an all knockdown timed stage, one would do pistol, one the rifle, one finish on the shotgun.

Anyway when it all boiled down to it, the team I was with won in 20.21sec!! I will add, if Jacks team hadn't had a slight fumble with the shotgun they would have beaten us!

After that it was all fun, making up your own teams and having fun trying to outdo each other as team on team events!

Dinner was at the range that night with side match awards held and with Whiskey Hayes working for Jack Daniels there was plenty of 'extra prizes' to go around!

 

Saturday was back into the final 5 stages with a turn in the weather (having become overcast and 25 degrees less than the previous 2 days!), the sun eventually appeared about the last 2 stages.

I'd like to thank our awesome Posse, Posse 3 a great bunch of people. Jackaroo and myself with C. W. Knight (our Posse leader), Fort Knox, Cody Kid, Boxom Boo, Tucker T Fudpucker, Buford Tanner, Marshal Rico, Sassy Teton Lady, Deadwood Woody, Wabash Valley Slim, Big Country, Christian Mortician and Smokin' Dave.

That evening was the banquet and awards, a good turn out of people with some fabulous costumes. I didn't even recognise Titus A. Gnatsass in his steampunk costume and mask! Pictured below with Dirty Nerdy.

 

A different twist on awards I thought, all the Tennessee State Champions were called up for their category and received their buckles first. Then all the categories were awarded according to placing.

Jack won 2nd place in Silver Senior – 1st place Knob Creek Drover, 3rd place and Tennessee State Champ Ocoee Red, 4th place Pig Iron Lane, 5th place C. W. Knight. Congratulations gents!

 

I was 2nd place in Lady Wrangler – 1st place and Tennessee State Champ Dew R Dye, 3rd place Cotton Tail and 4th place VIX-N With Vaqueros. Congratulations lovely ladies and a pleasure to duel again with Dew, 2.6sec's between us, 9 rank points!

 

This years overall winners were Lead Ringer and Slick's Sharpshooter. The overall Tennessee State Winners were Cumberland Drifter and Dew R Dye! Congratulations!

We had a great time, thanks to all the Wartrace Regulators for all your hard work!

Kat xo

P.S. Finished it off today with the Wild Bunch Range Officer course. Passed!

 

Tennessee

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Moonshine, whiskey, cowboy boots and more.(cue singing)'…..rocky top, you'll always be, home sweet home to me….good Ol' rocky top, rocky top Tennessee….'

Through Sevierville we had to stop at Dolly Parton's statue, this was her home town and as we had decided to forego the Dollywood theme park, I just had to have a picture with Dolly! (Singing with Dolly).'..in my coat of many colours, my mama made for me…'

 

We got into Pigeon Forge yesterday, acquired some boots, went to the Christmas Place!…..wow, think this one beats the Leavenworth one, even the Denny's diner next door is Christmasfied! Yes I just made up that word, well it is!…(with eyes wide and sing)'….jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock….'

 

Found the same decorations as last year, now we can update one with Miss Chelsea on it and what the heck, got one done up with the grandkids names on it, in the order they came! Lol!

 

…..found a place to stay and headed down to 'The Island'.

(Singing again)'….wasting away again in Margaritaville, searching for my lost shaker of salt…..' oh yeah! Well actually before we got to Margaritaville we went to the Ole Smokey Moonshine distillery and marvelled at all the different flavours before doing some taste testing. Lucky they only give it to you in small thimble sized cups.

 

We were started off with the Blue Flame 128 proof! Woah, doesn't that catch in your throat! Wash it away with the Margarita moonshine and continue with all sorts of delectable flavours!

 

Now to Margaritaville for dinner and beer, talked with some people from here and Memphis. One on a work trip to Sydney later this year.

 

From there we headed to the Smoky Mountain Wheel and took a ride to see the light show from above.

 

Today we headed down to Gatlinburg, walked around the street and little shops, took the Sky Lift up the hill to check out the view.

 

Into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, winding our way through 17 miles of gorgeous trees and running streams. Didn't get to see any bears though.

 

Soon Mother Nature will wave her wand and all of this will be a spectacular winter wonderland.

Kicking back West towards Tullahoma.

Kat xo

Annnnd I've still got Rocky Top stuck in my head!

 

Another Monday Meandering

Posted on by kathousekelli70

A beautiful day today for meandering across the countryside…..yes would have been nice to shoot in this but nicer to travel with no rain.

Went down Old Frederick Road this morning on our way out of Thurmont and took a small detour onto Utica Road to the Utica Mills Covered Bridge. The original one was built in 1850 and originally spanned the nearby Monacacy River. It was washed away in a storm in 1889. It is said that locals gathered the remaining pieces and reconstructed the 101ft long Burr arch truss bridge at its present location crossing Fishing Creek.

These are really cool, one of three in the area, they are all painted red. Apparently there used to be 34 of these around Frederick County.

I think they are gorgeous but wonder why they felt the need to cover them? Will have to look that up.

 

We are heading south to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and Winchester, Virginia

Harper's Ferry National Historic Park – more Civil War history and where the first large-scale Federal occupation began in February 1862. Harper's Ferry remained an important communication and supply line for the Union and keeping the northern Confederate invasions out.

 

This is the place where you can see two rivers and three states merge.

Parking the car, we then took a shuttle bus down into the town of historic buildings, museums and landscape vantage points – no parking down in the town. Buses run every 12-15mins.

St Peters Church, the only one that operated during the Civil War I'm told, not sure whether that was just this area or in all regions(?).

The bus trip had a small tour guide playing over the speaker system giving you a brief overview of the town both past and present. The Winchester and Potomac Railroad ferried goods to both sides of the war.

The small canal off to the side of the road used to have boats and ferries going down it, using as a bypass to the rapids on the shanendoah.

The canals also diverted water down to the mills and factories. A lot of stone for the buildings mills etc came from this immediate area. We passed the ruins of one of the mills and the canal walls that have been built from the rock.

 

Into the town we pass some fabulous old buildings and went into the dry goods stores, some of the buildings have exhibits in them.

 

We walked past the John Brown armoury building and down to the view of the river. Took a quick walk across the rail bridge and back again.

 

In and out of buildings, housing museum artefacts and an I nsight to history.

 

We scaled the stone stairs to the St Pauls Church and then I went beyond to Jefferson's Rock to see the view – three states, two rivers. The decline is much easier back past the Episcopal Church ruins. It made for a nice snapshot back through to the river and the railway tunnel beyond.

 

On to Winchester but feeling slightly worn, we hit Hobby Lobby for some haberdashery, stopping the big in Salem, Virginia, we are heading for Tennessee.

Kat xo

 

Mason Dixon Stampede 2016

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Arriving into Thurmont last week, did the tourist trips to Gettysburg, Thursday was the start of the match with Wild Bunch and Speed Events.

It had turned to light misty rain, compared to the previous weeks, enough to be annoying but nothing real drastic.

The three stage Wild Bunch match saw some very interesting little targets (6″X6″) being used which made for an exciting day. Good fun!

 

We had a couple of run throughs on the speed events, rifle, pistol and shotgun. Rifle I got down to 3.83sec's and was extremely pleased as the week before the best I could do was 4.56. Jack ripped out an awesome 3.30secs! We had a crack at the shotgun and pistol events as well before packing up for the day.

 

Friday, main match, Day 1, same drizzly rain. We had an awesome Posse! Posse 6 – Annabelle Bransford, Rowdy Bill, Tom Payne, James Samuel Pike, Yukon Mike, Silas Highland, Travis Spencer, Spinning Sally, Cold Brook Kid, Belle Evans, Marshal Jacobey John, Dirty Dingus Diggs, Geronimo Jim, Wild Bill Diamond, Ziggedy Zag, Jackaroo and myself.

 

They were awesome and it was like listening to or being in a movie with all the New York and Jersey accents. (I think and hope I got that right)

They are as entertaining as always! Tom regaled us with the National Anthem played on his harmonica before we kicked off for the day.

We shot Stages 6-10 on Day 1, clean for me and a couple misses for Jack.

 

Day 2 and we complete Stages 1-5. Jack had a much better day than the previous and I'm clean again!

 

Saturday night was the banquet in the big tent and the “Reel” West restaurant. The stages were based on different cowboy movies. Wild Bunch and Side Match Awards were handed out with Top 16 and Sweet Sixteen being announced.

After dinner in the club house, was the gambling night, raising funds for the SASS Scholarship. Try your hand at Chuck-A-Luck, Faro, and Roulette or you could just buy tickets for the raffle.

 

Sunday morning you could try your hand at an informal man on man stage and a 3 team event before the awards commenced.

Jack came second in Silver Senior. Congratulations to all Silver Senior's. 1st Place Dirt Rider, Jackaroo, and unfortunately the rest I do not have names and the scores aren't up yet, my apologies.

 

Congratulations to fellow Lady Wrangler 2nd place Calamity Jill.

 

Overall Divisional Champions for 2016 went to Sunshine Marcie and James Samuel Pike!

 

Top Overall Cowboy and Cowgirl – James Samuel Pike and Kathouse Kelli! Yee Haa! (I finished 8th overall from 154 shooters, very pleased indeed)

 

The Top 16 and Sweet Sixteen received a really neat Lone Star badge and then it was on to the shootout. Winners for the shootout were Sunshine Marcie and Indiana Loose Cannon.

 

A big thank you to Chuckaroo and his team, in particular Dog Meat Dadd who ran proceedings while Chuckaroo was not well again. All the ladies who assisted and many other hands of the Thurmont Rangers who put this match together, thank you!

Kat xo

 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We are now in Thurmont, Maryland.

Taking a short trip up into Pennsylvania, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Sensational! To say the very least!

The first thing we did was bought tickets to the Film, Cyclorama and Museum.

The film was narrated by Morgan Freeman (love his voice) and there was so much to see on the big curved screen, my eyes were darting everywhere trying to take it all in.

It was pure genius, a visual sensation, beautifully done by the History channel, the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The Civil War battle that took place over July1-3 of 1863.

Total casualties for the three days (killed, wounded, captured, missing) of fighting were 23,000 Union, 28,000 Confederates.Incredible numbers fought, lost and won during that 3 day campaign with Robert E. Lee as the Confederate commander and George Gordon Meade, the Union commander. 70,000 Confederates went up against a Union army of 93,000 on that 1st day in July.

 

Next when you exit the theatre you are taken up into the viewing room of the cyclorama. (Cycloramas – a 360deg view panoramic painting of a scene, viewed from the centre, often with music or narration, first developed in 1787 – popular in the early 19th century)

A spectacular vision of sound and light, as if you were standing behind Union lines. It is the largest oil painting in America. Painted in 1884 by Paul Dominique Philippoteaux, it came to Gettysburg in 1913.

The 377ft painting debuted in Boston 132 years ago and in 2008 restoration began for this project.

 

It truly is magnificent and the detail incredible. The artist has even included himself in the painting as his signature. See the picture below of the bearded officer leaning against a tree with sword over his leg,

 

The Museum section has many artefacts, beautifully displayed with excerpts of speeches, letters and legislation surrounding the walls. Timber plaques have also been printed or etched with pictures and text,

 

A number of interactive displays run through the 3 years of the war on screens of varying size throughout the museum.

 

It is an exceptional place full of history and if you ever get to this region it is not to be missed! A very comprehensive display. They weren't wrong when saying you would easily need a couple of hours for the Museum alone.

The weather was divine on Tuesday but turned a little overcast and on the cool side on the Wednesday.

 

However that did not deter us from making our way back to Gettysburg and taking the 24mile auto tour of the battlefield.

 

There are 16 tour stops along the way and instead of purchasing a cd at gift store we found an app that ran off the GPS and would talk to us once we reached the spot on the map. Relaying information regarding the battle for the point we were at, we could then get out and view the magnificent monuments, fields and take in the terrain that would have been encountered by so many on foot back in the day.

 

An extremely humbling experience.

Kat xo

Sept 28, 2016

This is only a small sampling of pictures taken. So, so much to see. Loved it.