Category Archives: Lifes a Dance

Lifes a Dance

End Of Trail Opening Ceremonies

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Tonight, Wednesday, was the opening ceremonies for the 2017 World Champion Cowboy Action Match. What a sensational night it was.

Yesterday we shot some warm up matches to get rid of the Wild Bunch stuff and had a pretty good day. Today I spent the first half of the day instructing with the Doily Gang Clinic – Shamrock Sadie, Hey You, Sassy Dancer and Dixie Bell, giving some guidance and coaching to ladies both new and very good shooters. Spent the time talking transitions, shotgun differences, stance etc. hopefully all got a little piece of something out of it and we sure hope to see you again.

 

Jack spent the morning wandering the vendors, buying pants, braces pieces and viewing the Clint Eastwood guns from the movies that this year's End Of Trail is based on. I will have to go visit this one myself!!

Pearl Starr and I then went to Deuce Stevens shotgun clinic…..you are never that good that you can't learn something new!…..now if I could only go shadow little miss SASSKicker and learn from that girl some more!?! (Thank you to both Deuce Stevens and Cowboy Carty)

We did a super quick run through of the stages this afternoon and then headed for the main tent waiting for beer o'clock and the opening ceremonies.

RC Shot was this year's flag bearer for Australia and along with the other country representation led the colour guard into the main tent, topped off with cannon fire and Miss Amber Scott singing the national anthem. Sensational as always.

 

The Waddies, medical assistants and the Wild Bunch/board of directors were all recognised.

 

The 2017 class of Regulators were announced of which this year I was nominated to be one as well. Wow! Just wow! Truly honoured to be included, let me tell you.

 

The beer was flowing at the bar, Jason's Deli had provided the food for the evening along with Amanda Reckonwith's divine vanilla, chocolate and red velvet cupcakes!!

Tomorrow is start of main match! Bring your A game peeps! Have fun, shoot straight, play your own game and above all be safe, think about the process and be awesome!

Kat xo

 

Wild Bunch World Championship

Posted on by kathousekelli70

What an exceptional weekend of weather and shooting for the 2017 Wild Bunch World Championships.

Plenty of action and plenty of rounds down range. It certainly was a challenging match but the stages were fun.

This match definitely called for precision and by the time I got to day 3 I had worked out a better grip, better arm control and keeping my head aligned. What more could a cowgirl want! Just happened at the wrong end of the match! Haaa Haa Haa

Neither Jack or I had particularly stunning matches in the good sense but we weren't the only ones.

 

We had a great Posse with Jim Milker, Texas Tiger, Back Forty, Shell Stuffer, Lawless Lil, Molly Magoo, Rum Walker, Capitan Regulator, Trigger Happy Ted, Beaver John, Billy The Avenger, Wild Horse John, Squibber, Macon A Longshot, Grizzly Peak Jake, Duke City Deadeye, Calhoun Kid, Blaze Kinkaid, Jackaroo and myself.

We also had the 285 Scout troop picking up brass and painting targets for us.

This year we didn't do any side events but from what I heard there was a lot of fun and some great wins!

Costume contest was carried out with EZ GZ taking 1st Place, Dixie Bell 2nd Place and Kathouse Kelli 3rd. Men's was Captain George Baylor in 1st Place and Wild Horse John 2nd.

 

The Wild Bunch awards were held separate this year to the cowboy match. Santa Fe Brewing Company supplied the kegs to the bar, Pizza Barn provided pizza for the dinner (awesome pizza by the way and frequented often by many a cowboy shooter!) and so began the handing out of awards.

Congratulations to all shooters who placed in their category!

Wild Bunch Modern – Last Chance Morales

Wild Bunch Senior Modern – Evil Roy

Wild Bunch Lady Modern – Idaho Six Gun Sam

Wild Bunch Senior Lady Modern – Secondfiddle Sue

Wild Bunch Traditional – Capitan Regulator

Wild Bunch Senior Traditional – Marshal Stone

Wild Bunch Lady Traditional – Lady Jane

Wild Bunch Senior Lady Traditional – Lawless Lil

 

Congratulations to my fellow Lady Traditional shooters 1st Place Lady Jane, 2nd Place Lacey Doyly and myself in 3rd.

Phew! What a match!

Kat xo

 

Now, Where Were We?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Oh yeah, so last Thursday we were heading here to Albuquerque, breakfast on the way, making a quick stop in Weatherford at the Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum….as you do.

We have driven past it a number of times and it's the usual, 'we should stop and have a look at that place one day'. So this day we finally did!

 

In we trotted. To give some small background General Thomas P. Stafford is a well respected Oklahoman, and indeed throughout the nation, a man who was an author, fighter pilot, astronaut and test pilot. He commanded Apollo missions.

 

Inside the museum there are a number of planes from the Wright brothers days to the Lindbergh non stop Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St Louis, WWI fighters, experimental aircraft and modern day marvels.

 

Then there is a whole section on space exploration including the Russian joint missions during the space race. There are replicas of satellite launchers from around the world and unique information boards to imagine how much 'John Deere' horsepower it would take to fire up just one F-1 engine.

Go on, you're dying to know right? Try 56,000 John Deere 9620R tractors equivalent! The Saturn V rocket used 5 engines so that's enough tractors to reach from Weatherford, OK to San Francisco, CA or 283,800 tractors end to end.

 

Anyway, from the information we read in the museum Stafford was a very influential man both in flight and space, not only flying during service, commanding missions in space but teaching others to do the same and his expertise in these fields earned him the highest honours and Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

 

All in all, this was a neat little museum and is worth a visit, takes about an hour.

 

Now it's been a wild weekend but I'll get to that tomorrow after the Wild Bunch dinner and awards are done.

Kat xo

P.S. Well it's today now as the bugs were finding the light of the iPad in the darkness last night. Wild Bunch Awards and dinner tonight. Will do Wild Bunch blog tonight! 🙂

 

End Of Trail 2017

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It is June and that means one thing. The World Championships of Cowboy Action Shooting, End of Trail, is on this next week!

 

Well actually we head out today for Moriarty, New Mexico. The van is loaded to the hilt! It will be a full day's drive with the occasional stop on the way.

Tomorrow we will head out to Founders Ranch to pick up our packs and check in. Dropping gear off to other Aussie's and catching up with a few friends.

Saturday will be the start of the Wild Bunch 3 day championship so will be back in touch then!

Travel safely those who are heading that way as well, all 600 of you!

Kat xo

 

Smokin’ Guns At Rabbit Ridge Part 2

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Okay, so after the exceptional opening ceremony yesterday, we shot 5 stages, got a little more suntan, had a blast with our posse and finished on a high note!

Friday I think as previously mentioned, was Wild Bunch, side matches, and a chilli dinner with joke night. THAT brought out some of the best and worst from all ages (might I add).

Saturday after the exceptional opening ceremony (see Smokin' Guns At Rabbit Ridge Part 1) we went through 5 stages of the main match which was pretty good and then we had a range dinner of catfish, shrimp and hush puppies with coleslaw and fries – of course a cupcake, and chicken tenders for Jack and others that didn't want catfish!

We had the band play last night but we retired reasonably early.

Throughout the night the thunder and lightning kept some of us awake and when it was time to see in the new day this morning it was still raining at a reasonable rate. Yuck!

Breakfast was had and by the time we left for the range it was very very light.

When we were ready to start shooting, all rain had ceased and we were blessed with spectacular cloudy, or cloudless weather for the rest of the day. It was particularly water logged and muddy – to say the very least!!!

 

Our group of shooters, Posse 1, (which included Annie Hicock, Fast Fingers Green, Billy Broncstomper, Belle Vaquera, Jackaroo and myself, C.S. Brady, Trail Agent, Slick McClade, Harpe, Jackalope Jeb, Red Jack Morgan, Okie Buck, Outlaw Bill Wilson, The Arizona Ranger and Three Sheets) finished in spectacular style, sliding into the very muddy Train Depot stage.

 

The clean match winners were announced and given a guncart hand towel. A neat idea and something different.

The veterans from each division (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard) were presented with a special challenge coin. I didn't know they had an area on the entry forms to state service, Jack had put his service down too and was pleasantly surprised to be included in this honour.

I present to you the 'Veterans Posse'. Everyone gave a standing ovation to these men and women. We thank you for your service.

 

Category awards were handed out with Jack and I both winning ours. Congratulations to the Lady Wranglers; Dew R Dye 2nd and Belle Vaquera 3rd! To the Silver Seniors; Three Sheets 2nd, 3rd and 4th!

 

We worked out 12 of the 16 in our posse placed!

The Mississippi State overall champions were Blackfish Kid for the Men's and Lady Gator for the Ladies.

The overall match champions were Slick McClade and Slick's Sharpshooter (not related, she belongs to a different 'Slick' family! 🙂 )

 

Well done to the Mississippi River Rangers for a fabulous and memorable weekend.

Kat xo

 

Smokin’ Guns At Rabbit Ridge Part1

Posted on by kathousekelli70

……I'm an American soldier, an American, besides my brothers and my sisters, I will proudly take a stand, when liberty's in jeopardy, I will always do what's right, I'm out here on the front line, so you can sleep in peace tonight….. (yes, sing along, Toby Keith's American Soldier) well, what a heart rendering opening ceremony as Smokin' Guns at Rabbit Ridge is known for. The presentation of the Color Guard is the highlight to this match which usually falls on Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to all those who have served and are serving, be it here or across the world.

Sweetwater Sage riding Quervo trotted down the range with the Christian flag and Tumbleweed riding Sunny with the American flag ready to hand to Col. Benjamin Grierson and Sgt. Hampton for raising. This is all whilst they have Toby Keith's, American Soldier playing in the background. Man, just brings tears to your eyes. Just truly sensational! Go to Facebook to see the video.

 

After the Color Guard, National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, was a very moving tribute to Easy Lee who passed away just a short time ago. Fellow cowboy's from the Mississippi Rangers led a procession with the painted pony bearing a set of cowboy boots back to front in the stirrups, his rig, pistols and hat astride the saddle. May he rest in peace.

 

With the fire of multi shotgun blast, the ceremony was complete and after having the usual group photo beside the paddle steamer facade everyone departed to their assigned Posse and we are ready to throw some lead down range!

 

Five spectacular stages completed under light cloud cover with intense humidity….,yeah that's probably a good way to describe it, although I think the humidity hit its peak earlier this evening when the sun came out and we were all hanging around waiting for dinner and the band.

A visit with vendors, chatting with folks, drinking beer. Yep, sounds like a whole lot of fun!! When the band, Drivin' Sideways, got on to play with our resident star guitar player Fast Fingers Green from Oklahoma, we were rockin' out to the good Ol' tunes. (He played with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Conway Twitter when teenagers! Just imagine! I was so born in the wrong era, love this music!)

 

We called it a night, been a long day, got another long one tomorrow (yes it was only 7.45pm when we left the range 🙂 ) and just too sticky to stay out longer.

 

Night y'all!

Kat xo

 

Convicts and Crimes

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Well we all know that Australia was colonised by convicts in the late 1700's for some (my ancestors included) for as little as stealing a loaf of bread!

So getting on with it, we were introduced to a wine called 19 Crimes in Oklahoma of all places. A South Australian wine that I hate to admit, have never experienced in my native country of Australia!

Yes you heard it right. I have never seen this in Aus, although I will look for it when I go back because it's bloody nice! Our bottle-o (aka liquor store) up the road has 3 versions in stock. Red Blend, Cab Sav, The Warden Reserve. Thanks to San Jacinto Joe, Jack and I regularly partake in a tipple of 19 Crimes now.

THEN I get to the hairdressers this week and Jenny says “have you tried 19 Crimes?” and we have a whole discussion about this wine.

So wanting to confirm and find out more about the corks and the crimes listed I hopped over to google this arvo and checked out their site. Go have a look for yourself, even tells you about the convicts pictures featured on the bottles.

The corks have a number and the corresponding crime on it. For example #14. Counterfeiting the copper coin or #1. Grand larceny, theft above the value of one shilling.

Pretty neat! So I've been helping San Jacinto Joe finish collecting his 19 and Jack and I have started collecting ours.


Then I opened the reserve tonight to find #2. Hyde Park Barracks. Now I know this is in Sydney so this gets me to thinking that the Warden Reserve must feature the prisons that the convicts were sent to!?

Anyway, delish wine! Loving it! Check it out!

Kat xo

 

The Great Spaghetti Western

Posted on by kathousekelli70

By definition 'a western film made cheaply in Europe by an Italian director'.

 

The GREAT Spaghetti Western however, was not in Europe but the great state of Texas (Leonard, TX) directed by the Texas Ten Horns.

A neat little range that is slowly growing. Great facades and buildings that allow for shooting under cover should the weather be inclement and a couple of open ranges. Plans are in place for expansion so we look forward to attending this range again!

 

Only a few hours drive, we arrived Friday finding the motel and the range without any hassle. We checked in and caught up with some cowboy's and cowgirl's, watching some already commence with side matches.

Stages were set simply with a great mix of target shapes and sizes. This was going to be fun!

 

Jack and I also got to meet these little treasures! We had met their Dad 'Texas Jack Diamondback' and eldest daughter 15yr old 'Darlin Diamondback' up in Thurmont, MD last year. Adding to the Diamondback family is 7yr old twins 'Dixie Diamondback' and 'Dazzlin Diamondback' along with 10yr old 'Daisy Diamondback' they are all just so sweet and I'm looking forward to making the little ones their dresses for End Of Trail. Now if we can just get Mom to shoot!! 😉

 

Saturday morning with safety briefing, pledge of allegiance and a spectacular rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Chiquita Bandita! Outstanding!

Five stages done by lunch time, everyone is fed, watered and released back into the field for side matches or just catching up. Of course where would we be without 'spaghetti and meatballs' for dinner!! Side match awards were given out also.

 

Then we caught up with Hawkshaw Fred and Annie D Vine and got to see the riding habit (previous blog post) in all its glory! It's perfect, fits her, length is spot on, I couldn't be happier – best of all was the smile on her face!

Sunday, last chance for another spectacular day with the Ten Horns. Five stages done and dusted! Thank you to our Posse Marshal, Billy Boots who headed up Posse 3 – Big Iron Patnode, C R Hicock, Colorado Jackson, Creek County Kid, Forty Dawg Kid, Highland Scottie, Jackaroo, K D Steel, Kathouse Kelli, Krazy Legs Kay, Lefty Wheeler, Longhandle Slim, Marshal Kidd, Red Knee, Roy's Creek Dan, Sassy Boots, Sharp Shootin' Leroy, Silver Sam and Snake Oil George.

 

Another spectacular lunch with Tiramisu cake for lunch dessert. O…M…G! Yum!

Raffle drawings and prizes were given away before and during the awards. I didn't get to see a clean match pin but the conchos given for 2nd and 3rd winners and the 1st place champion are a great idea for a change.

Congratulations to all cowboy's and cowgirl's that placed in or won their categories. Creek County Kid and Kathouse Kelli took overall honours for Men's and Ladies. Good work CCK!

 

Thanks again to the Texas Ten Horns – a great little match! If you didn't get there you missed out and should look to go next year!

 

'Once Upon A Time In The West'

Kat xo

Texas Ten Horns http://www.texas10horns.org/index.html

Molly's Custom Silver (buckles and conchos) https://www.mollyscustomsilver.com/

Spaghetti Western pic found on Pinterest.

Spaghetti western definition courtesy of Google.

 

Machine’s Running Hot

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Many hours in, the embroidery work is done!

Can't show full patterns of some as they are sort of surprises but there is enough there in the pile to get the gist.

Eight full panels, two Oklahoma armbands and smiley pocket triangles complete!

 

Here are the finished Oklahoma armbands ready to get to Pony Soldier this weekend.

 

Having a productive afternoon!

Kat xo

 

Poppycock!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Poppycock! Peacock corset I intensely dislike you!

Sigh, you know, sometimes I just don't get it right for me, get it right for other people but alas sometimes it is not always the case for myself. Weird I know.

This corset has been bugging me for ages, I bought the fabric and then another lady shooter in Australia bought the same fabric and of course I don't make the same thing twice so I inset these blue panels into mine. …………….,,I don't like it……….. Every time I look in the draw for a corset I see it and I don't like it.

 

BUT!! During my sewing and embroidery right now I had a brain wave, so off tangent to the rest of what I am doing that I think I have come up with a solution and a whole new outfit!

Cool! (Claps hands with child like excitement!) finally I will look forward to wearing it – not with those blue panels in it though – it's now in the bag of car projects ready to unpick so I can replace those panels with more sweet peacock feather like fabric (lucky I still had some left) and then will work on the rest of the ensemble later.

Weird moment of thought!

Kat xo 🙂