Category Archives: Love My Life

Love My Life

One Hell Of A Weekend!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

What a great weekend Jack and I have had! We took off Friday after lunch down to Leonard, TX ready for a weekend of shooting.

We got shooting and then some this weekend!

Saturday we headed to the range where the Texas Ten Horns hold their club matches and then some. Shooters numbered around 44 or so for 6 great stages.

 

With a serving of hotdogs thrown down and the match scores dealt with, those who were willing and able, through the heat, had a crack at the 'Super Stage'! What a hoot!

 

Essentially 2 stages joined together, use another set of pistols and another rifle – so all in all, 4 pistols, 2 rifles, 1 shotgun, ammo count 48 rounds.

Here's the scores from that day, Jack in 9th place overall with me in 5th!

 

Rest up, 'cause we're doing it all again Sunday! Well all but the super stage.

 

It's another warm one, although we did have a little cloud cover today making it slightly more pleasant for a bit, we ran the same 6 stages again.

 

Let's just say Sunday Jack and I switched places – I finished 9th and he was 5th overall. He had a good day and some days, well, we're only human! Lol!

 

Off to Mexican for a very entertaining lunch! You meet some very interesting and/or funny people doing this sport. Let's just say I thoroughly enjoyed it and have spent most of the time laughing.

 

This morning we packed up and headed back across the border to Albany, OK. What great facilities and hospitality! 32 shooters came out to play on what is the hottest day for the weekend.

 

Two posse's got to it and soon we had got through 6 stages and were heading to the arena and upstairs dining area for a spectacular feed! Pasta, bread, cookies, brownies, cobbler and ice cream – all home made by the lovely Calamity Dibar (I'm sure Iron Tomahawk Kid helped too 😉 ) he certainly made sure we were all fed and watered.

 

Jack and I had switched places again. I finished 5th and he in 8th overall.

 

Thanks so much to the Texas Ten Horns and the Red River Valley Cowpokes for a great match weekend. We will be back!

Kat xo

P.S. Did you know Hannah won a buckle at state!?! Haa haa haa

P.P.S. Had to throw that in there, some will know what it means – funny lady, my face is aching after this weekend!

 

 

Colditz Castle, Germany

Posted on by kathousekelli70

With a side trip via Dresden on Saturday afternoon August 19th, we wound our way through the German countryside to Colditz.

Arriving late afternoon, the very helpful tourist information girl rang around countless hotels and pension’s (pronounced pensh-ee-on) to no avail. Jack wandered off down around the corner to one he had stayed at 12 years ago and found the same guy running it with a room available.

Done! We were checked in and the room, I will add, was white walled, rather large and fresh compared to the burgundy wallpapered tiny room of Prague.

Being beer o’clock we took a short walk back into the square to find no pubs!?? Back to the Pension and asked about a watering hole.

He told us there was a pub up a side street, which I had seen outside umbrellas that were down. Odd for a Saturday afternoon but he assured us it would be open at 5pm.

Off we trot to find that it doesn’t open until 6pm!!!?? What is this place? Lol!

Okay so we decide to take a casual stroll up to the castle and then see a sign for another pub. Well it’s not like we don’t have time to find it and see if it is open.

Walking uphill and earning that Weiss Bier we found the little hidden pub and yes our best Little amount of German ordered a couple and went out to the Biergarten. Prost!

Two rounds later and we headed back down the hill to the first pub.

It’s bustling (lol!) with 5 patrons watching soccer. We take a corner booth under the screen and have a Guinness limited choices here and that’s when I spy the Four Roses Bourbon in the corner shelf from Kentucky!! Schnitzel followed with the next round before returning to the room.

Sunday morning we are up to the castle for a tour and our guide Alex is a mix of U.K., Polish and living in Germany.

Colditz Castle in the saxony state of Germany had begun construction in 1046 and was burnt down twice.

Colditz has a long Royal history before it was otherwise used as an asylum, a children’s home, an old people’s home and during 1939-1945 was a concentration camp.

The more modern part of the building was added in the 1800’s and is now the Jugendhergeege Youth Hostel and to the right of it is the music school where students, orchestras and performers from many countries come to play.

Jack recognizes a section has changed and asks Alex about it. In 2006 they removed one section to reveal what would have been the Royal baths with tiered gardens behind.

Back to the War period and many of you may know some of the Colditz story or have seen the documentary regarding the attempted escape with the plane.

During this time 320 escapes were attempted, 28 were successful with the intended route into Switzerland some 640km away.

Around 5-600 prisoners were held here at any one time with numbers increasing towards the end of the war. Interestingly of those, 21 Australians and 12 New Zealanders were held captive here.

Through the castle to the back section and we can see the back of the building to the officers quarters and the prisoners quarters to the right. Over the wall behind us is forest and a grass field where prisoners used to play soccer.

As you can see, a great place to escape but there would have been machine guns and barbwire.

A partial wall left in the trees is where two escapees got out. One stole a bike and made it to Switzerland in just 8 days! The other walked his way there in 5 months!

In 1939, 700 Polish prisoners were in Colditz and was then changed to imprison high profile prisoners.

These prisoners were VIP’s with some related to Churchill or the Queen and other high profile families or ranking.

The Castle used to be a drab grey which the Germans saw as formidable and the Captain in charge thought that being built on 30m of solid rock that it could not be escaped from let alone tunneled out of!

The French created a tunnel below and through Colditz taking them just a mere 9 months to do so.

There were 150 guards at the beginning and by the end 300 – 1 guard to every 2 prisoners.

As this was(?) run under the Geneva Convention, prisoners were allowed to be punished with solitary confinement. This just gave most of them more time to dream up escapes and ways to keep the guards busy. They were able to time the guards movements and use the information for their plans. Guards were tied up 4 times a day with roll calls and keeping track of where all the prisoners were.

An Englishman and a Dutchman were the first to attempt escape from Colditz.

Art Neive cut a German uniform from a Polish one which was supposed to be dyed the correct colour. Being a little impatient he escapes anyway and nearly blew his cover by taking a piece of chocolate from his pocket to which the Germans had not seen such luxury in more than 2 years.

He had escaped with another prisoner through the back of the opera theatre past 4 guards unnoticed. He escapes 9 times during that period and was killed years later in and IRA bombing. He was your original 007 and was with a Belgium woman who was considered the original ‘Q’. It is said that this is where Ian Fleming got the ideas for his James Bond books.

We headed up the spiral staircase to the loft and watched a shortened version of the very same documentary that Jack and I had happened across on tv just a few months earlier!

The guy in the documentary with some aerodynamic experts recreated the glider and launching that had taken place by a couple of British Air Force pilots during their Colditz internment.

It really is impressive to think they they actually built a glider hidden away behind a false wall right under the guards noses! They found books on aerodynamics in the prison library and set about to build it with stuff just laying around.

The two airmen had said it wasn’t that hard there were supplies in hallways and other areas just for the taking that wouldn’t be noticed if gone.

They used their gingham bedsheets and made a dope from porridge to coat it with so the fabric would be taute.

The only photo of proof it actually existed was taken by a journalist that was with the Americans when they liberated Colditz.

Behind the wall where the photo display board, was where they built the glider in just 1 year.

The replica in the attic has been made using the exact plans the airmen came up with.

Lastly we went into the 1623 chapel. It was renovated much later and the back wall has only just been opened up to reveal the French tunnel work.

When the French discovered the gap at the back, they started creating a tunnel whilst the French organist played and the French choir would sing all day.

The mousetrap we saw in the first museum would sit underneath an organ pedal and if the guards were around it could turn off the power to the tunnel and the diggers would go silent.

The tunnel we saw in the cellar was just short of 46m. It is said that a young electrician was sent down to the cellar at the same time 3 French Officers landed in there. Of course they were caught and were made cement the hole back in (now removed again for their display purposes).

Also the rubble that they had taken out of the tunnels was deposited on the roof of the Chapel which later collapsed and they were made pay for the repairs.

Finally we were shown the section of roof the glider was launched from and the field in which it landed and indeed could possibly have landed if they had had the chance to attempt the escape in the glider.

A great experience to see it after seeing the history documentary.

Onto Freising we went for our final stop before departing Munich.

Cheers

Kat xo

KGB

Posted on by kathousekelli70

As the final day in Prague came round, Jack and I used our 24hr hop on hop off pass to get us round the city again and to the KGB Museum (his choice but this was indeed a treat).

The KGB Museum is of all places, situated in between the US Embassy and the German embassy.

We arrived at the door just after 12 noon and fortunately we were let in to the guided tour that was taking place.

Man, I wish had taken video of this guy because it was very entertaining, to put it mildly!

We are talking about a good Russian boy here. He had all the history down on all the gear.

In my efforts to intently listen to his broken English/Russian accent it took me all I knew to concentrate on what he was saying and at times translating for Jack! Haa haa haa

I didn’t make any notes during this hour and a half ‘show’.

His flamboyant style of history portrayal also included some very animated displays of weapon use along with sound effects and facial expressions!! I’m still laughing about it now. 🙂

He spoke of spy camera’s, watches, bullet pens, poison. Showed us knives, guns and garroting saws. The latter came with demonstrations, noises, movement and eye rolling!

After this we got back on the bus and down to the wharf for a 1hr boat cruise on a different section of the river.

Thanks for having us Prague!

Kat xo

Territorial Marshals Overland Stage

Posted on by kathousekelli70

I’m still writing blogs from Europe but wanting to do something creative …..and need to get into this anyway, I finished the black work of this monstrosity yesterday while the last load of washing was drying.

I like to think of it as ‘how to make a blank square with holes look like a stage coach’!

Always up for a challenge I found a couple good stagecoach pics of the gorgeous Kentucky Concord stagecoaches last night.

Built in 1895 they were state of the art transportation and were widely used by Wells, Fargo & Company for delivering the US Mail.

So here we have the Territorial Marshals Overland Stage drawn up and ready for some colour! (Minus the two back boxes)

Will keep you posted on the progress!

Kat xo

Pivo in Prague

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Now where would be in the country of most consumers of beer (Pivo) and not take a guided tour to a few of the city’s finest.

We met our guide Martin from Urban Adventures at the Wenceslas statue at the top of Wenceslas Square. It was to be a small group of beer connoisseur’s but instead of 5 with two no shows we were down to 3 of us (Gina – a teacher in Wemberley but from Brisbane would you believe!, Jack and myself) and the guide.

Once upon a time in a Bavarian Monastery…..or something like that 🙂 ……during the 9th century, Monks began brewing the famous beverage.

Monks were relatively wealthy and so had the money to buy the best ingredients.

Back in the day when animals were roaming town streets and water was becoming contaminated, the process of brewing beer made it safer to drink beer than water.

Yes you heard me right! Beer! Even the kids were drinking it. Obviously the alcohol content was a lot less than most beers brewed today and they didn’t consume it in the same quantities as we do now.

We took the tram to the first stop which was another new experience for us.

Vino Harady is a vineyard district right in the center of Prague that was used by the monasteries and was turned into a park. Today some of the grapevines are being regrown in the park.

Across from the park in the quieter end of town is our first stop on the tour – Pivnice Usadu.

Now a quick note, Lager is what they call bottom fermented and wheat beer is top fermented with its fruitier flavours and cloudy appearance.

A process that depends purely on the balance of hops to malt ratio balancing out sweetness depending on the brew you require.

So Jack went for Velen which is a wheat beer. I had Sadek, an unfiltered lager. Accompanying this was tapas that Martin ordered (at each stop) for us of Czech tradition. This round was marinated pork belly strips (which wasn’t the fatty version we have seen previous) with horse radish and mustard.

Learning point – water, barley, hops, yeast are the essential and pure ingredients. German tradition and law make this so. There are no other ingredients or flavourings to be added to the mix. Cžech brewers, whilst there is no law, follow this German tradition.

Of course ideal weather and soil conditions contribute to production of the perfect hops. As mentioned it acts to balance the sweetness and also serves as a natural preservative.

As you do, as we have seen Budweiser Budvar signs everywhere, Jack asked the difference between Budweiser USA and Budweiser here. You would have thought he had cussed but Martin explained as best he could.

Budweiser as the Budjovíce bohemian version has been around since the 17th Century. Budweiser Anheuser Busch is German and apparently there are ongoing issues between the two regarding the use of name etc. The original Budvar version is sold in USA under a different label. (Sounds like some similar issues to the McDonalds film I just watched)

Onto the tram again to our next stop and this pub, I notice, uses a different numbering system. Like an 11, 13, or say a 15 beside the name of the beer. Martin explains this is done to grade the beer. The numbers determine the level of malt in the beer and later used in determination of the alcohol by volume percentage is done.

This pub also has unique brews made for them only, these brewers are called ‘gypsy breweries’. Once the beer is all gone they might get a different brewer in.

Here we are drinking one called ‘Bad Flash Red Shorts’ an IPA. Paired with a Bavarian style sausage that has been cooked and pickled in vinegar. (Hence the saying – drowning in vinegar or in Aus we would say slightly pickled)

This type of sausage was first produced for an industrial exhibition in the late 1800’s. It has been prepared to serve with beer and has been in pubs since then.

This pub has been here for 160 years. At one stage someone had booked the place for a party and asked if they could provide their own kegs. The publican obliged and when the party finished the left over kegs were served up to locals the next day. They liked it! Hence the changing of breweries regularly now.

It’s now 8.20pm and our third stop, Cafe Kolibka. The Únitece unfiltered lager (can’t remember if we all drank the same but the only one in my notes) with a marinated cheese.

The cheese, like Camembert or Brie, has been marinated in oil, paprika, bay leaf and onion. Extremely good with a thin piece of bread and beer.

The last stop on our tour took us back in near our hotel at a place called Pivovar U Dobrenskych where we have all chosen different beers.

Gina chose a light and refreshing lemongrass style. Jack went for a medium flavored almost IPA called Tribulas and I chose their stout but must have definitely given up typing the name because I’ve got nothing! Lol! No, found a photo, all good!

I’m sure it was around 10.30pm or so when we finished this tour. A great evening spent talking over good beer.

Thanks Martin and Urban Adventures, outstanding!

Kat xo

Wednesday, August 16th

THE Day of Truth

Posted on by kathousekelli70

'Days of Truth 2017' has come to an end with a long day of 9 stages yesterday to complete the match.

We enjoyed the match with great stages, targets and distance, good mix of movement as well. Colbert and the AWS team put on a great match.

Last night we changed and headed back to the range for the dinner, awards and costume contest.

Speaking of the latter, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people really dressing up and while standing there waiting for my turn, listened to them talk about their costumes and how the military guys were very well informed.

Best Dressed Man, Lady, Couple, Military and Junior cogratulations to all contestants and winners.

 

Ladies – Cruzan Confusion 1st, Kathouse Kelli 2nd, Edentate Oppitorá 3rd

 

Mens – Catweasle (aka UK Dane) 1st, Lommy 2nd, Tiff 3rd

 

Military – Wreckhouse Paul 1st, Sherman McMasters 2nd, Had 3rd

And I didn't get a photo of the couples or juniors! Congratulations though to Cherry Poppins & Captain Woodbury Kane 1st, Harry Long & Crazy Lady 2nd, Jarka & Mgrda Kredoíboví 3rd in the couples. For the juniors, Little Sure Shot 1st, Black River Belle 2nd and little brother and sister Jan & Ludmila 3rd.

The Ladies Of Cowboy Action Shooting, Cowgirl of Honor Award was also presented and it was with congratulations to Crazy Lady from Cžech Republic 3rd Place, Jessie Belle from Germany 2nd Place and Wonder Bibi from Italy in 1st Place.

 

It was well after midnight when we got back I know.

The results, as I'm sure you want to know, so the 10 in the rifle and the shotgun mishaps cost me dearly but am pleased to say 5th lady overall and still managed 2nd behind the lovely Mad Cat With Gun finishing first for the Lady Wranglers! Congratulations to my other Lady Wrangler competitors, Misty Moonshine 3rd, Black Velvet 4th and Katie Scarlett O'Hara 5th.

 

Jackaroo finished very well overall at 19th and 2nd in Silver Senior category. Congratulations to the other Silver Senior's, Captain Wildbeard finishing 1st, Lash LaRue 3rd and Ace Heart 4th.

 

This year's SASS European Championship, Days of Truth, overall Man and Lady – Hell Hound and Mad Cat With Gun! Congratulations to you both.

 

This morning we got sort of a sleep in, packed everything and headed out for Prague via Kutná Hora. Well…….that was the plan…..we made it as far as Kutná Hora and checked into a Hotel. The boss has had a sleep and we feel kinda normal again – if there is such a thing for us.

Time to head out into the street for dinner and have a quick look around.

Na zdraví!

Kat xo

 

Days of Truth – Part 1

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Monday arrived in Oparany for Days of Truth. All checked in, caught up with others then made our way to Apartmany Lhota following Colbert. We would never have found the apartments on our own and believe me we did try.

Very neat accommodation sharing apartments with Americans and French. There is a common kitchen, dining and tv room with a billiard table. (Jack and I are 5 games even as of last night) A pool – pity we decided that we wouldn't need our swimmers – sauna and hot tub. We are really only there to sleep after shooting anyway.

 

The campground is reminiscent of Chisholm Trail, heaps of campers and nightly parties! Just different flags, and many many different accents!

The range is set for a great match. Target sizes and distances are great and some fun stages. We did a quick walk through them all yesterday after registration and now this morning, have organised gun cart, picked up ammo and ready for warm up.

 

Five warm up stages on Tuesday to iron out the rubbish! Wednesday was a great sleep in day, do a workout, relax, write postcards, do washing and then out to the range for speed events and then dinner and

16 countries were represented at the opening ceremonies which included Australia.

 

Thursday was first day of main match which resulted with ammo not going off in the rifle so 10 misses for me. The shotgun does not seem to be liking one lot of the lighter ammo here so we have both had some false starts with shotgun also. Very frustrating indeed but it is what it is.

Friday, rain is forecast. We were up at 6am and it's starting to rain. As we get to the range there is already thunder, lightning, heaps of rain and wondering how this match is going to be.

They decide a delay is in order due to the weather, thankfully, and we will sport for another start at 11am. This too does not occur with a delay now until 2pm and approval to shoot late.

Come 2pm it is still bucketing down with thunder and lightning and a foot of water to be wading through on range. Decision comes through that it is cancelled for the day. Others have been consulted and a decision has been made that the previous day's stages have been scrapped and that now we will start fresh tomorrow with 7 stages.

Posses will now be formed into 14 instead of the original 15 (which means we will be shifted into a new posse because we were in 15). Two posse's will be together, 1 shooting, 1 working so we all get through in a timely fashion and can be finished ready for awards and dinner.

Looking forward to a better day tomorrow, let's just say a second chance for me.

……..a few hours later…no, it now appears they have changed their minds again and we will now shoot 9 stages tomorrow and complete the match!

Kat xo

 

Day In Cheyenne

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Last night we had a fabulous dinner with Wild Horse John, Saginaw Sue, Trigger Happy Ted and Misty Rider. A good catch up to start off our short stay in Cheyenne.

This morning was a leisurely start over coffee and then off to the country club for lunch on the deck overlooking the golf course.

 

A visit to the museum made for an interesting afternoon. Passing some of Cheyennes spectacular 1800's buildings, the Nelson Museum Of The West awaits.

 

With everything from taxidermy, firearms, Hollywood posters, Indian, cavalry, vaquero outfits, Spurs etc it is a fantastic exhibit over two floors, the third floor below – Lawmen and Outlaws display.

 

Gambling, guns and whiskey were the essentials for outlaws of the time or more likely is what caused the most grief in small railway and cowtown's of the west.

 

This a neat little museum and worth a visit if you are short on time, you can do it in a couple of hours.

We did get an extra personalised tour into the war bonnet room and the new exhibit acquisition room where they are organising new displays.

 

Then across the street into the military uniform display, what a collection! Mostly uniforms from actual military members and displayed with their name plate and photo! Such amazing collections!

 

A little saunter later down the road we arrived at The Plains Hotel for a rest and a beer. Yep, a Saddle Bronc for me, always got to try a local brew, well it comes out of Sheridan which is still Wyoming.

 

That takes care of today, won't be much to report tomorrow until we are at the airport!

Cheers

Kat xo

 

Nebraska – Wyoming

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Today we moved on and visited Gothenburg again briefly. Enough time for Jack to get another Pony Express badge, seeing as he lost it somewhere on the range a month or so ago and to send a postcard.

 

Next we continued on the Lincoln Highway to North Platte. We had also previously been here to Buffalo Bill Cody's house and ranch but this time we stopped in at the Golden Spike Tower.

With views overlooking the world's largest classification rail yard – Bailey Yard (have you been here before Paddlewheel???)

 

Here you can go up into the observation deck and watch Union Pacific Railroad workers 'sort and connect over 10,000 cars a day on two classification hump yards, with nearly 120 bowl rows and 315 tracks.'

 

It is 8 miles long, 301 sets of rails covering 2,850 acres.

North Platte was originally “Hell On Wheels Town” in 1866.

Inside the gift shop are historical displays and a short movie. Information boards line the walls of the internal observation deck and in the foyer to the outside observation deck the boards talk of the canteen.

 

This was a great stop and you could actually see the cars being pushed up the humps to be transferred down the other side into the bowl and let run down a track ready to be attached for their final destination.

 

It's lunch time and that means getting our skates on! Next stop Ole's for lunch and view some 200 mounted trophies displayed in this Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge.

 

The brochure says 'Rosser O. Herstedt (“Ole” to anyone that knew him) was one of a kind.' Born and bred in Paxton he seized on a unique business opportunity in 1933. (This part makes me grin) 'On August 8, 1933, prohibition in Nebraska came to an end. At 12.01am on August 9, Ole opened his tavern on Paxton's main street.' Lol!

He was a hunter and soon the lounge became a showcase for his hunting trips and safaris. It is still owned today by another Paxton native, Tim Holzfaster.

 

An Ole's club sandwich and a side of fries did both of us!!

On to our last stop before reaching Cheyenne, WY, we made a quick stop in Sidney, NE at the Pony Express National Monument which of course is right next to Cabela's….which of course we just had to go into!

 

Hope you've had a great day or having a great day!

Kat xo

 

Kansas – Nebraska Day Trip

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Travelling along, no car projects this trip, so snooze! Yeah that sounds pretty good.

We were heading north through Kansas and came across Waconda Lake between Beloit and Cawker City, a massive expanse of waterway. Not much out this way except lots of farming and Beloit is clearly a very large agricultural hub.

 

Continuing North we took a quick side trip for a mile off the Hwy8 which took us to the Dr Higley cabin. (Lovingly taken care of, restored and remaining on its original site thanks to Mr and Mrs Pete Rust)

 

Birthplace of 'Home On The Range' the Kansas state song was written in 1871 by Dr Brewster M. Higley as a poem of his property in Kansas alongside Beaver Creek. In 1872 he gave it to a guy by the name of Dan Kelley who set it to music. A refrain was added (the chorus, home, home on the range….) and his poem 'my western home' became 'home on the range. The poem and song were published in 1872 and '73.

It became popular amongst Cowboys riding long distances with cattle drives and later Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it as his favourite song. In 1947 a bill was passed in the Kansas Legislature establishing the song as the official state song.

Continuing on, we crossed into Nebraska, heading towards Minden.

Minden established 1877 – the Christmas city – has a nice selection of old homes and the Harold Warp Pioneer Village. Anything and everything you could think of from mans progression since 1830. 26 buildings, 3 city blocks – not enough time to do in a short afternoon.

 

Next to Kearney (pronounce Car-nee). We crossed the Platte River taking us through even more farmland. Soon we hit the I80 into Kearney through the The Great Platte River Arch Monument. We went into the Arch Monument and their historical exhibit, wow! Oh….my….goodness!

 

The murals were just sensational! So much detail! Standing there looking at them while listening to the commentary you saw so much more. This is a place I could come back to multiple times and still see more. You were given a device at the beginning of the tour that had multiple points during the tour where you got the information along the way. More than that, the displays, the video's, the models, murals, everything was sensational!

 

Then it was find a motel to stay in and tomorrow we will see the some other museums, maybe a railway one and Chimney Rock before moving on through to Cheyenne, WY.

Sleep well!

Kat xo

P.S. The I80 was Einsenhower's way of employing those back from the war by building the greatest Trans continent road between SanFrancisco, California to New York. A multi lane highway stretching from one side of the country to the other! Made transport easier and gave all veterans an employment opportunity.