Category Archives: Love My Life

Love My Life

You know you’re in Australia when…..

Posted on by kathousekelli70

You come across places like 'Jackass Creek', see oversized kangaroos, and where a 'pie n Coke' can have multiple meanings.

The great Aussie tradition of a pie and Coke – the tradies smoko, the halftime footy lunch, the hangover remedy (remember that one Dad!?!), or just a bloody good idea for an unhealthier version of a lunchtime stop when you have a pie shop staring you in the face!

Normally paired with a splash of 'dead horse' (slang for tomato sauce/ketchup), this Aussie delicacy is favoured by most. I went for the steak and mushroom variety while Jack took in a curried steak.

 

I must say Beefy's of Gympie, outstanding!

Cheers

Kat xo

10th December, 2015 (WordPress still thinks I'm in the States and its yesterday, so sorry if any confusion)

http://beefys.com.au/beefys-gympie/

 

Australian Nationals 2015

Posted on by kathousekelli70

A quick trip to Harrington, catching up with an old friend from school (Heidi was the cool friend with red gym boots!) and we made the trek south again to Newcastle staying another fun filled night with a certain little princess sporting her new Frozen dance skirt.

Monday we headed to the range and over the next few days got stuck into 'building' in the bunkhouse. We finished lining it with timber panels, beading, installing shelving and a new corner to the existing, sort-of-a-shelf. We made and installed coat racks, cutting 3 from the old one and making another 5.

The sewing machine also came in handy for hemming curtains for the window, dressing room and showers.

 

We got the guns back into our hands and got the muscle memory happening and seemed reasonably happy with a practice. Things were looking okay.

Come Thursday the campers are definitely rolling in and the fun is beginning, side matches and Warm Up match were held on a particularly warm Friday! 42C/108F

Beers, catch ups and posse marshal walk through was done and dusted.

94 shooters fronted up Saturday and Sunday with, thankfully, cooler and sensible shooting weather days. 6 stages held each day. Movement, reloads, and good stage design.

Don't know what it was though but with only 2 clean shooters for the match, the rest of us had too many misses!

However, we had a great Posse and paired up with Posse 4 we had as much fun as you could get! Posse 3 and 4 – myself, Jackaroo/Ricochet, Chuckwagon and my Margarita Sista Pearl Starr, Gopher, Squints, Kitty Pearl and Sidewinder Sam, Dam Sam, Walker, Tom Mix, Henry Moon, S.O.B., Hoodoo Brown, Tin Star, Black Jack, Holy Ollie, and Sodbuster – if I have it right. (First time I haven't taken a photo of our posse list so I did get it right)

Saturday night we had the shindig and gambling.

 

Then Sunday it was all over bar the shouting. Jack finished 1st in Senior and 6th overall. I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler, 2nd Lady and 8th overall. There was 1 rank point and 0.07sec between Jack and I.

Above photo's courtesy of S.Sedger.

A big congratulations to RC Shot and Jazzi Jess, Men's and Ladies Overall Champions for this years 2015 Australian National Championship!

Congrats!

Kat xo

 

Broken Hill, NSW

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We are now on our way along the Silver City Hwy taking us to Broken Hill in far west New South Wales.

We had a couple of nights in Mildura and a chill out day. Got 4 corsets finished and one sent away to its new owner. Piping done and pinned for a “yellow” project and more bling and stars for the “teal” project.

 

Now, if I just get my hands on an overlocker/serger this will also include completion of a pair of pants as well and will be into other projects! Never a dull moment, love it.

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed a swim at the Motel, 36C/98F, although there hasn't really been enough hot days for the pool to warm up fully so took a little while to get used to the water, suffice to say it was very refreshing!

 

Then on recommendation we found the Curry and Tandoor Indian restaurant. Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Rogan Josh, Naan Bread, Samosa's – perfect, hot, fabulous food. Beads of sweat on Jack's brow a good indication it was good!

 

A leisurely start to the day, will take us around 3 hours to get to Broken Hill. Broken Hill is a mining town – still mining – in fact the BH in BHP Billiton is for Broken Hill (I learnt something new off Google today). It has been referred to as 'Oasis of the West', 'Capital of the Outback' but more commonly known as, and what I've always know it as, 'The Silver City'.

Broken Hill was named by Charles Sturt (the explorer) in 1844 whilst discovering the Barrier Range. Silver ore was discovered there in 1883 by a boundary rider named Charles Rasp. It was/is mined for silver, lead and zinc.

'We're on the road to nowhere……..' It's one of those long highways of nothingness travelling out here.

 

We've past a heap of wild goats, the odd emu and the only kangaroos we've seen so far were roadkill.

Made a quick pit stop at Coombah at a little servo (service station aka gas station) and met a couple from the UK who spend time visiting many countries but spend a good portion of their time in the US in Florida. Maybe we will see Susan and Martin somewhere again.

 

So we are now in Broken Hill at our friends, Lusty Pearl and Slap Happy (aka Phil and Helen Grossi), they are Still Memories Digital Photography and cowboy pards.

Tonight (Tuesday) We are down at the Palace taking pics of the Muscle Cars that are participating in the Aussie Muscle Car Run. This is a charity run for Leukemia Foundation, 7 days, 2,218 kilometres.

 

The Palace is famous for featuring some of the filming of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert both here in Broken Hill and some in the little town of Silverton on the outskirts of town.

The Palace has also just had a tribute show to Priscilla called Broken Heel. The shoe sits in the foyer of this unusually Australian ornate painted hotel.

 

Wednesday was spent chillaxing and applying more bling and cutting out of leather work for a costume whilst watching Boondock Saints. A BBQ s Ned off under the Bali hut at Stonegrill@Grosso's. Love it. Thanks for having us guys, was great to catch up with you again!

Kat n Jack xo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Hill,_New_South_Wales

https://www.facebook.com/StillMemoriesDigitalPhotography/

http://www.aussiemusclecarrun.com

http://thepalacehotelbrokenhill.com.au/#!/index

 

Work Shirkers Wednesday

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Out to the range this morning for practice day and discussions. Only a handful of us but we had fun, pushed the envelope and sweated it out with little to no breeze around today.

Fabulous BBQ lunch at a tucked away little place called Railhead BBQ. Wow! Just wow! I had a turkey sandwich that was so moist and tender I think next time I will be having it even without the lettuce tomato and onion on it. The German coleslaw was amazing too. (That was the side I had) Jack had 1/3pd burger with Mustard Potato Salad. 1/4mile from the corner of Waterloo Rd and Douglas St in a little red tin shed. Service is great and food is fabulous. It's one of those local, must try, deals.

Home for a couple hours of sewing and then it was time for a swim, well more for exercise after the last pounds gained while we were away.

Here is the dolphin and the whale. Lol! That's Jacks words too. It's hilarious. He is a life saver swimmer still, definitely not a swimmer swimmer. Still s in's with head up out of the water and arms out the side like he's going through waves.

 

Anyway, there IS work to be done.

See ha.

Kat xo

 

Ah, Tis The Good Life

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Back into today with a club match at OKC Gun Club with the Territorial Marshals. A pleasant day had 52 shooters show up for 6 fun stages and lunch.

Was great to catch up with all our friends again.

Then it's back to washing, painting, loading, cleaning brass and having a brew at the Big Horn Saloon. Haa haa haa!

 

Oh and don't forget the Territorial Marshals are hosting the SASS SW Regional – Red Dirt Rampage. We wish we could be here for it! 😦

Cheers!

Kat xo

http://cowboy.okcgunclub.org/reddirt/reddirt.html

 

Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Leaving Twin Falls this morning we are headed up Hwy 84 towards Washington.

Boise, Idaho – land of the potato. We stopped here for lunch and a quick trip to the Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site.

In the 1870's with the gold mine boom, crime began to be on the uprise and so with nowhere to house these criminals the Territorial Prison came into being.

The turnkey building or administration building (the entrance to the penitentiary museum) was built in 1893. He turnkey guard made sure other guards attending the yard and inmates could keep an eye on how long guards were out there and if they had been out there too long would go to find out where and if anything had happened to them.

 

He also controlled the wait/walk and gate entrance for prisoners who were seeking entry for visitation.

1870's with the mining also brought more crime, so the territorial building was built in 1870.

Over the 101 year history there were 500 hundred escape attempts but only 90 were successful. If they didn't get out of Idaho Territory as per Al Priest (?) then it wasn't considered successful, even though he was more than some 200miles west of the penitentiary.

 

The 2 House (North Wing) was built in 1899 but held no prisoners until 1911. If I have it right, the 3 House (South Wing) also built in 1899 only housed prisoners in the early 1920's.

The first was your more 'rustic' prison experience. Two per cell, one chamber pot also known as a 'honey bucket' (eeeww!) in those days. No sanitation or plumbing it housed 160 inmates, so 80 honey buckets, that could be thrown at guards if they weren't careful and 4 floors, low railings, guards had to be on their guard of being pushed off the balcony also. Heating and cooling was next to non existent.

The second gave prisoners a more comfortable feel with amenities including plumbing and heating. Pastel colours to the cell walls were introduced in the hopes of having calming effects on prisoners.

It also included a private barber cell so inmates didn't have access to scissors and razors etc if out in the open. The guards would have to let each inmate in and out of the barber cell, pat them down before allowing to re enter the general cells.

 

The dining hall built in 1898 was designed by inmate George Hamilton. It was said that if he did a good job for the warden he would obtain an early release. Of course he did do a beautiful job. It contained a plunge bath for 6-8 men at a time, storerooms, a bakery and the main dining hall.

The dining hall in those days contained long dining tables. Prisoners were not allowed to speak to each other or even turn their heads and was the same into the early 1900's when they changed it to round tables and allowed conversation.

Hamilton got his release but was told he must leave Idaho and was never to return again. Now whether he got out and the. Realised he didn't know what to do outside of prison life, or the thought of not returning to Idaho it is said that the day before he was to catch a train after being released, he actually committed suicide.

 

Where the rose garden is now situated, used to be the gallows. Ten executions by hanging were carried out at the penitentiary and six were carried out in this garden.

The building known as Siberia was for prisoners put into solitary confinement. If you ended up there you were stripped of all clothing except for felt slippers. The hole in the floor was the toilet and the hole in the ceiling was your only air and light. It's narrow about twice my width and prob 6ft in length. The longest confinement was 7 months. An inmate was given his oatmeal one morning and when dishes were taken away he kept a his spoon and wouldn't give it back. So the guards said he would stay in until the spoon was returned. Seven months later he gave the spoon back and was allowed out.

 

The youngest inmates to serve here were 10 and 11. The 10yr olds father owned a bar and got into a fight with a patron. When his Dad asked for his gun the kid decided he could do one better, got the gun and actually shot the guy. The Warden took pity on him, so instead of being in with the general population he was allowed to live with the Warden's family on the prison grounds. He became a good baseball player on the grounds and I think the tour guide said that when the warden left the prison the young man was not re incarcerated. Missed the last bit of that part of the story.

In the 1950's cell block inmates were able to have a little more freedom, they were allowed their choice of colours (if all 4 inmates could agree) on their cell walls. They also had better access to leather crafting and woodworking tools, hence the padded headboards and toilet seats etc.

They had a basketball team and a baseball team. The 'away' games ceased after one inmate jumped from a train during an away game so after that their were only ever 'home' games. Both teams were the 'Outlaw's' and that name still stands with one of the parks or stadiums today.

 

Anyway after the outlaw jaunt in Boise we made a pit stop in Nampa. We were going to go to the Warhawk Museum but of course it's Monday! Bloody well shut! Hopefully we will get back there to see it. So headed onwards to Baker City, Oregon. The home of the Oregon Trail and a hundred historic buildings.

 

This is where we will spend the night before heading up the road further and into Washington by tomorrow night.

See ya!

Kat xo

http://history.idaho.gov/old-idaho-penitentiary

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Idaho_State_Penitentiary

http://www.warhawkairmuseum.org

 

 

Magic In The Valley

Posted on by kathousekelli70

This years Idaho State Championships hosted by The Snake River Western Shooting Society presented Magic In The Valley – Magic Medicine Show.

 

One of their members Idaho Calliope Kid built a little medicine man wagon and the ladies, Missy Mable (also Match Director), Sweet Harmony and a few others (I'm sorry I don't have their names) came up with some priceless medicinal labels for bottles of varying shapes and sizes which became the side match and costume prizes.

 

The stages were well written, based around various medicinal concoctions and remedies from back in the 1800's. There were little signs almost everywhere and their decorating of stages definitely added to the atmosphere.

Thursday was side match day that started with a 1911 match, then we had speed events and onto warm up match. After shooting the 1911, hands were back into single action mode and ready to go.

 

Friday's 6 stages went well, great weather, great posse. Our Posse – Allen Street Contessa, Colter's Girl, Idaho Bad Company, Idaho Dusty Dawn, Idaho White Rider, Jackaroo, Kathouse Kelli, Kid Colter, Li'l Shotz, Marshal Stone, Missy Mable, Pintail Bandita, Silver Shadow and Twelve Mile Reb. Clean for me and 1 miss for Jack.

After lunch we had couples – real and odd – and then a four man team event. Jack and I won the couples, Colorado Blackjack and I were 2nd in the odd couples. Jackaroo, Waddell Red, Sweet Harmony and Idaho Shady Layne won 2nd place in the team event.

 

Friday afternoon we hung around, cleaned guns and the car whilst waiting for a visit at the airport. Airport? You ask. Well here's why.

One of the cowboy shooters, Lefty Way, works for a company called Airpower Unlimited, and is part of a restoration team for old planes.

Yes, I'm talking Corsair's, Mustang's and more.

He took a handful of us to go see a Corsair they have been restoring. There is also a Mustang sitting in the shed. Well pilots, and wanna be pilots drool. The guys loved it and asked all the technical questions and even for Second Fiddle Sue and I, it was a sight to behold.

The Corsair is one of around 30-40 Corsairs left in the world, (most were used for the series Baa Baa Black Sheep if you've seen it, we haven't) having spent most of its time in Hawaii it didn't actually see war time as such. Now it is privately owned and once fully restored will go back to its owner in Washington (?) to his museum and personal flight enjoyment.

 

It is also one of the last models of the series to be made with 3 blades. Her paint work has been colour matched and finished to the original Fed specs/technical order. During WWII there were around 12,000 made.

Lefty said it is one of the most complex aircraft they work on, even compared to the Mustang's. They've been working on this one on and off for 11 and a half years – approx 38,000 man hours so far.

It was spectacular, thanks Lefty Way! As you can imagine Jack thoroughly enjoyed it and had to get a picture with the Mustang as this is what his Dad flew during WWII in England.

 

Anyway, back to our featured program.

Saturday and we get into the last day, 6 stages. Same finish, Jack 1 miss and me clean! Yippee! Only 3rd clean match ever, actually maybe 4th, think I had one clean match at Chisholm Trail (AUS).

 

Saturday night was banquet and awards.

Jack finished 3rd in Senior, congrats to 1st Place, Jeremiah Jonathon; 2nd Place, JT Wild; 4th Place, Gem Hunter and 5th Place, Mizpah Pete.

For Lady Wrangler, I finished 1st Place and a big congratulations to 2nd Place, Sweet Harmony; 3rd Place, Ruby Q Hammer and 4th Place, Colter's Girl.

Top honours overall went to Colorado Blackjack 1st Place, Kuna 2nd Place and the Idaho State Mens Champion and Twelve Mile Reb 3rd Place. I finished 1st Lady overall in 9th place and Jack finished 11th overall. Finishing 17th overall and Idaho State Ladies Champion is Belinda Belle. Congratulations to all who played!

 

Sunday was the shootout won by JT Wild for the men's, Tadpole for the juniors and myself for the ladies.

However, I am embarrassed to say that it should have been Missy Mable. The video ref says so when Jack and I watched it back (I nearly died), an absent minded moment which should have been called on by the spotters and declared by myself, so I put in a call of apology to Missy Mable. That's what cowboys and cowgirls should do, it's the cowboy way. 'Nuf said.

Once again a hearty congratulations to all those with the Snake River Western Shooting Society for putting on an entertaining, well put together match. We thoroughly enjoyed it and the perfect shooting weather! It truly was magic!

Cheers

Kat xo

http://www.idahocas.com

http://www.airpowerunlimited.net

 

Jackson Hole, WY

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Spent two nights in Jackson and a full day of just walking the streets, wandering in and out of shops. It really was just a nice casual couple of days.

Jackson has a town square like a lot of old town districts in other places. Jackson however has its four unique arches at each corner entrance. A popular tourist photo destination.

 

The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is a must to stop at. We ate there both nights.

If only to partake in the bar, grill, beer, and sit astride one of the saddle stools at the bar. Or you could play at one of the pool tables. Jack beat me real good this time.

 

The Cowboy Bar has a restaurant downstairs also and is renowned for its line dancing and entertainment. In the past they've had Hank Williams Jr., Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings to name but a few!

Is was one of the recommended places to eat by the hotel owner, as well as 'The Local' and 'Town Square Tavern'.

We met a couple of young Aussie's from the Central Coast in the Tavern around lunchtime, heading off to Vegas for the 2nd last leg of the their East to West coast experience.

There are endless places to eat though and a stack of art galleries, shops and souvenirs to take in. We were within walking distance of the town square but Jackson is quite a big place and there is lots to choose from.

 

And then there is the unusual fur purchases. Anyone for beaver underwear?!?!

 

This place must be jumping during ski season! It was busy enough now in the summer.

Cheers!

Kat xo

Mon 3rd Aug

http://www.milliondollarcowboybar.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_Wyoming

 

Mt Rushmore Tours – Pt 1

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The tour started with breakfast this morning at the chuck wagon, pancakes it is! You can come in and eat breakfast here without being on the tour and it is all you can eat pancakes for 99c. You heard me, 99c.

 

As we depart Ft. Hays, our bus driver for the day is Dan Eggebraaten. There are 28 on the bus from Indiana, the rest of us Nebraska, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Jack and I the only Internationals from Australia.

And so began the trivia and extra information about South Dakota, the Black Hills and the little towns in between. So here is some of today's history lesson for those that haven't been before,

The population for the whole state of South Dakota is 800,000. There are several different reservations with 75,000 native Americans and they populate 25% of the state land. The Lakota Sioux named the hills of South Dakota with the Indian name of Paha Sapa meaning hills that are black. Hence, the Black Hills.

Lead (pronounced leed) got its name from the lead's in the rock that the miners would look for when searching for gold. You can see some of these white lines (lead's) in some of the rock faces we passed on the road.

This bridge is made from laminated Douglas fir timber, it is called the Keystone Wye Bridge.

 

Keystone was an old mining camp from years ago. Mines were said to be often named after the miners wives. Big thunder mine is still open for touring, and there is another mine named after a miners wife called the holy terror, it was a very prosperous mine in its time. It could yield 250pds of gold a month. A lot of cave in's and deaths occurred at that mine before it was closed off. Keystone folks celebrate Holy Terror Days annually.

 

First stop on the tour is Mt Rushmore. The Mt Rushmore Memorial is sculptured on the south east face of the mountain featuring Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

The four presidents were carved by Gutzon Borglum, commenced at the age of 60 and took him 14 years to carve finishing in 1941. In actual time working on the carvings were 6.5 years (if you considered weather and other things that halted work along the way).

The sculpture is complete as finished on the mountain. No further carving was done after he Bordlum passed away but his intentions were to have them carved to the waist.

$1M was spent on the sculpture which doesn't seem a lot until you know that it was done during the Great Depression. Washington's face is 60ft from top of his head to bottom of his chin and 11ft across the eyes. This means if completed would be 400ft high. Lincoln's mole is 16″ across.

 

There were 400 people working with this monument and its surroundings and no one died whilst doing it. There is a granite wall recognising all those involved, only one man is still alive today – Donald “Nick” Clifford now 94. (He was actually in the gift store signing books, so an opportunity we couldn't pass up)

 

The avenue of flags leads you to the viewing platform and entrances to the presidential trail and sculpture studio.

90% of the work on the faces was done with dynamite and then Borglum could do the finer details.

The sheer size of this monument is amazing to see. There is also the amphitheatre, exhibit hall, restaurant and gift shop. If you ever get there it's a must see.

Apparently Mt Rushmore was named after Charlie Rushmore a New York Lawyer, who went out to check on some of his clients mining claims. It was reported that he may have made a sizeable donation hence the name may have come from then.

Kat – your local 'how fast can your fingers type' historian

July 28th, 2015

 

 

Toby Keith and Trace Adkins

Posted on by kathousekelli70

OMG! I can't believe in last nights blog post that I forgot to put in the photos of Toby Keith and Trace Adkins concert.

As a quick reminder we saw them perform at Cheyenne Frontier Days on Friday, July 24th. Amazing!

Singing along, crowd goes wild! Freakin' awesome!

So here are some of the happy snaps from the concert! Enjoy!

 

'….girl you drank all my beer, and my whiskey's all gone………it's time to get it on!…you got me thinkin' you won't, you got me thinkin' you might…' Hee hee hee.

Actually he didn't sing that one – it's a family show! Red Solo Cup and a stack of others though!

Cheers!

Kat xo