Last Wednesday we went and visited the Big Cedar Lodge. Very, very nice, rustic charm, gorgeous facilities. It was raining lightly but still saw some of the grounds.

We then came back into the strip and visited the Veterans Memorial Museum. Fantastic display of veterans uniforms and information about their various deployments. Quite fitting for this Memorial Day weekend (Like our ANZAC Day) honouring men and women for their service,

There are hundreds of names listed on walls throughout, of those who lost their lives fighting for country. The central hall in particular, very humbling with just a lone casket and flag. One of only a few left in the nation.

Onward through other exhibitions right up to recognition for present day military.

Spent some time down in the historic district, in and out of the shops.

Wednesday evening was for the Dixie Stampede dinner theatre show. Horses, buffalo, fantastic performers, comedy, magic, dancing, trick performers, you name it – crammed packed into one, light and music show spectacular!

Good one Dolly! (Dolly Parton owns it) beautifullY done, fantastic costumes. The building, stables and grounds are also noteworthy.

Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thursday it was out for breakfast and then went to the Titanic Museum. Couldnt take any photos inside which was a shame. This is an awesome museum put together by John Joslyn, the man who did the expedition to the final resting grounds of the Titanic in 1987.

It's two storey's of around 400 artefacts and experiences. There is the touching of the iceberg as you walk in, a model of the Titanic, a beautiful staircase like would have been on the ship and a music room honouring the musicians who all perished in the sinking tragedy.

After, we went to one of the craft mall's and then drove down to the landing to see where the Branson Belle showboat goes from.

Onto some fun/competitive putt putt golf! We played at Pirates Cove Adventure Golf. Great grounds and course, waterfalls, pirate ship and caves! Jack finished 3 shots ahead of me. He scored a hole in one but I scored a credible 3 hole in ones across the 18 holes. We had fun and plenty of laughs.

Thursday night we went to the Presley's Country Jubilee. A mixture of comedy, singing, gospel, country and bluegrass music. This family run show has been around for years and was very entertaining!

Friday we had a slow start to the morning and headed out round lunchtime, checking out some more shops, the Amish shop included.

In the evening we were on the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and exceptional entertainment while it travels on Table Rock Lake.

Entertainment included Cassandré, Rhythm (four tap dancing guys), The Showmen (excellent vocals, can sing like they came from 50yrs ago or more) and the magician Christopher James.

That, folks, wraps up our visit to Branson, Missouri. We will be back for some more fun at some stage.

On our way out of town Saturday morning we went via Butterfield Trail Cowboys and did a quick 5 stage shoot with them before heading back to a stormy and wet Oklahoma.

Ahhh, life is good.

Kat xo

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branson,_Missouri

http://www.dixiestampede.com

http://www.presleys.com

http://www.silverdollarcity.com/showboat-branson

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Last year we got a holiday package that only now have we been able to get round too due to the very busy shooting schedule!

Staying at the Radisson no less, a room with a view and shows booked in for the next couple of nights!

A relatively non shooting few days, so on the order is Veterans Memorial Museum, Titanic Museum, Auto and Farm Museum, Historic District, Craft Mall (hell yeah!), Branson Belle Showboat, Dixie Stampede dinner and show, The Presley's music and comedy show and putt putt golf!

At the moment though we are in the Time Out Lounge, yes, a bar and onto the second Blue Moon whilst enjoying the 80's music, contemplating to eat at the bistro here or walk 200 metres to another restaurant up the road…..

Kat xo

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Senior Games this year were held at Old Fort Parker, Groesbeck, TX. It's as green as green with all the rain they've had recently and after Friday's rain and side matches has quickly turned to mud in a lot of areas.

With pledge and a prayer, we commenced the main match dodging mud and puddles as best as we could.

Rain held out to humidity and partial sunshine and having completed 5 stages it was decided that there would be a mandatory lunch break and then continue with another 2 stages. Leaving only 3 for tomorrow should it rain more.

Saturday night was banquet and side match awards to which Jack and I both faired well with that! We also won a beautiful steer hide, pieced, wall hanging with a Texas star in the middle, handmade by Texas Irish Princess.

Sunday came and it was bucketing down with rain again in the early hours of the morning. After an hour delay we headed down to the range and commenced on the “drier” stages. Feet were already wet now, so by the time we got to finish “in the river” at the Corral, no one really cared that we were now ankle deep in water!

So when it all came out in the wash – Haa haa pardon the pun! – Spirit of the Game Awards were handed out, match directors and helpers recognised for their efforts and match awards given.

Jackaroo finished 3rd in Seniors, Blind Bob 2nd and I Reckon in 1st Place! For the Yusta B's (or anyone in the Senior and above category) Jackaroo finished 4th.

In the field of Wanna B's (anyone younger than Senior category) I finished 1st and 7th place overall.

Overall winners for the Wanna B's was 'You Bet' for men's and 'Kathouse Kelli' for the ladies.

Overall winners for the Yusta B's were none other than 'I Reckon' for the men's and for the ladies 'Dream Chaser'. Along with their trophies they were presented with hand carved walking sticks! 🙂

Despite the rain and many deciding to not continue on the Sunday because of the weather, Bent Barrel Betty and Kow Katcher should be congratulated on a job well done! Thanks for having us!

Cheers

Kat xo

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The 2015 Texas State Championships held in Lockhart started with beautiful sunshine and warmth. A little different to the days of rain they had the weekend before.

Agarita Ranch and the Plum Creek Cowboy Shooting Society have a beautiful range, great facades, 'working' buildings, and a saloon guest house with two rooms decked out in turn of the century furniture.

The Marshalls Office is unreal, the detail. You shoot out of part of it near the 4 bed bunk cell, in the front it's a stove, backgammon, a desk and other details.

The blacksmith with anvil on a stump out front, horse stalls inside and all.

Thursday we went for registration and side matches. There were Plainsmen and Wild Bunch matches and all the speed matches. Vendors are all set up and doing business already.

Texas Flower held a costume seminar in the afternoon and I did a brief presentation on my hats and different personas I take on for cowboy and wild bunch.

We caught up with some friends for barbecue that night at the Chisholm Trail BBQ joint across the road from the motel. Slick Dale Six-Guns (a new shooter and active serviceman) joined us with his Mum (Mom) and I guess we introduced him to some cowboy rot and Aussie nonsense! Lol!

Friday is first day of Main Match and we are on the late shift, it's rather warm and the early shift has filled the range with colour!

I went with Texas Flower to assess some of the shooting costumes and when it came time for the late shift safety briefing we were able to check out the rest of the shooters.

We have a mostly 'new' posse, we only knew Goatneck Clem and Capt Sam Evans. So our new friends were now Bronco Birnhaum, Chisos, Circuit Judge, Cowboy Small, English Bob, Farr Ranger, Jim No Horse, John Selman, Kettleman, Preacher Man Lee, Slick Dale Six-Guns and Wildcat Bob. Later, we had Colt Faro and Matt Black join us for the duration of the match.

The stages were well written, some with plenty of movement and reasonable sized targets. Good clean fun!

Saturday morning came and we headed out early for the morning shift. At the end of the day, I finished with a few misses and Jacaroo was clean!

Back out in the afternoon dressed up for a stroll down some old cowboy street, I was honoured to be part of the costume judging committee that Texas Flower had put together. Nellie Blue, Cowtown Scout (both very experienced costume judges) and myself would serve as the panel whilst Texas Flower organised, took photos and handed out numbers to the participants.

Costuming is a very important part of our sport and It was great to see a good turnout at the seminar and for the costume contest! I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it, if nothing else, to learn more from my fellow judges.

When it all came out in the wash that night, Jackaroo finished 3rd in his category and 23rd overall. Congratulations to 1st Place winner 'I Reckon', 2nd Place, 'Aberdeen', 4th Place 'Blind Bob' and 5th Place 'Verdadero Dan'.

I placed 1st in my category with fellow Lady Wranglers 2nd Place, 'Luna Blue' and no relation to 3rd Place 'Nellie Blue'!

Sunday was a gorgeous day and some of us decided to give it one last crack at playing in the man on man shoot out. I had a couple of goes with my last being against Fantom, a blistering run that ended up so close due to a hang up with his shotgun and couldn't get the reload in properly. AND Jack didn't video it.

Jack made it through to the end but was beat by Fantom, you will have to go to Facebook for that video.

The team shoot was a hoot, Jackaroo's team taking out over Oklahoma Dee's team which I was a part of. Great fun! Another great match!

Kat xo

Sorry, couple weeks late due to long days in the sweat shop! Look out for Senior Games

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Sunday afternoon following Land Run, Rooster, Constable Nelson and I headed out to the Museum to peruse the many exhibits.

The End Of Trail statue is an awesome welcome as you enter the main foyer, even though we have been before, it still takes my breath away.

At opposite ends you have the marble 'Canyon Princess' to the right wing and 'Abraham Lincoln' seated in the left wing, round towards the banquet hall.

As we had been through Prosperity Junction the last time we chose to hit the major exhibit halls of art, firearms, Indian artefacts, silver screen performers, pioneers, Cowboys, civil war etc.

Prosperity Junction in case you haven't been is a life size old western town built within the walls of the museum. Each building decked out as it would have been in the 1800's.

Our first stop after viewing the black and white photography exhibit was the art hall and quite fitting to our shoot theme for Land Run, was 'Madonna's of the Prairie'.

There were some stunning examples of women in covered wagons, Native American women and children and others by various artists but my favourite would have to be Tom Lovell's 'Target Practice'. Depicting a proud man with his wife in prairie dress and bonnet holding a rifle.

I wanted to tell her to lean into it! Constable said she must have hit the target as the man is looking pleased!

The Tom Lovell and Charlie Russell exhibits were spectacular.

Then it was on through the Indian artefacts of beautiful headdress, fanciful bead worked or embroidered clothing, gauntlet gloves and other items. Could take photos now without flash. Found some gloves for a classic cowgirl ensemble! Think I might have to make my own though.

On to the Silver Screen Performers and I love this area. I know we've mostly seen it before whether it be here or other museums but it still interests me. Robert Redfords, Nudie Cohen blinged out purple suit is like the ultimate B-Western attire! Now who needs one of those? Maybe that's what Flat Top Okie needs for the next banquet.

As we moved through we saw the barbwire and brand room. Bronco and rodeo performers, civil war and vaquero's. Have found new designs to consider for Dutch Henry and Trail Rider's suits now.

From there we went outside and wandered through the gardens and couldn't help ourselves, we had to go through the Children's Cowboy Corral which was pretty cool actually. Back outside we attempted selfies and tried to avoid the attacking goose that we had seen chasing a child just minutes before.

If you ever come visit us or go to Land Run or the Southwest Regional be sure to allow an extra day to fully view this Museum. It is one of my all time favourites.

Cheers to culture!

Kat xo

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For me it started the weekend before on the 18th and 19th. Posse 13 did the Pre Shoot in order for us to marshal the range and take care of the rest of the 331 shooters that would attend Land Run through 23rd to 25th of April.

We had some rain on our first day and light drizzle on the second day, hoping that good weather would fair well for the rest of them come the main match weekend.

Wednesday we hit the range helping with final prep and preparing the last two bays for Wild Bunch and Warm Up matches. People were starting to roll in and vendors were getting set up.

Thursday was side match day, plenty of people about and could catch up with Cowboys and Cowgirls from afar.

I went all Oklahoman Thursday! My skirt and corselet have the Oklahoma flag symbol and side panels feature the state bird, Scissortailed Flycatcher with the original state flower of Mistletoe. My top has Indian Blanket wild flowers on it.

Thursday night we enjoyed dinner with Constable Nelson, Rooster Cockburn, Singin’ Sue, Shanley Shooter, Aspen Filly and Aspen Wrangler. Lots of laughter and good fun!

Then came Friday and first day of main match!

331 shooters milled in the street for opening speeches, pledge and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. After Tonic Kids rendition there’s an eruption of cheers from the crowd. The safety meeting gets underway and then all depart to the 12 posses to start some sensational shooting.

Here’s where Jack and I departed. He went and joined Posse 7 to shoot his match while I worked.

I had worn my 1890’s wheel woman costume! Had so much fun on the revamped ‘faux antique’ bicycle. Riding up and down the range all day syncing scores into the iPad and back to the office.

The jacket came off after a couple of hours, tweed can get a little warm!

These great pics are from Sports Photography and Design – Just L and Fly.

What a laugh! That’s what ya get for drinkin’ too much sody pop!

So weather was overcast but clear for Friday. Had a late brief storm that evening.

Saturday morning it was all sunshine and what a glorious day for finishing up the main match.

The below photo courtesy of Singin’ Sue.

The day finished well with many passing comments about a great match and thanks for all the work. Match Director, Missouri Mae, along with the Territorial Marshal’s put on a fantastic shoot once again.

It was time to see how everything ended up for all of us and we were off to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for the banquet and awards.

Love this Museum and it’s very fitting to have a bunch of Cowboys dressed up in their finest town clothes and ladies in Victorian gowns and saloon attire.

Missouri Mae and I, caught with drinks in hand. My beer bottle is behind my back hee hee hee. 🙂

Once the doors opened it was into taking names and numbers for those entering the costume contest. My three lovely judges would be Constable Nelson, Aspen Filly and Marley Belle, who carried out a difficult and superb job.

Best Dressed Man went to Sgt Stro Dog, Best Dressed Lady to Alice Grierson, Best Dressed Couple was Omaha John and Complicated Lady, Best Dressed Young Woman to Add E Starr, Cowgirl Shooter was Sly Puppy and Cowboy Shooter was Rowdy Buckshot. Congratulations to all 27 Best Dressed competitors though.

Raffles were done, with 20 guns given away this year and some other wonderful prizes.

Forty shooters received clean match awards including my friend and new fellow Lady Wrangler competitor, Belle Vaquera.

Jack after having a not so good match finished 4th in Senior category and 57th overall. He says he can’t shoot without me anymore.

Congratulations to Shootin’ Newton 6th, Redleg Reilly 5th, Snake Oil George 3rd, Aberdeen 2nd and 1st Place winner for 2015, Naildriver.

Kat finished well, winning Speed Rifle, 1st in Traditional Wild Bunch and for main match 1st in Lady Wrangler category. 2nd lady and placing 23rd overall.

Congratulations to 2nd place Cheek A Bow Wow, 3rd Beans Haney and Belle Vaquera 4th.

Our very good friends and guests from Australia also placed in their categories, with Constable Nelson taking 2nd Place in 49ers and 5th overall! Rooster Cockburn 4th in Elder Statesman and 53rd overall.

This years overall winners were none other than my good friend, Match Director and fellow Territorial Marshal, Missouri Mae for the Ladies and Arkansas friend CS Brady took top honours for the Men’s.

Congratulations Missouri Mae and CS Brady!

Another awesome match.

Cheers

Kat xo

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

http://nationalcowboymuseum.org

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Hosted by the Texican Rangers, Comancheria Days is in its 20th year! Held each year at Stieler Ranch, in the Texas hill country of Fredericksburg.

This year April 9-12 they held their shoot and named it “Shots From The Past”. Each stage was adapted from shoots in years past. Very cleverly done.

Match Director, Shooting Iron Miller with her Assistant Match Director, Culebra Blaze (along with the other Texican Rangers) put on an awesome match. The hospitality and extra entertainment were excellent.

Wild Bunch and side matches were great on the Thursday.

Friday saw us with a rain delay but the show got underway an hour later and it pretty well held out for all to shoot.

Saturday had an early morning storm and just fog. It got done without a hitch.

On Friday the afternoon 'sideshow' was Pistol Packin' Paula. A little gun twirling, whip cracking, bundle of energy. She put on a great show! We were also entertained by Cowboy Poet, Walt Perryman and side match awards handed out.

With Fajitas from the chuck wagon and some sunshine, this made for an enjoyable Friday evening.

Saturday afternoon show was Kevin Fitzpatrick, Trick Roper, also entertaining with his trusty steed.

Saturday evening it was down to brass tacks, a great roast dinner, costume and final category awards.

Helped Squawty Bawdy and Shotglass with the stretch raffle!

Jackaroo finished 1st in Senior category and an excellent placing of 4th out of 200 odd shooters.

I finished 1st Lady Overall and Lady Wrangler, placing 12th. Picked up the Soiled Dove contest and a few side matches as well.

The overall winners Kathouse Kelli and Copperhead James were presented with the trophies by none other than Tex and Cat Ballou.

Sunday morning we headed out to the range to have a go at the man on man, all plate rack challenge with reloads on pistol if you missed and rifle if you missed. I ended up against Jack and ahead by 1 on rifle until one didn't go off. He finished off going against Skyhawk but Skyhawk got him!

A great match, a great range and wonderful people.

Kat xo

P.S. Stieler Ranch and Becky Patterson (descendent of Stieler) deserve a mention and huge thank you for hosting all the Cowboys and Cowgirls for the past 20years.

“Stieler Ranch was established in the late 1800's by Adolph Stieler on one of the highest hills in Kerr County. Goats were the primary livestock ranches by the German settlers and with over 60,000 goats grazing on several ranches, Adolph Stieler was proclaimed “King of the Goats” in 1945 by Life magazine.

Though Adolf Stieler is gone, his descendants still live on the ranch and cattle and Cowboys have replaced the goats.” Excerpt from the shoot book.

http://texicanrangers.org/comancheria-days/

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Now there could be 101 good uses for Double Chocolate Vodka so far I'm up to 2!!

1. Pour carefully one shot of Double Chocolate Vodka from pre-chilled bottle. Directly consume, either by sippin' or throwin' it back! This is the preferred method. Repeat if necessary.

2. Pour one shot of Double Chocolate Vodka and with rag and a bit of elbow grease remove masking tape residue from rubber grips on bike handles.

Whaaaatt?! I hear you ask?

Story goes a little something like this.

Dare to be different she says. Why yes I think I will. Make a bicycle costume and procure bike. Done. (Think we covered this in the past.)

Give Jack a project to strip bike down, clean up – although he made me pick off the stickers 'cause he just wanted to paint over them! Paint her up in black and give chrome a new lease of life. Chrome in a can (aka silver paint).

Then new tubes and she's ready to roll. I left the front guard off because they only had one on the rear in 1890's and so became my faux antique bicycle for the liberated wheel woman of the day.

HOWEVER, and this is where we get back to the vodka bit, the tape he had used for masking off the rubber grips on the handlebars are now left with a considerable amount of sticky residue.

So research on the internet tells me rubbing alcohol or vodka for removal without ruining the rubber.

Easy!

It's a little early in the day to be doing a, one shot for me, one for the bike, scenario – I resisted well! And so I set out to try this theory and folks I can tell you now it works!

They are all cleaned up good now ready for my grand debut on Friday at Land Run, watch out for the crazy woman in tweed.

Though my handlebar grips may not look like chocolate, THAT'S how you get the “Best Smellin' Handlebars In The West“!

Cheers! (It's noon, so final clean up might require a shot for me)

Kat xo

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An early morning with a beautiful sunrise against the Oklahoma City skyline.

Pink and orange hues dancing across the windows of multi story buildings as we travel down the interstate.

Picture turned out blurry. 😦 It looked so good!

A 9 hour drive, we are heading down to Fredericksburg, Texas. The next few days will be spent at Comancheria Days.

It's a little grey coming into Texas but don't be fooled it's 80F/27C and muggy as hell.

I finished all car projects, did computer work and cleaned out 10,000 odd photos and videos – about a year and a halfs worth. I'd already deleted the previous 2 years after transferring them to the external hard drive!!

Searching for something to do……nup, got nothin'. Take up singing, eating grapes and maybe it's time for a nap? Or not! In amongst the Country music, we get Meghan Trainor, Kaitlin's old Nightwish and Him songs, mixed in with Saddle Tramps, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis and the odd 150bpm workout remix! A very eclectic mix indeed.

We passed through Fort Worth, Waco (quick stop at Cabelas), Austin and down the 290 thru Johnson City – blue bonnets, indian blanket ( and another little orange flower can't remember the name of) are flowering in abundance!

Lady Bird Johnsons's favourite thing to do was wander through all the native flowers on their property here. We visited the 'Texas White House', LBJ's ranch now a State Park and museum. When we visited in 2012 they had redone the kitchen back to 60's decor if I'm correct and were planning other restoration works.

See you in Fredericksburg hill country, home of German heritage, winery's, pecans and peach orchards.

Kat xo

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