Tag Archives: big kids at heart

End of Trail – Part 2

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Its now Thursday night and should be catching some zz’s as tomorrow we have the early start!

However, let me quickly catch you up.

Yesterday, Wednesday – Started out the morning with the Doily Gang Clinic, instructors this year, Shamrock Sadie, Lefty Jo, Honey B Quick, Iron Maiden, Sassy Dancer, Cooncan and myself Kathouse Kelli.

Was a great clinic, we had 2 shooters each to offer transition tips for pistols and more with long guns as well. Shot a couple of stages for critiquing and all in all, think they were all pretty happy to say the least when we were done. Thank you ladies for coming and glad we can offer something back to the sport for all.

Yeehaa ladies! Hope you are having great match’s!

From there it was grab some pictures of stages ready for main match. Go take a few runs at speed events. Pearl Starr and I then spent a couple hours in the LOCAS tent and in the down time helped Shamrock Sadie with a ‘craft task’ for later in the week.

Open ceremonies were held late in the afternoon. Alvira Sullivan Earp carried the flag for Australia! Legendary Lawman for Canada. Bloody Mary for Denmark. Chrissy Carson for Netherlands. The Kiwi Kid for New Zealand and in his uniform for the United States of America, Cash Cassidy.

With the anthem sung, the Wild Bunch, Match Directors, 111 first time attendees recognised it was on to the announcement of new Regulators. The 2018 Class of Regulators included many great recipients with none other than my very own Jackaroo!! Way to go man.

Two more from Australia – RC Shot, Mrs H, our Oklahoma friends – Flat Top Okie, Missouri Mae, Dutch friends – Dutch Bear, Justice Anne, Texas sweetheart – Sopapilla Sue and many more!! Congratulations to you all!

As the beer flowed, the Margarita party started at Hot Tamale’s and then it was time for sleep as Main Match was due to start today.

Now we arrive into today, Thursday – First day of main match. Jack and I are in Posse 21 with Red Haymaker our illustrious posse leader, Pepper Shot, C N Double, Captain Clark, Cowboy Jon, Deadly Don, Estancia Kid, Fast Fingers, Garrison Joe, Gilly Boy Hellbender, Huachuca Slim, James Colt, Lil Rob, Longcolt, Mick E Mouse, Old Frenchy, Sharpeye, Sunshine Belle, Jackaroo and myself. A big thanks to Nacho Momma for keeping score for all of us!

Four stages on the mid wave – 9, 10, 11, 12 were shot today with some degree of difficulty and success, blue skies, sunshine and a hell of a lot of New Mexico dust! Once we finished we shot the Posse shoot and we have a pretty good running time for that at the moment!

With weary feet, smiles as wide as you can get, we head to have lunch then back to the Motel for rest, relaxation and cleaning dust out of guns, nose etc. Haa haa haa

Coupled with a chat with Clancy, the occasional beer and a bit of hand sewing to finalise costume it is now getting late. Oh and a bit of cream puff for dessert. (groan after creammmmmm)

Charlies Spic n Span, Las Vegas NM ultra large mega cream puffs!

It is time to hit the hay, for the posse rides early in the morning with first shots down range at 7.30am.

Night peeps! Here’s to another awesome day tomorrow. Make it count! We are all still in the game! It ain’t over, til it’s over!

Hugs

Kat xo

Durango – Moriarty

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We left Colorado yesterday morning to the haunting sounds of a steam train whistle.

Heading along highways, through small towns and crossing the Animas River more than once, the landscape has again changed to a somewhat green desert. A lot greener than we have seen in the past.

It seemed fitting when passing through Bernalillo to snap this shot of the street sign!

For now we are in New Mexico and it’s time to get set for the World Championships!

Gather your posse and see you on the range!

Kat xo

Siege of San Juan

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Day 1 of the Siege/Colorado State Championships kicked off this morning with the pledge, prayer and the firing of a bowling ball out of a canon. You can’t even see the ball when its in the air if you don’t pay close attention to the trajectory of it!

The skies are blue, the wind is light and we are ready for 6 stages. You need to aim! These targets are smaller and a little further out there.

Suffice to say it wasn’t exactly the greatest of days but I had some really awesome rifle runs! (Always take away the positive!)

We have a great posse with Babe Ruthless and Union Jack (our gracious hosts for the weekend), Burgundy Ballou and Ric-A-D-Split, Bijou Blade and Tolinka, Sixgun Louie, Sam Balin, Section Hand, Rufus Thornton, Lucy Trigger, Gateway Kid and of course Jackaroo and myself rounding out Posse 7.

There is lots of movement on these stages and a few you really need to think about but all in all they are good. Everyone is in the same boat!

Sixth stage done and its time to pack up, have lunch and socialize with others hearing their triumphs and woes of the day.

Bring it on tomorrow for the final 6 stages!!

Kat xo

32 States

Posted on by kathousekelli70

In the past 5 years, together Jack and I have hit 32 of the United States!

Found these magnets today at Monarch Pass, no 🙄 I don’t know why we have never bought them before!

Any who, I am missing Utah!!! Eyes peeled! Need to find that one and we still have more states to visit!

Kat xo

Onto Montrose

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We left Pueblo this morning and hit the road again to Montrose.

As we climb into Cañon City we were kicking ourselves for not bringing our rafting shoes. Having already bought new runners in OK the old ones have been ditched already, again kicking ourselves for not thinking of it earlier and could have worn them.

Maybe we will try one of the zip line’s this time in Royal Gorge!

The Fourteeners (Colorado series of mountains above 14,000ft) are displaying small dustings of snow still and everything is green and gorgeous this time of year.

It never gets old driving through here!

Through the gorges at around 6,000ft (elev.) we pass rafters, rock climbers and beautiful scenery as we head into Salida.

Another quaint little downtown historic district where white tail deer roam the streets….

…..and old buildings wear gorgeous ghost murals old and new! There are more brew houses than coffee shops and it’s the wrong time of the day for beer tasting.

The temperature is perfect and the weather today is just stunning.

Monarch Pass at a summit of 11,312ft, temperature has dropped to 51F, I seem to recall last time we stopped here it wasn’t as clear and a little cooler than today!

We cross the Continental Divide and make our way down the other side of the pass with coffee and views of pines, snow, sunshine, a chipmunk!! and freakin’ roads with little or no barriers!

From Gunnison we keep on to Cimarron and finally into Montrose.

Side matches start tomorrow!

Kat xo

Trippin’!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Yes folks it’s that time again where we get to go play on the other side of the world.

Only for a short stint now as this past crazy 6 months Jack and I have settled back into reality here.

Things have been quite on here but hectic nonetheless and will do some more blogs of costuming in the next day or so.

Today we head for Newcastle, bags packed and surprise surprise all under weight!!?? Yippee! More room to bring stuff back!

We fly out of Sydney tomorrow and head for the next adventure. Stay tuned!

Love and hugs to you all!

Kat xo

Do you have a cowboy in your room?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Having nightmares or dreams? Been woken by a random cowboy standing by your bed?

My eldest sent me this just now. 😂😂

I love it when my kids send me random things pertaining to the old west and cowboy times.

Now let’s go find Rex and have yippee-ki-yay kind of day!

Kat xo

Sunday Sightseeing

Posted on by kathousekelli70

As we left Mean Mongrel Matt, Sassy Belle and Broken Spur to enjoy the rest of their weekend, Jack and I took a Left out of town and headed for the hills.

Well, hills being the Blue Mountains area; Lithgow, Katoomba, Laura, Wentworth Falls, Glenbrook, then down into the Sydney greater region heading North then to Newcastle.

The Blue Mountains

Aptly named for its haze, a mixture of fine drops of eucalyptus oil (given off from the Eucalyptus trees) dust particles, water vapor and that little thing called light waves cause this beautiful blue hue to the mountains.

The Blue Mountains were inhabited by aboriginal tribes when the First Fleet landed. First Governor of NSW, Arthur Phillip had seen these tremendous ranges from a ridge at Castle Hill some 40-60miles East of them. He had named them Camarthen Hills and thought them to be worthy of government stock.

In 1799 it was the place Gidley King established a town for political prisoners from Ireland and Scotland.

The name was first documented in Captain John Hunters account of Phillip’s expedition up the Hawkes yet River in 1789.

There is a whole other story about who passed over them first and when and the explorers who are actually noted for gaining passage through here but I’m not going into that today.

Suffice to say at its highest point at Mount Werong is 1215m/3986ft above sea level and it’s lowest point on the Nepean River at just 20m/66ft.

It is home to such beauties as;

The Three Sisters

A quick stop at Echo Point to get our own snaps at The Three Sisters.

Coffee with a view.

Jenolan Caves

And Wentworth Falls

Poets, artists, sculptors and lovers of nature have frequented the Blue Mountains region for years. One of the most notable and one of my favourites – Norman Lindsay.

http://www.normanlindsay.com.au/

So as we continued to wind through the eucalypts, past car shows, reminiscing about visits to the caves, galleries and sights; we eventually came out on the flat plains into Penrith, heading towards the outskirts of Sydney and onto Newcastle.

spectacular, spectacular!

Kat xo

Bathurst, NSW

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Not Barth-hirst it’s pronounced Bath-urst, think bat add the ‘h’ and urst on the end.

Bathurst, the next stop on the road is the oldest inland settlement in Australia and has around 35,000 people living in it.

Bathurst was established in 1814 and was site of the first gold discovery and where the first gold rush occurred in Australia.

In the early years of settlement, Bathurst was a base for explorers headed inland.

In 1823, flecks of gold were found in Fish River and later ‘payable’ gold was found in 1851 at Ophir and Hill End.

Here’s some trivia for you on the gold mining front!! Hill End’s claim to fame is the Holtermann Specimen (correctly the Beyers Holtermann Specimen) found on 20th of October 1871, it is the largest single mass of gold ever discovered in the world and still retains that record today.

Bernhardt Holtermann and the gold Specimen.

BUT! We are driving and almost anybody knows (especially in motor racing) that Bathurst is home to Mount Panorama, hosting the Bathurst 1000 and Bathurst 12 Hour motor races!

The track is 4 miles/ 6.213km in length, is technically a street circuit and is actually a public road.

Historically the circuit saw motorcycles and open wheel car races but times have changed, safety restrictions tighter and now only closed-bodied cars can be raced on the track.

In 1992, Jack was a driver in the Under 2litre Sports Sedans and has raced on this very track!! (I’ll post a picture of his car later)

So of course – as one does – and now we have a manual car – he had to drive the track, ride the curbing, touch the wall (I exaggerate here), and give a running commentary on gear change, speed and who overtook him where! 😂😂🏎🏆

Mount Panorama offers a great experience and spectacular view, and maybe just the occasional wallaby sitting in the paddock.

On to Mean Mongrel Matt and Sassy’s for a visit.

Start your engines, open the throttle and let ‘er rip!!

Kat xo

Happy New Year!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Jack, myself and Clancy got settled into an evening of drinks, music, swimming, snacks and dinner.

Joe (the house sit pup) was doing laps around the yard and waiting patiently for his snacks and dinner.

As the mozzie coil burns, the candle glows and the sound of some bit too close for comfort cane toads make their bullfrog noises, Jack and I would like to wish all our family near and far, cowboys, cowgirls and friends a very Happy New Year to you all across the world! May your year be full of good intentions, goals to be achieved and much much more.

love and hugs for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Jack and Kat xoxo