Bullets and Rails 2018

Posted on November 4, 2018 by kathousekelli70

The Plum Creek Shooting Society hosted the Battle of Plum Creek – Bullets and Rails 2018 this weekend at the Comanche Country Ranch owned by landowners Lyman and Nancy who have kept it running as an outstanding cowboy range facility.

This year the shoot is based on famous train scenes in western movies with even a silent movie start in the Livery.

After much rain in previous weeks, it appears the range has been mostly spared and the ground is soft under foot but not boggy.

Day 1 was Wild Bunch and side matches which went off in fine sunny weather.

Day 2 rolls around with a clear cool start and more sunshine expected to continue. The mornings proceedings start with welcomes, pledge of allegiance, pledge to Texas, prayers and 'Patience'. Patience is a cannon but I couldn't tell you the details of her magnificence but if you asked her caretaker, Artiman, I bet you he could tell you more than a story or two.

Under the intricate instruction of Artimans artillery commands he and his fellow cowboys, come recruits get Patience ready for action. (You have to go to the Facebook page to see her in action). Now ready for firing, me holding iPad to video, I realise I don't have earplugs and only the capability to plug one ear hole, well….you can see by the video, that I still was not expecting the result! My ears were ringing for a good while!

We all moved off to our respective start stages for Day 1 of the Main Match and commenced stages 2-7 with our posse of Texas Ghost, Lady Ghost, Oklahoma Dee, Kansas City Sneed, Lefty Wheeler, Krazy Legs Kay, Texas Drifter, Chisos, Red River Raider (and the ever spectacularly dressed Petticoat Parker), G W Ketchum (thanks Suzie for keeping score all weekend), Six Goin South, Kickshot, Jack and myself.

Last night was the banquet and I assisted Six Goin South and Lorilei Longshot with a costume contest in the Parlour House Reception whilst men gathered in the Saloon next door. Congratulations to all who attended and placed.

Side match awards were given. A neat train whistle, theme appropriate for the shoot. I walked away with 4 so I may share with Jack if he wants to play trains! Haa haa haa!

Thanks Lyman for putting together your band and playing too. Music was great!!

Day 2 of the Main Match and we are set to finish stages 8, 9, 10 and 1. We had thunderstorms last night and the range has seen a massive downpour that has created better environments for pigs! Lol!

It is boggy as but the match officials are hurriedly running around clearing water and laying bags of sawdust as best they can, After a delay, we started at 9.15am to finish the match.

Lunch was on – fajitas – and might I just say the lunches and dinner the crew put on the whole weekend was outstanding especially lunch today. Awesome job and it was very much appreciated.

Awards got under way and the prizes were railroad spikes. Not just any old railway spikes I might add, these are the real deal. Actual 1800's railway spikes from Texas railroads.

Joe Darter gave a little trivia behind them before they started the awards. He 'acquired' these from somebody he knew that had connections. All the spikes are uniquely marked and highly collectible. The makers of the spikes would mark their initials or other carvings into them. If you were injured during other railway work back then, you usually ended up with one of these jobs also. All these spikes are marked, engraved with the shoot name and some with Champion on them.

Special awards made by Two Spurs and in keeping with the railway theme were given to our, shall we say, more mature cowboy and cowgirl at the match. Cherokee Clay and Lady Ghost received these awards for 'Most Train Rides'. Such a neat idea.

Jack with a jam in his rifle today finished 3rd in Elder Statesman. Congratulations 1st Skyhawk Hans, 2nd Wildcat Bob, 4th Dusty Mines, 5th Lefty Wheeler, 6th Little Bowley, 7th Ranger Tay.

Congratulations to my fellow Lady Wrangler shooter in 2nd place, Krazy Kat.

There were 16 clean match winners from 203 shooters for the match. I had a clean match!

Congratulations to Oklahoma Dee 1st man overall and I won ladies overall AND finished 2nd place in the match right behind him!

Thanks to all the crew at Plum Creek Shooting Society once again for a great match.

Kat xo

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Stampede At South River

Posted on May 20, 2018 by kathousekelli70

This year The South River Shootists hosted the 2018 SASS Georgia State Championship – Rooster Cogburn and the Lady.

The South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia is a fabulous facility for multiple shooting sports, a club house and great amenities. It was nice to meet Len (president of the club) and Dun Gamblin' as they roamed the range during the weekend.

The cowboy range is spectacular. Tree lined berms, shade structures, umbrellas on unloading tables, shade over loading tables. The facades were all done with Rooster and Eula, throw in the odd horse, nitro box, wagon etc. Every range has fine gravel base and the paths down to the ranges are all asphalt making for a pleasant guncart expedition.

The weather cooperated (who'd have thought!?!?) and other than a fine misty shower or two it held out for the whole match!!

Thursday we shot 4 stages of Wild Bunch Posse'd with Cardboard Cowboy, Foxy Filly, Bo Dacious, Doc Kemm, Doc Who, Knot Hardly Dunn, Shamrock Sadie, Three Gun Lady, Silver Pistols, Slippery Stew, Doc Southerly, Kontankerous Tee, Rolan Kraps, and Schofield Twin. We then went our separate ways with Jack doing 6 stages of Black Powder while I spent the afternoon doing warm up stages. A big thank you to Reno Mustang and Dodge City Dixie for letting me rest my guns in your guncart!

That night Georgia Gypsy and Pale Ale Rider invited us into their home. Along with some other cowboy's and cowgirl's we enjoyed some great German food by Chef Gypsy. (she is an actual chef!) We thank you both for your fabulous hospitality.

Friday and we are into the main match with 6 stages today followed up with ice cream social, couples and team shoot. A great day, a few fumbles, a miss for each of us but tomorrow's another day as we say. Great Posse, everyone worked, some newer shooters as well – Jack and I, Shamrock Sadie, Knot Hardly Dunn, Double Tap, No Limit, Mt Zion Gypsie, Mt Zion Yellowboy, Maverick Fitzpatrick, Tucker T Fudpucker, Fancy Fillie, Buckshot Collins, Hambone Hannah, Doc Kemm, Doc Who, Dollar Down, Gatlin Glennie and Ranger Law.

Saturday comes around and we have the final 4 to do. With that out of the way we had lunch and headed down for the shoot off. An 'anyone can enter' shoot off, Shamrock Sadie and I decided to join the Open category ie: we shot wih the men and if we both hadn't fumbled with shotgun reloads we would have made it past our first rounds!

Good fun and it freed up the other ladies to enjoy a shootout. Congratulations to Sue Render and Red River Ray for winning the shootout!!

Back to the motel and it's time to get ready for the banquet and awards. The banquet was held at the Georgia International Horsepark in the Carriage Room. What a beautiful facility with a gorgeous rose garden, bridge, pond and a summer house/pergola – perfect for the LOCAS picture.

Had the opportunity to enter the costume contest this time wearing my silver and purple saloon outfit I won first place. Congratulations to all the other winners and spectacular costumes!

The banquet had a full service bar and staff attending to a beautiful buffet dinner. The food was amazing.

Into the awards and the match hosts certainly go all out with their awards, prize draws etc. Jack and I won the couples shoot. A buckle with a timber insert laser engraved with the logo etc.

Wild Bunch – I managed a clean match and was the only one who did. haa haa haa cracked me up! So a neat clean match pin, I won Ladies Traditional and Ladies Overall. Jack won Senior Modern, well done man!

Black Powder – Jack's rifle played up on the final stage of Wild Bunch which turned out to being a lost firing pin. He went to use the rifle on his first stage of the Black Powder match (thankfully rifle was first) and it wouldn't do anything. Believe it or not he found the pin up on the stage where he last shot for Wild Bunch too. As is the cowboy way, another shooter then says 'here, use mine, here is some ammo' and Jack is able to continue to shoot. Thank you Palmetto Traveller for loaning Jack your rifle. Jack placed 3rd in Senior.

Main Match – Jack finished a credible 2nd place in Senior category! Congratulations to Double Nickle 1st place, Mustang Dave 3rd place, Rooster Ray 4th place and Georgia State Champion and 5th place, Dungannon Gunner! Congrats gents.

I won Lady Wrangler with congratulations going to Georgia State Champion and 2nd Place Dixie Pistols, 3rd place Alchemist Belle, 4th place Cotton Tail, 5th place Pinky Pistols! Congrats ladies.

Congratulations to Georgia State overall men's Christian Mortician and Maggie Darlin' over all ladies. Christian Mortician and myself men's and ladies overall match champions!

The Top 20 also received a pin – for me, 14th overall.

Thank you again to all involved with the match, volunteers, sponsors to the match, etc. Stampede at South River was a great match and I would recommend it to anyone! It's a must do match!

Kat xo

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Land Run 2018

Posted on April 23, 2018 by kathousekelli70

When we first visited Oklahoma for Land Run back in 2012, we found it to be one of the best matches we had ever been to. We met many amazing, funny and wonderful people, knowing from the start that it was something special.

This year Land Run had its 25th Anniversary combined with the SASS SW Regional (previously Red Dirt Rampage) with one enormous effort by many of the Territorial Marshal's. It is the third largest cowboy match in the US behind End of Trail (World Championships) and Winter Range (USA National Championship).

With 408 shooters from 22 states put into two shooting waves, 10 stages were quickly completed across 2 days.

Thursday was side match day with everything from Wild Bunch, Warm-Up, Long Range, Cowboy Clays, speed pistol/rifle/shotgun/derringer/pocket pistol/duelist/gunfighter and .22 rifle/pistol. It was a feast for play, practice and testing of guns with your first run counting for time. Congratulations to all side match winners!!!

Friday was the start of Main Match and we were met with cool clear skies and sunshine. Eventually we could leave the coat off and enjoy some warmth and less wind.

We were with Posse 18 headed up by Posse Marshal, Cooncan. Jack was a Deputy, as was John Bear and the rest made up of myself, Bertie Winchester, Hicock Holly, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Renegade Roper, Sixgun Schwaby, Coyote Cole, Loose Cannon, Grady County Kid, Road Runner, Fannie Kicker, Titus A. Gnatsass, Doc Hurd, Silver, Kent and Fort Worth Dallas.

Five stages – 8 The Church, 9 Stagecoach, 10 The Range, back to 6 Fort Courage, 7 OKc Corral. Fun, quick and varying.

Friday evening ended with an 'all in' shootout. I chose not to enter this year but set to cheer on the fellow lady shooters, opting to spot with Jack and Hurricane Deck for each shooter on the north end. Four ladies and 29 men participated with the winners being 'Ima Quickshot' and 'Matt Black'.

This was followed up with a dinner in the pavilion catered by John Elder's restaurants. No one went hungry and it was efficiently done.

I was introduced to chocolate cake shots too – thanks Complicated Lady!! Yum!

Late that evening (as was expected) it started to rain and Saturday we all awoke to a very, very, wet and gloomy looking morning. Cowboy up we did and headed out to complete the final 5 stages. Hand warmers, coats, scarves, slickers, umbrellas, towels, everyone scrambling for what bit of cover there was.

The final five – 3 Mercantile, 4 The Mine, 5 Livery, 1 The Depot, 2 Saloon

Done and dusted! A clean match for me and Jack a few misses, it was up to the scoring system now to see how we faired against a tough pack of players.

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is the famed setting for Land Run banquets and you couldn't find anything more appropriate for a bunch of cowboy's and cowgirl's. Served meals and waited tables it certainly is in a class of its own and pleasantly surprised a number of new Land Run attendees.

The costume contest ran well and whilst I registered and encouraged entrants, my judge's for this year – Cheeka Bow Wow, Two Gun Johnnie, Shotglass and Tacky Jackie did an exceptional job of getting everyone through and we were all sitting down to hot meals with other halves and friends. I sincerely thank you all again for giving your time to do this.

There were many great costumes and some very excited winners in the categories of Couple, Men's, Ladies, Young Man, Young Lady, Military, Silver Screen and Soiled Dove. Congratulations one and all!

The presentations went off without a hitch as Flat Top Okie does an exceptional job of delivery and keeping to time. Everyone's friends and match photographers, Fly and Just L, chipped in for a raffle of a beautiful cowboy quilt Mean Mary had made. Grizzly Dave won it and promptly donated back for auction. On top of the original $3075 raised, an additional $800 by the generosity of Tacky Jackie and Bois D'Arc who then also gave the quilt to Just L and $500 from a rifle Mean Mary won and donated back for auction. Gorgeous people, all of them and that will go a long way to Just L's continued medical expenses.

In the Silver Senior category Jack finished 5th alongside Don Jorge taking 1st place, congratulations sir!, Aberdeen 2nd and SW Regional champion, congratulations to you sir also!, 3rd Greasy Creek Slim, 4th Lefty Wheeler, 6th G.W. Ketchum and 7th Creek. Congratulations gents!

Jack also came 2nd place in the Best Dressed Men's category wearing his 1890's sack suit!

Out of all the shooters there were only 54 clean shooters which goes to show the conditions on the second day probably had a lot to do with that.

In the Lady Wrangler category, 1st was myself alongside 2nd place Renegade Roper, 3rd Calamity Di Bar and 4th Cheeka Bow Wow. Congrats ladies!

I accomplished an overall ladies win for the Regional this year and with a clean match, finished 14th overall! Matt Black won the men's overall, congratulations!

To all that placed in their categories, won side matches, clean matches, won guns etc (thank you Bond Arms for the .45 derringer) a hearty round of applause to one and all.

To the Territorial Marshal's, Match Director's – Missouri Mae and Flat Top Okie and all the other Marshal's for your assistance during the past week and weekend, without you all, this shoot would not run like the well oiled machine that it is.

Looking forward to next year and if you've never been here to Land Run, get it on your calendar or bucket list!!

See you on the range somewhere.

Kat xo

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Comancheria Days

Posted on April 15, 2018 by kathousekelli70

What a sensational weekend with the Texican Rangers for Comancheria Days 2018, Texas State Championships.

Thursday was met with fine and glorious weather. We shot 4 stages of Wild Bunch and then cowboy side matches including the ever entertaining 'Blazing Saddles'.

Jack finished 8th overall in Wild Bunch and I was 15th overall.

Friday we were on the late shift and the weather again proved to be fairly warm with a moderate breeze. Shooting stages 7, 8, 9, 10, then 6. It was all over and both Jack and I had finished clean for the day.

Catch ups, drinks and eating BBQ dinner at the range that night with side matches. It was still quite warm and there was a good turn out.

I won a few side matches and decided that even sharing with Jack, I didn't need all the cups I won. My new little mate, Givem Hale was going to get one when I saw him Saturday. That kid just pulled at my heart strings for sure!

Our shooters on Posse 14, made up of none other than Tex, Cat Ballou, Chee-ee, Toothache, Texas Mac, Texas Flower, Brett Cantrell, Wild Sage, Ramblin Rose, Mad Dog Too, Ranger Tays, Abilene, Little Bowly, our Posse Marshal – Bootstrap Richard, Mysterious Mc Rae, my new little gem – Givem Hale, Jackaroo and myself. Thanks to Mindy (Givem's Mom) for keeping score for us all weekend!

At times I have attracted 'small gems' as I like to phrase it and Friday when I heard this sweet little voice ask Tex (and you really couldn't get any better than one of the youngest asking one of the founding SASS members!!!!) 'is this Posse 14 sir?' And Tex obliging in telling him it was and if sure was to be on it then he had found the right place. To which an answer of 'yes sir I am' followed.

My head spun and my heart did a backflip when I heard it and I headed over to say hello and find out just how old this little man was. He is 8! Givem Hale is his alias, I love it! and all the while we spoke he had his hat off across his chest and it was yes ma'am, no ma'am, pleased to meet you and all. That kid had me wrapped around his little finger straight away. ❤

I went back and told Jack how sweet he was and headed straight back over to give him an Australian hat pin, his first on his new hat. Might I add right now, Givem has only been shooting for 4 and a half weeks and I think everyone on our posse was amazed at how this young man was shooting his .32 pistols, a .22 rifle and ….. Wait for it…. A 20 gauge single shot shotgun. We were all in awe!

We were into it on Day 2, with a stiff cool 20mph wind hitch seemed to get colder as we progressed through stages 2, 3, 4, 5 and back to 1 before the sun decided to come out and stay out. However, we were much better off (extremely!) than those that decided to attend the Nebraska State match!

Jack had a few unfortunate events during this half of the match and I finished strong with a clean match. It was now up to score tally's to see where we placed overall.

The banquet was held at the Lady Bird Johnson Pavillion, costume contests were held and awards presented. Congratulations to all who entered and those who placed, there were some great costumes and many good stories. (I'm still giggling about Scarlett Mascara and Rhett Valet!! Very clever Hawkshaw Fred and Annie D Vine with your skit!)

It was on to prize drawings, giveaways and awards! To everyone that participated I hope it was the match you were wanting and you finished well.

Jack finished 6th in his category, congratulations to his fellow Silver Senior competitors, 9th , 8th , 7th , 5th , 4th , 3rd , 2nd and in 1st place and the 2018 Texas State Champion – Aberdeen.

Congratulations to all my fellow Lady Wrangler competitors. In 4th Okie Fenokie, 3rd and the 2018 Texas State Champion is One Chance Fancy, 2nd Misty Moonshine and 1st was myself.

I finished 1st lady overall and 6th overall from 318 shooters. Was very happily surprised to hear my name in the top 10!

Jack was also awarded 1st overall out of state champion at 36th place, so he was pretty pleased that we were able to have a photo together.

Congratulations to the 2018 Texas State Champion's – 1st overall men's Matt Black and for the ladies Panhandle Cowgirl.

A huge thank you to the Texican Rangers for hosting another fabulous Comancheria Days!

Kat xo

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Gunfight in Dixie XV

Posted on November 10, 2017 by kathousekelli70

Welcome to the corral, cowboy's, cowgirl's, rustler's, hustler's, one and all.

It is Gunfight In Dixie XV, the SASS SE Regional hosted by the Memphis Gunslingers in Lakeland, TN.

Yesterday, Thursday, was side match day which started off with a Doily Gang Clinic with Shamrock Sadie, Honey B Quick, Dodge City Dixie and myself teaching ladies some transitions with their guns, discussing various styles and critiquing a couple of stages with them. (Photo courtesy of Doily Gang FB page)

In the mean time, Jack shot Wild Bunch and then if you got a quick chance, side matches were on or lunch – what's it gonna be? – lunch was the go before we did the afternoon warm up.

Today was the first day of main match and the weather is again cool, clear, sunshine. Hand warmers, gloves, coats are a must! Five stages done for the day and we are both clean!

The stages are great, fair amount of movement, great sequences, good mix of single tap and multi tap varieties! We have a great posse (go Posse 7!) and everything is running smoothly. Jack is Posse Marshal, I am Deputy and we are running with great folks – Belle Vaquera, Billy Broncstomper, Agarita Annie, Neuces Slim, Pale Ale Rider, Georgia Gypsy (not shooting this match but she is kindly doing scoring for us), Fire n Fallback, Cleve, Let's Go, Bill Carson, Dr Slick, Slick's Sharpshooter, Prestidigitator, Ben T Iron, Ara Tiest, C Beaux, JD Bullett, Larry Earp, Little Joe Dalton, Valrico Kid, and Tuco Forsyth.

After we finished shooting the stages today, we wandered the vendors, and then along wih Fast Fingers, the Oklahoman team competed in the team match. I think at best we were around 4th. That was a good fun stage.

See you on the range tomorrow for the final 5 and banquet tomorrow evening!

Til then

Kat xo

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Chain Stitch

Posted on October 18, 2017 by kathousekelli70

Nothing like a challenge to keep your mind working overtime.

Chain stitch = time consuming

Time consuming = it worked!

It worked = total satisfaction!

Well not quite yet but super excited about achieving an emulation of the detail on Eva's gown!

Vine work is done on the other 2 panels – that's the easy part!

Leaves and petals need to be done on those to get to this stage

*squeals! Claps hands!* so excited to get past the chain stitch part but it's looking as good as what I was hoping for and then some.

Kat xo

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Red Dirt Rampage 2016

Posted on November 1, 2016 by kathousekelli70

Red Dirt Rampage, SASS SW Regionals 2016, was held this past weekend with the most sensational weather we could have hoped for at this time of year.

Congratulations to the Match Directors, Flat Top Okie and Missouri Mae, and all of the Territorial Marshal's for their help, in putting on another exceptional match.

Thursday started out as foggy but cleared to gorgeous blue skies. I sent Mary Lou July out to do warm up and get the cowgirls and cowboy's revved up for the weekend.

I think all she did was confuse and scare a lot of them! Haa Haa Haa! All in all, a ton of good fun.

Main match days Friday and Saturday, it had its ups and downs for me but Jack had a great weekend, cleaned the match and some great times! Was nice for him to have a win for a change!

Virgil and Allie shot with us on our Posse. Pretty sure they had a great time on and off the range.

Posse 19 consisted of myself as Posse Marshal, Jackaroo, Wild Horse John as Deputy Posse Marshal, Virgil Earp, Alvira Sullivan Earp, Calico Calie, Denton Dancer, Wildcat Cliff, Capt. Lee, Trent, Cowtown Scout, Buffdriver, Nana Quilter, Witchita Southpaw, West Okie Wayne, and Silver Sam. We had visits by Wild Horse Johns wife, Saginaw Sue who is great at keeping us checked at the unloading table, and Erica, Wildcat Cliff's daughter. Hopefully we've convinced her to take up cowboy shooting!

It was great to visit with so many good folks again as usual, we didn't stay for the shootout and brisket dinner on the Friday evening but heard everyone enjoyed it.

As usual the Saturday evening banquet was held at the National Cowboy & Hall of Fame Museum. The gathering presented a number of opportunities for some great costuming and many went home with some trophy photos from that.

NOTE: costuming is a huge part of our sport.

There are so many real life cowboys, cowgirls, western genre movie stars of the past and more recent western tv shows to base costumes on. Be creative, have a great story, it truly is a pleasure to see and hear people's interpretation, inspiration and love for what they do.

It is always hard to round people up to enter the competitions and I hope more people participate in future. I hope you have been inspired by some of those who entered this year. Myself, Cowtown Scout and Wild Horse John were impressed. I must thank them for assisting me this year as I still learnt more from them in what to ask the contestants, thank you.

Guns were given away, other prize draws occurred and it was down to the awards part of the evening. There were 52 clean match awards handed out and Jackaroo was one of them this time!!

Allie won Lady Silver Senior!

Jackaroo as I mentioned, had a clean match and won Silver Senior category and finished 15th overall, an extremely good finish! Yay man.

I won ladies fastest rifle, fastest pistol and won Lady Wrangler category, overall finish doesn't rate a mention (let's just say I'm a little disappointed in my performance). A huge congratulations to all the other Lady Wrangler shooters!

Overall winners and this years South West Regional Champions must be congratulated!! C.S.Brady and Missouri Mae!

Congrats to all who won, placed, and just came to have fun and catch up.

Kat xo

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What’s Under Your Dress?

Posted on May 7, 2014 by kathousekelli70

I can't help it but wear the appropriate undergarments when dressing in my Victorian gowns. You just can't do it any other way!

I first learnt from 'Clancy' (First lady I shot with, my friend, a Margarita Sista and my one and only Redneck Sista) about what goes into dressing like a lady, I have since experimented with different patterns etc for my gowns and am getting to find the ones I really like.

I've used a Laughing Moon pattern, a Buckaroo Bobbins pattern and now have tried the Truly Victorian undergarments pattern. I really like this one even though I made mine fairly plain compared to my Buckaroo Bobbins set, they feel really comfortable and I like the little capped sleeve look.

This is the Buckaroo Bobbins ones, yes I use them to shoot in too and have cream, navy and the white set for under gowns also has embroidery done on them as well. These ones have the gusset stitched up though for shooting!!

I decided that I wanted to learn more, you can never get too many tips right? So I found this amazing website Historical Sewing by Jennifer Rosbrugh.

I have learnt some nifty little tips for trim, the ever elusive how much do I need when making ruffles – very handy, and then other things it was like, yep, I do that already and could just crack on with what needed to be done.

I am looking forward to going through the making of hats though!

Any way a bit side tracked there, here are the current version using TV patterns, undergarments, imperial tournure and petticoat.