Tag Archives: friends

Christmas Shoot with The Territorial Marshal’s

Posted on by kathousekelli70

A chilly start to the day brought out 28 shooters for the Territorial Marshal's Christmas shoot.

Four stages trying to keep hands warm and working but the sun was shining and the breeze was light so you can't complain!

 

Jack decided he would try a 'mixed bag' of fun, testing his black powder loads and pistols, one of his Rugers, the .22 rifle (she says rolling her eyes) and his shotgun. Pity Santa hadn't been paying attention to which guns he packed in and put both of my pistols in the bag!!! Lol!

 

Jack had a ball with his mixed up shooting and I had a pretty good run. Plenty of laughs in any case.

 

More turned up for the Christmas party with a great dinner by John Elder's crew and restaurant. With tables cleared and a table full of gifts the 'dirty Santa' games began! Christmas gifts taken, stolen and everyone went away pretty happy with whatever they were gifted. I'm still in shock and awe that the quietest man on the range, Captain Lee, is actually funny and did a short magic medicine show. The 'Dad' jokes were abundant! Lol!

 

Tomorrow it's Wild Bunch and looking forward to 5 stages and a gathering of great cowboy's for more Christmas shooting fun.

…targets ring, are you listening, ……the brass, it is glistening, ……a beautiful sight, a shooters delight, walking down the marshal's cowboy range….. (And if you didn't sing that to Winter Wonderland then there is something wrong with you 🙂 haa haa haa)

 

An early Merry Christmas from Jack and I, may all your days be merry and bright!

Kat xo

 

Mary-Lou Does Christmas!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

As Mary-Lou July reminisced with her 'sista' Mary-Lou June this week, both still separated by continents, she bugged the hell out of me about getting out again.

So I sent Mary-Lou July with Jack to the Ten Horns this weekend. She was so excited to go visit for their Christmas shoot and party. I hoped she would be on her best behaviour but as always with Mary-Lou July, life IS like a box of chocolates and you never know which one you're gonna get – more than likely the nutty one!

 

She had me make her a new costume especially. I wasn't exactly thrilled about the 'cat' fur she decided she wanted but with the addition of 4 bells she found (don't ask), I guess she is ready for anything. At least the Ten Horns might have a chance of hearing her coming before they get to endure the nonsense.

Jack being a good sport, took his antlers she found for him (no reindeer were hurt during this process and they definitely aren't Rudolph's!) and they headed out early this morning.

The Texas Ten Horns had a good turn out of 61 shooters on a glorious sun shiney day. It was so good to see Smokin' Limey out and about too even though she wasn't shooting! And Pistol Packin' Pami, so glad you came and hung out with them on the posse.

 

The afternoon followed 6 great stages with their Christmas party! What a hoot!, gifts going in all directions! Buckles and conchos given to the clubs top hands, overall yearly champs and so on. Congratulations to Hillside Hannah and Dirt Hill Bill for overall club championship points winners!

 

Mary-Lou July was over the moon with her first shooting match, Jack said she had taken on some good tips from me and she managed to finish 5th overall yesterday and 1st overall today. Thanks to the RO's for putting up with the antics and silly lines she started with.

 

Jack finished 14th overall on Saturday and 7th overall today. Good one Jack!

She probably won't be back but thanks for bearing with her!! It's all good fun but I can't subject her to folks too many times, lol!

Merry Christmas!

Kat xo

P.S. A very special thanks to Hairtrigger Hayes and One Chance Fancy for hosting our stay Saturday night. Was a great night chit-chatting, we will definitely do it again. Love and hugs to you both.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It's thanksgiving here in the US and believe it or not, including the likes of Canada, Liberia, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Leiden (in the Netherlands)m Norfolk Island just off Australia also observes this tradition.

As I sat this morning (I know, highly unusual for me to be doing jack $*#!) drinking my coffee and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I can say I am thankful for all our family, the friends we've made around the world and the chance to explore what this world has to offer.

I wondered, as I'd done the past couple of days, where the tradition had originated. This lead me to Dr Google of course finding many an explanation on Wikipaedia and other sources.

Of course most everyone knows it is observed with the likes of turkey, side dishes, pecan (lol, make sure you pronounce it as 'Pi-carn') or pumpkin pie, wine, family, football and more! It's a day for family gatherings for the holiday weekend (where as Christmas is our big to-do in Australia).

 

A long tradition of prayers and thanks in particular for previous year's crops and the harvesting thereof, tabled for all to enjoy. As early as the 16th century English traditions around thanksgiving and blessings came from acts of God, disasters and the end to wars etc, the most notable event relating to the US however was the landing of the new settlers into Plymouth (Massachusetts) 1621 and Virginia in 1619. And there's a whole lot more to that you can find on Wikipaedia

One must think back to whom the Pilgrims encountered when the arrived on the shores of Plymouth or Virginia and to that – the encounters with the Native American Indians. The Wampanoag had a great influence, giving thanks was a way of life to them on any given day. They were a part of ensuring survival of the newcomers whilst they learnt the ways of the land and how to produce crops in different regions.

There is a great school resource I found regarding that on an education site.

 

In any case, Jack and I rounded out the day with a couple of drinks, a dead chook, potatoes and peas. Topped off with caramel apple tartlets – when I get to making him a cuppa in a sec!

 

Wherever you are, I hope that besides the food etc it doesn't hurt to every now and then stop and give thanks for what we have.

 

Love and hugs to all

Kat xo

 

Gunfight In Dixie XV Part 2

Posted on by kathousekelli70

A total of 222 cowboy's and cowgirl's turned up for the Gunfight and by yesterday it was all over bar the shouting.

Jack and I both finished with clean matches and no major dramas, so we're very happy. I've got to say that we really enjoyed the stages. The weather held out, still a little on the cool side but was sun shiny magic!

 

After lunch, the shootout was held for the Top 16 men's and Top 8 ladies. A great stage of all rifle knockdowns, the Texas star for pistol and then shotgun to makeup and take out the final decider plate.

 

We visited with many great shooters this weekend and enjoyed catching up with some we hadn't seen for a very long time and making new acquaintances with others! Good times!

The banquet last night was set in the Shriner Club, with stage, dance floor, band and photo corner. Prizes were drawn and awards given. A white steer head pin was given to 36 shooters who shot the match clean!

Congratulations to all shooters who placed in their categories this weekend, won side matches and enjoyed the team match and shootout.

The Regional winners were given a category plaque with the Memphis Gunslingers signature steer head and region map on it. 1st Place winners of each category (within region or not) got a really nice silver and gold accented buckle, with 2nd receiving a white/silver and 3rd on, a bronze coloured/silver buckle.

Jack finished in 2nd Place for Silver Senior Category! (Mistakenly 3rd last night) Congratulations to Fast Eddy 1st Place and SE Regional Champion, 3rd Place Two X Tom, 4th Place Max Payne, 5th Place Three Sheets, 6th Place Badlands Charlie.

 

I finished 1st Place in Lady Wrangler category! Congratulations to Dew R Dye, 2nd Place and SE Regional Champion, 3rd Place Belle Vaquera.

 

The shootout was won by Prestidigitator (Tator) and myself. We thoroughly enjoyed shooting with him over the weekend.

 

Congratulations to Tator for taking top honours! 1st cowboy overall and SE Regional Champ with Dodge City Dixie being the SE Regional Champion cowgirl. I was ecstatic to place 1st lady overall. Lots of awesome shooters and many world champs at this match!

 

Thanks again to the Memphis Gunslingers and everyone who helped put on the shoot.

 

As Elvis would say 'thank you very much!'

Kat xo

 

Gunfight in Dixie XV

Posted on 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

 

Tennessee Travellin’

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Jack and I headed south to Texas over the weekend to visit with the Texas Ten Horns. It was a great weekend and a good opportunity to get a decent practice in for the upcoming SE Regional.

After having both barrels of my shotgun going off at once on the odd occasion (and I was starting to get good at ignoring it and keep going) it decided to totally give up the ghost with a piece inside that connects the butt stock to the rest of the mechanism, cracking and breaking. Oops!

 

Thankfully Roy's Creek Dan was able to work his magic and fix it for me and we should be back in business.

We got the gear packed up, Jack organised some Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale to be delivered to the match, car projects are in and we are ready to head out for Memphis/Lakeland, Tennessee.

It is an overcast day but a good day for travelling. Across Oklahoma, into Arkansas and eventually into Tennessee.

 

Car project achievement today – hand stitch two edges to corset. Put lacing in – check! Make hat base of buckram and wire – check! Raffia needs to be damp so it can be shaped before I can proceed with that.

 

We've checked in to the hotel and are ready to head to O'Charley's and meet up with some other cowboy's and cowgirl's.

Tomorrow is match check in, clinics, side matches, warm up etc. It should be good! We are ready for the SE Regional hosted by the Memphis Gunslingers!

Have a great time, wherever you may be shooting or relaxing this weekend!

Kat xo

P.s. It's a day or so late!!

 

Into The Woods

Posted on by kathousekelli70

…lf you go down in the woods today, you better go in disguise……

Well this wasn't no nursery rhyme and you might say we were in disguise….if you call a weekend away in 'normal' clothes, disguise! Haa haa!

What a great weekend of down time spent with our very good friends Texas Mac and Texas Flower at their little ranch and I do say little with tongue in cheek.

It might be a cosy little old farm house but their surrounding 'woods' as Flower calls it, is not so little at all!

We arrived Thursday to a warm afternoon. Still in shorts and tshirts we were able to enjoy Margarita's on the deck before enjoying steaks from the grill – a revamped, repurposed old wood stove!

 

Friday morning it had turned chilly, so suitably dressed, the four of us ventured (on the ATV) out after a hearty breakfast into the woods, checking Mac's hog traps, learning of the history of the property, checking out the cows and looking for deer.

 

Now Tinder or e-Harmony has nothing on Scrapings! The dating service for deer. (I learnt this on our little exploration) Bucks will rub glands under their eyes against an over hanging branch along a path, scrape the ground clear and urinate in the middle of the spot. Doe's will come through and if so inclined, will follow the trail to the Buck. We saw many scrapings along the way through all Mac's trails.

 

After visits to old house sites, Mac's storage, to me was just a divine old run down house with spectacular timbers, (Thought of Bertie Winchester and her woodworking but that's another story to follow) we then headed down to the pond and back around to the house for late lunch.

 

The afternoon followed with chatting about costuming and the men folk doing a bit of shooting in the back yard. Flower and I eventually ventured out to see what they were up to and tested out the new .22 rifle and had a go at shooting outlaw!

 

Soon it was time for Margarita's although we didn't spend too much time outside this evening.

Baseball and more costuming chats ensued after dinner.

Saturday, after breakfast we took a trip into Coldspring. It's Trades Day which is a weekend of markets with anything from handcrafted items, homegrown cosmetic creams, quilts, jewellery, horseshoe items, you name it. We walked the stores around the square of which almost all of them are still the original buildings and marked historical.

 

We lunched at 'The Mason Jar' and headed to the historic jail and hanging tree. Being Halloween, the jail was not open to the public unfortunately, and I hear it still has the original trap door and hanging rope in there but it is set up as a haunted house for people to visit of an evening.

 

A quick stop at the store and we headed to a friend of Mac and Flower's who has an awesome collection of Roy Rogers, John Wayne and other western memorabilia. Thank you to Wayne and his daughter Gail for allowing us to come visit his own little 'museum' and showing us his wife, Barbara's antiques and her special pieces in their home. Wayne was such a fan of Roy Rogers that he had actually got to meet him as well and we were able to pour through his photo albums and marvel at all the pieces he had collected over time. Really appreciated that visit!

So a much cooler evening made it necessary for the chimenea to be lit if we were going to enjoy the fresh woods air and margaritas outside. It was now down around 50F.

 

We ate dinner inside but later went back out to enjoy our first S'mores experience!! You heard it right, we had not had S'mores before and I for one was not leaving no matter how cold it was, or how full I was from dinner, without experiencing one. Funny thing! Jack hadn't even roasted a marshmallow on an open fire!?! So firsts all round!

 

What a great weekend with the Butler's in their little slice of country heaven. It was great to be able to spend more than a few hours with you both.

Kelli xo

 

Clubbing With The Marshals

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Club match that is!

After last nights storm gave way to a beautiful clear blue sky, next to no breeze and cooler temperatures, a smaller posse of 19 shooters turned up for the club match.

 

We are now on to a later start – from 10am – six stages AND lunch we were still done and on the road just after 2pm.

 

Come visit the Territorial Marshals for some cowboy action shooting aaannndd maybe a whole of fun and a little bit of heckling. 🙂

Hope you've had a sensational weekend, no matter where you are.

Kat xo

 

Special Treasures

Posted on by kathousekelli70

I would safely say I have truly been blessed with meeting so many wonderful people, crossing paths along the way throughout my life during Cowboy Action shooting.

Not only for the commraderie, healthy competition and learning but also being able to assist in passing on my knowledge and skills along the way.

I have been extremely grateful in the past that some have found me worthy of little treasured presents.

This weekend I was given some plaid fabric by Annie Hicock that would make a great 1890's walking dress….so the thinking cap has gone on for that, time for a new dress in my future – in amongst everything else at some point!

 

Idaho Sue from Texas also brought me some fabric she was clearing out of her stash and in amongst it I think is the blue I'm looking for for my next formal gown! Holy cow! Excited much!

 

The jewel in the crown however, was when she came to me at the banquet last night with 3 little 'gems' that just blew me away for the much appreciated gift. She had seen 3 ivory handled button hooks at an antique store and thought I might like them. I don't know how many times I said thank you but it doesn't seem enough.

 

They are in the cabinet with my Fred Harvey 'gems'!

 

Thank you ladies, you made my weekend! Hugs!

Kat xo