I don't iron bed sheets! Never have, never will HOWEVER I must really like our guests, as today I used a lint roller to remove the stupid white towel fluff!!
Ahh rust red sheet delight, never to be seen balls of white!
Lol!
Kat xo
House Guests
Tag Archives: friends
Posted with BlogsyHappy Thanksgiving!
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
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
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’
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
…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
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
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
Red Dirt Rampage Part 2
This morning gave way to another glorious day in Oklahoma and a sensational start to the final 5 stages of the 2017 SASS SW Regional Championship.
We started early in the Saloon (stage 5), headed off to Church (stage 1), hit the Stagecoach running out of town (stage 2), jumped off at the Adobe Wall (stage 3) and finally arrived to the end of the match at the Train Depot (stage 4).
We had a great Posse headed by Wild Horse John, along with Capt Jim Midnight, Shootin Fox, Creek, Mesquite Ranger, Max Montana, Cooncan, Bertie Winchester, Rio Concho Kid, Alamo Andy, Wildcat Cliff, Texas Mean Gene, Sixkiller – US Marshal, Wes Beckett U.S. Marshal, Jackaroo and Kathouse Kelli.
All done and dusted a clean match for me along with a few others from our posse. Jack had continuing shotgun issues but hung in there.
We visited with friends and picked up supplies, heading out to get ready for the banquet and awards.
This year's banquet was held at the University of Central Oklahoma and was an excellent venue. Awards were done, prizes were given – I've never seen Grady County Kid leap so high or so fast when he won the Dillon 650. Sweetest young man you could meet.
I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler with Tejas Red 2nd, Calamity Di-Bar 3rd (not in the photo) and Cheeka Bow Wow 4th.
Congratulations to Jack's fellow Silver Senior's, Aberdeen 1st, Lefty Wheeler 2nd, Creek 3rd and my sincerest apologies for not remembering the other 2.
It was an extremely close 1.17sec's but congratulations to Missouri Mae for the overall ladies and to Creek County Kid for the overall men's and 1st overall!
Another great match, again, if you have been thinking of shooting this match?well, get here next April when the Regional will be combined with Land Run and the banquet back at the National Cowboy Museum and Hall Of Fame.
For now though, it's the end Red Dirt Rampage, see you down the trail!
Kat xo
Red Dirt Rampage Part 1
Yesterday was Wild Bunch, warm up stages, side matches, RO courses (range officer courses), cowboy clays and some long range. The weather is divine and people were turning up in droves!
There were two time slots for warm up in the morning and afternoon. Wild Bunch was 4 stages and Jack and I had a great time doing those.
Side matches were running most of the day with speed pistol, rifle, shotgun (side by side and '97), gunfighter and duelist, .22rifle and pistol, derringer and pocket pistol.
Catch ups ensued with friends from near and far!
Today we were on the late wave starting at 12.30. Five stages completed (10, 6, 7, 8, 9). Great stages on the Corral, Mercantile, Mine, Livery and lastly the Fort. Smooth and consistent – clean!
Jack is clean also but has pulled a muscle or something in his elbow or forearm. Playing havoc with picking up shotgun and chucking shells. Don't let him fool for you, he has still had some good times. 😉
Then after that was done they had a 'sign me up' shootout where anyone can go in. Think they ended up with around 18 men's and 6 women. Kit Carson won it for the men's and I won the ladies. Congratulations to all who entered and to my friend Cooncan who ran very close to me on the final shoot! You'll have to go to the FB page to see how close!
Tomorrow it starts again! We are on the early wave! See you on the range!
Kat xo
The Adventures of Jack n Kat 