Tuesday, June 17, 2008

This weekend was chock-full and friends and shooty goodness. I want to say thanks to everyone who I got to spend time with while they were in town visiting the gun show - it was great to meet people whose blogs I've been reading for so long. I met Speaker Tweaker and his wonderful family, as well as Fat Hairy Bastard and the lovely Denise. Commenter Rabbit showed up with his rapier wit and charming wife. Matt G and marvleous family came, and his girls played in the pool with ST's daughter. Brandon and his daughter came down from Memphis, so they won the gold star for greatest distance traveled. It was great to meet them, too. Holly, JPG and Peter came by as well. Just when I expected everyone to begin stopping by, my phone crapped out utterly. Crud. I bought my Centro just 3 months ago, and here it had some sort of catastrophic failure. Crappity. Somehow, even without a phone, everyone managed to find their way here, and I squeaked by for 3 days with no cell phone. It's funny-- I can't remember the last time I went more than a day without service. Someone may be a teeny bit spoilt, oui?

I finally got some earplugs made for myself at the show. The earplug guy was a great wit and made the process more fun and less tedious. Next time, though, I'm going to have him make a cast of my ears and send off for the glitter foam plugs for me. They'll match my retainers, even if they are ghastly expensive.

I got to try out the new earplugs when I went shooting Sunday with Holly, JPG, Peter and LawDog [I am so not worthy!]. We all shot lots of things, and Peter let us all put some Crimson Trace grips through their paces. Seems they'd make an excellent training tool to work on steadying the hands, actually- the laser looked like I was doing a spirograph thingie- wobbling about in a floral loopy type pattern. The fun new discovery for me was LD's Henry .22 rifle, which he graciously allowed me to keep re-loading and shooting.

Peter and LD(two of the best folks you could ever hope to meet) coached me on my new 20 ga feminine protection, and after I was handling it more comfortably, the shooty goodness commenced. First was the birdshot, and with more and more specific instruction (yes, nose-over-toes went through my head all day Monday), I went on to make a hash of a paper plate with slugs. That was fuuuuuunnnn.

But, I did have to go back for more of that Henry action. The funny thing is what a hoot it is to fire that thing, and particularly after shooting the shotgun, the .22 felt like shooting water at clown heads at a midway shooting gallery. Fun stuff. I want one of those.

Monday I did the round robin of AT&T wireless stores, finally being sent to their equipment repair center. They are going to overnight me a new Centro. Meanwhile, I went to Target Monday evenign and picked up a go-phone for $16.24, slipped my SIM card in and Bob's your uncle: same old phone, only with 14 messages racked up. Yup. Totally spoiled.

Went to Mom and Pop's for dinner Monday night, and Dad was showing me a .22 rifle he's been working on. He asked me if I want to go dove hunting with him this year, and I said "oh yeah, I totally want to shoot the international symbol of peace." Um, I'd better get to work if I'll be able to hit a moving target by September!

Don't you just LOVE a gun show weekend? I'm starting to...

13 comments:

Lin said...

Wow, that sounded like a sublime way to spend the weekend. No wonder you were so tuckered out.

Sounds like the future holds a Henry .22 for you. Now if only you can call on LD to fix you up with more range time tutoring on it - that would be time well spent.

Anonymous said...

Happy to hear you had so much fun. You are blessed with all these new people in your life. Enjoy!

Thud said...

I spend 4-5 months a year in Ca and don't carry a phone...its surprising how pleasant it is...mind you my wife has to field twice as many calls..I'm a bad man!

Xander said...

"Don't you just LOVE a gun show weekend?"

Yes, yes I do...Especially since a picked up a fantastic little S&W M&P Compact 9mm which will be my perfect new jogging companion. :-)

Congratulations on your Mossberg! I bought one in 12-gauge at the show last year.

The real point of this comment though: Who was the earplug guy, and where was his booth in relation to to door? I can't believe I haven't run across him yet!

NotClauswitz said...

What an excellent little Southwest Gunblogggers Rendezvous! Nicey-nice with the Mossberg too. ;-)

phlegmfatale said...

lin - having a grand time of it

lainy - Thank you kindly, and indeed, I've met a lot of wonderful people lately!

thud - Naughty, naughty!

xander - Yup - it's a no-brainer! The earplug guy represented a company called Insta-mold, and you can find him at http://www.db-specialties.com He was near the back of the hall at the leftish-side

dirtcrashr - It was a hoot. Wish you could have been here. Thanks on the Mossberg - a very kind and generous soul made that possible for me, and I'm in their debt

Xander said...

Ok, thanks for the low-down. I'm definitely going to have to look for him next show.

none said...

Sounds like a great time. Sorry I didn't get to attend. I'll try for next time for sure!

DW said...

You need one of these!

http://dragonwatch-south.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-one-is-just-for-fun.html

Brandon said...

Thank you so very much for inviting Gracie and I into your lovely home! We had a wonderful time, and it was very cool to meet many of the people whose blogs I read on a regular basis. You were all gracious and friendly and made us feel very welcome.

I really hated to miss the range session, but my wife must be in bed by 8:00 on Sunday evening to get up at oh-dark-thirty for work, necessitating our drive home immediately after breakfast. Nevertheless, it was a great trip, and I thank you again for your hospitality. It was very nice to meet you!

phlegmfatale said...

xander - you're welcome. I love these new plugs - very comfy

hammer - hope to see you then!

dw - that looks fabulous! Congrats on what looks like a dream to shoot. Perhaps I'll get to check one out one of these days.

brandon - You are most welcome. I was honored to have you here, and your Gracie is a delight - very lovely girl. Understandable on the pressing-time issues - that's just how it is sometimes. Thank you so much for coming!

Tam said...

You got to go shooting with my Fantasy Internet Boyfriend?

Who's jealous now?

phlegmfatale said...

tam - you mean EVERYONE's Fantasy Internet Boyfriend.