Girl Whirl

Shortly before I left for the NE Blogmeet, Sweet Daughter got a little … wistful. She didn’t want me to be so far away. (For two and a half whole days, even!) So I promised that I’d have a surprise planned the weekend planned after I returned. This incident being seared into my memory, I enlisted the aid of The Miller who was kind enough to aid and abet me in my plot.

So, Saturday morning I told SD to hurry up and get dressed because we were going to her favorite restaurant for breakfast (all-you-can-eat bacon, doncha know) and then … to the range. To say that she was excited was a bit of an understatement. I did a quick gear check and noticed that the batteries were dead on her “ears”, so we stopped and got new batteries. Then, as we were walking into the restaurant, we noticed she’d forgotten her coat in all the excitement. No problem, I’d grab one the multitude of sweatshirts we leave in there for just this kind of occasion … but I’d cleaned out the car before my trip. A quick stop in the Wal-Mart parking lot followed, and after digging in the wheel well, I found the ultra emergency back-up parka that had been there for 3 years. And still (barely) fit.

Next stop … THE RANGE. And we got there on time, with only one other car in the lot, so we used our time reciting the Four Rules. Not long afterwards, The Miller came rolling in and we got in line. It was a mixed crowd with a lot broader demographic than I was used to seeing. And of course, this:

 

We went in, got a lane and geared up. The Miller unpacked his arsenal of .22’s he’d brought for SD as she’d been dying to shoot a “real”pistol. We started with her Cricket rifle as it was familiar, but she really wanted to shoot a pistol. The Miller gave her some excellent advice, and she went to town.

 

While my goal for this trip was simply to keep her safe and have fun, most of her rounds ended up on paper, including several in the 10 ring. She was THRILLED.

No, I did not jiggle the camera. SD was just doing her best impression of a hummingbird. On crack.

 

While shooting, she was all business. Even when she got a little too close to the slide and it bonked her in the nose, she carefully put the pistol down, and stepped away from the lane before requesting hugs and sympathy. And, as it was one of those instances where she “just needed to get the tears out”, she had the presence of mind to ask to be taken back into the lobby so she could safely remove her safety glasses before wiping her eyes.

She then went back and did one last mag dump. Just because.

 

"Also, I can kill you with my brain."

I guess I need to look at buying a .22 pistol. Any suggestions?

NE Blogmeet AAR

Last Friday, I flew from Richmond to Boston via Philadelphia in order to be driven to New Hampshire for North Carolina barbecue. Yes, I went to the NE Blogmeet!

My Blogfather was kind enough to brave Boston rush hour traffic in order to pick me up. In the Dodge Earthf***er.  The same one that ferried New York Times best-selling author, Larry Corriea. ( I may have had a slight fangirl moment.) It had been a long day involving a rather extensive and redundant tour of the Philly airport, but all’s well that ends well. Dinner at Polcari’s made up for it, even if I did have a rather shell-shocked look on my face.

 [There should be a photo here, but Blogger is not cooperating. Maybe later.]

Contrary to rumor, the look on my face had nothing to do with JayG’s driving. All four wheels stayed on the road at all times, swearing was minimal (and deserved) and at no time did I “scream like a little girl*”.

You can read JayG’s write up of the meet here, but I have to say that first of all, it was really weird to be billed as the “super secret mystery guest”. And then actually have people seem excited to meet me. I, on the other hand, tried to keep my cool as I met a whole lot of new people attached to familiar names. I think the Pig’s Ear Brown Ale helped. And thanks to Breda’s long-distance fashion help, I cleaned up okay for the event. I had a marvelous time  -- an evening spent with interesting people and good food (and brown ale!) usually turns out well -- even if Weer’d did accuse me of having a fake ID. The obligatory throwdown of ECD knives and flashlights occurred, conversation went on long past when we’d been kicked out, and I remembered why I live south of the sweet tea line. (I HATE the cold.)

Next on my list of things to do is update my blogroll with those I’ve met. Well, that and install my new toilet seat, and pick up my new acquisition at the Fun Store, and do laundry once the water situation up the street is resolved and I have water pressure again, and … a bunch of stuff.  

* JayG claims that Mike W. does, however.

Happy New Year!

Guns and Chocolate

This Christmas ended up having a theme. It wasn't planned, but I got a LOT of chocolate.

I also ended up with these bits from assorted folks ...

Michael W. is here visiting for Christmas. He sharpened all my kitchen knives yesterday and then made dinner. He's a great guest. He also gave me a hackbut and accessories.

 

He's in the garage making a powder measure at the moment.

Should I stain it really dark so I have an EBH?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Non-Christmas Related

Because if I have to hear "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" or "Feliz Navidad" one more time today, I'm going to burst a vessel, I give you: 100 Riffs




(If the embed do-hicky's not working, click on the link ...)

Preparations

In these last few days before Christmas, I've found myself making tangerine marmalade, dog biscuits, horse cookies and Sweet Daughter has been making catnip toys for her favorite cats. (BTW, taking dog treats to the dogs at the new local gun store earns big points.)

Speaking of local gun store, they told me they'd done 14K of business on Wednesday before 5:00 p.m. This is a small store, open less than two months that still doesn't have a functional web site.

We have company coming for the holidays this year, and today will find me trying to get the house in some sort of order. And probably baking more dog biscuits.

Dog Biscuits

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 toasted wheat germ
1/2 brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

I didn't have parsley, so I just used mint, which I chopped in the food processor.  Since I have a tiny little Oscar food processor (yes, from 1985, why do you ask?), I ran the everything through in batches and then dumped it in a big bowl and combined it there. They I rolled it out 1/3" thick and cut it into squares. Sorry, but I don't have time to fiddle with fancy cookie cutters.

I put them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and put them in a 350 degree oven. Two minutes later, I remembered that I forgot the egg wash, so I pulled them out and brushed them with:

1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water

and put them back in the over for about 35 minutes until they were brown. Then I turned the oven off and left them in overnight. Then turned out very dry and crunchy, and the gun store dogs loved them.

This made two jelly-roll pans full of biscuits.


Horse Cookies

1 cup dry oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup shredded carrots or apples
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Mix the ingredients in a bowl, and then drizzle in molasses while you stir until the dough just sticks together - probably about a quarter cup. Form into balls, and flatten with with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Press crushed peppermints or candy canes into the top and
bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

This only makes about a dozen cookies. I'd double or triple it next time.

 

Squirrel Report

If you don’t already listen, I don’t suggest you start now. But if you do, I get to co-host again tonight.

Yay!