A day at the range

Justin and I went to a gun range today to shoot his new flintlock pistol. Our hosts, the Wilderness Rangers of Kentucky, are blackpower enthusiasts, a dozen of the most generous and friendly people you could hope to meet. Most were dressed in period garb. A few looked like they stepped out of the 1700s.

Even though they didn't know us, they took the time to show us how to properly load and fire Justin's pistol. They also let us shoot their rifles quite a lot.

I always thought shooting a flintlock rifle would involve a heavy trigger pull, a delay while the powder in the pan burned, and then a wooosh! as the ball left the barrel, visibly traveling downrange.

Wrong. The trigger pull tended to be feather light and instantly followed by a crisp crack. Recoil was light, in part because of the rifles are heavy.

We happened to attend their Thanksgiving meet. So after a turkey shoot, which is a multi-round shooting contest, they had a spread of food. There was homemade chili, hot dogs, corned beef, turkey, soft drinks... and no vegetables :-D Of course they tried to feed us until we popped.

ooo someone made coffee over a fire, it was great coffee. I used my period-accurate Starbucks insulated coffee mug.

A good time was had by all!




Justin takes a shot.




Tony misfires, then takes his shot.

My son started happydancequilting.com, a t-shirt quilt company

My son is a business major at the University of Louisville. He's started a t-shirt quilt business as a way to learn how to start and run a small business. His mother is a 'subject matter expert' with regards to making quilts and using the type of machine he'll be using for his business. He is a very good machine quilter and runs the machine for more traditional types of quilts a few times a week.

Now he's learning about the ugly realities of starting a business. These include everything from big-picture topics such as marketing to detail-oriented tasks such as buying boxes to talking to customers.

Stop by Happy Dance Quilting and have a look!