Category: shooting

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Shooting (Post #362) 6/28/2013

Having survived the allergy attack I spent this past Sunday just lazing about the house. I wanted to get out and shot something. I set up permission to go out to my friend in Newcastle’s house and put some rounds down range.

I love water crossings. My friends range is on the opposite side of a creek in the bottom land. He put down some concrete a few years ago and it makes the crossing a little more “predictable”. The water is still running from the heavy rains of a few weeks ago. This is good news in regards to our recent drought. Perhaps not so good in the mosquitoes will eat you alive category. Before we could deploy insect repellent RovErica had occasion to kill a mosquito that must have been the size of hummingbird on my face. The puddle of blood should have been handled as a outdoor bio-hazard (Purdue.edu).

For shooting companions, I called the only child I have that likes to shoot, the illustrious RovErica. She has acquired a fiance’ in recent months. He too likes to shoot so it seemed prudent to go shoot with him. He knows as a Marine I can shoot and now he has a little first hand knowledge of the violence that can be unleashed by and old and cranky Marine. That sounds like he was in need of some “course correction” and that is not at all the case. He is a well mannered young man and the Mrs. and I like him. Most importantly, RovErica likes him and that’s what matters most.

Ever the ham, RovErica is a pistol packing mama. This is her favorite pistol, the J.C. Higgins .22. My father gave me this pistol when I moved into my first apartment.

Here the fiance’ (we need a better nickname) is shooting my new M1911. If he appears to be a man of large stature you would be correct. He was a lineman for Ball State in college and he even played semi-pro football after college. The pairing of he and RovErica greatly increases the odds that a grand child of mine will play football.
RovErica thinks the .45 is too loud.

The drive home was down a lovely lane sheltered by trees in rural Newcastle. I grew up driving down roads like this one and I reminisce about all the cars (Okierover.com) I’ve driven down these roads over time. I wish I still had that BMW….

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Happy New Year, Whoa! (Post #279) 1/2/2012

I say whoa because here in the middle states “whoa” is the command you give a horse to slow down or stop depending on the pull of the reigns. “Whoa” is also what goes through your head when you press on the brakes in your Range Rover and they surge like you have a warped brake disc.

I put those discs on just this summer. They haven’t had a thousand miles on them yet and that’s pretty disappointing. I’m going to remove them and have them machined down. Its a job I can’t get to right now as my garage is not yet reclaimed from all the stuff that didn’t make it into the garage sale after mom’s funeral.

I also need to adjust the upper rear lift gate. It has a nasty habit of popping open when the body flexes as when we go over the rail road tracks on Robinson street or over a water erosion formation out in the pasture. I think I can back it out just a bit and not try for such a tight fit.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather on New Year’s Eve it was a very unseasonable 70F, we planned to go shooting. RovErica’s boyfriend is home on leave from serving in the U.S. Marine Corps water taxi service. In actuality, he serves aboard the USS Guardian. And from the picture you can surmise he’s stationed in Japan, as that is Mount Fujiyama in the background.

Our gracious host has some very nice weapons and we took full advantage of the fun provided by shooting some of the classic weapons of the greatest generation. We shot a Thompson, BAR, and some other toys that I brought.

RovErica is my only child who enjoys the shooting sports. She especially likes to shoot the M-1 Garand but she only shoots it a few times before she is done. I made her shoot it “one more time” so I could get some video. Before you beat up on me for being mean to her during the video she is tougher than she might look. And don’t worry Momma was there so I couldn’t be too mean to her without feeling her wrath.

Chris brought his little brother and together the put on a pretty good display of shooting for rookies. I was quoted at one point as saying to Chris, “You shoot pretty good for a squid.” He actually does shoot well and put on a display with the BAR by pushing the rubber target up the berm.

RovErica really likes shooting my .22 revolver. She asked me to leave it to her in my will. I’m pretty sure the other kids will give her all the guns. That might change if any of my grand kids like shooting with their PawPaw. We shall see.

We finished off the New Year’s Eve activities by having our friends the Fisher’s over. We do this nearly every year. Neither of us have to be out or driving we live just 3 houses away. They brought a new game this year. Name 5 is pretty fun. The gist of it was you draw a card and it has subjects on it and you have to name five of what ever the subject is.
Name five college sports teams.
Easy right? A couple we found fun were name five kinds of house plants. Being that we don’t have green thumbs we couldn’t come up with five. The other team can challenge your answers and if it is deemed not a acceptable answer you lose. On the house plants my wife answered Marijuana. Between Mrs. OkieRover and I we could name 6 people from our past that grew that in their home. Hell, my brother grew it in his closet at my mom and dad’s home when we were growing up. It was deem unacceptable and so we lost that round.

It seemed when the other team would get name five colors, we would get name five Ethiopian Nobel Prize candidates from the first half of the 20th century. Or they would get name five letters in the alphabet, and we would get name five Popes from the Middle Ages who weren’t born in Italy. It a pretty good time. We finished up with some Wii Archery, Bowling, and Fencing Speed Slicing. Good times.

As I watch Mrs. OkieRover put away the Christmas decorations and the Dallas Cowboys getting thumped by the New York Football Giants I wish you all a Happy New Year. Let’s have a really good one this year and let it be full of awesomeness.

As far as resolutions…eh, I have decided to get into better shape. My man boobs have grown to B cup size and that’s just not acceptable. The weight loss I have enjoyed has slipped around 15 pounds. I need to get it back off.
Name five exercises that will get you back into shape if you just do them.
Name five projects the Range Rover needs done so I can get her out on some four wheeling trips this Spring.

Thanks for reading, Happy New Year, and Happy Rovering.

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