Tis the Season

Can you guess what season is up and coming almost immediately?

And guess who got outfitted for his first hunt?

Hunter Safety Class

Back in December Olaf taught a Hunter Safety class. He enjoys doing this and does it a couple times every year. In the past parents had offered their shooting ranges for him to let his students pass off their shooting skills. But for this class no one came forward and offered a shooting range. So he had to find one all by himself. He talked to another Gun Enthusiast (that's the understatement of the year) who said he could use the Shooting Range underneath the Senior Citizen Center. I think the Shooting Range has been there since the Spaniards came into the valley.

Here's a picture of everyone getting ready to shoot. Notice the low ceiling, posts holding everything up, and old cement floor.
Notice the wheels on the posts? They are how the targets are moved back and forth. No cool light switch to flip like in the movies.
Here's an example of someone using the aforementioned wheel.
Here's a picture of Middle Child and his Friend. They took the class together and had too much fun. Notice the white stripe in the background? That's the targets.
Obviously, Middle Child took the class from Olaf. He was taking the quizzes online and had to ask a few questions, but for the most part he knew everything. As he was discussing shotguns vs. rifles with Olaf he announced, "You know, Dad, I'm never going hunting." He's been very anti-gun and anti-hunting. Olaf just isn't sure he's the father of this child. But he is, the mailman was actually a mailwoman at the time.

During the class, Olaf was sure he'd have to help Middle Child with the shooting portion in order to pass him. You see, Middle Child has only been shooting once and that was with the above-pictured friend, not Olaf. But before the class was over Middle Child brought his target over to show Olaf and he had done a dang good job of shooting! Olaf was pretty amazed. I did remind him that he plays a lot of video games and that probably contributes to the whole hand-eye coordination issue.

The best thing about the Shooting Range was the crawl space under the front porch of the Senior Center. It was something from a horror novel. Dripping water came from the darkened ceiling. There was an old wooden table in the middle of the short room. The foundation stones were rough and uneven. All it needed was some torture tools hanging from the ceiling.

The best thing about the class was Middle Child announced he "Wanted to go Hunting." Olaf couldn't have been happier.

Yes, We are Rednecks

An actual conversation while shopping with a friend (A). We ran into a friend(B) of my friend's from High School.

B: So there's this big wedding tomorrow that we're in town for. I live back in Virginia now but that's why we're here for Christmas.

A: How fun! Are you guys all ready?

B: Almost. They're having this Western theme cuz his new wife is into that kind of stuff. We almost scored with things to wear tho! Have you ever heard of that store CAL Ranch?

A: Yeah, it's one of the main stores in town.

B: (incredously) Really? (pause) Well, I guess he got us some nice cowboy shirts from there. But he almost got us Cowboy boots!

A: Really? What kind? I guess he decided he didn't want to spend as much since he just got shirts. Cowboy boots are kind of expensive.

B: Yeah, but boots would have been great. I mean, I live in Virginia, they would have been perfect.

A: They are pretty handy.

Me: OOOOH, You wanted the Cowboy Boots?!? I thought you guys were being sarcastic at first. I didn't realize regular people wanted Cowboy Boots.

A: Don't you like Cowboy Boots?

Me: No, I already live in Redneckville, like I need any help advertising that fact! I just didn't realize that other people who weren't rednecks would actually want Cowboy Boots.

B: They would be great for where I live.

A: I like mine but they don't have much traction on the bottom.

Me: I don't think you want grooves on the bottom when you're walking around a horse yard, you'd never get them clean.

B: So, do a lot of people wear cowboy boots in Spanish Fork?

Me: Yes. They are a pretty rednecked crowd, but it's slowly changing. In the past. . .
I then proceeded to tell them how Olaf used to take his shotgun to school. On his way he would occasionally shoot a duck or some other fowl. When he got to school the Lunch Ladies would wrap it up for him, put his name on it, and put it in the freezer. Olaf would then put his shotgun in his locker and go to class. After school he would pick the bird up and take it and the gun home. Did you notice I said they put his name on the wrapping? It was because he wasn't the only one shooting winged creatures on his way to school!

A week later when A & B got together and hung out.

B: I never really believed all your stories about how rednecked the people in Spanish Fork are until I met your friend the other day and she told about her husband hunting on his way to school.

A: Yeah, it's true. They don't do that anymore, of course, but they still have gun racks in the back of their trucks.

Hunting Update

This year First Born went on his first official hunt! He was pretty excited and got to miss a whole week of school. Depending on his grades we will see if that EVER happens again. I talked to Olaf on Thursday when they were in Burley, the closest town to their hunting spot. He said no one had shot anything.

On Friday that all changed. Olaf & First Born saw a deer and started tracking that thing. They got close enough that First Born got a shot off. Of course it didn't kill the poor thing right off. Then they had to follow the miniscule blood droplets for a long time down a steep hill. (This will be a good story for the grandkids. I can already see it; It will be snowing thickly with little visibility, and windy, and cold, and steep. And the deer won't be a spike.) They finally found it and First Born took another shot. He blew the poor animal's leg off and finally took one last quick shot to finish it off.

They brought it down and today Olaf took it to the Meat Locker to be turned into jerky. Boomer's gonna be one happy dog!