Shooting day
It had been far too long since I had a shooting day with friends. A shooting day is exactly what it sounds like, a day of shooting guns. Usually how it plays out is I pick a Saturday or Sunday and take a truck load of friends, guns and ammo out to my mom and step-dad’s farm and we shoot clays, metal gongs, paper targets and just about anything else we can think of.
This particular day was a Sunday, I invited a few people but the only person available was my friend Nikki. Everyone else was busy with the bridal show, or hockey games, or had already agreed to spend time with their girlfriend. So Nikki and I loaded up my truck with a lot of guns and ammo and headed for the farm.
We pulled in the driveway and were greeted by two excited dogs. After much petting we made it into the house and were offered a lot of food. I feel I should mention or maybe warn people that you cannot go near my mothers house without being given food. Naturally I had a snack before we began. We rounded up the clays and the thrower. As I was setting it all up Nikki informed me that she had never shot clays before.
To make life easier I started off by preemptively explaining to her that when you shoot clays you’re going to miss a lot, especially in the beginning. Most people tend to get very down on themselves because of that. I’ve had a lot of friends give up and say “I’m just wasting your ammo and skeets” for some reason people think that if they hit them I get my money back or something. As a result I have started to explain to people that a hit or a miss cost me about the same amount, which really isn’t much given the cost of shotgun shells and clays. I have also found that people tend to see better results when I get them to shoot clays that aren’t moving first, this allows them to see how the shotgun fires.
I started Nikki out by putting out a bunch of clays on the various snow banks and got her to shoot them with my .410, she quickly learnt that with that gun she had to aim a bit low. After busting a few clays that were sitting on the snow I started using the thrower. She almost immediately started dusting clays. From there she did the same thing with my two 12 gauges and quickly began to favor my old semi-auto Remington, I think she found my old side by side 12 gauge a little too front end heavy. We traded off shooting and loading the thrower, I had a hot streak that couldn’t be described as anything other than luck, I lost count but was well over ten in a row which is far beyond my previous personal best. Darrell eventually came and joined us for a bit with a short barreled defender shotgun. A short barrel like that tends to make clay shooting much harder as the shot tends to spread out more and lose hitting power, I tried using his gun for a few and it wasn’t pretty. Then after a while even my mom came out and joined us, she declined to try shooting any clays out of the air but she did shoot some clays in the snow banks with her .410, which she owns for the sole purpose of keeping snakes out of her life.
We then took a break for lunch, then came back and took a walk around the field picking up unbroken clays and standing them up for rifle targets. I then pulled out my two 30/30’s and was happy to find that my reloaded ammo worked well in both guns. I also broke out my old .22 and Nikki and I used it to throw a lot of lead against the old gong hanging at the edge of the field. I have shot a lot of guns in a wide range of sizes and I still believe that an old .22 with open sights is the most fun shooting there is.
Darrell came back out, this time with his mini-14 which is a semi automatic .223 and a gun that I am a little envious of. We all took turns using it to shatter old clays on the snow until we had used up all its ammo. We then went back to shooting clays out of the air with the shotguns, probably because it was new and exciting for Nikki and I was still enjoying my hot streak.
A lot of those unbroken clays were probably mine
A truck load of fun
Our only setback the whole day was towards the end when a shell had gotten stuck in my shotgun, it had swelled when it went off and as a result was stuck in the barrel. We were able to coax the empty shell out by tapping the action open with a wooden dowel and a hammer.
Once we ran out of daylight I loaded my cooler full of deer meat that Darrell was kind enough to butcher for me (the meat had come from my “Boot Leather Buck”). As Darrell and I were loading the cooler there was lots of “oh, you better take some of this good homemade bacon, here’s a pack for Nikki too… Oh and here’s pork chops, and some sausage” Then my mom handed us three grocery bags of food “this ones for Nikki, take this to your brother, and this one has some of those good pizza buns for Erin to take in her lunches” Like I said, you cannot go near my parents without getting food. All in all it was a good day, we did a lot of shooting, which was the goal, and we got a big pile of good food, which is always a bonus.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to clean all those guns we used, but that’s just another part of the fun.
Posted in Marksmanshipwith no comments yet.
Tyson Goes Climbing
Okay okay, so this weeks story isn’t really about going outside, but it’s still a physical activity so that probably counts for something.
Work has been very slow for me lately and as a result I have had a lot of time off. I decided that since I wasn’t working, I might as well do something productive with my time. There are a lot of things in my life I should probably improve. Instead of working on my writing, I decided to start doing more physical activities. I really want to get into shape, but I dont care for the gym, mostly because I have no idea what I’m doing when I go there. So I started swimming every morning and sometimes I would go for a second time in the evening. Then, some friends invited me to try rock climbing. I have a bad fear of heights so I figured maybe I could get some exercise and conquer a fear at the same time. It turns out that the climbing I was going to do is actually called “bouldering” you dont use a harness or safety ropes, but you also dont go much more than about eight feet off the ground, which is still plenty high for a guy like me.
Jason and I arrived at the indoor climbing… center?… wall? place? We arrived at the climbing place, it was indoors and man made. It was my first time there so I had to fill out a waiver and create a profile. I firmly believe that any activity that requires you to fill out a waiver first is automatically a little bit higher on the fun scale. Next I had to rent some climbing shoes. Climbing shoes are basically soft, tight fitting, and have no grip on the bottom. Luckily at the top of the back rack they had a few pairs of giant shoes to fit me. The person getting them for me of course had to make a joke about my big feet…
Finally we got in and met up with our other two friends. Initially I was quite intimidated and didn’t have much of a clue what was going on. At first I just stood back and watched in hopes of learning something. Lucky for me my friends were quick to explain how the numbers and labels worked. It turns out there are routes marked on the walls, they have a start and an end and you are only allowed to use certain holds in between. Finally after watching everyone in our group complete the same route, I decided to give it a try. I was successful, mostly because it was one of the easiest routes in the whole place, but it was still a good feeling. We spent the rest of our time there trying various other routes, some with more success than others. I was pleased to find that everyone there was friendly. For some strange reason I always imagine in my head that people good at something will have no patience for a person who’s new.
My moment of triumph for the day was completing a route that was a bit above my skill level (lets be honest though, it was still a pretty easy one in the grand scheme of things). It required the full use of my wing span and I ended up about eight feet off the ground, which is plenty high up for a guy who’s afraid of heights.
Almost done
Both hands on the last hold means I’ve completed it
By the end of the day my finger tips felt like they had been smashed in a car door, there’s a reason I know that feeling. My forearms felt like the skin around them was shrinking, I guess that’s just what happens when you exercise for a change. The next day I could really feel how much work my shoulders had done. Bodily pain and fear of heights aside, I had a lot of fun and have actually gone again since. I plan on making this a weekly activity, at least until work picks up.
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Christmas Catch-up 2: Wannabe Ski Bums
This is the follow up to last week’s post. If you’d rather skip it, the short version is that Erin and I got engaged and went to some Christmas parties… Also I got very sick at some point. Now that you’re brought up to speed, let us begin.
The day after Nikki’s party I drove Erin, Jason, and Shannon to Lake Louise for a ski trip. We met up with two more friends of ours Amber and Ryan. We arrived late in the day and sat in the hot tub before getting some food at the last restaurant in town still open that time of night.
The next day we hit the slopes. It was cold, about -25C in the morning, but luckily we all have good gear. I’m especially glad I had my Icebreaker Merino wool base layers and socks, worth their weight in gold when its cold outside. After a few runs together we decided to split up, simply because we are all at different levels of skill. Jason, Ryan, and Erin disappeared onto the mountain. I hit the green runs because that’s all I can do, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to bump into Amber during the day. Shannon made herself comfortable in the Chalet and read a book. It was nice knowing there was always someone there to relax with if you got tired… or injured. The chalet there is quite beautiful. On my last run of the day my recently purchased helmet paid for itself. I was going down the easiest run on the hill, its labeled as such. I was carving on my board and I went over backwards, I slammed my tailbone onto the hard pack snow then my head whipped and the back of my helmet smucked the ground. I laid there with a sore rear, a sore neck, and a head that felt okay. All I could think was, why was I so stupid as to wait til now to buy a helmet. I should have bought one years ago. I slowly made my way down the mountain to the chalet and waited for everyone else to filter in. The hot tub felt good that night. For the next few days I had to sit down slowly and when lying flat on my back I couldn’t lift my head up without using my hands for help.
Photo courtesy of Erin
Photo courtesy of Erin
We intended to hit the slopes the next day as well, but we woke up and read -30C on the thermometer and decided to head home instead. Good thing as I was still rather sore from my spill the day before.
The next thing on the schedule was New Years. We started the evening at Erin’s parents discussing the wedding and various options… Friendly heads up, fellas: if you ever propose, the next year of your life will be all about weddings. After that we headed to a friend’s cabin to visit more friends, see some New Year’s fireworks, have a chat with some friends around the fire pit, and then head home for sleep. I had a long day ahead of me.
We stayed just long enough for me to get this awesome selfie with Jason
The next day was the drive to Fernie, it was me, Jason, and Ryer. We arrived late in the day and I was amazed at how nice of a town it was at night. The Fernie Alpine Resort, the little community on the mountain side, looked like a miniature village in a department store window… they should consider adding a train. We checked into our room and realized that three guys, will have to share a room with only two beds and no couch, it worked out that each guy got one night with the bed to himself.
It was small, but at least it was clean and ski-in ski-out
The next day, we hit the slopes. I was amazed to see how big the hill was. I was limited, by my skill, to about one sixth of the available runs, maybe even less, and that was still enough for me to have a great time for two days. The first day was mostly me plowing down the green runs, lucky for me all the staff were super encouraging. I got a few thumbs ups when I made it off the chair lift without finding my way onto my rear. Actually everyone there, staff or patron, seemed to have the same “we were all knew at some point” attitude. It really takes the pressure off. Towards the end of the day I was starting to be able to carve. I still had a bit of spook in me from my spill at Lake Louise though.
At least I look kinda cool in all my gear
I didn’t think to take a lot of pictures, I was too busy having fun
That evening we drove into the town and had dinner at a steak house. I got to try a swordfish steak, it was delicious. We then went to a pub but found that the DJ was somewhat lacking. So we moved on, somehow we found ourselves at a reggae bar. At first it didn’t make sense to me but then I remembered that there is a lot of snowboarders who love reggae, honestly, I kinda like it too. Ryer was laughing, to us, at the old white guys dancing and stated “if I’m ever that guy, kill me” he then had a few more drinks and joined them… I was wondering how serious he was earlier. Jason and I debated weather or not we should put him down. We opted not to, for now…
The next morning Jason and Ryer seemed to be having trouble getting out of bed or moving quickly. Funny how that happens sometimes. We eventually found our way up to the hill, I returned to my green runs, while Jason and Ryer made their way farther up the mountain. Towards the end of the day though, Jason decided to hit some of the easier runs with me. I was able to find a few pockets of deep powder and really go all out, since powder makes falling a much less painful affair. I must say I was really impressed with my progress, a few more days and I might have been willing to hit a blue run, maybe.
There were two notable crashes on the trip, both in quick succession. The first was when Jason tried to stop short when I was sitting down with my board on. He would have stopped in time but he hit a very small sapling barely sticking out of the snow, instead of falling on me he opted to jump over me. He landed on his side and the ground exploded in a cloud of snow, limbs and skis. He didn’t get hurt so it was hilarious. We regrouped, and I explained where the deep powder was a little further down the run, I also warned him of the ruts. He took off ahead of me and in the distance I saw his skis come about a foot off the ground. Maybe he wasn’t listening when I told him about the ruts. He landed like a champ, it was very impressive, I thought he was headed for a second crash. I came into the powder with some speed and carved like a wild man. I was very pleased with myself until I tipped over and punched my fist into the packed snow underneath. I buried my hand wrist deep but my board and body kept moving. It was pretty painful and I’m not sure how I got out of it without a broken wrist. I certainly let out some noises and words that I hope the kids in the nearby ski school didn’t hear. We finished our run and got to the bottom just in time to see the chairlift close. Oh well, we had a good time while it lasted right? We headed to the hotel to find Ryer having a nap, I guess for some strange reason he decided to pack it in early. Maybe he wasn’t feeling well. We made fun of him a bit, and hit the hot tub.
That evening we went out for dinner at a place called “The Brick House” we had tried to get in both nights before. The first they were closed and the second they were far too busy. We were all hungry after a long day on the hill so we may be biased, but we all agreed that that was the best meal any one of us had eaten in a long time. I didn’t realize french fries could be that good, they’re french fries… how many recipes can there be? The service was also very good. We decided to hang around after dinner. Ryer and Jason enjoyed a few pints, we swapped some funny and embarrassing stories as well as recapped our days. Then we headed back to the hotel for some sleep. The next morning we were sad to see we weren’t snowed in and instead we had to go home. Ryer also made a point of informing me that I snore very loudly and that Erin is a saint for putting up with it. We loaded up and hit the road. I was happy to be in my own bed again, but I’m already dreaming about my next snowboarding trip. I would like to go back to Fernie, especially once I’m a better rider, it just looks like there’s a lot of mountain to see there. Maybe Erin and I can find some time to go before summer hits us.
After only two snowboarding trips I can really see why so many people choose to live the “ski bum” lifestyle. Working on the ski hill and snowboarding all day seem very enticing and I can’t say I would ever look down on someone who chose that lifestyle.
Posted in Snowboarding, Travelwith no comments yet.
Christmas Catch-up
As is a common problem with most people, I found myself quite busy over the Christmas holiday. I may as well just bring you up to speed, some of this is interesting, some is just relevant, and some just.. is. If you want the short version, just scroll to the end and read the italicized part. This post turned out really long, so I split it in two, this is obviously going to be part 1, part 2 of course will be out in about a week. Anyhow here we go.
My work was done and I left location as though my tail was on fire, about a week before Christmas. I was sad to not be at work or making money, but I was also glad that I could be home for all the various Christmas celebrations. On the docket for the holidays were: Erin’s immediate family Christmas, Erin’s mom’s family Christmas, Erin’s dad’s family Christmas, my step-dad’s family Christmas, my mom’s family Christmas, then a get together with our friends a few days after Christmas, a ski trip to Lake Louise just before New Years, a friends party on New Years, and then a ski trip for me and two friends at Fernie right after New Years. Its all kind of a blur so I’ll try and put it in the right order, but no promises.
The family Christmases were all fun and friendly. My step-dad’s family had their celebration on the same day as Erin’s dad’s family. I opted to leave Darrell’s party a little early to make it to Erin’s. It was great catching up with both families, I got to see both of my step brothers which is an unfortunately rare occasion, especially at the same time it seems. Erin’s family was quick to show me just how bad I am at poker, despite her very young cousin “helping” me by pushing in most of my chips on every hand. Her scheme of bet big, win big was working okay until Erin’s dad decided to clean house.
The following day was Erin’s immediate family Christmas dinner. It consisted of her parents, siblings, grandparents, and an aunt. We had a delicious turkey dinner and lovely conversation. Immediately after dinner I began to feel unwell and excused myself to the bathroom for the remainder of the evening. It turns out I had caught a stomach flu. I hid in the washroom on the brink of vomiting while Erin, her parents, and siblings opened their presents. Shortly after the somewhat rushed get together, on account of my condition, we went home. I spend the night in the bathroom, quite literally. I was so ill that by the time I made it back to bed I would have to return to the bathroom. So I grabbed some blankets and a pillow and slept on the cold linoleum floor. That night I was so sick and feverish that I became somewhat delirious. I had recently been reading a family history book my mother gave me that told all about her family and their forging of the prairie west. I had lost track of my place in time and for a portion of the night was worried that I would be too ill to take care of the homestead in the morning…. I live in a duplex in the city. I was also vomiting so aggressively that my dry heaving would make it difficult to breathe, seemingly, for long periods at a time. This coupled with my recent listening to a podcast about the first World War which described in detail what chlorine gas does to a person, which is surprisingly close to dry heaving to the point of suffocation. All this managed to give me weird nightmares about trench warfare, sleeping on a cold hard floor probably didn’t help much either. Three days later when I was able to make it down the stairs and out into the world I was joking with Erin that I had traveled through time, started a homestead, and died in The Great War. I was basically Doctor Who.
Christmas eve I was able to attend Erin’s mom’s family Christmas. I was a little shaky from my recent flu. but I survived the evening. It was another great evening and I was concerned that all the laughter would be hard on my still recovering body.
Erin’s family knows how to party
Christmas day came and the plan was to drive from Erin and I’s house to my mother’s, then to my mom’s brother’s for Christmas, then back to my mom’s where we would spend the night. Christmas morning we were informed that my mom had a flu very similar to what I had just recovered from. I hope her homestead did better than mine… Erin and I decided that we would just drive to my Uncles and back that day, two hours each way, instead of staying at my mom’s. No one wants company when they’re sick. Once the plan was made, Erin and I got out of bed to open our presents, she got me a spork and a camouflage Buff. I got her socks, a bottle of Bailey’s, and an engagement ring… Did you see that coming? She sure didn’t, she thought I was kidding.
I proposed with this cheaper ring, then her and I could pick out a ring we both really liked
This is the ring we decided on and are currently waiting for it to be re-sized
Erin was a little mad at me for going over budget on Christmas, but she forgave me pretty quickly. We decided to stop in at Erin’s parents before going to my uncle’s to show her parents the ring and tell her siblings. Her parents weren’t surprised, since I asked their permission previously. We called Erin’s grandparents and aunts etc, and everyone was very excited, there was a lot of joyous yelling on the speakerphone.
We made the long drive to my uncles and called a few close friends to give them the good news. We informed my family when we arrived and naturally everyone was excited. We had some dinner and played some cards, Erin won.
We hit the road before it got too late and made it back in time to visit Erin’s family at her uncles house. He was busy working Christmas eve and missed the big family get together, because Firemen have unfortunate schedules. I was happy to finally get to bed after that long day.
A few days later it was our friend Nikki’s Christmas party. We had asked people not to tell anyone about our engagement, we wanted our friends to hear it from us first. We arrived first with Jason and Shannon (our roommates and friends). Erin had her ring on, but Nikki didn’t say anything. Eventually Nikki handed Erin a napkin for her food and leaned in and whispered “I see that” We all laughed because at the moment Nikki was the only one in the room who hadn’t been told. She was excited for us and we told everyone else as they filtered into the party.
We exchanged funny Christmas stories, played some games, and had some drinks. A friend of ours had brought some homemade apple moonshine which tasted just like apple pie, and went down about as easy. I was driving everyone home that night and couldn’t have more than a taste, luckily I won a bottle of the stuff in the gift exchange. I am currently saving it for a special occasion, for example: the day I decide to drink a bottle of moonshine. At some point someone suggested we play twister, everyone was wearing either denim jeans or a dress. Lucky for us Nikki had a surplus of short shorts, which she handed out to all the guys and gals, and for some reason we all put them on and played twister. It should come as no surprise that I’m not good at twister… also short shorts are not a flattering look for me.
The next day we hit the road to Lake Louise. Which was the start of a whole other series of adventures that include a new years party at a cabin and a trip to Fernie. This post is already getting a little long so I’ll tell you all about the rest later.
So the short version of this story is that I got engaged and went to a lot of Christmas parties . I am now going to be very busy planning a wedding, any suggestions for venues?
Posted in Snowboarding, Travelwith 4 comments.