Cuteness Overload and Other Random Photos

You've probably heard of the crown of thorns from the Bible, but I bet you've never seen a Throne of Crown. Spotted at a consignment shop near my inlaws house. Part of me really wants this for my whiskey drinking.

Escape from Texas

This is a photo of M&M leaving the state of her birth for the first time. That is the Red River below us as we blew into Oklahoma on very blustery day headed to Missouri to visit friends on trip that was postedponed when M&M was placed with us. It felt very liberating to be able to leave the state without having to consult anyone or get permission.

M&M and The Queen shivering at the welcome center on the other side of the Texas border for the obligatory "You aren't in Kansas anymore" photo. Somewhere, The Queen has photos of me and M&M in the same spot.

M&M has always had a love of music. She will dance like no one's business. This was the first time she really had any "hands on" experience with an instrument. She loved it. Somewhere I have video that I will try to upload if I ever figure out how.

Sound asleep at church snuggled up with a teddy bear. People are amazed that she will sleep through or sit quietly at services. I'm amazed that they haven't figured out how to train a kid.

The Queen sends me a text saying "let's play golf tonight". Okay. Twist my arm. There is irony here. Trust me.

M&M working on her short game.

Who cares what the score was on that hole, I've got my girl.

It's never too early to start teaching them...it may be too early for them to hold on properly....

Rest assured, The Queen and I were never far enough away that the arrow would go astray.




Say ah!



'Sup? Just hangin'



The Queen had a little lamb....

Who'd 'ave Thought?

While I try to decide what to include in my next update regarding M&M and The Queen to satisfy kymber's curiosity, I thought I'd take a moment to gloat a little about my most recent competition experience.

I participated in one of the local clubs' USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association) match last evening/night with positive (at least for me) results. I placed second out of four shooters in my division (single stack) and 30TH out of 43 shooters overall. I won two of the four stages within my division; and, more importantly, I was even two places ahead of cousin B. in the overall standings.

For those who have not been following my escapades in the shooting sports, that's a huge improvement for me.

I went into the match intending to focus on accuracy over speed; and, for the most part, I succeeded in spades. I shot well enough to get 404 out of a possible 450 total raw points (which means I didn't miss the "A" scoring zone very often in the 90 or so rounds fired). I was slightly bummed on one stage when a good target was ruined by someone who forgot to tape the target after the previous shooter sticking me with their hit on a no shoot for a penalty. How do I know it wasn't me? There were four holes in that target when there should have only been two. I shoot .45 ACP which makes a significantly bigger hole than either 9mm or .40 S&W on a cardboard target. The no shoot hit was most definitely NOT a .45.

The most difficult stage of the evening had 14 targets each requiring two shots for a total of 28 rounds. Guess who only has 26 rounds worth magazine capacity in his current rig? Yeah, that would be me. Fortunately, there was someone willing to loan me a spare mag. I also wound up having to bum eight rounds of ammo off another shooter after an administrative error by the match director forced a reshoot of the first stage. I was scorer on that stage, and they really should have listened to me when I told them the scoring sheet did not match the stage. But, who am I to say I told you so?

Also of interest, I ran into the VP of the other local IDPA club from a couple of posts ago at last night's match. He is a real nice guy, and there did not appear to be any hard feelings about my complaint. He runs a Smith & Wesson M&P 9 that has had over 50,000 rounds through for those who are interested in that sort of thing.

Speaking of round counts, WARHAMMER! has now officially passed the 500 round mark. It has actually fired 508 rounds mostly in competition since I am not blessed with an over abundance of time and money to train. A fuller report on WARHAMMER!'s performance thus far will follow at a later date; however, I have to say that I am happy with it overall even if it's probably not the best competition gun when measured against combat tupperware and high dollar, bespoke race guns (top shooter last night was running a $6000 custom 2011 in .38 Super). There are things that I would like to change on it: some cosmetic, some not. The short list of mods is a fiber optic front sight, an extended magwell, a cerakote job on the frame for a reverse two tone look, new grip panels and possibly a trigger job.

The one gripe I have isn't directly related to the gun but to the Chip McCormick 10 round Power Mag I bought as my third mag. It will not reliably feed the tenth round when fully loaded. Load it with 9, and it is dependable as the day is long. Put the tenth round in, and let the curses begin. At less than 500 rounds, it should not be having a weak spring problem in my opinion. The Sig factory 8 round mags have been almost flawless with the exception of one incident in which I had a nose down round that didn't feed which I suspect was the result of me not loading the mag properly. I foresee three more factory eight round mags and another mag carrier in my future.

Oh well. Life goes on, and remember: a slow hit is better than a fast miss.

GGGRRRRrrrrr......

Ladies and gentlemen, your humble Shepherd got seriously vexed last evening to the point of my tighty whiteys becoming uncomfortably twisted. I present the following, redacted, email exchange without further comment as a public service to shooting clubs everywhere.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Match Direction
Date:	Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:58:40 -0500
From:	[Shepherd K]
To:	President@[localidpaclub].com

Mr. [President],

I feel compelled to write to you regarding the match direction at this evening's match at [local gun range] in [nearby city]. Frankly, I was disappointed in the attitude displayed by the match director and more than a little offended.

First, a little background. I am new to [local IDPA club], and relatively new to IDPA competition. Tonight was to be my second match with [local IDPA club] (5th match overall), and I had intended to pay for my membership upon arrival. I arrived promptly at 6:00 (I was driving over from [a location about 40 miles away] and traffic delayed me) and went in to pay my range fee. The range employee asked a gentleman who was apparently with [local IDPA club] whether or not to take my range fee as there were 38 shooters already signed up. The gentleman told her to go ahead and take my money at which time I proceeded to the match area to pay the match fee and my membership. Before I was able to accomplish either of those tasks, the MD (whose name I did not get) came in and said abruptly that I could not shoot as there were too many signed up already. I explained that the other gentleman had indicated I could. The MD reiterated words to the effect that I could not shoot, turned and left.

I have two problems with the way this was handled. First, the [local IDPA club] website makes no mention of limits regarding the number of shooters, etc. I fully understand space and time limitations; however, if this is to be a club policy, it needs to be plainly stated on the website so that people such as myself are forewarned and can plan accordingly. Second, the MD made no effort whatsoever to be courteous, see to it that my range fee was refunded or make some sort of accommodation to insure that I could be given priority at a future match. Additionally, if the MD's decision on limitation of shooters was not based on club policy, he needed to communicate that to the range staff to avoid someone such as myself being hassled.

The majority of the people I have meet in the IDPA community have been extremely helpful, kind and friendly. I hope that I simply caught the MD on a bad night; however, I have to be honest and state that the manner in which tonight was handled has left a bad taste in my mouth. The first gentleman I encountered did assist me in getting a refund and was very apologetic. Unfortunately, it was too late to "unsour" the experience.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

[Shepherd K]

Sent from my iPad

-----------------------------------------------

From: [VPPresident@[localidpaclub].com]

Date: March 23, 2012 9:21:43 AM CDT

To: [Shepherd K]

Cc: [all other local IDPA club board of director members]

Subject: Re: Match Direction

[Shepherd K], 

Thank you for writing to [Local IDPA club President] to let us know of an issue you had at one of our matches.  At Local IDPA club we work hard to insure each shooter has the best IDPA experience in the DFW Metroplex. 

With that said, I am disappointed to read that we did not communicate with you clearly regarding our match capacity limits for the [local gun] range.  Furthermore that one of our MD's was not courteous when discussing the matter with you directly.  

As Vice President I am responsible for the management of each of the MDs in the club.  I apologize on behalf of Local IDPA club for any inconvenience you suffered. To rectify your particular situation the following actions will be taken today: 

1. A post will be made on the Local IDPA club forum regarding the [local] range sign in policies and capacity limits.
2. I will speak with the MD ([short guy with an attitude]) so this situation does not happen in the future. 
3. The remainder of the [Local IDPA club] BOD will be notified of this issue.
4. [Local IDPA club] will waive your match fee for the next two matches.  Please let me know when and where you wish to attend a match so I can notify the appropriate MD.

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter further please do not hesitate to email me directly or call me at [XXX-XXX-XXXX].

[VP Local IDPA club]

------------------------------------

 

From: [Shepherd K]

Date: March 23, 2012 12:16:15 PM CDT

To: [VPPresident@[localidpaclub].com]

Cc: [all other local IDPA club board of director members]

Subject: Re: Match Direction

[Local IDPA Club VP], 

I really appreciate your prompt and thoughtful response. I also appreciate your offer to waive my next two match fees; however, that really is not necessary. Further and unfortunately, it will be the latter part of April before I will be able to make it to another [local IDPA club] match because of scheduling conflicts. 

I am more interested in trying to prevent a future recurrence by improving policy or procedure. In that vein, with the high turnout at matches (not just at [local IDPA club]), I would suggest that there be a mechanism to offer shooters who are turned away due to venue capacity issues a reservation or pre-sign in for a later match. I hope you would agree that such a mechanism would be a reasonable courtesy to members who come a long way through traffic but arrive a little too late to make the cut.

Again, I appreciate your response and willingness to address the issue. 

Sincerely,

[Shepherd K]

Match Results

As promised, the match results are in. I think I did fairly well considering this was my first time, and I had no basis for comparison. 

My total match score was 109.92 based on a total raw time of 107.42 and a total of 5 points down (meaning I hit the -1 section of a target five different times over the course of the match resulting in a half second penalty for each point down) for a 2.5 second penalty. Considering that there were 24 total targets among the four stages and I only missed the prime target area five times, I think that's pretty darn good for a newbie. 

My times were good enough for 32nd out of 40 shooters overall. I was 4th of 6 in the CDP (custom defensive pistol) division; however, I was the top unclassified shooter in my division. The other two UCs in CDP came in with scores of 132.21 and 148.35. I missed third place in the division by enough that it wasn't close (91.56 from a marksman ranked shooter). As I suspected, ESE#1 was the top shooter in CDP and second place overall with a score of 56.34. He's classified as expert. So, he should be shooting better than me. 

Top score overall was turned in by a stock service pistol shooter at 53.42. So, if I can cut my time in half, I've to a chance at winning. 

Maybe next time...yeah, right. 

Proud Moment in Professional Sports

As many of you know, I am not a huge professional sports fan. I enjoy watching a game now and again as much as the next guy, but who is on which team and which team is doing well this year does not consume my life. I have been a "hometown fan" for as long as I can remember even when those teams were nothing to write home about.

Lord knows the Dallas area sports teams have had their share of moments where they would have preferred NOT to be in the spotlight on or off the field. It's nice to see a moment when the SHOULD be in the spotlight for something that has nothing to do with the latest box scores.

This may be nothing more than a symbolic gesture on the part of the Rangers, but I really don't care. It's much better news than which overpaid, barely educated, drug snorting, prostitute abusing, malcontent "athlete" is in trouble this week for drunk driving/drugs/dog fighting/drive by shootings/ETC. It would be nice to see more stories like this from professional sports and fewer stories about the latest tantrum by the team "star" about why he's not getting paid enough to play with someone else's balls (or pucks if your a hockey fan).

Why Didn't I Think of This?

Let's see here...combine the games of pool and bowling...call it "Knokkers". I foresee many jokes forthcoming from drunk people. Also, is it considered a scratch if you fall on your ass while "shooting".

Play Ball

Thus far on this blog, I have refrained from any significant commentary regarding professional sports. This state of affairs is mainly because I am not a big sports fan. I don’t read Sports Illustrated or the sports page of the local paper. I don’t obsess over the box scores or team stats. I DO NOT have a FANTASY football team. That’s not to say I don’t like sports. It’s just that I would much prefer to participate in a sport than watch a sport. I will watch a game or two when the mood strikes, I happen to have free time on my hands and there is nothing better to do. I’ve even been known to go watch games in person from time to time (usually when someone else is paying for the tickets and parking pass).

While I respect the dedication, practice and skill necessary to play any sport on a professional level, I do find the amount of money, adoration and even obsession some people heap on professional athletes to be ridiculous at times. To me, it’s a sad commentary on our society that our entertainers are more highly valued and compensated than some other, much more important, occupations.

Having said all that, I feel that I must comment on the recently concluded Major League Baseball World Series.

For those of you who were not aware, the Texas Rangers lost their first ever World Series last night to the San Francisco Giants who won their first ever World Series much to the apparent disappointment of every mainstream sportscaster and writer in America who were practically in mourning over missing out on a Phillies and Yankees World Series (okay…so, I read an issue of SI while at a mediation a couple of weeks ago…there was nothing else to do).

Seeing as how I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and was raised to at least root for the home team, you might expect me to be disappointed that the Rangers lost the Series in five games. No. Not really.

You see, for those of you who DO follow sports more diligently than I, you already know that the fact that the Rangers even made it to the playoffs is an accomplishment in and of itself. The fact that there were no riots when the Rangers won the ALDS and then destroyed the Yankees in the ALCS is a miracle all by its lonesome.

For the uninitiated, please allow me, the un-sports fan, to educate you as to the perennial fiasco that was the Texas Rangers. For as long as I can remember, the Rangers have been an average team with no chance of making it to the playoffs much less the World Series. Historically, the Rangers start off the season looking really good only to magically turn in to the Bad News Bears sometime around the All Star break. You could almost set your watch by it.

I blame the team ownership. Almost everyone on the planet understands that the secret to a winning team is good pitching. The Rangers’ ownership never really understood that lesson until recently. Yes, they’ve had some good pitchers over the years…most notably Saint Nolan and his vicious right upper cut (is your head still ringing Robin Ventura?). I meant to say fastball. Unfortunately, the Rangers have never been able to put together a strong pitching rotation.

Until now.

Saint Nolan is now, as president and managing partner, part of the ownership group that bought the Rangers from Tom Hicks who let the club go into bankruptcy. The same Tom Hicks who thought it was a good idea to sign one player, Alex Rodriguez, to a 10 year $250 million deal. The new Rangers have built a pitching staff that have proven through the ALDS and ALCS that they can get the job done. The new Rangers have also hired Mike Maddux (brother to Atlanta Braves pitching great Greg Maddux) as their pitching coach.

So, for the first time in the history of the franchise, Rangers’ fans have reason to actually look forward to next year instead of just hoping that next year sucks less than last year.

To the folks in San Francisco, enjoy your riots.