Hotspur.us

It’s nice to have friends who have fun hobbies. And it’s even nicer when those friends share the wealth. Ah, it was a nice and happy warm (ok, Hot…it was HOT) September Sunday when we met up with Keith and headed out to the Pedlar WMA shooting range. The official purpose of course was to improve my aim and actually try to hit the target with my ACP.

But who am I to turn down a chance to improve my aim with the AR-15 as well? Really, it’s all about expanding my horizons and improving my aim on different types of guns. It’s a matter of practicality you know. Plus I like the very satisfying “whump” from this particular gun. It’s fun…”whump, whump, whump” and I totally dig shooting at the plastic bottles, which I seem to be able to hit much better than an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Go figure.

Of course Chad took the opportunity to show me up, as usual. I think perhaps he has special shooting contacts that he wears because I swear I can’t even tell if I am hitting the target. Unless I dig out the binoculars which I constantly forget to take with us.   But that’s ok, because eventually Mr. Smartypants had a little bit of an issue with the AR-15 as you can see. It makes it rather difficult to actually aim, let alone shoot when it’s sort of….well…bent in half. The good news was that our friend Keith is used to us making things cease to work and came prepared. At least I can take some satisfaction in knowing it wasn’t me this time around. Yay for small miracles.

For more pictures of us looking like looneys, click away…. Continue Reading »

I have a gun – my great Uncle Frank’s Colt 1911. What I don’t have is a lot of practice under my belt. This is a bit hard to achieve since I’m still in the “needs supervision” stage of shooting. There are a limited number of people we know who are A) capable of supervising and B) willing to supervise – the latter being rather important. Most of you know me, and you know how I get when I’m overstimulated. And trust me, I get WAY overstimulated at the range. Oh boy do I ever. Especially when the person(s) in charge of supervision brings big guns that go boom.  So, in order to outgrow the “Needs Supervision” stage I have to practice, right? Well happy day for me, because this morning we had a volunteer that fit the bill of both A & B.

Chad and I headed out to meet up with our friend Keith (who just happens to have several very fun guns to shoot). After a quick schmuffin & schmagel we headed out to Pedlar WMA Shooting Range hoping to beat the crowd of annoying (read = seriously annoying and possibly stupid) people who would show up later.

My main goal was to get comfortable with my gun and actually be able to hit the target. It’s heavy, it kicks and last time it bit me.  Sometimes I think that I’d have a better chance of defending myself by throwing the gun than shooting it. Which is to say, I might as well carry a big rock with me (no, I don’t carry it. I haven’t gotten that far yet.)

While it was good to get the much needed practice with my gun in -  and I totally rocked that cardboard box by the way – it was way too much fun for Chad and I to shoot Keith’s AR-15. Too…much….fun….oh….my….goodness…. uh, what was I typing…oh yeah, right, right. Especially at 100 yards (or however far it was…so far I let the guys go out and retrieve the targets afterwards. I’m no dummy).

We ran through a good amount of ammo, a plastic water bottle, some clay targets (mostly fail for me) and some paper targets. Not to mention the cardboard box – you know, the one I totally rocked. It was a good morning! Enjoy.

Continue Reading »

Football finally returned to Morgantown on a blazing hot day. A 3:30 start meant one thing….double the tailgate! And we all know what that means….no coherent story line here. Just enjoy the pics. I took more than I realized.

The best way to ring in Spring and a season of excellent caching is to start off with a group hunt for a classic cache.

Let’s see, who is the local cacher best known for meandering trails and elevation changes that could drive a man (or woman or cheese doodle) mad? Anyone? Suggestions?

You, over there…with your hand up. Wvcoalcat you say. Yes, I’m familiar with his trickery. His .75 miles as the crow flies from the parking coords to the cache. But if you can’t fly (and I can’t) it turns out to be a 10 mile round trip. Oh yes, I’m quite familiar with his brand of madness.

But which ‘coalcat cache? He’s been scattering them about the WMAs in these parts like a madman! Pheasant Mountain, you say. Sure, why not.

And so the call went out on MAGPI for any intrepid soul who felt compelled to spend his or her Saturday going up and down, around switchback after switchback, all in hopes of finding the elusive ammo can.

Now, according to ‘coalcat himself, it should have taken us 2 hours from our house. This meant shoving off at 8:30 to make the latest meeting time. No expedition departs the house on time, ever. It was 8:45 when loyal sidekick, myself and Aquacache and all of our equipment were situated in the Might Vue and set out.

Guess what? It didn’t take 2 hours. It took 1.25 hours. We showed up at the parking coords and a) we thought, no way could you fit 6 cars there and b) where the heck was everyone. We sat and waited. And then we waited some more and looked at the topo maps and tried to figure out how exactly this cache was going to be 5 miles in.

Eventually around, oh say 10:40 the brothers showed up.

Nothing like being timely. Then we saw the Mighty Festiva and knew that 89SC had arrived.

The group thus finally assembled, we headed out and up and down and around. Repeat. Again. Maybe Again. Are we there yet? No. What do you mean the GPSr still says 1.35 miles to the next split? We were that far away 20 minutes ago. Grumble, grumble, step in mud.

Eventually the distance did go down and we made the final dreaded climb. When the arrow swings 90 degrees and the distance is around 200 feet and your only option is UP….you can’t avoid it any longer.

89SC made the find and we all settled down to sign our name, take pics and try to recuperate for the long walk back….

Final Report: All cachers made it back to base. Everyone appeared to be intact. Everyone but the cache owner got a well-deserved smiley. Excellent adventure! Thanks ‘coalcat.

Continue Reading »