Thursday's Thoughts

-Wesley was super excited about this morning. You see, this morning is Donuts with Dad at the school. It's pretty self explanatory, Sean takes Wesley to school and they have donuts together. Taking the kids to school is my job so this morning I'm lounging around in my pj's, drinking tea and thoroughly enjoying the morning off. Wesley is pumped to get to ride in the corvette for the very first time. I'm not a huge fan of him riding in the front seat but there really isn't an option with that car. Have fun boys!

-I have a new routine every morning that I'm loving. I take out my little blender and blend together a handful of baby spinach, blueberries, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, a scoop of almond butter and some coconut milk. It might not sound appetizing but it's quite good and it jump starts my day.....even if it looks like mud.

-Ok, I know this is the time of year when our creepy little elf is supposed to make an appearance, but I can't seem to muster up the energy to go down and retrieve him from his box. The kids really enjoyed Christopher last year. They loved waking up each morning and finding him and seeing what he was up to. That made me smile. BUT, I'm tired this year. I'm stressed. I do not need something else to do every single day. I don't feel creative enough to think up some new and exciting place for the elf to be each morning for the next 13 mornings. So I'm thinking Christopher is going to stay in his box up until the 20th (or so) and then I only have to think of five creative ways to display him. Lazy? Heck yea. But I know my limits. See you in about a week Christopher.

-I was at Cabela's doing the last of our Christmas shopping yesterday. I have a confession, I don't love that store. I know that every male on the planet adores that store. Heck, some women even like it. It's an outdoor lovers paradise. Perhaps if I was a hunter, or a fisher, or loved to kayak or ski or camp I would like the place. But there is seemingly nothing in that store that can hold my interest. Or so I thought! Here I am wandering around and ran into a whole display on conceal carry. It had nice leather purses (I'll admit the only reason I was drawn to the display) with hidden compartments built in to hold your gun. How cool! It made me realize I really want to get my conceal carry license. Not because I want to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment, but because I want to have my license so that if I wanted to carry a cool purse with a gun compartment (and a gun in it) I legally could. So that's now on the short list of items to do.

Slacker

It's been very difficult to get back into running since returning home from vacation. With the birthday party last weekend and the darn heat I just can't seem to find the motivation. I drug myself out this morning bright and early after getting only a few hours of sleep. Our anniversary was yesterday (11th!) and it turns out we have an awesome babysitter right under out noses. Rich hung out on the couch while the kids slept and Sean and I escaped to feed on snow crab and catch a movie. We were able to stay out as late as we wanted on a Saturday night. We couldn't remember the last time we went out on a Saturday night. It was pre-kids...so at least 5 years. Boy it was nice. But we got home in the wee hours of the morning and those kids are up bright and early regardless of how much sleep we got. So I figured I'd drag myself up and out the door.

Today's run was a far cry from running in the mountains. I surprised myself and got 11 miles in while on vacation. It took a day or so to acclimate to the altitude in which I speed walked but didn't have any problems with the altitude. The cabin is around 9500 feet I believe. Can't really beat this view while breathing that cool mountain air (it sure beat the 90 degree air at 8:30 this morning).

About half way through the trip I got back to the cabin and was talking with my Dad. The conversation went something like this:

Dad: "Did you have a good run" 


Me: "Yeah. Ran down and walked up the mountains"


Dad: "Good. I was talking to one of the neighbors up here and they were telling me about the bear."


Me: gulp "What bear?!?"


Dad: "There is a resident bear in the neighborhood. But don't worry about him, he'll go out of his way to stay out of your way."


Me: "Oh goody."


Dad: "He's not really what you need to worry about, it's the mountain lion that will get ya."

And that ended any future running in the mountains for that vacation. From that point on I kept it to the hotel treadmill on the way home. My dad thinks I should carry a small handgun with me while running, not just in the mountains but here in the flat lands as well. A friend of my in-laws carries a gun while running down in New Mexico. They have mean tusked pigs that roam wild called Havalina and she's prepared in case she runs into one. We don't have to worry about bears, mountain lions or havalina around here but out in the country, where I run, we do have pit bulls and other dogs that run around in packs. I haven't ran into any mean dogs in the past year of running but it's probably only a matter of time.

So I've been researching holsters for our little Ruger and there are tons of ways to carry a gun but not many that are meant for running / jogging. The forums have people saying the thigh holsters rub, the belly holsters jiggle and the under arm holsters rub your arm raw while exercising. I'll have to keep doing my research but I'm starting to think I might have to haul out the sewing machine and make something out of cotton that straps to my back (that's what I see when I think of a running holster). Hmm....I think I just hijacked my running post and turned it into a gun post.

The Hand Mutilator

Ok, so if you've been reading this little blog of mine then you know that I am the proud new owner of a handgun. The gun has been sitting in its box, untouched since we bought it at the gun show about a month ago. Deciding it was time to shoot it, I went to the gun range in town on Tuesday evening with my Dad. My father joined a pistol league at work and invited me to go shooting with him. Actually he invited me to join the pistol league too but since I don't work where he works I'd have to pay quite a bit of money to join and I doubt I was a very good shot anyways. SO, I decided to just go shooting with him.

Overall, it was quite an experience. My gun, a Ruger LCR, is definitely not a pleasure to shoot. I think I shall refer to it as the "hand mutilator" from hence forth. As a self defense weapon it will work wonderfully, but as something that you take and shoot with any regularity.....not gonna happen. I put 25 rounds through it and my hand felt like someone took a hammer to it. The meaty part between my thumb and pointer finger still hurts and it's been two days. I believe I hit the target with all 25 rounds but got worse as I shot because I was flinching as it went off in preparation for the pain. Ouch. So then I got to shoot dad's .22 that he shoots for the league. I believe it's a Ruger Mark III. So much nicer to shoot. Nearly zero recoil, and a nice heavy gun. Might have to pick up a .22 caliber gun in the near future if I want to go shooting with Dad every week. Which I think I'd like to. Heck maybe I'll join a league at the gun range. Because you know I'm not competitive at all. *wink

My very first handgun

I experienced a "first" this weekend. I attended my very first gun show. I've been married to what I like to call a "gun man" for over ten years now but have never went with him to a gun show. It was.....er....interesting. It was held in a building that I had been to for two other occasions. The first being a miniature horse show and the second a dog show. So to enter the building after seeing it full of cute tiny horses and fluffy show dogs was sure a change of scenery. Guns piled high on table after table and more black leather than I've ever seen in my life. I must admit that the people watching opportunities were worth the price of admission all on their own (the winner by far being the large hairy gentleman in the kilt).

It was actually pretty fun (can't believe I'd ever see myself write that). I've come along way with my attitude toward guns. I used to be very anti-gun when I was younger but things change. I don't know if it's living in the country or the need to protect my family and animals but I fully embrace guns now. Perhaps I've just become more of a redneck. I think it's a good thing to know how to shoot a gun, even though I hope I never have to find myself in a situation where I need to shoot a gun. Recently I saw a billboard for a conceal carry class and I though to myself "now that is something I'd like to do". So the first step is buying a handgun. We aren't new to owning guns, we have a couple of shot guns and used to have a rifle but this is my very first handgun. It's not just mine but it has to be something that I feel comfortable using, so it was pretty much my choice. I contacted our friend and fellow gun enthusiast about which gun he would recommend for me. He immediately suggested a compact revolver. His wife has a hard time racking a semi-automatic pistol so a good alternative is a compact revolver. His recommendation was a Ruger LCR. I don't have great hand strength and need to keep my hands protected because of all the sculpting I do so this sounded like a good alternative to the basic semi-automatic pistol. 

So that's what we had our eye out for when we went to the gun show yesterday. We'd done our research online and knew what we were looking for and what to expect price wise. Hubby said it was much nicer going in with an idea of what you were looking for, rather than just drifting around looking at everything. There were so many guns it was over whelming but we only found five Ruger LCR's. I tried out several different compact revolvers but did end up liking the Ruger the best. It was light and the grip was really nice.  So I am the proud owner of my very first handgun. Isn't she purdy? 

Don't worry we are going to buy a gun safe within the next couple of weeks and in the mean time we own no ammo for this gun (and it has a lock on it). I believe guns should be locked up tight with kids around. I am looking forward to shooting it. In true redneck fashion we will be moving a large pile of horse manure over to the back corner of the property and making a berm to shoot into (no neighbors back there). So now you know the story of how I acquired my very first handgun.