30 Days of Memories: Day 24

I love this picture of me at a Byers, Colorado long-range match. I don't have a long-range rifle of my own, so both matches I shot, I did with a borrowed gun. At this match, both Tara and I used her rifle.

Bonus picture: this one is not on my wall, but this is Tara at the same match.

There's something very satisfying about laying down behind a rifle and hitting your target 1,000 yards away. If you can't picture how far away 1,000 yards is, it's more than half a mile. 0.568182 miles away, to be exact. (In the bonus picture, you can't even see the targets, but they're located at the top of the rise.) It's a long, long way off and I managed to hit my target all day long.

Well, all except one shot. When you're shooting at that distance, there are some forces outside of your control. The one shot I "threw" was because just as the trigger broke, a gust of wind popped up and pushed my bullet to the right. A lot. My bullet tore through the target to my right. Let me tell you, there are few things more embarrassing than hitting another competitor's target in competition. She wasted no time yelling that it wasn't her shot, so she wouldn't be scored on it.

500!

I'm not sure what I thought I'd accomplish when I started blogging.  I initially did it to keep my girls in the loop as my life was rapidly changing (betcha didn't know that Robs and Staci).  I had met RCC, traveled down south to be on Horse Master with Julie Goodnight, and life was moving super fast.

I had no idea the blogosphere was its own community when I started.  I never expected to meet so many amazing people who I now consider friends. I certainly never intended to branch out into having so many different blogs.

People who don't blog, don't get it.  They don't understand how bloggy friendships are every bit as real as "real life" friendships.  But they are.  The community is as strong as any neighborhood community; we draw together to celebrate successes and mourn losses.  There's not a "support group" out there any stronger than the blogging community.

I can't imagine not blogging, not checking in on my friends, so I was a little surprised to see my number of posts hit 500.  For this blog.  Not quite there on my other ones.  And 500 over a three-year period of time isn't that many.  There are far more dedicated bloggers who post almost every day and have a whole lot more posts than I do, but this is a hell of a milestone for me.

So...I thought I'd look back over the last 500 posts and my life as a blogger.

• My first non-family followers were: T!nk (he doesn't run a blog anymore, but I still love him and talk to him ocassionally), Shepherd K, and Momma Fargo.
• My first blog post was about my experiences at Horse Master.
• Post number 100: Busy Day and A Big Goal Met, written during my very first NaNoWriMo
• Post number 200: Winners!, I gave away a copy of each of Tara's CRAZY/LOOSE books to celebrate my 200th post.  She's since completed the series.
• Post number 300: The Monday Minute, boy, those were fun.
• Post number 400: Perspective, written just last year about my weight battle.
• And of all of my posts, the one that continually gets the most hits and comments is the one about RCC's epiploic appendagitis.  Go figure.
• I was trying to figure out if I had a favorite post and the one that popped immediately into mind was this one.

If this milestone hadn't snuck up on me, I would have organized another give-away.  Sorry about that; I kinda dropped the ball there.  But please know, all of you, that I'm glad you spend a little bit of time with me each day and I'm honored to consider you friends.

The Invisible Women

It's time again to link up with Rachel and Mr. Daddy and share our "I can't believe that happened!" stories with the world.  We've all got 'em, so step out of the box a little and click on over to Once Upon A Miracle to join in the fun.

My dear friend Tara and I went to SHOT Show in Las Vegas last week.  We met up with three guys from the gun shop: Boss Man, Army Guy, and the Original Bad Boy.  Boss Man is the owner and gunsmith at the gun shop, who had coordinated our registration for the show. 

Army Guy is Boss Man's best friend who has had a "crush" on me for years.  According to Tara, he can't keep his eyes off of me and every move he makes is in my direction (pay attention to that, it will be important later).  I kind of shrugged it off when she said it, but then realized it was true. 

The Original Bad Boy has been there, done that.  Let's just say I'm glad I'm on his good side and that he's a friend of the U.S.; he's the one and only person I've seen with the ability to completely disappear in a crowded room.  He just becomes so still that he disappears, I kid you not.  It's crazy.

Boss Man's cousin (or cousin-in-law, I can't keep it straight) is a former Border Patrol Agent with tales as tall as Paul Bunyan.  I've never met the famous (or infamous) JT, but I've heard stories about him for years.  Apparently, this was going to be the year to meet JT, as he was going to be in Las Vegas the same time we were and also had registered for SHOT Show.  The Original Bad Boy told us that you didn't "meet" JT as much as you "experienced" him and they all assured us that we'd have a blast getting to meet him and listen to his stories. The boys were so excited they couldn't hardly stand themselves.  Boss Man must have called JT a million times to make sure we were going to meet up and to coordinate when and where. 

Tara and I tagged along with the boys, pausing when Boss Man stopped to talk shop with people in the booth.  The problem is that Boss Man can talk like a girl, so sometimes his quick stops ended up being a half hour or more.  When that happened, we'd just wander off for a bit and keep checking back later until he was ready to move on.

At one booth, Boss Man was busy talking up the owner when the infamous JT showed up with his buddy, Primitive Boy.  Army Guy and Original Bad Boy immediately fell into an animated conversation with them.  Tara and I would have introduced ourselves to JT, but we ceased to exist.  We had been standing off to the side about two feet when JT and Primitive Boy made their appearance.  Army Guy and Original Bad Boy closed ranks, making it impossible for us to join in.  Not a big deal; Tara and I just looked at each other and decided to wander off on our own.

We took in three or four aisles, stopped at the bathroom (no lines!), got something to eat and meandered back to the gathering of JT, which was just breaking up.  Again, no offers to introduce us and no opportunity to introduce ourselves.  After JT and Primitive Boy took their leave, Army Guy noticed that we'd been gone, but only because we came back with food in our hands.  Boss Man asked if we'd been introduced to JT and apologized for being busy with the owner of the booth.  Not a problem, we were going to meet them for dinner anyway.  Plenty of time to get to meet them.

Dinner time comes, the boys arrive at our door to gather us up for dinner with the Great JT and we head to their favorite restaurant.

The Great JT and his posse had gotten to the restaurant first and gotten us a table.  We walked up to join them and realized that they were two chairs short - one for Tara and one for me.  The boys had completely forgotten that we were going to be joining them for dinner and hadn't told the Great JT to include us in the count.

Two of the guys in JT's posse were appropriately horrified at the oversight. 

Our guys? 

Didn't even notice. 

We ceased to exist the minute they set eyes on the Great and Powerful JT.  Tara offered for us to sit at the counter and they could all go do their dinner.  J and K, with the Great JT's posse, wouldn't hear of it and immediately re-located to a table that would seat all of us. 

Our guys? 

Didn't even notice. 

We no longer existed in the shadow of their Messiah, the Great and Powerful JT.  We had become... *insert deep, thunderous voice here* ...The Invisible Women.

Remember, way back at the beginning, when I said Army Boy has had a crush on me for years?  Remember that Tara said that he couldn't take his eyes off of me and that every move he made was in my direction?

Yeah, not so much when the Great and Powerful JT is involved.

At the new table, Tara and I expected that we'd be sitting at one end by ourselves, the boys were so enamoured of JT.  It was amusing to see all of the boys (with the exception of J and K, who chose to sit at our end of the table) fall all over JT and Primitive Boy and fairly scramble to get a seat next to him.  Of all of the boys, I was most disconcerted to see the Original Bad Boy fall under the Great and Powerful JT's spell.

In the end, Tara and I had an absolutely wonderful time with J and K.  I'm betting we had more fun listening to their stories than we would have listening to the Great and Powerful JT's stories - simply because we hadn't had the chance to fall under his spell.

Speaking of Tara - click on over to Girls With Guns for our Q&A with her and a chance to win an autographed copy of LOOSE ENDS.

A Bombshell and then Radio Silence

Or something like that.

First, the bombshell.  My baby, my first born, my sweet, sweet son (he's sweet now that he's living on his own and is self-sufficient) has decided to co-habitate with his girlfriend.  What's so horrible about that, you ask?

I have not met her.  What if she's not worthy of my son? 

Never would I have ever thought I'd be THAT mom.  The one who instantly distrusts any girl who ropes my son in.  But I've never met her.  They've only been "together" for about a month.  A month!  Again with being THAT mom.  I swear, I'm not.  I have no idea who this crazy lady is who has taken over my thoughts.

All I want is for Digger to be happy.  No, really.  That's what I want.  So who is THAT mom who keeps taking over my feelings?

He assures me I'll love her when we meet.  Of course he does.  But he's my baby.  He's only 19 - what does he know about happily ever after?  (Mom and Bill - don't. want. to. hear. it.)

So what that I was 18 when I got married and 20 when I had Digger.  That was me.  Not my baby.

I guess part of my problem is that while I thought about the kids growing up and moving out - I never really counted on them getting married.  That was a totally abstract thought.  Sure, they were going to grow up and get married.  But it never crossed my mind that I'd have daughter- or son-in-laws.

I know, I know.  I'm jumping the gun.  They're just moving in together.

First, they got a dog.

The next day, I find out they're going to be living together.

Now what? (Mr. Daddy - we've had this conversation, you just shut it.)

So...

On to the radio silence.  I'm off the radar for a few days while I'm off at SHOT Show with Tara.  See y'all in a few days.

Tara's Coming To Play

The other GunDiva, Tara Janzen, is going to be doing a guest blog over at Girls With Guns.  She's the author of the award-winning and New York Times Bestselling Steel Street series and I seriously heart her.

On Wednesday, jump on over to GWG to join what is certain to be a thought-provoking and fun post.

And don't forget to enter here for a chance at a $40 gift certificate from CSN stores.

Re-Gifting!

So, three of my give-away winners didn't claim their books.  Know what that means?
It means that I got to plug more names into the Random Name Picker and choose three more winners!
I chose from the 200th post commenters, not including family (sorry Mom and Bill), previous winners or those who didn't claim their books.  What that means is that even if you commented late, you were included the drawing this time around.

Crazy Sweet: T!nK

Cutting Loose: Sara

Loose and Easy: Shannon O'Donnell






I've got all of the other books packaged and ready to ship.  Y'all have no idea how hard that was to do, because I've loaned out my entire set and I just love these books.  It took all of my self control not to just sit down and read them all from start to finish before I mailed them out.

Winners!

My good friend and fellow GunDiva, Tara Janzen, is an amazing author with more than twenty years as a published author.  We met when she was doing research for her current series.  I just happened to be the lucky co-instructor in her pistol safety course.  We clicked and quickly became shooting buddies. I was there when she learned to become one with her rifle; it really was beautiful and magical.

As an invisible writer, I was initially star-struck to meet a real, honest-to-God, paid author.  With seemingly millions of books to her name.  As we became better friends - and after I was "killed" over and over again at the gun shop for a scene in one of her books - I finally broke down and asked her to read some of my work.  She was honest.  I love her for that.  What I had presented to her was crap, though she was kind enough not to put it that way.

She was also the one, who, after reading some of my stories over at Tales, told me those should be published.  Since she'd been honest in her review of my previous work, I knew it was high praise.  She gave me the courage to submit my query.

Not only do I count her as one of my dearest friends, she's a hell of a writer and I love her books.  Since I love them so much, I thought I'd share with you.

Crazy Hot: Michelle Pixie

Crazy Cool: Mad Woman

Crazy Wild: Mrs Mom

Crazy Kisses: K Erickson

Crazy Love:  Dual Mom

Crazy Sweet:  Ian

On The Loose:  Vinomom

Cutting Loose: Life with Kaishon

Loose and Easy:  Foursons

...and, finally, Breaking Loose goes to Taylorvillegirl











Please email your physical addresses to me at tel835@hotmail.com so I can get them in the mail to you ASAP.  I hope you love them as much as I do.  And, guys (no - really - the penised-Americans) who read my blog, if you've won one of these books, don't let the cover put you off...my big, bad Marine brother loves them!  He just hides them inside a Playboy or some other such manly thing.

Any books not claimed by Sunday evening will be re-gifted, so fair warning.

Thank you to everyone for helping me celebrate my 200th blog post!

True Story Tuesday - Mommy Fail!

As always, thanks to Rachel and Mr. Daddy who host this little "embarrass ouselves" party each week.

Head on over there for some more horrifying, "I can't believe he/she did that, I'm so going to use this as a bribe/extortion against my blog buddies" stories.

Mommy Fail

Many years ago, when my children were still small and cute we joined my parents for a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  I was super excited because it was the first "real" vacation my children and I had had together (and, quite possibly, the last - after all, I was a struggling single mother of three who wasn't getting any child support.  Life is very different now).

Monster, my youngest, was seven years old at the time and  prone to not being able to sit still.  He still can't.  The thought of him strapped into an airplane for more than, oh, five minutes, was not a pleasant one.  But we were going to Mexico, by God, and he was going to have to sit still and not get us thrown off the plane.  Even he was worried about how he was going to get there alive.  I assured him I had a plan, for I know very well the virtues of the extra-label use of Benadryl, so I bought some cherry-flavored children's chewables.  I assured him that the Benadryl would just make it easy for him to sleep on the plane and that when he woke up we'd be in Mexico.

Worked like a charm.  Dosed him up when we got to the gate and by the time we took off, his little head was nodding.  Score one for Mommy.

A few days later, we went out on a party boat (no, that's not the Mommy Fail) for some snorkeling and a lunch at a "private" island (which must have been co-owned by about forty other party boats).  Then we sailed over to another island for a hike back into a pretty waterfall.  The day was going beautifully.  Well, except for the chaffing on poor Digger's thighs from the lining of his wet swim trunks during the hike (no, that's not the Mommy Fail either!).

On the way back to Puerto Vallarta, there was music and dancing on the deck.  We all had a good time dancing around, right up until Monster stepped on a bee and got stung.  He dropped like a rock and started crying (hell, I would have too).  One of the crew scooped him up, took him to the bar and ordered up some tequila.  He poured the tequila over Monster's foot, scraped the stinger out and then put a cotton ball soaked with tequila on the sting.  Monster was in heaven.  For the remainer of the trip, if his cotton ball began to look like it was drying up, we had to put more tequila on it.

We got back to the condo without any problems or any further complaints from Monster about his foot.  The tequila seemed to have done its job of numbing up the bite.

At bedtime, though, his little foot started to itch and burn, so I went to get the Benadryl.

As soon as he saw me with the Benadryl, he wailed, "I don't want to go to sleep!  I want tequila!"

And that, my dear blog buddies, was the Mommy Fail.

It took a long time to convince him that Benadryl was actually for bee stings and that the sleepiness was just a bonus.  I don't remember if we ever got him talked into taking the Benadryl or not, to be honest.

Yay!  Y'all've just read my 200th post!!!

I had no idea, when I started this blog, where it would go, or if it would go anywhere at all.

I was clueless about blog etiquette (still am for the most part - there are so many "rules"),

But I'm getting the hang of it.

I didn't know if anyone would read my blog, other than my family.

And then I got my first followers and they've been so loyal (Thanks K. and T!nK),

My own bloggy support group.

In the past year, new followers have signed up and stayed with me.

How crazy is that?

I've never done a give-away before, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Don't count on it happening often.

Unless TALES FROM THE TRAIL sells,

But that's a whole different story.

So...comment away...

Ten randomly drawn commenters will receive a copy of a book from my favorite GunDiva,

Tara Janzen.

Be sure to check back for the winners!

And, please, for the love of God, if you've never commented before,

Quit lurking!

You may miss out big.

Really big.

Thank you, everyone, for helping me celebrate my 200th post.  I entered everyone's name (well, except Allenspark Lodge) into a Random Name Picker provided by Classtools.net and chose ten winners, who will be announced tomorrow (Wednesday, March 24th).

What A Nice Surprise!

Nathanael over at This Is How It Feels has honored me with a bit of blog bling, and what a great surprise it was!  Nathanael and I "met" when he was honored with the Honest Scrap award by Monda over at No Telling, I jumped over to his blog and fell in love.  We were both then honored by Monda when we were included in EasyStreet Prompts' Blog Carnival.

When I think about the people I've "met" via blogging, it's rather mind-boggling.  The internet, I know it's been said before, has opened up whole new worlds.  Where else would I have met a gay solder serving in Baghdad or a Southern gal with a passion for writing or another wickedly funny Southern gal or an endurance rider from California?  There are so many people that I've met through blogging that I would never have had the opportunity to meet before.  It truly is astounding.

The rules, as have been explained to me by Nathanael are:

1.) grab the award (check - see above)
2.) post it on your blog along with five things you love to do (Oh Jeez, just five.  I'll have to think about that.)
3.) five others you want to recognize... (Again, only five?)

Things I love to do: (in no specific order)

1. Ride my horse, Estes.  You can find the story of how I fell in love with her over at my other blog, Tales From The Trail
2. Blog.  Well, write.  I love to write, and blogging is an easy way to connect with people I wouldn't normally get to meet.  I also love my morning blog crawl and can't get through my morning without it; it's my equivalent of reading the morning paper, I guess.
3. Shoot.  Hence the name Gun Diva.  I love the feel of a controlled explosion, which is all shooting really is.  And, hey, I'm pretty good at it.  My friend and fellow Gun Diva, Tara Janzen, is a rifle shooting queen.  Me, I love the handguns.
4. Read.  This kind of ties in with #2; part of blogging is reading.  I get to read small, bite-sized stories daily and look forward to them, but I also love novels.  Really, anything with words.  Hell, I even read shampoo bottles.
5. Work.  I really do love my job and the people I work with; I can't imagine doing anything else.

Recognize Five Others... (again, in no specific order.  Nathanael, you know I'd send this back to you if I could.)

• K. Erickson at Preachers and Horse Thieves.  He was awarded Editor's Pick for the 1st edition of EasyStreet's Blog Carnival.  I jumped over to his blog and immediately followed.  I love his writing and his dedication to his wife.  Here's a man who is head-over-heels in love with his wife and isn't afraid to post it for the whole world.  Oh, and he's got some great stories, too.
• Monda at No Telling and EasyStreet Prompts.  She's a great storyteller and I look forward to her posts everyday.  I'm not sure how I stumbled upon No Telling, but I enjoy it immensely.  And, of course, EasyStreet Prompts has a place in my heart, as my Honorable Mention (posted over at Lyon's Roar) was my first ever blog bling.
• Candance at Crazy Texas Mommy.  I love this woman!  Her posts are guaranteed to make me laugh.  Everyone needs a little CTM in their life.  Imagine my surprise when I was talking to my brother in Arizona one day and he asked if I'd ever read CTM.  We both found her blog at about the same time and fell in love.  Shortly thereafter my step-dad started following CTM, so now it's kind of a family cult thing.  So...that sounds a little creepy.  Didn't mean it to come out that way.
• Roxanne at Pet Blog.  Her stories about Verne the horse trader keep me in stitches.  I love the way she's able to bring his stories to life in so few words.
• Bill and Juanita at It's A Horse Life.  Okay, so there's a bit of nepotism here, they are, after all, my parents.  And I was the one who not only talked them into blogging, but set it up for them.  It started as just a way to share some of their favorite stories and recipes and stay in touch with their guests, but they're really taken it and run and their hits counter is burning up. 
  

That was tough, only choosing five.  Please check them out; I think you'll enjoy them.  And be sure to tell them I said 'hi' when you stop by.

GunDiva Day

What a fabulous day! Finally, we managed to get together this morning for a little bit of gunpowder therapy. The weather was great, the company amazing (love you Glenna), and the shooting good. Very rarely do I ever shoot as well as I want to, but it's always a good time. We only shoot one magazine each time we go out and we drill on the basics, but as the Original Bad Boy often tells us, "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Next week, we'll work on something else, I think. Probably rapid fire, but who knows?

I treasure the days that Glenna and I do actually get to go out - they don't occur nearly frequently enough. No matter how bad the day or week or month has been, when I return from getting my "Glenna time" all is right with the world. She's got such a wonderful, calming influence on me and I am so lucky to have found a fellow GunDiva in her. Looks like I may get more Glenna time. I'm considering a return to the gun shop one afternoon a week - with a promise from her of some of her wonderful green chili and a promise from the Boss Man of a new Para. See how easily this GunDiva can be bought? Yummy green chili and a shiny new gun and I'll sign on to do data entry.

Louisville Public Library

On Saturday I was lucky enough to get to spend the afternoon at the coolest event ever! The Louisville Public Library sponsored a gathering with Colorado authors that was open to the public. I found out about the event through my friend, Tara Janzen, who was one of the authors, but I really didn't know what to expect.

The woman who coordinated the event did a marvelous job - rather than the "panel" of authors I had envisioned, she had the authors present to small groups for ten minutes or so, and then the groups rotated. It was cozy, unintimidating, and very informational. Each author read a short excerpt from one of her books then answered questions from the guests. Guest could ask pretty much anything they wanted about writing as a career, how each writer got started, whether they plot or write by the seat of their pants...

The authors were very supportive and encouraging for those of us in the groups who want to be writers when we grow up. I came away from the event completely energized and ready to tackle my book project AGAIN!

A Girl and Her Gun

Last night I watched one of my favorite movies, The Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg (my, has he grown up nicely!) which always reminds me of my dear friend and fellow Gun Diva, Tara Janzen. Tara and I have been shooting buddies since I helped teach a firearms class she was taking for research seven or eight books ago (it's been awhile). The movie always reminds me of when we were learning to shoot long-range, 1,000 yards, after she built "Kid's" sniper rifle. I would swear that the original Bad Boy who taught us to shoot long-range was a technical advisor for the film, as some of the phrases are straight out of his mouth. Each time I hear, "Slow is smooth; smooth is fast" I hear it in his voice, not Wahlberg's.

Although I love the movie there are just a couple of things about it that make me absolutely insane. First, the minute your head comes up off the rifle, the lens covers go down. Should be automatic. If not, that's 10 push-ups :) Tara and I only had to do a few before we remembered to flip the lens covers down. Second, while Wahlberg handles his weapons well, he's missing the connection with the weapon. I would not have even noticed had I not seen someone develop that connection and it makes all the difference in the world.

I was at the range with Tara and the Bad Boy getting ready for an upcoming match when I got the best gift in the world; I got to witness, first-hand, the connection being made. There is something absolutely wonderous and magical when a shooter and her rifle become one. Tara had been shooting and took a break so I could shoot. When she laid down with her rifle the next time she just breathed herself onto it. Between one breath and the next she and her rifle joined; they were no longer two discrete critters, but one living, breathing unit. It took my breath away to see the birth of Tara the Shooter. Before, she had been Tara who shoots.

That was a couple of years ago and I can still close my eyes, see the range, watch Tara lay down behind her rifle, take a breath, lay her cheek against the stock, exhale and become one with her rifle. I've been lucky enough to witness this a couple of times with her and each time it takes my breath away; it is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

New York Times' Best Seller!

My dear friend and fellow Gun Diva, Tara Janzen, just released her 9th book in the Steele Street (CRAZY/LOOSE) series, which debuted #33 on the New York Times' Best Seller List! Yay, Tara! Check out her website, http://www.tarajanzen.com/, for more on her books and the kick-ass shotgun she built (Skeeter's Shotgun).

Tara and I met a couple of years ago (about 6 books ago, I think) while I was helping teach a firearms class. We immediately hit it off and I absolutely adore her. Besides being an amazing human being, she's my favorite shooting buddy (sorry, RockCrawlinChef). Tara's one of the hardest working people I know and it's about time that she made the List! Honestly, she's one of the best authors around - she's got a way with words that I envy - and I'm so proud of her for this well-deserved honor.
Congratulations Tara - the Heathi and I love you!