Heat, shooting

Last Thursday I picked up the metal for the roof repairs as well as the metal for the roof on the tall part of the shop. On my way back home I bought a twenty foot ladder at Lowe’s. I got to use that ladder on Saturday. The peak of the tall part of the shop is about sixteen feet so when the ladder is properly positioned there is about five inches extending past the top pipe. I told Mama I should have gotten the twenty four foot ladder but I wanted to save one hundred dollars.

Just having that ladder allowed me to get the remaining brackets on the pipe in pretty short order. I even got two more sixteen foot two by sixes on the roof before I had to quit for the day. By the time I quit at 11 a.m. the temperature was already over 100®F. Three hours out in the heat was enough for me.

I had to pick a spot to stop anyway since Mama and I had decided to go to Sam’s for a few items and we had company coming out to the farm that evening. Fortunately we did not have to prepare anything for our visitors; they had volunteered to bring everything needed for dinner. They were coming to use our big tank as a shooting range.

I took a few minutes and set up some target stands down at the big tank. The last time they came I did not have anything prepared so we had to stake the targets with twigs and stones. I wanted to have a more finished approach this time so I set up two cedar posts. On one post I put a piece of plywood I had laying around and on the second post I put up two smaller pieces of scrap plywood to form a shelf.

The shelf was a big hit. When we set cans and plastic water bottles on it there was a pretty obvious response to a bullet hitting it. The targets became secondary. Much to his lasting regret a large turtle crawled up the slope where is had the targets set up. He did not make it to the top. I explained that I shoot any turtle I can to allow the fish in the big tank to have a fighting chance at survival. It is the only tank we have that has fish in it.

The Wyckoff’s son-in-law brought his AR-15 to the shooting party. It was a real noise maker. I did not shoot it because I am having enough trouble with my shoulder. James and his sister Brittany did shoot the rifle and James immediately began talking about getting his own. I have no desire to own one.

I did get to shoot my newly purchased 9mm pistol as well as shooting my old .22 cal. revolver. I am a much better shot with the revolver than with the 9mm. Victoria did not like the 9mm at all. I am not sure if I ever hit what I was aiming at with it but I did get on the paper of the target every time.

What is did learn was that I need to have my reading glasses on for shooting. I was not able to see the sights on any of the pistols or rifles I shot without the help of the bifocals. I had to use my right thumb to hold up my glasses so I could see the sights on the rifle. I never did figure out how to get my bifocal on the sights of the pistol without tilting by head way up to get the alignment right.

We had fun – but I do not think our neighbors appreciated the AR.