October 27: Ready, Aim, Fire!

"What's the good of living if you don't try a few things?" - Charles M. Schulz

"Adventure may hurt you, but monotony will kill you." - Marcus Purvis

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Today Bob took me to the Burro Canyon Shooting Park. He needed to sight his rifle and I wanted to see him fire it. The drive to range took about an hour and a half up to the mountain canyon. I had no idea how this type of activity works, so I was interested. You have to pay $15 to shoot and sign in. You have to pay for a target. There were different ranges. One for rifles, one for hand guns, and another that was for private parties. I guess this range is also used by law enforcement for target practice. They have what is called red line breaks where everyone has to empty their weapon and leave it, then step behind the red line. This gives everyone an opportunity to either collect their target or set up their target. Bob set up our target at 100 yards. He set up his rifle and the scope. My job was to tell him how far away he was fro his intended target. It was kind of fun telling him left, right, up, down, etc. until he felt like his rifle scope was sighted. I took three shots at the target. The first shot was a bit scary because the rifle kicked and hit me in the cheek bone. I thought I'd get a bruise, but I didn't. I took two more shots and apparently I didn't shoot too badly even though I was using the wrong eye to aim. My contacts are monovision and my left eye is my distant vision so I was aiming with my left eye with a right handed rifle. This may be the reason I bat left handed. But then I play tennis with my right hand. I do have a two handed back swing. Anyway I was a decent shot. I forgot to say that you have to wear earplugs or noise deafening headphones because it is very. very, very noisy. Whenever a shot went off I jumped even when I was trying really hard not to. There was a bowling pin at the 250 yard mark and Bob was able to hit it on his first try. Good job, Babe. On the way up we stopped to take pictures of the dam and the spillway. It was a fun time and I learned a lot. I think I'd enjoy going again. I did go to the shooting range with my dad when I was young, but nothing since then. Ben went shooting with our sons. I wouldn't allow him to have guns in our house. Mostly I was afraid of him having access to a firearm when he was depressed. When I say that I wouldn't allow him, I mean if he had the money on his own and wanted a gun, I wouldn't have stopped him, but because I was working and paying the bills, he understood that we would have to agree on that type of purchase.

When I was young, maybe 11 or 12 there was a handgun on our roll top desk. My brother was goofing around with it and shot a hole through a plexiglass globe hanging in the room where my step sister was sitting. It was very scary. It was there because my dad and my brother were bow hunters and the gun was to end any undue suffering on the part of the deer. I blame my dad for not having completely unloaded the gun and for leaving it out in plain sight where a young man might feel tempted. We were just lucky that no one was hurt or killed.