I realized I haven’t written much about what J and I have been doing since June. I think I can sum up much of what we’ve done in one word… relaxed. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it since we’ve still been traveling around working, but overall, we’ve done a lot of relaxing.

In July we spent a week in North Carolina, and although it was for work, it was laid back and we ended up at the beach one day. In August we went to Arkansas for vacation, and it’s one of the most relaxing trips I can remember ever having. We rode bikes, did some antique shopping, and grilled out at our cabin. September I went to Washington and… did more relaxing!

In those three months we’ve had some visitors; a friend from New York and my family. Both times we didn’t rush around to do anything, just enjoyed the company and relaxed.

I guess it doesn’t sound very exciting, but J and I are feeling pretty peaceful right now, and we’ll continue to enjoy it because I’m sure soon we’ll get thrown back into something frantic.

“Who got me started” in shooting can really be divided between two people: my best friend, and my dad.

When I was 8 years old Liz and I were inseparable. We were in the same class, played on the same softball team, and spent a lot of time walking places with our arms linked. So when her older brother joined a 4-H shooting club and her dad made her go along, I willingly joined so she wouldn’t have to be the only girl. We started out in a storage shed that had no A/C and limited heat during the Nebraska winters. I also started with minimal coaching, so no one realized I was left eye dominant (because I wrote right handed) and I spent a year seeing two targets and guessing which one to shoot at. I was terrible, always missing the target, but for some reason I loved it.

Which is where I have to give my dad most of the credit. Liz might have dragged me to the actual building, but my dad made me love shooting. He was, and always has been, the pivotal person in my shooting career that made overcoming a challenge something I wanted to do. He took the initiative to take coaching classes and helped me learn to shoot left handed. Together we learned all the basics and later the advanced aspects of rifle shooting. Practice was a chance for him and me to sit down together in our own bubble and work out a problem (mostly shooting, but sometimes not). I got better, won some matches, and for the next 10 years my dad and I worked towards goals that later got me a college scholarship.

Two weekends in a row J has twisted my arm to go to the range with him. 😉

Last week we competed in a steel challenge match. It’s a match fired with both .22 rifle and .22 pistol at steel plates. There were 5 different stages that we had to shoot, and each stage we got to try 5 times. It’s a speed event, so our 4 fastest times at each stage were added up to make our “score”. It’s the second time we’ve competed in a match like this, so placing around 5th place felt pretty good. In October we’ll also be competing in another steel challenge in Arkansas for a work-related venture. This match was mostly practice for us so we don’t embarrass ourselves in Arkansas.

This weekend we’re getting back to our roots with some good ol’ smallbore prone. My rifle has recently undergone some surgery:

BEFORE

EXTRA PARTS?!

AFTER

It’s now a little shorty rifle for my short arms! Who knew when I got this gun at 14 I wasn’t going to get any taller. I’m excited to try this shortened stock and see how it feels. Although, after about 30 minutes of getting everything set up I already have prone injuries; sore elbows, sore right hip, sore right wrist and my teeth might be coming loose. Between ‘prone pain’ and the heat being close to 100 this weekend, we’ll see how excited I am after the first stage!