Target Practice

Yesterday I was able to try something that I have never done before.

John's parents were out for the day and brought along one of our nephews to play with the girls. We had a great visit, and John has now started another homemade wine.

This time it is with sour cherries. I'm not sure how much (if any) I will like that one. The sour cherries came again from my inlaws yard. Last year I tried a cherry and it was awfully sour. The pucker-lips-you-can't-really-swallow kind of sour. But it's almost free and will make close to 30 bottles of wine so I guess I will wait and see how it turns out.

Several times in the last few years, John has taken members of his family out to the shooting range. By shooting range, I really mean gravel pit, but it's far enough away from town and people and is used occasionally for targets.

I have always wanted to try it too! In fact, John invited me to tag along last year, but I wasn't able to go that day as I was busy doing prep for his surprise 30th. He went with his dad and brothers instead and got a big shocker upon his return that evening. I'm so glad that we were able to surprise him.

Last week I mentioned the possibility of the two of us going out to give it a try while his parents were here. So we did! It was a fun experience.

John is very good at accuracy. Each year they have to do a requalification and every year he gets a near perfect score. (Actually it seems he gets the perfect scores during practice right before his qualification) So while I'm standing close and just trying to hit the target, John is aiming for the small corners or pieces of glass bottles nearby. Show off!!

I actually did better than I thought I would. I hit the center several times (and from about 25 feet away) and I also hit the jugular and the head too. I was quite proud of myself.

I also felt like a weak girl. That sucks. I hate being the "weaker sex" sometimes! This may be my stubbornness coming through, but I can be one of those girls that has to prove that I can do it no matter what. Maybe shooting was one of those times.

Pulling that trigger was a lot more challenging than I had expected. It actually takes a lot of effort to pull it all the way back, and I also learned the hard way to use my fingertip and not the joint to pull with. My fingers were very tired!

I remember when John was at Depot in Regina. He would call home telling me about their days and what training was like. They each had some practice pistols that they needed to work on simple trigger pulls. Each person had to do 50 pulls with each hand. He would laugh and tell me that some girls could only do 8-15 pulls each.

I know understand how difficult it is and it's dumb to say that my finger is too tired to pull the trigger again. I just shake my head. John was very kind and didn't laugh once. Well, maybe he laughed on the inside and just humored me by smiling politely. What a guy!

Well now I can say that I have gone out shooting with my husband. Probably not something I ever would have thought I would say 10 years ago! But it was fun and I might try it again someday.