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AAR St Augustine, FL, 10&11 July 2010

Started by Earl, July 10, 2010, 10:50:40 PM

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Earl

I get the prize for farthest traveling instructor at this Appleseed. When asked which Washington, I say state, because they don't do Appleseeds in Washington DC - do they? :cool2:

Sun was bright, breeze was blowing and a Rifleman perseveres. Good day for twenty-one fine folks on the line, honoring the Nation's heritage and shooting traditions. O0
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

Earl

Too big pictures try again.
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

Earl

Good Looking young shooters. ^:)^
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

MisterB

My wife and I had a great time! Wish we could have returned tomorrow, but there is always another event.  Thanks for spending a hot humid afternoon with us, Earl! You were great, all of the instructors were.

A special thanks to Eric for helping me get my AR sighted in and running again. I am now determined I will get my Rifleman patch with that rifle first!

willorith

Itsy didn't tell us you were going to be there, Earl. I probably wouldn't have given up a weekend with the family to see you, but I would have known what I was missing.

W.
We are but human.

ThaiFighter

Thank you for your dedication Earl.  Should Washington ever require the assistance of the Florida crew,  it would be a privilege to serve!   :---
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people."

-GBS

Proud to be funding TG and BF's retirement account... ;)

Earl

#6
Day two has light rain waiting for me and the Trusty Triumph on the road going to the Appleseed, not to worry, I dried out before I stopped at the Ancient City Shooting Range. ::)

Good start, introductions of the Instructors and the Pledge, right into a complete review.
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

Earl

Busy day more pictures ;)
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

Earl

More pictures? ::) Of course. :)
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

Earl

My last offerings, it was a great shoot. The Thunderstorm and lightning caution may have dampened us a bit, but the AAR in the clubhouse was good for preparation for future shoots and more Appleseeds.
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

9mm4545

Some more photos of the hard-working shooters, well, working hard! Gen. Ball and Col. Dummy were introduced and made to feel at home. Not shown was "Lake Ancient City Gun Range", which was formed during the thunderstorm which ended the event. Shooting after the rain would have required a snorkel, at least for the prone stages! Great event; thanks to all that participated.

The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation.  Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter in the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of their government. - Francis Grund 1837

jollynator

#11
........

ItsanSKS

What an event!

I arrived at the range on Friday afternoon, pleased to find our local IIT, Theri, ready and willing to give me a hand setting up the firing line.  After a few hours toiling in the hot Florida sunshine, we knew that this event was going to be warm, and that we would HAVE to be sure our attendees stayed well hydrated.  With the target line up, and our firing line dutifully covered by carports adorned with the flags of our forefathers, Theri and myself departed the range, to finish final preparations for the upcoming weekend.   "We'll be here about 7:30, Theri, see you then"  says I...

Saturday morning dawned with 21 shooters ready to begin their journey from rifle owner to Rifleman, arriving earlier than anticipated, just so that they could get an early start... But where, or where, could the Shoot Boss be?  A technical glitch with the hotel-provided alarm clock delayed the Shoot Boss's arrival until 8:45am, only to find that Earl and Theri had things well under control.  Some good natured ribbing from all around, but due to superior organizational skills (and a whole lotta luck) we were able to get the morning started right on time.

Introductions made, The Four Safety Rules chorused and memorized, and the First Strike presented by yours truly, it were time to see just where these shooters abilities lie. 

Right off the bat, we instructors knew we were going to have our work cut out for us, as there was less than 25% qualification at 100m or beyond on the Hits Count! target..  From the ubiquitous "But my rifle isn't sighted in!" to "I've never SHOT a rifle before!", many excuses were recorded for their inclusion into the "Appleseed book of Useless Excuses". 

Happily eating a small slice of humble pie, our shooters took to instruction like fish to water.  First up? The Six Steps, followed by the Steady Hold Factors for the Prone Position.   Having seen group sizes rapidly shrink from just these two lessons, we pressed on with Natural Point of Aim, Riflemans Cadence, and Inches, Minutes & Clicks.  "Hey- I did it!  I've got 4/5 IN THE SQUARE!" (But did you CALL that flier?!)

Before their ego's got too inflated, it was time to push them a little further out of their comfort zone; time for the dreaded SEATED positions..  That did the trick.  Groups went from 4-5 MOA to "minute of backer" in a heartbeat.  Some individual instruction, contorting the shooters into positions they were sure they'd never recover from, saw the groups begin to shrink.  Just in time for LUNCH, kindly provided by Sonny's BBQ. 

Just when they thought the seated position couldn't get any harder, we threw them a curveball- TRANSITIONS!  Then, TRANSITIONS with MAGAZINE CHANGES!  MUAHHAHAHAHAH! Just deserts for those who glutted themselves on BBQ pork and turkey, with sides of BBQ baked beans, cole slaw, and garlic bread...  I hesitated a moment (about .00001 seconds) before pushing them into transitions, but after 3/4 the line stayed in the air-conditioned clubhouse, a little 'retribution' were in order... >:D

Belts loosened, groups tightened, slings adjusted, and an increasing respect for their shoot boss's mean streak, our shooters were ready for the standing position, and an introduction to the AQT.  A brief break for hydration, and the presentation of the third, and final strike, and they were ready. 

"This is the moment you've been working toward the whole day.  This is your final exam.  You will need to utilize everything you've been taught today, from the SHF's, NPOA, Riflemans Cadence, to the "Riflemans Bubble".  Some of you may be lucky enough to score Rifleman.  The rest of you? MUST COOK!  And I know a few Riflemen who are getting HUNGRY!"

With group sizes already diminishing due to heat, I didn't have high expectations for this first assault against the AQT.   I was pleasantly surprised to see one or two shooters knocking on the door, with scores from 170 to 200's.   Another AQT administered showed scores rapidly dropping, as our shooters (and instructors) began to wilt in the oppressive heat. 

Shooters were given another opportunity to try their hand at that dreaded redcoat from the AM, and the improvement was astonishing.  Rounds were going off in cadence, NPOA shifts between targets, and rapid magazine changes all added up to well over 50% qualification rate, with most of those being at 300 yards!  Significant improvement, indeed!

Rifles cleared and removed from the line, brass and trash cleaned up, good-byes said, our shooters were released to their vehicles, advised to clean their rifles thoroughly, as the punishment FUN would resume bright and early..

Not trusting the hotel alarm clock AGAIN, I decided that my own alarm clock would better serve us all, and it performed admirably, waking me and fellow instructors JollyNator and JollyMeister up at the ungodly hour of 6:00AM.  Preparations for the day's events made, hotel room cleaned up to the best of our ability, and a nice, hot breakfast hastily consumed, TO THE RANGE!!! DAY TWO!

Oddly enough, our shooters arrived in a cheerful mood, ready to continue their transformation from 'rifle owner' to Rifleman.  We even had a few new shooters on the line, convinced by family members that this class was FUN!  (Incredulous, I asked them how often they had been lied to by their family...)

With the raising of our Nations standard, all present pledged allegiance to the Flag.  Some for the first time in their lives hearing those words.  Satisfied that I was surrounded by true Americans, we began a recap of the previous day's instruction in earnest.  Prone position, NPOA, Cadence, then on to Sitting/Kneeling, transitions thereto, Standing position..  The pace was brutal, but we were in a race against the heat, and not a complaint was heard.  Folks were starting to really get into the rhythm, and their groups proved it.  As lunchtime rolled around, they were introduced to the Ball and Dummy drill, each shooter in turn getting an opportunity to try their hand at the glorious task of instructor.  With some of the most persistent shooting errors diagnosed and corrected, our shooters were once again released for lunch.

Excellent BBQ hastily consumed, a retelling of the stories of Hezekiah Wyman, Mother Batherick, Prue Wright, David Lamson, and Samuel Whittemore, our shooters were ready to try their hand at the dreaded AQT again. 
With the ravages of the Florida sun taking its toll, our shooters were once again skunked, left with scores in the high 190's and low 200's, another AQT was administered, with scores beginning to drop.   Hearing thunder in the distance, I decided that if we were going to push these shooters out to 100 yards, it needed to be done, and fast. 

A brief introduction into the concepts of target detection, range estimation and wind compensation, we broke down the firing line and pushed it back to 100 yards.  About the time we got our targets posted up, and rifles situated on the line, the skies opened up, cooling everything down, but turning our once beautiful target line into a soggy mess.  Undeterred from our mission of creating Riflemen, we pressed on, getting soaked to the skin, but loving every minute of it.  Hey, the water was nice and cool- a welcome relief, indeed!

Just as our shooters got their rifles sighted in for 100 yards, Zeus again made his appearance, throwing lightning bolts all around us.  With our shooters safety in mind, we retreated to the air-conditioned clubhouse for refuge.  Yup, 75*, when you're soaking wet, and acclimated to 95* is downright COLD.  Through shivering teeth, each attendee was asked to give their summation of the weekend, participating in the "after action debriefing" which is usually reserved for instructors. 

After determining that mother nature wasn't going to allow us to continue with the rest of our day's event, we bid our shooters goodbye and braved the storm to finish breaking down the range.  Instructors and a few hardy attendees made short work of the target lines and covered firing line, packing everything into the back of my big ugly red truck, ready for the next event...

A few slow good-byes, firm handshakes and we were off, returning once again to the doldrums of everyday life.  Why, oh, why, can't we be Appleseeding every day?! 

To all of you who attended this great event, my hats off to you.  Persisting through oppressive heat, rain and a few obnoxious instructors, you proved that you were made of tougher stuff, earning my respect and admiration in the process.  You folks who came out, not sure what to expect, but persevering through the worst of it with nary a negative comment, you restore my faith in this country; YOU are the reason we do what we do.  With your help, we can return this country to the ideals upon which it was founded. 

I would like to close by giving a special thank you to the owners and staff of Ancient City Shooting Range, without whom this event could never have happened.   I would also like to thank my fellow instructors, Theri, JollyNator, JollyMeister, and Earl.  You guys are the best, and are welcome at any (or every) event here in FL.  Earl, I'm sure we'll meet again on the trail, it was a pleasure working with you.

In Liberty,

ItsanSKS

"Those who would trade an ounce of liberty for an ounce of safety deserve neither."

"To save us both time in the future... how about you give me the combo to your safe and I'll give you the pin number to my bank account..."

theri

Quote from: jollynator on July 12, 2010, 10:48:10 AM
But I think my favorite part of Appleseed is watching the young shooters' faces when they start with not hitting the paper and end up shooting a group size of 8-12 minutes. They have this glow of pride that I cannot explain. It is as if I am witnessing the blooming of the flower of our future.

I just wanted to second this comment.  To see the perseverance of these "young patriots" who worked through numerous equipment issues, gun issues (bolt action rifles, single shot rifles, only one 5 round magazine, etc.) but they never give up.  All of them were significantly improved over the course of the two days and I expect that several will shoot a Rifleman score at their next Appleseed or two.

While it was great working with the adults working with these young shooters was even better.  I look forward to being there when they receive their Rifleman patch.

Theri
Whiskey Tango 9

caseyblane

Had a great time again. Gonna have to get serious about the dry firing. Earl and Bruce, thanks for all the pictures, hopefully seeing the mistakes will really imprint it in my mind. Glad to see all the kids there too. Wish there were even more. Looking forward to next time.

Remember to sign up for the monthly Florida Appleseed email newsletter here:
http://eepurl.com/A2Jj

Casey
"Boy, there are Do'ers, Thinkers, and Wonderers, be a Do'er!" My Grandfather.

jaxpilot

First, thanks to all the instructors who gave their time this weekend at this shoot. It was much appreciated. I have to say April is a MUCH easier month in which to shoot compared to July. Actual temps were 98 and 95, Heat index was 105 and 103 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Instructors did a great job of reminding everyone to hydrate. I got a little sick of hearing "If you aren't loading mags, you should be drinking water."  ;)

This was my second shoot, and once again I came up a little short on getting my rifleman patch. Best effort - well, really best result, not effort - was 195. Two rounds, a total of 1.5" off the mark, cost me the patch. I had switched platforms for this shoot, from my Ruger LTR I used at the last match to my AR-15 with a Ceiner .22 conversion kit installed. I learned a lot about shooting that rifle this weekend.

  • 1. AR-15s are not particularly Lefty friendly out of the box.
  • 2. $90 for an ambi-mag release seems like a real bargain after this weekend, one is ordered.
  • 3. $25 for an ambi-safety also seems like a bargain right now, and it too, is on the way.
  • 4. While a 16" barrel makes for a handy close quarters defensive carbine, it does not make for a great precision rifle, due to the shorter sight radius.
  • 5. Ditto for the XS white-outline tritium front sight.
  • 6. Ditto for the standard GI collapsible M4 stock.
  • 7. Trying to use this rifle in a high stress high speed event clearly accentuated the fact I didn't *really* know how to run my rifle.
  • 8. It's hard to remember how your back-up rear sights adjust when you don't adjust them very often - bring the cheat sheet.
  • 9. It's even harder to make precise POI changes when your front sight only rotates in FULL revolutions.
  • 10. Take the time to sight in the rifle the way you intend to shoot it, not from a rested, bipod reinforced position.  :(

The good news is that once again I gleaned new bits of info from all the instructors, who were always there to help and answer all the questions, like always.

Also, I brought 3 new shooters with me, my 25 yr old niece, who's Marine husband is currently deployed in Afghanistan, and whom had never handled a rifle before but really wanted to learn. My brother in law, who at 62 yrs old had never really handled a rifle but wanted to learn, and his 35 yr old son who also had never really handled a rifle.

My niece got my Ruger LTR, with which I would like to believe that I would have gotten a patch this weekend (I got no witness, and I can't prove it, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!).

Ed and John both bought the $199 Ruger carbine, and I installed the tech sights and  swivel studs for them. I agree with some of the other threads, having a prebuilt package of parts needed to make a basic LTR would be very nice. Shipping from 3 different vendors cost us and additional $20. Although Douglas34474 is advertising a prebuilt LTR with a nice trigger, among other things, that is at a competitive price. Had we bought those two rifles from him we would have saved a couple of bucks, and helped out a fellow Appleseeder. The auto bolt releases did not come in in time for me to put them into the 2 new rifles, and it was a problem for both new shooters to operate effectively.

All three of the new shooters received a ton of attention and help from the "Jolly Brothers" and "9mm4545", who were on our end of the line most of the time. I appreciated the fact that the instructors all up and down the line focused on the new shooters to help them get in the groove. Ed and John didn't tell me their best scores, but Tricia hit a high point of 135.

Laying in puddles in driving rain was an experience, and the lightning was a little disconcerting, but shooting at actual KD was pretty cool.

I'll be back, later this year, to try again.

Thanks again to everyone for all the dedication to these events.

Paul

jollynator

QuoteI got a little sick of hearing "If you aren't loading mags, you should be drinking water." 

Just wait until September Paul.   &)  We may just have a special "hydration formation" for ya!  ~~:) I'm thinking wet rapid fire AQT:  40 rounds and 1 quart of water in 4 minutes. ^-^

Just kidding.....


....maybe.


Jon


MisterB

Here is a cross-post of the AAR I wrote for this event at our Florida Guns Forum (Flaguns.com), just trying to spread the word!!


My wife and I attended the Appleseed event last Saturday in St. Augustine, and it was a GREAT time!

The 'shoot boss' for the event was our own member, PROJECT APPLESEED (Eric) who not only did most of the instruction, was the orator of the history presented at the event, and he did a marvelous job at both. Heck, hearing him tell the story of the Three Strikes was worth showing up in of itself!

We started off learning the safety rules for the event, as expected, and then Eric regaled us with the first of three portions of a history lesson called the "Three Strikes".
I won't spoil the suprise of what they are about, because even though I am a history buff, I would pale in comparison to Eric's masterful wordmanship. I encourage everyone to look forward to these three pauses in the action, and enjoy letting your imagination race back in time to be there at the very start of the Revolution.

After that, we commenced right into shooting. Our range was a 25meter course, and our target was called a 'redcoat target' where we were using different sized 'redcoats' to simulate the conditions of shooting farther out. For the purposes of this day of instruction, no longer distances were shot, thereby all but eliminating any windage and/or bullet drop from the issues we needed to tackle that day. We were given a 'test target' to shoot at so the instructors could gain an idea of where the group was at.
Oh Boy! was their work cut out for them.
We SUCKED!!  Out of the whole group, only one person could claim any decent marksmanship, and I am pretty sure she was a repeat attendee.

I was dismayed to find I was shooting WAY high and WAY right for every trigger pull. My shots fired while standing were horrible, and my prone shots were grouped pretty well, but still very high and right. I had neglected to recheck my iron sights on this gun before arriving, and it showed.
Of course, the misaligned sights didn't excuse the 6 or 7 inch spread of hits on my standing shots, they merely moved the 'shotgun splatter' further from the intended spot. Rats!

After being humbled by our atrocious results, we were taken off the the side for our first lesson of the day. The Six Steps to Taking the Shot.
Sight Alignment
Sight Picture
Respiratory Pause
Focus on the Front Sight
Squeeze the Trigger
Follow Through


All of these terms are familiar to folks who have shot for a while. Some of us even remember to apply two or three on a regular basis. However, having the whole theory gone over, in a step by step manner, with the why's and whatfor's gone over in a clear manner, was very helpful.

I learned to shoot 25-30 years ago in the Boy Scouts. I remember these steps, sort of, being explained back then, but not in a clear method like the Appleseed instructors used. In Boy Scouts it was more like "Ok get your sight picture, now squeeze the trigger...no, looks like you didn't wait for your pause in breathing, try again. Whoops, you jerked the trigger and let go too quick, try again. Nope, I think you weren't focused on the sight properly.." etc..

The methodical step by step instruction last week was much better..

After a bit more shooting, and practicing our newly learned or relearned Six Steps, we stopped and began learning the proper prone position, how to use a sling properly, and most importantly we covered the Natural Point of Aim, and then we shot some more. Another break to learn the proper sitting position, and off we went again. Standing position came a bit later in the day. We covered shot placement, and Minutes of Angle, and then used our new/remembered knowledge to zero in our sights, which I desperately needed to do. Thankfully, Eric had a front sight tool on his keychain, since I had left mine sitting on my workbench at the house...Doh!! 
A few trials and errors later, I got the gun dialed in. Ahhh! much better.. now my AR actually hits the target square I was aiming for, instead of the one to the top right of it!  I started experiencing some issues with my gun wanting to doublefeed, and suspected it was the bolt carrier.

We stopped for lunch, and since our food was coming from a different part of the range, some folks left to gather it up, while others stayed behind at the shooting line. After making sure it was ok to handle the gun from the shoot boss, I swapped it out my bolt carrier group for one from a different AR I had brought as backup. (After getting the sights properly adjusted, I wasn't keen to switch guns, thankfully it worked perfect with the new bolt carrier group for the rest of the day!) It turns out Eric has a bit of knowledge about AR's as well, he showed me a trick to checking the gas rings I hadn't seen before, pretty neat!

Shortly after that, those sent to gather our lunches returned, and  we retreated to the shade of the shooting line, ate our lunches, and were told the story of the Second Strike of the Match. Again, our shoot boss was gave a spectacular presentation. It was great to see some of the younger shooters smiling and enjoying the history, perhaps changing their very perspective on the relevance of history for the rest of their lives.. wonderful!!

Our hungers sated, we feebly made our way back to the instruction area, hoping we were going to learn 'lounge chair shooting positions', or even 'hammock shooting positions' but oh no, suddenly the shoot boss we all had come to love decided to turn mean on us..  we began to learn TRANSITIONS.

Transitions are where you start in a prone or sitting position with your unloaded and safetied rifle, find your natural point of aim, and then on command, stand up. Again on command, you are instructed to Fire! and you have to sit or lie back down, keeping the rifle pointed in a safe direction (downrange). Once in position, you load the weapon, disengage the safety and commence firing. You have only a few fleeting moments to get in position, find your point of aim, fire two shots, and then switch magazines and fire another 8 shots. Take too long at any step, and you end up hearing CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!! while you still have several rounds left in your magazine.. and whoa betide any foolish man, woman, or child that attempts to squeeze a round off after the CEASE FIRE command..  It didn't happen at our meet, but I have no doubt it would have been a very embarrassing afternoon for anyone that tried it.

Transitions got our nicely closing groups to spread out a bit, (similar to how lunch had treated our waistlines). For me, it was double torture, since I had severe sunburn on both knees and both shoulders from a canoe outing two days earlier (my wife was similarly exposed, and she sat this portion out for a while, being the smarter of the two of us, but eventually she gave it to temptation and joined the session)

It was hard, hot, sweaty, painful, and did I mention lunch was filling? My belt got loosened a notch, heck, I think it was two. That helped a bit, and we sallied forth! We worked on these transitions for most of the afternoon, and then we got a lesson on the shooting from a standing position, our last bit of knowledge before we were shown the "AQT". We paused again, so that Eric could finish up the recounting of the Third Strike of the Match that lit the American Revolution.

We put everything together at the end of the afternoon with the "Quick and Dirty AQT". This drill puts it all in one test, standing shots, transition to sitting shots, magazine changes, transitions to prone shots, more magazine changes, and last, a 10 round slow fire at targets smaller than your front sight post. Awesome! And all of it done to a ticking stopwatch. (A very fast stopwatch, if I might add a little criticism... maybe they should find one that runs on Earth time :biggrin: )

We only had a chance to shoot two AQT's, as the day was getting late and some of the shooters had to leave. I shot a 176 on my first attempt, graded by Eric, and thought I had done similar on the second, but didn't grade it until later that night on the ride home from St. Augustine. It was a 194, so I had done a touch better, but the score to hit is 210.
   Scoring a 210 or better gets you a 'Rifleman' patch, which signifies that you have attained the level of Expert Marksman on the AQT. My wife scored a 125 on her second AQT which made her happy, since that put her on the board as a 'Marksman'. My 176 and 194 scores both qualified as 'Sharpshooter' which I was pleased with, all things considered.

I am sure I will get my patch next time. Had we stayed for the Sunday class, I think I likely would have gotten it, but we weren't able to stay over another night, my house had been in the care of my two teenagers for nearly a week and it was time to see if they had burnt it down yet..

In closing, the Appleseed events are well worth the time to attend. I got a lot of good from it, and had a blast to boot!!

The cost is next to nothing, compared to other training venues, and all the fees go right back into the program. The instructors are all volunteers, and all women, children, and active military/guard/reserve attend free! I heartily recomend this program to anyone who owns a rifle, and most folks who don't as well!

RMTPA

Thanks to all the IITs, Eric, and Earl, for the great job! (Earl--thanks for taking all the great pictures! and  for bringing the disciplinary atmosphere only a Former Drill Sergeant could bring) You guys did a fantastic job!  It was hot, yes, (thanks to the poster who put up the actual temps and heat index) but I hardly noticed. The time flew by and I can't wait for the next one!  I've been handing out flyers everywhere since. So far, I've handed them out to a Sergeant, a Major, and a Colonel in the Air Force, the State Attorney and her 2nd in command, several gun stores and country stores from here (Jacksonville) to Micanopy, and every person in my office and of course, all my friends.

As my 4 girls (12, 8, 4, and 9 mos) get responsible enough, they will be coming too.  They are watching me write ad this, and they insist i use this:  ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^

BTW, my wife can't wait to come to an AS too--On our first date night in months, we went to an NRA banquet (gotta love her), and SHE WON AN AK-47!!  ..:.. :---

Hows that for a romantic evening??!  :cool2:

Goodnight Chesty, wherever you are!