Twas a fine and rainy morning Saturday... :wb:
By 8:30, we had 1 attendee show up. We knew he was here for the long haul because he had towed his little teardrop trailer behind his Jeep. Of the 11 pre regged shooters, 6 did finally make it, although late. We set up best we could... Good thing I had picked up 10 HD silver tarps Friday, as there were rivers of water flowing through the firing line. I just put rocks under the front edge of the tarps, and the water flowed right under. O0 it was still miserable conditions.
1st redcoat showed we had much work to do... after sight adjustments on the rifles, and lunch and history, we got back to it and had good groups going. Now it was hard to walk with your boots embedded in the ground from standing in one place too long (more than 30 seconds) it kept you moving... but walking around was even harder with 5 pounds of mud caked on your boots! I guess we are spoiled weatherwise here in California. :cool2:
No riflemen Saturday, but Sunday we had 3 return and one walk on (in full costume, no less) Weather was good, and we moved the line down out of the mudbowl we had created Saturday. We got off to a fast start, since no first timers, and got good groups right away. first redcoat showed most were 100 yd shooters, and one 200 yd shooter. Gene was rocking the line with an SKS he was shooting. Working on the positions was tough, but he kept at it and improved. He will be back again and says will shoot rifleman with his boomer. :--- :---
with scope and sling problems worked out on Saturday, we had no problems with squares and moved quickly to the AQT grind. On the second or third AQT, we got a rifleman! And a 210 score to boot.. I didn't really want to douse him, so I told him he needed to back it up with a better score to keep dry. I gave him some different ammo and told him to try it. He backed it up with a 217. Way to go Joe! :~ At lunch, after DOM stories, Joe (a friend of Sespe, an IIT) both were in costume and gave us a demo of their prowess with their flintlocks. Sespe with a smooth bore, and Joe with a rifled musket. We ended the day with Thomas getting close with a 196, and Joe's rifleman score of 217.
Read the Bloody Butchery, and we had talked about the Bill of Rights both days, in honor of that coming up on Dec. 20th. Gave them the layman's version, and handed out pocket constitution booklets to those who wanted them...
all took one.
Well I will save some stuff for others to chime in on, and will post some great photos tomorrow when I get them downloaded and resized. I know that conditions have been worse at other appleseeds, but for CA, this will always be fondly referred to as "Piru Mudbowl 2009."
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We had mud in Piru I can assure you. We had to hike the last 2 miles to reach the Appleseed range. Vehicles could not make it through the mud. (OK maybe it was only the last 200 feet). We had mud to share; everyone took some home with them. Congratulations to true Americans who came out and persevered. Gene, Dave, Rebecca, Zak, and Thomas are true American Hero's for showing up and sticking it out. Congrats to Joe on becoming a rifleman.
Here are some pictures as promised!
sounds like one for the end of the year slide show.....
Heh!
Probably the only time this year Piru hasn't been dusty!! **) **) ::)
Or blowing dirt & small rocks in every bodies faces.......but then again, those blown mud splatters are murder on the glasses...... ??? @) **)
Good shoot, good Americans, great results guys!! Ya all did good!!
LLP
Nice work guys. Looks like fun. Nothing like a little mud to bring out the inner child.
Good grief,
Where wasn't there mud this last weekend in CA? Unless I knew for sure V and Camljr were not amongst us, I would swear we were at the same range, by the looks of it. V, you continue to be my hero.
There are still a mountain of assorted boots drying off in my bathroom on a plastic bag. At least I think they are boots. I will have to chip off all the mud and make sure I am not raising a dirt clod crop.
Jules
Wow, I am so impressed.
That's what I call grit (or mud).
Soldiers sticking it out in miserable conditions, true Appleseeders!
Debbie