Project Appleseed

Hi all,

33 shooters braved some really rotten weather, 45 degrees and raining all day.  Almost everyone stayed.  Amazing, cause if it was up to me, I would have bailed at about 10 in the morning.  Its been said that Kentucky people can shoot and they proved it today.  At about 1300 there were such nice groups on the 4 min squares, that I thought we would see at least 4 or 5 rifleman scores by the end of the first day, but the weather took its toll.  1 rifleman scoring 216 for the day, but tomorrow promises to be better.

More later, and some pics.

Coly

33 shooter-GREAT!  And don't worry about the weather ,it will change -always does around here-pack snowshoes?

Big John

SOME OF THAT FINE KNOB CREEK THERAPEUTIC MUD.

Hey Drew and Crew-
Great job and it sounds as if you all had your hands full but got the job done.
Proud of you and the effort.
Anxious to hear the full report after tomorrow.  Weather is supposed to be much better.
Good luck and a tip of the hat to all who are hanging in there and shooting as well as instructing!
Mansker

REMEMBER!

Kentucky needs helpers, we need 7th steppers.

Get commitments and contacts    Blood if you can

The state of Kentucky is piling on shoots, in a very "sneaky" fashion.  We need the people of Kentucky to step up and help us fill them.

Ohio doesn't even realize that we nearly have more shoots than them    And we are far from finished in setting them up <  Who would have thought

I'm on pool duty with the two grandchildren, so I have a different perspective this weekend.  It's hard to be so close to an Appleseed and not attend, but ya-gotta-do what ya-gotta-do because it is so worth it to have the whole family attend. 

All it took was one text message from the Appleseed that someone needed a jacket, and we were glad to deliver.

Famous Knob Creek!  Got to see it for the first time.    Gorgeous terrain.  The target line looks so close with 200' high natural "berm" behind it.   

The firing line was covered......well kind of, except for the apparent shotgun blast through the roof.  There was a river of mud flowing through one section of the line, but with tarps under the shooting mats, it looked like everyone was doing the best they could to stay on top of it.  And it did not seem to dampen anyone' spirits.  Shooters were all attentively receiving instruction, and to my surprise, I could not see anyone wearing rain gear.   hmmmm?  Guess that's for sissies. 

Slim immediately informed me that Kentuckians can shoot.  And persevere too.  7th step should be no problem.  I relayed the message about commitment, contacts and blood (mixed with mud).

Hope to make it over during the lunch break today to congratulate some new Riflemen.

Accommodation-wise, in Muldraugh, I highly recommend the Golden Manor.  We've got an off-site 2 bedroom, 1 bath, newly remodeled "apartment" with kitchen/dining/living, room for six adults/two kids for $100./night with use of the pool/hot tub.   For future reference, if instructors got together ahead of time, they could stay together in relative luxury, pretty cheap.  There are even two closets large enough to put the sleepers who snore.      Internet service is excellent. 

I don't know about any of you who attended the Knob Creek Appleseed but my whole upper body is sore, I guess that is what it takes to become a rifleman. I had a great time in Kentucky even though we got rained on and covered in mud, but it was worth it since by the end of sunday I finally scored rifleman. This was my third shoot and I practiced a couple of times in the winter in Colycat's and Old Glory's backyard to improve my shot. Perseverance truly pays off! Thank you to all the instructors, we couldn't have had an Appleseed without you.

Gentlemen (and women) thanks for making the "Appleseed Experience" memorable and worthwhile... as always!  This weekend at Knob Creek was my 4th Appleseed.  Its been almost two years since my last, due to a slight interruption by an Afghanistan deployment, but the men (and women) in the orange hats haven't lost a step at all.

You know, I've been through a lot of training... many courses, some from Uncle Sugar, some on my own dime.  But only the very best have managed to keep up the enthusiasm and dedication of the RWVA crew. And you couldn't ask for more highly motivated participants.  The whole spectrum of the ages showed up and slogged through the mud and cold rain on Saturday morning... and nearly all of that very same crew showed up today to do it all over again!

With the assistance of the Mighty Mouse, I've collected some pictures of the event.









Looking forward to next time!

Quote from: Trisha on March 15, 2009, 09:16:35 PM
...even though we got rained on and covered in mud, but it was worth it since by the end of sunday I finally scored rifleman....

Congratulations on that hard earned patch, Trisha!  I didn't want to say anything to jinx it, but I could tell from early this morning that you were going to hit your 210 today.  You even had 5 points to spare. 

This was my first official Appleseed under a hat and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.  It's amazing what you see from the other side of the line.  I can honestly tell you that the thought of everyone braving Saturday's weather will stick with me for a long time.  Appleseeders certainly persevere! 

Thanks to everyone for making this a successful and memorable event.

Thank you Meanstreaker. I can't believe it was your first time behind the line, you did a great job and you really helped me figure out my standing position, so thank you. I hope to see you again at another Appleseed!

I'm thinking about becoming a Colycat and OG groupie.  Maybe buy a beat up old VW bus and follow them around the Appleseed Trail.  Grateful Dead and Phish had their followers... and they were far less deserving.   

So it's likely we'll see each other at another event.

well get that old VW and bring it on up to Lodi next month...Old Glory will actually be at that one, and not on baby-sitting duty.

I hate to admit it but I'm jealous that Lodi WI has a shoot and Lodi CA doesn't... I think I'll work on that, getting the shoot that is, there's time for the other issues later.

THIS JUST IN......

The Illinois contingent has officially annexed Racine while OG and Coly were playing in the mud in Kentucky!!

Looks like you guys had quite the weather.  Up behind the Cheddar Curtain.....Just cold at night, sunny all day and a "light breeze" off the lake.

Look for our AAR I'll post tomorrow.

EEL

TRISHA!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS on your Rifleman score!  ^5  I knew you could do it.

In The Cold Kentucky Rain.

Meanstreaker, Congratulations on a great Appleseed event.

~SS

Sunday is a new day   No rain and temps quite comfortable.  We had 21 shooters return, all ready to resume their drinking from the fire hose of marksmanship and heritage.  Quality instruction after a quick review of the saftey and 6 steps.  All the IIT's participated and instructed very well.  Thanks to Mudcat, Tracerfire,Slim, Fireman Bill and Meanstreaker.  With the nice weather, the shooters were much more able to focus and we had some real improvement.   Two Rifleman were forged today.

Saturday, Meanstreaker did all 3 strikes in one presentation, with passion!! Great job, as some repeat Appleseeders commented to me that they finally put all the pieces of the Day together.  Since it was more of an overview, this left small stories for the other instructors to talk about on Sunday.  Good job Mighty Mouse and Dinky.  Mudcat and Tracerfire opened the door for some Dangerous Old Men stories.  How I love the second day of Appleseed.

Knob Creek is some range!!!   All day long, lots of fire on the main range.  During Mighty Mouses 7 th step talk,  as he was talking about the freedoms secured and the liberties still possessed,  thousands of rounds were going off on the main range. Everything from full auto to what really sounded like cannon.  Very nice back ground music.

At 1600 hrs, Mighty Mouse had the shooters do a star target.  To build teamwork, and put a little fun into the shoot, we used a two-man team shooting at 1 star target, as many rounds as you can safely put down range in sixty seconds.  Of course the 30 cal shooters made a very impressive show of things.  It was fun to watch the paper fly off the target.  Dinky Dao was the line judge of the competition.  As she was moving down the line, she pulled the possible winners.  Half way down, she announced there was a tie, when someone said,  "You might want to wait to you get down to the end of the line."   And the winner of the STAR SHOOT is............all the way from Wisconsin, the team of Shake and Bake.  See the picture; 60 rounds, and they still had time to reload mags from bullets left on the ground!!!!  All 22 cal.  Shows to me, that maybe some people should trust their NPOA and just take the shot.

Thanks Mighty Mouse and all the guys and gals from Kentucky for a great shoot.  As always, I enjoyed the Appleseed team work among the instructors and learned a lot.  Hope to see everyone again, soon.

Colycat

EEL,

I don't think I'll let you annex Racine or Bristol today.

jr

(ref. the line in Tombstone where Earp tells Behan that he is not going to let him arrest him right after the shoot out at the OK)

Congratulations Trisha!!!!!!!! Awesome job. My first Appleseed shoot, the Instructors and people running the event were first class. One even loaned me his ruger to use as I was shooting an  old bolt action .22. Sweet gun and one will end up in my safe before too much longer. I didn't come back on Sunday as I had family obligations. Was covered in mud by the time we left on Sat. Found a handfull of mud in my jean pockets! Joined RWVA when I got home. Had a heck of a time. I look forward to shooting more(hard when I am out one weekend a month with Boy Scouts and usually one other for Boy Scout training or fundraising event of some kind!!). I look forward to helping some of the BS to become rifleman - which was my reason for coming - and I was NOT DISAPPOINTED!! Thanks to all ya'll!!!
DP
PS To the gentleman who loaned me his jacket - that was ever so much appreciated as well!!

Persistence pays off.  3 Appleseeds and some work in between,  Trisha, welcome to the exulted ranks of Rifleman.  Now you have to do it next weekend at the birthday parties. LOL.

Mighty Mouse,  could you post the Rifleman Pics?

Coly

Coly- I'll assume you immediately stapled an orange hat on Trisha's head!

Trish- 

Sounds like an excellent shoot!
I wish I could have been there!(then again, I wish that for every appleseed)
I did make it about half-way there, and I do have to say that Illinois was unable to fullfill it's dreams of conquest.

I can't wait to hear more about the spa at Knob Creek.

Aftermath

(P.S.- Meanstreaker- I call shotgun!)

Holy colycat! What a great event to get the Appleseed juices flowing again in the MidWest. The reason it was called a "Kentucky Rifle" was once again put on display for everyone to see. Even though we were technically in the South, we were well represented from all over with folks driving from as far as Alabama just to drink from the firehose. And drink they did. (A little swimming too!)

Mud was the theme Saturday and more than a few shooters (and instructors!) were shivering their way through the event. Almost all persevered and kept on going. Those who came back Sunday were rewarded with a day they'll gladly remember come August! Perfect shooting weather. As my Uncle used to say, "if it aint rainin', we aint trainin'!" Well, it stopped raining Sunday and there was some fine training conducted with nice weather to boot. As always, I was impressed by what I saw in Kentucky. I sure hope I see some of these folks down in Greensburg in a few weeks.

As said above, so nice to see folks I hadn't seen in a while and familiar faces on the line. More than once I thought I saw Old Glory checking her target and then realized that I was actually looking at OG v. 2.0, the next generation of the Rifleman family. The mission of Appleseed was really driven home this weekend when Coly said (and I'll quote here, hope I don't get anyone in trouble) "Yeah, the one down there, he's only a boyfriend right now. But he's a Rifleman, so he's got a chance." I was thinking about it from the perspective of the persistence of a young man courting an older man's daughter and how, being a Rifleman meant that he would persist until he eventually "qualified." But, then I also thought of it from the older man's perspective of a young man with a patch, a young man who knows well what he's about, well, that alone qualifies him for a shot. (The daughter's a Rifleman too, so the boyfriend still better watch out!)

When I see "the kids" of a family show up as a fire team, all shoot together, all shoot well, all know well what they're about, I know there are two parents (grandparents!) who also know well what they're about. You two have done a fine job, and your efforts really are appreciated. I wish all families could be more like yours. Keep up the great work!

There were other faces I hadn't seen for a while that came back to KCR again. Garand Dame and her hubby were there (although she was loading her own mags this time!) as was the 14-year-old Rifleman who gave us the IMC demonstration at the last event. This time he brought along his father and brother so not only did he do IMC, but he personified 7th Step. There were several groups of fathers/sons, brothers, grandparents/grandkids, friends and neighbors, much like there were on Apr. 19th, 1775. So many folks, in fact, that we had to form a "standby" list at the admin table early on Saturday morning. Luckily, those who waited in the rain were afforded a spot on the line and got to participate in the saving of America.... literally with buckets!

Hats off to our new Riflemen! I wish I could've stuck around a little longer to see those patches getting handed out. And a big congrats to everyone for making the progress you did and persisting through the weather. It's easy to get up off the couch and shoot when it's sunny and warm. But, cold, wet and tired don't make for the best training days and yet here you were. Huzzah to all of you!

Orange Hats, you did a fine job, and it seems like nobody even knew that we were doing as much training as they were! Red Hats, as always, you set the bar high. Great job!

I hope to see all of you at KCR again sometime soon.

Quote from: SavageShootr on March 16, 2009, 06:43:16 AM

TRISHA!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS on your Rifleman score!  ^5  I knew you could do it.

Thank you, I was hoping it was going to happen down in Kentucky and it did!

HERE ARE SOME PICS....MISSED MEETING SLIM'S WIFE, GARAND DAME, MUDCAT, SON,  AND ALL OF YOU. 

YES, SLIM, THAT "SHAKE" IS A KEEPER. 

CONGRATULATIONS TRISHA, WE ARE ALL PROUD OF YOU, MAYBE AS PROUD AS YOUR HUSBAND IS.

It would not be an Appleseed if I did not lose something.  Any one have my clipboard?

Great job everyone at knob creek. Wow check out those pics
Congratulations Trish  welcome to the ranks of Rifleman.
semper fidelis
JA

Quote from: colycat on March 18, 2009, 10:30:15 PM
It would not be an Appleseed if I did not lose something.  Any one have my clipboard?

Uh-Oh.  I hope this wasn't my fault.  After you let me borrow your cheat sheets, I left your clipboard sit on the table under the tent.  It was there later that afternoon.  Thought you knew it was there.  Hopefully MOUSE picked it up.  Otherwise, I owe you a silver clipboard...... or the monetary equivalent of the beverage of your choice.

Quote from: MeanStreaker on March 18, 2009, 11:33:30 PM
...... or the monetary equivalent of the beverage of your choice. 

Speaking of beverages.... I think we both owe each other a little range time so we can make good on that bet. 9 shots and what? 21 or so? Horrible!

Quote from: colycat on March 18, 2009, 10:30:15 PM
It would not be an Appleseed if I did not lose something.  Any one have my clipboard?

I will look again through my stuff and see if I have it.  I can't tell you how many staplers of mine have walked off.

My,my,my. What a time was had by all in the "Cold Kentucky Rain".  Appleseeders young and old are one tough group of patriots.  It was certainly an honor to have all the "Red Hats" on the line, each and every one of you! Trisha was the woman of the hour!  There was however another Rifleman made this weekend-Kudos to you dude.  Alright three times must be the charm, so I'm definitely going Rifleman in April at beautiful Knob Creek Gun Range.
I am extending a personal invitation to all of you to come and share in the fun.  The stories told this weekend sent shivers up my spine and reinforced why the "Seventh Step" becomes more important every single day.
One million Appleseeders?  Sounds like a good start to me.

(Yeah that's me workin' it on the line.)  Thanks for the pictures and everything.

Garand Dame

Garand Dame it was an honor and a pleasure to meet and talk to you this past weekend. You were there telling me that it was my turn, I was going to be a Rifleman that day(sunday) and as you all may now know from previous messages, I did shoot Rifleman. I started doubting myself because I was thinking that I was never going to get past 205 on the AQT, especially after the story colycat told me about a man who couldn't shoot Rifleman because he was just muscling it. This kinda freaked me out, I thought I was going to be the same way, not being able to shoot more than a 205. Once Colycat and Meanstreaker were able to help me figure out a couple of things I was doing wrong, things turned around. So thank you Garand for having faith in me, it really helped me start believing in myself again.