How Annie got Her Gun On

A lot can change in a year. Take, for example, my interest in guns.  A year ago I read, in the county paper, of an upcoming Ladies Day at a local gun range.  I must admit, it caught my eye.  But a year ago I was still immersed in my cultural studies of the Bootheel and at that time, I had no idea what I was passing up.  One year later, I didn't miss Ladies Day when it came around again.  However, in the spirit of honesty, I almost did but in the end, I made it and along the way, I discovered that even had I gone alone I would have found myself in good company.  I knew a lot of the ladies there.

Gun culture is a real THING amongst the women of the Bootheel.  In fact, one of the three hosting groups was the local women's chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (Women in the Outdoors River Bottom Gobblers Chapter).  Between these women, the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri Department of Conservation, a day had been created that covered personal safety, gun safety, survival cooking, and opportunities to shoot.  I must admit, all of my preconceived notions of who would actually be there flew right out the proverbial window.  Young. Old. Able-bodies. Infirmed. We were all there.  There were women present who were 12 years older then I am.  Needless to see, I was surprised and, in truth, more than a little gratified to see such a gathering of women.

I expected a lot, I supposed, but nowhere on my list of expectations was a survival skill cooking class.  But, there was mountain man, Jim DeReign and I knew I was in for a treat.  He provided me with my introduction to Rainbow Stew (something about Garrison Keillor and a song was supposed to explain this to me).  I'll google that sometime.  But moving forward . . . Rainbow Stew is so good and so easy to make.  I adapted my photo-notes of his concoction and dinner is currently bubbly away in my InstaPot.  Open fire cast iron cooking, it's not, but it smells just as good.

Next up was shooting skeet with a 20 gauge rifle (I hope I got that right).  I had been observing the first group with definite interest and didn't hesitate to give this a try.  Of course, no one really understands what a rifle kick (even a .22) feels like until they shoot the first time. How happy I was to have a wall at my back.  The wall caught me.  Anyway, two shots and two misses.  I'd had enough.  I needed to think about this whole rifle shooting thing.  But, later, before moving on to personal safety tips, I gave it another try.  Six shots.  Six misses. But by the end, I was keeping myself on my feet. I must admit though, I was really feeling my shoulder and arm muscles for the next day or so.

Personal safety is just what a says.  Personal safety.  Lots of common sense advise imparted with a bit of dirty street fighting mixed in.  Did you know that ANYTHING can be turned into a weapon?  Just keep your wits about yourself.  Of course, it's not THAT easy, but it's nice to know the possibilities of self-defense when you think you are actually defenseless.

And finally, the main event, for me anyway, arrived.  Like most everyone who gets to my age, I have a bucket list.  Since moving back here, I've added to that list.  My cultural studies of southern life have contributed to this growing list and going to the gun range in Steele was my passport to discovering what sort of handgun I wanted to purchase.  Guns have been on my interest list for a  long while but now, here in the Bootheel, it's become fully formed, at least to the point of wanting to narrow it down.  I thought I wanted a small .22 revolver but according to Morgan Treece, that will only make your target mad at you if you actually hit someone.  Better to try out a snub nose .38.  Okay, I can consider that.  Semi-automatics were also on the table but those things have too many moving parts.  I didn't even try one out.  At this point, I'm sticking with a small revolver.

So now, a week later, I'm still thinking a lot about guns.  It's easy to get one in Missouri and all I really need to do is find a well-regarded gunshop that maybe even has a shooting range attached so I can try out the possibilities.  Anyone have any suggestions?  I'm ready to go shopping.

Reflecting on Life's Extras

Years ago, when my parents were both still alive they had a sofa and a love seat that I loved.  After they were gone, our son was about to graduate from Grad School and go on to his first post-college job. The sofa and love seat had a home and would go on to make many people happy.  After Quanah and his wife, Erin, got a new sofa/love seat set, grandma's furnishings moved on to friends of theirs who were now also working in the area, post-grad-school.  Later, these same friends were moving up in the world, bought grown-up furniture, and contacted Quanah about grandma's couch.  They had met a woman in crisis who needed furniture and would Q mind if they moved the sofa and love seat to her?  No problem was the short answer.  When Quanah told me, I am comforted by the thought that so many people had made use of these pieces and, in the end, provided comfortable seating for a woman who had been left with nothing.  It had been 13 years from the time my mother had passed.  That was a lot of goodness being spread around.

We all have an abundance of something and not necessarily a good something.  Material abundance comes most quickly to mind.  Spiritual abundance follows, then physical or artistic giftedness perhaps.  Are we attractive, healthy, and intelligent and to what degree?  These are all good somethings but what if you suffer from an abundance of "want" in your life, or perhaps an abundance of "ignorance"?

Charles Dickens showed these two downsides of the idea of abundance most vividly in his book, "A Christmas Carol".  With the stark images of two children as symbols of our responsibility to each other, we are shown that we all share the same present and the same future.  If we don't care for the least among us - the weak,  the hungry, the sick, the elderly, and the frail, we are doomed.  If we don't care, we won't show our children the example of caring, and there will eventually be no one to care about anyone.  

So, I think about my abundance and all that I have been given.  I have to ask myself how much of it do I actually need?  Accumulation is rampant in our society.  I'm as guilty as anyone and it is because I have been blessed with much in my life, that I now examine what I've actually done with it.  No confessional coming, I promise, but I have made a bit of a list.  

Of course, when you start to really think about wants and needs, they tend to grow so, be warned.  If you decide to go there, your own list could take you into challenging waters.  Starting your list, you may find yourself feeling very heavy.  The good news is that's the door you walk through to begin seeing the need around you.

As we age, we may come to discover that the things we hold on to, are the things we least the need.  Each time I go upstairs at home, I find myself getting rid of things.  As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm not a fan of going upstairs of any sort, let alone the ones here at home.  But I do, on occasion, and when I do I always come down feeling a bit lighter.  

"Life is but a breath", a wise woman once told me. Blessings, suffering, and loss all contribute to our abundance list and taking an inventory of abundances can put order to one's life.  So, be brave. Take inventory.  No matter where your discoveries lead you, you will always have the choice to change the results, especially if you don't like the outcome.  And then, you too will find opportunities to spread the goodness around.