Learning to Shoot a Gun

A friend of the boys and his dad invited Jason, Joshua, Jonathan and me to the ranch of a local businessman for a day in the country and to do a little shooting. This ranch was unique in the fact that it exists to raise deer, not cows. It is quite an operation and requires a good deal of work to raise these deer. So, we head out to the ranch and the last time that any of us saw a weather forecast, it was supposed to be partly cloudy and a high temperature of nearly 50 degrees. Nothing any of us would call the perfect day but certainly bearable.

Needless to say, the weather did quite work out as planned. The day ended up very cold and cloudy and, fortunately, no rain. I had no way to find out what the temperature at the ranch was but when we got home at 4:30PM, the wind chill was at 26 degrees.

Not knowing the real temperature may have made the day outside more easy to stand. We arrived at the ranch, grabbed one of the Polaris truck/4-wheeler vehicles (I'm sure that is exactly what all the hunters call them) and headed to one of the barns on the ranch to pick up the other Polaris truck/4-wheeler vehicles. Once we had both vehicles we were ready to head out across the ranch and look for deer, elk and those pesky coyotes.

I learned something about coyotes while on the ranch. They are considered by most ranchers to be the worst of the pests and are good for nothing but to be killed. Judging from the way Buddy (my boy's friend's dad) talked, I would liken them to roaches in a house. Coyotes will go to great lengths to make their way onto a ranch and tear up just about anything they can get their hands on. One of the biggest challenges the coyotes present at this ranch is that they will attack and kill for food any young deer they find. So, as I said, these ranchers, none of the ranchers like coyotes and will go to great lengths to exterminate them. Yep! That's the word they use!

We drove through the ranch, taking time occasionally to check on the boys and make sure they were "hangin' in there." They were troopers and rode along in the cold. After an hour or so of driving around, we went back to the barn and had lunch and tried to warm up a bit. Ham and Bologna sandwiches all around. After lunch, we decided to take the pickup truck and "ride the fence," a term used to describe the process of riding a vehicle along the perimeter of the property to check fence condition and for those pesky coyotes. The boys were excited about the possibility of putting a few shells into the body of one of those varmits. It was much warmer in the pickup with the heater blowing so the fence ride was much more comfortable. But, no coyotes! I'm really kind of glad because I hate killing anything. I don't care if someone else wants to or likes to. Its just not something I care for. But, four little boys -- they couldn't wait. Joshua seemed to have the keen eye in the group. He spotted a deer or two twice while we were driving around.


After another hour or so of driving around, we stopped at the watering hole for the boys to shoot guns. They came all this way and would not be denied the opportunity to put a few shells into a small watering pond or the side of an old oak tree. Each boy took their turn with either a .22 caliber or a bb-gun. The latter is more my speed. Joshua shot first, then Jonathan and finally Ben, the other boy. Jason seemed content to shoot bb's into the tank.

After 30 or 45 minutes, we all decided we had had enough of the cold and wind and decided to pack it up and head home. We drove back to the barn, picked up the first Polaris truck/4-wheel vehicle and drove it back to the main house. On the way out, we finally saw a large group of deer (8 - 10).

I remember doing something like this when I was a boy (probably closer to 13 or 14) and thinking it was really, really cool. I know my boys enjoyed it and I am thankful for friends like Buddy and Ben that will take time for us and allow us to do something that I know my guys will like but will never get to do if its up to me.

Joshua's 8th Birthday Party

The years just seem to move more quickly than ever. I guess its just my age. Joshua is turning 8-years old on Monday. I am stunned. It seems like only yesteday I was holding a baby in my arms. To bring matters closer to home, I am transferring our old VHS home movies to DVD and saw early videos of Josh. What a cute baby and toddler he was. One really cute thing on the tapes is from Christmas 2000. Everytime he opens a present he says quite loudly, "Oh Wow!" Too bad we all can't keep such wonder and amazement at the simplest things in life. Today, he is a great boy! Its hard to imagine, even though I lived through it, the transformation from that baby to the boy I see today. How time flies.


We had several of Joshua's friends over to celebrate his birthday. Most were from his Cub Scout den and/or his class at school. Of course there are the brothers and one of Jason's friend. From the top, left to right, they are:

Ben Mills, Jason Gibson, Joshua Gibson (Birthday Boy), Jonathan Gibson (the quiet one), David Tsuneki, Graham Seargent, Daniel Beal and Michael Thomas Walton.

Mom put together all the cool stuff: cake, cupcakes, party favors, decorations. Dad grilled burgers and hot dogs. Which means that mom did the most work but I had to stand out in the cold and rain! (I can hear the "So whats?"). The boys had dinner, sang "Happy Birthday", indulged on cupcakes (no ice cream), coke, and then opened presents.

For the next two hours, it was, shall we say, pretty busy around the house. What else can you expect with eight little boys confined to the four walls of our house because of the weather, loaded full of sugar, all trying to outdo the other in coolness, intensity and noise-levels.

Since the theme of the party was "All Things Army" there were more than just a few battles going on. There were snipers everywhere. I was picked off more than once. We left the dog outside in case it was decided he would make a good enemy or POW.

At some point in every husband's life, you see a look in your wife's eyes that is, shall we say, not quite normal. The look lives somwhere in the middle of many emotions: despair, stress, sadness and sheer terror. I witnessed just such a thing last night. It is hard for any woman to see eight boys (again, full of sugar) running through her house putting every "pretty" in the house at risk of being broken or completely demolished. Being in this situation leads to the state of mind just mentioned. Bless her heart, Karen prevailed over her natural instincts to throw eight boys out into the cold and rain, caring little for the safety of the dog who would have been taken hostage or something worse had this happened, and let the boys run through her house. These situations never affect dad's the same way because we see breakage as simply another reason to remodel that room, thereby doing even more damage, which in turn leads mom into the state of mind previously mentioned.

Thank goodness for our perpetual baby-sitter -- the DVD player. The only thing more fun to a bunch of 6, 7, 8 and 9-year old boys than running through a house reaking havoc on any innocent bystander that happens by is watching painful things happen to grownups in a movie, especially when that pain in inflicted by a kid. Karen had the wisdom to get Joshua Home Alone 1, 2 and 3 for one of his birthday presents. The boys had a wonderful time watching a kid "stick it" to a grownup. I must admit its fun to watch. A modern day Three Stooges, except there are only two.

Aroung 10PM, most of the boys went home but a couple stayed the night. This allowed them to view another Home Alone movie and drift off to sleep. I finally got to bed around 12:30AM.

All-in-all, it was a good party.

A slow, cold day in Abilene

Not much going on here today. Just hanging around the house trying to avoid the cold. A firelog in the fireplace, the wife on the couch. Jason is out being the social butterfly again sleeping over with a friend. The other two boys are playing games.

Another day on the fencing project

Another day of working on the fencing project. I got 70% of the pickets on the fence and came a little closer to figuring out what creative solution to use around the tree. Probably two more days of work and it will be done. Next step is to clean out the sidewalk and part of the flower bed so the pickets will hang correctly and then do a little work on the post at that point in the yard. That post seems to move a little bit and I want to make sure it is good and solid.

The plan is to put a tree house in the big mesquite tree and to move their fort so it can all be tied together. Not sure how I'm going to do the tree house but we'll see how creative I can get.

Here are the pictures of the fence as it looked this afternoon.

Working on the Fence

I took some time away from the office because it was such a nice day (mid-70s, light breeze, the perfect day) and decided to use the afternoon to work on the fence project I started a few weeks ago with Jon-Jon (see the 12/29/2006 entry).






I found that hanging the rails was much easier with two people. I asked Karen to help by screwing down the rails while I used the level to make sure they were level.




Well, let's just say, this is the first time that I have seen a situation where pink socks and white flipflops were considered appropriate attire for putting up a fence.


























Be that as it may, we got the fence rails up, except the two that are close to the tree. Those are only an issue because I didn't plan very well and ended up right next to the tree. I could have fixed the issue my moving several of the post holes but I was too lazy to dig more holes. I'll post a picture of my creative solution once I figure out what it is going to be.

Start of a New Year

Here it is, Jan 1st. The boys and I are sitting in the movie theater waiting for Eragon to start. The boys are really excited. They love dragon movies.

We had our mandatory black-eyed-peas. Let's hope for a fruitful new year.

Post-movie comments:

Like most little boys, my three guys just experienced the greatest movie they have ever seen! It was better than I had expected based on the reviews on yahoo and other places. It had some good parts, some a little corny, and some funny.