Two Brand New Shooters

We have a great reason to celebrate today. Two brand new shooters have joined the ranks of free Americans around the country. Our grandchildren, Miss Princess (The Girl) and Captain Awesome (The Boy).

Last year we introduced the kids to shooting with a BB Gun. That's fine and all and is, in my opinion, an important step in exposing the young to shooting and beginning the ingraining of good habits, but there comes a time when the next step is indicated. Today was that day.

This morning I held a class in gun safety. The students were my grandchildren. The Girl age 9 and The Boy age 7. We went over the 4 rules and I required them to repeat them back to me without error. Then we went on to shooting basics, grip, stance, sight alignment, sight picture and trigger control. Basic stuff because I don't want to overwhelm them this early on. Then we loaded up and headed for the range. But wait, there was one small problem. One of my safes refused to open and in it were the firearms I had intended as appropriate, the Ruger 10-22s, a 77-22 and a MKI and MKII. On to the back up plan. A S&W M&P and Lu's Ruger SR22. Ok, we can do this.

Got to the range and it was a beautiful day. We had ammo to spare and two kids just about to explode from the anticipation. First up was the S&W. As feared it was just too big and heavy. We shot off a couple of rounds but as soon as I realized it just wasn't going to work we switched to the SR22. It actually proved to be a nearly perfect selection. Big enough to feel real but small enough that kid hands could grasp it effectively.

First up The Boy. Please note his trigger finger placement. I worked with their new shooter lean all day. We never got there but we got progressively closer. That's good enough for now.

And The Girl. Again, good finger placement.

Working on the grip. Kids seem to tend to reach out and try to grab it with both hands. Strict attention from the coach/instructor is required here.

Pretty good form with the exception of the aforementioned new shooter lean.

The Girl is taller with bigger hands. She's also a lefty. Well, she's really pretty ambidextrous but she's also right eye dominant. That can be a real issue with new shooters, especially those who cannot wink with each eye. I decided to go ahead and concentrate on her right hand with the idea that as she progresses we can switch her as we go. It'll also inculcate weak and strong hand shooting techniques from the get go.

Here's The Boy in full recoil. I know it's just a 22 but he's also just 7. His good body position (mostly) allows him to soak up what recoil there is without fear of the muzzle flying back and hitting him. Coaches, good position by the shooter will also lend both support and confidence. Plus you'll be in a position to immediately intervene or correct/teach. You can also coach them through their fundamentals as they shoot.

The Girl in the start of the recoil cycle. Note the barrel/slide position. A couple of great shots by our official photographer, AKA grandma Lu. Neither kid had an issue with recoil all day. Can you also see the smile on that little face? It's there alright. Oh yes.

Working with The Boy on grip and body position. You can also see our targets, placed at about 5 yards. Bullseye and some steel. If you want some great ideas on cheap targets go peruse Dann's site. We'll be trying some of them out next range trip.

Not a bad grip, especially for a brand new shooter. Not perfect but plenty good for starters. Did I mention that boy is 7?

And The Girl. Yes we need work but I am completely satisfied with where we got. I've seen much worse on police ranges I was running and this from a 9 year old.

The Girl and the targets. Both kids rang the steel and were thrilled to do so. Those are pretty small ringers at 5 yards in front of two kids who had never shot a real firearm before. Yep, I was mighty impressed and most pleased. So were they. Positive reinforcement and success will do wonders at this point. Keep the expectations and challenges reasonable.

It was a very good day. We even had a proper Cease Fire called by the kids when Lu was on the line. The Boy's ears had broken and they understood and remembered my range safety briefing and both called the cease fire. I was very happy. One note and it's just my opinion. I do not conduct kid ranges with the same intensity as adult. There was no yelling, no barked corrections, little pressure. Just good safety practices, low stress work on the fundamentals and maximum fun. Introducing new shooters is a tricky business and best done as gently as possible within the strictures of a safe range.

We have a lot of work to do but I am immensely satisfied at the progress we made not to mention thrilled that I got to introduce my grandchildren to the sport of shooting. This is a big step toward them becoming responsible adults and shooters as well as Free Americans. From their response the joy of shooting has been well and truly implanted. For those who have never done it I cannot adequately express how proud I am of them and how ecstatic I am that I got to be their first instructor. It is a feeling that has to be experienced to be truly appreciated.

We are already planning the next visit to the range. If I can get the safe opened we'll do a little more rifle work. If I can't we'll concentrate on pistol. Anyone know how to break into a Winchester safe with a digital combination lock?

We have two new American Shooters in our midst. I hope you will all welcome them to the family. It is a very good day my friends.
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Yes, We Are In Fact Awesome Grandparents

I have been remiss. I promised pics of the kids and haven't come through. It's been hectic but joyful. 

One of my favorite things is to give the kids a chance to try new and heretofore forbidden challenges. Luckily DO has raised the kids with the attitude that you can't protect them from everything and lets us all go do fun if maybe a little hazardous stuff. Nothing life threatening. More like skinned knees and elbows hazardous. I also am of the opinion that it's best to introduce them to new activities as gently as possible lest they scare themselves silly and never try anything new again.

One of the things I promised the kids was a mini bike. We have now satisfied that promise. Well, kinda.

Behold the Razor Electric Scooter.

It's not exactly a mini bike but as far as the kids are concerned it's close enough. Yeah, it's kinda girly in color but The Boy says that's just fine as long as he gets to ride it. It's actually big enough for Lu. Not that she's short or anything (she is). I can't decide who likes it more, her or the kids. I think it's a tie.

Plus he has another excuse to wear that awesome helmet.

We have a huge driveway area, big enough for the kids to have established a racetrack. Will there be contests? There has been talk. Scooter versus bicycle and winner take all.

How cute is this?

We're going to let them get their feet wet on the razor before moving eventually up to a real motorcycle. A year or two and they'll have the skills and confidence to tackle something with some real horsepower. Hey, it's just more incentive to spend Summers at Grandma and Papa's house. Yes, we are devious!

We've been having a ball in spite of the heat. Parties, swimming every day, hikes, trail rides and now the awesome scooter. It's been a blast.
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Oh, and we paid cold, hard cash for that scooter. $249.99 plus tax gouging at Wally World. A far better use of our money than anything the government could come up with, yes?

Grandkids - A Lttle Awesome and A Little Ewww

We went for a nice trail ride today. It was the first chance to try out the new suspension bikes we bought for the kids. The bikes were a hit and the kids got quickly back into the swing of mountain biking. Of course there was one more purchase we had to make.

When we got rid of the old bikes everything went with them. That meant new helmets were in order. We decided to wait and let the kids pick out their own so off to the big box store we went. Miss Princess went with Grandma while Captain Awesome and I perused the offerings. When each saw the helmets we eventually bought they were instantly grasped by excited hands and pronouncements of their awesomeness were both voluble and oft repeated. Which ones did they pick out you ask?

That's a cat on the left and a mohawk on the right. Cool Kitty and Mysterious Mohawk. They were in 7 and 9 year old heaven. Miss Princess refused to take hers off even in the restaurant where we went for an after ride breakfast. Which brings me to the Ewww part of the story.

I have now seen consumed what is perhaps the most vile and noxious meal ever imagined in the fevered dreams of even the most jaded and exploitative restauranteur. It was at IHOP so you may already have an unsettling idea of what we witnessed.

They both ordered the chocolate with chocolate chip pancakes. With whip cream of course. They then proceeded to absolutely cover them with every type of syrup available. Maple, butter pecan, blueberry and the horrible boysenberry. The plates were swimming in the stuff. It soaked into the pancakes and combined with the whip cream to produce a vile concoction that both kids ate with barely concealed glee, pronouncing it 'delicious'. I got a toothache just sitting at the same table. I couldn't even watch them eat. It was like two sugar sharks in a feeding frenzy with little bits of brown pancake flotsam and multicolored syrup jetsam. Even the gore channel would have begged off filming it.

It occurred to me that they may have stumbled upon the perfect interrogation technique for adults.

"Won't talk eh? Well how about we add some....BOYSENBERRY!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

"No no. Anything but that. I'll talk! I'll talk!" (Sounds of uncontrolled sobbing and retching)

Then again, it might just be too cruel. I know I'll never look at the kids menu the same way again.

The horror. The horror.
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Grandkids Visit - Sketchy Posting

DO and the grandkids will be here later this evening. They're here for a nice three week visit. Lu and I have a host of stuff planned and I expect we'll be keeping pretty busy.

That said I'll probably be pretty limited in my posting time. I will get some done, I have more than a few humorous stories in the Queue and some more recent projects.

We've been waiting anxiously for their visit for months now. Angus is doing the happy dance. Either that or he really needs to pee.

Thank you all for stopping by to read and comment on my scribblings here. I appreciate all of you.

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All The World's Indeed A Stage

And we are merely players. Performers and Portrayers. With apologies to Rush, one of my favorite bands..

When it comes to being a Grandpa I am a softie. I know that comes as a shock but it's true. I just can't say no to my grandchildren. Nor can I resist an idea if I think it will make them happy. For proof I offer our latest project. You can click to enlarge any of the photos.

I'm sure most of you remember the Pirate Ship we built for them a couple of years ago. Well, they're a little older and much of the ship is really no longer used. They do love to put on plays and such though so a re-think was in order. I decided what was needed was a stage and the best place for it was the prow of the ship.

We started by tearing the old prow off and straightening out the two 2x6s that defined the edges.

I then completed the rectangle and propped it up with 4x4 legs so the floor was level. I put in some floor joists and then skinned the whole thing with some plywood I took off the ceiling in the kidsroom remodel.

I had some old half inch knotty pine boards I took off the walls in the laundry room that was perfect for the stage floor. That went over the plywood with screws.

I put in a corner made out of 2x6s and skinned it with some more of that knotty pine.

I then stretched another 2x6 as a header from the corner to the ship. That allowed me to hide a curtain rod, a piece of 1 inch PVC we had laying around. Lu had some curtains that she no longer had a need for that were perfect for a stage curtain.

A view from insiude the ship, behind the stage curtain.

Lu has some old fashioned wooden folding chairs for the audience seating.

We'll put some more curtains on the widnow in thew ship so the kids can use it as their 'dressing room'.

An actor of the canine variety gives the new stage a test. Along with an extra of course. How did he get in there?

All in all I think it came out pretty well. Lu, DO and MIL all gave it their blessing so I guess it's Ok. There's a little more paint to do and the header to decorate but this is pretty much the final product. And it didn't cost us a dime. We had everything we needed. A few nails and some screws along with some sweat equity was the sun total of our investment in this project.

The kids love to put on productions and I can't wait to see what they come up with on this visit. Pictures and a story will surely be forthcoming. This is going to be fun!

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Car Guy

I've held off on this post a few days because I wanted to wait until we heard some confirmed good news. We now have that news. I am going to hold off naming the city or hospital to help protect their privacy. I hope you understand.

A couple of days ago Car Guy's daughter was involved in a bad accident. In the car was her son and daughter. The van was t-boned at speed by a large vehicle and the results were simply awful. Daughter and grandson were hurt but not critically. His granddaughter on the other hand was very badly injured. I mean badly. About as bad as you can imagine and still be alive. He immediately flew out and has been by her bedside virtually day and night. Well, the power of prayer works and I can now say that little girl is doing much better. To the point that she's off the opiates, the ventilator and many of the usual tubes and drains. She's responding positively to those around her and seems to be on her way to a complete recovery. There will be the normal difficulties and challenges associated with traumatic brain injuries but her doctors are upbeat and positive and all signs are excellent. It's more that we could have hoped for.

I'm not going to go into the intimate details of the crash or her injuries but trust me, I saw the pictures of both and they near broke my heart. Among my jobs at the PD was fatal accident reconstruction. I've seen a lot of horror and too many accidents that resulted in the loss of life. As I viewed those pictures of the crash scene I couldn't help but note the details with an educated and experienced eye. I have no earthly idea why that little girl survived beyond that the Good Lord reached out his hand and spared her.

There is another reason though I'm of the opinion the two are related. Car Guy told me that one of the local hospital's trauma surgeons routinely rides around in his personal car with a radio tuned to the local PD/Fire/EMS frequencies. He just happened to drive through the intersection where the accident occurred and heard the call. He turned around and returned to the scene within minutes. Car Guy says if he hadn't done that, if he hadn't heard or responded to the call, his granddaughter wouldn't have survived her injuries. That doctor literally kept her alive at the scene and for her life flight to the hospital and the ICU. It was that close. Cay Guy couldn't have been happier with the hospital staff. They were professional, caring and extremely competent. The doctors and nurses there are top notch. We are still a country with the best emergency care in the world. We are grateful for their wonderful care of that oh so precious charge.

I'm so happy and grateful to be able to post this with the sure and certain knowledge that with a lot of time, effort and love Car Guy's granddaughter will return to his loving embrace and remain his beloved grandchild. That makes me smile with my entire soul. Car Guy, we've been holding you all in our hearts and prayers my brother. I couldn't be happier for you and the rest of your family. Thank you for sharing with me and allowing me to help in a very small way. We love you my friend and are here for you always.

This post with a huge thank you is dedicated to the blessed men and women of our EMS and hospital services. On this day, after we have witnessed the herculean efforts by those same folks in Boston, it seems like a good time to remember them. And to say We Love You All.

Especially one trauma surgeon who will forever be in my prayers and will have my eternal gratitude. May God bless you my unknown friend. You saved the life of the grandchild of a man closer to me than my own brothers and I will never forget.

If you have a minute and are so inclined a quick prayer for a very special little girl in the hospital would be wonderful and very much appreciated.

Thank you my friends.

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Kids Room Part II

First a note on doing remodels, especially on older homes like this one. Take breathing precautions and clean up as you go. There's an awful lot of crap in those walls and attics and most of it is going to end up as particulate matter in the air and your eyes, mouth and lungs. I've taken out fiberglass insulation, blown in cellulose insulation, bug carcasses, mouse turds, ancient dirt accumulation and even a dead bird. Breath masks and a hepa filter on your shop vac will go a long way toward keeping your lungs happy. Also take care to insulate the room you're working on from the rest of the house. That's especially important if you've got young ones at home.

Ok. First up was taking out the carpet, removing the wood burning stove and excising all those bricks. I took care to take them out as intact as possible. I have plans for those bricks down the line. The carpet is old but still serviceable. The best chunk is going into the gym. I tossed the rest.

I ended up with a nice pile of clay fireplace bricks. A little clean up and they'll be perfect for a brick BBQ I'm building this Summer.

Ok, bricks out it was time for the ceiling. It was composed of pressed cellulose tiles. It came down easily but I had quite a pile when I was done. I wanted to rent a small dumpster but the smallest I could find was 10 yards for 375 bucks. Yeah, I'll just load up the trailer and haul it myself.

When the tiles were down I was left with the support lath and the underlayment consisting of an insulating board over eighth inch thin plywood.

Under that was the insulation. It was a combination of fiberglass batting with blown in cellulose on top of that.

Oh, and one dead bird. Seriously. In my attic.

It made a hell of a mess. By this time I'd cleaned up bricks, mortar dust, wood, paneling and now insulation.  It took 5 large garbage bags just to pack out the cellulose insulation. Remember, clean as you go lest you get buried in demo.

As I was cleaning up it dawned on me that the whole thing would go faster if I just took out the slider door that I needed to remove anyway so out it came. Plus I really needed to see more of the framing to see if that wall is load bearing. It isn't which is both good and bad. Good because it means I can enlarge the room without worrying about shoring up the roof structure first. Bad because it really should be shoring up the roof structure now. It will be when I'm done.

Remember, in any remodel and certainly in one done on an older house you are going to run into...issues. Case in point. First, the ceiling joists are butted and toe nailed into the header. Maybe Ok 50 years ago but a no no these days. Plus there's no support from the joists to the roof structure as there would be in modern rafters. Add in that they're 24 inches on center and the whole thing is pretty much a mess. I'll end up replacing all the joists with 2x6 dimensional lumber put in with joist hangers at 16 inches on center. Then I'll run supports from them up to the roof. It'll add strength to the whole roof and tie everything together for a more sound structure. It's a pain but beats tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch. Barely. 

You'll also find stuff that just makes you scratch your head and mutter WTF!? Like this. Don't ask. I have absolutely no idea and I'm not even sure I want to know. I'll just repair it and move on.

I ended the day with another good clean up. Since the temperature has been down in the single digits at night I changed out the light cover over the kitchen door with an old quilt for better insulation. Nothing you can really do. Remodels are controlled chaos and some things just have to be lived with temporarily.

Next up on the list is to get the walls down to the bare studs. That means taking out all the sheetrock and more clean ups. Sigh. Still, it has to be done before I can start building. I need to see the wall structure so I can determine what can stay and what needs to be repaired. I already know there's some wood damage from a flood in 1981 that was never fixed. There's definitely some rot and termite damage. Cross your fingers on that one please. At the same time I'll remove the large south facing window and take a look at that structure. I'm expecting the worst.

Still, it's a very good start. Nothing can be finished until the job is begun and at least I have done that much. More later.

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New Project

The new year is upon us and the holidays are over so it's time to get off my butt and back to work on the house. The next thing I need to do is get the kids rooms done. We have a room at the back of the house that's 13x16 with a 5.5x3.5 extension where a wood burning stove currently resides. I'm going to turn the space into two individual rooms for the grandkids. It's going to be a long project so I'll be doing a series of posts. I'll be doing framing, wiring, maybe some concrete, interior and exterior door installations, window installations, sheetrock, stucco, carpet laying and finish work. Plus deconstruction. It's going to be fun.

Here's the room. To the left and back is the cubby where the wood burning stove is. It needs to come out and the brickwork taken down. That large window at the rear will also come out and be enclosed. The black lines on the floor are where the walls will go in. I laid it out on the carpet so I could get a sense of space and layout, the old carpet will be pulled up and disposed of before any framing is done. This picture was taken from the doorway to the kitchen.

This is a door that looks out on the front porch. I still have no idea why this room was built with a second front door but what you gonna do? I'll take the door completely out and frame in a small window for Baby Girl's room.

The slider door that leads to the back porch. That's coming out and I'll frame it in for a hinged exterior door instead. You can see that there will be a small corridor leading from the doorway to the kitchen (on the left in the picture) and the kids rooms as well as the door to the back porch. That will allow me to add three feet to the length of The Boy's room. The black line on the floor shows where the north wall will go.

The 10 foot window that needs to be removed. I'll take it out, frame in the opening, remove the exterior siding and eventually stucco the whole south facing exterior wall. I have to do this for two reasons. First, it's impossible to frame in the rooms with the window in place. Second, that window gets a lot of sun in the Summer, making the room very hot. This will allow me to cool these two rooms much more efficiently.

The bricked in cubby. I'm of two minds about this space. After taking out the bricks and getting down to the bare stud walls it's plenty big enough for a single bed. But I may yet decide to blow out the left side wall, pour an addition to the concrete foundation and re-frame in a new corner making the room completely rectangular and getting rid of the cubby all together.

Here's a better look at that cubby. The curtain on the left is covering the slider door that's coming out. What I'm considering is blowing out that wall and corner on the left there and essentially creating a new corner for the room.  It'll add 16 square feet to the room but I can't decide if the added work (It's truly a pain in the butt to do) and expense will be worth it.

In the meantime it's hammer and chisel time. I'm going to save the bricks for another project down the line. I'm not a hoarder but I never throw away anything that may eventually have some use.

I've started the tear out but am a little under the weather today so no work is getting done at the moment. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow and be back in the mines again. This is one of those capitol improvement projects that not only absolutely needs to be done so the kids can have their own rooms when they visit Grandma and Papa but will add two bedrooms and increase the value of our house. I'll keep track of my expenses and post the final cost in case anyone reading the build has ideas of doing something similar. I should be able to do the total remodel for under $2500 depending on whether or not I expand the room and have to do concrete.

More later.

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Jem Trail With The Kids

With the kids having a few weeks on two wheels to practice and hone their skills it was time for the next step. Trail ride. We chose the Jem Trail because there's a very nice section of double track/ fire road that's pretty flat (considering it in the actual mountains) with a little loop of single track that's as non-technical as you can get out here. The kids loved it. I am positively giddy with delight. They took to it immediately, flying down declines, swooping over whoops, standing up and taking on ruts head on and powering up inclines. It was a ball. Both of them even crashed a couple of times. No tears, just dusted themselves off and on to the next section of trail. No whines, no crying, no complaints. Just good old fashioned fun in the dirt and a couple of band-aids.

Warning: the word awesome will be used extensively in this post. 

The day was bright, hot and clear. As you can see here, The Boy jumped into the lead right out of the gate and stayed there the whole day. Angus spent most of the day running back and forth between the two groups. We guys were naturally way more awesome of course. "Hey, you guys coming or what?"

There was one climb that was just a bit beyond them and they ended up pushing. It was all good as Angus promptly went back to show them how it was done.

This is where you turn off the double track and pick up the single. It was also where we had the endos that I was afraid was going to screw up the entire day. Biker chicks are so awesome.

Aftermath of the endo. Ok, here's Lu and The Princess at the endo site. Here's what happened. If you look closely you can see there's a small drop off just behind the girls. It's probably 6 feet down, not too steep, then flattens out and goes into a great little berm. At the bottom of the drop there's some soft dirt. I explained how to traverse the obstacle and then demonstrated it. The Boy sailed through but The Princess hit the soft dirt and promptly went right over the handlebars. It wasn't serious, just a slightly skinned knee, though it was awesome (sorry, it just was). I freaked thinking this was going to be it. She'd walk back to the truck and never ride again. Nope. She made the pain face, checked herself out, then remounted and rode on. This pic was just after the crash. The Princess and Lu were still discussing the spectacular endo and how to get around the berm. Have I mentioned how cool biker chicks are?

Both of the girls decided that discretion was the better part of valor and walked the berm. Of course they did have the benefit of watching The Boy make the attempt. I did mention two endos? Well this was where The Boy ate it. He got about halfway through the berm but didn't have enough speed and augured in at the mid point. It wasn't so much an endo as a get off but it was pretty cool. The Boy is getting to the point where he truly appreciates a really spectacular crash. Even his own.

The end of a really great day. The kids are now certified mountain bikers. Next year we'll be upgrading from those cheap big box bikes to something much better with suspension and good hand brakes. At this age the first thing that flies out of their heads in a braking situation is the ability to actually brake. Good hand brakes will go a long way toward alleviating that. We ended the day with ice cream at the local DQ. Nothing tastes better than after ride soft serve with a side of good, clean dirt.

Since these pictures were taken I took The boy out to the trail for another run. He fell heavily twice but both times popped right back up, dusted himself off and took off again. He also made the berm. The Boy is really learning how to ride. The great thing is that both of them love to ride. They've made approximately a million laps of the circular driveway and are now riding to school, which they seem to think is awesomely awesome beans.

Hey, only a few more days before they have to go home to Florida. We need at least one more good Jem Trail ride. See you guys later. We're going for a ride.

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