Learn 5 New Things

At the first of the year, my sister, Teri, challenged her blog readers to learn five new things in 2013.  I chose to learn:

1. Crochet.  
2. Tat lace.  
3. Load/shoot a gun(s).  
4. Camp.  
5. a topic yet to be determined

So far I've marked one off the list - Gun safety.   As I said in my original 5 New Things post, this is not really a "want to", it's a "need to".  I've been around guns all my life.  I do know some gun safety and I have shot, but my knowledge is minimal.  We live in a secluded area and it's a weird world out there - I need to be comfortable with the guns that are in our house. Toward that end, when we spent a weekend with Teri and her husband, Clay, as well as our son, Mitch, the guys got together to teach the ladies the basics of identifying, loading and firing various guns. 

All the details about gauge vs. caliber and double-action vs. semi-automatic may be a bit vague, but I got the gist.  And the shooting portion of our lesson - conducted at a nearby gun range - as actually kind of fun, if a bit frightening.  

We learned about rifles

and pistols

and shotguns

Oh my!

I'm not planning to strap on a holster or even try my hand at trap shooting, but I do feel I could safely load and shoot the guns in my house if need be.

Are you wondering why only the teachers are pictured here and not the students?  Because the picture Dave got of me shooting a pistol was just too embarrassing to post (cause it's my blog and I don't hafta if I don't wanna!) so no fair embarrassing Teri, either.

Next up - Crochet and camping are in the plans for later this month.