Halloween

Sorry folks but this is about as excited as I get about Halloween however this brightened my day

And this made me laugh which is better than crying

and over at Violet sky is some wonderful renditions of pumpkins...hope your day is all you hoped for........................................................................

The height of frustration

Well to add to my political frustrations comes one of my pet peeves

Christmas displays not only before Thanksgiving but even before Halloween!

This picture I borrowed from Violet Sky is the best idea I've have ever seen.............

Don't you just love it!!

Screen savers

Isn't this cute?

I recently downloaded a free web site for screen savers and if you can find it.....I have the mama and baby duck one....every time I see it...............I smile:):)

So what does your screen saver look like?

Stimulus

Well yesterday, I did my part!

I hit the mall and used those gift certificates from J.C. Penny's that I have had since last Christmas and hoped and prayed they were still good. Yep, so three bras and four blouses (on sale) later I felt I was on a roll so headed for my very favorite store of all..........................................................


Savers You can call me cheap if you want to but I think paying $5.00 for a blouse instead of $30.00 and wearing it out to dinner on the difference is just plain logical. Now if I could just convince myself to invest in the market while it is at an all time low.........................
Two things I have never been good about...shopping and gambling.

Vague memory

"You can not help the poor by destroying the rich. You can not strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You can not bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You can not lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You can not further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You can not build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You can not help men permanently by doing for them what they should and could do for themselves." --Abraham Lincoln

Surprise justice

Cactus plugging is the practice of vandalizing or destroying a cactus, usually a saguaro for fun. Typically the cactus is cut open, drained, then packed with explosives and ignited. In another variation, the vandal simple shoots bullets into the cactus body until portions fall off or the entire cactus falls over.

In one notorious incident in 1982, David Grundman was killed when an arm of the saguaro he was "plugging" fell on him.

The act of cactus plugging, if performed on a saguaro, is illegal. In any case, it is a particularly destructive form of vandalism as saguaros require over a hundred years to reach a substantial height.

Searching for some answers

Supreme Court rejects Ohio GOP bid
ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, October 17, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court sided Friday with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.
In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices said they were not commenting on whether Ohio is complying with a provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that lays out requirements for verifying voter eligibility.
Instead, they said they were granting Brunner's request because it appears that the law does not allow private entities, like the Ohio GOP, to file suit to enforce the provision of the law at issue.
"They didn't deal with the merits of the case," said Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett. "What they dealt with was a technicality on whether we had standing or not to bring the action."About 200,000 of 666,000 voters who have registered in Ohio since Jan. 1 have records that don't match. Brunner has said the discrepancies most likely stem from innocent clerical errors rather than fraud but has set up a verification plan.
Bennett said Brunner could have set up a system months ago to check the discrepancies and that her actions have left the potential for voter fraud.
"If we have a close election in Ohio and there's any doubts, the failures will be laid right at her doorstep," Bennett said.
Brunner said the court's decision would help ease confusion in the run-up to Election Day.
She said HAVA was clear that the mismatch lists were to be used to maintain the voter database, not to determine voter eligibility.
"We are very pleased that the court recognized that this was an illegal challenge on the part of the Republicans," she said.
She said the office would have found a way to comply, but there were risks that qualified voters would have been disqualified.
"I think it's an unfair tactic to subject voters to this kind of uncertainty and anxiety this close to such an important election," she said.
In court filings, the GOP has not produced any specific evidence of voting fraud, only unsubstantiated reports that voters from other states had cast fraudulent ballots during the early voting period.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said lower court rulings have clearly said the HAVA regulations require the secretary of state to match against the list, find where there's been fraud and inconsistencies and report them to counties.
"Why in the world would that not happen? We have the technology, the budget, the means and the manpower to make that happen. Do we really want to have to find out after the fact that we had counties that would have been decided one way or another because the secretary of state didn't bother doing the job the HAVA required?" Davis told reporters on a conference call. "I think the secretary of state ought to do her job," he added.

Does anyone out there understand this ? Who would have the standing to bring action?
Here is some information about HAVA
Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
Congress passed a federal election reform law, the Help America Vote Act 2002 (HAVA), in October 2002 in response to the 2000 presidential election. The goal of the legislation is to improve administration of elections nationwide.

Goals of HAVA

HAVA will work to enhance:
Voting standards and education programs for voters and election officials
Accessibility for the disabled
Voter registration file maintenance

State Plan - The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) requires each state to develop a state plan describing how it will implement HAVA.

My conclusion: Because we had so many problems in the last election a law was passed "HAVA" to reduce those problems but the Secretary of the State of Ohio has not adhered to that law and no one has the right to see to it that she does.
200,000 known discrepancies? A descrpancies is a difference in facts folks, look it up, not an innocent clerical error and if it is one then take the time to fix it! Notice that she says it would create a risk that qualified voters would not be counted but no mention of the great risk that 200,000 unqualified voters would be counted. I think I favor the later myself.
I just can't seem to understand these logics and I don't even consider myself very smart. What's your take on it?

Stressed

If you are following the elections......You are probably stressed
That is why blogville is more important than ever!

I can share some of my sentiments with http://oneacrewood.blogspot.com/

A special kinship with http://granan10.blogspot.com/

Have ahhh moments with http://pattybilline.blogspot.com/

Be reminded of the really important things in life with http://chattycrone.blogspot.com/

Share greater problems in life with http://amountaintoohigh.blogspot.com/
Enjoy one of the greatest cities in the USA even though I don't live there http://nyc2dailyphoto.blogspot.com/

Have laugh on http://oldhorsetailsnake.blogspot.com/ (warning...can be off colored)
Learn a little frugality from http://lucysfrugalliving.blogspot.com/

Find a new recipe to be tempted to try on http://funcraftsandrecipes.com/
Sit and exhale on http://buttonwillowchronicles.typepad.com/my_weblog/

If the shoe fits??

Thank you...all bloggers for adding that special spice to life and keeping me sane

For once the New York Times got it right

Steven A. Holmes wrote this article for the New York Times on September 30, 1999 and it is posted in in the news paper's archives. The story reported that Fannie Mae was under pressure by the Clinton Administration to "extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans." The article goes on to say that Fannie Mae was taking on significantly greater risks in doing so and predicted a government intervention to bail them out.
Click for New York Times article
updated 10/03/08
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

September 30, 1999
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending -By Steven A. Holmes

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''
Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.
Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.
Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

Well, now you know how we got here; but why is it now the fault of the Republicans?

My kind of guy

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona) is doing it RIGHT!!

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.
He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.
Took away their weights.
Cut off all but "G" movies.
He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.
Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again but only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel. When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.
He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. When the inmates complained, he told them.....this is a good one......"This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."
He bought Newt Gingrich's lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place. You have to love this guy!!
With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record this past summer), the Associated Press reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks. "It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. "It's inhumane." Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes... so shut your damned mouths."

Things aren't always as it appears

There is nothing about a caterpillar than would lead you to believe

it will become a beautiful butterfly

A little hope for the day

Colt Collectors Show

The Colt Collectors Association holds a convention once a year in different locations throughout the United States. This year it was held in Houston, Texas (last week-end, in spite of the hurricane).
Only colt products are displayed or sold and many people attend simply to share their amazing collections in display. It is open to the public on Sat. and Sunday.
No, this was by no means the most expense gun for sale....the most expensive ones are not for sale.....................................................Notice the paper it is lying on? That is a letter of verification from the Colt factory that this gun is original.

There are awards given for the displays and one that I thought was exceptional was titled (Charter Oak). It was a historical display that dated back to the 1800's and a Charter from England that was located at this huge oak tree

and when in the late 1800's it was struck by lightning

some of the wood from the tree was saved and used to carve many different things, including this set of grips on these colts

These were under glass so unfortunately you see the reflection of the person with the camera. The wood was engraved with oak leaves and really beautiful.

Another nice display

and this one of Pancho Villa were just a few that caught my eye.

Although the Hilton hotel had been damaged due to the hurricane, it was in good repair and had a pretty lobby.

The first of Nov. will find us at yet another gun show in Oklahoma and going to the Gilcrease Museum to see the newly displayed 101 collection (associated with my book on the sidebar). Yep, we have packing down to a science and a special case for the guns, but it is still a real challenge to get through the airport with 20 handguns....that is a story within itself!

What our country really needs

Paul Smith

No, you probably have never heard of him but he is a man of inspiration.

Born with cerebral palsy did not deter him from painting....................................

How????

Using his typewriter!!!

Why is it some people sit down and say "I can't" and others find a way to get it done?

http://www.paulsmithfoundation.org/index.html

I'm Back

I often ask myself why I do these trips and of course I know the answers:

1. I love meeting new people
2. I love learning new things
3. I believe that change produces growth
When I get home I try to remember this little list because with trips and travel comes people you don't like, things that aren't what you thought they would be and changes you may not have anticipated......such is the nature of travel.
This was my third trip with the Elderhostel program and it was titled "Heroic Hounds"
Our base was the DoubleTree Inn in Rohnert, Ca.

The facility was VERY nice and the food, although all buffet for our group, was good.

Our focus was to learn about those gentle giants that help people have full lives in spite of the obstacles they face.

The training that goes into these dogs is not only very time consuming and intense but also very expensive and for the most part, accomplished, on donations. The breed of choice is mostly yellow labs due to their strength, health, intellect and........................................

gentle, calm spirit. She calmly sits with her paws crossed while our group of 26, ask questions and take pictures.
We also had a demonstration of two of the of the California K9 dogs that sniff out drugs, bombs and help catch the bad guys. You would not believe how this dog changed when fellow officer acted as if he was going to attack the woman police officer he was trained with.........good thing he had a very padded arm shield.

Also on the agenda was a trip to the Charles Schulz Museum (Creator of Peanuts) and although I am not a comic fan, many of the displays were quite amazing...................

This was a floor to ceiling display made up of his different cartoons and using the dark colored cartoons to make this scene of Peanuts and Lucy.

I am very blessed to be able to travel with and without my husband and for the most part I find it very rewarding. This does not mean that it is smooth sailing and an easy task. When traveling alone, just being responsible to get yourself to the airport, remember where you parked, find the baggage claim, lift your own bag (hopefully you didn't over pack), find the shuttle and be sure you are on the right one, have the right change because they don't accept credit cards and on a group tour after you find your room, it's time to meet 25 new people that are couples as well as a few singles and somehow all blend together. You often do not get to choose your meals so you need to be flexible about that and the days can become quite long when you are traveling to and from places on a bus. This trip was different than the others that I have previously taken because it was subject focused where the others were area focused. I found this one specially taxing due to the four women who would not take directions and constantly detained the group asking endless questions. In any group you always have those that have to be first in line, first of the bus, hog the petting time and monopolize the conversations and express their political/religious views as if there were no others, but these four were just exasperating to me............................

Note to self: be sure to listen and don't ask too many questions

Keep a watchful eye

Just a little helpful reminder...................

I am off on a jaunt.....see you when I get back:)

An educated guess

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt," either. It's in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the are! a blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
This is totally true folks.......................Another example of leaving your brain on the doorstep.

Golf Ball

Why do golf balls have dimples?



It's not so that they will look cute.......................................
The dimples maximize the distance golf balls travel......they travel four times farther than smooth-surfaced golf balls.
The science of aerodynamics helps explain the dimples phenomenon. The dimples reduce the drag on a golf ball by redirecting more air pressure behind the golf ball rather than in front of it. The higher levels of pressure behind the golf balls force them to go farther distances.
Now, how could you not live without that tidbit today...................Do you golf?

Boredom and excess results

You are driving down the highway near Yarnell, Az. and you see a white thing in the distance.......
Can't imagine what this could be.......can you???

Just your average painted rock skull.
This massive rock was painted by Santa Fe Railroad workers around 1900. Supposedly the crew was in charge of painting the mileposts and other signs along the track and had left over paint and too much time on their hands:)
This article appeared recently in out AAA magazine..................................................

9-11

Baker Company Marines in formation in remembrance of 9-11

You could have heard a pin drop

When in Switzerland at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop George Carey if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return". You could have heard a pin drop..............................................................

Then, there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room sharing "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?" A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly;"Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallon of fresh water from sea water each day and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?" You could have heard a pin drop....................................................................................................

A US Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the US, English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. AT a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.' You could have heard a pin drop....................................................................

A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur'? the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have you passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!' The American senor have the Frenchman a long hard look and then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find and Frenchmen to show it to.' You could have heard a pin drop..........................................................

What is a Veteran? whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- it is someone who at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and including his life.'

How easily we forget.............................................................................

Just the two of us

A successful concoction:

One avocado cut in half with pit and skin removed

Several grape tomatoes cut in quarters filling the center and spilling over

Salt and pepper............genius!

The Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant

Ever wondered what the story was behind these two famous party animals? According to this web site, The now-famous Democratic donkey

was first associated with Democrat Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign. His opponents called him a jackass (a donkey), and Jackson decided to use the image of the strong-willed animal on his campaign posters. Later, cartoonist Thomas Nast used the Democratic donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous.

Nast invented another famous symbol—the Republican elephant.

In a cartoon that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1874, Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin, scaring away all the animals at the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled “The Republican Vote.” That's all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party.
Democrats today say the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans say the elephant is strong and dignified.

I don't know if there are symbols for politicians in Canada and other countries but these are sure well recognized here in the USA.

Here's my advice.............Pay attention and listen....then VOTE your choice, and then.........shut up and be the best grateful American you can........millions of people around the world would love to have this privilege, don't forget it.

Fast Draw

Lady di tn said she wished I would talk more about my competition days so here it goes:)

My husband was already a top notch competitor in Fast Draw when we married but I just didn't know how much he loved it...............so after several years of whining and complaining about spending every holiday at some competition, I decided if you can't beat them you may as well join them.

I entered my first contest in 1970 and to my great surprise, placed third. We had been trying have a baby prior to my entering competition and I was just thinking maybe I would postpone it a while when puff.............baby on the way. I continued to compete until my holster wouldn't fit me any longer and took it back up when our daughter was about 1 year old. I continued to shoot until about 3 years ago so that would be a grand total of around 35 years. Now to explain Fast Draw...........

It is a world competition that is governed by the World Fast Draw Association. It is shot with a single action pistol (mostly 357 Ruger bored out to a 45 or a Colt 45) and it is reminisce of the shoot out at the OK corral except you do not face an opponent but rather a target with a light in it or on it. After you have readied yourself, you take a command and from 2 to 5 seconds the light will come on which is your command to draw and fire and hopefully hit the target. There are several different types of draws used: Thumbing which means that it is all done with one hand (my husband is the World Champion for this) and many different forms of Fanning, in which you draw with one hand and the other hand cocks the gun (this is my preferred way of competing). I have always held the belief that a picture is worth far more than words.

These are a couple of ladies I shot with and this particular event is called "step back wax". The target is a metal FBI silhouette and the light is in the middle. You shoot a synthetic wax bullet that is propelled by a 22 blank and it must hit the target in order to stop the clock and record your time. The time is calibrated in 1000's of a second. Here is a little helper....it takes about 15 thousands of a second to blink your eye and these gals are probably shooting around a .3900 here.

My greatest claim to fame was winning the International Championships in 1978, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I continue to hold two World records......Standing Blanks at 10' in 1995 and Walking Wax at 15' in 1997. I won my share of contests like Arizona State, Tombstone, A Canadian competition and etc. but what I was the most proud of, is that I was considered a tough competitor and most always placed in the top 5. I met people from all over the World and traveled to many places most people have never heard of. It was a fun time and people ask me why I have hung it up........ Well, the truth is that World Fast Draw as I knew it, is a dying sport and has been overtaken with other competitions like Single Action Shooting and Cowboy Fast Draw which is similar but yet different and I have decided this old dog isn't interested in learning new tricks. It is a very physical competition and in order to do well you need to be practicing all the time. With only a handful of contests a year in Fast Draw, it just wasn't worth the time for me.

My hubby and I also use to perform Gun Shows around the valley for conventions in some of the big hotels. Here is a picture of him firing at a balloon that I dropped out of my hand............ Yes, this is a VERY old picture (I almost don't recognize myself I am so skinny) taken in 1992 but it was hard to find pictures of us in action instead of with fellow shooters. Blanks are a 45 shell filled with black powder and it is the unburnt powder that breaks the balloon. It creates a spread like a shot gun would. It is the fastest kind of shooting and is popular for the twist fanner's which shoot elimination type competitions and their times are in the 20's.

This is me shooting at the balloon target used in competitions and as you can see....I broke the balloon.

This was the last Championship I won in 2003 at Big Timber, Montana

I sold my custom made gun at the competition last week-end so folks....I won't be coming back but thanks for the memories.

A Trek

Hubby and I often go on "week-end jaunts" but when it adds up to 993 miles, think I best call it a trek:) and so was our trip to Durango, Colo. for a shooting competition this past weekend (I just went along for the ride as I quit competing about 3 years ago).

We left by 5:00 am and made it to the Cliff Castle Casino in time for breakfast, and my always lucky hubby added $300.00 to our pocketbook:)....not to worry he lost it on the way back haha. This is such a pretty casino and their dinning room looks just like the Grand Canyon...truly amazing.

The highlight in Durango for me was staying at the Historic Strater Hotel. It is on main street and a easy walk to all the festivities and of course it is beautiful. The ceilings were just so pretty......

as seen in our room and of course there was

antique furniture everywhere. Their dinning room was just the best with great food so how could you go wrong. We had come here back in 1985 and did all the other fun things like the train ride to Silverton and rafting down the river so just a quiet restful time to be had by me.

While there we wandered into a gun shop and found the most amazing display of stuffed animals I think I have ever seen............here are a few pictures I couldn't resists to take

Was such a treat to get out of the hot summer heat but as always........ miss my bed and my animals.