Sporting Clays with a Corn Husker

One of the great things about Colorado is that on a Saturday in January one can head out and get a few hours of skiing in before the crowds clog up the lift lines and pack down the powder, and get back in time to shoot a round of sporting clays in the afternoon in just a long sleeve shirt! This of course assumes that you aren't married and don't have kids and have enough energy to get up early, drive into the mountains, get your skiing in, drive back, and then pack up all of your gear and head to the range. Since few, well actually none, of those assumptions apply to me you will understand why it took Kate and I the better part of the morning to get everything packed up, (including the dog) and carted over to Brighton Colorado just hang out with our friends Ben and Tiff and an opportunity for Ben and I to get one round of Clays in.
















Now Ben, a Nebraska Corn Husker, is rather interesting. This guy (30 years old) actually camped out in front of a Chik-fil-A restaurant for its grand opening on a January night here in Colorado for 52 free value meals. As I understand it, it got down to 5 degrees that night!

More on Chick-fil-A later....

We had a great time shooting - our scores won't be reported here to protect the innocent (the Corn Husker - don't tell him) but we had a great time none the less. Its just great being outdoors.

Here are a couple of interesting shots I got of the Corn Husker in action. In the first shot you can see the shell ejecting and the smoke coming out of the gun.



















This one you can still see the ejected shell a little further away now as well as the clay getting smoked - Nice Shot! The camera burst mode is fun stuff!




















So back to the Chick-fil-A....

Since Ben had 52 free value meals and we were in a hurry to get some range time in Ben decided we needed to stop for some get-n-go Chick-fil-A. Now I love Chick-fil-A just as much as any blue blooded american and at something like 900 calories in one chicken sandwich, fries and a Coke, who wouldn't. So after scarfing down my meal, a few hours shooting and hanging out with friends it was time to head home. After only about a mile down the road I knew something wasn't digesting well and asked Kate to drive the 35 minute drive home. I sat in the back with Ellie while Gregario rode shotgun. We were about 10 miles from home, Ellie was sound asleep and I was trying to sleep off my indigestion and thats when Kate heard two disturbing sounds in close succession. The first was me telling her to pull over NOW and the second was me projectile vomiting free Chick-fil-A all over the backseat. Apparently I scared the dog so much that he crawled under Kate's legs to hide while she was trying to bring the car to a stop on the side of the interstate. Unfortunately for the back seat it was about 30 seconds too late. You can imagine the rest from there...

Lesson: Think twice about a Corn Husker offering you free Chick-Fil-A

Catching Up

Here are some pictures that we have been meaning to post but as one can imagine we have had difficulty finding time to get them up. We hope you enjoy them!

Send us an e-mail if you would like a copy of the full size originals to print.

Chistmas Whirlwind

We decided to start a web page to keep you all up to date on our family events. We really hope that you have as much fun reading the stories as we are having creating the site. We had a wonderful Christmas this year in Traverse City Michigan and Palatine IL with our families but what a whirlwind trip as it was our first adventure, traveling with Elizabeth.

While it was exciting having Ellie's first Christmas, it was even more special for her to get to meet two of her three Great Grandparents.