What a surreal few days I've had.
Kind of strange to be on a trip and only have to worry about me--
(no kids, no diapers, no chicken nuggets-- you get the idea).
But oh, it was so good to be home and get "super hugs"
from this little guy.
(His face, by the way, has healed so quickly).
My first night home (last night), our cow, Sadie decided
to give birth to a bouncing baby boy (a huge boy).
We are now up to seven new calves since Christmas night.
Only one more to go, thank goodness.
But it is really cool to see all those little ones jumping and
running around.
They are pretty cute when they are little
(not so much when they are big).
I went to Vegas with my brother Doug and his wife Dana.
Dana does all the marketing and sales for a company here in Idaho
that sells components for reloading ammunition.
They are still there-- at a huge convention known as "Shot Show"--
get this, 90 thousand people attend the show.
I went down to help for the day before-- what they call
the range part of the show. Since you can't shoot guns
in the convention center in the middle of town, they hold
this day out in the desert at a shooting range.
It was quite eye opening (I know hardly anything about guns).
Well, that is, I did before this past weekend.
There were all kinds of booths-- selling everything from silencers
to hunting apps.
The first half of the day was "Media Day"-- what I specifically
went down to help with.
And we had quite a few journalists we talked with.
The media was in the morning and then stores and distributors
took up the afternoon.
Dana was a rock star-- as was the guy on the far right.
He's a professional competitive shooter (Dana's company
sponsors him)-- so any time I wasn't able to answer
questions, I could steer the people over to them.
John (the professional shooter) and my brother, Doug
got to shoot everything from brand new, just introduced weapons
to machine guns.
There were all of the booths like ours-- and then about 60
shooting range "booths".
Gun heaven for those who are into guns.
One night we got to go to a private party at the
Strip Shooting Club.
This guy, Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal, is the inspiration for the movie,
The Lone Survivor (starring Mark Wahlberg).
He dazzled everyone with his shooting skills.
He and another guy were showing us a new type of gun
and a new type of bullet-- one that disintegrates when it
hits metal or cement (instead of ricocheting).
He had volunteers walk up alongside him as he shot
nearly point blank at a metal box.
The only thing they got hit with was dust from what was
the bullet.
Then it was our turn to shoot.
Dana and I waited until most everyone in our group
had gone (and left the room). You would have too--
in our group was Taya Kyle- (the wife of Chris Kyle who
was portrayed in the movie, American Sniper) and two
sisters who are three time Olympic Medalists for shooting sports.
So we didn't totally embarrass ourselves. Not totally.
We had to hit these targets that popped up and if you hit them,
they fell flat. May I say, they were the same targets Marcus Luttrell hit.
Anyway, I thought I got two-- but the guy from the range standing next
to me told me I only got one-- Dana got the other one. She actually hit two.
At least I hit one! I haven't picked up a gun since my reporter days
in Vegas a gazillion years ago- when I had a gun and a concealed weapons
permit. My, how times have changed (and my life-- and my shooting skills)!
Thankfully, they still let us come to the big party following
the shooting presentation-- at a mansion in Vegas.
It was actually quite fun and surprisingly tame-- for a gun show
party in Vegas.
My final night, we got to have dinner with my childhood
best friend, April.
She lived one house away from me growing up.
In between our homes, our neighbor "Sunny"--no joke
was in the mafia. We learned later, a hit man for the St. Louis outfit.
And looking at the context of why I was in Vegas, you will appreciate
the fact that we used to play "Charlie's Angels" and sneak
through Sunny's back yard to get to each other's houses.
He used to get so mad at us!
It is a wonder we survived our childhood.
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