Cuteness overload commencing....

If you caught my last blog post dated over a month ago, you know why it's been a month since I posted. :)

Introducing the two newest members of our household! These were taken the day they came home. They were condemned to the cones of shame for 10-14 days after their spay/neuter procedures.....do you really think plastic e-collars are meant to hold up to razor sharp pirhana puppy teeth? Noooooo. We did manage to keep them on them for about 11 days, but there were many repairs that needed to be made during that time, and FORGET keeping them "sendentary" during that time!

Baby girl pup at 9 weeks old

Baby boy pup at 9 weeks old

They were so little back then......the boy weighed in at 12.5 lbs when he had his surgery (we don't have a surgery date weight for her - not sure if they didn't weigh her, or she wouldn't hold still....my guess is the latter).

Names? Oh yeah, names!
We settled on Lula for her (yes, as in UpLula!) and Gunny (as in R. Lee) for him. :)

Lula is our crazy insane high energy oh my god I can't go to sleep or I'll miss something pup.
Gunny is mostly calm, serious, and laid back. But his sister can get him all wound up of course!

These last few weeks we've been working on potty training (I think we are FINALLY there! Knock on wood), a very few basic commands (sit, stay, down) and eating, playing and sleeping. These little buggers go 0-60 and then 60-0. Multiple times a day. We go through a 25lb bag of puppy food in about a week and a half. And I swear they grow in their sleep.

Here's more recent pics, from just a few days ago.

It's hard to tell the actual size of them in these pics, so we took some with Soldier Girl (she's back, by the way!) so far away family members could get a better idea of how big they are.

Soldier Girl is about 5'6", and you can see they're above knee height. Latest weigh in (yesterday) has Lula weighing in at 27.6lbs, and Gunny weighing in at 26.2lbs. And they're 100 days old today!

The poor cat still isn't quite sure what to make of them, but she's slowly coming out of hiding, and even interacting with them a tiny bit - at least until the puppy teeth go into motion and the chase drive is activated. I'm confident that we'll all live in harmony. Eventually. :)

Prayers for my fellow Texans

The sleepy little town of West, Texas needs prayers and support.

Located just north of Waco, with a population of only about 2800 people, the fire and subsequent explosion at the fertilizer plant has caused mass destruction in this little town. Many people injured or died, most everyone displaced since the town was evacuated.

The blast was felt clear up to Amarillo (and beyond), where seismographs recorded a shockwave of 2.1 on the richter scale. This is a huge, heartbreaking tragedy.

My fellow Texans need prayers and support. If you can help with any type of donations, that would be fantastic too. This link shows places that are accepting donations, but blood donations are desperately needed.

Make way for puppies!

The mister and I had a moment of sheer insanity the other day. We signed adoption papers for TWO nine week old puppies!

No pics of my own yet, since the babies won't come home until later this week, but I found a couple of pics on the rescue organization's site. 

Daisy (mama) and pups

Hungry pups!

We're pondering names! One male, one female - brother and sister. We think they are part Anatolian Shepard. (If you aren't sure what those are...check this out. They'll probably be pretty big!)

Some names that have come up.....
Bonnie & Clyde
Smith & Wesson
M______ & P______ (following the Smith & Wesson theme - but with names that actually start with those letters)
Mosin & Mauser

If you were crazy enough to adopt two puppies at the same time, what would YOU name them?

I'd like to thank the Academy.....

My one year blogaversary came and went with virtually zero notice by me. Oops!

The truth of the matter is, I've been SO busy for the last few months, that I've barely had time to blog (you didn't notice?), forget trying to keep up with all my favorite gun bloggers too!

So what has been keeping me so busy? Training. And training. Oh, and more training. Did I mention training?
And not just training, but lots of INSTRUCTOR training as well!

A year ago, I really was just starting on this journey, trying to figure out what to do next.
Remember this post?
Well, I jumped in with everything I had and got 'er done. I feel all official and what not.
Don't get me wrong, there is LOTS more for me to learn! But I feel like I can finally start giving back now.

Between the hubster and I, we have logged nearly 400 hours of training - since SEPTEMBER 2012.
From basic to advanced pistol, rifle, and even.........armed/unarmed self defense.

I guess we don't like to do anything half way around here. :)

I owe a debt of gratitude to a lot of fantastic people. I'm not going to name names, because I know I will leave some people out, and then I'll feel guilty.

Thanks to:
Strong women that inspire me. Shooters, trainers, activists, warrior princesses (and I don't mean Xena), bloggers, organizers.
Men that actually encourage and HELP women in not only the shooting sports, but also in other areas of the self defense world. Men that don't spout a bunch of hot air and then get cranky when they are questioned, but men that are interested more in correct and useful information instead of stroking their own egos.
Training counselors that would give you the shirt off their back if you ever needed it.
Anyone that has taken the time to encourage me and tell me that I have the strength to do all of this.

And most of all....my husband. He's the one that started the wheels in motion for me on this crazy adventure. I have loved every minute of it so far. 

March Appleseed - AAR

I had hoped to get this post up sooner, but it's been a busy couple of weeks in the 2A household. (Who am I kidding? It's been a busy few MONTHS. I need a vacation!)

I am happy to report that my marksmanship skills are improving! Even though we were shooting in the cold, rain, wind and mud, I had an incredible time and wouldn't have traded the experience for anything.

First off, this was the view immediately to my left.....

That's Mr. 2A, providing what he calls "motivation" with his RIFLEMAN sticker adhered to the stock of his Remington 597......I call it gloating. (Ok, it did motivate me a little.)

Second, see all those chunks of dirt mud? This photo was actually taken on day two, so the ground had dried out a bit from the cold wind that moved in. On day one, you'd walk downrange to check your target, and by the time you got back to the firing line, you were a good 4" taller because of the mud caked on the bottom of your shoes. 

I didn't shoot my Remington this time. We scored a used Ruger 10/22 and made some modifications to it.

Hogue stock (a dream if you're shooting in the rain), TechSites, extended mag release, and standard GI sling.

This one fits me much better than the Remington (although I did have it there as a backup, just in case!). I had trouble with mag changes on the Remington, having to break position to even find the mag release much less reach the mag well. Not a problem on the 10/22 - extended mag release made it a breeze to drop the mags, and the reach to seat a new one in the mag well was perfect. 

Ok, so on to the AQT's!

Mr. 2A shot only one AQT, and managed to beat his previous qualifying score of 211.....with a 233!!! 

After this AQT, he accepted an Instructor In Training hat, and worked the line. :) 

I went through all six AQT's and did pretty well myself. Sadly, not quite a RIFLEMAN yet....but the main thing I really need to work on is my timing.

Stage 1: Ok, I could use some practice here too. This stage is standing, 10 rounds, 2 minutes. I need to control my figure 8 better and work on my arm strength so my arms don't get as tired as quick.

Stage 2: This one hurt me. Standing to seated/kneeling, 5 rounds left, 5 rounds right, 55 seconds. I didn't get all my rounds off, simply because I didn't remember my Rifleman's Cadence. "Breathe in, breathe out, squeeze" stepped up or slowed down to fit your timing requirements. Had I completed this round....I would have qualified.

Stage 3: Standing to prone, 3 shots, 3 shots, 4 shots, 65 seconds. I need to work on cadence, as well as making sure I've got NPOA (natural point of aim) before squeezing that trigger. 

Stage 4: Prone, 2 shots, 2 shots, 3 shots 3 shots, 5 minutes. I need to remember to slooooow down here, but overall I'm pretty happy with this one.

Best score of the day = 200. Ten points shy of qualifying RIFLEMAN.
Practice, practice, practice....dry fire, dry fire, dry fire....and I'm going to try again in April. I'm after an Instructor In Training hat too. ;)

I must say, I really love what goes into precision marksmanship. So much, that I'm looking around for places I can start doing long range rifle shooting, and maybe even some competitions. I have a long way to go before I have a chance at winning anything....but don't forget....I've only been shooting rifles for 3 months now!

One more picture to leave you with. My final redcoat target of the weekend.

Of course, this one wasn't timed....... If  you can't quite read the distances on those (simulated distance)....
Top row: 100 yards
2nd row: 200 yards
3rd row: square 250 yd 'headshot'  and 300 yard silhouette
4th row: 400 yards

Gotta work on that timing thing...... :)

Must Read

Ladies & Gentleman,

Please take a few minutes out of your day today to hop on over to My Mind Won't Stop and read The Patriot Movement - The Three Percenters.

James so eloquently put into words much of what has been on my mind lately.

Appleseed Part Deux - Coming Soon!

OMG! I have a week and a half before our next Appleseed event! (Mar 9/10)

So much for my grand plans to practice-practice-practice to perfect my skills before then! I have barely touched my rifle at all!

Throw in the fact that we managed to score a Ruger 10/22 (which seems to fit me better - I can actually do a mag change without breaking position!) that I've barely shot, and that is having some issues with trigger reset at the moment....well, I've always learned best under pressure. :)  If my husband were reading over my shoulder he would pipe in and tell you that there "typically" would be a frustration melt-down or two along the way when working under pressure, but not this time, dammit! I'm going to push myself over the next week and a half, but I'm not going to stress over it.
If we can't get the trigger reset figured out, I'll just shoot with the Remington again, and pray. A lot. :)

I'm going to practice, and then go and have fun, and hopefully earn one of these.....

The coveted RIFLEMAN patch!

I think I've got it sighted in (thanks to Mr. J - would have been lost without ya!) and just need to practice with the various positions and the sling. Wish me luck!