How could I forget the Turkey shoot???

Today is Sunday November 20th. It is cold, Buffalo is still getting snow, like I said in the other post, I just posted, I like continuity and I love words like pedantic. A week ago, yesterday, it's oh, I don't know, maybe 11:13 at night, I'm not ready for bed. It is after all the weekend. Teri has gone up and I'm flipping through Netflix. I see a comedy special for Gabriel Iglesias, aka

'Fluffy'. Now I haven't followed comedians since Robin Williams and I didn't even notice it until the other night about two weeks ago, when I decided to turn on another comedian, Iliza Shlesinger. Teri is sleeping on the couch and doesn't care. She starts out slow, I'm figuring, ah, it's a generational thing. But, she's just getting going. By the end of it, I'm in love with her. So on this particular Saturday night I'm thinking, auh, how funny could he be. I've got nothing culturally in common with him. What I did not know was he does voices, which

I love. He did 'Speedy Gonzalez' voice in the remake, which I didn't watch for 'Space Jam" the remake and stopped the woke crowd from cancelling Speedy Gonzalez like they did Apu on 'The Simpson's'. So I don't know any of this before I start the Netflix one hour special. Remember it's 11:13 and this piece is post is titled, 'How could I forget the Turkey Shoot?'. I start the show. This guy is amazing. I'm loving his show. He's doing all these differet

voices. Pointing out the oddities of daily life. He's not an angry comedian. He points this out in the show. He wants to bring people together, which we very much need today. I planned to stop watching around 11:30. I have to get up for that turkey shoot around 7. At 11:45 I think, well, just a little longer. Sometime after midnight, I've run out of water in my glass and I'm laughing so much, my throat hurts. I do pause it around 12:15 because I just have to get water. About an hour and a half into the show he picks up a clock on the stage that was pointing toward him letting him know how much time he's been on the stage for his one hour special and it is at an hour and thirty-four minutes. He points this out and says he is going to do one more story. About half an hour later the show is over. It's almost one and I haven't showered.

I get to bed around 1:30. I wake up the next morning, a little tired, but hey, I'm 64, I know the cost of not getting a good nights sleep.

A few days earlier, I brought two of my guns into thea house I share with my wife. I have known her for thirty years this month and I know how she feels about guns. I have respected that. Sean is big into guns and Elena has wanted to shoot guns and Nastia is dating him and want to shoot guns. So here we are, we're going to a turkey shoot. It is mid-November. It is cold even for December and it's raining. It's supposed to clear. I figure I'll be warm in a jacket and sweater. The rain eventually does clear.

I ask Elena if she wants to drive. After the disaster when we went to the movies I think I will just grim and bare it. She askes me to drive and at the last moment changes her mind and says she will drive. She does fine. The Turkey shoot is in Pomona near Boulder stadium where the Rockland Boulders play. We arrive before eight and are told the starting time has been pushed to nine. I'm surprised at the number of people who attend the turkey shoot in this very much Democrastic strong hold of New York. I'm uncomfortable with how comfortable these people feel around guns. I take the shot gun out of the car. I take it out of it's case, open it up and look down the barrel to make sure it's empty. I know it is, it hasn't been used in many years, but I check to make a point to the girls. I hand the gun to Elena and tell her to check too even though I just did. If there is an accident, it's your fault. I sure Alex Baldwin wishes he'd checked the prop gun before he pulled the triger and killed that women on the set of the movie Rust.

Later I will talk with Sean's father and we'll both agree a person who doesn't know how to handel guns or is afraid of guns is the most dangerous person to have a gun. So if I teach the girls how to handle guns and to respect them they should be safe. I never think to bring money when I go anywhere any more. So we get on line to buy shots. I quickly check my wallet and I have $11.00. Enough money for Nastia, Elena and myself to get one shot each. I anopunce this to the two of them and they so don't worry, they'll buy their own shots. Which was fine with me. I buy two rounds. One is a money round for $5.00, the other is a turkey round for $3.00. In both rounds I do ok, but not well enough to win. On the first round Elena has target number 11. Ol' blood and guts, ol' rough and ready stands up with the gun in her arms. Her stance is good. She's as careful as a newbe can be, she takes aim and gets a direct hit on the number eleven. Problem is no one told her to aim for the target above it. beginners mistake. Nastia is using Sean's dad's gun. It's smaller and lighter then my gun. In her arms it still looks too big for her. She tucks it into her shoulder. Looks down the bsrrel and it almost knocked off her feet when she pulls the trigger. Neither hit the target.

On the second round Elena hits the target, looking good as she does. Nastia also hits the target, looking good as she does it. I've forgotten alot about guns so I listened to what everyone said about stance and arm angle and leaning into the shot. So on Nastia's second shot her and I talk about all of that and she looks alot better on the shot. She is hardly rocked by the kick back from the gun. She does well. Both pay for a third round. I wait for Elena to finish her third round. It's now almost two in the afternoon. I'm cold and tired and want to go home. THe rounds go at a sluggish pace and I can't wait for Nastia to finish her third round three rounds after Elena's last round. I ask Elena if we can go home. It was loads of fun. No one got hurt and maybe we'll all do it again on a warmer day. /