appleseed!

This past weekend we (my husband and I) attended our first Appleseed shoot. Neither one of us shot rifleman. But we learned a lot. I'm better now. The history part was not much more than I already knew but I have a book to read now, _Paul_Revere's_Ride. I lost control (apologies) when the instructor said that the British regulars were in part looking for a canon the colonials had stolen. A brilliant way to steal one. I just blurted out "can you imagine being the British artilery officer? 'sir, I beg to report that we have misplaced a canon.'" I knew the revolutionaries stole rifles from the Brits, but a canon. Colonel Knox, later in the war seized several canons and moved them quickly.

My first shooting was bad, though I could hit something. Then better and better. Two attempts for AQT, the second was worse because I was tired, and loosing light.
We did not stay Sunday. The snow was our clue to leave. Yes snow on the first day of spring.

Friendly polite people. One young man got his Rifleman patch. One couple like us who had just started shooting and were like me in information overload. They had a good point, they got high quality rifles, my husband used an sks until he gets the one he wants.
We are going to the one next month!

"understanding versus doing"

The next time some clueless consultant keeps stressing that students need to understand not rote learn its rage time.

"okay, I know what a statue of liberty play is, the quarter back pretends to throw the ball and everybody on the team pretends that he throws the ball when really he is passing or running. I "understand" what all that is. But Thor's Hammer I couldn't do it if the souls of my children depended on it. I _might_ be able to if the coaches had me practice 6 hours a day for half a year. Doing is what it is about. Can you diagram a sentence, solve an equation, play a tune or bake a cake."

cheerleader meets science teacher

One of my brighter than she realizes students has a very borderline grade. I offered to give her the 0.04 percent she needs if she makes me a poster of a table in a book.

She gave it to me today. Multicolored with sparkley heading. Really. She glued glitter all over "Names of covalent prefixes". I was in sensory overload just looking at it.

Freya bless her.

do aliens have gimmer hats?

Great, just great, Robbie Rodrigez is making a Predators movie. For everybody's fascination, the Predators are not sportsmen. They have super scopes and special equipment.

And I can't but wonder if their people treat those that hunt humans as the left wing view hunters in our area.

buy a gun day

I will either get my husband an AR10 from gunbroker or a garand from the CMP program.
For myself I'm not sure. I think instead of a gun I will get accessories. A scope for the AR15 I have, maybe some cases.
Possibly a shoulder holster for my revolvers.
Truth is, I have enough guns and do not shoot them nearly enough.

my knifes

I actually have more than these, these are just the ones that I use the most. The assisted opening bayonet is held quite a bit, but it is mostly a "by the bed" knife...:)










Work knifes. My gerber multi tool. This was fun getting. The one I normally had "walked off" when I was teaching at an alternative school (ie problem kids). At Wal mart I asked the guy behind the counter to "show me all of them." My hands are smaller than most people and I have to hold things. Think he was a little put out, but is not as if I took forever. I easlily eliminated many and the "maybe" stack got smaller and smaller until the "yes' was left. Besides, if he is helping me, he's not having to stock shelves. Especially something that needs to be used. The multitool is mostly for work. I have to repair lab equipment. Minor things. Any multitool of mine has to have a scissors attatchment. When subbing for another class, problem kids wanted to "sharpen my pencil" and wouldn't you know it, the pencil sharpener was broken, they wanted to go next door and use that classroom's sharpener. "Gimmee"...student "what?" me "gimmee your pencil" a few strokes of the blade from the multitool and the pencil was sharp. Student "you can't have that! its a weapon." me "its a tool, I'm a teacher, and besides if you want to talk weapons, I have an entire chem lab at my disposal. Eventually everybody in the class wanted me to sharpen their pencil. The fact it could be done like this was new to them. They even showed their buddies after class, "Ms W used her knife and sharpened my pencil."

The garden knife is falling by the wayside. But it opens bags, trims branches, etc. I got it when I went back to bury my mother.

Folding tools. The gerber knife I got from Wally world again. Quick open, lightweight, serrated toward the handle for rough stuff. Tanto point. I like it.
The Mantis karambit I purchased on ebay. Its my back up for when I can't carry my gun, but I find it is razor sharp, and useful for many things. I may go to more mantis knifes in the future.


Last on is a boot knife I purchased from ebay. I use it to practice throwing. (hey some people play golf) its place is here on the computer table when not outside

average just like everybody else

I'm calling parents. 9th grade student is failing my class because if he didn't have bones he'd ooze across the chair. He's that lazy, he answers my questions with a shrug, doesn't do any work. One problems is they do not understand "you do not do work, I will fail you, no problem I will not loose any sleep. God will not strike me dead before grades are due. Nobody will come to your rescue

I start my conversation after introducing with my usual "what can I do to help your child?" this is a nice way of letting the parents know there is a problem and deflecting the issue away from them. After all trying to get a parent to help puts them on the defensive.

The father opines that he doesn't know what the problem is the student does okay. Glance at computer with grades and bite back.."sparky a D is not okay...C is barely okay."

On the other hand I have a student sweating, she almost has an A and a demanding father. I'm thrilled to find he takes time for her to study with her.

Then I called "dumb as a brick, God love him he tries and after time he really gets it." This student is one reason I come in. He's personable and asks good questions, it just takes him time to get it. I was able to tell his mother he got a B and his answers showed understanding.