~Project Appleseed, June 14-15th 2014~

MANY PICTURES BELOW!!!

 Saturday started out with fair weather... (See--no coats!)

 It's always fun having people come back who've shot before (especially ones who have made the Rifleman score already, but want to keep practicing their skills)...

 Mae F. shot both days.  This was her second Appleseed shoot. 

She'll be a fine Riflewoman someday!

 It started to rain in the latter part of the morning---and then it POURED for a while! 

 But, the shoot must go on...

 Those who were just watching were grateful for canopies...

 It was WONDERFUL having my friend, Emmy and her family come from MN!!!!!  Sadly, one of them got sick the 2nd day and they headed for home earlier than they'd originally planned.  We were glad they could come and spend one whole day with us anyway!

 This was the first time we met Emmy's whole family

and it was the first time that they'd been to our farm...

 Soggy shooters...  Our clothes dryer was going most of the evening, with all of those blankets and other things.  We all took our rifles apart late that night and gave them a good cleaning too.

 So neat seeing the range full of cardboard for targets this time!!!  

There were 28 shooters on the range on Saturday.  :)  A couple less on Sunday.

 Our friend, Josephine...

 Look at those clouds!

Looks like it was time to put up new targets?

Yes, that must be what we were doing...

Most of the shooters on the south side of the range were related.  What a neat way to spend the Father's Day weekend together as a family!

Oh, and yes, I did shoot for a while on Saturday... 

Thanks to Emmy (although my mom may have snapped this with Emmy's camera?),

I have picture proof.  :)

The "Northerners"...

...and some of the "Southerners"...

And most of us together!!!

 

 Brother Andrew---in his orange hat...

 Andrew did a lot of the history portion of Appleseed, as he was being tested on it...

 

 

 We all went up to the (heated) shop for the noon meal and for a portion of the history lesson, 

as it was still raining at this point.  It felt good to be dry and warm for a while.  Here is Emmy and her dad.  She took several pictures--some are included in this post... (Thanks for sharing, Emmy!)

Glad we have a shop this size!

 

 After the shooting was done for the day, we shared a potluck meal in the shop, some did chores, and then had lots of fun playing volleyball well into the dark and swinging and visiting, then sitting around the campfire for a while.....  

 

Me, feeding my bottle calf...

 Peter and Jacob seemed to enjoy each other's company a lot...

 Yummy!!

My dad and Andrew T...

 

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The next morning was cool and breezy, but the sun came out from behind the clouds eventually and some of us came away with sunburnt faces even!  It did sprinkle again mid-afternoon, but overall, it was a much more comfortable day for target practice.

 

Here, Instructor Tom is making sure everyone gets their Appleseed T-shirt....

 

This was Lauretta's first time as an Instructor In Training (IIT).  She did well!  :) 

 

This was also our first time of meeting our Shoot Boss, Alex T. (middle). 

 (He's also a skilled volleyball player!)  :)  

Getting instructions...

 Paul F. shot the 2nd day with 2 of his children...

 Lauretta and Tom (standing)...

 

Our parking lot...

Some of the line on Sunday...

 

Checking for progress...

We had 3 "Andrews"  (and 2 "Pauls") over the weekend.  Here are 2 of the Andrews...

Just had 1 Thaddaeus though...

Andrew, helping our littlest shooter, Katie...  She was fun to watch!

Shooting from the prone position is often people's favorite...

Alex, explaining the course of fire...

Clouding over again...  Isn't that sky pretty?

Standing...

Sitting...

......

Checking (maybe changing?) the targets again...

It was great meeting our new friend, Andrew T.  (Yep, one of those Andrews...)!  He's a good shot!

Josephine and another one of the Andrews...

 My mom shot for a while on Sunday...  :)

The shooters going down range to view/retrieve their targets---"Quickly".

 

My dad also shot some on Sunday (Father's Day).  :)

Lauretta---one of my truest friends...  I SO very much appreciate her!!

Officially adding up AQT scores.........Did Paul F. make the Rifleman score???  Hmmmm.

Pickin' up brass...

Adding up more scores...

YES----Paul F. DID earn his Rifleman badge!!!!!    Look at that smile!  :) 

It really is harder to do than it sounds.

AND, so did Bill (this was the first time we met him, 

but hopefully he'll be helping instruct future Appleseeds in ND)...  :)

Then came the time that our Andrew's  been working towards for a couple years already----he was given his red hat, as he passed the test to be an Instructor!!!!!!!!!!!  :)  We're all SO happy for him!

Andrew then gave an orange hat to Bill, welcoming him aboard the Appleseed team...

"Thank you all for volunteering your time and energy to teach others!!!"

Left to right:  Lauretta (ND), Tom (CT), Alex (MN), Andrew (ND), and Bill (ND).

The only pictures I have of myself from the weekend are ones from Emmy's camera...  It was SO great to get to know her better (even if we did stay up pretty late talking and felt a little out of it the next morning).  ;) 

 So, there you have it---the story of the weekend in pictures.

 

We're once again grateful to God for His protection for all as they shot, traveled, and played volleyball ;), and are very happy that so many people took the time, money, etc... and made the effort to come! 

 

We hope to see many more at future Appleseed shoots

(July in Jamestown and September here at the farm)!!!   Here's the link to preregister:

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/search-states-display.php?qstate=ND&statename=North Dakota .

 

We'd LOVE to have you!