~THE APPLESEED PROJECT~

 

WOW!  This Appleseed event was just AMAZING!!! 

Do I say that after every shoot?  :) 

 

Our shoot boss, Steve came all the way from Georgia and did such a terrific job!!!  We really enjoyed meeting him and hearing (after hours) a bit about his life and experience with the Project Appleseed.  His love for God and for his family shown clearly through the words he spoke.

 

 

Praise be to God---there was NO RAIN this time!!! There was even some sun from time to time.  People were putting their jackets on and taking them off quite regularly, as it was hard to find a happy medium when the sun went behind the clouds, but it still was pretty nice shooting weather.

For part of the Appleseed event, we do different "drills" where you pair up with a partner and help each other eliminate bad habits you may observe....

Andrew is demonstrating one of the sitting positions while our shoot boss explains it....

 The "ball and dummy" drill...  Your partner loads (or doesn't load) a shell in your rifle's chamber without you knowing which he/she did.  Then, you get your natural point of aim (NPOA) and make the shot while your partner watches for blinking or dragging wood or various other things you may be doing without even realizing it...

 I was shooting way on the North end and shot with tech-sites this time (borrowing Andrew's 10/22).  I've never shot at an Appleseed event before without a scope on my rifle, so it was a learning experience for sure and I didn't do so well (made Marksman--two levels below the Rifleman score-- after the 2nd day).  :)  But, it was fun!

This time, Steve is demonstrating the proper prone position while Andrew points out key points...

Many of these pictures are courtesy of a new friend of ours, Julie, whose husband was shooting.  She sent me many of these and said I could share them (thanks again!). This one, however, loaded tiny like and if I make it bigger, it gets all blurry, so small it shall stay.  Andrew was telling part of the history lesson here...

Cool clouds, eh?

Bill (who took an orange hat at the June Appleseed and helped in Jamestown) was here again too.  I like how he encourages the shooters and helps them along (he's standing at the end of the line there)...

 Donna (another new friend---in the red jacket there) seemed to have a great time.  She was borrowing my rifle and did pretty well with it too.  :) 

The nice gentleman in the camo there was one of the 3 who made the Rifleman score on the 2nd day!

 The lady with the rifle here is our shoot boss's cousin from MN.  She was really nice too!

 

 

I shot by our friend, Michael D. from MN. It was his first Appleseed shoot.

  Here, I was loading his "loud gun" (a .243) with live and empty shells for the drill... 

He did very well! I had a hard time not blinking though while watching him when he fired,

as it was, yes, loud!

 

 

 Getting instructions for the next course of fire...

 Blankets felt nice in the early morning!

Neat clouds again!

 Telling another "Strike of the match"...

 "...a C-shaped trigger finger"...

 My mom and Josephine shot together.  Andrew T and his friend, Josh are to the right of them there.  You tend to get to know your "neighbors" on the shooting line pretty well and have lots of fun with them, encouraging each other or competing with each other--whichever best suits their personality.

My one and only "neighbor"...  We never even accidentally shot each others' targets!

 

 There were 12 shooters on the line on Saturday and 13 on Sunday...

We feel at "home, home on the range!"

Andrew, helping with some technical difficulty or something....

 It was pretty windy on Saturday, so shooting from the standing position was especially challenging!  

 Our shoot boss, scoring some AQTs...(Army Qualification Test)

 Josephine and my mom...

 Josh shooting, and Andrew T filling his mags...

Some of these positions are not very comfortable, and yes, you do have sore/tight muscles after an Appleseed event, but people keep coming back, so it mustn't be too bad.  ;)

 The most stable position...and consequently, many people's favorite:

 

Michael...

 Donna...

 Josephine...

 The observers....

 Instructor-in-training, Bill....

 Future Rifle-woman!  :) 

Chris and Sarena came down and brought a friend who wanted to shoot on Sunday, so it was fun to see their little one again!!! She's grown so much.

 And the moment we've all been waiting for....!

 ...the moment when those who shot their first Rifleman score receive their badge and congratulations!!!

 

Here is Paul, about to receive his badge (and his wife is taking a picture there).

There are 250 possible points that you can score on an AQT target (which is timed and shot in all 3 positions, complete with transitions from standing to sitting, and standing to prone).  To make the "Rifleman" qualification, you need to shoot at least a total of 210 points....not as easy as it sounds, believe me!!!

 Next, we all clapped for Andrew T as he received his Rifleman badge!!

 "Great job, Andrew!!!!"

 And last, but not least, we were all so happy for Josephine to attain the level of "Rifleman"!!!!!

The really neat part is that she didn't know until this time that she had made it!!! 

  She was so surprised and happy!  :)

 Then came the grand finale....when our shoot boss recited Patrick Henry's lengthy

"Give me liberty, or give me death" speech (http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm)

with such passion that everybody sat as if stunned. Wow!  Just, wow! 

 Then came a group picture...

Left to right:

(back row) Michael, Matt, Josh, SB (in training) Andrew B, IIT Bill, Doug, Donna, Cora (me), Tim

(front row) Dawn, Josephine, Paul, SB Steve, his cousin, Cheri, and Andrew T.

One shooter was not pictured, as he wished to remain anonymous.

 After giving away a bunch of apples and saying some goodbyes, a few people wished to shoot at 100 yards, just for fun, so the tarp got moved back a long ways...

I think Andrew was pretty tired of standing by this time!

 Josephine.....

 Both evenings, we enjoyed a potluck style supper and volleyball afterwards.

 

Sunday evening, Lauretta and some of her other siblings came over to join in the fun.  We gave Lauretta her belated birthday gifts, as we hadn't seen her in a few weeks!

(My mom looks pretty happy in this picture, wouldn't you say?  ;) )

 Thaddaeus gave his sister her present from him too, as it kind of went along with my gift to Lauretta (I gave her a fancy belt and he gave her something that goes on a belt) but I didn't get a picture of either.   Oops...

 

It was sad when people left....  It was nice to have Michael stay until the next morning after chores and breakfast, but then he too had to get back to his work, and we to ours.

 

Mom and I spent yesterday and today working on garden produce and cleaning up after the Appleseed.  The guys are busy with the fall grain cleaning run now.  They also bought some silage-making equipment (choppers and a wagon) at the ORR auction in Jamestown on Friday and are trying to get that all ready for cutting our (non GMO) corn that's by the farm here.

 

I babysat a little today and will babysit for both Moch families again tomorrow, so I suppose I should end this and get some sleep so I can keep up with 5 little people tomorrow!  :)

 

Once again, we're so grateful to God for keeping everybody safe last weekend;

for new friendships to have been made and old ones hopefully strengthened; 

and for the event to be encouraging to so many! 

 

I hope that the cold months fly by quickly so we can once again shoot at the range in our jackets.