Had to get a pathetic duck to go into competition with me, I ask you. Still I have so far been nice to this duck, leading it into a false sense of security.Hi I am back. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We had a great time. My dad went back to the land of the long white cloud, or for those that don't know, New Zealand, so I decided I should go with him as I needed a holiday after going to all those shoots during the year.
Mum followed a couple of weeks later for a holiday, Mr Wrinkles came over with her. After we had annoyed everyone over there that we could, we both decided to go home with mum as she had shoots to go to, and dad didn't. We knew if we didn't go to the shoots with mum everyone would be really worried about where we were.
So it was Toowoomba here we come. Mum was up early on the Saturday as she did not have to go up on the Friday night as dad was not here to have an early start. We all jumped in the car after breakfast, mum had loaded the car on Friday night and away we went. It was a nice quiet, leisurely drive up to the range, not too much traffic to worry about. We arrived in plenty, and I mean plenty of time, so while mum went off to have a cuppa, I started to get organized as to what I had to do during the day. I saw my club house, you know the one, I took its picture and put it in my Lismore story. Well anyway I went off to make sure my club house was in order for the weekend, and what did I find, it was all hot inside. No air-conditioning. What can I say.
There were so many things to put into order, helping mum shoot, bugging Uncle Rob, picking on Aunty Wendy and being nice to Aunty Carol. Shooting time finally came and off we went to air pistol. Mum got set up and then Aunty Flopsy wandered in. Mum went down to see her and she introduced mum to her new Duck. Had to get a pathetic duck to go into competition with me, I ask you. Still I have so far been nice to this duck, leading it into a false sense of security.
Any way, mum shot a shocka, as did most of the ladies that day I believe, after talking to them. While we were sitting under the big top trying to keep cool, we saw Uncle Len being escorted from the range over to the club house. No one thought about it till mum went to have a chat to him, when she got a cold drink. It seems that Uncle Len has changed his name to Uncle Thud. Apparently when just starting to shoot Standard he decided to have a sleep on the ground. Uncle Jim the pie Man from Stanthorpe must have been the boss of the range as he was quite worried as he came over to see us later to make sure the old bugger was OK.
It all happens when dad is not there. The afternoon came and my main duty was about to start again, helping mum shoot. We went over to the range to find the lot of shooters b4 us had not finished, so when I saw the duck sit down on Aunty Wendy's gun bag, I had to excert my authority over the duck and went and boofed him off the bag so I could sit in comfort.
When we finally got the chance to shoot again, I have to say that mum shot better than she had that morning, even though her arm was starting to give trouble again, I think she must be getting old. After we had finished shooting, Aunty Wendy still thought the duck had helped her. Little does she know that it was really me doing the work from afar. We then wandered over to have a cold drink, after a long hard day at the range, only to find out that everyone had been ruffling Aunty Carol's feathers. Maybe she is related to the duck. She had had a hard time playing God on the range, as normal the Stanthorpians were the trouble. Amazing really when it has normally been the Murrumbians,
but they were found later sitting quietly around the round table outside my club rooms. Its not normal for the Murrumbians to be quiet, so I had to take a photo as evidence.
I had noticed that Uncle Rob was missing from the group. I went back to see mum and the others and mentioned to them what I had seen. They really didn't believe me till I showed them the photo. Digital cameras are great. Anyway when I said Uncle Rob was not with them they said that they saw him going walkabout towards the quarry. It seemed like ages and we were just wondering about him when he came back. Some of us have no luck.
After the shooting had finished, we were sitting around talking, and some of the humans were drinking liquid out of coloured cans and little brown bottles. I over heard Aunty Crash saying she wanted to buy a house on wheels, so she can tow it around behind her car. What will humans think of next?
We were still sitting around talking when we noticed Uncle Daryl start to nod off. It must have been a big day for him. What getting up b4 anyone else and then shooting all day, I can really understand what he was going through.
We ate a beautiful dinner, there was lots of food, heaps for everyone, and even those that normally go up for seconds didn't have too. Mind you, we will have to keep an eye on Aunty Carol. She was caught flirting with the Stanthorpians again. I think Uncle Nod, if he can stay awake long enough, will have to have a talk to her.
Anyway, soon after dinner we got the nod from our hosts, the Powers, they had graciously offered us a bed for the night, although they did warn us about the cat and were worried that Mr Wrinkle, the cat and I may not get on. We assured them that we got on with everyone. So after a short 20min drive to the top of the hill in Toowoomba, we found our new motel. The service was great, even breaky was waiting on the bench when we finally decided to rise the next morning. After we ran around trying to find the cat to say good-bye, we couldn't find him, we jumped in the car and took off to the range. We wanted to drive to get there quicker but mum wouldn't let us, so it took the normal time. Boring.
Anyway, we finally got to the range in plenty of time again. Its an easy life, time wise, when dad is not with us - we do miss him though, don't get us wrong. As normal, mum had a natter with some humans while I got organized, she was upset to hear from Uncle Thud that he may give up the neat sport they all play, I will just have to find another Uncle Thud to hassle, still that won't be the same.
After a short time, mum got her gear and me, and wandered over to the range, only to find that she had to stand beside the biggest trouble maker from Stanthorpe - Terry. He seemed really pleased to see her standing in the bay beside him as well. After much banter, everyone finally got ready and decided to shoot. I had a bit of bother, seeing mum has to wear an arm band on her sore arm at present. She takes it off when she shoots. I was trying to tell her what she was doing wrong, and the mean Trevor, yes from Stanthorpe as well, came over and used her arm band as a gag to stop me from helping her. He said I was not allowed to coach on the range. He should tell the man helping the young guy from his own club then.
Soon after that mum shot a shocka, so I moved the band up to cover my eyes so I couldn't see what she was doing. Some times things do get to you, and you just can't do anything about it. Well, as normal, mum left her run too late, till the last 5 shots, I had to tell her again, that is just too late, you need to shoot like that all through the match, not just at the end.
Well soon after we had an early lunch and then we decided to head home. We had all been away over the Christmas period visiting dad so we had not been home very long, and needed to spend some time at home getting organized. As we left so early, this was a first, we had a nice quiet leisurely drive home as well. All the way Mr W and I were starting to plan our next shoot. The Metro in Brisbane is the one, hope we will see you there.