Archery Moments

I'm very proud of my oldest daughter (age 10) who started archery this February. She started with the local homeschool league - they do a series of 5-week leagues throughout the summer. In June, the archery range started a JOAD program (Junior Olympic Archer Development) and she was asked to participate in that program.

She's doing very well and it has been such a pleasure to watch her as she has honed her skills each week. She's been working a lot on having the proper stance, anchor-point, release; all those things that come together to make the arrow actually end up where you are aiming.

She has a Parker Sidekick compound bow (yes, it's light pink camouflage) - she helped pay for over half of the cost with her own money that she'd earned with her allowance and from helping with our beef deliveries. She bought her own quiver and matching belt, and her matching cap. A girl's gotta have some style, after all you know. I gave her the arrows that I originally had for my bow, when I discovered mine needed to be longer. So she has a complete package of the basics.

She's currently pulling about 22 pounds on her bow - she started at about 18 pounds in February. So she's building those great muscles.

Here are a few photos that I took of her at her JOAD practice a couple of weeks ago that I thought I'd share.

In stance, ready for release:



Another angle of her stance, ready for release



Her stance just after release.



Makes her momma proud, as you can tell.

Canning, Canning!

Busy week of canning is going on - I've taken lots of photos and will post soon. So far on the list: 8 pints of pear butter, 8 pints of pear pickles and 17 quarts of hot pickled veggies! Our pear tree is loaded still, even after I picked 55 pounds of Asian pears earlier this week!

Stay tuned for photos and recipes when I get a spare minute!

Worth Keeping An Eye On

Here's another good post this morning from The Market Ticker - explaining what's going on in California with the state issuing IOU's for payment of services. This bears watching, as our government as a whole continues to spend way beyond its means:

Link: California: The Shape of Things To Come


Excerpt:

So now California is literally stealing tax refunds - that is, over-payments, and issuing "IOUs", never mind that those funds are not theirs. In any ordinary business such a game (while there was any cash available) would lead to the proprietor being locked up for theft-by-conversion.

In addition so-called "entitlement" payments to some are being made with these "IOUs", which are in fact nothing more than a promise to pay next Tuesday for a hamburger that is supposedly owed today.

In truth there is no hamburger; the cow was slaughtered and eaten six months ago. It has long since been "recycled" into fertilizer, yet the charade continues onward for another day, with the sheeple believing that somehow these pieces of worthless paper make it "all ok."

The banks, assuming they stick to their Friday deadline, understand this. They're saying "uh, you know, come October those things might not actually BE good!" That's a problem, you see, as someone's going to be stuck with the bill if that happens.

Health Care Reform?

A most excellent article regarding health care reform that is worth your time today over at The Market Ticker - please take a few moments to read it - as it makes perfect sense to me:

Health Care Reform: Who Are They Trying To Fool?

Excerpt:

Whether you are paying privately, you have private insurance or you're a Medicare patient if you need to have a breast reconstructed due to cancer the complexity of the procedure does not change. Yet it is a fact that the privately-billed amounts for uninsured ("rack rate") patients are often ten times or more that billed to insurers or Medicare. Try charging a cash purchaser 10x more for a TV than someone who finances that TV on your in-house credit facility and you would be shut down and thrown in jail.

Preparedness Training

New show starting tonight (01 July 2009) on the Outdoor Channel:

The Best Defense, with Michael Bane. Sponsored by Midway USA.

Info: http://www.downrange.tv/bestdefense/episodes.htm

Excerpt:

July 1, 2009:
Episode 1: Welcome to SURVIVAL!
From Disaster City, the premiere training facility for first responders dealing with community wide disasters, Michael Bane introduces us to our new series The Best Defense: SURVIVAL!

We meet Bob McKee, the director of the 52 acre Disaster City training facility. Bob gives us important information about his facility and, more importantly, some general guidelines for your safety during any disaster.
Rob Pincus and Mike Janich return as co-hosts, and introduce us to the SURVIVAL gun range: a 300 square yard disaster area made for firearm training in unique situations. Rob and Mike give us a review of the firearms we will cover during this special ten week series.

Finally, we go through what is referred to as the Survival Mindset; how you need to start changing the way you think and consider what you would do if the unthinkable were to happen.

Future Episodes:

Episode 2: Dirty Bombs and Terrorism
Episode 3: Wildfires and Urban Fires
Episode 4: Pandemic Event
Episode 5: Hurricanes and Tornados
Episode 6: Riots and Urban Unrest
Episode 7: Earthquakes
Episode 8: Nuclear Event
Episode 9: Economic Collapse
Episode 10: Chemical Spill and Hazardous Materials

Intro:

The Best Defense: Survival!, hosted by Michael Bane, is an exciting new show that features defense methods and survival techniques to help men and women be able to quickly analyze, respond and react accordingly to some of the most dangerous and unimaginable situations ever encountered. Terrorism, natural disasters and emergencies of all types are featured.

As a companion show to the hit program The Best Defense, the survival edition of the series travels the United States visiting military and civilian training centers to educate the viewer through life-threatening scenarios. How would you survive a building collapse? What's the first thing you do if your car is sinking in a lake?

Host Michael Bane is a gun writer and veteran competitor who is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the firearms field. He is the creator of the acclaimed NSSF Media Education Program and has authored numerous books covering both practical shooting & self-defense.