RonnMcCarrick.com

Tonight was our class at Silver Bullet Firearms, First Steps Pistol Orientation. We walked in and they said, what do you want to shoot, and handed us a couple guns. Normally, when I go places the first thing they do isn’t hand me an assortment of firearms. Tasha chose a Beretta Neo 22LR. I took the counter girls advice and took a Ruger MK III 22LR. We grabbed some eye and ear protection and headed for the class room. We learned about firearm safety, range safety, the basic workings of a pistol and revolver, proper stance, how to choose the correct ammo, and assorted other bits of knowledge about pistols and revolvers.

Then we  headed for the firing range. They gave us a paper bag full of bullets. Eye wear on. Ear muffs on. And through the doors we went. Time to shoot us some targets. They only ran the targets out about five yards. I’m not sure if that was to make us think we’re better than we actually are or simply a good starting distance. Whatever, we were shooting guns,  hitting targets, and having fun. I think it’s safe to say that I had better results than Tasha, but I had the advantage of better eyesight and less nerves. Tasha didn’t do badly, she did quite well in fact, better than either of the other two people in our class, she’s just not the natural born killer that I am.

After the range, we went back to the class room for a lesson on gun cleaning and a Q&A session . What did I ask… I think I asked about what kind of gun to buy for a person on a budget. The answer I got was less than satisfactory; How much is your life worth. Thanks pal, I guess I’ll go spend three months salary on a pistol. I asked something else, but I don’t remember what it was, but I got the same kind of useless answer. So I didn’t ask my other questions. Then they handed out our ‘diplomas’ and our patches. So now we’re both NRA certified as beginners.

It was a long night, 5:30 – 9:15. But, it was a good class and we both had fun. Tasha is much less resistant to the idea of going through the CCW class and I think she’s actually looking forward to going and doing a bit more shooting. I myself want to go and try out a few more guns, something with a bit more kick, and get a better idea of what I’m looking to buy. I’d like to get a pistol for home defense and a set of guns to do cowboy action shooting (a rifle, a shotgun, and a set of matching revolvers), but I don’t want to buy anything until I have a bit more shooting experience.  Later.

We went to the Grand Rapids Public Museum tonight after dinner at Mojo’s. The museum is having a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit called, Machines in Motion. It’s a bunch of machines built from the drawings and designs of Leonardo  Da Vinci; the tank, the helicopter, the glider, etc… I think there were about fourty of them in total, not all of them to full scale. It was very interesting. Especially when you think that this wall all done around the late 1400’s. My favorite was the wooden bicycle, but the one I was most impressed with was the ingenuous ratcheting machine with the wheels that went in opposite directions. I’m sure it has a name, but it escapes me at this moment. It’s amazing what he did with wood, rope, glue, and just a touch of metal.

The rest of the museum was kinda hit or miss for me. I enjoyed the 6-foot globe, though the spinning mechanism was broken and I couldn’t really see much of North America and none of Australia. There was a 20-foot high bias relief map of Michigan that was made in the 1940’s that was cool. And a blow up of Kent county from that same time that was neat. I liked all the animal habitat exhibits, but then I always like that stuff. It’s cool to see how big a moose or elephant is without having to actually encounter one. The golden eagle was very impressive in size. The Streets of Old G.R. was kinda cool, but I’ve seen that sort of thing before. The Egyptian exhibit was a small thing of not much note.  I really didn’t give a crap about the furniture stuff, and there was a lot of furniture stuff. I recognize that Grand Rapids is some sort of furniture city, but I don’t care. We skipped the Newcomers exhibit entirely, a big who cares. Neither of us had a dollar so we skipped the Carousel, but we’ll probably hit it next time we go. And we will go back, because we want to go to the planetarium when they’re not showing Pink Floyd.

A bit later in the evening I spent some time with City of Heroes. They’ve released their latest patch, which allows you to change the color of your powers. Which is the kind of shit I dig. So I spent a couple hours tweaking my heroes colors. I like it. Too bad none of my friends are playing this game because I still think it’s pretty cool. Not that I really have a lot of game playing going on right now. I know it sounds like that last statement is a lie, what with the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, various PC mmo’s, and the fantasy football. But really, I haven’t been spending much time playing games. I think I’m just wanting to be swept away by something. And so far the games haven’t done it. But I keep trying.

One other thing of note…. Jay has signed in for the Franchise. So I’ve got to acknowledge that and stop giving him grief. Kevin and Denis…. yeah, they still get the grief.

Later.

We were supposed to be at a birthday party tonight, but we forgot until we were nearly in Grand Haven. Oops. Our pals, Mark and Dawn, rented a RV and have been trying out the RVing lifestyle. Tonight they’re in Grand Haven at the campground so we went and saw them. Walk on the beach. Have some  drinks. Actually interact with people on this side of the state.

We got there and were a little annoyed that we had to pay the park toll booth to visit our friends, but I guess it’s the way things are. But the RV campground was crazy… basically a parking lot on the beach full of giant RV’s and lots of wandering people. Even stranger was the way everything went dark and quiet at 10:00 pm on a Friday night. Maybe there’s a rule. I don’t know, I was just there to visit.

We were visiting with our friends when there was a knock on the door. Just a ‘neighbor’ stopping by to check out the RV and say hi. Mark invited him in for a beer and he came in with the second invite. Which was good, because it was a little weird talking to him through the screen door. Guy’s name is Pete and I must say he’s quite a character. A real talker, a story teller kind of guy, the kind of guy who has done it all. I think I have a bit of a man-crush on him. Turns out he’s from right down the street in Wyoming, MI. He’s a Vietnam Veteran. A cowboy action shooter. A retired firefighter. A Harley Davidson rider. He’s worked with both the Silver Bullet folks (where we’re going for shooting lessons) and the Rockford Sportsman’s Club (where I want to do the cowboy shooting thing). He’s flown planes and parachuted out of them. He seems like a really good guy. He talked about cigars with Tasha, RV’s with Mark, liveaboards with me, dog’s with Dawn, and was just generally entertaining. It was nice to meet him and I’m hopeful that we can parlay this into a friendship.

After Pete left, the four of us walked down the beach and out onto the pier. The ladies were a little tipsy but it was nice. We visited a bit more and then when we went to leave we found that we’d been padlocked into the campground. After some searching Tasha and Dawn found a way to get out from the nearby fisherman’s lot and we were able to slip away into the night and go home.

Not bad for six dollars. It was a good night.