Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Gun show weekend and kids


It was one of those weekends where stuff to do with the kids coincided nicely with things daddy wanted to do.
Saturday we went the Alabama Gun Collectors Association show in Birmingham. I first went when was 12 or 13 and have been a gun nut ever since and kept going. By myself I can kill a whole day there, but with Griffin and Carlie with me I have to make it the 'gun show express.
I was lucky, in that the remain happy to go pretty much anywhere, and that there attention spans seemed to have increased since the spring gun show. My first priority was corralling them because of all the 'do not touch' items at the show, but I still got to look around some, too.
Bought a Russian .22 rifle just like the one I sold to the late great Mark Howard years ago, and I was glad to get it. Not just because it is a GREAT rifle at a good price but also because I got to B.S. with the old cat who sold it to me.
Another old gun show fixture, Mr. Emmett Fike, sharpened my knife for me. The Swedish steel is once more sharp enough to cut myself wide open if I'm not careful, and I am glad. I have always grinned when Mr. Fike gives customers his business card, which is printed on a Band-Aid!
Along the way we passed toys and trinkets...Griffin got a slingshot' Carlie picked herself out some especially pretty multicolored marbles.
Back home and we played outside. The grapes and blueberries are in, so we picked and munched down on some.
I had gotten out my box trap (feral cats, coons and possums visit regularly and can be a problem) last week cleaning out my shed and it was still sitting on the porch. Carlie kept asking how it worked and what I might catch in it, so I set it for her and baited it with some cat food. Then she asked, when will something get in it? I told her, if anything gets trapped, it won't happen until it's dark.
I was proven wrong when the trap went 'clank!' We went to check it and there was Tip inside, looking sad and a bit surprised. Hence, Carlie got her demonstration of how the trap worked and Tip did, too.




1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sounds like another great weekend with the kids..... poor Tip!