A Full Day of Win

nope, it's not the merengue version, but ya gotta admit, tasty!

It's been a day chock full of Win here, even though we've lost an hour of sunny goodness.

Sunny. Key word here. Full sun and 66 degrees today. That equals open windows all over the house, grilling, noticing that my chives are already up and edible, and rhubarb merengue pie hot from the oven. The puppers was out in the yard soaking up the sunshine. The geese are moving and honking. Matt swears he heard a red winged blackbird the other day. Officially spring here.

Ahh... itchy scratchy!

I also got to give my pony some snuffly muzzle kisses and breathe in his winter horsey-yak-mud smell. That in itself is enough to give me a full day of Win all by itself.  My legs are tired from my run, in a good way. The Colorvibe 5K I signed up for next month is looming large and I have yet to hit 3 miles, but getting closer and starting to feel the difference. If you are local and want to join our growing team - please let me know!!

Bought a metric ton of veg at Weggs and am currently roasting what will most likely be the last batch of root veg in the oven for the week. My friend Alli got us hooked on big batches of the stuff done on Sunday nights to last for a few days. I've also bought a new blender - our old one was a wedding gift 20 years old now - and am planning to start doing some yummy veg and fruit shakes for breakfast. Hopefully fast and easy in my not-awake-yet stage of the morning. And hoping a lunch that will be um... not skippable. Breakfast this morning was a handful of spinach, part of an avacado and blueberries. Actually, not half bad at all!

Found an organic grass-fed beef grower on the way home from the barn, stopped and picked up some steaks to try the next night it's grillable temps outside. Trying to find ways to eat more healthy. The owner greeted me in her starched Wranglers and southern accent. The real cowgirl deal.

Sourced and ordered all the materials for my new "MOLLE Marine Quiver" project, that someone commissioned. Super geeked about this one. Will post pics when it's done you can see how it comes out.

No archery this weekend. The "other" States doesn't have a category for olympic recurve (Why? I would totally go if they did!) Hoping my friends there had a highly successful event and a rockin good time!

Teaching/shooting at our JOAD club tomorrow night and looking forward to another great time there. We have such a great group on Mondays. Several pairs of parents and kids shooting together (including MOMS) so it's a great dynamic and such a fun way to end a Monday.

Have an excellent week my friends! Viva Spring!

How to "tournament"

So for those of you who have been contemplating maybe shooting a tournament, here's the inside skinny on what really goes down. Off to the NYSAA FITA Championships this morning, so thought it would be fun for you to ride along.

Night before: shot league, tanked, figured out why, shot better. Tightened up sight screws, retaped finger guard and grip with my vetwrap.

Healthy snackins

Before the shoot: Pack up snacks, flat shoes, GPS map to Outer Regions of Buffalo, NY. I like candied ginger, choco chips and plain almonds. Also bringing some oatmeal cookies for our group for snacks, cause I haven't baked in awhile. 10 minutes to take off... waiting for Matt to get out of the shower...

Arrival: Hugs and kisses for friends that are shooting your line or just coming off of it. Find a spot for your stuff, grab your score card and hit the registration table to get your bale assignment and check in. Hang your target, find pencil and calculator (I hate doing running scoring.)

12:00: Snack, chat and set up equipment, stretch out. Have more cookies. Repeat.

12:25:  Line Judge gives rules with A/B lines and warning lights and whistles. This is a double game tournament, so 60 arrows, with 450 as your perfect score. Compounders have to hit the X for a 10, recurves get the middle circle for a 10. It's nice to have an even mix of the two at this shoot for a change. One of the reasons I like this one.

12:30:  Whistle blows, A line (top) goes up to the line to do the first set of practice ends, we switch and then go pull. Repeat

12:40: Go time. Take a few breaths to steady the butterflies and shoot. Only three arrows. Mark the holes before you pull (which is important if you forget to pull them and then shoot another three - and no, that wasn't me since I know you are asking) If the lines are long, like Nationals, you have a very large space full of arrows smacking the bales - really loud!

Shoot, score, repeat.  There are two people scoring, one person calling the scores and the sheets have to match at the end (hence the running scoring) It's easy to mess it up, not hear the caller right, etc. I usually manage to muck it up somehow. Hopefully you have chill people on your card with you - I usually know at least one person and was lucky to shoot with my friend Inessa on this day.

If it's a really big shoot, they post all the scores out as soon as possible using live scoring or if it's more local-ish, you check back in a week or so to see where you ended up in the pack. Hopefully, you shot your best and didn't run into any equipment failures.

Turn in your cards, pack up. Go home. Enjoy frosty adult beverage. Repeat.