Recovery is nearly complete

Boomershoot is very stressful for me. I usually only sleep four or five hours a night and loose about 10 pounds in the week around Boomershoot. This year’s event was the least stressful of any. I had several people comment on how low key I was compared to usual. I actually enjoyed strolling up and down the line watching for safety violations holding hands with Barb. Usually I’m too keyed up for either of us to enjoy holding hands much.

I think sleeping on-site helped lower the stress. I could work late and get up early to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the crew. Even though I slept in a tent next to the Taj Mahal that got down to 29 F just before dawn one morning I got more sleep than usual. It was interesting to me that I put a small jug of milk on some ice in a small cooler Wednesday noon and the ice still hadn’t all melted as of Saturday noon.

Barb seemed pleased that my appetite returned on Tuesday and I started eating normally on Monday.

I also have to give a lot of credit for the (relatively) low stress Boomershoot to our staff:

  • Scott K. makes an amazing contributions by showing up early Thursday morning each year and leaving long after nearly everyone else is gone on Sunday evening. This year he drove all the way from Virginia.
  • Brian and Cody worked until very late on Sunday as well. This is when I most appreciate the help. The anticipation and fun is over. It’s cleaning up after the party when you are dead tired. Thanks guys.
  • Mark Y. showed up Thursday morning as well and worked four solid days. He “only” had to drive an hour each way from Moscow.
  • Barron and Janelle B. drove about 1:15 each way from Uniontown and were there all four days.
  • Ry drove 340 miles from Seattle and was there all four days.
  • Ry’s daughters Anna and Arden folded boxes, stamped the ATF required markings on empty boxes, and did numerous other grunt work.
  • David S. came from Seattle and worked all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.
  • Rolf N. came from Seattle and helped make explosives and entertained us all with his puns.
  • Phil put in some time at the Taj doing some grunt work too.
  • Tim S. helped not only on the day of Boomershoot but with experiments last fall.
  • Daughter Kim worked long days Saturday and Sunday. She left the range at 19:22 on Sunday and looked like death warmed over. She had put away nearly everything at the Taj Mahal and even took down my tent, rolled up my sleeping bags, and stuffed them in my car. She had been up since at least 6:45 that morning. She usually makes nearly all of the Boomerite but this year Scott K. made the explosives on Friday while Kim was attending classes. Saturday she made all of it and cleaned up the production area while I and most of the others ran the High Intensity event.
  • Peter V. and John S. are nurses. They bring their medical kits and shoot in the Sunday event. They seem a bit disappointed they don’t get to treat and gunshot wounds or explosives injuries but they say they have a good time each year. This year John helped measure chemicals and fold target boxes on Saturday.
  • Boomershoot photographer (and daughter) Xenia Joy was there on Sunday and I’ll eventually go through her pictures and post some of them.
  • Bruce (Squirrel Hunter), Fred, and their crew did the raffle which netted $1300 for Soldiers’ Angels and distributed badges Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning.
  • Chris T. watched the road Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and radioed back to the shooting line about approaching cars.
  • Eugene Econ, Shawn W., Bill and Rob W., and Monte M. put on the Precision Rifle Clinic. In addition to all the expert shooting ability and coaching skills prep for this starts Thursday afternoon and involves moving large quantities of steel up a steep hill.
  • Wife Barbara Scott put up with me being gone (physically for three nights and mentally for at least a week) and then helped so much with numerous errands, providing transportation for the cameraman, and taking care of my mom while Dad came over to do an interview with Michael Bane. And most of all she hasn’t yet hit me for telling her over the megaphone that there were 150 people waiting on her to arrive so we could do the fireball. That doesn’t count all the tolerance she shows all year long as I prepare for the next Boomershoot. Some of her coworkers tell her she is a celebrity because of the attention Boomershoot sometimes gets. But, as she tells them, she isn’t a celebrity, she just sleeps with one. I think she means me.

Also, I would like to again thank Bruce for the matching Boomershoot jackets that he gave to Barbara and me at the Saturday night dinner. Those were awesome.

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6 thoughts on “Recovery is nearly complete

  1. None of it happens without you, though, Joe!

    The biggest thank you belongs to your family, and especially you, for sharing the opportunity with all of us!!

    It is truly, as Michael Bane put it, “…the most interesting precision rifle event in the entire world.”

    Thank you!!!

  2. Joe gets many many thanks for the Boomershoot. He gets lots of media attention. It takes a small army to make this event happen. How about we let the unpaid volunteers and the workers who put in many hours have some time in the sun of Joe’s blog. They don’t get mentioned enough. Thanks Joe for thanking the staff and volunteers.

  3. Thanks again Joe. Although I missed Boomershoot again this year, I will make it someday. Thanks for letting people see just how much fun you can have and still be safe, legal, and free.

    Thanks for helping out Soldiers Angels, Too.

  4. Thank you very much from my heart.
    It is things like this, people like you that make me want to be a better person.
    Please if you have a chance email me the addresses of everyone involved, I would love to send a thank you.
    Love
    patti

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