Category Archives: Boomershoot

Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event with high explosives as the targets. This is about Boomershoot in general and sometimes just explosives.

How cool is that?

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Ry reports the KING 5 Evening Magazine video on Boomershoot 2005 was nominated for an Emmy in 2006.

Boomershoot Halloween

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We blew up a bunch of pumpkins today. No time for the whole story or any pictures. Just a link to Barrons post (which has pictures and video) and the best of the video (from Kris who made it as a day trip from Seattle):

 

Update: Kris has a post about his little “day trip”.

I’m envious

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It’s been a long time since I got hate mail like this. And for me it was just the one person.

Some people have all the fun.

I need to go blow up some pumpkins tomorrow to make myself feel better.

It’s that time of year

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I’ve had two requests from people for help celebrating Halloween this year. Son-in-law Caleb and a friend from my work both want to blow up some pumpkins. That is planned for this Saturday.


This morning I got a report from someone else on the same topic:



As the crowd thinned, we started the good stuff. Saturday I had placed a baggie of amn mix in the seed cavity and shot it with the 300 weatherby loaded with 125 grain ballistic tips. I wanted to tell folks that I had acquired some new bullets and demo their performance. The pumpkin absolutely vaporized.


Yeah. That’s what happens alright. I’ll try to have pictures and video next week sometime.


Update: Video from November 2000 is here.

Boomershoot rifle

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Chris says it’s for Boomershoot. But the maximum range of targets at Boomershoot is only 700 yards. Therefore I think it might be for more than just Boomershoot. I’m thinking my evil plan might be working. Hmmm… so that would mean it is about Boomershoot, even if it isn’t for Boomershoot.

Boomershoot 2009 position 62 is open

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I just had a cancelation of one of the positions for Boomershoot 2009.


Position 62, on the berm, is now open.


Sign up here soon if you want it.


Update: The position has been filled. It was open for two hours and 18 minutes.

Quote of the day–Pat Kelley

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You put on the most politically incorrect event on the planet.


Pat Kelley
October 5, 2008
Referring to Boomershoot.
[Pat was at the USPSA match I went to today. I think it has been 10 years since I have seen Pat. He remembered me and said a lot of flattering things. I was a little embarrassed because he is such a great shooter he is totally out of my league. But he wasn’t talking about my shooting ability. See also these quotes from him in other posts:



He also tried shooting my Saiga 12 gauge. He had never shot one before. He was not able to out-shoot it even though he believes it probably is possible. I wish I had thought to put a timer on him and see what sort of splits he got. I just saw a blur of fire expel from the ejection port and the 10 round magazines were empty.–Joe]

It was Ry’s fault

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He says he is sorry about bringing down Microsoft.com today. He didn’t even have to use any Boomershoot technology.


As people say, his brain is a very powerful CPU but it’s running a buggy operating system.

Boomershoot maintenance

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As I reported a few weeks ago I did a bunch of earth moving at the Boomershoot range. Last Sunday Kim, Xenia, and I went back to plant grass on the fresh dirt, winterize the Taj Mahal and deliver 800 pounds of decorative concrete blocks to the Taj. Barb’s Jeep was sort of dragging it’s tail as we drove out to the range. We will use the concrete blocks as stepping stones around the Taj to keep the explosive workers out of the mud when it is wet. As a side note on Thursday Barb took her Jeep to be “detailed” which consisted mostly of removing mud and small pieces of concrete from the interior.


I didn’t take my camera but Xenia brought hers and I planned to post some of the pictures she (and I) took of the work we did. Unfortunately the mechanism involved in transferring the pictures from her camera to me failed with the crash of Barb’s desktop computer (it’s complicated, don’t ask because it’s not worth it). I could have worked around it in any number of ways but I had, and have, more important things to do.


I did want to get a post up about the grass planting just so people would know the chances of the area being nothing but mud next spring are less than 100%. Also this gives me an excuse to post a link to Xenia (our artist) pictures from the day. As you can see from the sample below it’s an artist taking the pictures and not her engineer father.



Xenia reflected in the solar panels on the Taj Mahal.

Easy fireballs

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Inspired by Roberta’s post I looked up something I had seen a while back–How To Make a Cremora Fireball. Here are some pictures of the results:



40-50 Foot Tall Cremora Fireball
(Photo and fireball by Noel Emge)



70 Foot Mushroom Cloud by Bluegrass Pyrotechnic Guild


And in case you hadn’t connected all the dots the TSA does not (and cannot) sniff your luggage for coffee creamer or powered milk. Hence a component of my contempt for the entire concept of TSA.

Range report

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This isn’t the usual range report on people going to the range to shoot. This is a report on improving a range.


Yesterday, after getting a late start due to an eye infection I went to the Boomershoot site and made some improvements. The primary goal was to expand the target capacity at the tree line. This is also known as the 375 yard line. I more than doubled the length of this berm. I had originally planned to extend it to the east but due to my limited time (the dirt would have to been moved much further) and concerns shooters in the .50 Caliber Ghetto and most of the Lowlands wouldn’t be able to see those targets anyway I extended the berm to the west.


The ground was dry and hard. The dozer I use is on the small side and 65 years old. Frequently I would put the maximum weight I could on the blade in an effort to get it to cut into the ground. This would lift the front end of the cat up and put all the weight on the bit of the blade and the rear sprocket of the cat. Still the blade would barely cut into the ground. It was only after making another pass on the same piece of earth after the spinning tracks had tore up the ground previously that I would get a significant amount of dirt in front of the blade:



Weight on the rear sprocket and blade in an effort to cut into the hard earth.


Below is the result of several hours of dirt moving. The previous target area was from the tree about 50 feet behind the car extending left (east) to the end of the grass covered berm. As you can see from the fresh dirt the target area is over double the previous length. This will allow us to put out a lot more targets in this very popular area.



Taken from shooting bench height, just off of the west end of the shooters berm, at position 69. Click on the picture to see more detail.


I also extended and tweaked the berm for the shooters. The extension was not to increase the capacity but to get each of the shooters a little more room. In previous years shooters were allocated six feet per shooting position while on the berm compared to eight feet on the ground. This should allow berm shooters eight feet as well.  I also tried to make it a little more level. Certain areas on the berm weren’t really usable and I think I have fixed that.



Extended portion of the shooters berm looking uprange (mostly north and a bit west).



Shooters berm looking to the west from the east end.


Boomershoot 2009 will have more targets and berm shooters will have a little more elbow room.


I also checked on the status of things at the Taj Mahal. Previously the batteries were not fully charged and the water supply was having issues as well. The batteries weren’t fully charged but a couple hours of running the generator and I finally got them topped off. The water still seemed to be working fine.


I still need to go back in a couple weeks and plant grass in the freshly disturbed dirt and prepare the Taj for winter.

Boomershoot 2009 Precision Rifle Clinic Registration

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Registration for the 2009 Precision Rifle Clinic is now open. You don’t have to attend the Boomershoot on Sunday to participate in the clinic on Friday or Satuday. They are in close proximity in space and time but are, essentially, independent.


The prices for this type of training is amazingly good. And it includes shooting at a few boomers as well.

Quote of the day–Eugene Econ

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High winds with ice pellet storms. For me, that was uncommon for the Boomershoot but not the worse I have experienced at the Clinic so take it as it was. The winds we had offered an excellent opportunity to practice our wind doping and we learned our lessons and gained some confidence that we could stay on top of such winds well enough to hold IPSC size steel targets as long as we could see them. Such conditions were extreme but I doubt anyone will forget the experience or more importantly, how the Clinic shooters dominated these conditions. I am sure firing in 25 – 30 MPH winds and ice pellet storms will be something the shooters won’t soon forget.


Eugene Econ
Boomershoot 2008 Precision Rifle Clinic After Action Review
[I remember seeing a young woman at the clinic who had arrived from Austin just the day before. She was bundled up in winter clothes and the only skin exposed was part of her face which was getting pelted with ice pellets. I asked her, “Are you having fun yet?” She said she was. At the time I thought she was probably a very good liar but she signed up for Boomershoot 2009.–Joe]

Wheelbarrows full of cash

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The Apex of The Triangle of Death just sent me another wheelbarrow full of cash to tell everyone about their new website–Gun Ban Obama. This is your one stop site for information on how anti-gun Obama really is. Lots of quotes and other material that leave no doubt as to his true colors.


That wheelbarrow of cash sitting in my vault reminds me of something I forgot to report on. Last Wednesday I had breakfast with Pepper Petersen, “Advancement Officer”, from the NRA. He is one of the people that collects the truckloads of cash so others can distribute it in wheelbarrows. We had breakfast in the Microsoft cafeteria and after telling me, “I never ask for money on the first date”, we talked about Boomershoot quite a bit as well as various other Microsoft gun people we both knew. He may make an appearance at the Gun Blogger portion of Boomershoot 2009 and help make reactive targets as well as trying to connect with some long range targets on Sunday. He and his wife have a baby due about the same time so it’s a little bit iffy at this point.

Gun Nuts, Para weekend, the bet

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Rob and I had a nice chat with Caleb and Bonnie on Gun Nuts at Blog Talk Radio last night.


We mostly talked about the Para sponsored weekend at Blackwater. But we touched on Boomershoot just a little bit too.


We did talk about the bet between Caleb and I about who is the better shooter and how that bet came about. We didn’t get the stakes of the bet nailed down but that may have been settled today in the comments of his post about our discussion last night. Rob and Bonnie have their own posts about last nights show too.


To answer the question that keeps coming up–the bet came about in the following email thread:



From: Say Uncle
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 6:40 AM
To: Sebastian; Ahab; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com; Joe Huffman
Subject: My dad can beat up your dad


 


http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2008/07/09/chicks-and-guns-17/#comment-203007


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:27 AM
To: Say Uncle; Sebastain; Aha’; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Almost for certain he can.


 


My dad is almost 85 years old and not thinking too clearly anymore.


 


How about between the two of us we see who shoots the best at summer camp? Aren’t you the betting type?


 


J


 


-joe-



From: Say Uncle
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:36 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Sebastian; Ahab; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


I am but I only bet on things in which I have a positive expectation. In this case, I’m guessing I don’t have such an expectation 😉

In fact, due to my recent lack of time at the range, I’ll put me at dead last!


From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:54 AM
To: Say Uncle; Joe Huffman; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


I’ll take that bet, joe


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:02 AM
To: ‘Ahab’; ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted @progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Name your terms and I’ll think about it.


 


 


-joe-


 


From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:13 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Six pack of the winner’s favorite beer?  Bottle of the winner’s favorite booze, not to exceed, oh, I don’t know…$30 bucks?


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:51 AM
To: ‘Ahab’
Cc: ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted @progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


The number of beers I have had in my lifetime can be counted on my fingers (base ten, not base two). Beyond that the last drink of alcohol I had was the glass of wine at the NRA convention dinner. That said, because of my sweet tooth there is no such thing as something “too sweet” and I like ice wine.


 


But more important to me is how are we going to determine the winner? And what sort of handicap are you giving me? I’m probably at least 20 years older than you. I’ve had a couple surgeries on my left knee and my right leg and foot is still swollen from the ATV that landed on it at Boomershoot 2008. I’m overweight and my eyes take minutes to change focus from front sight distance to target distance.


 


And what caliber gun did you select? I’m going to shooting a .45. If we do the contest at the end of the weekend after shooting 1500 rounds in the heat and humidity my old muscles, ligaments, and bones will have taken a lot more damage than someone much younger shooting a 9mm.


 


-joe-


 


From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:54 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


I reckon determining the winner would be kind of challenging, and we would have to handicap because I picked the 9mm.

I don’t know, let’s turn it over to the posse to see if they have any ideas.  Well, everyone except for Robb, because his idea will involve jokes about sausage.


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 11:04 AM
To: ‘Ahab’
Cc: ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted @progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


How about an El Presidente? Score it according to USPSA rules and that would take into account the 9mm versus .45. It would also test a number of different skills including the draw, the reload, accuracy and speed.


 


And you are forgetting the handicap I should get for my age and infirmities. J


 


-joe-


 


From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 11:07 AM
To: Joe Huffman; Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Yeah, but you’ve been shooting for a lot longer than me.


 


🙂


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:08 PM
To: ‘Ahab’
Cc: ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted@progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Ignoring a 100 rounds or so that I shot when I was living at home on the farm I have been shooting for about 15 years. Is that more than you?


 


Regardless, I might be willing to give up on getting that handicap if you agree to a shooting test that isn’t too taxing on my aging body.


 


So, what are your thoughts on the El Presidente? Or do you just want to wimp out entirely on a contest?


 


 


-joe-


 


From: Ahab
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:10 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


I would shoot an El Presidente, that sounds good.  I’ve been shooting seriously since I was about 19, so that would give me 7 years, giving you a bit more experience.  Plus it’s been my personal observation that experience and treachery defeat youthful enthusiasm most of the time. 


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:20 PM
To: ‘Ahab’
Cc: ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted@progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Have you ever shot an El Presidente before? There’s not much treachery possible there.


 


-joe-


 


From: Ahab 
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:26 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Fair enough, I’ve only shot one el presidente in my time, so if you’ve shot 10 or 12 that would count under the “treachery” category.  🙂

But no, I am totally game for an El Pres as the deciding factor.


 


From: Sebastian
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:29 PM
To: Ahab
Cc: Joe Huffman; Say Uncle; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Sorry Caleb, but I’d put my money on Joe 😉


 


From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:49 PM
To: ‘Ahab’
Cc: ‘Say Uncle’; Sebastian; ‘Bitter Bitch’; Deleted@progunprogressive.com’
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad


 


Ø  I am totally game for an El Pres as the deciding factor.


 


With all applicable USPSA rules applying (http://www.uspsa.org/rules/2008HandgunRulesindexed.pdf)?


 


-joe-


I can’t find any further email on it but I think it was in comments on some blog post we did agreed to the contest as being the USPSA El Presidente classifier with all USPSA rules applying. The stakes will probably end up being 250 rounds of 180 grain FMJ .40 S&W ammo. That’s higher stakes that I would really think are appropriate but we arrived at that after I suggested a case (typically 1000 rounds) was too much. [shrug] I can handle the pain of losing my first bet in 30 years and if Caleb is okay with taking that risk then I guess that settles it.


Just a couple more items of potential interest:




  1. You will notice Caleb (Ahab) said ” experience and treachery defeat youthful enthusiasm”. Which was a nice way of saying old age and treachery.


  2. Last night on the show I said I accepted the bet mostly because of his attitude. I have never seen him shoot (I have seen Say Uncle shoot and I’m pretty sure I can “take” him). I met Caleb last May and he had a slight attitude that was completely lacking in every shooter that I personal know and I know can beat me. Just a little too cocksure of himself. I explained this last night and in an email after the show he said, “that was the nicest way in which I’ve ever been called an arrogant bastard”. That’s me. Always the diplomat*.



* Diplomat: One skilled in the art of saying “Nice doggy” until he can find the right sized stick.

Quote of the day–Squeaky Wheel

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Blowing shit up with rifles?  Come ON!  A MESS OF AWESOME AT YOUR FINGERTIPS.  LITERALLY.


Squeaky Wheel
August 17, 2008
I’m certified to build things that can blow other things up.
[It makes me happy to make others happy. Derek seems pretty happy for the same reason. There will be another batch of happy people later, it was just that I sent Squeaky and Derek’s forms in at the same time as my Type 20 (license to manufacture high explosives) renewal. Forms from other people came in later.


I think Boomershoot 2009 is going to make me more happy than usual.–Joe]

Bonnie is licensed

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Bonnie just got word the ATF trusts her to make explosives for me. Next April I will teach her–free of charge.


Doesn’t that just give you the warm fuzzies? If we could only let them know I’ll bet the Brady Bunch, the VPC, and numerous Cease Fire organizations would find their nightmares worsened.

Brainstorming Boomershoot 2010

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Ry reports on some of our thoughts about Boomershoot 2010.

Quote of the day–Kris

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Nothing says “Awesome!” like a woman that knows how to make explosives.


Kris (a co-worker of mine at Microsoft)
August 11, 2008
After seeing this blog post about Kim.
[This is a co-worker of mine. We’ve been sharing tips on how to make things that go boom.–Joe]

A day with The Boomershoot Babe

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Daughter Kim and I took off shortly after 8:00 this morning to do some work at the Boomershoot site. It’s about 45 miles from home but because of the narrow twisting roads down a steep valley and back up the other side it takes a full hour to get there unless you are willing to make the tires squeal on the turns. It’s not hard to do but there is not much point in pushing in to save 10 or 15 minutes while risking rear ending a slow-moving piece of farm equipment as you come out of the turn. The drive gave Kim and I a chance to talk a bunch.

The weather was clouding and cool. Amazingly cool–I don’t think it got above 65 all day long. And with the breeze it was actually a little uncomfortable at times.

Driving the little Aveo all the way to the Taj Mahal required going through some rather tall Reeds Canary grass:


Photo by Kim

We arrived on site and did some electrical measurements on the batteries and solar cell charging system. Everything appears to be working correctly but the batteries still aren’t fully charged. We fired up the generator to charge the batteries faster. It started charging at 6 amps at about 9:30 and when turned off about 13:00 it was down to just over 4 amps. So I think we are getting closer to a full charge. Maybe the next time we go out the solar cells will have the batteries topped off.

The water system appears to not be leaking or if it is it must be a very slow leak. I put about seven gallons of water in it a couple of weeks ago and verified everything was working correctly. I was able to get a couple of gallons out on this visit without it going dry so I’m not sure why it went dry in June unless the drain tile didn’t fill it up this spring like I thought it would have.

I fixed up the steps from the pump to the target building area some. They should be fine for this summer but I suspect they will get loose again when the ground gets wet again this fall.

The big tarp in back of the shed we use to cover up the extra surveyors stacks and empty containers has a large rip in it. It was getting old and I’m not too surprised. I’ll have to replace it before winter. Another thing we really need to do is put in some more decorative blocks to the south side of the target building area. This is where we stacked the empty crates while building targets this year. It got a lot of foot traffic and there needs to be something there to keep us out of the mud when it rains and snows.

We went to my parents house and gave Dad his birthday present. He will be 85 in a few days. He had a knee surgery last week and is doing well.

After visiting for a while with Mom, Dad, their friends Walt and Jan, and my sister-in-law Julie. Kim and I then went for a walk. We inspected the Austrian Winter peas in the back of the truck. This was the first time they have raised them in many years.

Kim had never seen them before. I told her we could eat them raw but to be careful. It would be like putting rocks in your mouth until they soaked up enough water to soften up a bit. She agreed with me. It is a lot like pebbles in your mouth. She didn’t like the taste of the skins but the insides are good.

Below are a couple pictures of the peas in the field. A month ago, before they fell down (a natural and expected occurrence), the pea vines stood almost as tall as Kim and when stretched to their full height were over six feet long in places.

In the foreground of the picture above is the field after it has been harvested. In the background are unharvested peas and my parents house almost hidden in the trees.

I told Kim the story of how when I was about 10 years old I accidentally started a fire that sweep through that exact spot where she is standing and I was certain it was going to catch the woods on fire. But Dad was within shouting distance, working on the house, and was able to get the bulldozer started and dig a fire break in the wheat stubble before it made it to the trees. My Great Uncle Walt and I put out the little fires that made it across the torn up dirt and the woods were saved.

This is “The Old Well House”. It’s not used any more. But there were lots of stories to tell here. “The Little Pond” was just 50 yards from here and Dad was concerned us kids would drown in it and dug a hole in one of the banks to lower the water level so the pond was shallow enough we could have touched bottom with our heads above the water had we been foolish enough to get in with the frogs, dragon flies, and thick pond scum. I did fall into the little creek that runs right past here when I was probably only seven or eight years old. It was the middle of the winter with probably a foot of snow on the ground the creek literally ice cold with a partial covering of ice. It wasn’t deep and I was able to wade out. But I was completely soaked in the ice water and more than a little scared. Just a few feet away from where I took this picture is an apple tree that used to have the largest apples I have ever seen. The apples would get so large they would break the stems and fall off before they would get ripe. The were still sour and weren’t really edible when raw. But just one apple sliced up, fried, with lots of sugar on it, would be enough for our “vegetable” at dinner for our entire family of five.

We had lunch with my parents, brother Gary, Walt, and Jan. Then we said good-bye and went back to the Taj Mahal to turn off the generator and lock things up. As we left I took some pictures of Kim on a hay bale in the field where we hold the Boomershoot:

As I was taking these pictures I figured she should be called “The Boomershoot Babe”. She has made most of the explosives for the targets for the last three years. She had help from her husband Caleb and others but she has done the majority of the actual weighing and mixing of the chemicals. She has probably made, in five pound batches, in a Kitchen Aid mixer about 3000 pounds of explosives in the last three years.

Kim, my Boomershoot Babe. Who would have guessed from seeing our little Bridezilla when she was four years old? Okay, so maybe you wouldn’t have been surprised.