Living in Alaska: Shooting: Playing with Guns and Cameras

Whew! What a week it has been for the Alaskan Calvin family! Mike and I have been involved in all sorts of competitions. First, we entered pictures into the Tanana Valley State Fair and then we competed in a shooting clays tournament last Saturday.

Mike entered one picture and I entered twelve. Of my twelve, six were awarded ribbons. While I did not take any blue ribbons for 1st place, I did take two 2nd place, one 3rd place, a 6th place, a 7th place and a Theme Award ribbon. Mike's one and only picture did not place, but it certainly should have! It was a beautiful night scene from Hawaii.

The shooting clays tournament sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America was a lot of fun! There were 7 teams of 5 people who competed. Mike, knowing that he and I would be the weakest shooters, stacked our team with three sharp shooting men! Smart move, Mr. Calvin! We called ourselves Four Dudes and a Dame.

Each team had five stations at which to shoot. At each station, we each had 10 turns to shoot. One station pulled clays that went straight out into the sky. At the second station, they clays oscillated. At the third station, there were doubles (two clays pulled at one time). At the fourth station, the clays were "wobbled" through the sky making it almost impossible to shoot. The final station was the sporting clays. Don't ask me exactly what that it, just know that it was harder than the wobbly ones!

In all, each member of the team had the chance to "kill" 60 clays. Out of the 60, Mike shot 22 and I shot 19. However, the other team members carried us! They all shot between 40 and 50 clays!!! Four Dudes and a Dame took 2nd place!

As summer is winding down, I don't foresee any other competitive events in our future. I start back to school next Tuesday and will hit the ground running with a student teacher. Mike, as always, is busily working and staying focused on business.

Tanana Valley State Fair

Photo Contest