The Pirates changed the song played after the team scores a goal this season. L. and I have chatted about the change several times because she doesn't like it so much. It's also hard to hear compared to the old "Hey" song so I'm not even sure exactly what the tune actually is.
Fino took G. and L. target shooting with the 4-H Bullseye Club earlier this week. This is something he's been wanting to do with the girls for a long time now, mostly because he enjoys target shooting and wanted an excuse to do it more often. And since L. had such a great time at L.L. Bean last weekend with the computer simulation shooting game, Fino thought this was a good time to try the shooting sports club with them.
Being the organizer of the family, I called the 4-H leader of the club to get more information about their meetings at West Cumberland Rod & Gun Club. But because I know absolutely nothing about target shooting, I did not think to tell G. not to wear a her usual skirt (she makes them herself and wears one everyday) when she went to the meeting.
The skirt was a problem since beginners learn to shoot in the prone position first. But Fino's coat thrown over the bottom half of G.'s legs made her feel better about that part of things.
I thought G., being my slow-to-warm-up-to-new-activities kid by nature, would not like shooting that night. She was already stressed about her skirt problem and her glasses for near-sightedness had not arrived yet so she couldn't see the target very well. She's also a south paw and there weren't any lefty-shooting rifles available. The combination would have been enough to send any kid over the edge, let alone G.
But it all worked out. Once she made a couple of shots right-handed, one of the instructors realized that although she was missing her own target, she had hit her sister's instead (which was to her left). G.'s instructor asked her to switch trigger arms (so she was shooting lefty even though her rifle wasn't designed that way) and she was able to hit her own target a couple of times, much to her delight.
L. on the other hand was a jumble of nerves. Sometimes with L., being the spunky, prone-to-random-whims-for-the drama-factor kid, I'm not always sure when she says she's scared if she really is or if it's a ply for attention. It took us a while to realize she really was scared, not necessarily of the rifle itself but for the noise it makes when it discharges. The club didn't have any air rifles, which are quieter I'm told than the .22-rifles they use at Bullseye Club, and L. never did pull the trigger on the .22 for fear of the noise that night.
And I didn't blame her for being concerned. Every time G. took a shot I jumped, even with ear plugs on (see video below). Maybe there's a genetic jump factor I passed on to L...
But then L. and Fino chatted the next day about things and she decided to give his BB-gun another try at home before the next Bullseye meeting. Apparently last year she did some target shooting she enjoyed with Fino that involved his BB-gun and some old Barbies. I had no idea such an activity had gone on and all I could think when that tidbit was shared was that it was such a daddy thing to do!
Questions on the shooting range G.'s questions and comments cracked me up
Friends of ours decided to take a break from raising chickens and gave us the remaining part of their original flock.
About 18 chickens of various breeds ...
... and a couple of guineas.
The guineas, which I was really on the fence about taking but Fino really wanted, make a lot of racket and are pretty good at scaring away predators. And even if they don't exactly scare them away, the humans will hear the racket and investigate. Apparently the guineas have alerted our friends to attacks and ultimately saved their rooster's life. Twice.
After loosing Sassy, the girls are happy to have the guineas around and have been checking in with the flock more than usual.
We now have about 30 chickens, 2 ducks and 2 guineas now which is about the maximum number of feathered friends we've ever had at one time.
Hear the guineas
Since our friends asked us if we had the space for all of them - and were up for the care (the girls offered an enthusiastic yes) - I thought I'd post a couple of photos of Chickenland (our chicken coop).
The first phase of the coop was actually the middle chicken wire portion, which Fino built lickety-split because he bought the chickens before he had a place to put them.
Then he built the enclosed portion the following fall/winter and includes glass sliding doors he found at the dump. It's great to have a full wall of windows for a south-facing coop (more light=more eggs and happy chickens). Then he added the other end of the wired coop when our flock grew to 30 a year later so they had space to spread out.
The red string is linked to a bent nail that closes the door lock. After years of losing track of that darn nail, Fino decided to tie it to the nearby tree. He's a smart one.
After the third addition, the girls dubbed the coop Chickenland because they think it's sort of like a fun house/playland for their feathered friends.
The girls waited for a long time to get an up-close look at the trout but they weren't aggressive enough to get inside the viewing window. Like I said, the place was crazy busy.
We didn't drive all the way to Freeport yesterday just to go to L.L. Bean though, we also went to hook up with Mike Yeo from the Maine Winter Sports Center.
The Maine Winter Sports Center had a demo running to promote their biathlon program for youth. We were told a biathlon group for 10 years+ will be starting up in southern Maine this winter and more information about that should be coming out soon.
Shooting sports are not something my girls are drawn to but after a little encouragement, both girls gave the computer demo a try.
L. did well for a first try at target shooting (she had a little assistance from a MWSC staffer). She scored high enough to get her name on the prize board, which she was quite pleased about.
Fino had to check out all the rifles in the new Hunting and Fishing store (he's a former army guy and likes to target shoot). Being typical females, we appreciated the decorations more than the merchandise there.
The girls spotted these lights - which were all over the place in a variety of shapes and sizes - and thought they were nice.
Last night two of our chickens were attacked by what we believe was a fox (although the PITA dog next door was also seen in our yard yesterday but don't believe she was the culprit this time).
One chicken didn't survive and the other was in rough shape. Fino and the girls wanted to do everything they could to save the chicken, which required stitches to close her gaping wounds.
Since Fino is a vet tech, he's familiar with surgical techniques (and not squeamish). But he needed a second set of hands and asked for G.'s help cleaning the wounds. She did that surprisingly well and without complaint. The chickens are after all her beloved pets that she works hard to take care of them everyday (even when the tasks aren't fun).
Fino didn't have the surgical supplies he needed so he had to improvise by using dental floss to make the stitches. And the sock was his idea too so G. and L.'s hands wouldn't be pecked mercilessly while holding the hen in place. She actually seemed calmer with the sock over her head.
The whole process took about 45 minutes and the chicken ended up with about 15 stitches. She's doing well this morning and we're hopeful she'll make a full recovery.
The girls have renamed the chicken "Sassy" after handling this ordeal so well.
During the 'surgery' the hen made some weird noise that gave us a surprise and had us laughing the rest of the night. It was definitely a YouTube moment.
