Adventures of HG at NRTI

As I mentioned in the last post, this week was shotgun week. It was pretty awesome. Day one we were pretty much in class all day and then day two was awful because of the cold and rain. Day three (Wed, April 13) was AWESOME! I know, I really need to add more words to my vocabulary rather than awesome, but it really was! It was only 60 degrees out, but sitting out on the range in the sun, it felt like 80! It was so nice to have a sunny day after weeks worth of rain. I would have posted yesterday about my adventures, but we had class from 1000 (10 a.m.) to 2200 (10:00 p.m.). It was a really long day and I wasn't tired, but as soon as we were done, I was absolutely exhausted. So, I'm making up for it today and writing about yesterday AND today. Two for one!


OK so this is a picture of me at the range (courtesy of Rich Vincent). It's a little blurry, but take a look at the background. This is our bunker at the range. It's filled with equipment and it's the only real 'shelter' we have on the range. We did have a tarp as a tent, but if a tornado or something were to hit, well, I think I'd rather take the ditch behind the trailer!

So I passed all of my shotgun tests. We also had a written test this morning and I went in an hour early just to review my notes. The test was very simple and I'm sure I passed it with flying colors. Speaking of colors, these are my new running shoes that I ordered. They just arrived last night...



Oh and while we are on the subject of colors, this is my bruise that I received from the shotgun. It's not too painful unless someone pokes at it, like all the other ranger students, but that's OK because then I just make fun of their bruised faces. :)



Getting back to today, after the test we sat in the classroom all day and cleaned our guns. Yes, we were allowed to have our guns in school. We don't carry them on us, we were just cleaning them for the day. First we cleaned our handguns, which took about four hours, then we had a short half hour lunch break and then we came back and cleaned our shotguns. This was pretty quick and once we were done with the shotguns, we learned how to unload a pistol, just in case we needed to make one safe out on the street. I really learned a lot today and I'm glad they had a whole day to spend teaching us these things. We also got out early today and there's no class tomorrow. It's 70 degrees right now. I just went and got a car wash for $1.00 (it's one of those do-it-yourself places but I just rinsed off all the mud). I also got a blizzard while I was out. Unfortunately over the past few days my right front tire has been getting increasingly lower and lower. I topped it off with air today and hopefully it was just the weather. I'll check it out tomorrow and see if I need to put the spare on or not. I believe this weekend's weather isn't going to be terrific, so I borrowed a friend's movie binder and I plan on spending all weekend curled up to the TV. I could use a nice break right now.



I also have a three day weekend next weekend on Easter, so I'll be heading home to mom's house to spend time with the family. Can't wait! It's Braydon's first Easter!

Here are some photos of flooding. This was the morning after it rained and I've never seen the Hocking River that high. I was sure the roads would be washed out.
















OK now here are some range photos of shotgun week...












P.S.-I'm not sure I've shared this link yet or not, but this is my blog I set up for our class...RAP 20 Blog Videos to come.

Off to a lazy weekend. Enjoy yours too!