Howdy Cowfolks:

If you missed the April match and cookout at Thunder Valley, you should make yourself a Bone Head Award, present it to yourself, and nail it to your forehead. WOW !!, what a day we had !! We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise, plenty of sunshine throughout the day, a gentle breeze, and high of 63 degrees with very low humidity. 55 shooters showed up to send their cast bullets down range.

We began the day with a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and a morning prayer from Hardscrabble. The match was dedicated to the members and previous members of Thunder Valley that have passed away in recent years, and a moment of silence accompanied by a 21 gun salute was presented in their memory. Those celebrated for this Memorial Service were : Rapid Lee (Lee Fisher), Zeb (Larry Icenogle), James Sage (Rodney Sage), Grizly Gaucho (Greg Gough), and Ohio River Gambler (Steve Haworth)

The targets rattled and dinged throughout the day, the range was filled with smoked from the black powder guns, and the roar from their cannon like loads could be heard for a mile away. The walls of smoke tricked some spotters, and several black powder specialists escaped the call of a miss, because no one could see the targets. Twenty-two categories were represented, and 73% of the registered shooters achieved the rifle bonus shot at 66 yards.

Thirteen shooters came with their rifles zeroed in, a steady grip on their pistols, and finished up "Clean" for the day. They were: Mountain Drover, Indy Kid, Redneck Rebel, Windy City Kid, Chicago Steeley, Blackjack, Dutchman Swart, Geronimo, Smiley, Sheriff Jay, Christian, White River Kid, and Longline Charlie.

Mountain Drover came prepared and apparently wearing his "Most Speedy" cowboy boots, he finished up 1st overall with a gun blazin' 108.90 total. Indy Kid was only 5 seconds behind in 2nd place with another gun blazin' 113.34. The Top Ten was:
1. Mountain Drover         6. Ranger Dude
2. Indy Kid                      7. Flatland Drifter
3. Redneck Rebel            8. Blackjack
4. Windy City Kid           9. Drew First
5. Chicago Steeley           10. Judge Mint Day

Our shootin' pards and good friends from the Chicago area, Cary Kid, Chicago Steeley, Windy City Kid, Ranger Dude, and Flatland Drifter ( also known as Firewalker ) joined us for the weekend. Sure is great to have these folks with us each year. They travel a long distance to come to Thunder Valley here in Kentuckiana, and we sure enjoy and appreciate their presence. They brought a truck load of guns with them, and we shot 41 magnums, 44 magnums, 357 S&W stainless steel models, tricked out 45 ACP semi-autos, and more. They must have gone thru 1000 rounds on Friday.

The old "Paoli Posse" formed a semi-reunion with us for the day, and we had Long Horn Clem, Bardlands Barb, Abu, Graver, Might Neer Mark, and Longline Charlie present for the activities.

Christian, his sons; Thunder Dragon, Mississippi Jones, and his daughter Pill Pusher also joined the gathering. Pill Pusher is still recovering from injuries sustained in an automobile accident, but she successfully completed the entire match, and had a fun day.

Another shooter that many of you may remember from years passed, Colorado Duelist, dug his guns out of the basement and we were happy to see him throwin' lead down range again.

Longline Charlie maneuvered thru the range with his custom golf cart and completed all six stages "Clean".

Sonny Creek, Buffalo Bud Harden's youngest daughter celebrated her 14th birthday at our match, and shot her last match as a Buckerette. She moves into Lady Young Guns next month. She commented to me as we talked after the match. "I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday". She truly enjoys the sport and equally enjoys the fellowship with the shooters.

Last month, B.C. Spitwhiskers brought his 13 year old grandson along to visit the range and observe. He did'nt have all of his equipment complete, so he just hung out and got an idea of how the game is played. They went home and Grandpa Spitwhiskers provided some coaching and familiarization with the use of the various firearms, and transition. This month, the grandson, White River Kid, returned ready to get down to business with his first match as a Buckeroo, and apparently the instruction provided worked well for the new shooter. He was a bit anxious at first, and asked, "How in the heck am I supposed to remember all this stuff ?" Then, he settled in, and went to shootin'. He let me know of his progress throughout the day, and sure enough, he was "Clean" on the first three stages, before lunch. He got two more stages "Clean" following the lunch break, and hurriedly ran to give me the update. We talked about maintaining his focus and concentration, then, he took off to tackle his last stage. A short time later, he returned, with a smile from ear to ear, and ready to jump for joy. He had successfully completed his very first match as a "Clean" shooter. His excitement and joy sure made my day.

A huge "Thanks" to Trail Cook Johnny for his demonstration of superior cookin' skills. Trail Cook Johnny arrived around 9:00am towing his 16 foot x 6 foot portable grille behind his pickup truck. He started the preparation and cooking at 10:00am and the barbecued ribs, chicken, brisket, and 1" thick pork chops came of the grille at 4:15pm. When he finished up this gourmet delight, the ribs simply fell off the bone, the brisket was as good as steak, the pork chops could be cut with a plastic knife, and the chicken just melted in your mouth. His meat preparation and cookin' absolutely surpassed any five-star fancy steak/barbecue restaurant that I have ever visited. If you ever have a need for a catered meat preparation, and on site cook, contact Trail Cook Johnny, (John Merkley) at 812-630-0214, or jmerkley@iquest.net. He is one of the best, east of the Mississippi.

The food was plentiful and awesome. Buffalo Bud Harden and his family brought two birthday cakes. Wastin Lead Red prepared unbelievable tomato pasta. Geronimo's mother prepared old fashioned potato salad. Ginger Star made another type potato salad. There was bean salad, cole slaw, veggie plates, salsa and corn chips, macaroni salad, deer summer sausage, pineapple upside down cake, brownies, strawberry cheesecake, cookies, confetti cake. It was all great and I believe that I sampled each item on the tables.

We passed out door prizes that included gift certificates to Tonto Rim, shotgun shells, DVD's, pocket knives, flash lights, and cowboy bling, and assorted cowboy stuff. Blackjack was the recipient of the hand made custom knife and sheath that was provided by Cherokee Charlie, from XXXXX. Cherokee Charlie and Zeb were two of the original co-authors of Cowboy Stories in the Saloon section of the SASS Wire. The sheath was tooled with peaches and similar in design to the holsters and gunbelt that Cherokee Charlie made in honor of Zeb at his passing.

After the match, Ellie Mae took some of the youngters to the hose barn for a tour. They were able to visit with our ten adult horses, and a runt two year old stud colt, Kibbles, that we recently rescued and adopted. Judge Mint Day's 4-year old daughter, Sabrina, climbed aboard our 26 year old, 16'2" hand, chestnut colored gelding and took him for a short ride across the pasture. She really was'nt quite ready to conclude the ride, but the big gelding had to go into the barn for his dinner of oats. They also visited the mini barn, where we keep our four miniature horses. These are full grown horses and stand 32 inches measured from the ground to the top of their shoulders. They also were able to visit with our three dogs and twenty-one cats that are scattered between the three barns and garage. It was like a day at the petting zoo.

As folks began to head for their vehicles, moans of discomfort were heard from many as a result of their overindulgence at the dinner table. It was rumored that Geronimo had to be carried on a chase lounge to his truck, because his belly was just to full of that delicious bonanza of food. As the sun set in the west, several folks remained around the campfire to enjoy the sky full of stars, and tell a few tall tales about their shooting' experiences and other humorous adventures. A light jacket and the warmth from the fire made for a relaxing evening to conclude a busy and eventful day.

I've added another 37 pictures to the Thunder Valley Photo Album at Shutterfly. Check it out at www.thundervalley.shutterfly.com
Your newest mug shot may be there.

Looking back at the events of the day provides a long list of accomplishments: We were safe We had fun We saw new faces We saw old faces We had great weather We had more fun We had great food We heard the roar of gun fire, and the tink, tink, tink, of bullets striking the targets We saw clouds of smoke and the smell of gunpowder We felt sorrow and sadness for the loss of our good friends and shootin' pards We felt joy in seeing folks overcome their injuries/illness and play this cowboy game We had more fun We saw young folks having fun with us, and they will carry this sport forward in the future We finished the day safely!

If you missed this one, you missed a great one !!!!! Don't miss the next one !!

Happy April Birthdays to: Sonny Creek, Dauntless Deb, Chicago Steeley, and Chief Old Timer

Congratulations to the following individuals on successfully completing the RO#1 course presented by Judge Mint Day and Redneck Rebel :
Trail Cook Johnny, Irish Dan O'Shootem, Geronimo, Colorado Bull, Ginger Star, Chance Thornton, Wastin Lead Red, Axel Dumire, Batjac Shootist, Dusty Walker, Buckshot Jock

A Time Operator Class was also presented and the following attended and successfully completed that course of instruction:
Trail Cook Johnny, Irish Dan O'Shootem, Axel Dumire, Batjac Shootist,
Dusty Walker, Mountain Drover, Geronimo, Colorado Bull, Ginger Star