March 11, 2004

deal 'em

I shot up a deck of cards on Tuesday. I went out to the beautiful six and one-half acres of land that I once owned in Coldbrook Plantation and saw that the young couple who bought it still haven't started building a house there.

Back behind the pond on that land, a big live oak tree lies, either tipped or ripped from the ground, and it's a good place to shoot. The oak came up by its roots and it tore a lot ground with it. So, I had a giant dirt-mound as a back-stop and nothing but miles of wetlands behind it.

Someone had been there before me. I found several casings from a high-caliber rifle on the ground. I figured that some deer hunter knew about the place and came there to tune in his new scope. As I said, it's a good place to shoot.

I had an old deck of Bicycle playing cards in my pocket and a single-shot .22 rifle. I stuck the cards in the roots of the oak tree, walked back about 30 yards and had some target practice. I started with the ace of spades.

I took four shots to obliterate the spade in the center of the card. I shot at the three of diamonds next, and I put one shot right through a diamond and winged the other two down the middle of the card. I like that .22. It's very accurate.

I assassinated all the kings, queens and jacks with head-shots, then replaced the targets with more number cards. I played all kinds of games. After a while, I decided just to hit the card in the middle and be done with it. I fired about 200 rounds, including one that blew away a grackle who had the nerve to land on that oak tree. I HATE grackles.

I kept the ace of spades. If I can get my camera to work, I'll post a picture of it.