I woke up this morning wondering who was going to get up and turn on the furnace. I had a secret card with me as I had put our dog Ranger on my side of the bed before we went to sleep. So all Lorraine had to do was roll out of the bed on her side and walk out into the hallway to turn on the fireplace. Oh yeah, we have a furnace, but it costs so much to run that we had just throne a couple of quilts on the bed.
I suppose I could have been the man of the house and could have just held my breath and ran to the controls, but it was really cold and I think I had felt my sinus’ closing up a little. Besides, she has all that Swiss blood flowing through her veins. I guess I could have been a bigger man, but I had this column to write and l was cold. This morning was the first day this year we have had to turn on the fireplace, so I’m not going to be a hero. I did tell her how much I love her. I would hope that was enough, but with the Swiss you never know.
As I sit here poking the keyboard of my computer, I was reminded that we are about to have another couple of cold days as Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I’ll have to turn on the heater for sure because I don’t do much as far as cooking the Thanksgiving dinner. I leave that to my wife and her mother. I’ll do all the hard things like getting the spare chairs out of the storage shed. Oh yeah! I also have to bring in the spare leaf of the table. I have also been known to help clear the table after everyone has had a chance to eat an obscene amount of food.
But as I sit here, I am reminded of a celebration that will stay with me forever. My gun shop was closed because of the holiday and I was just cleaning and restocking things when Richard Green of Green’s Camera came strolling by just to say “Hi” and to shoot the breeze. It was really slow in Old Town in Salinas, so he had closed his camera store and was just thinking about going out to the firing range to shoot a few targets. Richard was a hardworking man who envied my prowess with a handgun and wanted to go out to the police officer’s firing range to shoot up a couple of boxes of ammo to celebrate the day.
I, of course, thought that was a great idea. So while he swept the floor, I put out the ammo and targets to have a grownup play day. Then, as we were putting all the items we would need, another friend and customer came by and wanted to join us. Sam was a cool guy and could shoot like an old-fashioned cowboy. The day was turning into a pretty good day. After we had loaded everything into Richard’s car, Sam and I started talking about a place that held magic powers.
Gun-site was a school in Prescott, Ariz., where the father of self defense of the use of a hand gun, Col. Jeff Cooper, had built ranges and a few empty houses that were used to help the student make the right decision when deadly force is indicated. Using his techniques, I had been to his school and learned pistol, rifle and shotgun. This was a different time in California and in fact, the United States. Men and women wanted some way to defend themselves, and Col. Cooper fulfilled that need by teaching not only how to fire a handgun but the consequences of using a firearm in defense of a life.
After I had been to three of his schools, I was asked to assist him and his cadre in presenting these classes. Sam had already been to a couple of the classes with me, but Richard had a harder time getting away from the store. I really enjoyed attending all the classes at Gun Site and I’ll treasure those memories forever.
In any case, the stars were aligned that day and we were all three going together. Then Richard asked why we don’t fly over to Prescott and rent a car to get us to the range. This suggestion was met with cheers from all of us. We changed our direction and went out to the Salinas airport where Richard kept his plane. We loaded all the rounds of .45 cal. Pistols, ammo and away we went. It took us about three hours that day to get there where in a car it would have taken all day and part of the night.
Once we arrived at the airport in Prescott, we loaded our gear and probably broke a couple of speed limits to get to the range. Now, when I say range, it was pretty basic, but it was set up by Col. Cooper to allow his students almost every way he knew how to get the upper hand when firearms were called for.
That day was not one I will forget. Watching Richard shoot a shotgun when he had never shot one before was really great. I’ll go ahead and tell you those three days after he had shot about 40 rounds of 12 gauge ammo, his right arm was purple from the shoulder down to his fingers.
The trip home was really cool as we flew over the Gabilan mountains to the east of us coming in for a landing in Salinas. That day was shared by Sam and Richard, and although neither man is with us anymore, they made one Thanksgiving I’ll never forget.
God Bless.
