New Years Eve

New Year’s Eve was a blast. Before I went to bed the night before, I put on a brisket to cook, real low, in the oven, so I woke up on New Year’s Eve to the decadent smell of freshly cooked brisket. I puttered around the house for a few hours in that heavenly smell, and kissed my wife goodbye, as she was taking the kiddo and going to spend a few hours with my grandma to ask her some stuff about gardening.

Then my dad and brother, Barrett showed up. We had 12 handguns between us. If you look at the picture, starting clockwise from top right, you’ll see: A Ruger Mark III .22, a S&W M&P in .45acp, a Ruger LCP .380, a Springfield G.I. .45 1911, a Kimber CLEII 1911 .45, S&W Model 66 .357, Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum, Model 28-2 6in. .357, Model 28-2 4 in. 357, Ruger Security 6 .357, Taurus Tracker 627 .357, and a S&W 638 in .38spl.

Also, my brother Matt showed up a little later, and brought a Ruger P89 as well. We had an even baker’s dozen. We shot, both copious amounts of ammunition and the B.S., and had a great time.

And suddenly someone walked up. My neighbor Tony showed up. He had been hearing us shoot for over an hour, and decided to come see what we were doing. He’s originally from California, and doesn’t know much about guns. It took all of about 45 seconds for him to want to shoot. I gotta hand it to him, he shot everything we handed to him without complaint. Everything from .22's to .357's to 1911's to............

.44 Magnums.

When we got done shooting and were standing around b.s.ing, I slipped off and put some sausage on the pit. Tony joined us for lunch, and we ate some excellent kielbasa. Then I broke out the brisket, so I could slice it for the get-together I was having later that night. We had to sample it too, of course.

I invited Tony to come over anytime we he heard gunfire and join me on the range. I think he will.

Then I put the brisket, sliced, on the pit, along with the baked beans, and smoked them both for a few hours. My brother Barrett showed back up a few hours later with his girlfriend and her children, and so did my aunt Margaret and Uncle Chuck, along with their girls. We ate brisket and beans and mashed potatoes, along with a nice salad, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. There were several fine desserts there, including a King cake, which is a Mardi Gras delicacy that is damn hard to find in Florida. Yay!

After everyone left, and I cleaned up, me and the wife sat on the couch and watched Dick Clark’s New Years Eve special on TV, and the kiddo fell asleep between us. We kissed when the ball dropped, even though it was 11pm for us, and went to bed, exhausted, but satisfied with the day.

It was a great day.