The Think Tank

Hi everyone.

Chris has begun making his new props , and repairing old ones for this years display.  He has redone the crypt.  He is working on a few new bits for it and they will be spectacular.  I know everyone will LOVE his new additions.

We always need help on Halloween night, specially setting up our Halloween Costumes.  We need someone to walk the groups through the display.  I admit the groups to limit numbers so the props have time to reset etc.  Shannon walks the groups through the display but it is faster ( and much easier for her) to have at least two doing that job,  So when one is helping them exit the back yard, the other can be starting them through the display.  Chris always needs help in the yard scaring the little people, thumping, making noises, etc.

Our friend Candace is coming this year and I am sure she will be helping too.  Please let us know if you can come and be an assistant ghoul.  🙂

updates will follow.

Here is a time lapse video from Halloween night.  We had about 300-400 kids, and as the video says, we had help from a number of people which really made the night go a lot smoother.  Poor Shannon ran herself silly guiding groups back and forth all night.

All in all it was a great time and a lot of kids had a lot of fun.  I think that makes the night a resounding success.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/190973860[/vimeo]

  
I went out to Sylvans today to start getting my new PSE Xpression ready for the outdoor season. While I was there I bumped into Chris Kaman and Myers Leonard! For any of you who may not know, they are both centers for the Portland Trail Blazers. 

Both of them were really nice. I tried not to bother them while they were shooting, but we did talk about archery stuff for a while. Kaman has been shooting since he was a teenager, and This was Leonard’s second day.  

After they were done, they were nice enough to pose for a photo so I could make people jealous.  

NW Shootup Tour – Jan. 2, 2016

Today I shot in my first tournament since having my shoulder surgery on August 14, 2015.  (For anyone who may not know, I crashed my bike on August 6th and suffered a Grade 5 AC shoulder separation).

I shot once in early December but my shoulder hurt afterward so I hadn’t tried again until this last week. Today was only the fifth time I’ve shot since the injury, so I didn’t really have much by way of expectations. I pretty much just wanted to keep my bow arm up after the shot and try to keep my release hand coming around like it should. If the injury worsens or was exacerbated by shooting, consulting medical malpractice lawyers may provide insight into legal options. When you experience any discomfort or complications related to your injury while engaging in physical activities like shooting, it’s advisable to consult with a personal injury lawyer for legal advice and support. Injured in New York? Call a New York personal injury lawyer from Cellino Law.

I wound up shooting decently considering everything, finishing with a 298 and 21 Xs.  (For comparison, my average for last year was 299.4 and 23.1 Xs).  The two points that I dropped were both in the second half when my shoulder was getting noticbly more tired, and both shots were poorly executed.  One was against the clock (I fired with 7 seconds left), and the other was a shot I knew I should let down but didn’t want to and muscled through it.  A bad plan Under the best of circumstances.

As has been the trend this year, the scores for the shoot were lower than normal, so my 298/21 put me in a three way tie with Matt Schmitz and Tim Davis for first.  I won the tie breaker so I finished in 1st place for the qualifier round.

After that we went to the shoot off round. Since I was in first place, I only had to shoot against one person, John Heuvel, which was good because I don’t know that I had many more ends than that in me today.  John struggled a little bit today on the score front, but did great in the shoot offs, moving all the way up from fifth to compete for the top spot.   By the end of the day he had shot 12 ends in the shoot offs, more than a whole additional round.

Again my game plan was just to try and keep my bow arm up and under control and not to creep on my release.   I started out great, with three solid Xs off of very good feeling shots.  John shot two 10s and an X, so I had a decent cushion going into the final shoot off end.  I was starting to get a little nervous, which combined with my shoulder fatigue and pain made for less steady shots than I had seen all day, but I managed two pretty god shots that were tens and one shot I really thought should have been an X when I released it, but dropped a little low.  Meanwhile, John shot two Xs and a 10, which meant we were tied and had to shoot another three arrows to break the tie.

I was pretty trembly at this point, but my game plan was the same.  Keep my form together and aim as best I can and try to stay out of the nine.   John opensed up with a beautiful X, and I shot a 10 at 3 o’clock.  We both let down On the second arrow, and eventually I shot a another 10.  John wound up shooting a nine, which meant I all needed was a ten to finish out.  May last arrow was pretty shaky, but it stayed a sold 10, which meant I finished with 90 and 3 Xs. The 3 Xs are a little disappointing,  but in the end it was good enough to win the day, and I feel pretty good about that.