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About 5 years ago our club began offering a National Day of the Cowboy shooter clinic. Since we were always at the range setting up for our monthly match, held on the 4th Sunday, we decided to offer a shooter clinic in observance of the National Day of the Cowboy on Saturday. We have several interested folks signed up for today's event. We supply everything, even a light lunch. We'll review the shooter handbook and give everyone their own copy. Attendees will be able to handle our firearms but will be offered 22s for live fire. Those wishing to shoot will be able to take aim and shoot scenario using 22s at the end of the 4 hour clinic. This is a free event. UPDATE! We are home from an exhausting and VERY successful day. We had a great turnout for the clinic...our best yet! It all truly started in May with some FB notices on the pages of towns near our range, informing every one of our upcoming state match. That turned into asking a couple of shooters that were not shooting our state match, but wanted something to do, if they would be a "welcome committee" to the foot traffic. They handed out SASS swag and a brochure listing dates of monthly matches and info on the National Day of the Cowboy CAS clinic. First of all, we had the most foot traffic ever! That then turned into a dozen people coming to our cowboy clinic today. The interest was avid. The attendees were GREAT! Our instructors had a great time, too. They also gave nothing but positive feedback on our guests. It was obvious that many had already been checking out SASS and perusing the handbook. Everyone had fun. It looks like our posse has some growth coming our way too. We had one idea, then another, and another. Each one was a good idea in its own right. Now we've rolled them together and feel that we have come up with a true winner. What a great shot in the arm!

Some high-end perfumes may contain whale vomit. Many high-end perfumes use a special ingredient called ambergris. It adds a scent note of its own, but also helps other scents last longer in the air. This elusive ingredient is expensive, costing as much as $7,000 per pound. What is ambergris? It’s whale vomit. Or more specifically, it’s whale vomit that happens to be expelled through sperm whales' butts. Ambergris is what’s left over when a whale eats a lot of squids. The squids' beaks--along with fatty substances that the whale’s stomach secretes to protect it from those pointy beaks--form a giant clump inside the whale’s body, which the whale eventually expels. Some call it whale poop. Ambergris floats to the surface, where lucky hunters scoop it up and sell it to perfumers. Only about 1% of sperm whales produce it, thus the rarity and high price tag. Ambergris looks exactly how you’d expect whale vomit to look. It’s a blackish mass of goo and bones. Apparently, it has a fecal smell when the whale first produces it, but this fades to a musky, rubbing alcohol smell as a wad of ambergris ages. Perfumers value extracts of ambergris as a musky base note for their perfumes, as well as for the extracts’ ability to modulate and enhance other scents. Ambergris has been used for centuries, but it wasn’t until the 1800s that people discovered it comes from whales. Because whales basically poop/vomit ambergris out, using it isn’t directly harmful to them. Still, exploiting an endangered species for any commodity is dubious. It’s possible people could kill endangered whales, mistakenly thinking they’ll find valuable ambergris within them.

I recent thread about pocket pistols got me wanting a Lightning. Went to gun show today and found one. Traded a CZ 10 that I won and some cash for it. Locks up tight, bore good, Brown patina, good grips. appears to function perfectly. Serial # dates to 1903. Seller said he got it at an estate sale, they said was grandpas gun been in a cabinet for the last 40 years. I’m looking forward to shooting it at a side match soon! My first colt collectible. Likely not my last. Now to find/make some ammo. Seems like I heard you can shoot 38sw in these, but not vice versa???