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And it's my cowboy clothes???


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After a match yesterday, a plastic bumper cover came loose. Needed a bit of duct tape for the hour or so ride home. No worries, a Flying J was coming up.

 

I was in full cowboy mode; hat, scarf, sleeve garters, suspenders, period shirt, vaquero pants, SASS badge and boots.

 

The nice lady who rang up my purchase had black hair with corn row weaves that were dyed blonde. A multi-colored tattoo that went from her left arm up her neck to her jaw. Neon green and orange nail polish. Ear, eyebrow, nostril multiple piercings with neon colored pins.

 

And she stared at me with that, "What's up with these clothes" look on her face.

 

Thought that was kinda funny.

 

Told her about SASS. She said she didn't like guns. I wished her a good day and left. Chuckling all the way back to the van.

 

I love the reactions to the cowboy wardrobe. Another fun part of the game.

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Reminds me of all the years I spent Civil War Reenacting. A gaggle of us would make a run into the nearest town for supplies and libations for an evening. We always reminisced on the way in about the looks and comments we got and looked forward to adding to the list! 

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All this in 5 minutes...

I had some kids outside a Starbucks making fun of me (amongst themselves) as I walked through the parking lot and into the store. 

When I walked inside everyone stopped and stared for a couple of seconds.

A guy says “Hey Tex, what’s up?”

I smiled - I freakin’ hate that. He was just being friendly though.

The girl at the counter said “What are you all dressed up for?” with a little smirk.

I said “Movie shoot. I play the lead bad guy. The movie comes out next Winter but I can’t talk about it. It’s a big budget film with lots of big names.”

All of a sudden I was “somebody” and all the folks within earshot appeared envious. (Superficial dimwits).

When I walked out the kids were still there and they all faced me and one said “Sir, why are you dressed like that?” I liked that they had some manners.

I responded that I was going to a Cowboy Action Shooting match and to shoot “Cowboy” you gotta dress the part. I had their full and undivided attention. I told them CAS was like tactical shooting only with cowboy guns. I told them to look up Cowboy Action Shooting on YouTube. 

They had completely different attitudes when I departed as compared to when I arrived. They thought CAS sounded “really cool”. :D

 

 

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Almost forgot. Once I went into a 7-11 and the two smart***es behind the counter were openly making fun of me and giggling like little girls. I think they were high.

I went back to the cooler, grabbed a couple Pepsi’s, slid my wild rag up to cover my face (like a bad guy) and then quickly walked up to the counter, sat my sodas down and and said, very loudly “What are you ladies laughing about?”

The color drained from their faces.

”Don’t just stand there. Ring me up and get the register open..............I need change...”

They both stood there trying to figure out what was happening and I loudly said “C’mon, I ain’t got all day.” And tossed a twenty on the counter. 

The one kid rang me up, shaking wildly and gave me my change.

I tipped my hat and walked out.

 

As I was getting into my truck a guy came out of the store laughing like crazy and he yelled over to that I made his day.

 

Made mine too. :lol:

 

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We went into a McDonalds after a shoot in full cowboy regalia. I had my Arizona Ranger badge on. Some guy and his wife and kids asked us if there was a rodeo or something around there. I said, "No sir I'm an Arizona Ranger looking for a bad guy that we've been following from Tucson,Az. I then said, "Hmm...sir were you in Tucson on the night of Aug 29"? He hesitated for a second and then caught on to my ruse. He said," Nope I was right here in Mansfield,Ohio and my wife here is my witness". Great comeback, we then told him about cowboy shooting and where it was etc etc. Nice family, turns out he was a big hunter and thought we were pretty cool!

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Uno and I took Lil' Jersey Jo and Smiley Ed out for Sushi after a match.  We walked into the Sushi bar and asked for a table.  The guy who went to seat us said "You Cowboy"?   We nodded in the affirmative.  He pulled a dusty, ratty old straw hat off the wall and said "I Cowboy Too".  He turned the music up and the place lit up.  We had people buying us Sushi and Saki, the house gave us a couple of rolls.  We paid next to nothing for the whole evening and we left stuffed.  When we went to the desk and paid for our bill, the guy behind the counter said "You come back again"!!!  We promised we would. 

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A few years ago my wife and I came to a hotel in Clayton NM, after packing in on horseback in Carson National forest. I went in the hotel to get us a room, wearing what I normally wear ()boots, hat, jeans, wild rag, spurs) and right away a young girl from a table set up in the lounge started chewing me out about being late, andifn I wanted the job I'd bettershow up on time. Haha. Seems they were shooting a movie (western) and she thought I was one of the extras. She was really embarrassed and apologized and said that they movie company would pay my and my wifes bar tab and dinner that night. But she told the the staring role was filled when I asked her:ph34r:

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Older folks and young children seem to react pretty favorably when they see SASS folks dressed up.  I gave a youngster an extra badge once and made him a deputy.  His parents seemed pleased.  Older folks react to their youth and the westerns they saw on TV.  At a SASS dinner in NJ one year attendees from another dinner next door came over to look and thought it looked like fun.

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3 hours ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

After a match yesterday, a plastic bumper cover came loose. Needed a bit of duct tape for the hour or so ride home. No worries, a Flying J was coming up.

 

I was in full cowboy mode; hat, scarf, sleeve garters, suspenders, period shirt, vaquero pants, SASS badge and boots.

 

The nice lady who rang up my purchase had black hair with corn row weaves that were dyed blonde. A multi-colored tattoo that went from her left arm up her neck to her jaw. Neon green and orange nail polish. Ear, eyebrow, nostril multiple piercings with neon colored pins.

 

And she stared at me with that, "What's up with these clothes" look on her face.

 

Thought that was kinda funny.

 

Told her about SASS. She said she didn't like guns. I wished her a good day and left. Chuckling all the way back to the van.

 

I love the reactions to the cowboy wardrobe. Another fun part of the game.

 

Sounds like she was the one in the costume..... Merca B*****S! Cowboy up!

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One of my very favorite things is to go out to eat after a shoot and watch a little kid get his first look at Koda Joe.

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We always enjoyed stopping at diners or restaurants after SCA events, especially if a group stopped at the same place.  People dressed from Byzantine to Tudor court and everything in between.  We always made a point to check our swords, daggers, etc. with the cashier.  They were never sure what to do with a dozen or more blades.

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A few years back I stopped in at our local store's diner for breakfast before going to a match. Also in town was a Renaissance Fair. There was quite a few of them and just me. We had a good time fielding questions. 

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Coming home from a match, I was filling my motor home, wearing my Confederate clothing and got a few looks here in Canada.

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Several years ago Dear or Alive and I stopped in a Toot 'n' Totem in Amarillo on our way to a match in Hereford. The teenagers behind the counter asked us about our getup.  I told them that we had jobs as extras in a movie being made about Bat Masterson, and the pay was $650 per day.  They wanted to know if there were any more of those jobs, we told them that they were too young to rate Actor's Guild scale.  They were properly awed when we left the store.

 

Duffield

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Years ago Durango Kid set up a match in Durango Colo.We had the match & then got a free ride on the Silverton train.We were allowed to go full dressed Guns & all.

The TOURIST sure did have a time with.Our pictures are probably all over the World.When we got to Silverton the Mounted shooters got to rob the train.

Sure do miss the KID.

                                                                     Largo

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Subdeacon Joe mentioned Medieval garb ... I've done that ... try walking into a convenient gas station store in the robe and sandals of a Medieval monk!
(I stopped short of writing a check with a dip quill and a traveling-pot of ink)

Never had any comments while dressed Cowboy.

When traveling with a group of Medieval re-enactors, invariably we're asked, "Are you in a play?"

(Forty Rod, I like your comment about a hangin' ... should opportunity ever present I'll do my best to whip that one on 'em!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back when my husband was still shooting (2005 or earlier) we would frequent a restaurant that golfers also frequented. One of the golfers (in plaid shorts :wacko: ), made a smart a$$ comment to Hubby about his clothes. Hubby just answered him like he didn't see or hear the smirking in his demeanor.  When the golfer's group left the golfer shook Hubby's hand and acted like he'd made a new BFF. B) 

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Be careful exposing a kid to Koda Joe.  It could scar the kid for life.

 

One of my cowboy friends went into a local WalMart in full get up.  Walmart on Saturday night in our part of the world is the young Mexicans meet and greet night.  Both girls and boys are slicked and polished and on display.  At the checkout, the clerk made quite a fuss over the "cowboy get up".  She asked loudly, "What are you doing? Here for the round-up?"

My friend replied. "You could say that. he replied.  I'm with immigration".  Can you believe a Walmart on Saturday night as quiet as a tomb because their customers left as a unit?

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On 5/20/2019 at 8:15 AM, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

Subdeacon Joe mentioned Medieval garb ... I've done that ... try walking into a convenient gas station store in the robe and sandals of a Medieval monk!
(I stopped short of writing a check with a dip quill and a traveling-pot of ink)

 

 

You shoulda done it.   It's fun to see their eyes bulge.  Especially when you get out your pen knife to sharpen it.

 

On my way to and from church I wear my cassock. Sometimes on the way back home I stop at a store to pick up some stuff.  Get some interesting looks.  Some good conversaions, too.  Every now and then someone will ask "Greek Orthodox?"  Close enough.  Eastern Orthodox using the Slavonic Typicon.

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I stopped in at the Gander Outdoor store I work at on my way home Saturday. A girl that used to work there and dates one of the firearms guys was there, and didn't realize what I do for fun. He was trying to explain Cowboy Action to her and not really getting through. I used my daughter's line to explain it, saying "It's like Cosplay, but with real guns." Nope, still got a blank stare, but two other younger people standing around went "Ohhh" and started nodding. Another firearms guy who knows about it laughed and said, "That is the best explanation of the sport, ever."

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On 5/19/2019 at 8:32 AM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Why am I dressed up like that?

 

I just tell them "I'm in town for the hangin'."  

 

Some laugh, some look totally befuddled, and some look downright panic stricken.

 

Whatever. It's fun.

 

On 5/19/2019 at 9:07 AM, Marshal Hangtree said:

I'm stealing that one, Forty Rod!!

Me too!

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8 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

You shoulda done it.   It's fun to see their eyes bulge.  Especially when you get out your pen knife to sharpen it.

 

On my way to and from church I wear my cassock. Sometimes on the way back home I stop at a store to pick up some stuff.  Get some interesting looks.  Some good conversaions, too.  Every now and then someone will ask "Greek Orthodox?"  Close enough.  Eastern Orthodox using the Slavonic Typicon.

I took a risk at our last demo -- demonstration event -- we'd been requested by a local middle school, and we show up in force, and of course in persona.

The kids like the knights in armor, swinging sword and shield, a great flash and clatter -- "weapons" are rattan (heavy bamboo) because it duplicates the weight, swing and impact of steel implements, without the distressing tendency of sharpened steel to slice fillets off your fellow man.

As we're generally fighting with our best friends, we'd like to avoid removing body parts if possible.

Kids have a short attention span but children are curious: we have ladies in the several fashions extant between the years 500 and 1599; we have children in garb appropriate to their parents' time-period, and then there's this quiet fellow with a white beard, plying a feather on parchment at a table over against the wall.

By ones, then by twos and threes, and finally a crowd, they'll come over and take a look, and stare, and in a surprisingly short time they'll start to shift and whisper and elbow one another:  "You ask him."
"No, you ask him first."
Finally someone will get brave and ask if I'll write their name "like that."

I'll give them a kindly look and say "I can do that, but I'll need you to spell it for me.  Spell it slow, now," and there is genuinely a magic to a child, chanting their name in my ear in a breathy whisper, watching wide-eyed as each letter comes out the end of a whittled quill in a hand that has not been commonly used for a millennium.
I'll generally have a stack of quarter-sheets torn and ready, and usually I'll run clear out:  middle-schoolers, these jaded get of our plastic, Godless and electronic age, are absolutely delighted, clutching these marvelous prizes like something valuable, showing them off to one another.

Of course -- as you suggested -- sometimes the quill does need sharpened:  I'll frown and lean back, regard its tip and declare, "I must sharpen this, excuse me," and I use my antler-handled patch knife, sharpened to a shaving edge (thank you, Silvera-Durango!) and I'll carefully trim the tip, or sometimes I'll set this one aside and withdraw another from its wet sand and show them, "Now the first cut is curved, like this -- then you square off the tip, here, like so ... and finally, verrry carefully, just a hint of a split -- like this" -- and it'll be set aside to dry while I pick up a third, whittled and ready.

Going into a restaurant en masse and in costume is fun, too -- generally someplace fast-food ... I reckon every one of us must be made of ham, for none of us are particularly distressed by being stared at, or invariably being asked, "Are you in a play?"

 

EDIT TO EXPLAIN:  I sidetrack myself easily, my apologies.

We get a special dispensation to bring weapons onto school grounds.

Although we have static displays of swords, dirks, morning-stars and flails and other tools for urban renewal, these are static display only, look but don't touch:  I spoke of "I took a risk" and that was to bring my patch knife, for the purpose of whittling the quill.

 

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1 hour ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

plying a feather on parchment 

Real parchmemt? Or parchment paper?

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11 hours ago, DocWard said:

I stopped in at the Gander Outdoor store I work at on my way home Saturday. A girl that used to work there and dates one of the firearms guys was there, and didn't realize what I do for fun. He was trying to explain Cowboy Action to her and not really getting through. I used my daughter's line to explain it, saying "It's like Cosplay, but with real guns." Nope, still got a blank stare, but two other younger people standing around went "Ohhh" and started nodding. Another firearms guy who knows about it laughed and said, "That is the best explanation of the sport, ever."

 

Apparently the term LARPING (Live Action Role Playing) is popular with the younger crowd. On Mondays, younger folks would ask if I went LARPING over the weekend.Had no idea what they meant at first. But now I eagerly discuss any and all weekend LARPING with them!

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1 hour ago, Alpo said:

Real parchmemt? Or parchment paper?

Parchment paper.
I'm not prosperous enough to afford genuine parchment!
(My apologies. I can confuse any issue, trust me!)

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29 minutes ago, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

 

Apparently the term LARPING (Live Action Role Playing) is popular with the younger crowd. On Mondays, younger folks would ask if I went LARPING over the weekend.Had no idea what they meant at first. But now I eagerly discuss any and all weekend LARPING with them!

 

I didn't think of it, but that makes sense too. I'll try that the next time!

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Sort of reminds me of when Open Range was being shown and many of us showed up, as a posse, in appropriate clothing.

Red Storm's choice of clothing did however cause a few double takes.

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2 hours ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

I'm not prosperous enough to afford genuine parchment

I did wonder, when you were giving away quarter sheets of it to any and all kinder. :)

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5 hours ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

Parchment paper.
I'm not prosperous enough to afford genuine parchment!
(My apologies. I can confuse any issue, trust me!)

 

I belong to a group that does demonstrations at an annual Living History event in Mexico, MO.  We set up a Colonial era encampment and have demonstrated rope making, wool spinning (from sheep to shawl), Colonial era kids games and writing with quills.  We let kids (and adults) write their names using a quill on small slips of paper that they can keep.  You can try to tell them to be gentle with the quills, but some kids just don't listen. Or they put the ink-wet quill in the cup containing the sand (Linn, you know what I'm talking about :()  They get a real kick out of it, but I can get a work out constantly repairing quill points.  I've made quills from Peacock feathers (not a good choice) to a songbird feather someone picked up off the ground.  The songbird feather was a fun challenge that ended up working quite well.

 

Linn, I'm sure you're more skilled than I at making quills.  I'm at the "I can do it, but I can't explain it" stage.  And, as for calligraphy - fuggedaboutit  

 

To stay on topic:  Walking into, or out of, a hotel or restaurant in buckle shoes and a tri-corn hat will get you some odd looks, too.

 

Angus

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