Tuesday, July 06, 2010
You’ll shoot your eye out
Red Ryder Daisy BB gun, and toad hunting (again)
Yes, we’re rednecks, but we can spell. After Jeff moved back home for awhile, we developed our own “triathlon” competition among the three of us - 1, shoot pop cans off the compost pile with a BB gun, 2, 8-ball, and 3, Scrabble. I think Deb’s currently ahead overall, but I can at least clean up at Scrabble. I used to be an excellent shot, but just don’t seem to do that well with the astigmatic contacts I’m having to wear lately. During the shooting competitions, though, the old pump Daisy, which I think I got when I was 8 or 9 years old, finally gave out. First, it seemed like it was losing some of the oomph and accuracy it’s always had, then BBs just started rolling out the barrel. Then the thing started going off while it was being cocked. We figured out you could hold the trigger forward while you were cocking it and it wouldn’t go off, but we still didn’t feel too safe with it. “You’ll shoot your eye out” - or someone else’s eye more likely, was a little too germaine at that point.
So Father’s day my kids went together to purchase me a replacement - it probably started in jest with them, then proceeded to “Well, why not?” What they found was the exact model made famous by Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” - a Red Ryder lever-action Daisy (In keeping with the Christmas Story Theme, they also provided a nice pair of safety glasses). So of course we unwrapped it, loaded it up, and set up the cans on the compost pile. After a few shots, we figured out it shoots slightly to the left and high, so after we adjusted the back sight down and started aiming to the right, we started making most shots count. Those cans didn’t stand a chance.
Of course, that couldn’t possibly be the end of it. It’s early summer, and the toads are back in the pond. We had the pond drained for cleaning for a couple of weeks, so the toads weren’t much of a problem, but then Hurricane Alex, as far away as it was, brought us torrential rain and refilled the pond. The toads were back in full voice within a day. I ignored them a couple of nights, but I was up late last Saturday, and one little fella was being particularly annoying. I decided he had to die, and what better trial for the new firearm? I had high hopes for a single-shot kill with the new gun, but like I said in the last Great Texas Toad Hunt story, these toads are tough! Or maybe it’s the steel BB’s they sell these days - they just don’t seem to do the job of the old brass ones. Two shots hit the mark, but only sent him into hiding under a rock. In a few minutes, he was back out, singing his heart out again. Two more shots finally did the trick. I fetched him out of the water and gave him a solemn burial in the compost bin. Of course, I thought later I should have grabbed the safety glasses - shooting at a creature sitting on a rock without them isn’t the smartest thing to do, if you happen to miss. You’ll shoot your eye out.