THIS I LIKE

An Israeli doctor said, 'Medicine in my country is so advanced, we can take a kidney out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks.'

A German doctor said, 'That's nothing! In Germany, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks.'

A Russian doctor said, 'In my country medicine is so advanced, we can take half a heart from one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks.'

The English doctor, not to be outdone, said 'Hah!. We can take an arsehole out of Scotland, put him into 10 Downing Street and have half the country looking for work within twenty-four hours.

Playing with pictures

I enjoy taking pictures, anything that takes my fancy at the time. recently, I was asked if I could/would put two pictures into one. The subjects are two dogs, one now dead & the other a stroppy teenage puppy. No e-mail as yet, But I have been practising with other pickies.
Below is one I did have a problem with. The lady is a good subject but the original background (Coat of arms) that was sent to me later was not suitable, so, searching on the net, I found the Open University's logo, the off centred toilet seat. Using Corel's Paint Shop Pro X, altering light values picture sizes & various other tools available.........

The end result

Another I have done

This one is from two different pictures, the young gent is a straight edge finder, copy /paste as new layer The young lady (his sister) was taken from a family pic' using edge finder with lots of feathering, also light levels had been modified to soften the overall effect.

After asking advice, I retried the top picture again, here's the result
I think I prefer this as it has a "softer" look to it

Archery at Camp America

2:46 PM on Monday 26 May 2008

Today, I was giving advice to a young gentleman on how to set up a shooting range for archers. This in order to work with children & perhaps young adults at Camp America. He also wanted to know the various parts of the arrow, the bow, & other information in relation to shooting safely. Seems he has been shooting for about two years, & then not a lot because of study commitments. This is fine, in as far as it goes, but what concerns me, is that Camp America could well be taking on well meaning archers without the experience. My guest did shoot a few arrows so I could watch, he did quite well for saying he had not picked up a bow since last summer. I just hope things work out well for him when he is there. The best I can do (have done) let him have my e-address, at least he can keep in touch for any questions he might have.

Shot a long Western round this afternoon. (Sorry! Yesterday afternoon) the wind was gusty, my shooting was OK (at times) but on the whole.... lousy. The last time I shot this round, I made a score of 730+, this time... Not even 660. I felt like giving up, I would have if I was not enjoying myself so much. The last arrow had had enough as well, it took a nose-dive into the ground & buried itself about 2 inches deep, right by the target. I needed the metal detector to find the damn thing.

What's a Long Western? I hear you ask (I did didn't I?) Well, 4 dozen arrows shot at a 128cm target @ 80yds distance, & 4 dozen arrows at the same target , but @ 60yds distance. That's 96 arrows + six sighter arrows for the first distance. A lot of walking & a lot of pulling. Hard work, but relaxing

3 Pictures into 1

Nothing to do with archery this time. I thought I would do some editing of photographs, something else I need to practice at. We were in Tenerife where the pictures were taken, two different places, so I had to try & get the colour /lighting /contrast close. The background I found on the web whilst searching for "Chinese Gardens". The garden has had some things removed by cloning over, the lighting has been softened by reducing the opaque values. I like the result.
The original picture is still in flux. The picture above is a "print screen" copy & cropped to size. If I make further adjustments, I will post it (them) here for comparison.

Hospital appointment

Had a letter telling me that my appointment Friday 23rd May has been cancelled. No reason as to why, but I will be contacted at a later date advising me of the next appointment.
I have in the past been accused of being cynical. Perhaps I am, but is this one way of keeping hospital appointment waiting list numbers down to the "target"?

A bit of much needed practice

Yesterday saw me at the field, setting up a sight mark for 80yds. I'm in a competition Sunday & need to do well (Ha!) Several arrows down the line & I cracked it, 5 in the Gold, 1 in the Red, just out of the Gold. It would be nice if I could repeat that at every end on Sunday.

Drop the #

Kelly wanted her weight dropping by a lb or two. She is pulling #30 @ 28, tried everything, can't get it any lower. Her limbs do not have any # marking at all, everything but!! Sorry Kel' you will just have to build up those back muscles.

Newsletter

June is coming & I have yet to put the club's newsletter to bed. My problem is, I now have a little too much to put in, as the beginner's course has just ended, & a birthday announcement to make. Well, it makes a change from having nothing to enter. I still hear of our juniors winning medals & trophies, but never get information for the newsletter. Same goes for the seniors as well.

Pie 'n Peas shoot

So far, so good. Next Thursday sees Carol's shoot in action. So far, there are 28 archers taking part. We shall be shooting at a quartered target with "Tramlines" Hit the tramline & the score is a miss. I have taken 10 target faces home to mark, & discovered that I might have to take them back. We have the Sunday's comp' & I have since learned that we are hosting TWO competitions, so we have a shortage of faces perhaps. I have just put in an order for 50.
Thanks for letting me know guys. Just prey that you will have enough faces for the day.

Today's blurb

Ref: "Indoor shooting" I made the comment that Tesco were building a store on the site of the leisure centre. Seems I was wrong. They are not. I could have been right & they have cancelled the project. Whatever, I guess we will be shooting at the centre, next indoor season.

This evening saw the second lesson in the beginner's course 3 children & 2 adults. Nice & easy going, I was hoping that we would be in the "Crop Circle" by now, but it seams that little or no work has been done there since my last visit. I took the camera to record progress, if any. I did not even get out of the car when I saw what had not been done. It seems that the 2 new holiday chalets are going the same way, little or no work being done. I gather that Ros' were hoping to let out these chalets by the end of this month. No chance, no furniture has been purchased yet. Still, why should I worry, I do not work there now.

Swad Rifle & Pistol

Had a good day At Swad Rifle & Pistol Club We shot some rifle, .22 bolt, & semi automatic also .375 (?). Whatever, it was fun. Could get hooked onto that kind of pastime, except for the cost involved. Our archery gear cost enough as it is...at least you can shoot an arrow twice, or more.

We went along to show some of the members how to shoot archery style. A more gentle approach to target sport. There are one or two there who think they are very knowledgeable in the art of archery. I think that somebody has been reading a lot :) I had to point out to an "instructor" that we do not use the finger tips, as damage can be caused to the nerve endings there, possibly leading to an operation later in life.

Above: Debbie's first Gold

Below: Nice Form

Indoor shooting

I have just looked through the past 12 months of drivel. I thought that I had mentioned that we were creating an indoor venue at the club,. Hmm, must have been on another blog.
Anyway, Sometime in January (I think it was), we started to modify the tractor garage-cum-workshop, in order to be able to shoot indoors without having to pay the extortionate prices charged by the local leisure centre. Work started & was going well for the time being. Then club politics raised it's head, & the whole project was put into question. I do not know the full story, but to say that the parent club were putting quite a few restrictions onto us, perhaps would not be too far from the truth. However, it now seems that the building is too small by a matter of some 3 feet. Hmm, no comment.
To add to the not so good news, (Well, not news exactly), Tesco will soon be building a bloody great superstore where the leisure centre is. This means no leisure centre to shoot in come the indoor season. Now what are we going to do, or where do we go from here? It looks like our secretary has his work cut out to find a new venue which is big enough & cost friendly.
Oh well, carry on regardless

New Beginner's Course

Started the 6-week course yesterday, only 4 wannabes turned up, seems there were 5 originally. Never mind, the group is nice & manageable, 2 ladies & 2 boys. Lots more can be achieved in the time. All went well... should have had some bloke to help me set up, but he found another job he had to do instead. This often happens, but hey, I get paid by the hour, so if I'm going to be there longer, I get paid more. Should have taken the camera as I wanted to record the progress (if any) of the stage being built. But having had quite a busy day, swimming followed by 2 hour walking sessions, I dozed off when I got back home.

Have I mentioned that I am a Walk leader? Can't remember now. Never mind.
I started as a walk leader a couple of years ago here in S' Derbyshire, taking the people who needed the exercise out on accompanied walks. A lot of these people would not walk if they were by themselves...understandable these days. However, most walkers have been recommended by their Doctor to walk as a way of improving their health, or to speed up recovery from heart operations etc. Look at the link above for more information, there is bound to be something in your area.

Makes sense when you think about it :-)

Swadlincote rifle

As stated in the past, we have been challenged by Swadlincote Rifle to a shooting match. I called in today to view the club. There are some very nice people there, who made us very welcome. The facility has everything you could want in a well run club. We had been given some dates that it was possible to shoot. the first was too soon to organise a match (11th May), the second , 22nd June is our Open Western Shoot, a very big day in our calendar. I have asked if another alternative could be arranged. Hopefully, we should get a date soon preferably on a Saturday. There are some members there who have shot archery some time ago, & would like a re-introduction to the sport. Also, other members have shown an interest in taking up archery as well. We have offered to go to their club & coach them , so later on, we can have a return match at our club. Who knows where this can lead?

I just want to congratulate My Good Lady on passing her "Extend" exercise program for the elderly. She is now able to teach these good folk :) Nice one