The long overdue meeting, concieved in China nearly five year ago was originally entitled "A Royale Reunion"
Spring Break opened up a grand opportunity for father and son to make the road trip from Petoskey, Michigan to Ashland Missouri.
Destination: Casa de Mudd,
Here is my son, KaiYi, beginning his
weekend long hug-fest on 'ol Uncle Mudd:
(http://i.imgur.com/2ZKza3D.jpg)
Awesome!
Looks like a great weekend
Great looking kid Tony! Looking forward to the story. ..OE
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Mudd will be along within the hour...he has much to contribute.
James,
Kai is the little guy I told you about. He will carry "Witchy" when the old man can no longer shoot...
Here's Macatawa suitin'up for the Dual.
Actually kind of excited to begin a long anticipated weekend of just plain fun....
Mudd laid out an assortment of longbows - more than a dozen of which I could pull most. Got to shoot Mudd's Vixen and Northstar. Nice! :thumbsup:
(http://i.imgur.com/Ol7WQta.jpg)[/url]
Way cool! :archer2: :archer2:
:campfire: :coffee:
Looks like a fun time for all but don't let Mudd give the boy yodeling lessons... :eek:
;) :D
How cool is this? Way cool I say!
:bigsmyl:
This will be good!
What a great trip.
Mudd has been having some computer issues this morning... :help:
We think they have been resolved.
He will jump in soon. :campfire:
Working on it.
Should be fun...
Your son KaiYi has a very cool name and one I had not seen before. How do you pronounce it - KI YEE?
Dave...yes,
Kai was born in China. Both parts of his name have significance:
Kai = "return victorious" as in a soldier coming home from battle.
YI = literally - "clinging to struggle" meaning unrelenting perseverance.
Wow. That is awesome.
Friday...Tony and Little Kai arrived in Columbia in the early afternoon so Janet and I loaded a few bows and hit the road.
The initial meeting with Tony was exactly as I expected...it was like meeting an old friend that I hadn't seen in awhile.
Meeting Kai was a different story..that little man captured my heart from the outset.
We immediately headed to the range to fling some arrows.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/photo4_zps7e85519f.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/photo4_zps7e85519f.jpg.html)
I am missing a lot of pictures so Tony will have to fill in the gaps from the range.
Tony and I got to shoot the "Brother bows" both Osage Royales.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/photo1_zpsef40f575.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/photo1_zpsef40f575.jpg.html)
Here's Tony showing good form.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/photo1_zps29be5857.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/photo1_zps29be5857.jpg.html)
Kai is preparing to shoot his 1st ever arrow.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3752_zpsb3d671cf.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3752_zpsb3d671cf.jpg.html)
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/photo3_zpsdcafbb74.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/photo3_zpsdcafbb74.jpg.html)
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/photo4_zps6f1b6094.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/photo4_zps6f1b6094.jpg.html)
After a few hours of flinging arrows Janet and I headed back home to give Tony and Kai a chance to rest up as we had a big day planned for Saturday.
There's a whole bunch of pictures on my laptop that I have yet to figure out how to get to photobucket so that I can use them.
God bless,Mudd
Early Saturday morning Tony,Kai and I stopped in Jeff City where we picked up another friend Kenny AKA "Cobweb" and we were off to St Clair to meet up with another Tradgang member Butch (The Yard Gnome".
Our plans were to hit the "Truth and Outdoors" expo. A
The big draw for me was getting the chance to meet Byron Ferguson.
There was a ton to see and do.
Kai loved every minute of it.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3794_zpse6cde157.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3794_zpse6cde157.jpg.html)
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3793_zps431bcc56.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3793_zps431bcc56.jpg.html)
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3792_zpsca525b6c.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3792_zpsca525b6c.jpg.html)
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3795_zps4e29373b.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3795_zps4e29373b.jpg.html)
On Saturday evening brother Mudd planned a great meal.
A huge platter of grilled venison steaks, garlic mashed potatoes and a pile of beans...What a treat! I have not tasted a good venison steak for too many years.
And later we had a chance to shoot a bit before the sun set on a perfect day.
:archer:
Here is a pic of Mudd's wife Janet with Kai.
Janet is a sweetie! Mudd you lucky dog!
(http://i.imgur.com/pKAX20f.jpg) (http://imgur.com/pKAX20f)
As KaiYi and Mudd were galavanting around the expo with the camera on Saturday, I did not have an opportunity to take pics of Mudds best buddies.
Butch Speer aka "Yard Gnome" and Kenny Jackson aka "Cob Web"...Great guys Indeed!! :thumbsup:
I hope to see you guys again. :campfire:
It was a privilege to meet Byron Ferguson.
He put on a good show, very entertaining and educational.
Kai gave aerial targets a try a couple of different times and he did very well for a young man who had only fired one arrow before doing this.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/IMG_3789_zps71087152.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/IMG_3789_zps71087152.jpg.html)
Watching Byron shoot was all the inspiration I needed to try a few new things once we got home.
Here is a very poor quality video of something I tried after watching Byron do it.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/th_201542_10103342_zpsc006d497.mp4) (http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/201542_10103342_zpsc006d497.mp4)
I really wish I could get to the photos from my laptop.
There are some cool pictures of Kai and Janet on it that I would love to share.
Overall it was a great visit. Janet and I both enjoyed having Tony and Kai here.
Arrows flew!!!!!
I was happy that Tony's shoulder didn't act up any more than it did. I was worried that the way it was hurting him Sat evening that shooting might not be possible after church Sunday afternoon.
I think we were both pleasantly surprised that all the soreness was gone the next day so we used that time wisely and...once again arrows flew.
We took a short break for dinner but after dark we went back out for some night time shooting.
Fun was had by all.
God bless,Mudd
Great Photos, Looks like a blast had by all.
....and arrows flew!
Yeah Mudd, my shoulder was complaining a bit but not enough to matter.
After dinner we shot a bit and the darkness set in. I thought it was time to retire but Mudd had different plans... the "Duel" I spoke about in the first post.
Mudd's famous "pull tab" shoot is a tough one for sure. I got one all weekend. Can't say exactly what Mudd accomplished but you can imagine he kicked my butt there.
Now comes the eye-opener...pitch black and the Muddster tells me to get ready for the "candle".
I remember reading and/or hearing about that over the past few years but never gave it much thought...until now.
We each grabbed three arrows and walked out to the range where Roy lit a candle on a stand that centered the flame about center to the bales.
Back to 15 yards I stood next to my buddy and waited for a moment. He said "snuff the flame" and you win....hit the candle or miss altogether you lose. Easy enough.
Mudd had the little Alaskan I gave him on Friday. He went first. Shot once and the flame was still lit.
Oh...this will be easy...so I stepped up knocked an arrow and tried to focus on that tiny flicker before letting loose....I missed by a mile but that did not matter...nobody could see until we got to the target to pull arrows.
Next round...Mudd steps up, comes to full draw slowly and lets loose. To my surprise I see a tiny spark and the flame disappears! :eek:
He hit the wick and not the candle! I congratulate him for his "luck" to which he responded: "that was left hand Tony" ...sure enough.
He then switches to right hand and, with one shot, kills the flame again!
I never did put the lights out but did manage to kiss the candlestick once.
Mr. Mudd took me to school that evening. LOL!
What a blast.
:notworthy:
Hahaha!! I see we have different memories.
1st arrow...snuff
2nd arrow...snuff
3rd arrow...snuff
Grand total of snuffs before the wind came up..."7"...lol
Then I started missing a few...
That little Bear "Alaskan" was shooting amazingly both right and left handed.
I can't thank you enough for such a sweet shooting piece of history.
God bless,Mudd
PS: Please forgive me for the blatant "horn tooting".
Super cool. :thumbsup:
What a fantastic gathering. Isn't funny that some of the more simple events create the most treasured memories?
Enjoyed the post :thumbsup: THANKS for sharing :campfire:
Sounds like you guys had a great visit. Thanks for sharing . :thumbsup:
Kai proved to be invaluable with his photography skills.
He also proved to have some natural shooting skills as well.
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/mudd57/Newfolder008_zps3ee995b9.jpg) (http://s218.photobucket.com/user/mudd57/media/Newfolder008_zps3ee995b9.jpg.html)
Great story!
Enjoyed reading this thread. I also attended the St. Clair TATO event and watched one of Byron Ferguson's shooting demonstrations. Byron was busy with meeting folks at his booth, so I visited with his 13th wife, Wanda. Their son, Zachary, recently made a fantastic Z-64 longbow for me, so I promised I would brag about it to his folks.