Michael's birthday

Michael has toyed with the idea of purchasing a gun for our entire marriage. We have discussed it during the last several weeks and days, and I think that my comment that it was fine with me if my husband wanted to hunt tipped the scale. He finally made the decision, and bought a Marlin 30/30. He has been watching prices for a long time. Today, he went to check out a new sporting goods store in town, and found one for $50 off plus a free scope and trigger lock. So he came home with gun, case, and ammunition. His plans are to hunt with a guy in our ward, Craig Gregson, on his country property. There are a lot of white tail deer in Alabama. (They are one of the major road hazards in the state.) So we'll see this year if our family likes venison.

Here is what he wrote to his family about it, on their website:

Geez, it looks like the guy in this picture has three guns!! :)

I have wanted a 30-30 for most of my life but could never justify the purchase. I know Dad knows this but for those that don't, the 30-30 is a "heritage" rifle. It use to be the favorite "saddle" rifle of cowboys and pioneers moving west. It is known as the rifle that "won the West" or "tamed the West". It is powerful enough to kill bear and deer but short, light, and fast enough to make for a good "camp gun" to protect you and your family from indians or wild animals. It is a lever action, just like the old cowboy guns.

My best friend here is a real outdoorsman in every since of the term. He has been trying to convince me to buy a gun for six months or so, so that we can go hunt together with our boys (he has a son the same age as Aaron that he takes hunting with him--his son has even killed his own deer at the age of eight). My friend was hoping that I would get something more expensive like a 30-06 or 7mm mag. (like the gun Dad had). The 30-30 will kill anything that we have here in the South (I would need something bigger for Moose or Elk out west but since we don't have those here I really didn't see spending all the extra money on both the rifle and the shells).I never really figured myself for a hunter but my boys are really excited about it. Both Chelsey and I were stunned to hear how much they wanted to go hunting and own a rifle like their friends at school. Our plan is to get Aaron and Cory a .22 for Christmas so they can go shooting with Dad.

For those concerned about safety, we were worried about that too. My gun will stays in the top of my closet, unloaded, safety on, and with a trigger lock on it so we've taken the steps we feel we need to to keep our family safe.