When archers get together to honor a fellow archer who has left us way before he ever should of it's kind of a different thing.
Katie Bumbarger asked us if we would have a shoot to honor Brian, and all I could think was why didn't I think of that. Brian
was a guy that really loved archery. Brian is a Marine and is buried at Sampson Military Cemetery between Cayuga and
Seneca lakes, a spot I know he would like a lot.
Everyone brought a desert to share. Katie recited a poem that she and Andy came up with. When I get a copy of it I will
post it here.
Katie and Andy lived next door to Brian and Margarita and there were a lot of camp fires and shooting archery together. Lou
Russo got out of his truck and said Brian was always a happy person no matter what. He said, I wish I could be like that. When
we as a group, talked about Lou's comment we decided that unhappy people don't stay in archery. Archers are a true family.
Jeff Human from the Buffalo area came and we were very happy to see him. Jeff said, I only shot with Brian four or five times,
but I wanted to come down to show my respect to a fellow archer. I didn't know Brian that well, but I knew he loved archery.
Brian worked his tail off rebuilding Creekwood targets last year and wanted to do it just to help out. I had to tell him more than
once he was going to get paid. He kept saying no I just want to help out.
Paul Shaver spoke up and said it was the same thing at Rochester Bow Hunters. Brian was always there doing more than his
fair share at their club.
Everyone ate a lot of fat pills. There was a lot of laughter and remembering. Margarita, Brian's fiancé, is such a strong
person. Her advice on facebook has been, be sure to get your financial and legal things set up the way you want with the person
you are with, and don't put it off.
My advice to everyone was to go to Wegmans, buy the little bottle of Aleve for $2.99 in the travel section - throw out the Aleve
and put Aspirin in the bottle. On the outside of your little bottle it should say: #1). When you are short of breath or have chest
pain, call 911. #2). Take two of the Aspirins. #3). Then put your legs up, call your significant other or some family member and
wait calmly for the ambulance to come.
After eating more fat pills it was time to shoot. Brian wouldn't have waited as long as we did. Everyone shot a single spot vegas
target and scored it as bowling. An "X" or 10 is a STRIKE - Any two numbers adding to ten is a SPARE. You only shoot one or
two arrows per FRAME. The shooters taught other shooters about terms like a TURKEY or a SIX PACK. I'm sure there are other
bowling terms that I didn't hear about. The highest score, a 300, was bowled by Ricky Smith. At the end everyone shot at the
Maple Leaf Logo, the closest to center won $10.00 courtesy of Ben at Creekwood. Chris Davis beat everyone out for the ten
buc-a-roos. Good shooting Chris. Ricky said, it felt so weird shooting at something out in the middle of nowhere.
Oh yes, they say everything on the internet is true, and facebook told me it was Katie's birthday,
so I got her a cake. Well tomorrow is her B - Day, so everything on the internet is not true.