(no subject)

Archery moot and championship today. I think I have everything ready.

D and I made new strings for almost all of the Baronial bows. I now have three bows I need to run past other marshal before I fail them and get rid of them. Two fibreglass bows are showing signs of stress failure at the recurve part of the bow, and another fibreglass bow is showing fairly deep stress blisters, a few of which are starting to peel.

I also repaired most of the arrows, gluing down fletching, replacing nocks and tips, refletching a few of them. I also made fabric quivers until I ran out of snowflake fabric, and established actual arrow sets.

I've done a first pass of matching arrows on my new set, and have eliminated a few that just don't fly as well as the others. My hand is mostly healed from WW, where the new arrows scratched an impressive gouge across the base knuckle of my index finger (I've also fixed the arrows and adjusted my grip so it doesn't happen again).

I have the sign in sheets, minor waivers, and score sheets ready to go. I've got the Rules of the List. I've got pens. I have brand new targets. Last year's champion has made his targets and designed the shoots. The repair kit is packed and ready to go.

I've got at least one sun shade, and probably two. I have coolers and ice and lots of water ('cause the damn site doesn't have running water). There is a grocery store on the way so I can get more ice and some ice cream for after the tourney.

I have a senechal, a champion, a baron, and a baroness, a MIT, and at least one other marshal, but I'm not so sure about a herald.

But I'm not sure how many people are actually going to show up. It is hot. It is going to be stinking hot. The weatherman just said we will hit 100 today and that the humidity is Amazon forest tropical (dew point is in the mid 70s and will probably go higher). And championship or not, the heat will affect people's decision to attend. The date for the moot was also set very late, and the announcement for the moot and championship were also made late.

I'm pretty sure that there will be at least a dozen people. They kinda have to be there, or can't imagine not being there for the tourney. Beyond that, I just don't know. On the plus side, a smaller list means the tourney goes faster and we get back to our climate control comfort that much sooner. But it would be so cool to have more participants. Last year the tourney was part of Schuetzenfest. Two years ago we had a really good turn out - but it was also earlier in the year with slightly more notice, and while it was a hot day, it wasn't stinking hot like today.

So, set up starts in an hour. I gotta go now and load up my car, grab my garb (damn straight I'm wearing linen today), get on the road and hope I don't forget anything vital. I am so not going to win the championship this year, but I should put in a good showing. D has a pretty good chance of winning, but he is not entering because he will be gone much of the next year (he has a six month work transfer to JAPAN starting later this year).

Ow, I hurt

But the archery moot was fantastic.

Oh, it was hot and humid, and it go hotter as the afternoon progressed. But there was a constant breeze which went a long way to making it tolerable.

To the person, the people I expected to show up showed up. And one more person, who I was delighted to see. I knew everyone there, they all knew me, and we all had a great time.

Short short court, in which the baron and baroness held a regency court and bestowed upon my brother his Award of Arms. He was floored. I was delighted.

The shoots were universally enjoyed. Especially the poker shoot. That one is going to be making the rounds throughout the kingdom, and maybe beyond.

Everyone sat in the shade and drank water between shoots. It was so relaxing and fun. G&A had brought beef jerky and pretzels, which was so fortunate. Somewhere around the halfway point of the tourney I realized that I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was HUNGRY. Stomach chewing on my backbone hungry. I'd meant to send someone to get me lunch, but I forgot. G&A very generously broke out their provision, and suddenly everyone else discovered that they were in need of sustenance. I didn't eat much, but it was enough to get me through the afternoon, along with the liters of water I drank.

I didn't win the tourney, but I did make a respectable showing.

D won the tourney. Dominated it, even. He is the baronial champion for archery! YAY!

Everyone pitched in for striking the site, and it went amazingly fast. We had ice cream back at N&J's house, and everyone enjoyed the soupy ice cream in the A/C comfort of their living room.

I eventually made my way home and unloaded my car. I parked on the street in front of the apartment, to cut down on the distance I had to lug stuff. But, I decided to move my car to its parking spot tonight instead of tomorrow morning.

Except it wouldn't start. Click click click. I lost all the pre-sets on my radio.

I think the battery died. That's the easy answer. I've had the car for five years and I haven't replaced the battery in that time. What put it over the edge, I don't know (probably the heat stress), but it makes me glad I didn't stop for groceries. I'll call AAA in the morning for a jump, and it that doesn't fix it in the short term, I'll have them tow it to a shop for a more comprehensive evaluation. Then I'll get a new battery.

The A/C is on, I've had a nap, lots more water, some food (that required more effort that it should have, but nothing sounded good or took entirely too much effort to prep), and some ibu. My head still hurts, and I'm dead tired.

But it was a great day.