"Earth to Z"

My friends teased me one day when in my 30's they were shooting shot guns for turkeys. You know a "turkey shoot". We had them frequently in Illinois back then.

Well, one day riding with my two guy friends sitting in the back seat.. from shoot to shoot I decided I wanted to shoot too. Finally at the third for fourth stop I spoke up and used my friends shot gun and low and behold shot and won a turkey! Yes, the only one "we" got that day!

It was a time where I was trying to be straight and ladies didn't do all that stuff..anyway, my women friends didn't. Later on I went on to ride centuries on my bicycle and run a half marathon. Hell, I left them all in the dust.

But that day was magical and I guess on the way home I sat silently in the back seat enjoying my magical moment and didn't hear them in the front talking to me..I guess my friend sensed my elation and loudly say. "Earth to Z" (They called me "Z")! I had to laugh. They rubbed it in. My first turkey shoot shot and I win! Pretty cool!

My friend smoked the turkey in his Weber grill and we had a very pleasant feast and I got to tell my story over and over again!

I think after that I and my boyfriend at the time when to "Door County" Michigan and I caught a 35 pound salmon... before he did! Once again.. "Earth to Z"! We brought that home and fed a bunch of people too! Cool! It took me twenty minutes to land that thing... my boyfriend offered suggestions but didn't help. We used 2 pound test line and a treble hook.. I remember it well. It was a blast! He got one the next day.. and although it was a wee bit smaller than mine...he was happy! We did our fishing near Suregon Bay by the Coast Guard Station. Little did I realize that people were stopping their boats to watch me reel that fish in. Too cool! They clapped when I finally reeled it in after twenty minutes of struggling. It was wonderful!