Crash and his antics

Yup, those are hickies. Crash's first. Too bad they were made by one of those stupid little domes that pop into the air when you turn them inside out. Pretty impressive aren't they?

Birthday

My friend who is going through cancer has the same birthday as I do. It happens to be today :D We are spending it together, because we wouldn't have it any other way. LOVE YOU SIS!

Visitor

He still has chicken feed stuck to his nose. He and his herd ate over 30 lbs of it that day. And he is not afraid of me. Or snowballs.

Pretty great gun info!

In all this fighting about rights I like to keep my eyes open for those who really illistrate the facts in an educated, easy to read way. I loved a recent blog on Eight Seconds Of Fame on the subject because he truly did his research, he took the time to show exactly what the "scary" guns were and why they aren't scary and he made sure to educate in a very matter of fact way.

Today I saw this one and I have to say I love it. Very no nonsense and very informative and very much full of great sources. DOJ and CDC to name a few. This was well researched and puts things up in black and white. I just wish more would read it.

I have gotten some flack over being so passionate over this. My own brother and I are very much at odds on this issue. To the point where he has actually posted some pretty disrespectful things in relation to my work that have honestly hurt me deeply. You guys know there are many moments where members of my family have chose to not be supportive. Now that I have found a way to truly help people by placing safety in their hands I feel like I have found a part of myself. I feel like this is my calling, to see people safer and protected, in whatever way I can make that happen, and so it truly hurts to have this part of me bashed by those who should love me most. BUT like I always do I count on what I do have. I have my guy who is so supportive even as he laughs at me. I have my friends and I have added some pretty amazing women to that list. I just wish that my family could see how much joy and passion I have for this and truly felt like they could get behind what I am doing.

Two roosters too many

This is one of the chicks I hatched last year. I only got two out of that bunch and they both ended up being roosters. Too bad, I was really hoping for some hens. Isn't he pretty though? I am keeping him and trading his brother for an Americauna hen to replace the one the skunks killed last summer. They both get along with Mr chicken so until they start fighting, I am keeping them together for now.

Prayer requests.

My soul sister gave me a huge scare on New Years eve. She went into the hospital to have a CT scan on his sinuses and ended up being life flighted to a major hospital with stage three lymphoma on her heart. The tumor is so big that it had partially collapsed her lung and was basically rearranging all of the organs in her chest. She was placed into a medically induced coma after she coded twice that first night in the hospital. Had she not gone in that day, she would have died in her sleep. She has now completed two rounds of chemo and is doing well. She does need prayers though. She has a long road ahead of her. She has a 90% chance of beating this and she is a fighter so I know she will beat this. She will be in treatment for 18 months to 2 years. She is getting massive doses of chemo and will be having radiation as well. She has two young daughters, one of which is a type 1 diabetic. She is fairly independent, and does well figuring out her carbs and how to program her pump. But her mother has (rightfully) micromanaged her health since she was diagnosed at age four. That is not going to be possible anymore. I know I am rambling, but these thoughts run through my mind at such a quick pace, I have a hard time keeping up on my keyboard. I worry about how she will manage to juggle her health, the health of her family and her day to day responsibilities. I will be there for her as much as I possibly can, but there are a lot of things I cannot help with. All I can really do is psychically help where I can, and give her support when she needs it. I can cheer her up when she is down and knit hats to keep her head warm now that she has lost her hair. We are sisters and I would do anything for her.

and then there were four

We lost a hive early this winter due to exessive robbing. We lost our Georgia hive that had always been so strong, the one that we had just requeened, the one that had spent the summer kicking our Utah hives tails. I don't know why they were suddenly weak enough that they would allow themselves to be robbed so badly. Our nuc took a pretty serious hit as well, but they are still hanging in there. We bought some pollen patties to feed all of them through the winter so hopefully we don't lose anymore. I am thinking of naming my hives with native animals. I can paint a siliouette of each animal on the hive. That is one way to help my husband remember. Right now we just call them the Utah hive, the two nevada hives, and the california hive. It gets confusing. Hubby wants to paint a different color on the landing board of each hive, but I am not so convinced. Thoughts?

I'm ALIVE!

No, really. It's been a crazy, long, and exhausting month. I will tell you all about it, but in small doses. I am hoping to write several posts in the next couple of nights and set them to post one a day for the rest of eternity. Well, a week is probably a bit more realistic. So anyway, look for posts about health concerns, Crash's latest adventures and pictures of bees and bee hives. Until tomorrow.........

SHOT Roundup

Can I just say AWESOME!!!

I am so glad I made it to SHOT this year. It truly was incredible to be there, to see such awesome things, to meet such amazing people and to nurture some great connections.

I will start with the beginnng. Since I knew this would be a lot of physical activity for me I decided to cram everything I could into 2 days. If I tried for more than that I knew I would flare like crazy.

So Wednesday the 16th was my day 1. I checked in and got my creds and then looked up the Peppermill. You would think I would know where it is being a local but, alas, the strip is not my thing. Turned out it was down the strip a bit. Rather than move my car I walked it. A lot of activity for me but it felt nice to actually have the energy for it since I have quit the evil med. So off to the Peppermill I went for the 1st Annual Dark Angel Medical Ladies Bruncheon. I got to finally meet the female half of this vet owned duo. She plays words with friends with me constantly so it was nice to finally have a face to the name. I love what they do. If you are looking for a high quality trauma kit these guys can set you up. There were several women from different companies. Notably Women's Tactical Association was there and HammerFour. Then of course I had to drag along my friend Sandi, creator of Offhand Gear. I am her only Nevada dealer so far but that is just a momentary thing, her designs are awesome!!

Then I spent the day running around. I met up with Jason at Mission First Tactical. Awesome guy and a huge support of my Damsel venture. He has donated gear to giveaways and vice-versa and been a great contact!! I recommend them if you are looking for great rifle/carbine gear they are the place to go!

I also just casually bumped into ArmedCandy. I felt like a fan girl. Honestly there are a handful of bloggers that were a huge help in keeping me in shooting. After the shooting in Washington I was scared and knew I wanted to be able to protect us but the .40 hubby bought me was just not a good gun for me. ArmedCandy was one of the blogs that I read that helped inspire me to not give up, so meeting her in person was pretty amazing.

Day 2 for me was Thursday the 17th! What a fun day. I had some great meetings. I spent a wonderful bit talking to the owner and creator of Gun Tote'n Mamas. She is just amazing. I also love their concealed carry purses. They get cuter all the time and are not the bulky leather boring of the other places.

The highlight was the blogger lunch though. Misfires and Light Strikes put it together and I met some awesome people. He put up a great post of who attended, much more comprehensive than my weak memory! I am so glad I went and so impressed. Honestly I think I have felt like a lot of us, frustrated by the current politial climate and a bit at wits end. Sitting and talking with some of my favorite minds in the blogging world (Like Jay who was another reason I stuck with shooting) really helped me to remember that I am not alone in my frustration or opinions and that together we are a mighty force. Alan Korwin said something that stuck with me. He said that our best argument is that we are pro-RIGHTS. If we remove the word the anti's want to fight over and bring it back to the core issue at hand we win before the fight even begins because we are on the side of RIGHTS. I loved that thought and have been repeating it everywhere I can.

All in all it was an incredible two days. I saw awesome friends, build up some relationships, formed new ones, and really just reaffirmed that both Damsel and my passion for our rights are exactly the things I want to be doing with my life. I am good at this and I am loving it. :) I feel like I have found my people and my place.

**On a side note I have a giveaway up on my FB to help a family in need. They have a sweet 4 year old daughter who was diagnosed with a rare incurable brain disorder and she requires some major care. So I am raising funds for them. I have a couple great gift baskets formed. To enter to win them is a donation of $10 per basket. Check it out if you feel the urge, or pass it around! The more places it shows up the better! :)

SHOT!

Met Armed Candy at the CZ booth! *squee* More to come!

Herbal Tinctures

So on my quest to better health I am really embracing holistic healing. Right now my primary source are oils from DoTerra. Gracie introduced me and I am so grateful. I have a regimen of oils I rub on at night to help me sleep, to help my pain.

As I add more oils to our stores and learn more I also want to learn more about other herbal ways to heal and help keep my family safe. I was reading this article on herbal tinctures and was wondering how many of you use these types of remedies? Do you use the alcohol way? Any thoughts?

SHOT show fun!

Next week is SHOT. A gun lovers paradise. I was to late to get media crews for the blog. However I am hoping to pull last minute crews for Damsel. I want to at least walk the exhibition floor. *Squee*

Two things I am doing that I am thrilled about are a ladies of the industry lunch on Wednesday hosted by my good friend Lynn, co-creator of DARK Angel medical, and the blogger meet on Thursday hosted by Kevin from Misfires and Lightningstrikes. So breaking excited. Like fan girl excited. I am going to have to try to hold in the oogling. Most people love movie stars. I have fan girl crushes on chick gun people, loggers, and writers. Yeah I am a geek.

On a fun side note I am part of a couple fun giveaways on Facebook. One with Sassy Does. The other is with a number of pages . It is to encourage contacting your reps about gun control issues. Some awesome gear is up for grabs. So go visit my fb page to check it out.

I also am adopting a family each month to raise money for them. Each family has a critically ill/in need child/children. Check out this months family on my page too. ;)

damselprokimberlywalsh

Coming out of the closet!

No not that closet. Gutter brains.

Coming out of the blogger pen name closet.

Introducing me! The real me. No holds barred no pen name me!

Hi! I'm Kim! Yes you know me as Lila and for book writing I plan to be Lila because there happens to be a super famous brit singer with my name. Makes websites and google searches and all that stuff never actually lead to me. Handy but annoying when you want to have a career in public things.

So why the reveal? Well that business I started. I wanted to share it with you guys. A few of our favorite blogging friends posted about it for me but I wanted to share it too. Plus having a pen name when you have a Facebook page with almost 3000 fans seemed a little redundant. Especially since I have been pretty vocal there about some recent political issues.

So my dream was to get my RSO cert and my NRA certs and start training women to protect themselves. Seeing women gain the confidence that shooting has given me has become a passion. But that stupid FMS thing likes to mess with me. Then I discovered this pretty cool company. Damsel In Defense. DEFENSE. I loved the name. It is basically an Avon type company but for self defense gear. I was hooked. I now had a way to help women get safe but that I could do. So I joined up and I built my page. I have made some incredible friends as well. Some of my biggest supporters are

http://www.darkangelmedical.com/ I love them!! They make awesome medical gear and the chick half of this team has become a dear friend.

http://www.monkeerancharms.com/  Yet again a fave. The chick part is also becoming another wonderful friend.

http://www.shop.modernmusket.com/ This awesome fire fighter is truly one of the strongest voices for 2A rights and has been a wonderful connection.

Anyway back to Damsel!! Visit my page and my website and tell me what you think. We have pepper spray, stun guns, and some really fun things. I personally love the auto tool. It is a flash light, red flashing beacon, siren, glass break, and seat belt cutter. It is water resistant and has a magnetic head to attach it to the side of the car if needed to gain attention or warn people of your location.

So tell me what you think huh?

Getting discouraged.

I started a new fun business venture. One that lets me fulfil a dream while being within my ability due to my health. I have thrown myself into it. Honestly not earning much yet because I want to make sure I start off exactly as I am. That has meant making sure that my customer base knows I am in it for more than money. I am truly in it for them. My director nominated me for a pretty great training program and I was thrilled to get in. It is all about becoming a director myself and building my business. However my lovely constant companion means I do things very different than most. I do my whole life different. Chores get spread through the week. Cleaning my floor is an all day multi step process. My differences may get me booted from the program and I have to say that kind of hurts. To know that yet again this junky disease might mess something up sucks. I truly wish it would leave me something.