Fishing in Loreto, Mexico

The WOMA’s Marsha Petrie Sue is fishing in the Sea of Cortez at Loreto, Baja, Mexico. She shared these photos from Friday, May 28.

Please join me in celebrating Memorial Day

Please join me in sharing the reason we celebrate this special day in May. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11 , and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York, in 1873.

By 1890 it was recognized by all the Northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

Memorial Day is now celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 [P.L. 90 - 363] to ensure a three-day weekend for federal holidays). Several Southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’s birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Read more and please share this wonderful history with your children, friends and family. Freedom is never free, and I honor everyone who protects my country.

God bless America.

Marsha

Marsha Petrie Sue, MBA, CSP – Professional Speaker and Author

Please join me on FACEBOOK

Creating trust

This Stephen M.R. Covey video is too good not to share. This might be a good way to kick off a staff meeting.

Five Waves to Creating Trust:

Self trust

Relationship trust

Alignment

Market trust

Societal trust

Cheers, Marsha Petrie Sue

Let’s connect on FaceBook!

Marsha

‘Planting the Seeds of Growth’ in Charlotte a resounding success

The Women’s Outdoor Media Association – a new paradigm in outdoor communicators’ organizations that stresses the individual member and what she or he can contribute to focusing on what is being done for and about women in the outdoors – held a reception on Sat., May 15, at the Westin Charlotte Queen’s Lounge.

At last count, 25 new members will soon be approved and on the roll of the membership roster. These members include PR representatives, website communicators, bloggers, traditional journalists, a former president of the NRA and two Olympic biathletes.

Thanks to PR Team member Kim Pezzeminti, of doeville.com, who spearheaded the event and worked with the Westin to host a reception filled with croissants, pastries, brownies, Starbucks coffee and Tazo tea, lemonade, macadamia nut cookies and more. And that was just the food. Sunflowers splashed the room with color, and yes, it looked like an indoor garden party with flower arrangements, white tablecloths and floral organza accents. We celebrated women in the outdoors and what we have achieved, and what we can achieve by working together, networking and continuing to move forward as an entirely volunteer organization.

Thanks, also to our members who displayed lovely flower arrangements in ammo boxes and distributed our invitations – Otis Technology, Brownells and Próis Hunting Apparel. Thanks to LOKI, Inc., Brownells, Magnolia Defense Enterprise, Bullseye Trading Post, Marsha Petrie Sue, Doeville and Women’s Outdoor News, for contributing funding for the event.

And, as always, since a picture tells a thousand words, please click on the slide show below and you’ll get more of an idea of the 2010 NRA Exhibits and Meetings, and some of our members on and off the floor of the show. And, get ready Las Vegas … we’re coming to your town in January at the SHOT Show. Please join us there.

Photos By Jason and Barbara Baird

Here we go!

It is spring time in the Rocky Mountains, and I am looking forward to among so many things, turkey hunting! The thought of the upcoming hunt brought thoughts of past hunts flowing in. That is when my mind went up and running!

Last spring, we were off on a search of turkeys for my 10 year old daughter and her friend, Mackenzie. It was our first morning out, and the group of us were all giddy and excited. Among the crowd guiding these two little huntresses were myself, Mackenzie’s dad, Duane and my husband Hank. We loaded horses before sunrise and headed to a spot we had luck at the prior year.

When we arrived and unloaded, the horses were just as excited as we all were. We headed up the trail, with me following up the rear on my favorite horse, Cowboy.

Now Cowboy is full of spunk and energy. He is so sure footed and athletic, I never have to fear. He’ll take me to the top of an 11,000 foot mountain without a complaint, and he will ride all day never slowing. He loves the thrill of the hunt just as much as I do.

This fine, sun-shiney spring morning, Cowboy decided I wasn’t heading up the trail fast enough for him. He thought we needed to move along a little quicker. Me being the “boss” in this situation, I had to stay in control. I held him back and made him walk. He began fighting me and next thing you know, he broke out into an all out run!

With that burst of energy on the run, Cowboy began to feel even more froggy! We went off with a jump and then a kick! Then a full out buck! I got my feet on the first jump. On the kick, I flew up and then remembered how to ride. The third jump we landed HARD, he aligned my back from the seat of my pants all the way past my noggin’. Finally on the fourth I sat down in my saddle and yanked him down. We landed and stopped in a spin, surprised that I was still on his back.

Off we walked, him with his tail in the air and a little spring in his step, and me wide awake, blood flowing. Sometimes you get a little rough start, but it all ends up good in the end! It’s always an adventure.

Chug or chew: How do you like your greens?

When I open the freezer, out spill Costco industrial-sized bags of spinach, blueberries and chopped bananas.  Blocking access to cereal and crackers in the pantry cupboard are large sacks of  “supergreens,” protein powder, and barley. 

My husband, whose idea of a nutritious lunch is goopy grilled American cheese, potato chips, and a chaser of gummed spice drops, and whose fantasy fruit juice is Dr Pepper, has experienced a conversion:  He is swallowing large green smoothies for his midday meal.

“At least it’s not red convertibles and younger women,” commented a friend when I was explaining my theory that this is Brad’s version of an age crisis. He turns sixty in a few months and is concerned that he never ingests enough fruit and vegetables. Suddenly, whispers like “cancer” and “heart disease” –the current subject of his breakfast reading material — are seeping in through the cracks of his resolve to remain oblivious, forever young.

It’s not only a harmless acknowledgment of age, but also a healthy one. As we all know by now, produce fights all sorts of fatal disease.  That’s the reason Brad is certain I am silently simmering with jealousy—green with envy, you might in this case say.

I am the queen of leafy green; my daily ceremonial salad occurs in a wooden bowl that serves eight.  It brims with organic cabbage, spinach, collards, kals, cilantro, mushrooms, and broccoli.  A day doesn’t pass before some seasonal addition appears on the supermarket shelf and it’s in my mix.  Needless to say, I invest a substantial amount of time both in preparation and ingestion of the contents of this behemoth bowl.

I must admit that when the first bag of super greens arrived UPS, I was intrigued.  I hated to confess; didn’t care to succumb to the trendy.  But any food product carrying a label with the word combination “super” and “green” was impossible to ignore.  My daughter was visiting at the time and chided, “Oh Mom…can you really resist such powerful antioxidants?”  I assured her I could.

“She won’t be able to stand it. She won’t hold off for long before she’s dipping into the bag,” challenged my husband who at last felt the right to wield nutritional superiority over my healthy eating habits.  I vowed that I would.

You see, I like to chew my food. I garner a great sense of satisfaction when I masticate—the more the better.   What does that say about me?  Oral fixation?  Tension release? Grinding to gain power over?

Brad, on the other hand, couldn’t be bothered.  He would rather swirl soft and soupy than chomp down on substantial.  He claims it’s a saliva thing—that he produces little of it and hence, most food seems dry.  I have determined that it’s an outcropping of his calm demeanor; he refuses to succumb to the sort of anxiety that generates the gnashing of teeth.

“I couldn’t eat your salad to save my life,” he groans, just looking at the sheer size of it.  “But I can drink it!”

On the bar counter rests the high-powered machine that pulverizes anything that grows.  He shops for his own ingredients, makes and cleans the mixer himself, and his sense of pride reminds me of the day I made my first monster salad.

Shhhh….Don’t tell him I’ve been topping my veggies with a sprinkle of his supergreens.

Mia Anstine — Member of the Women’s Outdoor Media Association

Mia grew up in a very rural area of southwest Colorado, where she spent her childhood years near the river in front of her home and also, spent time hiking the hills behind it. She learned to dress and process animals from her father, who hunted to provide for the family. When she moved to the city as a teenager, she truly learned to appreciate the outdoors and all the fantastic experiences she enjoyed as a child.

Mia supports national and local conservation and hunting programs and mentors children who are interested in learning about the outdoors. She also helps her husband with his outfitting business and is very interested in creating women-specific programs. She looks forward to sharing her passion with others.

Much ado about abdominals

“What does it mean when someone refers to abdominal muscle appearance as ‘six-pack’ abs?”  I asked my 25-year old daughter who breathes only to find the next exercise regimen.  Kate’s gone from to Bosu Ball Aeroibcs class to Zumba workout; one might say from A to Z; I knew she would be my optimal information source.

“A six pack of what?’ I elaborated.  “Beer cans lying sideways?”  “Diet Coke?”

Personally, I’d always coveted the concave belly, since I had inherited my mother’s little “pooch.”  No matter how slender I grew while incorporating brutal diet plans into my quest for the perfect figure, I failed to achieve that flat-as-a-pancake tummy in a bathing suit.  Once I birthed two children, I christened it “the baby house,” and thereby formed the rationale for its permanence in addition to the reason for my neglect of any sort of abdominal calisthenic be it the dreaded sit-up, that nemesis that had caused me to flunk every Presidential Fitness Test in school, or even the more reserved and recent version of it, the crunch.

“Yes!” chirped Kate. “It’s refers to a six pack of canned beverage, turned sideways—horizontally, and stacked on top of each other in three rows of two.  That’s what you want your stomach to look like.”

And why?  Is this attractive?  Flat I get; bulging aluminum drink cans I don’t.

“You’re so funny, Mom.  It means you look fit!”

At 58 years old and grateful to never have to don another bathing suit or crop top, I doubt anyone but my mirror and my husband (who, trust me, won’t notice) will see my mid-section.  Oh, and maybe a surgeon at some point, but not a plastic one.

My most recent addition to my daily walk, a form of meditation that will most certainly never culminate in a six-pack for either me or my dog unless it’s what we drink after we get back to the porch, is Mari Winsor’s Circle Pilates.  I decided my lower back needed strengthening and my balance required a boost, so my older daughter Clary recommended I check out the DVD.  “Brad already has it, and the circle too,” she persuaded.

I was astonished to find that I enjoy it—the quintessential combination of low impact (I lie down the entire time which is always a good thing) and muscle toning technique that isn’t so difficult that I’m struggling in and out of impossible positions.  I’d attempted Yoga and was daunted by various dog poses.  Circle Pilates, I could accomplish, and painlessly.

One day led to another and another and before long, I was “performing,” as Mari Winsor puts it, the exercises nearly every day.  I would hear her speak of “results,” but paid no mind, since number one, I didn’t expect any and number two, was only doing it to stretch, honestly.

Lo and behold when Clary visited from New York recently, she strolled into my bathroom to borrow a blow dryer after we’d worked out together to the Circle Pilates DVD.  I had just stepped out of the shower and was reaching for my towel.

“Mom!  You have a sic-pack!  Look at it!”  I glanced in the mirror.

“Is that what it looks like?”  I wondered.

“Has Brad seen this?” And with that she waited only long enough for me to pull on sweats and a T-shirt , then dragged me out to the shop where Brad was working.

“Have you seen your wife’s six-pack?” she howled when we opened the door to see him laboring over a project.

“I’ve seen my wife’s …” he cut off his declaration in view of his step daughter’s possible sensibilities.

When she lifted the T-shirt, his eyes widened.  Obviously, the next word wasn’t going to have been “stomach.”

So much ado over so very little, I thought as Clary revered my recent abdominal achievement.  I mean, who really cares?

“Impressive!” Brad nodded and tossed me a winsome look.

I guess I do.

Visit Kathleen Clary Miller’s blog to read other stories: http://kcmillersoutpost.blogspot.com/. Kathleen Clary Miller is the author of 300 essays and stories that have appeared in such publications as Newsweek Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, Orange Coast Magazine, Missoula Living Magazine, Flathead Living Magazine, The Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was a regular columnist for The Missoulian—Western Montana’s Daily Newspaper for the last two years. Her current monthly column “Peaks and Valleys” appears in Montana Woman Magazine. She has contributed to National Public Radio’s On Point.

She lives in Huson, Montana.

Kudos to Kirstie Pike and Prois in the news

We’re all proud of our Kirstie Pike, CEO of Prois Hunting Apparel for women. She took her crates and clothes on the road to the NRA Meetings and Exhibits in Charlotte, N.C., last week and wowed thousands of hunting and shooting enthusiasts. She even gets top billing at the local news station’s coverage of women in the outdoors.

The correspondent estimated that 30 percent of the attendees were women. With a ratio of women shooters now at about 25 percent of the market, she’s probably correct in her unscientific assumption of that number. And, the trend keeps growing — another reason to keep shouting from the rooftops about the Women’s Outdoor Media Association, which focuses on what’s being done in the media for and about women in the outdoors. ~ Barbara Baird

See link: http://www.wcnc.com/video/featured-videos/Parts-of-NRA-convention-aimed-at-women-93811064.html

Is there a face behind that blog?

Are you blogging and wondering if you will have any privacy left? You are right to be concerned. Being a blogger is a lot like being a columnist in a traditional print publication, except you have the potential for reaching millions of people and oh yeah, whatever you write will be out there probably forever.

People have their favorite bloggers for a reason. Number one is trust. If you can trust that blogger, you will come back. Number two is either for education or entertainment or a heady combination of both things.

When you blog, you must decide how much of your life you want to reveal to the world. How much do you want to announce in a busy, crowded arena to perhaps thousands (or millions, think big!) of people?

I know one outdoor blogger who never revealed anything about herself and never set up an “About” page, and she’s prominent in the outdoor communications industry. This is one extreme – and this strategy does not promote a relationship with the reader at all. She would use her husband’s name at times, and the reader would have to wonder, “Who is John [not his real name either]?”

And then, there are bloggers like “mommy bloggers,” who reveal all, even the floor plans of their homes when they publish renovation photos. That’s a bad idea, too. Hello, home intruder.

I don’t like to reveal my husband’s or kids’ names. I don’t think it’s necessary. They did not ask for the publicity. I did.

I don’t like to reveal our floor plans, our address, things about my neighbors I don’t like or where I am going.

So, if you write a blog or are thinking about setting one up, you need to decide not what type of person you will be, because that’s already been determined through your genetics and actions. You need to decide how much of you will be revealed to the world.

Keep it honest. Keep it clean. Keep it real.

You can’t go wrong with that combination.

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