Shoot-em up Sally.

Shoot-em up Sally

A big loud boom, another big boom shakes my tent, jolts me from my slumber, my heart is pounding. A few feet away, again boom–boom, followed by a giggle. I look at my watch its 4:15 AM, who is out there firing off high powered rounds? I’m in no hurry to find out, I’m a snug bug in a sleeping bag with a hang over. I chamber my trusty side arm just in case and roll over for forty more winks.

Just as I’m drifting back into darkness, again boom–boom. “Wakey wakey boys, hands off snakey”. Thats a women voice out there! What is a woman doing out here in the middle of nowhere, in a pasture at early thirty,? Its 4 in the freak’n morning. “Y’all get your tired asses-up, the coffees on.” I had to bounce out and see who this crazy lady was. What a fun way to start the day.

There she was, sitting in lawn chair with a double barrel shotgun across her lap, a cup of coffee in one hand, a cigarette in the other. From the small campfire her grin lit up, “you must be Juan Corbett”. “Yes-um I am ma’am”. “and you must be Sally, the unfortunate lass to have married that hairy legged beast still sacked out in his tent”. We are laughing it up when Luke stumbles into the fire to join us. He introduces his new bride, she rises up out of the chair, extending a hand to shake. Wow, what a hand-shake that woman had, I’ll never forget it. I’ve shaken hands with some pretty big boys whose grip wasn’t this firm. With a grip like hers, you knew she could hang-on to any thing, for however long she wanted.

I was in Kansas to visit my old friend Luke, do a pheasant hunt and meet his new wife. He and I met at his family farm the night before to make camp. We stayed up way too late with a tall bottle of whisky catching up on the last couple of years. Had he mentioned his wife would join us in the morning? I didn’t think a lady would show at a camp-site, and before dawn. Especially one firing off a shotgun for grins and giggles. She made a memorable first impression on me.

Us boys were full of coffee and starving to death. We hadn’t ate last night, each of us thought the other one was gonna bring food in. Welp, the cafe opens at 6, its only 25 miles to town. “Hey Sally, you wanna run in for breakfast with us”?”Na, y’all go ahead, I wanna get an early start on them pheasants”. To make a long story a little shorter. Luke and I get side tracked while in town and don’t make it back to camp till noon.

When we drive up to the tents you could have knocked me over with a feather, a pheasant feather. Sally was laying out a spread in the back of her truck. Chairs, plates, napkins the whole nine yards. “Hey boys, y’all wash your hands, lunch is about ready,” she says, I’ll deal with you later Luke. The poor ol’ boy was keeping himself on the down low, trying to blend in with the landscape with all his camo gear on, hoping Sally would forget his tardiness.

“Ms Sally, what ya been doing while we were gone,” I ask. “While you two knuckleheads were out wasting the morning, I shot ‘em, cleaned ‘em and cooked ‘em.” Yep, she had got her limit of birds straight away that morning, went back to the house got a few supplies and prepared this feast of pheasant for us, brown rice, gravy and homemade wine. All served-up on the tailgate of her pick-up truck in the middle of pasture on the great plains of Kansas. It was the best meal I’ve ever had on a tailgate.

That morning air was crispy cool, the predawn sky was navy-blue black when I first met her. Shoot-em up Sally with a ball cap on. Not easy to forget a gal like that. Uses her double barrel shotgun for an alarm clock and giggles about it. Thats how this painting came to be. A tribute to all the ladies who shoot ‘em, clean ‘em and cook ‘em…

A Limited Edition Print can be yours. This original work of Art is being offered as a limited edition print. Each one hand signed by the Artist. These Giclee fine art reproductions are printed on Archival matte paper. Suitable for framing to brighten every home or office. Posters measure 22″ x 28″, with a live image area at 18″ x 22″, for only $99.99 its on the way. We ship the Art posters within the Continental United States to you for FREE. Artwork / imagery © – copyrighted, no usage without express written permission.

To get yours, Here is the link to My Juan Corbett Biz website.

And/or you may be interested in the Original painting for yourself or a friend. The paintings of the “Faces from the Places” series are very collectable and range in price from $500.00 to $950.00. These prices are a 50% savings over a traditional Gallery acquisition. Shoot me an E-mail for availability at; juancorbett@gmail.com - In the subject line please include the name of the painting or the story line that you’re interested in. I try to reply with an answer within 24 hours, Monday thru Friday, excluding holidays. Hope to hear from ya.