Today we started year end inventory counting at work. I can’t believe how far Oley’s Armoury has grown since it started not too many years ago. I now know things I could never have imagined I would ever know -but it still feel like I will never know half of what I wish I knew.

If guns were scary let me tell you I would be one terrifying lady with how many I own now. And no, I have no idea how many I actually own but the number is in the hundreds and let’s hope in the next few years it is in the thousands. As the business grows it is fun to look back on the funny things that have happened over the years in the Armoury. The bloopers are just too many to remember them all.

-The first that comes to mind is when one of the staff was demonstrating to my daughter how to load and unload a pump shotgun. She was concerned but he reassured her he was using dummy ammo and she came closer to watch. He racked a round through the gun…right into her forehead… I cannot repeat the fancy words that were screeched out of the mouth of that child at that moment.

-We have also learned no body parts are excluded from being caught in some part of a gun or being cut, glued or bruised while working with them.

-There was the time the building was filled with smoke when someone forget to turn off the ultrasonic tank and we had to evacuate.

-It is simply not a gun show until someone spills something all over the place. It NEVER fails to happen.

-As part of an advertising campaign a photo shoot took place one time and there was some explaining to do after a chair went through the floor of the house where the photos were taken.

Over the years we have also been privileged to help with many surprises. Multiple guns have been given as very special gifts and sometimes we get to participate in the surprises. Once we hid a phone on Facetime so that a lady could see her boyfriend receive a gun after we told him there was a problem and he needed to come in right away. This Christmas one of the staff was the recipient of a gifted gun and his better half was in on the scheming it took to get it under his Christmas tree as a great surprise. We have also included some special gifts when shipping guns to good friends. Lesson learned-you’re going to get photos. Some are amazing shots of exceptional hunts and then there are the ones you may not want to see but will make you laugh harder than you can imagine.

As we start 2022 I wish you the ability to see how far you have grown. I wish you the courage to do the things you think you cannot. I wish you the faith that everything will be o.k. and I wish you the happiness I have that years ago I have that I could never had believed existed.