Shotgun Versus Pistol

Dad needed some help working on the road to the first homesite on the property in Boone, NC. My little sister is getting married in November to Justin. My older sister and her husband, Chris, just had twins (add that to their 9 year old daughter and 3 year old son). My little brother, Jonathan, got married last November, just got a new job, and is trying to sell their house in Raleigh to move to Clayton to be closer to work. And, as you know, we had Loralai in February. So there was this call of the wild when Dad called us asking for some help clearing trees and brush. It made it even more wild when he suggested we bring our respective weapon of choice to do some skeet shooting and target practice up on the mountain. And even moreso (at least for me) when he asked that I bring the F250 up so we could haul the wood chipper!
What?
We need the F250 for a wood chipper? What kind of wood are we planning on chipping? Well, we chipped trees. And I mean chipped. That sucker weighed in at about 5000 pounds and chipped cedar and birch and pine and oak trunks about 12 inches in diameter! Dang near threw the remains 100 feet into the gulley, I tell you!!
Then it rained. And it rained hard. Twice.
I think we got more done in the 5 minutes prior and during the first downpour than we did in the 2 hours prior!! We were soaked! We piled into the truck (making sure we didn't get and red clay on the leather or carpet) and headed down the mountain for lunch and to wait out the rain.
After that we loaded up the guns and headed back up the mountain to do some shooting.
Justin brought an old .38 that his cowboy grandfather had in Colorado as a cop, and a 9mm he has for some reason. At least my sister will be well protected. Chris brought a target .22 pistol. I brought my dad's 20 gauge pump that I'd borrowed to do some skeet shooting in Wilmington (never got around to it). Dad brought a 12 gauge pump, 16 gauge side-by-side, and a couple other shotguns. I didn't get to shoot the 12, but from what I saw from Justin and Jonathan, I'm glad I didn't. Looked like it had more kick than an ornery mule.
Jonathan and Chris looked really at ease with the pistols. I can't say I'm much of a handgun guy. I like a good spread on my shot. More damage I guess. Jonathan actually told me that we was a little worried about how much he liked shooting that 9mm. I think everyone's got a little cowboy in them. I kept thinking about those old western movies where you have 2 brothers out on the range defending the land from rustlers and ner-do-wells. One brother's got his trusty pair of six-shooters by his side, the other prefers his shotgun. I think that's Jonathan and me. He likes the pistols (and shoots them well) and I like the shotguns. I really loved shooting my grandfather's 16 side-by-side (it's got 2 triggers). I wasn't a master, but I was hitting those pesky skeet pretty good.
Then we got rained out again.
So we called it a day and packed it in and headed for the fridge.
I'm hoping to have some more pics this week to load up.
(Notice the Dr. Pepper can?)