I was putting away Christmas decorations when I discovered the maggot-covered skull cap and antlers from Don’s autumn buck. Laying right there in the garage. Like they owned the place. How do maggots get into – and out of – a sealed plastic bag? They were just everywhere. Don, a little chagrined at…
So it came to be, last weekend, that I was heading to the back door of the garage when I noticed the hole. Not “a hole”. The hole. The source of the hole was easy enough to deduce. I live with a bowhunter. I also live with two fledgling bow hunters. …
I live with three bowhunters. For bowhunters, the quality of their bow and arrows and associated supplies is paramount. Consequently, there is an archery store favored by the hunters in my house. I kid you not – there is more than one place to purchase archery supplies. One day over the winter,…
I am married to an outdoorsman. On paper, being married to an outdoorsman isn’t so bad. On paper, you always have someone designated to outdoor activities an indoorsy person – like me – would rather skip. Children’s camping trips. Grilling. Walking to the pool. But the day-to-day of being married to an outdoorsman can…
The Cabin gets shut down for the winter. Sure, there’s the odd weekend between Christmas and Groundhog Day, weekends that see at least one Rank return to our heirloom estate in the woods. But for the most part, The Cabin is too cold, too remote to access in the winter. Winterizing The…
Before I begin my story, I need to get something out of the way. Mom. Stop reading. There’s information here you shouldn’t have. Just walk away. Now that that is done, I can talk to you guys. Seriously, Mom. Stop reading. I’m pretty sure I misinterpreted a conversation. I’m also…
Things have gone too far. I have tolerated Don’s embrace of the outdoors, even though he restrained himself from that embrace until we were well into our marriage. Waited until we had kids and car payments and gravity had taken its toll and nobody was going anywhere. I have endured hikes that are…
You guys know that I, very much by accident, married an outdoorsman. I still really like him, even though he wrote on my dry-erase board, he’s monopolizing the washing machine, and he scoffed at my request for Starbucks. And that’s just stuff he did today. Because I still really like him, I try…
I once calculated how many days, nights, weeks I spend without my husband. I arrived at four months. Four months out of each year, I am on my own. That’s four months of taking out my own garbage. Killing my own bugs. Sometimes even pumping my own gas. I have all of the obligations…
Don and I have diverse views on many things. Take, for example, bunny rabbits. I once explored bunnies as pets for our son. Don suggested I get several to breed for meat. I did not get any bunnies. But probably the hardest thing to navigate with Don is his refusal to believe in…