Blazing

Earlier this week I had to go to Fleet Farm for some pet supplies. As the saying goes in these parts, "If Fleet doesn't have it, you don't need it." Right. Snowflake and I grabbed what we needed and decided to mill around the other foreign areas.

We checked out the Toyland for which they are famous. Rows and rows of towering toys and a huge selection of (big surprise) John Deer tractors made a store within the store. Snowflake scored a really cute micro die cast red Farmall tractor with trailer. It thrills him to fill it with peanuts, coins, water, whatever.

We meandered over to the sporting goods section because I wanted to see if they carried toddler snowshoes(they didn't). In the main aisle that headed back to the light of day, there was a magnificent span of blaze orange long sleeve t-shirts, all the same. It was hilarious to watch these grayed and burly post middle agers looking through them to decide on which one to buy.

These are apparently serious decisions around here. Today is the opening day of the gun deer season. Every year my father goes to my uncle's cabin in the woods. Unlike most shacks, this is a picturesque little cabin that my crafty and talented woodsmith uncle built by hand overlooking a small lake.

I like the idea that my dad has this bond with someone. For him, I believe it is the camaraderie, rather than actually hunting these days. They "hunt" during the early morning and return to drink like sailors, eventually passing out/going to bed before 10pm most of the time. They have kept track of how many cases of beer are drank every hunting season since 1993.

They will hunt Thanksgiving morning together before coming home to their families for magnificent feasts. This is what little I know of their tradition.