Week of November the 5th

Two things dominated this week: shooting God’s little creatures and getting book shipments ready. My father-in-law Frank came out to the property for a successful four day hunting drip, specifically for small game. Frank has been hunting, fishing, and camping his entire life, so his woodcraft skills are quite good. I got a useful (if smelly and bloody) crash course in skinning, plucking, gutting, and cooking wildlife, while Frank got to dine on rabbit stew and go home with four quails in his cooler. On Wednesday my neighbor and buddy Ron kindly took him up to into the backcountry while I got a big shipment ready, and both of them seemed to have a good time.

While I worked, dammit!

The satellite cable guy came out, so now the ranch house has something like 186 channels. Which is cool but not very rustic. Tina and I now have the Internet, a phone, cable TV, and satellite radio out there. All of these are run either through dishes or antennas, of course – there’s no grid of any type – but are not quite as Outlaw Josey Wales as I imagined.

Ah, well. Civilization and every other damn thing.