As we enter a NEW YEAR, I remember a few years back, as a middle-aged adult, commenting to my dad about how fast time was passing. His response was, “Honey, you haven’t seen anything yet. When you get to be my age, time is avalanche speed!” Well, I’m not yet to the age Dad was then, but time around Joshua Creek Ranch seems to be accelerating more rapidly with each passing year.
For my first six seasons as a duck hunter, my hunting was limited by two things: no dog, and no boat.
No dog means I need to be really careful about where I drop my ducks, because I can’t count on a canine’s superior sense of small to help me get that duck if it falls in thick cover. I’m OK with that tradeoff because I have neither the time nor the money to invest in a well-trained dog.
There’s a state of mind that numbs you to hunting adventures, even though the drive is only two hours east. Planted in front of a computer for another 12-hour marathon, collapsing after dinner on the sofa in big-screen semi-consciousness watching fighters with shaved heads tattooed to the max sporting nick-names like “The Refrigerator,” “Meat Missile” and “Freak Show” square off in the MMA octagon to kick, elbow and pummel their opponent’s faces into bloody goo, it’s sublimely painless to slip into a rut barren of outdoor aspirations.
Is your shotgun worth more in the U.K. than the U.S.?
Holt’s Auctioneers, the leading fine gun auction house in England, is once again scouring the American market for hidden gems that may garner big bucks across the Atlantic. In pursuit of collectible firearms here, Holt’s has expanded its network of Representatives in America to include Lars Magnusson, founder of traditional driven-shoot favorite, Blixt & Co.
You undoubtedly already know the catchphrase “Beretta 500 Years, One Passion.” In distinguishing the world’s oldest industrial enterprise, Beretta’s message resonates with an antiquity only assigned to shotgun sports royalty.
John Sigler knows a thing or two about guns. As past president of the National Rifle Association, his opinion matters. So what did he think of the round-body, 20-gauge Excalibur from FAMARS di Abbiatico & Salvinelli?
If you’re a fan of disco, the shuttle ride from the airport in Seville, Spain to the historic Hotel Alfonso XIII in the heart of the city got an upbeat start as the gray-haired bus driver played the Pointer Sisters’ “I’m so Excited” on the radio.
I am a creature of habit. I spend most of my duck season hunting just a few spots in a very small area of public land, generally with just my boyfriend Hank or my hunting buddy Charlie. It’s not easy to get a spot – the system is a combination of chance, savvy and speed – but we’ve got the routine down. Our hunting has all the ritual and consistency of a Catholic Mass.
I’m glad when Thanksgiving comes early in the month of November as it did this year, because it’s always the week after Thanksgiving that I put up our Christmas decorations. It seems disrespectful to the Thanksgiving tradition to adorn the house with Christmas decorations prior to the celebration of Thanksgiving. But I love elaborate Christmas decorations; it’s a trait I inherited from my mother and grandmother. And because of all the work involved in putting up all those decorations, I like to have them up early and keep them up for a long time….like a couple of months. Plus I like to add a few new ones each year. But most of all, I like putting all of the beautiful decorations we’ve collected over the years in different places around the house than they were last year. It makes them seem new all over again….this shotgun-toting Santa here, that toy-laden sleigh there, this new ribbon on that favorite old wreath, and best of all, adorning our Christmas tree with the ornaments that we’ve collected from our travels all over the world for 30 years. Just decorating the tree is a trip down memory lane that takes us back to Africa, Argentina, Scotland, Hungary, Austria, England, Canada, Alaska and on and on.
Summer had arrived with a vengeance here in the northeast with soaring temperatures and very little rain. Even so, as James Taylor croons in one of my still-favorite songs, “It’s my favorite time of the year.” It’s that time of year when we can sit back and kick back and yes, focus on our spiritual life.
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