July 12, 2023

  • Indoor games

    It has been beautiful outdoor weather all week, but the heavy rain arrived in mid-afternoon. That took the post-work recreation out of the lake and into the house. I dominated at Bananagrams and Boggle. Then the indoor range in the basement garage was opened up for some archery. I put my second shot into the 2x4 under the shelf upon which the target block sits. I haven't shot since the fall, but after a couple rounds, my back stretched out, my eye calmed down, and I located my matchstick point-of-aim. I don't have any dynamite arrow experience (that's for Hansen), but I won't starve as long a there are rabbits, squirrels, and ducks around. I would have to pick up my stalking skills and find some broadheads if deer is to be on the menu.

    A game I like to play when I am stuck in a public place at someone else's discretion is the "I never" game usually reserved for college freshmen drinking. Obviously, the drinking aspect is usually missing, as is the asking a group of strangers to raise hands. It is most fun for me to adjust the qualifying condition for minimal positive returns. Location matters; pedestrian mall, farmer market, public park, airplane, museum, airplane museum all have a different expected mix of humanity. One of my favorites is to look through the farmer market crowd and try to pick out anyone who had ever cleaned a kill for later consumption. There are better odds among the selling farmers, but the experimental vegan crowd usually makes for hard targets. Is there a blue-hair who grew up de-scaling or filleting fish caught for the family fish fry? Is that lady with crow's feet and a denim jacket the daughter of a father with no sons who took her out to kill her first deer at fourteen? That blonde in yoga pants with the golden retriever never marinaded duck she shot, brought back to the shore by her well-trained dog. If that blonde is wearing a jacket in Mossy Oak Shadow Grass Blades and walking a brown lab, the odds are going up.