Hunting

It is quite difficult to visit customers at this time of the year. Why? Because nearly all of them are out in the woods shooting at deer.
I find this fascination, and utter devotion to blowing away Bambi quite interesting. As soon as it even starts to get a little chilly, I start to hear passing mentions from all sorts of guys that "deer huntin' season is coming soon." They all talk about this with a sort of wild glazed look in their eyes. I can see dreams of the smell of gunpowder, and orange vests turning in their minds.

Of course, being born in Africa I am not at all unfamiliar to the concept of hunting. I often used to relish stories my Uncle Doug told about the days he would spend on the African savannah, tracking, and playing lethal games with big african wildlife. In his case you carried a large rifle not only as a tool to kill your prey, but also as a means of defense against animals who were faster and had bigger teeth than you did. Truly, the word "hunt" applied to these situations.

Here in PA, not so much.

I don't think it is "hunting" as much as it is "going into the woods with a gun." Maybe it should be called "deer ambushing." Is this wrong? Maybe I don't know enough about the sport, but usually when you hide in one place for hours on end waiting for an unlucky deer to walk by, and then unleash heavy firepower - that is an ambush. Not that this isn't effective - it just seems sort of unfair?

Don't get me wrong, I like eating deer meat, but perhaps it would be more sporting if all the deer had guns as well.


Sean.

Now What?

Now what are we going to watch since the Olympics have ended? Sean and I have been glued to the TV or the computer over the past 17 days and have loved every minute of it. We have become Olympic junkies. As I type this, China has handed over the Olympic flag to London and this symbolizes the end of the 2008 Olympics. Sean stated it very well when he remarked tonight that it's like a friend who has come to stay for two weeks and then must go home. We feel sad. And a little worried that we have nothing to watch on our TV. Hmmm? Guess it's time to go back to the old fashioned form of entertainment and read a good book.

"We came to smash the Americans"

Did you hear this statement in the past 2 days? The now famous words uttered bombastically by the captain of the french swimming team. The same team that was defeated by the American swim team during the 4 x 100 men's swimming relay at the Olympic games in Beijing.

Ok, so I may not be the world's foremost authority on international diplomacy but I know this, no matter what country you come from if you are going to talk trash you better be able to bring it.

Even more classic was the comment of one of the guys from the American team.

"I don't want to hear any of that, I'll just take care of business when we get to the pool"

I watched the conclusion of the race in utter disbelief, as the fate of the "frenchies" was sealed by one hand's length. I was on my feet, both hands clutching my hair when Marci and I saw the glorious sight of the words "United States" flash first across the screen.

I think I was screaming as loud as Michael Phelps was. Even more tasty was the sight of the french swimmer (the same guy who claimed he was there to smash people) wallow in the water in a stunned shock.

So here's to you frenchy. Yes you helped us defeat the British all those years ago, and yes you gave us a very nice statue of a big lady - but let this be a lesson: never underestimate the power of a bunch of ticked off Yankees.

Au revoir'

Sean.

Sunday Ramblings

I tried to hang some of those fancy "floating shelves" in our study.
This did not go according to my plan. All I ended up with was 4 holes in our drywall. :(
I felt rather ticked off after that - especially since the wall is covered in red paint and touching it up is going to be a pain. (See attached picture for details.)
It's my fault, for once I didn't read the directions and I used the wrong wall anchors to hang the shelf. Turns out they were actually a lot stronger than I thought and removing them trashed our wall.

My war with Value City has come to an unceremonious end. I managed to fix our furniture and you would never even know that it was damaged. I have decided not to drive all the way to Harrisburg to exchange it again. Now they just keep calling me to let me know that the replacement stuff is here. Oh well, I think I will let them sweat it out for a little.

We are enjoying a day at home today. Marci and I just needed a day to chill at the casa.

Did you watch the Olympic opening ceremony? Amazing. Marci loves the Olympics.
She keeps saying loudly, randomly and with great exuberance "I love the Olympics!"
This is very cute, even when it catches me totally off guard.

Have a great Sunday.