The Last Field

Nov12

John and I took a trip to North Dakota for a week of pheasant hunting! If you haven’t read The Brothers yet, you might want to read that first.

It was the last field of the day on the last day of our hunting trip. The brothers were sore and tired but they weren’t going to show it now. While I’d been letting one rest at a time all week nobody needed to rest any more. They’d be riding in the truck the next two days. It was the last chance for everyone and none of us wanted to miss it.

After the hunt, too tired to keep their eyes open- still growling at each other.

The temperatures had finally cooled and the wind had picked up. Those boys put their noses into the wind and I followed, one hand on my gun the other on the dual controller for their collars, whistle in my mouth. Whistling when they both needed it, using the tone on their collars when just one needed direction. Working our way up the field at a quick pace because these brothers only know how to move at high speeds.

For dogs that hate each other out of the field, they hunt well together. Coursing back and forth, staying close to one another but not following each other around. Then they’d get on scent. And I’d better be watching for each of their tells to see who got on it first. After hunting with the boys all week, I was catching on to their subtleties. What they each looked like when they smelled a bird. What they looked like when they saw one running. What commands they each obeyed solidly and which ones they didn’t.

If it was Trip, I just had to make sure I could get my legs in gear to keep up with his sneak, knowing Sunday would hold point. If it was Sunday, I would need to get Trip closer to help trap the running bird before the egg beater started it’s engine. Or if Sunday locked on point I had to make sure I stopped Trip with a “Whoa” because he wouldn’t honor. There’s no time or thought to spare for wool gathering or cloud watching on a hunt like this.

We raced up the field. The wind in our faces, sun low in the sky and a field of pheasants in front of us.

Waves of birds, twenty or more at a time, would flush wild in front of us and then the dogs would pick up the few that stayed behind. Hen after hen they found, pointed or flushed in front of me all the way down the long field. Then, just before the field ended the rooster we’d been hoping for went up and I shot it. Filling my limit for the day.

Still wild with the joy of the wind and the hunt and flying high on the success of the dogs I turned the dogs to the the truck one last time. Buzz and John

On our way we met with John and his equally successful dogs. I regaled him with arm waving stories of our last hours while enthusiastically blowing my whistle too loudly in his ear when the dogs tried to head back up wind. When we reached the truck we all six collapsed to the ground. My brain was tired from working the dogs and my legs were exhausted from keeping up with them. I had a perma-smile from the hunt, the dogs, the birds, the open sky, the tired man across from me and the week. I had three pheasants to my name and the sun was setting. We had things to pack, birds to clean and dinner to make but we didn’t move. John and I and the four dogs lounged in the what stubble and enjoyed every last bit of that North Dakota sunset. Sunday and Trip

And now you should probably go read Just One More. While it’s true at the end of just about any hunt, it was written about those last bits of sunset.

Thirteen Years

Sep20

Because John and I have almost no pictures of the two of us together and because it was our thirteenth anniversary today, we celebrated with a round of sporting clays, dinner out and thirteen selfies.

Happy Anniversary to us!

60 Random Questions

Sep14

Every so often I see a list of questions making the blogger rounds, sometimes it even gets sent to me but, and I know I’m a blogger so this sounds weird, I don’t actually want to sit down and list answers to a bunch of questions all about me. However, one night last November, John and I answered a giant list of questions together. That was a whole different story, we laughed and talked and teased and discussed and had a lovely evening and then the list and answers were forgotten. Today, I was prowling through my drafts looking for inspiration and pulled it up. The answers are still all true so if you want to know what John and I think of a whole lot of random things read on…

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? Both. It doesn’t matter until winter when it’s really cold and then we have to close them because our closet is quite possibly the coldest room in the house.

Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? No, John just shaved his head again and they never put anything worth taking in them.

Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? Nothing may be tucked in because that would make your feet trapped and claustrophobic and who could sleep in a situation like that? (To let the record show, John thinks its ridiculous!)

Have you ever stolen a street sign before? John has, and other random acts of vandalism, I have not.

Do you like to use post-it notes? “Dear God, it’s one the best inventions ever!” – John And yes, I like them too.

Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? Bees. Bees don’t actually attack when they are swarming- big bears do.

Do you always smile for pictures? Mostly.

What is your biggest pet peeve? “People who don’t throw away the sandwich box at work. What a stupid question. Why isn’t it everybody’s?”- John We are both surprised that I can’t think of one, must have been a good day.

Have you ever peed in the woods? The question should be, “Have you peed in the woods today?” John-yes, Jessie- not since yesterday

What about pooped in the woods? Yes.

Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? You don’t need music to spontaneously dance in the kitchen together.

Do you chew your pens and pencils? “Pens? Pencils? I never chew my keyboard” – Jessie “I’m a chemist, lord knows what’s on the pens and pencils.” -John

What is your song of the week? Shut up and dance with me is stuck in both of our heads, possibly the kids’ fault.

What’s your least favorite movie? Jessie refuses to answer because that’s by nature a ridiculous question. John, apparently, hates the LEGO movie.

Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? If we told you it wouldn’t be very well hidden now would it. But it would for sure be in a tin, because I love tins.

What do you dip a chicken nugget in? We are a BBQ or Ranch house.

What movies could you watch over and over and still love? John can re-watch movies an alarming amount of times, I don’t.

Were you ever a boy/girl scout? No Boy Scouts and one short stint as a Brownie.

Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? No, we are too old for that shit.

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? When our friend’s husband died.

Can you change the oil in a car? John is a super fantastic oil changer – so I don’t have to be.

Ever gotten a speeding ticket? “The more interesting story is when I talked myself out of a speeding ticket by telling the officer I was going to study organic chemistry at 7 on a Friday night, sadly it was the truth.” – John “Nope, I drive nice and slow, that way everyone else wants to drive so we get there faster, then I don’t have to drive and we get there faster – win win.” – Jessie

Ever ran out of gas? Yup.

What is your usual bedtime? 12 – 1 Am

Are you lazy? John isn’t lazy, he says he could be, but he isn’t. I’m not lazy it’s just that after a day of super productiveness I sometimes need to reward myself by reading an entire book.

What is your Chinese astrological sign? Apparently we are a Monkey and a Snake – and we are not impressed.

How many languages can you speak? We are pretty good at English and if pressed John thinks he could still navigate a French speaking country. I however panic in the face of foreign language and could not. (Update: In the last year we have now learned to sing in Portuguese, though we don’t always know what we are singing about and John can count to ten in Korean.)

Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Only nerdy ones. National Geographic and Discover.

Which are better, legos or Lincoln logs? That’s… That’s… such a ridiculous question. You can build houses, barns, other square buildings, and fences with Lincoln logs. You can build ANYTHING with Legos. Also I might have a MiniFig obsession…

Are you stubborn? “I’m gonna let you take this one…” – John. “Yes. I think yes is the correct response here.” -Jessie

Who is better, Leno or Letterman? John says Letterman, I dislike them all.

Ever watch soap operas? John hasn’t but in college I was a regular Days watcher.

Are you afraid of heights? John climbs high things for fun while I try not to watch.

Do you sing in the car? Totally.

Do you sing in the shower? Never. That would mean you would be wasting time in the shower and then you’d be in there longer and that would be ridiculous.

Do you dance in the car? Only when there isn’t oncoming traffic watching.

Ever used a gun? Not today, and that’s a serious issue when it’s November.

Do you think musicals are cheesy? Of course they are it’s part of their charm.

Is Christmas stressful? No. Having a kid’s birthday on December 23 might be though.

Ever eat a pirogi? “What’s that?” – Jessie “Yup, made by a polish woman.” -John

Favorite type of fruit pie? Apple… or blueberry.

Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Paleontologist, Astronaut, Doctor, Veterinarian, Elementary School Teacher. You can guess who’s who on those.

Do you believe in ghosts? “Nope.” -John “Except when its a dark and stormy night and I hear funny noises then my imagination tries to convince me otherwise.” -Jessie

First concert? I don’t remember. John saw Air Supply with his mom.

Nike or Adidas? Ummm dude, shoes are foot coffins, they are both evil!

Cheetos or Fritos? Doritios is the -itos we should be talking about here!

Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? John loves sunflower seeds, but they aren’t really food so I’m choosing peanuts for both of us.

Ever take dance lessons? They don’t give those out in cars so no. John took a swing dance course in college though.

Regularly burn incense? Does burning oak in the wood stove count?

Who would you like to see in concert? The Piano Guys, Little Big Town (but I couldn’t remember their name so I’m probably not going to make that happen) John’s adding Rush, I don’t even know who that is.

What was the last concert you saw? Great Big Sea

Are you patient? Do elephants fly?

Which are better, black or green olives? Ick. I give all my olives to John and he says their isn’t’ enough data in the question to make an informed decision. Fancy green, canned crap, black.

Can you knit or crochet? I could knit, not sure I remember how anymore though.

Best room for a fireplace? The middle one.

Who was your HS crush? Somethings should die with High School.

Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No, that’s what the three year old tries and it doesn’t work for her either.

Do you have kids? Three

Do you want kids? Three is good, no more please.

What’s your favorite color? Blue

Do you miss anyone right now? Not more than usual.

How about you?

Have you ever answered questions with someone before?

It’s John’s Birthday!

Aug31

Happy birthday to my favorite excitable man! John Birthday

I’d like to tell you this was the face he made when he realized how cool it was that we’d been married for a third of his life but no, he was just that excited to have guessed his gift!

Happy Birthday Honey!

This Moment – Lookin’ Around

Jan15

A Friday ritual.

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

John and Jane

In interest of full disclosure I feel compelled to share with you that this picture was not taken this week. It was taken last week. I’m sure there is no one other than me that finds that important. But now, when I look back on this in years to come, I’ll know that this was taken the first week of January and not the second and, clearly, that will make all the difference.

Mundane Monday: Raspberry Canes

Dec7

After months of deliberating, John’s new sunglasses arrived. Not just any sunglasses. EnChroma sunglasses. Sunglasses that bring color to the color blind.

John is not profoundly color blind, but he has a hard time finding a red ball in a field of green, if he can even tell you it’s red after he’s found it. And while I don’t want to harp on the amount of times he’s argued with me over what color a grey/green/dark blue/black item of clothing is, let’s just say it’s come up over the years. This spring a friend sent a video John’s way, thinking he might be interested…

…and last week they arrived in the mail.

It was exciting but I was a little bit nervous. What if they didn’t work? They don’t work for everyone and after all the deliberation and long wait it would be a huge disappointment. He opened the box and read the directions “Strong daylight is ideal. Go outside!”

I looked outside with my natural color vision. It’s December, it’s Wisconsin, it was overcast. It was not what I would call a colorful day. But you work with what you have.

We stepped out the front door, John put them on and looked around.

The grass was greener (for November in Wisconsin), the leftover pumpkins from Halloween were brighter (for old mushy pumpkins), John was interested in the color my hat had turned but seemed less than overwhelmed.

Fifteen minutes the directions recommended, so we set out on a little walk around the property.

At the scrubby edge of the orchard he stopped when he saw the wild black raspberry canes.

He stopped because, as John now knows, the tangle of brush he never gave a second glance to is laced with arcs of purple and red.

We admired the beauty of raspberry canes for a long time.

When we moved on, John was seeing new color everywhere, the green moss on the trees, the red combs on the chickens… he started bouncing on his toes and finally exclaimed: