Good Will Hunting

Saturday, September 27, 2003 -- Cathi's parents drove in for Zach's "Punt, Pass, and Kick" competition this afternoon. The 12 year old division is the highest level so Joshua could not participate and this will be Zach's last year to compete. There were only two other kids at his grade level and Zach somehow managed to squeak out a first place win despite a less than stellar performance. After Zach picked up his ribbon (trophies will be handed out at Friday's homecoming game), we stopped by the house to get ready for cousin Will's big dove hunt out on the Griffith Ranch near Papalote. We arrived early enough for the boys to shoot a few rounds of skeet, ride Moron, and eat barbecue. Uncle Bubba even pulled out a couple of baseball gloves and played catch with Josh a while. When it came time to hunt, they dropped us along a fenceline where we were promptly attacked by 3 million mosquitos. Between the three of us, we shot four doves before sundown. At one point we lost a bird and were about to give up looking for it when one of Will's buddies showed up with his brown Labrador Retriever. "Dead Bird! Dead Bird" he repeated as the dog ran in ever increasing circles through the cotton. He finally caught the scent and popped up with the dove in his mouth. "Good Dog!" The boys and I were impressed to say the least and are wondering if it's too late to train Piglet. To top it off, after finding our bird, the guy hands me a can of mosquito repellant and a beer from his cooler. He is my new best friend. Back at the camp, our new buddy helped us clean the doves and talked the guy running the barbecue pit into grilling them, saving me from having to mess with them back at the house. When Will decided to move the party to his mom's, he told Josh and Zach they could drive the "Mule" (kind of a cross between a four-wheeler and a jeep) back to the house. I wasn't real keen on the idea but finally agreed to let Joshua drive the mule while Zach drove the car. Big mistake. Zach hit a rut and tore a piece of trim loose from the underside of the car. I TOLD Cathi I should have taken the Explorer - who goes dove hunting in a Chrysler LHS? The boys and I hung around till about 10:30 watching the big boys play dice before finally calling it a night.


You may be a redneck...