El Zach the Matador.

Zach searches in vain for a dove to shoot at.

Saturday, October 2, 2004 -- "Dad! You've got to come pick me up in Calallen or I'm going to miss the dove hunt!" So said Zach as I dropped him off at the school to board the bus to marching band competition. The dove hunt he spoke of was Will Petrus' big annual hunt in Papalote. Over lunch, Uncle Ronnie agreed to take Josh in early while I drove into Calallen to pick up Zach. I arrived just as the bus was leaving for CC's PIzza where I joined them after a brief detour to Walmart. Rain ended up putting a damper on the dove hunt. Josh and Zach armed themselves with shotguns and took up positions out in the cow pasture. Bubba and I weren't too far away when we noticed a few cattle wandering in Zach's direction. The next time I looked, Zach had abandoned his bucket and was warily regarding a big white bull about 20 feet away. "That bull's not going to bother him is he?" I asked Bubba. "You better head over there just in case" he replied. I figured if Zach panicked and shot the bull, it'd be the last time we got invited to a dove hunt. By the time I reached him, Zach had retreated to the fenceline where we waited until the bull got bored inspecting the bucket and moved on. The highlight of the hunt - for the boys anyway - was an after-dark spin on Will's "mule." I made the mistake of telling Josh to turn around in the ditch and we ended up getting stuck. Joshua gets credit for suggesting that he and Zach push from the front while I gunned the motor in reverse, which sure enough did the trick. We hung around the barn a while after sundown eating fajitas and talking to uncles Bubba, Ronnie, and Johnny. As usual, the boys did not want to leave, especially when Rob announced a poker game was about to get underway.