There are earnest looking men in camouflage and bright orange hats driving around in pickup trucks full of hounds everywhere I look, which I assume means that it is hunting season. Hunting what, I do not know. What they do with what they have hunted, I do not know. Why they are so earnest looking, I do not know. I find their bright orange hats vaguely amusing. I find it hard to imagine that any of them could be mistaken for deer or what-not, as they all seem to be 30-50 and extremely tall and heavyset. How they can all be extremely tall and heavyset, I do not know. I imagine them crouched low in the leaves, meaty hands clutching guns, accidentally shooting one of their fellow hunters. Chagrined, one will exclaim, Well, you weren't wearing an orange hat! How was I to know that you are not a majestic stag?
I doubt they would share my amusement. And consider wearing more brightly colored clothing when I'm out walking. Woods-tromping may have to be postponed until the hunt is all hunted and the hunters all huntless. Whatever they were hunting. Deer I hope, because if it's pheasants or something the hats really seem extra ridiculous.
Woods-tromping may have to be postponed, alternatively, because Tropical Storm Ida has gone and turned the whole island into gooey salty marsh ground. I suppose it's all part of living in an area referred to as the Tidewater, but still, 5 feet high tide? Shame on you, Ida. The winds ripped all the bird feeders and bird houses down. The tide came crawling over the lowland and left, upon its retreat, great rambling lines of pine needles, trash, pine cones, and driftwood. I, of course, missed everything but the aftermath. Today the islanders emerged to pile the debris in their yards and set smoking, wet fires of brush. The ones that weren't out hunting, anyway.
Sheshakes, I'm a blogger nearly wihtout comments myself (filberthockey.blogspot.com). You'll see your father's name at the top of that page, so you'll understand I did not arrive at your blog by sheer happenstance.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your writing. You make good sentences. If you are not familiar with Haven Kimmel, I'd strongly recommend you look at her work, particularly her fiction (www.havenkimmel.com). I hear some similarity in your voices.
Just to make this a reasonable reply-to-a-blog, it's really too bad if you missed the hurricane. We got hit by Hurricane Fran in '96 (120 miles inland) and it was a night to remember, trees crashing down all night long in our then-new neighborhood.
Walking around in the woods where hunting occurs is a little scary; in this state hunting is not legal on Sundays, but even on a Sunday one feels reluctant to walk up to the deerstand on the top of the next ridge.