The Centennial Valley
Happy birthday my dear, sweet, loving, and PATIENT husband. We have been together over 6 years now and I believe I have been with you on your birthday every year until this year. But readers, do not think this is me being neglectful or uncaring, and really and truly it has very little to do with me being pregnant. It has EVERYTHING to do with it being opening weekend of duck season. Robbie loves duck hunting almost more than life itself. He also loves big game hunting too, but the ducks and geese are his real passion.
Robbie's birthday wish was to go back to the Centennial Valley where he and I went opening weekend last year. Last year we took Mom and Dad's suburban and camped out in the vehicle in sleeping bags with the seats folded down. It was actually pretty cozy the two of us and a muddy dog. Suburbans make great campers. We had an awesome weekend last year and nearly limited out the first day. Unfortunately our computer crashed a few months ago and we lost our pictures. So sad.
Below is one picture I salvaged off MySpace, but it's compressed.
This year I was not up for the trip since I need 5 or more pillows and a nearby bathroom. I'm also not interested in ruining our daughter's hearing quite yet with shotgun blasts, and I know that this year would not compare to last year when we hung out by the river, shot ducks, missed geese, and drank beers while watching the sun set. I'm not sure we could recreate that experience, so the best thing I could do was just let him go. I felt bad sending him off by himself on his 30th birthday but it's what he wanted and I wasn't going to stop him.
He started packing his bags on Monday while listening to heavy rock man music on the computer. Once in a while he would make an appearance wearing some funny camo hat or raincoat and slippers (with no pants or at least it was long enough to cover his shorts) bearing his shotgun just so I would know how cool he was. How could I forget?? He also took care to pack some magazines and the pregnancy book just for good measure.
Where they hunted this year
Robbie's cousin David from Dillon joined him for part of the weekend. Robbie ultimately camped in the middle of nowhere near the river and was woken up at 2 am by headlights coming toward him. It was his friend Brian from Stevensville who had joined up with David to join him for the Saturday morning hunt. The guys ended up having a great weekend despite some gun malfunctions, a run-in with the game warden (not for something Robbie did), and only shooting a few ducks.
Elk crossing on the way home
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