The big adventure...

Last night after supper, CPJ, JJ's brother, announced (I think it was more of a joke than an announcement) that we were all going prairie dog hunting. RJ, JJ's mom, enthusiastically said, "OK!" So, we set off. We drove and drove, then stopped in the middle of nowhere. On the way out, JJ gave us hunter's safety instructions that included things like "don't stand in front of the guns (no kidding!) and "don't, under any circumstances make prairie dog noises or these trained hunters might instinctively turn on us" (ha!). We got out of the J Painting van (I'm sure CMJ would be happy to know where some of the gas money was going...). CPJ and JJ loaded up with CPJ's two guns, gun stand, and bullets. We walked and walked, being careful not to step on cacti or in a hole and twist our ankles. We got to try out the guns and both RJ and I hit a cactus about 20 yards away. The boys lead the way to the prairie dog community. JJ had great fun directing us around, "Girls! You stand over there." "Girls! Come along, we're going to a new area!" "Girls! Please stop calling to the prairie dogs so they go in their holes!"

The boys shot a rabbit, and neither RJ or I could really stand it. The rabbit really was so dumb or tame it wasn't much sport. He just looked around as the boys missed a few times. CPJ commentated, "Are you going to feed me? Do you want to pet me? What are those bullet things going by my head?" Later, when they were pinpointed on a prairie dog community, we saw a rabbit and kind of made friend with it. We positioned ourselves in line with the rabbit so the boys couldn't see it. Later, when we turned to go back, the boys spotted the rabbit and one of its rabbit buddies. We called out to it, "Go to your home!" "Go away!" But, it just sat and looked at us. The boys realized we weren't going to back down, and we had a victory in the dead rabbit count.

We made it safely back to the van, even without those intelligent prairie dogs CPJ talked up so much, overtaking the van.