Cabela's

After the visit to the Farmstead and a bit of lunch, the family decided to visit Cabela's in Kansas City, Kansas. It's a chain of huge outdoor equipment shops - fishing, camping, hunting, guns for all occasions. I was out of my element. Where I grew up, you wouldn't dare eat anything you caught in the local waterways. Where I grew up, only the cops and really bad guys had guns. City kid that I am, I never imagined that I would visit one of these. (As Gene Wilder said to Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles, the funniest movie of all time, what's a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?)

The place is mind-boggling. Not just the store itself but the amazing dioramas, for want of a better word, of wildlife from Africa to the Arctic. You know, things you can shoot. They reminded me of but far surpassed displays like this in the Museum of Natural History in NYC when I was a boy. You can take a virtual tour by clicking the link above.

A Big Boy And His Dog

Here's STL DPB's version of Field & Stream, or at least Field. Niece Trisha's husband, Steve, and his trusty dog, Dakota, led the way on the annual day after Thanksgiving quail hunt. It was unsuccessful, as usual. I got off more good shots than the hunters. Good exercise tromping around in the fields, though.                 

In The Field

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Scenes from Friday morning's unsuccessful bird hunt. Tom looks tired and cold although the trek has just begun. The family takes meticulous care of the guns and follows all safety rules carefully. Note how they are all pointed downward in the back seat of Mel's pickup truck. Below, Steve and his well-trained dog, Dakota, scan the horizon. Nothing to be found.