I'm Not Even Sure What Day It Is

The start of hunting season almost caught me by surprise this year.

Almost.

After selling our house in Malta and all the moving that entailed, followed by a trip to Australia, I’d been occupied with other thoughts. Lately, they’ve been centered around jet lag recovery — like why am I wide awake in the middle of the night?

I suspect it’s related to the Saturday we lost at the start of the trip. Flying out of Bozeman on a Friday morning we spent 18 hours in the air, somehow arriving in Sydney on Sunday.

Returning home last week I saw the sun rise and set twice in one day.

I’m easily confused and now remain more so.

While the trip was a welcome break from packing up the old house and trying to figure out what goes where, it was a major disconnect from life as usual which typically includes a dog.

I was reminded of that daily during my walks along the Southern Ocean where it seemed every other person I passed had a pooch on a leash.

Barb and I never take our dogs with us on vacation which has always been a welcome respite from them. But our trips are usually in the spring, not August, the last month before upland bird season. By then I’ve always been too nervous to leave, fearing something might happen and I’d miss the start.

Now there are only days to go and Dot needs a haircut, my boots need oiling, and I haven’t fired my shotgun since January.

I don’t know where I’ll be for the opener.

At the moment I’m not even sure what day it is.

Come this Sunday, however, I expect to be well-focused. I’ll rise before dawn, dress in clothes I haven’t worn in eight months, load Dot in the truck, and race down a gravel road in the dark, worried that another hunter will be in my spot. There never has been but still I worry.

I’ll sit in the truck nervously sipping coffee and checking my watch until it’s legal shooting time, then pull the shotgun from its case, put Dot’s collar on her, and load the gun.

As she races through the sage and shortgrass I’ll hurry to keep up, my senses on high alert.

I may be a bit discombobulated at the moment, but come Sunday morning all will be right with the world.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]