I Thought I'd Never Have a Gun in My House - Okay, I Was Wrong

My husband turned 41 yesterday. (Thanks for the nod to Craig and his birthday in your blog, Em.) So, I'm thinking 41 is kind of anti-climactic (sp?) after all the hoopla with the 40th. Dinner, limos, friends, black balloons. We had to think quick and come up with something somewhat memorable so his birthday became a hunting birthday. What is a hunting birthday? Well, gifts of a gun safe (which he maintains is actually a gift for me because he was fine with the guns just sitting in my side of the closet behind my underwear basket, um, hello? this was not okay, people), a meat-grinder (deer-burgers, anyone?) 2 packages of elbow-length plastic gloves (for reaching in and cleaning out the animal you shot, ew, gross) and a music CD. Okay the music CD was not hunting-related (can you say Deliverance?). So, all this hunting stuff reminded me of the Money family, this family in Maryland where I grew up. I was always in awe of Mr. Money. He hunted and he was like the quintessential macho hunting man. My father did not hunt so the hunter-man profile was strange to me. So here I am in my present reality that my son and my husband are hunters. Weird. But, it is a good thing, I guess. After getting used to the thought of a gun in my house which I, through gritted teeth, had told my husband upon our engagement I would never allow in my house, but now I am actually okay with it. (It helps to have them safely locked away in the safe). But beyond all that, elk and deer meat are actually quite good. They're incredibly low in fat and high in protein and so much better than cow-meat. I guess if you're going to eat red meat then this is the way to go. Incidentally, our last pig was butchered last week, too (if you're gonna eat pork, grow it yourself, and I haven't experienced it yet, but beyond the lack of antibiotics, supposedly fresh pork is the way to go). Beyond guns in the house I never thought I would actually own a pig that would get butchered. Sometimes I wonder, where am I? Okay, but enough about meat. I think I'll go have an apple.