A CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

". . . and Dad gave me a stainless steel paring knife. I'd bent mine up in grouse feathers during the season." Ina Dobson, January 1, 1933

When Mike and I married, I knew he was an avid bird hunter. It didn't bother me. My home town is located in the Idaho wilderness where hunting and fishing are common. BUT – I drew the line at cleaning the birds. "You hunt them, you take care of them," I said. I believe that anyone who doesn't want to clean the birds shouldn't hunt. It's as simple as that.

I recently visited my dentist. You know how it is – they like to numb you up and put stuff in your mouth, then start an interesting conversation. The dentist, who is probably in his early 50s, is also a bird hunter, and knowing that Mike hunts, he will regale me with hunting-related topics.

"When my wife and I were first married," he began, "I was getting ready to go hunting and so I was making a sandwich for my lunch. My grandmother saw me and immediately got on my wife for not making my lunch. My wife said, 'He is an adult; he can make his own lunch.' My grandmother was so mad at her. Not only that – she told me that I had made a big mistake in my choice of wife. Well," he continued after a pause, "I just think there's been a change in attitude."

How did he know that I collect such stories? I wanted to tell him how, as a "modern retro woman," I take note of such observations. Unfortunately I was not in a position to say anything. And even though I love the "modern retro woman" study, in the case of cleaning birds I'm definitely more modern than retro.

Mike will still occasionally press me to clean his birds. The other day he told me that he and his hunting buddy, Ken, had been discussing duck hunting. Ken mentioned childhood duck hunting experiences with his dad and grandfather. Mike pointed out that ducks really are hard to clean, whereupon Ken stated that his grandmother just loved to clean ducks. They would drop them at the house after a hunt and she would immediately take up the task." But my thinking is that the woman knew how to clean ducks, was good at it, and knew the work was hers to do as part of living off the land and preparing food for the family. Perhaps she even enjoyed duck meat and appreciated the hunters' efforts. But did she love cleaning them? I think that goes a step too far.

[I took these pictures this afternoon as we tramped the woods to the north of the farmhouse.] KW