The Armchair Outfitter

“At the top of the mountain, we are all snow leopards.”

- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Merry Christmas, it’s a Pete-in-a-Box!

No, he didn’t come packed in a box of styrofoam peanuts. We didn’t even order him, technically. My outlaws, the Sporting Wife’s parents, had a litter of registered Lab puppies weaned and ready Christmas of 2006. Wendy and I talked at length about adopting one into our home, and we decided firmly against it. We already had a chocolate Lab named Hershey. (Hey, I also had a python once named Monty; original we ain’t.) Hershey was getting on in years, and he’d never shown any desire for a younger brother. Besides, with a big chocolate hunk o’ love already, we weren’t really in the dog market. Wendy’s dad was bringing a pup for my brother-out-law Jay, and he decided to, “Bring an extra one, just so we could see it.” The result was fairly predictable. Can we all just agree that puppies are cute? They don’t call it puppy love for nothin’, folks. Here I am, gone.

Wendy walked outside, saw this look on my face, and started making preparations for the dog to ride home with us. The outlaws generously sweetened the deal, and deflected some of the Sporting Wife’s ire, by offering to help us pay for the fencing of our back yard that we had been putting off for financial reasons.

Hershey was not really that taken with the idea. Here they are together. Pete is playing; Hershey is wishing his parents had more resolve.

The hosts of a radio show I listen to on the way to work in the mornings were talking about doing “The Big Year-Ender.” They were gently poking fun at the radio tradition of doing a special show at the end of the year with lots of celebrity guests. Television and the print media are no different. Every story is some variation on either the highlights or lowlights of the past year. This got me thinking about how I could do the same thing for the site. Although we haven’t been up and running for very long, the end of 2007 does mark the end of our first year and the beginning of a whole new year of outdoor adventure with an Armchair outlook. I want to sum up these last few months and give our readers an idea of what lies ahead in 2008.

The whole thing began with rejection. A rod and gun magazine was soliciting articles about guns that, for one reason or another, were so special to their readers that they would never part with them. The Gun I’m Keeping was my submission, but they declined to publish it. I liked the piece, and I didn’t want to throw it away or let it moulder on my hard drive. I thought that someone might enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, so I decided to make it available. I’m not the most computer-savvy person in the world, but the Sporting Wife suggested a blog. Once I found out what that was, I was all for it.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the layout of the site and learning the basics of how to get my articles to look the way I wanted them to look on the screen. I also put the word out to my friends that I was doing this project, and I wanted their stories and photos as well. My friend Trevor helped me get my ideas out of my head and onto the page, and I drafted the Sporting Wife as my art department. (She knows how to get the photos from my camera to the hard drive.)

I have enjoyed writing and editing the stories here, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. Every time I go out hunting and fishing now, you’re in the back of my mind. Even when things go horribly wrong, I get a chuckle thinking about all of you laughing at my expense. I look forward to sharing our adventures during the coming year, and I’ll be adding several regular features to the site. If I weren’t such a Luddite, I could tell you more, but both audio and video are within the realm of possibility. That’s the view from the Armchair. Happy New Year!