Blaze orange IS a fashion statement ... if you live in Wisconsin

Everyone is wearing bright orange. Why? It's hunting season, and so, one has to sit and ask themselves why they sit for hours, numb with cold, waiting to catch the big one. Nick said hunting would only be fair when the deer had guns and could shoot back. I can see it now - "When Good Deer go Bad"... Anyway, I told him it was not just a sport; that people could survive a winter on Venison alone. My friends Rebecca, Terry and Jen know this all too well, and think the word "venison" is a four letter word. They had it, in different variations, for almost every night one year; consequently, the can't even stand the smell of venison.

And then there's my friend Diana, thinks that "meat" is a four letter word and gets huffy every year during hunting season. She is a vegetarian, and while this is admirable, it isn't gonna stop me from eating meat. I actually tried being a vegetarian for awhile when I was younger; but in order to make up for the protein you no longer get from meat, I ate soy. And soy, well... soy does interesting things to your stomach. I was sure, if someone pricked me with a needle, I would have fizzled around the room like a balloon does when you let the air out. So, here I was, a bloated victim of soy products; and I felt like like the goodyear blimp. Naturally, I started skipping on the soy, and eating tons of pasta and salads.

My friends mom thought I would die of starvation and shoved heaps of food on my plate whenever I walked in the house. She would make awesome stuff, like lasagne, and barbeque, and chicken; she was determined to put some meat on my bones. No pun intended. Alas, it was too much, the food was too good, and soy and tofu and cous-cous just don't compare.

Then there were her brothers, who could be incredibly gross about the whole topic. Such as what the contents of a vegitarian's stomach looked like, and if puke would be green, etc. I think you can get my drift. I suppose I could have been just as gross and vomited just to show them if their hypothesis was true or not.

So I eat meat once in awhile, and I've managed not to feel guilty, since I know animals are also meat eaters. Its alot easier to not have a strict diet, and I have more options. And in the animal kingdom its perfectly natural. But then I had another crazy thought. Plants and vegetables are living things too. Do they scream in terror when we pick them? Does Mama and Pappa Pea try to protect Jr. Pea? Now theres a cheerful picture...

Anyway, just some random thoughts on the subject of hunting and meating eat in general. OR was that eating meat? :P