A Date with Big Dog

Date night.  Brought to you by moving mountains and one tough babysitter.  Oh, and a 5 hour energy drink.  Our typical date night is dinner at a favorite restaurant and a movie.  I know.  Pretty boring but it's what we like. It's routine and simple. But sometimes getting a sitter and moving mountains isn't possible.  Big Dog likes his date nights with his lucky lady, me, so he will get them however he can.  And sometimes that means we lock up the kids in the house (with our 17 year old, don't call DHS yet) and sit on the patio of our red barn in white rocking chairs no less.  

A sketch of the white rockers outside our barn by Laura Hill made for some dear friends of ours as a wedding gift. 

Since we live in Oklahoma we are almost always gifted with a beautiful sunset.  And the other night was nothing short of a masterpiece of a sunset.  Country music was in the background and we each had a cold beer in hand.  Ahhh...the good life.  What a romantic setting, ranch style.  Now for the conversation.  You see, Big Dog is, dare I say, a prepper? He has MRE's stocked, makes his own bullets, and has a wealth of knowledge and sophisticated plans on what to do if the world ends.  Most people laugh at him but I kinda fancy it.  Anyhoo, we have a septic tank right off our patio.  Just when I thought Big Dog was going to say something deep and enduring he said, "Dang it!  I meant to throw that dead chicken from the other day down there."  What?  Wait, are we not on a romantic date 50 yards from our house swooning over a sunset?  Are we not going to talk about our future farm plans, daydream about retirement, more sleep and less chores?  I thought we could fantasize about a trip to Italy or Paris.  Nah.  Big Dog is a thinker and he's always thinking about survival.  

Big Joe is as handsome as ever!

Back to the chicken.  Naturally, I was dumbfounded by his statement.  I said, "why in the ever livin' dickens would you throw a chicken down there?"  Big Dog calmly and all knowingly explained this bit about needing something to feed the bacteria and the rest went right over my head.  Since I'm a visual person I needed to change the "table talk" and fast.  So I said, "speaking of chickens, I wish the owls would quit hunting my girls".  And just as a wise man solves the problems of the world he informed me that it would all be better in about a week.  Why a week?  Well, friends that is apparently when the rabbits start having their sweet little baby bunnies and the owls, being tired of fowl, move on to baby bunnies.  Again, a subject change was needed.  The sunset became blurry as my tears snuck up over my eyes.  The terror of bunnies being carried off by owls played in my mind like another horror film.  Oh the carnage!

If you haven't heard Miranda Lambert's "Oklahoma Sky" shame on you.

So, the acceptance of the circle of life still lingers in my world.  And as for date night...I think we should stick to dinner and a movie.  A movie that doesn't involve dead chickens, owls and baby bunnies.