The Only Difference in Men and Boys...

My husband always has a hobby of some sort – and they always seem expensive. He jumps from one to the next and it’s never a hobby like, walking, reading, jogging, or perhaps bird-watching. They are hobbies that run into big bucks and involve lots of equipment and always, APPROPRIATE CLOTHES.

His first hobby from childhood was rabbit hunting. We’re talking guns, LOTS of beagles and APPROPRIATE hunting CLOTHES. Luckily I’ve never had the good fortune to have a pen full of beagles in the backyard (you know, home owners associations and all). The first years of our marriage there was many a battle fought because he never attended any of my family Thanksgiving dinners because he was rabbit hunting, (somehow I always had visions of Elmer Fudd). And I always politely declined the fried rabbit at his Grandmother’s house.

Well, that phase passed and he briefly discovered a golf club and he toyed with that hobby for a while. That frustrated him, so it didn’t stick with that long. Although, there were several purchases of APPROPRIATE CLOTHES and shoes.

Then he moved to three-wheelers, first a Honda, and then a Yamaha. APPROPRIATE CLOTHES and equipment was required, first for the Honda (red), then for the Yamaha (yellow). This hobby involved lots of noise and dirty appropriate clothes. Eventually we moved to the "big city" and he had to give this hobby up, though I'm sure something else would have caught his eye soon enough!

A brief foray into tennis followed, it didn’t involve a country club, so the level of APPROPRIATE CLOTHES (i.e. tennis whites) wasn’t too high, and he and his partner in crime developed tennis aches fairly quickly, so this hobby didn’t last much longer than a summer or two. Whew!

Then the whopper of all hobbies - bass fishing. This hobby took him down, pardon me here, hook, line and sinker! Do you have any idea how expensive this hobby is? We’re talking rods, (not one mind, you, but at least 10, each rigged differently), plus reels, depth finders, GPS, lures, lizards, line and last but not least. A BASS BOAT. This hobby was so consuming that he actually WENT TO WORK for the bass boat company. I kid you not. (I guess I'm required to disclose that he did get a company boat, but I'm not quite sure they were an offsetting entry to all of the other hobby expenses, in accounting speak, if someone is reading this.). And, oh my, the APPROPRIATE CLOTHES level, he developed a need for Gore-tex, he needed all things Gore-tex. He wasn’t alone on this fishing tangent, several buddies were lured there too. They even had their own Bass-Masters style fishing tournaments.

Gradually, the bass developed a stench and we moved close to a golf course and the links came back in favor. Of course, new clubs were a must, plus new APPROPRIATE CLOTHES (shoes, shirts, gotta look sharp!) and the ever important GOLF CART (cherry red, mag wheels, waxed to a gleam). And...a country club membership.

Turkey hunting was next, and boy, was there a lot of funny looking APPROPRIATE CLOTHES that went along with this one! There were videos to watch, turkey calls to purchase and PRACTICE (in the house). The highlight of this hobby though was the construction of the turkey blind in the garage. Someone failed to measure correctly and when it was time to remove the blind from the garage – it would NOT GO THROUGH THE DOOR. Of course, I didn’t laugh at all, not one bit.

Skeet shooting has come on the scene, why, I’m not sure, but it has. But, boy howdy, is it hot at the moment. He’s selling stuff right and left to buy skeet and trap guns, he’s making play-dates with new Skeet Friends. He’s plumb giddy. He's watching skeet shooting videos, cleaning his guns, researching guns on the internet and the Fed Ex man is stopping almost daily. I’m just waiting for the new APPROPRIATE CLOTHES. By the way, do they make skeet shoes and skeet socks?