Overkill

This past week was spent vacationing with my entire immediate family - my parents, four siblings and spouses, assorted nieces and nephews, and one nephew's girlfriend. (This is one definition of overkill for DH - a whole week with my whole family.) It's not easy to find a place that can comfortably sleep 20 people ranging in age from 8 to 76. (Really, most of us are too old for the hide-a-bed with the odd bar across your back that results in 6 months of chiropractic appointments.)

While I'm deciding how much family stuff to share (since the majority of them don't know about this blog), I will share our rental house with you.

First - let's get some things clear. I'm not a hunter. Never have been. Never will be. I have a definite viewpoint about unbridled gun ownership that stems from being a city girl most of my life and also stems from my experiences in my chosen profession.

I know people who hunt. Mostly, they're deer hunters - responsible people who understand that firearms are dangerous - who know how to take precautions to stay safe and not harm themselves or other people - people who use/eat what they kill.

But this all was a bit much. Nearly every inch of wall space was devoted to hunting trophies.

This is one wall.


And another wall.


The loft.


On top of the kitchen cupboards.




Another wall.


Above the fireplace.


A capybara. Why would you kill an animal that is so gentle that it will allow humans to hand-feed it and pet it?


This really made me sad - I avoided looking at it each time I passed by it.



Wallaby number 1 in one of the full baths.



I'm all for bringing the outdoors indoors, but this is really too much. Wallaby toilet paper holders - the ultimate in hunter kitsch.

And wallaby number 2 in the the half bath. (The youngest niece proclaimed she couldn't properly use this bathroom because when she was seated to do her business, so to speak, it was staring at her.)


And wallaby number 3 in master bath.



Thankfully the weather was good while we were there so one could spent relatively little time indoors. The height of the walls helped when one was trying to ignore the decor - just avoid looking upwards.

It's funny - when I've described this house to people, it's the wallaby toilet roll holders that pushes the decor from "Field and Stream's dream house" into "Vincent Price horror movie set."

As DH said, you may think it's grotesque, but this place will feature in our family stories for years.