My world as I knew it changed.

At this very moment I was standing in a pool of my own blood pondering just what was going to happen next and was totally resigned to the inevitable.

I had only discovered her adultery merely days before and now I feared exposure would never come.

It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

That was two years ago.

Funny how things work out.

Today I was a gun show with the owner of the company I work for, this past Wednesday we flew over to Athens for lunch and he gave me pheasants for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I get promoted and my income will skyrocket. I've also been looking at purchasing a house not far from where I'm renting.

Congratualations, Pariah. That's great news. Promotions and raises are good, and I really like pheasant. My brother got a deer yesterday, and he's giving me some venison.

Tell him you want the backstraps.

LOL! He's not giving those up. I'm getting a roast, some jerky after it's done, and something else. Maybe some steaks. I put up some berries in the spring, so I may be able to make a blueberry-red wine reduction...

Man, this is the first time I've felt like cooking.

So, are you going to take your GF out to celebrate the promotion? Or are you doing something low-key?

She wants a plane ticket to see her son for Christmas.

He was taken from her when she had her stroke by her XMIL.

Anyways, I'm the only one getting a promotion in the company, so I am under orders to keep it confidential.

Congratulations Pariah.
You did more than just survive, didn't you?

I have a freezer full of pheasants to cook for the company's owner of my new job.

He wants me to cook some for my and Tabs and if they are good cook some for him and the uppers.

Not to mention he'll want my recipe for his wife!

I'm making a brandy-mango-peppercorn reduction sauce for them after they are rotisseried.

They will be legendary!

Did I mention we flew over to Athens, GA for lunch last week? Then I took him to a gun show. He had an absolute blast.

I have held off mentioning that I'm looking at another house. It's a foreclosure that's sat up unoccupied for over a year.

I've been gathering up the broken trees from those terrible tornadoes this past year and giving it out to people who need it to heat their homes. There was a nice house up the street in a neighborhood where I was getting the wood that I think I can get for a song.

It needs ALOT of work, but if I have nobody's name on it but mine, no stinking judge can give it away to some harpy garbage.

"Some harpy garbage"? That made me chuckle, Pariah. It is such a vivid description.

Sounds like a good Punk Rock Band.

My 2-year mark is on the 18th of this month. I have a bottle of champagne I've been saving for a special occasion. My best friend says that I've come a long way in 2-years, farther than he's seen anyone else in the same time-span. That's a great compliment to me. The XW holds zero power over me anymore, although occasionally pops into my dreams to remind me just how good I have it now without her and just how miserable it was with her.

Some days I even think about forgiveness.

Congratulations on your promotion, Pariah. That must feel good. You've not only survived; you've thrived. Boy, I tell ya. It puts new meaning into the phrase that when a door closes, another opens.

My husband just started hunting pheasant a few years ago with his boss. I sent him overnight on a hunting trip once, but he only came home with something called 'chuckers?' I have NO idea what that is, possibly some sort of wild chicken.

We actually belong to a Pheasants Forever chapter and go to a dinner each year where they auction off all kinds of stuff - wildlife paintings, gift baskets, guns, etc. Lots of fun.

My boss, I, my XBIL and the A/P mechanic from the airport back home all went to a huge gun show today. Boss and XBIL hit it off immediately. Boss bought several things and XBIL was snatching up Lugers. My boss watched in amazement as XBIL dropped fifteen grand on them.

My boss had an absolute ball. He really liked my XBIL as we all three have the exact same airplane. My XBIL and mechanic said they missed me back home and my boss said that he could see why.

Aircraft mechanic buddy asked if I was still with Tabs and I told him yes. He said if not, he knew this blonde that was like a trap door spider that I could date. (my ex-wife)

She keeps asking him how I'm doing and he wanted to know exactly what I do at my new job and all about where I live. I told him that I now make enough money that Tabs and I want for nothing and boss told him that I was an extremely important person in the company. Go back and tell her that.

I told him that in no uncertain terms that am I interested as she was the most cruel, hateful, vile person I had ever known.

Mechanic buddy said he could tell I was a totally different person and I looked happy and full of life.

And everyone sees the bitter harpy as what she really is, a trap door spider just awaiting for her next victim.

My twin brother and I build Owl boxes for the wildlife center here in Atlanta for the auction at the raptor center.

Funny, you can tell the amount of love that goes into our Owl boxes and they are always fought over and they get bid up over hundreds of dollars.

The ONLY way you can get one of our boxes is to make a donation to the raptor rehab center and they I will make it for free.

I believe without consulting Google that is chukkars.

It's a partridge.

My brother gave me chukkas. They're small but good. I love game.

In a pear tree?

Really? We've been eating partridges? Wow. LOLOL

Am I going to hell now? LOL Should I go to confession? LOLOL

When he starts hunting turtle doves I'm outta here. That's my hill to die on. LOLOL Hey - everyone has to have some sort of boundary, dangit.

Here's the last dove I raised.

Thank you for sharing that. I loved how it was thumping up and down. I think it was actually happy. Were you mimicking the mother's beak with your left forefinger and thumb? Just wondering.