Bud's adventures with great-granddaughter Annie

We were babysitting our two-year-old great-granddaughter, and I was browsing through some of my hunting and fishing photos. Annie was sitting on my lap, looking at the photos and asking me all types of questions.

We came to a photo of me sitting in one of my tree stands, and Annie asked me, “Were you sitting in your timeout chair, Papa Bud?”

Well, I never actually figured it was a timeout chair, but I guess it could be considered that!

I tried to explain to her that it was a comfortable seat that Papa sits in, waiting for deer to come by, and sometimes it took a long time waiting. Then came all the "why" questions, like "Why do you want to sit in a tree?" "Why don't you sit on the ground?" and "Why don't you sit in the truck where it is warm?"

To be honest with you, I had asked myself those same questions several thousand times. Trying to convince a two-year-old little girl is not the easiest thing to do.

I got my camouflaged ground blind out of the shed recently, and I set it up in the back yard to inspect it for holes. Naturally, Annie saw it and claimed it to be "Annie’s Playhouse." Before long she had Grandma Nana putting a blanket on the floor, and she was going to be camping.

She ended up eating some donuts, some cereal, and orange juice and playing with her baby dolls, so we figured out the blind was a dual-purpose device. She even took a back-up pair of binoculars and was sitting on one of Papa Bud's folding “timeout” stools. She was wearing my camouflaged baseball cap and said she was "sitting in timeout" and deer hunting.

I asked her if she was seeing any deer, and she said, "No, we must be sitting in the wrong place!" I guess she is catching on quick!

I started referring to all my tree stands and ladder stands as my "sitting in timeout" places. I guess as long as I have been doing it -- 61 years now -- and all the trouble I get into buying hunting licenses, hunting weapons, ammunition, hunting scents, knifes, boots, trail cameras, binoculars, rangefinders, lightweight and heavyweight hunting clothes, and all the other "necessities" to go hunting, and as many times as I had to explain to my wife why I need these items, I need to sit in timeout.

It is not that I begrudge my wife for buying “girlie” things, but when I see the receipts for her items, I sometimes think, "Do you realize the price of that new purse could have paid for a new hunting knife?"

Of course, I think it, but I don’t say it. I would really be sitting in timeout!

Recently, while babysitting Annie, she walked up to me and said, "Papa Bud, I am the boss!" We got to laughing, and she squinted her eyes at me. I asked her, "Is something wrong with your eyes?"

She said, "No, Papa. I'm serious!" The wife and I got a laugh out of that.

When her mother came to pick her up after work, I told Kassi, "We were informed that Annie is the boss!" Her mom called her over and said, "I am your mother, and that means I am the boss!"

Annie looked at her mother and said, "I am the boss at Papa Bud’s and Nana’s house!”

Yes, as you might imagine, Annie had to sit in timeout. She has a "sitting in timeout” chair at Papa Bud's and Nana's. (At least until her mother leaves for work!)

I just wanted to share a little bit of babysitting humor with you, folks, but at least I got a new opinion on the seating platforms of my hunting stands. When you have 10 grandkids and 12 great-grandkids, it is always an adventure, and you learn something new every day!