Be thankful for the brotherhood Hubby.

Somewhere out there in this land of the free is a lonely and brave soul who keeps a secret. Probably his wife knows. His children too. And maybe one or two of his closest friends. They don't understand his affliction, and don't discuss it in public. No need to hold him up to ridicule by those who don't love him as they do.

Still, what normal person owns an unknown number of muzzle loading rifles? The number is unknown because our brave and lonely soul is hesitant to let even his closest friends know just how many he has acquired - and certainly not his wife.

On the rare occasion when he tried to show one of his treasures to a buddy it got a quick glance with a response that went something like "nice, but let me show you the AK 47 I picked up last week. It's a lot cheaper to shoot than my 7mm Mag".

His family and friends know it's fine to have one of those old guns with the interesting hammer hung over the fireplace for decoration. And even his wife knows lots of perfectly normal people own a modern muzzle loader to take advantage of the special deer season. That's practical, even logical. But except during that special season it stays in the closet or gun rack without a second thought. Normal people have no strange compulsion to take it out and caress it as though it were something special, and certainly no desire to have more than one.

Our poor brave soul is lonely because he has yet to discover there are others out there like him. They speak openly of their affliction. They show others pictures of their treasures. They exchange information, trade items and even poke fun at each other. Oh, the joy he would experience if only he knew.

Why he has not discovered this brotherhood we do not know. Perhaps he's not computer literate. Maybe he has a computer but has yet to discover the wonders of the world wide web. All we know is he sits alone at night in his man cave, lovingly wiping down the barrel of one of his favorites and dreaming of a day when he might meet another brave and lonely soul who shares his affliction.