Those of us who live in Minnesota live by an unwritten rule.  We must "embrace" our weather. We pass our days amidst four very distinct seasons.  Fall being one of my favorites, at least most of the time.  Let me explain. Last week, I had a chance to do a little bird hunting with a few, new friends.  In our hunting party, Mitch Petrie, who is our new company president; Sheryl Gallup, who works with Scales Outdoor Group and Teresa Chiniaeff of the Outdoor Channel.  Mitch and Sheryl have both walked pheasant fields before, but Teresa, who lives in Southern California, had never had the opportunity to pull the trigger on a shotgun or jump at the cackle of a flushing rooster pheasant.   So, we headed south to Traxler's Hunting Preserve down in LeCenter, Minnesota to bang a few clay birds and hopefully get a shot or two at flushing pheasants.  Sounds like a perfect day, right?  One catch. Remember, I mentioned Minnesota's four seasons?  Yea....  We pulled into the club about 10 a.m. in a cold, 38 degree, fall rain.  The four of us made a smart choice and sat inside for a half hour watching the weather radar, waiting for the rain to clear.  That did eventaully happen and we scampered out to the trap shooting range where Teresa got a quick shotgunning lesson and then Mitch, Teresa and Sheryl took a few pot shots at clay targets.  Turns out Teresa had a knack for hitting targets. She turned to us and exclaimed, "This is so cool!"  Perfect.  Mitch and Sheryl also had a chance to crack off a few rounds before a gust front smacked us with a cold wall of wind and heavy rain.  Within a minute or two,  the knarly weather soaked us and we had no option but to retreat to the lodge.  Strike One.  We clicked on the fireplace and settled into a few cups of hot coffee and a plate of warm cinnamon toast (which I found out is one of Traxkler's specialties).   We traded outdoor tales and talked about the outdoor industry until the weather broke and we saw a few rays of sunshine pop in the window.  Wow. Like the old cliche proclaims; If you don't like the current weather, just wait ten minutes.   We grabbed out wet gear, sloshed it on and quickly headed for the pheasant field.   Daisy, Mitch's hunting lab for the day, jumped out of her Kennel and we lined up and headed into the wind.  Quickly, we flushed two roosters.  Teresa watched as a ringneck booked past her.  No shots fired.  A few moments later, a second rooster flushed.  Teresa watched again as the cackling rooster flapped past her. This time, Mitch was able to snap off two shots. No bird.  Sheryl and I laughed and kept walking upwind.  We would see half a dozen other birds fly that afternoon, though no one got a solid shot at any of them.   Really, it didnt' matter much.  We had a chance to watch a new bird hunter excitedly break her first clay targets.  We also got to see birds flush.  The best part? As we drove back into town, no one seemed to remember the nasty weather we had just weathered.  I guess getting outside tends to do that to a person....