Story

LOL

Ok Jim,

You have peaked my interest.

I am on the search for "A Bronx Tale".

Sounds a bit familiar.

Thanks,

Les

Well it is playing on AMC on Friday and Saturday this week.

Set the recorder!!!

I think it's a great movie even though the critics didn't rate it all that well. But, I kind of relate to the era the movie takes place in.

Okay, here is pure arrogance coming. I believe I can do ALMOST anything. Most of it well if I put in the work or at least if I had put in the work when I was younger. The limitation is I can't do EVERYTHING. I suspect many of you feel similarly about yourselves, but are not so arrogant as to say so.

I can write. If I put in the work I can do it well, but my abilities probably do not approach greatness. I'm not actually a fan of Hemingway by the way, and I despise the genre called, "The Great American Novel." If I wanted to read a never end spiral into meaninglessness and oblivion I'd read the newspaper.

I can do communications work, and perhaps is the one are where I might approached greatness in some small areas. I could do jobs, cheaper, faster, with fewer mistakes, and make more money for my time than nearly all if not all of my competitors and my net results had customers asking me how they could spec their jobs to make sure I got the bids. I could put all of huge cabling jobs in my head at once and picture the operation and installation of the whole system at once. This allowed me to work much more efficiently by a significant factor. I didn't hesitate to throw away a hundred dollars worth of wire abuse a tool if it would save me a day's labor.

I am learning to be a decent CNC machinist, and someday I may be a competent manual machinist. As part of that I learned to be probably a better than average 3D CAD designer.

As part of being a contractor, machinist, growing up in a country store, and building out my own shop(s) I am a competent electrician (unlicensed) and a competent plumber (unlicensed).

I can paint and draw, and if I had put in the effort I might be be to do it commercially. Art not houses, although I can certainly paint a house. I have the equipment. LOL. My grand mother was a commercial artist. If you ever see a picture with a simple ML stacked and connected that's her work. Marge La Londe.

I can install and trouble shoot refrigeration systems. Commercial industrial, and central air. A refrigerator is a little more complex these days. I took my refrigeration course when I was 12 or 13 I think. Maybe 14. I know I was troubleshooting the systems in our store before I could drive. It was long before all the EPA and ASE certs/rules and dead end race to eliminate refrigerants from refrigeration.

At one time I thought I was going to be a great programmer. I could write rather large multiple subroutine/program systems and keep the entire project in my head while working on part of it. My problem was I could not also simultaneously document my code. My style was to pull an all nighter (or an all weekender) troubleshooting as I went running on Coca Cola and pizza early and coffee and Snickers bars later into the night until it was done and worked. In college I had three PCs at my place with different BIOS and different CPUs so I could bullet proof my code.

I can (or could) do any of those things (and more), but I can't do ALL of those things. I can't be a plumber and an electrician and a machinist while also being a "real" commercial writer and refining my skills to become a commercial artists.

As I said I do plan to write a little more of this story, but it needs a transition, and I already burned up the easy ones. We have done a lot of background and discovery, but I need to reveal the underlying premise without using a cheesy solution like over voice narration. It needs to be better than a simple segue like "he woke up,' "AGAIN!" A time skip of a few days would work, but 4 pages of dialogue to explain everything is going to be tedious write and more tedious to read.

Ok Jim, I recorded "The Bronx Tale" movie and watched it.

Very good story. It would seem that it had a ring of truth to it.

Did you notice that it was directed by Robert De Nero??

Thanks for the tip!!!

Les

I realize there was some disjointed context in the "plot reveal." Just assume there was some subtext. I have some thoughts for cleaning up some of it, but how and why might spoil the story telling. It might be better to just move on with the story and ignore my messes.

Great! Glad you liked it. I recorded it too and in the middle of watching it again, (piecemeal) for the umpteenth time. Yes re: De Nero. . I usually avoid watching anything with him starring in it but this one is the only exception. He doesn't play the lead. . All the while I'm watching it I keep thinking about how this most fortunate kid with such natural talent screwed up his life in real life after playing this part in a movie with such a moral . Wiki the kid in a few different ways to get the full story of what happened to him. Not every information site gives the full or accurate story.

Oh heck. I realized two seconds after I hit send that I missed a huge opportunity for a discordant reality moment in FLASH POINT.

If instead of, "Mr President the bugs on Dr McEvil's space station are working," I had written, "Mr President. System 4 just went live on Dr McEvil's space station," I would have felt so clever with myself.

Suspension of disbelief has been suspended.

Hey Bob, Sorry I haven't been participating in the "Story" Just been too busy with business the holiday coming up ( short week) and getting ready to go deer / coyote hunting. So, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. this week and Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. Next week no work. That's a long time to hope that nothing goes awry. . Trying to get all the detail service done and hope there's no "emergencies" while I'm away. I have someone on call but I hate for anyone else to "touch my stuff". . Obviously my posts will be sparse the next couple of weeks. Not enough time to be "creative". . However, I must say again, that your show of creative writing has REALLY impressed me a lot. You've never given a hint that you had that talent. . However, since (as you say) you can't do "everything" all at once, maybe when you finally decide to slow down enterprise-wise, you can write your memoirs from the point of view of an octogenarian, make a fortune in royalties, and leave it all to your heirs or - - - - If you're anything like me, rather to someone who may do something a little more worthwhile with it, like the NRA or Bass Fishing Club of America or some such.

On 11/22/2022 5:41 PM, Jim Davis wrote:

At the risk of being to political Wayne LaPierre has done a lot of damage to the NRA. I hope at some point they recover if for no reason than the long legacy they had established and the influence it carried in past times.

As near as I can tell no well known "bass" organization is more than a commercial venture aimed at selling more and more expensive toys classing out a lot of people who just can't afford them. I paid $34K for a very very nice bass boat in 2005. That same boat geared out similarly for the times would be $100K to buy new today. I can buy a heck of a nice truck for a lot less than that even in this time of truck "shortages". I would be willing to support sportspersons and outdoors groups if I could find one more dedicated to the average or poorer angler or hunter. Most of the big groups seem to be more about the rich hunter or sportsperson. There are local level organizations that are on the right page, but they usually only have political clout in their home regions due to the wealthier and more otherwise influential members. A few old groups do have a little more pull due to large numbers, but in my opinion there are none with multi state or national level influence that are not atleast somewhat weighted towards protecting wealthy member opportunities OVER the local guy who wants to bag a dear because its 100 lbs of meat he doesn't have to buy. Who shoots rabbits everyday after work to stretch his food budget as I did when trying to save for college. Who wants to go out and sit on his easy chair by the local pond sipping a coffee and enjoying the sunrise without mortgaging a house to do it. However I can't put down most of those organizations whether we see eye to eye or not. They are doing something. I do support some, but probably not to making legacy level donations.

I am more likely to donate to organizations I can see are mostly doing good work with most of the money. Firearms Policy Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Institute for Justice.

As America becomes more and more populated, a larger and larger number of the population become urbanized (or maybe sub-urbanized), and the population of "the rural areas" grows denser its going to get harder and harder to live the outdoor lifestyle I once took for granted. The people defending it are a lot more different today than they were when I was a kid.

There is a wash bottom I used to be able to walk for miles along hunting quail that is now posted. Its not posted no hunting by property owners. Its literally littered with dozens and dozens of ugly signs saying, "You are within 1/4 mile of an occupied building.

There is a historic site near where I grew up where a broken cliff face is covered in early American stone drawings. Nobody knew about it, and it was a several mile drive in to it past only one resident who lived a a mile or so off the two track going in. A couple years ago I hunted a wash and brush line in that area for quail and rabbit. After cleaning my kills I found myself driving back along a service road past that area. I was absolute stunned by the number of lights I saw scattered across the desert between the road I was on and that old historic site.

I once spent an entire winter running trap lines (3 months) in the desert and rarely saw another person. Mostly when I went home for supplies and to put up fur. In more recent years hunting, or just making a nostalgia visit to some of those areas I can't believe the number of people I see. In my lifetime the population of the country has grown by about 100 million people. Depending on the numbers you find maybe as much as 150 million people. There is no way that the kind of outdoors I grew up with can be sustained. There has to be rules, and restrictions, and the wealthy politicians, lawyers, and business people write those rules. You might know individuals in that class who are truly altruistic, but there is virtually no "groups" who aren't self serving to some degree. Even self serving to the exclusion of others who might be supporting.

For an example of what I mean there is a Outdoors Channel on Youtube by a very successful and wealthy YouTuber. He owns multiple ranches and farms dedicated to his own hunting and fishing adventures. He has put a lot of his own money into them. He deserves the right to the use of his property as he sees fit and he has the right to exclude others from it as he sees fit. In a recent video somebody trespassed on his land to "poach" a deer. This hunter deserves to be punished for it. Loss of deer certainly. Suspension of license without a doubt. Trespassing charges definitely. The rich landowner was publicly discussing MURDER and nobody seemed to bat an eyelash. I was stunned. He seems like a nice guy on video. He is generous to his friends. Obviously he is personable or he wouldn't be successful as a media personality. He said if he caught the guy he would kill him. I won't be watching his videos anymore. This is the sort of person who writes the rules or causes the rules to be written.

Yes, if I was wealthy, (which I am not) I could start a trust or a foundation but after my death there is no assurance I could have that it remain how I directed. Maybe (MAYBE) for the remaining lifetime of one person. I once attended a dinner that was ostensibly about setting up foundations using a foundation management company. 99% of their presentations was NOT about setting up a foundation. It was a commercial that you should give your money to THEIR foundation and just leave them some general directions about how your wealth "should" be used. They actually do manage a scholarship fund with money from a group I knew of (but was not part of) whom I suggested use some excess funds they could not legally just spend instead for a scholarship fund. That organization no longer exists, so there is nobody left who has the right to demand to see that the foundation is using the money as intended.

Managing wealth for a legacy is difficult. Sam Would be appalled about how WalMart has outsourced nearly everything offshore, and how his descendants have embraced the anti gun anti hunter anti politics. I am still surprised they continue to carry firearms and fishing tackle in their stores. Its just about the money I guess. Screw the vision of a dead man.

I do not have an answer. There may not be a way to have the answer I want. That my son or daughter or my grandson or granddaughter can pick up a shotgun or a rifle, go out to the desert or the woods, and just go hunting with nothing more than a single inexpensive license and the basic gun safety rules I taught them as children. Maybe ask a farmer for permission. (Remember WalMart? They are dictating to contracted vendors that they prohibit hunting even when fields are not currently planted in crops for WalMart.) I learned this from a lady who manages a modestly large farming company. In her offices she proudly has on display decoys her own dad and uncles used to call in birds over their fields. She is not not an anti, but she is forced to be one. WalMart is richer than she is and WalMart writes the contract. You can sign or they just won't do business with you.

Right now FPC, GOA, and IJ seem to be doing good work in the areas they say they are, but I don't KNOW that will continue down the road. I don't know it well enough that I could leave them a legacy level inheritance. If I could be sure it would happen I might choose to leave any truly legacy level gift of inheritance to strangers. Not truly strangers, but small blocks of money to small starting businesses. To the guy who starts a contracting company and hires his friend because his friend has a truck and he can't afford one himself. To the ex-felon who can't get a job so he starts his own business, because there is no way he is going back to prison. To the guy fixing computers out of his garage. To the person making suits with one sewing machine by hand because they don't have another way to make money while battling their way uphill through a college system that would rather you die in debt than any other possible outcome. To the kid who just graduated from a tech school and finds nobody is hiring in his field unless he packs up and moves across the country or around the world. To a small group in a new generation of those who are willing to work for themselves. One shot in the arm and then its gone. I know 99% would take the money and use it for their own ends, but those are good ends. Employ people, improve their business, and feed their family. One might do what I would do someday. I absolutely do not want the evil of massive government bureaucracy getting one dispassionately evil claw into what I leave behind if there is any way I can prevent it.

Sorry for all the typos, poor structure, or readability issues. Sorry for the rambling and ranting. This was written mostly in one shot with only infrequent pauses to think for a second. It was inspired by your comments and in the end has no real plot or purpose. Its more of an expression of frustration of my own inability to have more control of the direction of things, and recognition of the reality of some things.

Much more briefly than you - - - you inspire me to express my exasperation about a subject I think about often. First considering who I am speaking to, a subject I occasionally bring with various people. When I was about 12 or 13 years old my aunt gave me a set of encyclopedias. I would occasionally pick a book, open it and read whatever subject was on the page. For some reason i remember reading that at the time, there were approximately 4 billion people on this planet. Now - - - - there is over 8 billion. Doubled in my lifetime alone. Then I think of the demand and increasing scarcity of electricity and the building of windmills and solar farms, Battery powered cars. The corporate and political manipulation of the petroleum industry. The food shortages in third world countries, and the manipulation of subsidized crop farming and beef cattle. The dwindling supply of fresh drinking water and fishing sources. Polluted air, and the government push to do away with petroleum power to "cure" global warming. And so on and on and on. All of the above and more that are all just attempts at treating the symptoms of the real problem rather than trying to cure the problem itself of overpopulation. Everyone. and I mean EVERYONE, I ever mention this to just simply shrugs their shoulders, and agrees with me. (Although this is all I can do also ) BUT it is the same shrugging of shoulders by all the politicians and world leaders to. WHO would EVER even mention this in ANY political election? World wide. They know it would be certain political death. And yet in the face of this overwhelming evidence some have even sacrificed their life in anti abortion efforts. Will do nothing to promote birth control in third world countries, Rather they send them more free money, food, supplies, trade advantages, to support their ever growing populations. India will soon out populate China, has water pollution problems yet they still haven't figured out that you shouldn't bathe in the same river that you deposit your bodily wastes and family dead. I could go on but. Gotta go

The first epiphany I recall was much more mundane I suspect than that. We used to own a grocery store and cafe call Whittmann Grocery. The front counter of the cafe was often the town's equivalent of the cracker barrel or wood stove in your generation. No disrespect intended of course. One day in about 1970 (might have been 69, but I'm not 100% sure) at 3-4 years old I was listening to adults discuss the gun control act of 1968. They were also discussing the implications in light of the gun control act in 1934. I just listened to what they were saying. I reached two conclusions, although one not until much later after I had been exposed to how real politicians operate.

The first I voiced at the time. "If the reasons they say are true why don't they register ALL guns?" That was quickly met with condemnation (politely to a four year old) that the American people would never stand for it. FOPA did not exist at the time. That didn't pass until 1986. When the Brady bill went into a effect in 1994 I knew that was a first step in a federal gun registry. You can't convince me they ever destroyed the background check data that came in.

The second thought is that it was a long slow process. Incremental divide and conquer. Not that many people owned machine guns in 1934, and not that many people operated a firearms business in 1968. "It doesn't affect 'me' so I'm not going to get worked up about it."

My first real world taste of divide and conquer was also from 1993/1994. In 1992 big anti hunter animal rights psycho groups managed to get an initiative measure on the ballot in Arizona to prohibit all hunting, fishing, and trapping on all public land in Arizona. Big out of state money poured in to support the ballot initiative and get it on the ballot. Every outdoor group in the state stood up to fight back. Arizona Trapper's Association was one of many. Rod & Gun Clubs, hunter's clubs, fishing clubs. Everybody. Our outdoors groups poured in their cash reserves to advertise, promote, and get out our vote. In

1993 the same outdoor money poured in to the state with the exact same ballot initiative except it just said trapping. The Arizona Trappers Association was nearly broke from standing with everybody the year before, but they were left to fight the ballot initiative on their own. The other outdoor groups didn't care enough about it to bother. On January 1st 1994 All leg hold trapping on public land was outlawed in Arizona. Offset jaws? No. Padded jaws? No. None. Only a state wildlife officer can set a trap on public land now. Maybe you might think, "Well good. Trapping is brutal and should be outlawed." Maybe, but that is one less group of people to stand with you when the next attack comes. They divided and conquered.

Today there is another, "It doesn't affect 'me' so I'm not going to get worked up about it," that is being used to divide and conquer. The assault on black rifles. FUD's tend to think, "Well all I need is my wood furniture deer rifle and my wood furniture shotgun for what I do. What do I care if they outlaw rifles with plastic furniture?" Another is, "Most self defense shootings are resolved with 3 rounds or less so you don't need more than ten rounds in your rifle or handgun anyway."

The 10 rounds or less is not about limiting you to what you need for self defense. Its about eliminating firearm ownership and effectiveness. Its incrementally banning one little thing by dividing firearms owners. I think Barack Obamma said it was a game of inches. It might have been Bill Clinton. All of that rhetoric runs together after a while. Some firearms owners will think, "Well it doesn't affect me. My six shooter is just fine. I don't need a Beretta 92 anyway."

There is functionally no difference between a hunting rifle with a wood stock and a rifle with a plastic stock, but if "they" can prejudice you against black rifles then "they" can incrementally ban another thing by dividing you/us. When "they" come to take your flintlock muzzle loader with body armor and machine guns nobody will be there to stand with you because you dismissed them. "That didn't affect you."

Yes, I generally also agree that the world is over populated. Some very intelligent and well known people have come out publicly to say much the same thing. I do not have a non repugnant solution.

In around 1974 we were out driving around looking for fishing spots. (About 70 miles from home.) One place we stopped was a canal bridge were we spotted several fish hanging out in the shade of the bridge. The current was moving pretty fast. My dad said he didn't see how we could fish there with that fast current, and we moved on.

A minute or so later I said I had an idea about how we could fish for those fish. Instead of trying to rig a worm, a piece of corn, or a salmon egg on a hook above a sinker, or below a bobber we could use lures. Cast them across the current and reel them in just fast enough so that the lure blade would spin, and it would move across the canal just inside the edge of the shade where the fish were. If that didn't work we could let the current sweep the bait under the bridge and spin the blade for us. Maybe even wind backwards slowly, and only reel it in fast if it was about to wrap around a bridge support.

My dad had a couple cheap gas station inline spinners, but his tackle box was mostly filled with hooks, sinkers, and bobbers. I don't even know if I owned a tackle box back then. I don't recall.

For the next 20 minutes we slayed them. My dad wouldn't let me get down by the water or out on the bridge (it was a wash bridge), so I was limited to once spot there was a railing. I still hooked several fish and managed to lift a few from the water well below. Most I hooked fell off lifting them the distance from the water to where I could grab them. My dad, mom, and my dad's buddy all caught several fish. They were all doing what I said from various places.

My next moment of everyman logic was not long after that. I said we should drive along the canal and look for other spots like that. When the canal came up to a mountain we stopped. I said we should just drive around the mountain, but my dad chose to go back to the wash bridge. He caught a couple more fish, but we pretty much burned the spot for the day. We stayed until nearly dark.

In 1982 the first "trip" I took in my own car was about 20-30 miles from home to an largish irrigation canal. I fished from just past dark until full dark that day. I would stop at a lock or bridge. Whether it was for farm or traffic I didn't care. If it created a change int he current or a shade on the water I stopped and fished around it with in-line spinners. I didn't have cheap gas station spinners though. I had real honest to goodness Woden's Rooster Tails. I caught fish. None of the spots I stopped were as good as that wash bridge from 1974, but I caught 1-3 fish in almost every place I stopped. I let the current do most of the work for me in much the same manner. Over the course of the day I caught a lot of fish, but I never stayed in on spot long. If I went 15 minutes without a bite I moved on.

I had two everyman logic solutions that day in 1974.

1. You can't make the fish be were you want. You have to fish for them where they want to be.

1. Fish are not as smart as people give them credit for. If you find a spot they like you can probably find similar spots that other fish like.

Anecdotal application of solution (1) above to follow.

I don't recall when it was exactly, but I definitely had my own tackle box by then. An orange plastic one my Grandfather sent me for Christmas.

In a high mountain reservoir the predominant way to fish for stocker rainbow trout was to fish on the bottom as far out as possible with a light sinker and a couple hooks above with bait. Basically bottom fish as deep as you can.

I was told when it rained to much food washed into the lake and the fish quit biting for several days. It didn't take me long to realize that didn't make any sense at all. Sure it would rain, and people would quit catching fish, but the reason they gave indicated they most certainly were biting. Just not on the bottom.

After the next rain I was out on the face of the earth fill dam watching lots of anglers not catch fish. Fewer than before the rain because they knew the bite was no good. I put a bobber on my rig floating my bait just below the surface and started hammering them. I had tried to explain it, but nobody listened to the kid. I wasn't catching fish their way, so I just tried it. I figured if the fish were not biting "on the bottom" because there was to much fresh food washed into the lake they must be where the food was. Near the top. I was limited out before most of the people there caught on, but as I was leaving everybody on the face of the dam had a bobber on their line, was scrambling to put one on, or was asking to borrow one.

The next day I set my bait a couple feet deeper. I figured the debris drifting into the lake had to be settling. I limited out again, so did my dad. He watched me and did what I did, but I don't recall him giving me credit as he explained it to other people. I honestly think he thought of it. LOL.

The next day a few feet deeper. People who were fishing right at the top stopped catching fish and went back to the bottom. They were a few feet deeper, but not yet on the bottom. I limited out again. Finally after four or five days the bite seemed to be on the bottom again. Just the regular slow steady bite people were used to. I wasn't. Well not quite.

This is more of an aside. Just an note on an anecdote about paying attention.

I discovered in my ever deeper bobber fishing that near the outer base of the weedline that surround the lake just off shore there were more active fish. I could cast way out and catch fish off the bottom like everybody else, but active predators were either feeding off the deep side of the weeds or ambushing prey out of the deep side of the weeds. That was a hard spot to fish from shore. If you put your bait on or near the bottom there you had to fight your fish and line through the weeds. I think that's why most people cast way out into the lake. The resistance of the water against the line caused it to rise up on retrieve so that when you reached the weedline your fish was near the surface and you could drag it over the submerged grasses. They weren't fishing in the best spot. They were fishing in the easiest spot. By using a slip float I could fish in the "best" spot without my line laying in the submerged vegetation. I limited out and left. I heard people arguing about why I was still catching fish on a float faster than anybody else, but float fishing had died for them. I didn't bother to explain it to anybody, but my dad limited out almost as quickly as I did. By the time I started picking my way up the hillside he had caught up with me.

Somebody else's moment of brilliance.

Where they run canals across the desert it isn't always magically flat and sloped in the right direction. They have to build up, fill in, and blast through. Often they need to cross washes.

A wash looks like a river bed, but most of the time its bone freaking dry. It may run water for a day a few times a year, but because it can be a major drainage it can be a LOT of water. I have seen a wall of water coming down a wash pushing rocks and trees. While it might seam counter productive to not use that water the debris that comes with it can be pretty damaging for a canal. Filling in is just one of the issues. That sudden wall of water and uncontrolled volume of stuff can break the canal.

In some cases the levels are such that they can build a bridge over the canal, and just let the torrent pass over. A concrete bridge with walls on the sides to direct the rushing water, rocks, and trees overhead to continue on its raging way.

If you don't have vertigo you can walk out on the tops of the walls to fish places you can't reach from shore. I have done it many times. Though I do not do it as often as I used to.