ASSUMPTIONS & PRESUMPTIONS
We are
finally getting into one of the two good parts of the year. Yep, the time
between the dead gnats and the first snowflakes. Leaves are thinking about
changing and our few remaining monarchs are hurriedly heading south. Frost is
in the air. Autumn can be inhaled with each breath; kind of smells good doesn’t
it? No more sticky, thick inhalations; it is now cool and crisp. Asters; I love
asters, but they mean the end is near. Cold, dreary, black, white and gray loom
on the horizon. Soon they will be here. I know you are now wondering what the
other good part is. That would be the time between the last snowflake and the
first consecutive eighty degree days. That is a long time off; we will not
worry with that, now.
I have
already been asked several times if I was ready for bow season. I imagine that
since I haven’t touched a bow in around twenty-eight years; I’m as ready as
I’ll ever be. It still amazes me that people think they know someone based on
their perception of that person way back when they were growing up. I hear
people in their sixties state that they know someone because they went to
school with them Do you really think that they actually know anything at all
about that person? People change and they change a lot once they are turned out
into the real world. At least; I hope they did, if not they are headed for
major disappointments in life. I spent a lot of my time locked in school
staring out the window at turds floating down the orange creek and wishing that
trout could live there. Thirty-five years later the turds are gone but the
water still runs orange and there are no trout. I guess that is some progress,
not much; but some. Things change.
I have
never seen Star Trek, Star Wars or a single episode of Duck Dynasty. I do not
watch people hunt or fish on TV; never have and never will. Absolutely zero
interest there for me. People assume that since I grew up in the 70’s, hunt and
fish that I do all of the above. Nope. In my past; I have made a living at
different points of my life hunting, fishing or trapping. That was a young
person’s life. Could I do any of that now? Maybe; but it would be painful. Do I
like to deer hunt? No. I like to eat venison; therefore I deer hunt. I like to
fly fish but hardly ever have time. I like to turkey hunt; but know what days
to pick. I still think about the trap line from time to time; but I’m too old
to beat stakes into rocks; I’ll pass on that. I am outside for a period of time
just about every day. I am hunting but not in the manner that many perceive.
The next
time you run into someone you thought you knew a quarter of a century or more
ago; do yourself a favor and don’t make assumptions. Take the time to learn
about the person you thought you knew. You may be in for a pleasant surprise;
maybe not. People change, things change. Don’t get caught up in presumptions or
other silly things.
(c)2015 High Virginia Outdoors Photos (c) High Virginia Images ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is my article for the 10/15 edition of Two-Lane Livin
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