Well, being a bit late in getting a blog started, I had to first figure out what the hell is a blog. I sat here for quite a long time trying to figure out what in the hell to write about. I don't have any special interest groups to promote or demote. I don't have any particular step in marching to whatever drummer there might be at my door these days. So, I began thinking back on what has happened in my life in the last 60 years or so that might be worthy of writing about. Initially, there was only one event to start with that came to mind.
Some of you may have already read it on Flickr or my website but this event was certainly worthy of a first post here.
First off, I am not a writer, never did much of it in school and I was terrible with English composition, but I decided to give it a try. So I began writing the first story while sitting at my campsite picnic table on my laptop computer. I was being constantly interrupted by wildlife. This camping site is backed up to the woods and I will have almost on a daily basis Deer, Turkey, Wild Hogs, and a whole host of Birds very close to my camper. At sundown, I sometimes will call in the Barred Owls that inhabit this park. They will sit in the oak trees around my camper, sometimes hooting various calls all night long. So I had to wade through the first story over several days while still rehabilitating my recent right knee replacement.
I'm a bit long-winded, so bear with it and at least enjoy the images and my weird sense of humor. There are some things and events that have happened over the years that when I look back at them, I just sit in wonderment that I'm still here to write this.
These stories are not in any kind of chronological order or anything, they just appear here as I remember them. I'm needing to get them down on paper before I don't remember any of them. Most are clear as day going back 60 years as if they happened yesterday. Some not so clear...not sure why that happens...maybe it was the event itself?..or old age.
So actually the very first story was written back in 2003 while camping in Hovenweep National Monument, Utah. Strange things happened there that made my hair stand on in and I jotted all of it down on my laptop one evening. I never planned for it to be published...just happenings at that time. The posted date was 2017 but it didn't really take 14 years to get it to paper. If that was the case then many of these stories are in the future and are waiting to happen... did't see that coming. Oh! the mind is a strange creature.
The real first story was the trip to the north of Maine to photograph moose and I titled it "Mainely Moose and More". I later made a digital slide presentation of this trip and set it to some really good nature music and sounds of animals ... one of many slide presentations that I put together of my photography skills or lack thereof. This trip, however, was where I blew out my right knee hiking up a Georgia Mountain, and so this was the first story written with the thought in mind of creating a blog. Like I mentioned above, the chronological order of these stories is a bit out of place but then again just look at the guy doing the writing and it will all make sense.
I have even tried my hand at a couple of fictional stories here, just to see if I am any good at lying.
I will obviously be adding many more stories here in the near future, so come back as often as you like to read the next posts. And please if you will, let me know what you think of them. I would love to hear your thoughts and or questions.
J. Michael
