My Life As A Hobby

  Fishing is the great American participation   sport. According to current statistics, over 50 million people in this country fish. Most states are still showing an increase in the number of people who put a line in the water. I found it interesting that Nevada is one of the places where fishing is growing the fastest. I suppose that’s because when you lose every penny you have in the casinos, fishing becomes an important source of food.    I am not one of those 50 million fisherman. I suppose the reason is: 1) I have ADD and it’s drives me crazy to sit still for any length of time, 2) No patience - closely related to number 1, and, 3) my father didn’t fish. His recreation time was spent on a golf course and I followed in his footsteps. Instead of giving me a bamboo rod with a bobber, I was handed an old 7 iron and some beat up Titleists.  It doesn’t mean I didn’t try. Years ago, I made a concerted effort to become an angler.  Mike, one of my best high ...

  “'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. '” —  Jeremiah 29:11 .  It’s not often that I put a plan together that works. Normally, anything I come up with will almost certainly go awry, and that’s certainly how one of my latest schemes  began.  Amazingly, shortly after this plan of mine began to unravel, it turned 180 degrees and became one of the best things I’ve ever done. So, as a believer, I feel like that the Almighty had His hand in this - even if it was a Rolling Stones concert.  I still maintain that it was a good idea. The minute Stones concert tickets went on sale, I bought two pair - for us and another couple. Then greed took over my soul and I decided to speculate and buy four more tickets to sell at a ridiculous profit. If I played my cards right, I might have made enough money to buy a Maserati, or even a shopping basket full of groceries....

An old JC Higgins bike that looks a lot like mine did. It has the wrong color seat, of course   I guess as far as bicycles go, I was born too early. By the time those fancy bikes with banana seats, long handlebars and small tires came out, it was too late for me. By that time, I already had the bike that would last me for my entire youth, and it didn’t resemble Jack Nicholson’s motorcycle in Easy Rider. Nope. One Christmas, I got a big ol’JC Higgins bicycle that Santa obviously bought at Sears and Roebuck.  This was an American bike for an American kid. It had more iron in it than a new Toyota does . A long bar running from the back to the front let everyone know that it was strictly for boys. The cherry red frame contrasted sharply with the chrome fenders and chain guard. It even had a bullet shaped headlight on the handlebars. If you were lucky, you got a weak beam for about 12 minutes before the batteries needed replacing. Whitewall tires and an uncomfortable black seat...