My favorite form of exercise is going to a golf driving-range and hitting a small bucket of balls (approx. 30 balls) to loosen up, and then playing nine holes of golf by myself or with a friend or other accomplished golfer.
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This is ye-ole-sage Eddie Kep, an 89 yr. old protege of Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill who will answer your questions about the mystery of creative writing, and how to use your subconscious mind, and your Sixth Sense to tap into Infinite Intelligence from the universe. Or maybe you want to know the secret formula for happiness and success.? This could be your lucky day in the New Year.
It was a crisp November morning in Colorado, and my hunting party was ready to take on the challenge of pheasant hunting at a ranch near Yuma. The rules were clear: no hens were to be shot, and each hunter could bag three roosters per day, with a total possession limit of six birds in three days.
Our party consisted of my son Mark, son-in-law Bill, and myself. Mark and Bill were to flush the birds out, while I positioned myself as the “blocker” downwind to take any stray birds my companions might miss.
We started abruptly at 7:00 a.m., an hour after sunrise, with our 12-gauge shotguns and six-chil size shells. Louis, the owner of the ranch, assured us that we could find some birds in the grass and fire-weed right adjacent to his barn and stock-yard lot near his house.
Mark and Bill quickly kicked up a big rooster and a hen, but they missed their shots. The big old rooster then flew straight at me, and I downed it with one shot. It was the easiest shot I could have hoped for.
As we moved through a corn-stubble field, three more pheasants rose up cackling out of the field off to my right, and I was lucky to down another rooster. This time, Mark and Bill didn’t even get a chance to shoot because they were too close and would have been firing directly at me.
Next, we moved on to a wheat stubble field with Russian thistles and ragweed, providing heavy cover for the birds. Mark and Bill flushed a flock of pheasants, but they jumped up too far ahead of them, and they missed their shots. As the blocker, I was able to knock my third pheasant out of the sky and bag it.
This time, however, the bird almost got away. It had been farther away when my pellets hit it and was still flopping on the ground when I got to it. I had to put it out of its misery with a quick break of its neck, a tough experience for any hunter.
Yet, what a glorious sky it was that morning when I was privileged to bag my limit within an hour of starting the hunt. It turned out to be the best hunting experience of my life, and I am eternally thankful for it.
Do you want to learn how to play music by ear. HARMONICA? ACOUSTIC GUITAR?
I thought I knew all there was to know about Beavers. I had observed them in action along the creek while growing up in a small town in Northwestern Kansas.
I saw the Beavers gnawing on trees with their sharp teeth and cutting them down to build their dams across the creek. I saw them cutting off green stalks of corn at ground level complete with ears of corn and then dragging them to their pond. I also saw them nibbling on kernels of corn scattered on the ground in the corn fields after the farmer had finished harvesting his corn in the fall.
I assumed one of the main reasons for building their dams was to back up the water to create a deep pool where the tiny minnows could grow up to an eatable size fish of six inches or better. And this made perfect sense to me. I also thought Beavers built their homes by burrowing into the creek bank like Mink, Otter and Muskrats do. And by building their homes with underwater entrances they would protect themselves and their babies from being eaten by their predeters like foxes, wolves, .and hawks.
Many years later I was on a camping trip in the Colorado mountains with my oldest daughter and her family. We were camped near a lake and a small stream where Beavers had built a dam and created a deep pool of water.
I even ascribed human traits to them in that the beaver instinct would be in play while he watched the minnows thrive, grow and dwell in its pond, patiently waiting for the fish to reach a six to eight inch eating size. I had even seen a few dead fish near the water’s edge that seemed to validate my beliefs.
I never once thought about asking a parent, a teacher or an older person about a Beaver’s lifestyle, nor did it ever cross my mind to run to the Library to check it out in an encyclepedia.
The first night we were there we were all sitting around our campfire roasting weenies and marshmellows when one of my grandchildren asked me, “Grandpa! Why do Beavers build their dams across the creek like that? So, I started telling them that they did it to make a deep pool of water so that minnows could grow up to be big enough for the Beavers to eat. And that fish was the beavers main diet.
Right at this point in my story my daughter interrupted me saying, “DAD! Beavers are Vegetarians. They don’t even eat fish? And this was the start of an epic debate with my daughter who was an elementary school teacher..
Of course I being an 80 year-old grandpa with a lifetime of experience, and after all, I too had a college education, so I was pretty addiment about my beliefs and our debate ended up in a stalemate. My daughter cushioned the situation by suggesting that I go to the Library when we get back home and do a little research on Beavers. Of course this was long before the internet was popular.
Guess what? I discovered that my daughter was right. Beavers are strictly vegetarians. They eat plants, roots, water lilies, cattails, tubers, and root stock as well as a variety of trees like elm and aspen. They definitely do not eat fish. But, Yes! One of the main reason they build their dams to create deep pools is so they can have an underwater entrance to their mounded mud and stick huts located in the pool. The entrance is underwater, but their dens where they have their nests and raise their babies are located inside the huts, and are above water.
They build their huts so strong that predators can’t dig into them. They use their long wide flat tails to smash the mud in among the sticks, plants and leaves and when the mud dries it creates an immpenatrable shield for most predators.
Did you know they also use that huge flat tail to warn their commrades of any sudden imposing danger. Beavers don’t wail like prairiedogs and most other animals when they are threatened. Instead they slap that tail so hard on the water or the ground that you can hear the sound thirty to a hundred yards away in an otherwise silent forest.
They also use that tail to strike a predator in the nose if attacked. I bet that would sting like all get out. Other animals learn very quickly how dangerous a Beaver can be with his sharp teeth and flat tail. I don’t know about you but I sure wouldn’t want to be bit by one. Or slapped by one.
And with that final bit of information it brings us to the end of my Beaver story. You may want to bookmark the medium website for more of my short stories and check it out for your own reading or writing interests. Who knows, maybe you too will put some of your stories up on the website where they can be exposed to millions of readers. Medium has an open invitation to all. You can also treat yourself to some of my original songs and unique harmonica music by visiting http://www.eddieklively.herenow.com
Please feel free to leave a comment, and to contact me anytime about any of your personal writing interests or stories. I’ll be sure to answer any of your questions. My email is eddiekep33@songwriter831
Have you chosen your vocation in life? Are you happy in your chosen vocation? Are you in the wrong vocation?
How to find your true calling in life? Ask yourself what is it that you do or dream of every day that makes you forget to eat, forget to sleep or forget to go to the restroom? That is your calling. Discover this and make it your vocation, and you’ll never have to work another day in your life. Example: Right now at age 89 I have found my true calling; writing essays and short stories,. I get so involved in my writing that I forget to do those necessary duties. .I’ve also had a very happy and successful career as an outside salesman ; as well as with all my interests in playing country music, songwriting, golf, fishing, hiking and camping.. I loved hiking, camping, fly-fishing and communing with nature so much that I spent my annual two-week vacation every year doing just that. (and my marriage lasted 58 years) . How was that possible?
By the way I forgot to include the lyrics to my song >With Y our Head On His Shoulder>in my last blogg.so here it is::
With your head on his shoulder, You’ll just waste the night a-way, While your heart grows ever colder, And our love just goes astray—–Should pretend I didn’t see you here, Dancing with that other guy. Then I wouldn’t have to hide my head, Or the tear that wants to cry.—–Even when I close my tear-dimmed eyes, A vivid picture still I see,—-With your head upon his shoulder, You just go on hurting me.—-(music turn-a-round) Second verse: Holding hands beneath the ta-a-a-ble, In the soft white candle glow,…..Saying all those little love things,….Same old things we use to know,…Now your face is slowly turning,….And I wonder could it be?,….Yes, the same two lips I kissed before,…… Or, are my eyes tricking me,….,,,,Seems like every time it happens,,,,,That vivid picture still I see,….WITH YOUR HEAD UPON HIS SHOULDER,…You just go on hurting me……
My next blogg will be HOW I QUIT SMOKING …..cold turkey!!
Do you know the difference between an apostle and a disciple?
Do you know what a tadpole is? Have you ever seen a live tadpole?
Did you know that a morning glory flower only lives one day and dies.? That’s why they are called morning glories. So, the next morning they are all new flowers.
EDDIE KEP'S BLOG 