Glamour shot
I'm here only because this is apparently "free" though I understand that nothing one does through Google is free and everything seems to have a price. If I am proven wrong...well...there ya go. If you get a lot of weird ads after leaving here, I appologize in advance.
The site is obviously under construction. There could well be a flurry of activity at first. It's not because I lost (or am losing) interest in the site.
I don't know how this place works and I need to learn things, such as how to post a freaking picture. So please consider this as what it is, a first post by a stranger in a strange land.
This post will eventually be buried (I hope) under layers of ditrimous.
What this place is...
This place was created because I can no longer afford to keep up a real website...pure and simple. Real websites actually cost money to publish on the web. I'm assuming that since this doesn't cost money, it isn't a real website.
What the hell am I?
I am (like you) defined by my work.
I make split bamboo flyrods. I'm a rodmaker.
If you teach kids...you're a 'teacher.' If you sue people you probably are a lawyer, though not necessarily.
There...I said it.
The market is less than a "niche" market at this point. The depression has taken the wind right out of my sails. We all know it's a depression right? Not 'merely' a recession?
Many of you good folks (millions!) lost their jobs within a month. I personally lost five years of business in a month. This is mostly my fault. I refused to take a payment until I actually started your rod. Your word that you wanted one was 'good enough.' I was shown the foolishness of my foly. Now life is a struggle as I'm more than sure it is for most folks who find themselves here, reading this dribble.
Still, here it is 2011 almost 2012. Fifteen years after I started making split bamboo. I started my first bamboo rod in 1997. Yeah...big deal.
I mention it because I haven't been doing this a year or two in my garage. I am a devoted slave to the craft. It's what defines me, what I have more than sacraficed for (two marriages, three kids, yes, I bred) three houses, god knows how many cars and trucks, and still I live in my shop. I don't have my children, I don't have the houses (or money from them). I DO have Bonnie the dog, who I'm pretty sure will be featured here from time to time, and I have a truck that is destined to live out it's life with me already pushing 12 years old. And I have my shop. And that is life, and that's OK by me. IT's my life and I get to live it.
Where I am...do you really care?
I am in the freaking middle of the Sonoran Desert, Congress AZ. My shop is in a freaking rat hole. I don't really have running water, no cooler to speak of presently and summer temps easily push 120 for weeks and months on end. Saudi Arabia's got nuttin' on me.
A simply horrible place to live if you flyfish. I mean really.
A simply wonderful place to live if you make bamboo flyrods. Yeah it's pure hell and torture making one but the bamboo loves it and who am I to argue?
Why the 'f' am I here, ten goddamn feet from hell where there ain't no fish?
Simple...I was spawning. The fish goes where the river flows. I dried up on a gravel bank here when the river went down. I'm waiting for a bear to eat my head.
Anyway...enough for today...
I'll try and write more tomorrow...don't hold yer breath...
Mike
well you a blogger now.
ReplyDeletea booger and bugger too.
looking good.
you should go out and play a round or two of golf.
los caballeros is right down the street. I've got a spare set of irons you can use if you need it.
hey - don't be bashful.