A Pirate Looks At 50

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Dave Koch

Any attempts at autobiography before the age of eighty seem pretty self-involved to me. There are a lot of smart middle-aged people, but not a whole lot of wise ones... –Jimmy Buffett

Even (or espe­cially) against where I was even a month ago, I see how lucky I have been. The past month has been very good to me. (Maybe this is why today is no longer filled with dread a small voice speaks). Con­tinue read­ing →

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Hey Joe!

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Dave Koch

You`re a part of me, I'm a part of you
Wherever we may travel
Whatever we go through
Whatever time may take away
It cannot change the way we feel today
You`re a part of me, and I`m a part of you –Glenn Frey

I sat down and played the Mar­tin, and that sealed the deal. I plucked one note, a sin­gle string with­out press­ing my fin­gers on the fret­board. As the string vibrated, the most heav­enly note swirled up out of the sound hole. It held and expanded and filled the whole room. Over­tones emerged, enhanc­ing and expand­ing in the air like a good wine on the palette. I looked at the bronze string vibrat­ing, and I played another. It rose in har­mony to the first, then took over, burst­ing pure and free and full of joy.

I was stunned. And awed. Con­tinue read­ing →

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Welcome Back!

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Dave Koch

The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. –Napoleon Bonaparte

“Bill, you look amaz­ing”, I said to him as he passed by.

He just grunted a reply, not so much from rude­ness, but because he was used to syco­phants; he expected every­one to say nice albeit untrue things to him always, so he was used to pass­ing such com­ments off.

“No, I mean it”, I con­tin­ued as a trailed behind him. “You look like a new man. You look healthy as an ox.”

Again, he could only grunt in reply; I was not get­ting through to him. I looked at him, I tried to look deeper than the tan. His eyes were more alert, the wrin­kles gone from his face. And he had…

“Bill”, I con­tin­ued, “Do you real­ize you have hair?” Con­tinue read­ing →

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Dream House

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Dave Koch

Where thou art - that - is Home. –Emily Dickinson

I went deeper into the room as Lisa went to check out the mas­ter bath. She opened the door and there was a blood-curdling scream. It seems we were not asl alone as we thought we were! The own­ers were still there, one in bed, and his wife in the bathroom.

“Out of my house!,” she was scream­ing at us. Con­tinue read­ing →

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Inner Revolution

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Dave Koch

If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all the youthful vim and vigor, then there is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better world for tomorrow. –William Allen White

The fur­ther down the path we went, the darker our world became. The clouds thicken and bruised the sky. We came to a point where the path was blocked. Side to side, they had strung razor wire across out path. We had expected this; we had a way around the wire: We went under­neath it. As soon as we had cleared that bar­rier, we saw our next prob­lem.
Slowly, lum­ber­ing up the hill toward us was a giant rocket on a mobile launch vehi­cle. The white gird­ers of the launcher were heavy and unwieldy. The weight of the rocket sunk the wheels of the trans­port into the soft earth, mak­ing progress slow. The diesels push­ing the launcher up the rise moaned under the stress, the ground rever­ber­at­ing in sym­pa­thy with their labor­ing. Slowly, delib­er­ately, the back end began to swing around as the pushed the launcher into its final posi­tion. Con­tinue read­ing →

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Wood and Strings

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Dave Koch

Run like hell and get the agony over with. –Clarence DeMar

We hopped in a golf cart, and headed along a path that fronted the course. The run­ners would start off through a gate and run in a park on the other side of the chain link fence. At the first cor­ner, they would head to the right; we sat at the cor­ner and watched them pass. The chil­dren were run­ning past now; I rec­og­nized Clara as she waved and passed us by.
While I had thought I had plenty of time– Jim had assured me I did!- I heard the call for my start. We raced back to the start­ing line in the golf cart. I went to where I had removed my race shoes, and they were gone. Con­tinue read­ing →

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Of Mice and Magicians

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Dave Koch

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. –Eden Phillpotts

He knew I was com­ing; he could see me and watch me at his whim. When I arrived, he looked at me hard. He was not wor­ried about me, and not scared. He was not amazed, nor was he star­tled. He was not warm or invit­ing. Like the rocks around him, he just was.

He nod­ded slightly to me, invit­ing me to fol­low; he turned and went into his home. The door was old, once red, but the paint worn and faded. In many placed the paint was com­pletely worn through to the wood beneath. But the door was thick and solid. It would have to be to seal off the home from the rav­ages of the sand storms it was there to but­tress against. Con­tinue read­ing →

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