Robert

=Dan's portfolio= toc

Along a southbound river, Among the rocks and trees, On top of the Rocky Mountains, Underneath the blue Colorado sky, Away from the crowded city, With my fly rod and the wild life, My only worry in the world: do I have enough line for my reel?

Example
I wrote a note that said, "I'll be back in a minute," I found a truck and I drove off in it. Don't think anybody's gonna miss me anyway. My mind's on an extended vacation. The mountains are, my only medication And I'm wishin' my condition aint' ever gonna go away. Now I'm knee deep in the water somewhere. I've got the blue sky, breeze and it don't seem fair. My only worry in the world: Is the river, gonna reach my chair? The sun rise, is like fire in the sky. I've never been so happy, never felt so alive and I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise.

Hint fiction
I wrote a note that said, " I'll be back in a minute ," I found a truck and I drove off in it. Don't think anybody's gonna miss me anyway. My mind's on an extended vacation. The mountains, are my only medication And I'm wishin' my condition aint' ever gonna go away. Now I'm knee deep in the water somewhere. I've got the blue sky breeze, and it don't seem fair. My only worry in the world: Is the river, gonna reach my chair? The sun rise, is like fire in the sky. Never been so happy, never felt so alive and I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise.

Original
I'm currently reading Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. I chose this book because a few of my friends had suggested that I read it and once I heard that it was an "adventure book" you might say; I thought that I had better read it. This book is about a 14 year old named Alex, whose uncle was killed in a car crash, (the crash was caused by several people with automatic weapons), who has to find out what really happened to his uncle and finish the assignment that his uncle was working on. Alex, honestly, is crazy. I mean he jumped out of a 10 story building for pity sake! Anyway, if you like crazy 14 year old's, cops shows, drama, and possible death and destruction...then you should read Stormbreaker.

Revised
I'm currently reading Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. I chose this book because a few of my friends has suggested that I read it and once I heard that it was an "adventure book" you might say; I thought that I had better read it. This book is about a 14 year old named Alex, whose uncle was killed in a car crash, (the crash was caused by several people with automatic weapons), who has to find out what really happened to his uncle and finish the assignment that his uncle was working on. Alex, honestly, is crazy. I mean he jumped out of a 10 story building for pity sake! Anyway, if you like crazy 14 year old's, cops shows, drama, and possible death and destruction...then you should read Stormbreaker.

The Mountains are…
Their own climate, A west bound trail, A south bound river, A pathway home, A fly rod and a lawn chair, An entire forest full of wildlife, A gigantic camping ground, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Rocky owls, old and wise, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">A morning sunset, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">An evening sunrise, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">My own kind of paradise, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Home.

Digital Vocabulary
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Scaffolding** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: noun, a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the erection, decoration, or repairing of a building.



Short Story
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt;">A Terrible Irony <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I was out fishing with my good buddy Isaac when it happened. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I was in the Marines reserved at the time. I had gone through boot camp in Fort Collins Colorado and was awaiting my deployment call for Afghanistan, so I had a few weeks to kill. I knew for certain that the call was coming, but I wasn’t sure when exactly. Commander Tanner, the commanding officer of my unit, told me, quote, “At the moment things seem to be settling down and we may not need you any time soon… but, after all, this is a war and lord only knows what could happen next. So, for now, go home, get some rest, and enjoy your life while you still can…” <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The next day, after a quick jog, a shower, and a hasty pack up, I was more than willing to get on flight 145 at gate 27. I had a first class ticket, even though it was only 400 miles, and was filled with enough excitement to break someone’s jawbone. I have to admit that the plane ride was awesome, but nothing beats stepping off of a plane into a familiar setting that hasn’t been known to you for the last 3 years. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I stepped off of the plane wearing a pair of blue jeans, a Colorado T-shirt and a Cabela’s ball cap. As I walked down the hallway an into the main lobby, a voice came over the PA that said, “After 3 years of being in the Marines reserved, we are proud to welcome back our very own Jimmy Norrel!” It was then that I realized that it was my dad’s voice and as soon as the message ended, I walked around the corner into the lobby and waiting for me was a swarm of the most warming and familiar faces that I had ever seen. Leading the crowd was my lifelong, best friend Isaac Bear, closely followed by my mother, my father, my siblings and many of my childhood friends. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, the reunion was very heart touching and all that but it’s really not something I want to discuss in detail. It’s not that I can’t discuss it in detail it’s just that it’s not important to the story. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">By the time I was settled in and reacquainted with everyone, me and Isaac were already planning a fishing trip. Nothing special, just a 2 day trip over the mountain ridge out back of Isaac’s place. Little did I know that this would be one of the last fishing trips I would take with my buddy Isaac. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Since I only had a few weeks, we figured that we should set out ASAP, (as soon as possible), so we laid out a plan that we would hike up over the mountain ridge behind his place on a Thursday and, if all went well, we would be back in town by Saturday. Isaac lived on the edge of town, out in the boondocks, where he literally had the mountains for his backyard, which I always thought was strange because he was terrified of bears and where he lived was the most convenient place bears were located. Anyway, our plan was to hike up in the evening, set up camp, fish all the next day, and then hike back on the 3rd day… that was our plan anyway. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">My older brother Ethan dropped me off at Isaac’s at around 1400, (2:00 o’clock), and we left his house shortly afterward. We packed light in the hope that we would make good time and be able to fish a bit that day. All Isaac had was a backpack that contained a sleeping bag and pillow, a can of pepper spray, and a few toiletries, along with his fishing gear, (Fly rod, extra line, flies and a hat). I carried with me a backpack that withheld my sleeping bag and pillow, a tarp, a few extra blankets, a sweat-shirt, 2 sets of clothes, 2 boxes of matches, a length of rope, a few trash bags, a mess kit for cooking, a dish rag, eating utensils, a few seasonings, plenty of water for the both of us and, of course, my Fly fishing necessities, (I also brought a pre-paid cell phone for emergencies). We also both carried a buck knife and Isaac had a can of beans. Overall, I carried most of our supplies, (that was also because half way to the top of the ridge Isaac gave me his pack to carry). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Our 2,000 foot ascent took us a little over 2 hours and another 45 minutes to find the river and a place to set up camp. It was 85 degrees, without a cloud in sight the first day and, having looked at the weather forecast for the next week, it would stay that way for the next three days. I had just begun to get tired of seeing nothing but shrubbery when we came up over the ridge and we were instantaneously surrounded by pine and aspen trees. It wasn’t dense, the trees were at least 15 feet apart, but it was still enough to call a forest. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The experience of being in a familiar place for the first time in 4 or 5 years was indescribable, but I’ll do my best. The second I stepped into the trees, I felt a change. I no longer saw them as a cluster of trees, scattered about the mountain top, I saw them as a childhood memory, as a pathway back home. I was home again. The red dirt ground was covered with splotches of beautiful green grass and littered with brown, pine needles along with small pebbles and the occasional bolder. The trees became walls, the blue Western Colorado sky became a roof, the dirt and the grass and the rocks all joined together to create a carpet and at last, after 3 long years… I was truly home. The taste and smell of the thin air was better than fresh apple pie melting in your mouth alongside a scoop of homemade ice cream. Being able to see the cabins and the space shuttles and the ocean shores and the deserts and the ghost towns and the foreign countries that I had imagined when I was just a kid was life changing. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">As we continued to move I was completely lost in memories and fantasies until… I ran into a tree and a few minutes later a voice interrupted my childhood fantasy. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Jimmy!” <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Huh! What?” I said. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Let’s move.” Isaac said, “The River’s just up ahead about 200 yards.” I guess we had been standing there for a while. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Sure enough, and right where I had left it, the Plateau River was up ahead. The crystal clear, blue tinted body of water snaked along the top of the mountain for about 10 miles before it joined up with the more well known, but muddier Colorado river. We walked slowly toward the river until we were about 15 yards away. I spotted a clearing beneath 6 large pine trees arranged in a crude circle. We cleared it out of all the sticks and rocks and pine cones, laid down the tarp and set down all of our stuff on top of it. We had made good time. From what I could tell we still had a good 45 minutes to an hour of daylight left. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Isaac wasn’t waiting for anything else. He sprang into action, snatching up his Fly rod and speedily tying a green and brown woolly bugger on the end of his line. While Isaac began to frustrate himself as he caught nothing but the surrounding branches, I took the initiative to gather up a good size pile of firewood. When I had gathered what looked like a decent size pile of wood, I stepped back, looked at the pile, and then made it 5 times larger. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Isaac came back into camp about 10 minutes later with 4 decent sized rainbow trout. By this time I had a fire going that was perfect for frying fish. So, I pulled out my mess kit, skinned and gut the fish, put the guts and skin in a trash bag and tossed the fish on the pan. As we ate we laughed and joked and told stories about the last 3 years and had a great time. We talked about football, basketball, baseball, guns, cars and well...guy stuff. Apparently, while I was gone, the Broncos had been to the Super Bowl twice and won in one of those visits against the Chargers, the Rockies had been to and won the World Series against the Yankees and the Avalanche made it to the playoffs but got knocked out after the first round all 3 years.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The next morning I awoke to a gorgeous Colorado Rocky mountain sunrise and a beautifully clear river that had been calling my name for the last 3 years. Isaac was still asleep, so I let him rest, but the anticipation was killing me. So, I got dressed, found my ball cap, my Fly rod, got the fire revived from the coals that were left and set out to catch me some breakfast. 10 minutes later I trudged back into camp to find Isaac with an expression on his face that meant he was concerned that I was in a bad mood. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“I’m concerned that you’re in a bad mood.” He said. He folded his hands into his lap like he was a therapist. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I slammed my pole onto the ground and snapped, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“What would ever give you the idea that I’m in a bad mood?” <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">He didn’t respond...until I grinned and pulled out 2 majestically colored rainbow trout, each no shorter than 12 inches. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“What the-?” Isaac exclaimed, stunned. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Ha ha! And you said I had lost the ability to trick you like that.” I said. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“What? No I said that- but I just- I thought you were- Oh, shut up and cook the fish.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">When we had finished our breakfast, we headed up stream about a half of a mile until we came to a curve in the river that had some massive boulders in the center of the current, with very few trees surrounding the area. We fished there for a while, caught a fair number of good sized fish, mostly rainbows but we caught a few cut throats and a brook trout or 2. But it was short lived. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">After we had fished for a good hour or so my cell phone went off. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">BUZ! BUZ! BUZ! <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">BUZ! BUZ! BUZ! <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">BUZ! BUZ! BUZ! <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I answered it. My mom was on the other end of the line. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Commander Tanner just called,” she said, “You’re leaving for Afghanistan in 2 hours. Get home quickly!” She hung up. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I stood there in silence. I had just got back, I was just starting to get used to being back in the company of my best friend and now I had to fly to the other side of the world in a cramped, unventilated airplane, to fight people that I wanted nothing to do with. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I swiftly reeled in my line, separated my rod into its 3 pieces and stuffed it back into its case. Isaac looked at me suspiciously. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Who was that?” He asked. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“My mom,” I answered, somewhat panicked as I started to head back downstream. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Isaac followed, hastily reeling in his line and scrambling after me. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Well, what’s the problem?” He asked. I ignored the question and quickened my pace as we started back to our campsite. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">When we were back in the campsite and I had started to pack up my things, I told him. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Commander Tanner called the house about 25 minutes ago. I’m being deployed to Afghanistan in a little less than an hour and a half.” <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“You can’t be serious!” He bellowed at me. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Yeah, I’m serious.” I told him. “And I know that I just got back but war is war...and the least I can to do change that is to go, fight and hope that I can help end it.” Without another word we buried the coals in dirt, hastily crammed all of our belongings into our packs and set off at a sprint down the mountain. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The only thing that ran through my mind was what Commander Tanner would do to me if I didn’t show up. I imagined him beating me into orange juice pulp with a plastic, whinny the pooh spoon, or pulling out every hair on my body with pair of Bar-B-Q tongs, or maybe, if he was feeling generous, he would hang me by my thumbs and beat me with a propane tank <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">As I thought about this, I came skidding around a Colorado blue spruce tree and ran right smack into the rear end of a Rocky mountain Grizzly bear. I bounced off the monster’s hide and landed on my backside and it turned to confront me. The bear was enormous. At least 6 foot at the shoulder and well over 800 pounds. Its fur was the same dark brown as so many of the pine trees around it. It had feet the size of bar stool seats and long, black, ivory daggers for claws. Along with the claws, it had razor sharp, 2 inch long teeth and dark brown eyes that seemed to stare strait through me and into the deepest reaches of my soul. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">No sooner had I jumped up and out of the way, when Isaac slammed into my back and sent me flying into the embrace of the massive Grizzly bear. I hit the bear and landed on the ground right between its front feet. At this point, Isaac had figured out what had just happened and he screamed like no grown man has ever screamed before. The bear didn’t think that this was the best noise it had ever heard, so it picked me up by my left leg and threw me at Isaac. I cascaded into Isaac who in turn toppled over into a tree, which was shortly followed by the both of us plowing into the ground. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“Play dead!!!” I tried to tell Isaac, remembering the wise words of my dad. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">“If you ever run into a bear,” my dad would say, “play dead, if it happens to be a mountain lion... boy you had better fight like there’s no tomorrow.” <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">But I was already too late. Isaac was on his feet and sprinting away as fast as his legs would carry him. The bear saw this as a great opportunity for some breakfast and chased after him at 35 miles per hour. It’s only natural that humans can’t run as fast as bears, so I knew that it wasn’t long before the bear caught up to Isaac and swallowed him whole. Isaac being my best friend and all, I wasn’t about to let that happen. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I leaped up, threw down my pack and torpedoed after the bear, slowly but surely gaining on it. I was about 20 yards behind the bear when it reached Isaac. It snagged the back of his shirt in its claws and pulled him backwards, down to the ground. The bear then started rolling him around like a rag doll until such a time came that he pulled the pepper spray and shot a stream directly into the bear’s face and it backed away from him. But, that wasn’t good enough for Isaac. He picked up a stick the size of a baseball bat and charged the bear. The bear didn’t think that was a smart thing to do. After Isaac clubbed it in the head a few times the bear snapped up its head and grabbed the stick in its mouth. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">By this point I was 3 feet away and I wasn’t going to let that stupid bear kill my best friend, (bears tend to get a little cranky when people start beating them with baseball-bat-sized sticks). I unsheathed my buck knife and drove it into the bear’s side as I flew past him and tried to snatch Isaac out of the way. The bear roared so loud and furiously that the only thing I can compare it to is an exploding diesel engine. With Isaac being the closest victim, the bear charged again, but this time showed no mercy as I slid past and landed on my face. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">The bear started at his legs, ripping them out from underneath him. It then grabbed his right leg between its teeth and dragged him away from me. As the bear grabbed his leg there was a horrible crunch, followed by a blood-curdling yell. The near dragged him nearer, let go of the leg and clamped down on Isaac’s arm with its massive, powerful jaws. Again there was a crunch and a yell. This time the bear held his arm and proceeded to stomp on and tear at Isaac’s chest. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">I could take no more. I jumped up and bolted at the beast with all of the power in my heart and soul. I had plenty of experience playing football and wrestling so when I hit the bear it toppled over with a THUD! I then moved to the bear’s head, applied all the force that I possibly could, with my left hand, to the back of its neck, wrapped my right arm under the bear’s chin, grabbed its left ear and I yanked harder than Mickey Mantle did when he almost hit an out of the park home run in Yankee’s stadium. There was a sharp CRACK!! And the bear moved no more. To be sure that it was dead I kicked it in the side and gained a shattered right big-toe. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The total amount of damage done was horrendous. There was the dead bear, my best friend clinging to life, me and my shattered toe and I had nightmares for years afterwards. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I pulled out my phone, called 911 and told them to send an ambulance to Isaac’s house. I then retrieved my buck knife, sheathed it and set off down the mountain with my best friend in my arms. The entire way I was trying to keep him awake, within consciousness. I would talk to him; tell him that he would be alright if he kept awake. At times I had to scream at him until he responded with at least a grunt. He was bleeding everywhere. He looked like he had been hit by a train with teeth. If I go into any more detail about the gruesomeness of his wounds there may be a few lunches lost in the effort... including my own. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">When I arrived at Isaac’s house, I found the ambulance waiting for us. I set Isaac on the gurney, told the EMT what had happened and they disappeared in a cloud of dust.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The terrible irony of what happened that day was that me and my best friend, Isaac BEAR, went on a fishing trip in BEAR country. Isaac was terrified of BEARS and he got attacked by a BEAR. Isaac eventually recovered from his injuries but sadly died of lung cancer 2 years later. I got deployed to Afghanistan, fought, returned home safely and I’m currently living in Grand Junction Colorado. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">I still go fishing regularly, and every so often I can see my buddy Isaac in the clouds standing next to a bear.