Life of Nobody

[BadBeast]

Wait, so you DRAGGED the snake, which you beat unconscious with a 3" tree, across the swamp, and it got back up when it heard laughter?

You'd be pretty pissed off, if after being beaten unconscious, you awoke to hear people laughing at you!  Especially if you still had your venom sacs full to brimming with powerful neurotoxins. I would certainly want a chance to stick my fangs into the first mammal that came within striking distance.

[Jasper]

Just expressing my shock at how terrible nature is.

[BadBeast]

Just expressing my shock at how terrible nature is.

Yeah, it's a real eye opener. Especially as I live in a country where the wildlife can't kill you.  Mind you, saying that, we have recently got breeding populations of wild boar, that have escaped from farms and  gone feral. I'm just waiting for the inevitable furore when someone gets attacked by one of these awesome creatures.

[Adios]

The only other stuff I've read that describes "Swamp" like this, is "Swamp Thing" when Alan Moore used to write it. My own imagination, plus the narrative style, render the whole thing into panels, comic book style. The writing style is spare, with minimal adjectives, but this just enhances the engagement of the reader. The words flow like a train of thought should flow, easy to read, and wholly unpretentious, and capture the atmosphere, with an uncontrived naivety, that you just don't see very often. I'm thoroughly enjoying every piece of this. It has a conversational reality, that adds a  personal quality to every piece that many writers never seem to manage, and conveys a validity that only comes from personal experience. It's easy pace, and engaging content, give it a genre transcending quality, that could be developed into just about anything.
For instance, at the moment, your man Pancho, has the potential to be developed into a central character, or just kept as a peripheral device to flesh out the events described. Without describing him in any detail, there is already a view of what kind of character he is. This is really a fine piece of writing, and without wanting to get too gushy about it, you have a natural talent for almost dragging the reader in, and building atmosphere, that could go as far as you want to take it. Loving every bit of it so far.

Thank you so much. Pancho was a real character. I saw him drive a brand new VW Super Beetle across a pasture while shooting at a coyote.

I deeply appreciate your feedback. It has been nerve wracking trying to put these experiences into words.

[Adios]

Wait, so you DRAGGED the snake, which you beat unconscious with a 3" tree, across the swamp, and it got back up when it heard laughter?

Honestly I think it was the heat off the engine that revived it. But yes, he was terribly upset with me when he did wake up.

[Adios]

Just expressing my shock at how terrible nature is.

Ah, nature isn't terrible. Man cannot go into natures lair and expect nature to alter it's reality for a kinder gentler way while man is present.

[Salty]

I've really enjoyed this thread so far.
The way raw nature so quickly removes our sense of superiority and replaces it with spine liquifying fear is awesome, and it's just cool how close you've been to it.

   

[Adios]

I've really enjoyed this thread so far.
The way raw nature so quickly removes our sense of superiority and replaces it with spine liquifying fear is awesome, and it's just cool how close you've been to it.

   

Thank you. I have lived in the outdoors my entire life except for the last 5 or 6 years.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I have lived in the outdoors my entire life except for the last 5 or 6 years.

You're a recently domesticated Yeti?

I haven't had time to read all of this but I've been impressed. Great stuff.

[Adios]

I have lived in the outdoors my entire life except for the last 5 or 6 years.

You're a recently domesticated Yeti?

I haven't had time to read all of this but I've been impressed. Great stuff.

Thanks Net. You meant what I knew about the outdoors. 

[Adios]

One day we were running elevations. As all the crews were on this project we were racing. They had us spaced about 25 yards apart so we could cover a lot of ground.

It seemed like a waste of time because the elevation was about a foot above sea level and as flat as a pancake. But we were getting paid so we ran elevations. We came on one spot that had no trees or bushes at all. A big spot, about 200 yards wide and about 100 yards across. Now we could really make some time.

Except.

Again I am going to blame Pancho because I am sure he was the one who jumped. I mean he jumped high. When he landed it was weird because he got shorted somehow. And then the bad thing happened.

A wave started from where he landed. We all were watching with a sense of dread. The instrument men started cussing when the wave reached them one by one. It knocked the instruments all out of level rendering all of our work worthless. We would have to start over now.

You know what a range pole is, it's the red and white candy cane poles surveyors use. We decided to push one through the ground. Then we added another one and pushed it down. Then another. We had six of these 6 foot poles connected and still had not reached a solid resistance.

We were on a floating island of enormous size.

Elevations were suspended as we began mapping the island. This was going back to engineering so they could go back to the client with some bad news.

We on the other hand had a blast fooling around on it trying to figure out how deep the vegetation that formed the island was and if it just started that deep or if it tapered down. The vegetation was about a foot thick and from what we could determine it simply started that deep

It was a fun day.

[BadBeast]

You ever bump into this fella?  He likes living in the swamp! And he can be a bit more problematic than a cottonmouth!

[Adios]

The year was 1962. I was almost 9 years old and we were living in Moore Haven, Florida. It had been a good summer swimming in the river and fishing in Lake Okeechobee.
School was back in and life was going pretty good. It was the carefree life of a kid who was for the most part happy. I mean my stepfather was abusive but I spent as much time away from as possible.

One day in October this all changed. Everything changed. I think so many of us kids lost our innocence that fall. To the end of my days the memory of those 13 days will never change, never fade, never lose the terror of what might have been.

In school we were having more and more drills about ducking under our desks when the sirens went off or laying on the ground if we were outside. We didn't mind, it was something out of the ordinary. Then one day the President came on television. He said some things that confused us kids and our parents had to explain parts of it to us. We didn't know what an atom bomb was, but we learned. We didn't know where Cuba was, but we learned. What we understood was the Soviet Union had put some very bad things on an island only 90 miles away from us. Things that could pretty much destroy everything.

Children know when , or they did in those days,  when to be seen and not heard. Walter Cronkite Was on the television every night. So much was way too easy for us to understand, but some we as kids just couldn't figure out at all. One thing we all knew was that things had changed. Adults were quieter. There was less laughter. All over every neighborhood people were building concrete bomb shelters. Families were having their own drill about how to evacuate to the shelters. We were too poor to have one so we just practiced going to the middle of the house and laying down.

It was a frightening and confusing time for us and the adults just didn't want to talk to us kids about it. So we talked among ourselves and I am sure we made some of it worse than it was and some less bad than we should have. We had been taught in school that America had never lost a war but it sure sounded like Mr. Cronkite was trying to say we couldn't win this one. One thing was for sure, my stepfather drank more and got meaner.

I remember the school showing us films of the big bombs that we dropped on some place called Japan. A lot of us really wondered if we were being lied to about ducking under our desks being safe or not. I mean we were only kids but we could see whole building being just knocked flat, with nothing left. So we got scared. I wish they had never showed us those films. Even the teachers were quieter than normal and spoke in whispers when they talked to each other.

As more time went on the jumpier the adults got so we started spending as much time away from them as we could. We would fish and play but something was missing. It was like even at our age we were just going through the motions but having no real involvement in doing them. Every day got worse. Adults were yelling a lot more, and not just at us kids but at each other. Us kids got in more fights than usual. Grocery stores hardly even had any candy in them anymore.

Then one day everybody was laughing. Everybody was talking in loud happy voices. They even took the time to tell us kids that everything was going to be alright. But we were changed. In an age of innocence lost none of us would ever be the same again. We would never be able to trust to the same degree ever again. See, we now knew that people we didn't even know could get us killed for things we didn't even understand. The world was a lot scarier now. It has been ever since.

But as time passes memories fade. Or do they?

[BadBeast]

We just had this bullshit in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPOo9mRQbTQ

Really quite naive and comical when you look at it now.

[Adios]

Incredible.