Sportin' Wood
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- Sep 24, 2007
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Pulls up a chair and sits down beside me.
@angiebaby is up north this evening renewing her CWP, so I'm on my own for dinner.
There is a great restaurant/bar I like that is waterfront on flathead lake; they have Prime Rib on Friday nights.
I'm minding my own business, drinking my frosty beer, and eating my slightly overdone yet tasty Prime Rib that must be an inch thick and takes 85% of the plate. Couple of small green things for color and a dollop of mashed potato for good measure.
"How's the Prime Rib tonight, looks over done," says the stranger.
"Yea, its a little overdone, but beggers can't be choosers, they run out about this time so if you want some better order up buddy," I respond.
Long story short, after some small talk about various topics, including fine wine, fast women, loose boats, and good cutting horses, turns out he owned the place.
One of our various topics included the soon-to-be-built Casino across the street, the reservation, and city planning. He pointed out a handful of local Havasu snowbirds across the bar, and we chatted about the locals in Montana, recreation, and the people that don't want to accept progress.
It was nice to have an intelligent discussion about influencing progress and how when people bury their heads in the sand or dig in their heels how a town can get messed up.
I can't help but draw a parallel to Havasu in our discussion about a small lakeside town that is firmly divided between a working class of service workers, a reservation, and the outsiders who own vacation and retirement homes who want to enjoy some culture, a good meal and enjoy a glass of wine. Perhaps Flathead Lake, Montana, is far enough away from California to not worry about the negative influence of the declining quality of people, but ironically here we are, two transplant Californians talking about "Improving" the place.
I took a lot of things away from the conversation, but what made an impact is how you simply can't stop progress, and you can only influence if it will satisfy you or upset you. I realized walking away from the bar that as long as I am just taking away an experience, I can't complain about the direction thing are headed. If I want to invest in and grow roots, I should step up and get involved; if not, I am just along for the ride.
As we finished our drinks and said goodbye, I thanked him for opening up a decent place to get a meal and enjoy a drink in an area that does not offer many options. He nodded and said, yea, I guess I just got sick of bitching about it and decided to open up my place.
So I decided to share this story because the Havasu Channel thread came to mind. If you are just along for the ride, I guess you have to accept the outcome. THEN, I thought the same about the state of our country.
Thanks for entertaining my random thoughts.
@angiebaby is up north this evening renewing her CWP, so I'm on my own for dinner.
There is a great restaurant/bar I like that is waterfront on flathead lake; they have Prime Rib on Friday nights.
I'm minding my own business, drinking my frosty beer, and eating my slightly overdone yet tasty Prime Rib that must be an inch thick and takes 85% of the plate. Couple of small green things for color and a dollop of mashed potato for good measure.
"How's the Prime Rib tonight, looks over done," says the stranger.
"Yea, its a little overdone, but beggers can't be choosers, they run out about this time so if you want some better order up buddy," I respond.
Long story short, after some small talk about various topics, including fine wine, fast women, loose boats, and good cutting horses, turns out he owned the place.
One of our various topics included the soon-to-be-built Casino across the street, the reservation, and city planning. He pointed out a handful of local Havasu snowbirds across the bar, and we chatted about the locals in Montana, recreation, and the people that don't want to accept progress.
It was nice to have an intelligent discussion about influencing progress and how when people bury their heads in the sand or dig in their heels how a town can get messed up.
I can't help but draw a parallel to Havasu in our discussion about a small lakeside town that is firmly divided between a working class of service workers, a reservation, and the outsiders who own vacation and retirement homes who want to enjoy some culture, a good meal and enjoy a glass of wine. Perhaps Flathead Lake, Montana, is far enough away from California to not worry about the negative influence of the declining quality of people, but ironically here we are, two transplant Californians talking about "Improving" the place.
I took a lot of things away from the conversation, but what made an impact is how you simply can't stop progress, and you can only influence if it will satisfy you or upset you. I realized walking away from the bar that as long as I am just taking away an experience, I can't complain about the direction thing are headed. If I want to invest in and grow roots, I should step up and get involved; if not, I am just along for the ride.
As we finished our drinks and said goodbye, I thanked him for opening up a decent place to get a meal and enjoy a drink in an area that does not offer many options. He nodded and said, yea, I guess I just got sick of bitching about it and decided to open up my place.
So I decided to share this story because the Havasu Channel thread came to mind. If you are just along for the ride, I guess you have to accept the outcome. THEN, I thought the same about the state of our country.
Thanks for entertaining my random thoughts.
What's surprising, people don't know how far a mile is, or what size an acre is. I enjoy the space between things, either homes or businesses. You can see more on the trips into "town".
