Sitting down to write this column this week, I began to reflect back on how I first got started and the resulting path that initial writing led me on. Some 14 years ago I had submitted some samples to a newspaper editor after learning that one of the regular contributors would not be continuing with his own personal column after many years of submissions. 

This was a column written by a famous San Luis Valley celebrity, Ernie Wilkinson, and I believe he stopped writing due to his age. He was a great outdoorsman and also kept wild animals at his shop near Monte Vista for many years. His credits included stints on Disney shows and also Wild Kingdom, featured on television weekly as I grew up. 

In the beginning, I wrote about my outdoor adventures along the lines that Ernie had perfected but as soon as Miss Trixie was introduced via the column, readers wanted more of her and less of Ol’ Dutch. Imagine that. 

So, a slow progression into the lives and times of Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie soon began to flow through my writings about our lives. I think that probably the story about our first date on a bear hunt was probably the catalyst to really kick my writing off about us as a couple, and the story is still as popular today as when it was first written. 

And I also believe that going bear hunting on the first date probably cemented our relationship and why it has lasted in such peaceful cohabitational nirvana. Or something like that. Just think if Ol’ Dutch would have actually spent a nickel on dinner and a movie instead of a bear hunt, Miss Trixie, and Ol’ Dutch would never have lasted like we have. Now that is something to consider for all you lovers lane neophytes. 

Looking back those 14 odd years-and odd they were-I realized today that I have probably written some 510,000 words just for this column alone. If I had a dollar for every word-well, you get the gist of that. Some would call that a great gift to humanity while others may simply say Ol’ Dutch has “diarrhea of the mouth.” Meaning I have no lack of words, and they flow forth unsolicited by anyone in particular. 

I have to admit that I am full of “malarky” or have a gift of gab for certain as there is never a time when I lack adequate words to express myself even though it may not be called for. Miss Trixie, a celebrated Best Seller writer herself, worried early on in my writing career that I would experience writer's block. This happens to most writers, she explained as they just come up “empty” for ideas from time to time.  

I can remember when she told my two children, Bubs and Cricket, that she was worried about my ability to keep up a weekly column. They laughed her into derision which means they fell on the floor in humorous contortions. These two kids had witnessed me sit down and write everything from technical manuals to poetry to short stories at the drop of a hat, so they knew that their old dad was full of it. 

Ol’ Dutch was fortunate to have been able to attend college, and it was there that the writing ability really came in handy. Being able to turn out a full-term paper in an hour or two meant that Ol’ Dutch had more time to hunt and fish which was always my goal in life. That gift of the blarney came in handy years later when I wrote grants for HUD and also technical specifications for engineering projects although those did require Ol’ Dutch to “stick to the facts” so to speak. 

That type of writing was very restrictive on me as Miss Trixie always says “Ol’ Dutch never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” And all I can say about that is “I resemble that remark.” 

Kevin Kirkpatrick spends his days fishing, hunting, ATVing, hiking or making people laugh. His email is Kevin@TroutRepublic.com. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.