Old / New Opposites Attract

They say opposites attract. My wife and I are night and day different except on important values.  But I am attracted to some other things which may seem true opposites.

I've always liked to keep up on the new technology for the products I'm interested in. I used a Palm PDA back when cell phones only made phone calls. My iPhone is now almost another brain lobe.  I wrestled with Windows for years but eventually found the Mac...

Some of my favorite things are new technology, but some are the opposite and have been around for hundreds or even thousands of years. I place reliability at the top of my list, often followed by versatility, simplicity, compactness, light weight... It could be a long list.

Some all time favorites are the canoe, the bow-n-arrow, and more recently the slingshot. Few things are more beautiful to my eyes than a traditional wood or a wood and canvas canoe.  High tech. fabrics can however make a lighter, stronger, more useful canoe.

I like traditional bows and arrows, but they have been greatly enhanced by with more modern materials.  My favorite slingshot is made of aluminum and I don't use rocks for ammunition.

If fishing were my only diversion I would possibly want a big powerful bass boat with all the extras.  I've owned a couple of smaller bass boats, fished out of a tournament boat, and they were all great fishing machines. But maintaining, storing, and keeping it all ready to go seems a full time job. My canoe is like a good hunting dog that I don't need to feed, ready to jump in the pickup and go on a whim.

I have always been a certifiable gun nut, but I started shooting a traditional bow in 1989 and now mostly admire the guns.  The traditional bow connects the body, mind, and spirit to the woods and to nature more better for me. The more modern compound bow is sometimes more efficient, but with the  complexity, the sights, range finders... the simple natural flow and connection can get lost.

The bowhunters handgun is what I call the slingshot. After using firearms and air guns all my life I  now shoot a slingshot and bow more often. The bow is for big game and may be better for small game, but you loose or look for an expensive arrow after each shot. I can take an opportune shot at a rabbit or squirrel with my slingshot and seldom spook the deer I'm hunting.

Surprisingly I shoot a slingshot more than anything these days. Compared with guns and bows it's more convenient, less threatening, simpler, cheaper... I can shoot it in more places, more often, with fewer restrictions.  I always have two slingshots in my truck, canoe... Yes! It is a very limited tool, but the limitations are  part of the challenge, part of the fun.