This past week found Ol’ Dutch back on the river driving for kayaking trips for Mountain Man Rafting. Now this was not the plan and Miss Trixie kinda Tom Sawyered me into it as her schedule was full to overflowing. As usual. But there is never a bad day on the Mighty Rio Grande River and so I got to see some new places as we kayaked east of South Fork on Friday.  The Mountain Man/Narrow Ridge kayaking trips are perfect for beginners to experience their first time. You'll learn new things and have a lot of fun.

They are offering rock climbing too and since Ol’ Dutch already has rocks in his head, I probably will pass on that one. But I am sure there are adventurers out there who want to try it.

Most of August I had dedicated myself to getting ready for elk and bear season but as you found out last week, Miss Trixie had other ideas for me in our social events calendar. Even with all the activity, I did get to peruse the Internet a lot looking for new gear and ordering things from Amazon like a shopaholic on steroids. The only problem is the Internet has changed a little bit and I soon found out that every ad or item that I looked at started an avalanche proposals trying to sell me something. Even looking at the news about certain things would somehow fire up the demons of commerce and I am now inundated with ads, commercials, phone calls, emails, texts and Facebook events.

To give you some idea about what has occurred, I usually check the Stock Market every few days just to see how things are going. And I also look at the interest rates both being charged and paid out on accounts out of curiosity if nothing else. And I might read an article on the housing industry and other items of interest. I am not sure how but suddenly I am getting calls, texts and emails from California to New York about real estate, banking, annuities, insurance, hunting gear, trips overseas, Chronic Wasting Disease, F-16 fighter jets and real estate. Did I mention real estate twice? Well they have been the worst abusers of my time.

Now I know that if you enter in your information you are certain to get such things but now I think they are harvesting all that from my phone or computer without me even knowing it.

We all know how the television channels have inserted subliminal messages into the programming and that it has been happening since Hector was a pup. These messages are unseen to the natural and conscious eye but when you suddenly find yourself wanting some Pringles or Hershey Kisses, you know that the idea was planted in your brain during the past episode of The Big Bang Theory.

I got curious about just how far this use of our information on the Internet is being mined and there is some thought out there that the cell phones we use are actually listening to us all the time. I am starting to believe that as it seems like my phone knows what I am going to type into Google before I do.  Some of you may be alarmed at this turn of events and the increase in Artificial Intelligence but Ol’ Dutch got to thinking (a dangerous proposition according to Miss Trixie), that it may be something I can really latch onto and run with.

For you see, for the last ten years I have had to depend on Miss Trixie to tell me what to think, do and say so this may free her up for more social activities and be a real boon to me also as I do not have to have her in close proximity to access the information I stored in her brain.

No longer will I have to even think but simply go to Google and see what they know my inner self wants and needs. And you thought A.I. was all bad. This will now free me up for some real deep thinking although that too will be monitored and guided sooner or later.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com