[Old and Reliable]

I had the pleasure of meeting Mike back in October 1990'ish- he was on a book signing tour with Steve Smith of CountrySport Press if memory serves.
He was never afraid to take a 'controversial position' and express it openly, and that makes him a man of high stature to an old bog trottin' Mick like me-

In HS, our English teacher was a Scotsman name o McDonald (we called him Mr. of course, not Angus- this was 1958 era)-- Every St. Paddy's Day he'd wear a tartan shirt with a big orange tie--and he could quote Kipling cold stone verbatium- as did Mike with the "Gunga Din" saga--

So, I have a fifth of The McCallan somewheres, will sip that on the rocks tonite after dead dark o'clock, whilst star gazing from my deck, fire up a Cuesta Rey and toast them both. The Big Dipper guides us to the true North Star, my guess is Mike's will be with Orion- The Hunter!!

And as Yeats said once: "No one man is essential to all of mankind, but some stand out in their lifetime as to always be missed"!