Yeah, thanks to all for the information...How very kind. It's all duly considered, entered in data banks and information kiosks wherever moto information is needed/wanted/regaled.
I think the problem started with the gel battery I installed 5+ years ago. It didn't have the cranking power of the clunker wet cell, and in 5 years the connections weren't as clean and tight as they should be.
So I cleaned and tightened everything up! But she still wants to crank very slowly on full choke...very slowly. I thought about it and thought about it and decided the best way to adapt/adopt/overcome this problem until such time as a new battery is called for, is to simply begin cranking the engine at 0 choke while advancing the choke lever until the engine fires... Works great. For now.