MS Coulter says it all (maybe a lot of it) on her blog. Worth the read

Had wonderful time fishing, we even caught some. Nate has been crowned the new Carp King. I have to believe he could catch a carp on dry land. I never saw the likes of it in my life It was like the carp were lined up saying “me next, please take me next” The outing was relaxing and just all around fun. We kept a number of fish we caught, and they were all carp. I did catch a few catfish; I never have seen catfish that little. Honestly I caught two cats that were no more then 3 inches long. These little guys had been picking at our bait all morning long. This is the same place were another friend and I had caught some pretty good sized cats 6-7 weeks ago, but nothing this outing.

I got the carp all filleted out and I will smoke them next weekend. I make a basic brine of water sugar and salt. I soak the fillets for 24 hours give them a light rinse let them dry for an hour then begin the smoking process. You really only smoke the fish for the first 2 hours or so then the rest is drying the meat. That can take 12 or more hours. I soak my wood chips first, it makes them burn longer and you get more smoke flavor.

The bride has made plans for the next weekend. She and a girl friend are going shopping on Saturday. That should give me a kitchen pass to go fishing again. I just need to figure out where. I am leaning towards the mountains and catching some trout. What I could do is head for the place I wanted to go camping this weekend. Marsh Lake or I could stay in town and fish one of the community ponds. The fish and game department keep them stocked with all kinds o fish. With the price of gas this may be a great option. Something to think about.

Update, my knees are trash and it is known that I will have to have a knee replacement on each one. This last Wednesday as I was getting the trailer ready for the weekend when Dusty (one of my dogs) made his escape. I saw his little furry tail going up and over the hill. So I am off like a herd of turtles. I will admit that I am not too quick anymore. The bride jumps in her car and me on foot. The little guy stays about twenty feet ahead of me as he explores the neighbor’s yards and a garage or two. I do manage to get in front of him so I can start to head my little buddy back towards the house. The bride pulls into the garage and Dusty runs to her and jumps into her arms. I am sure that he is saying “don’t let dad get me” As I am walking down the hill my knee buckles. This is the knee I had scoped about three weeks ago. It hurts a lot and I snivel and whine. I am sure that I have damaged it again. The bride tells me that we are not going camping and I agree with her. It that point in time I am not sure if I could handle setting up the trailer and doing the work to go camping. I call my buddy Nate and explain what has happened. Him and his bride were going with us. I don’t think he is real happy but he said the concern is about my knee. I take a pain pill and go sit in the backyard and mope.

Anyway I got a fishing spot that I can drive to and not have to walk more then the length of the truck to fish. So me and Nate are going fishing tomorrow. We will catch catfish and carp. Around here carp is a trash fish. Use to be that folks would catch them and throw them on the bank and let them rot. That practice is against the law now. But I have always heard that carp is very good eating if you smoke it. I have a smoker and I am planning to give it a shot. I will post the results of this endeavor some time soon.

I am not a happy camper, literally. I have made plans with my buddy Nate to go camping this weekend. I want to go to Marsh Lake on the north side of the Uinta Mountains. It is a beautiful spot and the fishing is great. I called to make reservations for the camp ground. I am three days out from camping and you need to reserve your site no less then four days out. So I can not reserve Friday, and I can not reserve Saturday because it is a minimum of two days on the weekend. We do not want to stay through till Monday. We could take off very early on Friday morning (Nate does not do early very well) and take our chanced that we can find a spot, but my bride does not think that is a good idea. Most the camp grounds are full for this coming weekend I have checked. I believe the plan will be for the two of us and are respective brides to head for the south slope of the Uinta’s and try to find a spot at Shady Dell camp ground. It is all first come first serve. I think the bride and I will take of earlier on Friday to secure a couple of spots. Nate and his bride can meet us there. I will admit that this is my fault for not calling sooner but I am still upset. Once I get the trailer set up and catch a few fish I will be much better. Until then look out.

I was over at Walrilla's wondering and he had a link to this article. I guess it is not really an artical but it is worth the time to read.

My daughter called at 5:30 this morning. Of course there was panic when I saw her name on caller ID. Nobody calls that early unless there is trouble. Her first word where “there is nothing wrong”, she was dropping her husband off at work and she want to come by to borrow my chain saw. She was taking down a few trees in her yard. She was at the house by 5:45 and I gave her a quick lesson on how to run the chain saw. This is a 20” gas powered tree killing machine. She had never used one before. She said she was good to go. All was good with the world. The bride and I headed off work.

About 8:15 I get a text message from my baby girl. “STUPID CHAIN SAW”, I had a very short meeting at 9:00 so I told her I would stop by as soon as I was done. I used the saw just a month ago and it had run just fine. So I thinking this is no big deal and I head down the road. I call my boss and tell her that I have taken off and will settle up with my leave when I get back.

I make a call to let the girl know that I am on my way and she asked if I could back into the driveway so I could take a load of limbs and stuff to the green dump in town. I am a dad and she is daddy’s little girl so I say no big deal. I try the chain saw and nothing it will not run. I have a spare sparkplug in the carrying case and I swap it out with the old one. It runs like a champ. Jill shows me what she is up to and this is no job for one person. I have my gym clothes in the truck and I change shirts and I am taking down trees. The trees have grown up and into over head lines. Not power but cable and phone lines. The chain on my saw is a little dull (like the operator) but is cutting fairly well. I cut the tree to fall away from the line but next to her garage. There is about two feet clearance between the garage and the tree with the line on the other side. The tree comes down hit the garage and my head. I figure my head broke the fall and save the garage. Not harm no foul. We cut off the branches and cut the tree into bite size chunks. I move on the next tree and this one is a little trickier. Then chain on the saw has given up the ghost, will not cut anymore. I need a break any way so I send the girl off to Home depot to fine a new chain or an electric chain saw. They are not very expense and I figure I could use one around the house. One or the other would do the job. She is gone and I get to spend time with my granddaughter Ava. This is a treat and I love to watch her. Jill comes back with both a new chain and an electric chain saw. There is no stopping us now. The second tree comes down without much of a problem. It hangs up in the lines just for a few seconds and then it comes tumbling down. Lines are intact and we get to cut this tree up into little pieces. This stopping by to help out turned into an all day project but I had a great time doing it. I take one more trip to the green dump and I am off. Jill and her husband can finish up the job. I left both chainsaws over at their place. I will admit that I hurt in places I forgot I had. But I feel good about it.

All in all it was a good day. When I was sitting out side watching Ava I figured this is what it is going to like when I retire. I have 196 days until I am eligible. I won’t go then but I can and that has to be a good feeling.

I had a very good time in the desert yesterday. My buddy Nate and I did not go chasing after jackrabbits. Nate figured with having my knee scoped last week I should stay close to the truck. I really think he did not relish the idea of dragging me back to the truck if I hurt myself. Each of us sighted in a couple of rifles at 100 yards, plus we did a lot of plinking. Plinking is done mostly with 22’s and is some of the best fun you can have with guns. I cleaned my rifles this morning and I will take care of the handguns a little later.

I was telling Nate that I may hold off on picking up any additional firearms for the next year. I really need to put some money aside. The bride and I are planning on a cruise to Alaska with her sister and husband, I have my Alaskan fishing trip in September, and the bride’s brother has invited me to go hunting in Montana next fall. The bride asked me how much we could afford and I replied “we are going to find out”. I checked my power ball numbers and I still am not rich, so I will put away some money.

This is a great artical on fighting the war

I am trying to work up the energy to go out and do some much needed yard work. Maybe one more cup of coffee will do the trick.

My little girl turns 30 today. The bride and I have called and I sang happy birthday to her. We will meet a little later today and have lunch in a park near her house.

My knee is feeling better and I think I will be to work in the morning. The bride wants me to take the whole week off. I don’t see the point in that. Either place I am going to be sitting most of the day. I won’t go back to the gym until I talk with the Dr. on Wednesday. My buddy Nate and I are headed from the desert this coming weekend to exercise our second amendment rights. Always remember the second amendment makes all the others possible. I have bore sighted a new scope on my mini 14 but I need to put it on paper to see how it is really shooting. I'll drag the shooting bench, gun rest, and spotting scope along and just have a grand time. I think most of the big bore stuff will be heading out with us. To my friend Dave you have an open invitation to head out with us anytime you come to the states.

I feel the need to get away and get in touch with my masculine side. I need a fishing and/or hunting trip. This weekend is out of the question I am recovering from my knee being scoped. It is sore and stiff but I am sure that it is getting better. Stairs are kicking my butt right now, so I avoid them as much as I can. It is little hard to when you live in a two story house with a basement. We have the carpet cleaning guy coming this morning, so I have vacuumed the living room and I mopped the kitchen. See what I mean I need to get in touch with my masculine side. I did have hunting and fishing shows on the TV while I was doing house work so it is not as bad as it seems.

My buddy Nate called to check on me last night. I do appreciate that. He was on his way to the minor league baseball game. I have thought about taking the bride to some of the games. But I don’t want to sit in the sun with the temperatures hitting 100 degrees. It has been cooling off a little so I may rethink about going. Could be a good diversion from the day to day goings on.