Interests

First Fishing Trip

janslide (68)I guess it is all the crazy things going on but I have been going through all the old slides that my father has taken through the years. Then I noticed many folks seem to be reminiscing also so I figured I join in.

Here I be on my first real fishing trip.  We were at a cabin at Echo Lake and the pole you see there sort of ended up with the tip in the lake. I remember my dad getting it back out somehow and all was well.  It was really a special deal because my dad rented a row boat  one day  so we could fish out in the middle of the lake instead of from the shore.

My mom cooked the trout up for us and my brother and I felt ever so special having caught the dinner. And, yes we had to clean them ourselves. Not particularly a nifty thing but we were allowed to use a knife under my dads supervision – so it was worth it.

Those are my dads waders (and hat) I have on, you figure he is 6’4″ and I am only 5’5″ now. My brother and I loved to get into my dads shoes and stomp about it somehow made us feel larger and important LOL.

Lost in the years of photo weeding out are all my pictures of chipmunks that I spent hours luring in so I could take a picture of them with my little brownie camera.  I remember my mom not particularly thinking that attracting rodents was a good thing and my little brother kept scaring them away to make me mad.

On this trip we also hiked up to the top of Echo Summit. We had a picnic up there and complained all the way back down because we were two tired kids.

Annie Dogs Tooth

Annie Some days just start out so wrong. Last night we noticed Annie was doing a strange contortionist routine with her tongue. Last time I saw this odd type movement and behavior it was when my dear Buddy had caught what he thought was a ball thrown by neighborhood kids years ago. What they in fact had tossed at him was a rock. One broken canine the result of their mean deed.
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When a canine is broken it has to be fixed. In dogs the hole will not fill up resulting eventually in an abscess that moves to the brain. Years ago Buddy had a root canal and cap – back then we scrapped together the bucks and he was a faithful companion till the age a 17.
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So of course I am freaking out. Yep, Annie had broken a tooth but thankfully it was a molar. Much simpler. They just pull it. And it cost just as much as years ago the root canal and cap cost. Nothing goes down in veterinary costs it goes up.
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We left her at the vet this afternoon and came home with just Mr. Catfish. First thing in the morning we will go pick her up. This evening she is doing super and they may give her dinner. Last time we saw her her was running down the hall of the vet with a embarrassed vet tech assist chasing. LOL we told her that Annie was Houdini in disguise.
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Mr Catfish is concerned. He won’t get caught pouting but he misses Annie. I mean what is the fun of sneaking downstairs with your royal orb of fuzz if Annie is not there to try and steal it? I am kind of sulking too as I realize that there is no need to sneak a few popcorn pieces on the way upstairs to the wookie dog (Annie).
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The real fun money thing was that the dog antibiotics for the next two weeks were way cheaper at the pharmacy than at the vets. Go figure drugs on the cheap for dogs!
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Now, more figuring out how to pay off more credit card dept!! AUGH. But you know my doggies are worth every penny and then some.
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Core of the Matter

It is one of the nights where I really do not have anything much to say. I have been tired this weekend and spent most of my time watching the races, reading, laying about the place. Now you would think as tired as I feel I could get to sleep at a decent time – like before 4am.
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The rain does not entice me into going outside, I don’t wanna be around a bunch of people, and my eye balls are misbehaving. So, pretty much doing nothing is it right now. I need to fix the downstairs bathroom sink. It is a pedestal type and I had to remove it from the wall in order to replace the faucet and drain pipe. Have I done it – NO . … my camera gear is in a disarranged pile on my work area right behind me and I should get all the lens etc back into the case – emmmm.. I have been using my little point n shoot Pentax to take silly pics around the house. I need to charge my D80 batteries, another on the list of chit I have not done.
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I did get off my lazy arse to look for my MP3 player. I drove myself nuts trying to figure out where the heck I had left it only to find it in Mr. Catfish’s pile of toys. LOL my dog snitched my MP4 player – I guess he likes the tunes? Maybe the bright yellow color? The battery is dead now too so he must have turned it on. Don’t snicker, both our dogs turn the television on and off and change the channels while we are gone.pinkyandmp3player
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Now once and awhile I find the urge to share secrets here – just cause. Those of you who have read this blog long enough know that I love(d) to ride motorcycles. In fact right before I had my stokes I had just purchased a new one. If I only new . … it sits in the back yard all covered up snug as a bug waiting for me to sale it.

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In 2004 I promised my docs that oh no! I would never be stupid enough to ride it! Well . …:mrgreen:

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I will spill the beans. First off, let me say, I do not ride it anymore :(. But, I did manage to get in some rides before letting go. I love to feeling when I ride. I rode the first time in 1975 and fell in love with the feeling of freedom.  I even spent some productive time working as a mechanics helper in a motorcycle shop. Ok, back to the secret. I rode it OK. My last ride was 2006 when I somehow managed to stay upright (rubber side down) and made it up to Redding to the Hog State Rally. When I arrived at my friends house I could not even get my tired arse off of it. I had blast getting there though.  The sad thing was on the way home I knew that it was my last ride. For the first time in my life I had to admit that no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much effort I put towards a goal – it was useless. Bummer.

Hog Patches

Hog Patches

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My docs would more than likely fill out one of those DMV forms if they knew I rode it, ever, at all, period. I sort of lied my way out of that one – the thought of losing my M class one my license was a super big deal to me.  Now I just count myself lucky that I can still operate my truck safely.
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In the last few years I have had more bummer moments. The past six months have brought way too many bummer moments and now this stupid MS crap. I guess having a name for all this crazy stuff is better than not, then again I am not so sure about that either.
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Instead souring around corners and pushing the velocity barrier I navigate store isles and read about others great adventures. I am going to load the MP3 of Indiana Wants Me after listening to it over at A Stellar Life It plays right after Born To Be Wild and Logical. Ever heard Scooters version of Logical?
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MS has trapped some core part of my rebel soul and it so needs to fight it’s way out.

Daytona 378

What was up with ending the race after a bit of rain eh? Come on NASCAR I have waited longer than 30+ minutes for the restart of a race. The Daytona 500 is like the Superbowl of races. What you did was like stopping the football game at half time. I am disappointed that you seem to have become another organization that has turned into a politically correct namby pamby group.
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The last laps could have been run today if waiting did not work out. But to call it so early? Think about the SuperBowl if the game were called early with 4 minutes to go. The ? Arizona Cardinals would be the Champs, but no, with their SUPER BOWL they get to finish. I am left wondering if Harvick would have passed Matt or maybe one of the others? We will never know. I am no meteorologist but I even could tell looking at the reports that the rain might last an hour or so and clear up – which it did.
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I have an idea – lets finish the biggest race of the year instead of calling it because of a few raindrops. And could Fox please oh please get rid of the Digger cartoons? The idea is cute but talk about over kill. I think I saw more cutesy commentaries, vignettes, and cartoons than I did racing. Like many things NASCAR has gotten greedy. It used to be about racing to finish and now it is about the bling.
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The hype of three hour pre-race shows , the inconsistently of rules (who you apply them too) and the need to say and do everything politically correct have made this sort of a joke. I will be seen more at our local dirt tracks and less sitting on my couch hoping you decide to finish the race.
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Congratulations to Matt on the win you and your team managed to get yourself in the right spot at the right time and deserve the title of Champion regardless of all the above ranting.

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