The boat...

...it works. It finds fish!

This one here's not the biggest fish in the lake. Not nearly the biggest fish Andrew hooked that day but it was the one that we took home. It was his first fish and it swallowed the bait and hook so it wasn't going to survive.

It ended up being just a smidgen over 10 inches long. A nice little rainbow that put up a pretty good fight. I got the crap beat out of me while he pulled the tip of the pole up. It was pretty funny to watch, I'd imagine.

Jackie got a huge kick out of it. Andrew would lower the tip of the pole and then crank on the reel. I'd tell him to get the tip up and keep reeling. He'd whip the tip up... not once, not twice but five or six times in a row... beating me up with it as I stood behind him "helping" him land the fish.

What a day.

A bit later we moved to another area of the lake and got into a jackpot of trout. I couldn't get the worms on the hooks fast enough. One time in particular I'd baited my hook, left it dangle over the side while I baited Andrew's. A fish came to the surface and took my hook right next to the boat.

I cast Andrew's line out for him, grabbed my pole and released the 8 incher that happened to take the hook. I no sooner got the fish released when Andrew's pole bent hard. He had a NICE fish on this time.

Remembering the beating I took before I just sat down behind him and told him to keep the tip of the pole up and keep reeling the fish towards the boat. He was doing great at first. The fish rolled once... a nice fish! When Andrew saw the size of it he got real excited and kind of forgot about that "keep the tip of the pole up" thing I'd been reminding him about. Oh yeah, he forgot about cranking the reel too... a critical part of landing a fish.

No problem though, he was playing a very good fish and was enjoying the heck out of it... in his own way.

We watched him and offered advice. Finally, the fish rolled again and the hook popped out about ten feet from the boat. Either way, Andrew was ecstatic! You'd thought he'd battled Moby Dick! It was a large fish, much larger than the 10+ incher we had on the stringer but then again, you're going to have to take our words for it, eh?

About an hour later the weather took a turn for the worse. The clouds began to build, the wind kicked it up a couple of notches and the rain began to fall.

I fired up the motor and headed back to the launch... in all it was a great day!

Yah fun, impromptu, relaxing, humorous... a great day.

As a side note, I've been focusing some energies on another blog and haven't paid much attention to this one lately. The other blog is complete so now I'm back. Thanks for the emails. Everything's okay here... I was just a bit pre-occupied.

From one boat...

...to another.

We sold our 20 foot Bayliner Capri (cuddy) and bought a 15 foot Livingston.

We just weren't using the Bayliner as much as we'd hoped. It wasn't really fishing friendly given the cuddy cabin, sloped windshield and low cockpit canvas so we sold it.

It took a day and a half to sell on Craig's List. We bought the Livingston from a guy who posted it on Craig's List too.

The guy who bought our Bayliner got a good deal and we got a good deal with the Livingston. There's no doubt we're going to get far more fishing action out of the Livingston than we did with the Bayliner.

It's easier for people to get in and out of, easier to launch and retrailer, can be fished out of from all sides, has canvas so we can get out of the weather if we want, has a nice 35 hp Tohatsu outboard, can be launched in smaller lakes and can be towed just about anywhere.

Yup, we're going to have a lot more fun with this boat.

The nephew, wife, son, Dad, daughter in law, grandkids, daughter... friends and family... we're all going to use it! We're all going to be having fun!

The last time we took the Bayliner out we went to Black Lake, west of Olympia, WA. and ran around on the lake for a couple of hours just blowing out the winter blues. It was a bit windy when we came to shore to trailer the boat. We had a heckuva time fighting the wind and getting it on the trailer straight. Eventually, my son and I got it on the trailer but we got pretty wet doing it. So I decided then that it's time to get one that we can launch and retrailer in the lakes with relatively little effort and also get one that we could get in and out of at the lakes without having to porpoise our way through a windshield and under handrails.

Hence the dual hulled, stable as all get out, catamaran style Livingston. One of the best fishing platforms made.

I have some things to do to it yet. You know, install pole holders, a fish finder, seats, steering console, throttle and shift levers, etc. But that's part of the fun of having a boat... setting it up the way you want it set up.

The guy who sold us the boat is one helluva nice guy... his whole family is. They live in Bremerton, WA, about 60 miles north of Olympia and he builds boats for a living. Big boats. Boats for the Coast Guard and tenders for the Navy. So he knows something about boats. When we went to look at it and then to pick it up we felt like we'd known their family for years after we left. They're just genuinely nice people. The trip and visit alone was worth it.

He got the Livingston a couple of years ago and was restoring it. He'd also pull his kids around on innertubes on the lakes in the area and in Puget Sound.

The Livingston spent it's first 11 years as a lifeboat on a commercial ferry so we're guessing it probably didn't touch the water more than a couple of hours while in the ferry service. At least, I don't recall any ferries sinking in Puget Sound or anything that happened to the ferries that necessitated launching the lifeboats in the past 20 years, let alone 50 years.

After he got the boat he cleaned it up, painted the stripe on the sides and painted the inside with top of the line marine paint. He installed grip rails, installed the three quarter canvas that he had from another Livingston he owned, threw in two brand new padded swivel seats, a center stearing console and cables, trailer bumper guides and a ton of other goodies when we bought it. He told me he wasn't all that familiar with the "Tohatsu" brand motor but said he got a good deal on it so he bought it after he got the boat. It ran great when I picked it up.

So, how could we refuse. Besides, we bought it for far less than what we sold the Bayliner for and the extra money helped us out with some of our other little bills.

As soon as I get some free time we're going to go fishing! I'll grab Dad, Andrew and anyone else who wants to go and we'll go drown some worms.

Later!

Sometimes we just drift away...

...and let life get in the way!

It's tough to keep up on everything happening. I know all of you know that but somehow you keep on top.

Somehow you keep making it work.

We're having our moments here and we're working through them.

One day at a time.

Andrew did an "Old McDonald Had A Farm" skit the other night. Justin, Andrea, Reese, Jackie and I went there to watch him. I have to admit, it was fun!

In a "fun" way.

I remember when Justin and Kerri were doing their skits. We'd go, watch and video... oh thank God for the Camcorders, eh?

Where are those tapes now?

LOL

So, Andrew, our little chick in McDonalds farm was tossed to the sheep and pigs as the show went on.

He laughed, danced, sang, shouted...

He had fun!

So did we!

In the end, all of the critters got together to sing the grand finale. They sang their hearts out in tune and eventually, eventually the actors signed off!

What a night!

Oh yeah, and the cow did finally "Mooooo".

A day with Reese...

Hey Papa... let's talk.

Let's have a chat, a conversation, let's have a dialogue.

Let's get together and chat about things.

Well, it kind of worked for Hillary... kind of.

So anyways, where'd you go today Papa? You left me here with Grandma J all day and we had a ball. I showed her a bunch of things.

We visited for a bit and then I took a little nap.

It wasn't all that long... just long enough to recharge my little, new battery and get her to pay attention to me again.

Actually Papa, Grandma is fun to mess with.

Just when she thinks I'm drifting off into slumber land... just when she thinks she might have an hour or two of "quiet time" I let her know I'm awake and ready to chat, talk, have a dialogue.

She makes the funniest faces when she talks.

Come to think of it you do too. All of you do.

Why is it that you "adults" make such fools of yourselves when you interact with us little folks?

I mean, it's not like I'm complaining because I'm not but when I talk to my cousins they all tell me "it's a grown up thing".

I'm guessing you think I can't understand a word you're saying.

Nothing could be farthest from the truth.

You know, us kids... we have our ways of communicating. You all pick up on it pretty fast though, I'll give you that.

Papa, when Grandma sees my face turning red and there's nothing but grunts coming out of me she knows exactly what I'm doing and exactly what to do...

... she gets a dry, non soiled, comfortable thingy and puts it on me after she takes that sticky, wet one off of me. And I get a warm, cleansing, sink bath to boot.

Now that's body language!

You now, you're a bit slow on the uptake. You've gotta pay a bit more attention to Grandma about these things.

Take a few pointers from her.

You can be hilarious sometimes... concocting ways on how to get around the "change poopoo thingy" moment.

But one of these days, ONE OF THESE DAYS it's just going to be you and me...

Grandma's going to be out somewhere, Mommy and Daddy are going to be out doing something, you're going to be alone with me for a bit of time and I'm gonna let one go.

One I've been saving just for you!

And then... and then I'll give Grandpa Jerry the same present. Or maybe he'll get the present first.

I really haven't decided.

You Papa's seem to think you're below the radar... you're not. At least not mine!

It all involves timing, opportunity and... well, you know what else.

I'll see ya' later Papa(s).

Opening it up a bit...

Over the years I've come to enjoy blogging. I enjoy blogging very, very much.

Blogs are like bridges. They span gaps, breaks in life.

They provide vessels, passages, avenues for all kinds of people to communicate to others everyday information that would normally not be communicated. Making seemingly simple, mundane activities parts of everyone's lives. Opening portions of our own private little worlds to others.

An exposure...

...a cleansing of sorts.

I've opened the blog up a bit.

This morning I sent invitations to Dad, brother Bill, sister in law Denise, daughter Kerri, son Justin, daughter in law Andrea and the wife to make posts to the blog whenever they get the "urge".

It's a great way to get other perspectives on things rather than to get it straight from me every time.

It's become obvious to me that this communication... it should be a "shared" process. It should involve others and their refreshing, impressive, overall view of what is happening in their own world as they see it.

Not just mine.

I almost blew it though... I almost lost everything I've had to date because of this "Google" blog takeover thingy. Wow. Now that would have been a bit irritating, at least.

I've had this blog up and running for over two years and almost had everything slip away. Slide off to cyberspace somewhere never to be seen again.

Instead, I had the blog revert back to the "old format". Watch out for that Google conversion thing.

So Dad, Bill, Denise, Jacob, Justin, Andrea, Kerri, Jackie... come on over, cross that bridge and post your thoughts. Have some fun with the blog.

I'm challenging you to post your thoughts, have some fun...

...share what you can with those who like to read and want to know.

Take us with you wherever you go and most of all...

...Have fun!