Sunday, April 28, 2013

New Twist On An Old Pastime

I grew up in Hawaii, surrounded by water.  Did all sorts of water activities.  Boogie boarding, surfing, skim boarding, water skiing, snorkeling and fishing.  I have since lived in the mainland for the past 13 1/2 years and lost track of those fun times.
Yesterday gave me a glimpse of a life I used to have.  A life free of bills, work, projects and chores.  I have a wife and 2 friends to thank for that.
Fishing in Hawaii was a bit different than it was here on a lake.  My earliest memories of fishing, were from shore with my parents and grandparents in the dark.  They used long whipping poles, sand spikes and bells.  I fished from shore, casting and retrieving a lure.  Then When I was 12 or so Grandpa took me on his 26 foot boat with a flying bridge and cabin, powered by a Volvo Penta diesel motor.  We'd leave the house at 4:30am and return at 4:30-5:30pm.  We'd cruise 20-25 miles off shore and troll for Aku, Ahi and Mahi Mahi .  Lures were made with store bought skirts and heads cast by my grandpa.  Great memories.
Enter a new chapter.
Yesterday 2 friends and I hit the lake for opening day in this 12 foot boat,powered by an electric trolling motor with paddle back up.  Whoa! What a different scenario!  It was opening day, so there was lots of boats and fisherman.  All were in good spirits.
This is the kind of stuff I was now going to be using.  Uh, OK.  I'm glad I happened by a fishing seminar a couple weeks ago and listened for a few minutes, because if I didn't I would have looked REALLY stupid.  As soon as we shoved off and were on the way one of my friends asked do you have a wedding ring?  If I hadn't heard the term at the seminar i would have looked down at my  finger and said not wearing it right now.  Instead I promptly answered "Yup got a red one"  Whew!  2 minutes in and I would have looked more stupid than I am!
We trolled around while me and my carpal tunnel hands took for ever to rig my pole.  Damn 8# line!  I finally was ready to go, got the line in the water and in minutes, Hana Pa'a!  Or here in the lake Fish On!
Lost that one but a few minutes later, got this 16 inch trout!  Doing good so far.  Ended up getting greedy, letting a 10 incher go.  Decided later when the bites weren't coming as easy, to keep another 10 incher.
Gutted these guys, stuffed them with lemon wedges and garlic slices seasoned with salt and pepper and through them on my Traeger wood pellet grill.  Pretty tasty, I must say!
All in all, had a great time making new memories with 2 good guys.  Hope to go again soon.  Enough rambling for today, tomorrow is just a short sleep away...


 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Neighbor Disputes

Do you ever ask yourself, at what point do you say to your neighbor, WTF?  I have suffered in silence for a long time.  Mainly because I was the guy that, "has the Sheppard that barks all the time."  
This has lead to a lot of frustration for me.  Especialy since she is now a lot better!
But some stuff, really?

What do you say to this?  I said " Your tree fell and almost took out our dog kennel, it could have been bad."  The response was, "Oh really, wow!"  Nothing happened, I cleaned it up and took care of the rest of the tree.
That is probably worse than the rest of the crap we all deal with, but still.




Keep your s**t in your own yard!  C'mon now!  I bust my ass trying to keep my neighbors crap at bay, but it gets to a point where you just lose your mind!
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Run your trimmer for goodness sake!  I mean, really?!?
Sorry, but sometimes things just get frustrating!  Enough rambling for today, tomorrow is just a short sleep away...