Oregon double-header Part 2

After the football game, it was time to stop messing around and have some serious fun. So Steve and I left the Grits with grandpa and gramma and drove down to Bandon for some fishin'. The weather was fantastic, the best I've ever had in many week/weekend trips to Bandon.

We got right to it, leaving the marina in the early dawn light and arriving at the Halibut Hole (more like a mesa) to wonderfully calm water.

While Jason worked on a sheet of plywood stuck to the bottom of the sea.....

...Steve handles his flattie with aplomb. what does aplomb mean?

After a brutal fight involving one bid dude and a harpoon by Kreg, Jason hoists a beauty. That's a big halibut anywhere you fish, and really big for the Oregon coast.

I apparently had sideburns back in September. And a pretty ling cod too.

So a rockin' offshore day ends at the filet table, yielding piles of fishy blockage - hopefully enough to last through the winter!

The remainder of the week was spent extracting salmon from the Coquille at a fairly slow, yet consistent pace.

With a short venture outside to fill the entire fishhold (ok just the floor) with black rockfish in a matter of minutes on a great surface bite. Pictured is Steve, trying not to throw up.

Steve with a fatter Silver than ever before, including Alaska! Too bad he had to let her swim away free. It appeared to pain him physically.

Finally, on the last day, Spam himself nails a keeper King. It was a wonderful trip, helped in large by Jason and Kreg's hospitality and Jason's continual preparation for bigfish success.

Oregon double-header Part1

Steve and I recently took a week off to attend to very important business on the Oregon coast.

First came the U of O vs BSU football game, which ended up being one of the biggest wins in school history! Unfortunately, Shanna was on business in Phoenix, so Steve volunteered to utilize her ticket.

Steve and I drove over with Amber and the kids on Friday night to meet Karl and Lori and my kids, which had driven over the day before in the hohohome. We camped in the Masonic Lodge field across from the stadium that night with a bunch of other motorhomes and an amazing number of Bronco fans.

On Saturday we walked around Autzen, checked out the Duck Shop and talked to various relatives adorned in green and yellow. Overall, the Duck fans were friendly and excited to be playing the legendary Broncos (thinking of course, that they were gonna whup on the WAC). They probably wouldn't have been so friendly if they knew we were gonna totally embarrass a respectable PAC-10 team that always plays tough at home.

This is a picture from my cell phone just after the game ended. You can see the Bronco faithful hanging in till the end, while most of the O fans had wandering dejectly out of the stadium sometime in the 4th.

Happy Halloween!

Motorhead

I saw this on somebody's screensaver the other day and thought it was interesting. Maybe you'll find it interesting as well.

4,158 days and not counting

On this fine Monday morning, for the first time in 4,158 days, I am not reporting to work at the factory.

I've had two months to get used to that idea, but it really didn't sink in until today.

I didn't take the same exit, didn't have to fish around in my bag for my badge, didn't come in late as usual.

Didn't discover hundreds of emails after being off for a week, didn't get interrupted by one catastrophe after another.

I suppose I could list a bunch of reasons for the change, and goals for the future and so on, but I don't think most people other than me really care. I think what others care about is that I start humming again, sleeping soundly (without cellular interrupution) and playing soccer with them more often. And of course, update the blog more frequently.

So that's what I intend to do - wish me luck! *Paul Harvey voice* Good day.

September Updateroo

Summer is flying by as we speak. We've been extraordinarily busy as usual, the bulk of which consists of spearing carp. Not really - actually busy with birthdays and anniversaries and such. I promise to post a couple more times this month to get ya'll caught up.

Olympics Widget

(Coop) "Yeah, I Ride Alone"

1) Cooper begs Daddy to take the training wheels off his bicycle, so he does.

2) They make two unsuccessful trips around the block, and Cooper gives up. Moves on to the scooter, which is much easier.

3) Two months later, Daddy says 'it sure would be nice to ride our bikes down to DQ, if only Cooper knew how'.

4) Cooper puts on his helmet and disappears out the front door.

5) Five minutes later, Cooper reappears and announces 'I can ride a two wheeler!' - and sure enough, he can!

6) Cooper and Daddy go to DQ. The Beginning.

Photo ketchup.

Just some random photos for anybody who might be sitting around kinda bored...in another country...that rhymes with 'Marge and Gina'.

Happy Birthday, Country

We had a wonderful 4th of July with Kiddo's and the Clark's. And of course Gramma Linda and Uncle Steve. We stayed home and worked in the yard while I nursed a pork shoulder in the smoker to sweet perfection. This was the first year the kids asked for fireworks, so we got a couple and had some fun. Cooper liked the way we could duct tape an ordinary ground bloom flower and make it blow up the neighbors mailbox instead. Mia is a big fan of those old-school black snake pill shaped thingys that foam up all of the place while emitting caustic smoke direct from China.

Brad pulls out the perfect defensive weapon when rushed with six sparkler wielding freedom freaks - the propane powered megatorch.


Drove down the street to watch the fireworks from the speedway, which were actually pretty good this year. Then we came home and burned our own neat little piles of money out in the street.

Not sure where he's going - I mean look at those cool fireworks. Darn kids these days.

Back in the US, safe and sound

Shanna and I, along with Scott, Steve, David, and Johnny went to Baja for a couple of weeks to land the magical Yellowtail. I will be updating the SpudNuts website shortly, but I think this picture tells most of the story. What a pair!!!

Bigger, better, badder

So I got a new truck. Looks just like the old truck, this one is just bigger. With way more power and towing capacity. Hmmmm that gives me an idea.

Spring Smallmouth

We had a great spring smallmouth bite at Brownlee, with everyone getting their fair share of quality fish. The overall trophy goes to Dave for a 3lb 11oz fattie, but of course the real looker of the crew is Shanna Banana herself.

CLS - Cooper Loves Soccer

Cooper played in U5/6 soccer this spring, and just loved it. His team is called the Kamikazes and they are definitely a diverse group (read: disjointed, quirky, partly effective, etc..) . I don't think I'll be ready to help coach for at least 5 more years due to lack of patience, so I'm glad that Coach Cory has more than I do.