Don't you just love East Texas...

Man you can run around in cammies and rubber boots catching and killing anything. And there is a lot to chose from depending on your socio-economic status of course. Here is the result of a couple of hours on the lake after the rain stopped. A seven pound humpbacked blue, caught on the floating noodles with Cathy adding 5 cats on rod and reel. I did not catch anything on a pole, I was too busy watching the noodles. We agreed that if you saw the noodle go down, it's your fish. This one almost got away. After the great splashing jumping man against beast thing at the side of the boat he was in the net, but the hook was not in his mouth. I think this guy will feed 5 or 4 hungry people.

News is just happening so fast I can't really give the justice of my comments to everything.

Take the execution of old Saddam. Bad move I think. Too bad Gerald Ford passed. I think that he would have pardoned him and then as the years passed he could have set out on the road to rehabilitation just like Nixon did. Ended up as a wise elder statesman. It's possible, heck no one born after 69 or so has a real clear picture of what it was Nixon did. Now a days most folks glow with pride if you call them Tricky Dick. They think it is some kind of prowness thing. Few years they would be just tickled to be called Sexy Saddam or something like that.

I also think a golden money making deal was missed. I'm talking speaking engagements, books, movies, Barbara Walters, Oprah, and reunion tours with other bad guys. With the money going to responsible hands of course. And then when he did kick the bucket, he would really rake in the cash just like James Brown's estate expects to do.

Sorry about the multiple topics here, but if I don't address all that is necessary I have to give away a big screen to people in Virginia or Alice, Texas.

Early Morning Phone Call...

Travis calls. We are going to have to get him a hot line, one of those red phones that goes right through and lights up, second call he has had to make lately concerning accidents. Katie is hit by a car while on foot. Thankfully she is OK.

I don't know a lot of details other than she was rolled up on the hood and fell off. The driver was arrested for DWI. They are headed home after a night in ER and a bunch of x-rays and MRIs. In fact if you Google Katie=MRI=hip=accident the pelvic MRI is already up on the net. I bet a vid is up on YouTube.













In all seriousness looks like she will be real sore for awhile. We are thankful it was not worse. Could have been worse.

This mornings duck hunt...

Me and Morgan were joined by Juan and Brandon for a duck hunt this morning. It started out slow. We set up decoys on one side of an old swamp. No takers. Guys on the other side of the swamp were blasting away. I suspect sky busting myself. All ducks I saw were too high.

We picked up the decoys by about 8:30 or so and took a long walk down to the big slough. This is really my favorite place and the only reason I hunted the swamp this morning was because of all the shooting that comes from that area. I should have stuck with my favorite place because Juan killed two wood ducks and Brandon killed one. Notice Juan's hat. It's the hat Cathy made him for Christmas. Maybe I could kill some ducks if I had a hat like that. I'll take two of them, please.

We saw 10 or more ducks in that area. No other hunters near.

I would really like to go tomorrow morning, but my waders are leaking like the old flat bottoms we used to rent at Uncle Henry's Fish camp on the Angelina River in 1964.

Here is Morgan and Brandon on a break from the action.

Slow day at the lake...

Notice the nice bluebird sky in the background. That says high barometric pressure and no fish biting due to the passage of a cool front that brought a low of 33.

Notice the fish I'm holding, it's about the size of the fish that was in the belly of that big catfish we caught. I would rather be catching big catfish.

But you never know. If you don't catch anything at least you know where they aint. 

Still Christmas...

It's still Christmas folks, first person who says they are glad it's over gets punched in the nose. If you feel that way, you are doing something wrong.

We feel good when we give away big screen TVs to qualified visitors to this site. I assure you we were not responsible for the other two piles of trash dumped along this pretty, zoned commerical soon to be swallowed back road just off Loop 287.

Here is my new Christmas from my mom and brother. I was totally suprised. It's a Fender acoustic bass guitar. I like it. Thanks, guys!













Here is another guy, crazy happy at Christmas. He would be happier, but the present we ordered him has not arrrived yet.











Now just where are you going to wear that shirt?















Merry Christmas mom!

Merry Christmas...

Don't forget about the real meaning of Christmas. I know that sounds so corny, but it's true.







It's ok too to be wishing that The Older You Will Get will bring you a big screen TV. TOYWG Santa and his elf are out there working right now giving away as many as they can.

Sorry that picture is a little blurry. They are working real fast.

We promise not to bring one bigger that your living room will hold. We are that good at what we do.

Blogging and hunting...

Here is my decoy set up from an afternoon trip to the lake, no luck, but no tickets. Saw a couple of distant flights of ducks, but none got even close.

See the wiggle butt decoy Juan got me for Christmas at the right.

Why do I even mess with nasty, muddy ducks when the catfish are bitting?
This setup did fool one old grebe, he came swimming up and wondered why no one would talk to him. 

Busted!...

While duck hunting. At a Texas Game Warden road block in the Davy Crockett National Forest.

Seems that Morgan was under the impression that the license he bought had all stamps needed to hunt duck. He had a combo hunting and fishing. It had the federal duck stamp. It had the hip certification, something that goes on there because they ask you certain questions that have to do with duck hunting, are you going to did you last year and how many times. Should be pretty clear to the issuing clerk that you will be hunting migratory bird. Somehow he failed to get the state stamp, a $7 cost on there. I think it's the fault of the folks at Academy, the place where the license was purchased.

So anyway he can't get in touch with the Crockett Justice of the Peace till next week so we do not know the fine. We purchased a duck stamp within 30 minutes of receiving the citation. They are that easy to get, hopefully this will bear weight with the JP and indicate that intentions were good.

Me and our friend that went with us were ok. Our friend who shall remain nameless forgot some kind of safety unlocking device so he was not able to even fire a shot. Good thing, I only took one shot, I think I crippled one and could not find him in a thick brush top.

The game warden said to me as he checked to make sure my gun was plugged for water fowl hunting, "Nice Shotgun."

That must be the 6th or 7th time to be checked this year. All other times were OK, hopefully Morgan will get a break.

Spotted on Timberland Drive this afternoon...

Lucky I had my camera. 

Odds and Ends from the week...

Ok, so George Will, a nationally syndicated columnist takes a crack at bloggers today. That's easy for you George, you have the big gig. I think he misses the point. He quotes articles in Time magazine that compare Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin's efforts to blogging and myspace and goes on to say while there is nothing wrong with blogging there is nothing admirable either, that there is no genius involved.

I think the point is missed because one, no claims of genius are made here and for the fact that a blog gives one a way to keep connected to the far flung family that the modern world suffers today. Think about it, if we were all on the farm still we would not need a computer, we'd just hollar out and in the still of the night old cuz would here us and come a running. I think George just needs to read a good blog.

Reading a good blog is also helpful in keeping the writer from coming over to your house. Do you really want me at your kitchen table telling the catfish story again and again, or sticking my head outside for a little night screaming, or arranging my boogers on your good Christmas table cloth to represent parts of the brain? What if I need one more booger, will I ask for one of yours? When we do encounter one another and I start a conversation you can cut me short by saying, "I read it on the blog." Think of the enjoyment you can have as I sit and stew over in the corner, trying to think of something to say that has not been broadcast to the world. May be that's the genius, thinking before we speak.

Don't you wish this guy had a blog?

Ol' Ginormus

Sometimes you just see the signs. Like yesterday when we arrived at the lake. The heads hanging in the trees that say, "There be Catfish."

We were there to give the noodle fishing a try. I described it in a post last week, you take one of those kids noodles, cut it in four sections, tie a drop line with a hook and weight, bait it up and toss it out to float in the lake.





Cathy caught a bunch of red horse shiners and small sunfish, nothing longer than 3 inches in the cast net. First fish was a good one six pounds.
















We tied up and fished a nearby stump where Cathy took 3 cats hand fishing and it was easy to see when something took the noodle, just like cork fishing. The place we were fishing was a creek running into the old river channel with a ridge that was under 3 feet of water in between the two. About 25 foot maximum depth in the creek with the river depth of 45.

One of the noodles drifted out close to where we were tied up so we checked it. No fish, it was the shortest drop line at about 3ft. It was in the deepest water so we moved it into 3 feet of water off the point of the sunken ridge. About 15 minutes later all heck broke loose. There was a huge splash, and a big tail shaking out of the water and the noodle disappeared several times. It was ol' ginormus as Cathy christened him. he was taking the float under about two feet when he dove. After a classic man against beast struggle that required two humans, a number of cuss words that I don't remember saying, and visions of purchasing a larger net the beast was subdued. I don't know if one person could have got him in the high pontoon boat, I think the number 6 treble hook would have broke. The scales at Rayburn Country store weighed him at 32 pounds.

He was a blue cat.

If you go fishing with me we will be stopping at Rayburn Country store, they made a picture and we are now enshrined there on the trophy board.

Being that ol ginormus did not fit in the livewell, a scenario I did not foresee when purchasing this boat, we cut the day short. It was about 4:30. We got home, iced him in the big ice chest and showed him off at the Back Porch in Huntington, the TKD school and stopped at my mom's house. My mom said it reminded her of the Mississippi River Catfish that her dad used to buy in the fish markets when she was a child.

I set about cleaning him. I would guess that he made for a fish fry to feed about 12-15 people. Combined with the six pounder we could go ahead and invite 20.

A shot of stomach contents. That's a 10 inch long Largemouth Bass. The tail is already digested, he would have measured 12 easy. This big boy was hungry if he had a belly this full and he was trying to eat my 3 inch long minner.

A couple of other things, be safe on the lake. We began putting out the noodles yesterday, I had just shut off tho motor, Cathy was in the front of the boat standing and the foot of the motor hit a stump under the water. As she termed it, she was "thod" from the boat into 60 degree water. She took it pretty well. Glad it was not me as I had on waders. I might have sunk.

Also when I stopped in academy the night before this trip to buy hooks and sinkers the old gal checking me out said, "Big spender," when the cost of my gear I needed for this trip was $5. It was all I could do last night to keep from going up there and showing her the fish.

More Christmas...

We all gathered for a fish fry yesterday. Here is the command station for that action. Santa goes to the Doc for a physical later today, hope all this fish frying does not make me Bad Santa.













Got a picture of grandma with the grand kids.











Got a picture of us,
back row, Juan, Rose, Cathy, me, Morgan. Front row, Travis, Katie, Mary.











And of course Santa was there with his trusty elf.

Cooney Christmas...

Had Christmas with Cathy's family yesterday. Kicked the season off in fine form with such abundance that all gifts were not given out. They will come later, just a good way to prolong the season and make a memory for everyone. And what a memory some of these people have.

Here is a shot of the crew, Cooneys, Wallaces, Kochs, Ramerizs and I don't know who else. Only two people that were missing are me and Uncle Joe. I was behind the camera, don't know where Joe was.








We tried to set the timer and get everyone, but for some reason those pics were blurry. You know how if a group picture takes too long bad vibes start to surface and mar the activity. Maybe they have subsided so we can make one today of us and the kids.

Then of course there is the yearly soccer game and everyone recounts the time I kicked the ball through pop's window. Sorry, I don't know how to play soccer, I did not know you didn't do that. Here is Mary in hot pursuit as Uncle Jim drives to the goal.











It's the young verses the more experienced each year. Just wait till next year, I am starting to train for that game today.








And of course where ever The Older You Will Get takes a road trip we give away a big screen TV. Here is Santa helping with the ceremony.












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Big fish fry at our house today. Look for more fun stuff later.

School is out...

Finished up the lab final, combined grade with the written final is an 86. My patient was CVA, spastic LE, flaccid UE, poor dynamic stand balance UE unsupported, oh heck, I'll spare you the details. Despite the B I thought my treatment went about like it goes in the hospital with these type patients, meaning that we will take what we learned today, both of us and get better tomorrow.

With school at an end I have that same feeling I have felt before after I crawled out of a couple of car wrecks, after I sat down on a Bourbon St. curb and noticed the glittering night was turning to day and after setting foot back on the boat ramp after a rough, windy, wavy day at the lake when it was really too bad to go fishing. That's the feeling that I am ok, I survived and what do I do now?

Well, the first thing I did was paint the water tower near my house. We do this from time to time and I have been to busy to engage in vandalism lately so I have some catching up to do.











Got to running behind on our scheduling yesterday during the exam, I was about an hour later than I expected but I made it to the taekwondo Christmas party anyway. Here is a shot of the food line.















Here is a goof shot of me and Mary reflected in the glass at the Hope Center where the party was held. It turns into a mirror at night. You can see car lights in the parking lot shining through the glass and the hallway is also a reflection. That is the remains of a briskett to the left of Mary's shoulder.










Another thing for the holidays, seems I haven't been too coherent in this space lately, lots of errors, not factual of course, just grammar stuff. Been in too much of a hurry trying to get the news out. I'll do better now.

Big success on test...

I made an A on the written part of the Management of Neuro final. It was a big 200 point monster. Best grade I have made all semester in that class. Still have the lab, worth 100 points today at 2pm, but if you do the math I can make 60 on that and you combine that with the written grade that's a B.

That's some comfort there because the lab is pretty high pressure. You draw a scenario and the teacher acts out that patient. She is a good actor. Could be TBI, stroke, spina bifida, spinal cord, MS or most dreaded of all a pediatric scenario. You have 30 minutes of isolation in the little kitchen area to ponder your scrawny, 30 minutes to do four activities addressing the patients problems and then you must stay and be the tech for the next person.

Took a hard neuro anatomy test yesterday, but I heard there were some folks that really need a passing grade to stay in the program in that class that pulled it out so I should be OK there.

The rehab test yesterday was kind of goofy. Sample question:

Patient, diabetic, heart attack with bypass surgery and long time smoker. How best to improve breathing?
A. show patient his bill, he is self pay.
B. Send Christmas shopping with wife.
C. Have him call boss about when to come to work.
D. Have blow up Christmas balloons.

What would you choose?

Sad day for ST Patrick School...

Brother Christopher, the principle at St. Pat's Catholic School passed away yesterday. Cancer. It all happened pretty quick. He was back from a trip to see family this weekend, they set up hopice care Monday and he passed yesterday.

He was only here less than a year and I did not get to know him too well, but he seemed to be a great guy. He sang while working in the flower beds around church. Some young guys in the parish, 18-19 years old recently related to me that a couple of weeks ago they were messing around on the old school bus that is parked in the church lot. They saw Brother striding toward them. He was a tall man and always wore the traditional cassock. Since they did not know him too well they thought they were in trouble. They weren't. Brother tossed them the keys to the bus and they drove it around the parking lot.

Drive on Brother, thanks to God your suffering was not to long.

So far so good...

One test down, don't know the grade, but not too bad. Test today should be hard, but I got to study more than I anticipated yesterday. We were busy, the priests from St. Patrick came out and we decorated the tree and then went to Mary's Christmas concert. That a shot with about half the symphonic band with Mary at the tubular bells, back left.


If you get the chance, remind any Lufkin administrators, school borad or who else that our big new high school gives the short shift to the fine arts. Believe me, I have. This was held in the sweaty sock gym. All other new high school I have been to have state of the art facilities it seems.

Good news from the tests last week, I made an 86.5, got to love those half points, means you are half right on something, which was the third highest grade in the class. Yes, Neuro is that tough. Also an A on the disability stimulation paper, I might post it here on a day I am lazy. That gives me a little breathing room on the slim B I have in that class. The big show down is the lab final on Thursday.

Should have more time to study starting tonight, two test tomorrow, but I won't be as busy as I was with work and stuff over the weekend.

Here's a teenage working, hauling gear, the most noble of the actions that a musician can engage in.

Busy this weekend...

So there was my school party Friday night. Cathy got to meet and the folks I have been hanging out with going on two years now.

Worked yesterday and last night was my work party, Cathy had to work, I had a very nice time.

I came home and fell asleep studying, after all finals are next week. I got up at 5:30, poured over spinal tracts for awhile and now it's off to work again.

The holiday time is not good for study, I am really paying more attention to the mid-end week test than I am these first couple.

More later, if I have the chance, I'm busy this week. Don't worry, if I'm not here.

New Catfishing Tip...

Cathy picked this up at work. Now you know what nurses talk about. Catfish.

Take some of those kids noodles, long brightly colored foams they play with in the summer while swimming. They are good floats, heck one will float me. Cut into sections and tie a piece of trot line string to the desired depth, a hook and a weight and you got a floating catfishing rig. A new variatation on the old floating jug line. Make up a bunch of them, set them out, brightly colored easy to see, catch fish the lazy way. Pretty simple, but I can see the need for special equipment.

Only thing is that my boat is not made for this kind of fishing, it will be kind of hard to reach the water to pick one of these up when you have a fish on. Used to in the old days I sat in a flat bottom boat with my cut off breaches, red soda, pocket knife and a wood boat paddle and cut a notch in the paddle to snag lines in the water. I have a plastic and metal paddle, I can't cut it with a knife. I'll need one of them Dremel tools I heard about, I don't know what it is, but lots of attachments and does things that guys need to do. Cut, grind, kill, stuff like that.

I'll need something to detect where the thermocline is in the lake, That's the depth where O2 and temp are perfect for fish. I am sure a gadget exists.

Then there is the possibility of drifting my jug lines in open water, I catch a fish it's not like being tied to a stump, try to remember which stump, I'll need GPS, satellite technology to mark the spot.

I already have a depth find so I know if it is safe or not for my happy ass to fall in or not.

An ipod. Why not?

So there, that's a few things that make this simple hand lining in ultimate man against beast encounter much easier.

Still Dreaming...

I guess with all these test my mind is really working overtime, even when asleep. I was out of school early yesterday, came home, helped Cathy finish putting up some Christmas lights and since yesterday was an early rise laid down for a quick nap in hopes it would help me study later in the evening without falling asleep over a book. It last less than an hour, but here is what happened:

I was somehow suspended on my back between the parallel bars in the PT lab at school. (We had been doing some activities that morning in the bars.) I was being poked and prodded about my body and I could not see who was doing it, but I could hear voices, giggles and laughter. Yes mom, I had clothes on. Someone put their fingers in my mouth creating a lot of slobber and for some reason I could not see who it was. I finely got up and my hair as all sticking up, like my wife says it looks all the time. I went to the bathroom down the hall from the PT lab to comb my hair, a bad choice since there is really no mirror in that bathroom. There was a guy at the sink brushing his teeth. It was a fellow from my childhood neighborhood who I have not see since 1973 or so. He looked the same as he did then and he recognized me. I asked him what he was doing here and he said:

"I live here."

So do I.

7days, 7 tests...

Getting down to the end here. Four of those are comprehensive multiple choice final exams and there is one lab where you treat the instructor who is masquerading as a patient.

Felt a little boogered up last night after yesterdays trials. Handed in a paper, did a presesntation and took a bad boy of a neuro test. Not bad in terms of material, I felt I knew the material very well. It was just so long. Maybe half the class, me included, still writing at the bell. Just not enough time to write out all those motor loops. Example question:

"Standing in an antique shop you reach for a glass figurine on a crowded shelf."

There is a lot going on, got to make the motor movement and remember that the last time you grabbed a glass figuring you crushed the shit out of it and knocked over all the rest of them. Oh yeah and stand upright while doing it.

I did not have an chance to glance back at my test to review long hastily written passages. Hope that does not prove to be too costly.

Back at it today.

I get email...

From the older you will get mail bag:

Dear blog author:
We recently came across your site, theolderyouwillget.blogspot.com, while searching for fellow Christian bloggers.
A small group of us have started a new site called Christian Bloggers. Our prayer and intent is to bring Christians closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community. While many of us have different "theologies", we all share one true savior.
Would you be interested in joining Christian Bloggers? Please take a few minutes to have a look at what we are trying to do, and if you are interested, there is a sign up page to get the ball rolling. We would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavors.
May God Bless you and your blogging efforts. We look forward to hearing from you.
Craig Cantin Christian Bloggers info@christian-bloggers.com

Don't know if his links embedded in the text will work so here is where they are:http://www.christian-bloggers.com/

That's real nice. I'd like to know and I will try to find out if there are real people that read and made this decision or if this is a blanket invite that everyone on blog spot received. After all a couple of my favorite bands, Drums and Tuba and Balkan Beat Box have blogs on this same service and did they get one? I don't know for a fact but I suspect those guys are Christians also. I met the guys in BBB once and while the Christian thing did not come up, they were real nice. When a person is nice that is always a good sign.

One time I received a different kind of invite. You may remember when a porn site posted links in my comment boxes. No need to do a search I removed them almost as quick as they posted, but they were on blogspot. Did they get invites also? They looked like nice girls.

So here I am at the crossroads again, either I am doing really good or am just another of the great unwashed masses, sometimes I can't tell myself.

Hmmm... just ran the spell checker, there was quite a few spelling errors in that email. At least they did not mention a Nigerian Prince.

Dreaming...

Pretty heavy study the last few days. Even when I lay down to sleep the old mind is still trying to sort it all out, find a place for everything. Like coming home from a big grocery shopping, something you did not really want to do in the first place and now you have to unload the car and put things where they go and until you do groceries are set about on the kitchen cabinets, the table and one of those big 48 roll packs of toilet paper is right in the middle of the floor and needs to be opened and divided into two bathrooms.

The dream:

I am taking a test. Writing diligently, bearing down hard with my favorite pencil, a Mirado Black Warrior. One of the questions has to do with behavior, we usually deal with motor behavior, but this seems to involve a physical therapy treatment, a maid who should have done work of some kind on a certain day and the drawing of a powerball lottery. It is a short essay question requiring clinical thought.

I get my test back and I make a 60. It is all because of the before mentioned question. I consult the teacher to find what is wrong with my answer and it turns out that the whole choice of interventions is based on a day the powerball lottery is drawn. I said in the answer that the drawing was a certain day. My teacher said, "Everyone knows that the lottery is only drawn on another day and therefore that makes all the rest of the answer wrong."

So it's off to lottery.com for some more study today.

Church Choir Pictures...

Had a post back in October of a Ministries Fair Concert the church put on and I took a lot of pictures of the other groups for publication here. I finely got some photos of us from that night courtesy of Denise.



Here is Cathy and Angela with me hollaring in the background. I have to be alert so if they look around, I stop hollaring. When the look forward again, I start hollaring. Its kind of an endless cycles kind of like the anterior cingulate loop of the basal ganglia pathways of the brain.










Here is Mike, Joanie and Phil.










Morgan on drums. His eyes always glow like that when he is laying down the groove, ever since he was a little boy. I am fortunate to have a couple of pretty good drummers in my life right now. Sure makes my golden years easier.















Here is an almost shot of me and Cathy together playing music. I don't think we have a whole lot of those shots. In this picture I am playing one of those soft sensitive difficult passages I am so famous for. I wish I had taken a picture, there was not a dry eye in the house.















I have played a bunch of events, weddings, quincerias (sp?) and so on where there were many pictures and videos made. Wonder where all that stuff is circulating.

There were a couple of other group members, but they were hidden behind others in these pictures. Talk to the photographer, I can only work with what they give me girls.