Lake Nac Fishing with Pop and Geneva...

Good trip today to Lakle Nac with Pop and Geneva. Eleven cats that totaled 40lbs. Biggest weight a little over 5. Here's a photo of one that Pop landed. 


















Cathy pulls one in. Look at the head on that thing.








Just in case you wish you were along for the trip, this one ended with a good old fashion butt wetting as we ran back across the lake in driving rain. 


You know I have seen some Lake Nac photos on fishing forums where background land marks were blacked out. Do I need to do that?   

My Favorite Saint...

Our Lady of the Fruit Hat...

The Record Room...

If you did not already know vinyl is hot. Records that is. Put your money in plastics young man. I know this and other things about where to put your money from reading the Internets discussion pages. Actually I have always known records were hot because this mine and Cathy's life time still growing collection that is pictured here. 


This is our record room. I count seven hundred forty 33 and 1/3 rpm jobs, may be 50-100 45s and a few 78s. Added in to this count is the 9 used records bought this weekend in Houston at Black Dog records. Black Dog also had new records, yes they are still being released, they cool remember, but new cds and internet subscription services  are way cheaper.  Used records here seemed to run $6 and up. Hard to get a feel for pricing as me and Cathy had several finds such as an out of print Steve Fromolz, Shake Russell, and a Spirit for $6 each. What makes it hard to get a feel is the 1987 Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows that I saw priced at $20. I bought this new the year it was released, an album of funky Chicago horn band blues, I am listening to my copy now and in fact think I saw this band once at the old Rockefeller's in Houston. Good record but $20, I don't know.   


My best estimate is that since we bought our first cd, it was sometime in the last 23 years, I don't think we had any before our marriage we have added 340 records to the collection. All are from garage sales, thrift stores flea markets and the seeming to spring up everywhere used record stores.  


After a nice period to allow for vintage mojo to grow I'll count the cd rack you see on the left in the photo.  

Saw Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks...

Here's some more photos of Carl's big birthday weekend. The Saturday Night Surprise was a trip to the Dosey Doe in The Woodlands Tx to see Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. 




































These guys play a nice blend of 
cowboy/gypsy/western/jazz/swing all done acoustically with a great dry sense of humor. I guess I first heard Dan Hicks in a college dorm room played on a record player in the mid 1970s. He is still going strong.


The Dosey Doe is a great "listening room" as they term it, it's a 165 year old barn imported from Kentucky. Good acoustics and I guess there is something huge in the Texasness of the thought of the carbon footprint left from here to the Blue Ridge from dragging this thing down the highway. 


This concert was something to cross off the bucket list, never really thought I would see the licks play live, probably have half a dozen of their recordings, so this was a real traet. I'll keep an eye on this venue's calendar. It's close enough for an evening trip to see special bands like this.  

Happy Birthday Ali...

Morgan leads the crowd in a rendition of the "Birthday March" and Ali is all smiles as she celebrates her day.


Here is to hoping you had as much fun as I did this past weekend on my birthday! 

More Lake Nac Fishing...

Here's some photos of an afternoon fishing trip to Lake Nacogdoches with my friend Gary. Actually Gary and I are real lucky guys because we took Cathy with us. Otherwise we would have caught two catfish. Cathy caught five of these seven fish which averaged 3lbs each with the biggest going 4lbs. Thanks for going with us, honey. 


Gary kept these fish, took them home to clean. I may be posting this dispatch before he is finished with the skinning and filleting. I bet some of these fine fellows end up swimming in his belly, maybe this evening.   

Here is a photo of a nice late winter afternoon overlooking the lake. As you can see the water levels, like all lakes in Texas are low. The handicap fishing pier on the lower left corner should have water up to the deck level. 

Birthday Weekend...

Had a great music weekend for my birthday with lots of surprises. Cathy started things out by packing me a bag and picking me up after work on Friday. I did not know where we were headed. We drove to Houston where she had a room booked at a fancy hotel, the Zsa Zsa. Some might remember it as the old Warwick. Margaret and Kevin had their wedding reception here. This is the Memorial Park Fountain located in the traffic circle outside. 














The musical surprise for the evening was a visit to Fitzgerald's. A long time local music venue in the Heights, I think the last band I saw there quite some years ago was Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. This night we saw the Mountain Goats. If you don't know the Mountain Goats it's kind of sensitive self examining music about relationships and stuff but generally with a good beat. Long wordy songs written by the guy on the left, John, drew a very polite crowd, many whom I spoke to in the course of the evening called me "sir." The cd releases by these guys are generally kind of low fi in the sound department sounding almost made at home. The sound for the evening was very good and clear. In fact a quote or a fragment of a song lyric I picked up this evening resonated with me, something like, " I'll sing this song that has the same four cords I always use when I have something on my mind."  

I'll post more birthday adventures later.       

It's My Party...

... and I'll play if I want to. My birthday party that is. Thanks to all those well wishes on my FaceBook wall. 


You know back in the 1970s some time when things were larger and mostly dirtier the big gas guzzlers were muzzled by the idea that we could fix gas shortages and conserve resources by driving 55 mph. Somehow this idea fell out of favor that 55 is pretty high. Things are still about the same today. And we go way beyond 55. 


Today is the day I go beyond 55 which is how old I am on this 20th of January. I'll keep trying to be a big mostly dirty guzzler.


Photo inset from a print I bought in the French market one time from the artist that drew it. My 55 year old brain can't recall his name...  

What it Looks Like to be Me Looking Out...

Everything kinda foggy, just imagine in my head, in my head...

Oysters...

Brother in law Kevin, seen here in the foreground, is a man with a mission. Each Christmas he flies to Texas like some kind of culinary good taste Santa and on his way to the family gathering picks up a sack of oysters on the shell. In the back ground oyster elves Morgan, Cathy and Rose busy themselves at the shuck shop.
















Right from the shell...That's Margaret, Santa Kevin's main helper and Cathy's sister in the background.






























Close up of Cathy and Margaret at work.


These were Louisiana oysters, nice and fresh from Woodlands Seafood. Why aren't we driving down to buy these each weekend?


 Texas oysters not doing so good right now with low water flows into the Gulf and fall red tides. The next day after this party we shucked what was left and broiled a nice Oysters Rockefeller in the oven. 














 

The Late But Better Than Never Christmas Family Picture...

Know how hard it is to get all these people in one place all at the same time? 


Them you get them to stand still.


Then you get them to all look. 


Then you get them to smile.


Then you take a picture.  

Another Great Silly String Massacre...

You faithful blog readers know how it goes. On Christmas, which finely happened for the clan this past weekend when all could be together, you open your stocking to cans of silly string and the massacre is on.


 In this photo Katie is first on the draw. 














Poor baby...














Are you really supposed to stop, drop and roll? 










Likes getting messy. 
















Covered up. 
















Keep your mouth closed, silly string taste bad. 
















What are you waiting on get that stuff uncapped, defend yourself... 

Chicago B.L.U.E.S...

We did manage to see some blues music during the recent PK weekend in Chicago. This is a photo of blues player Cary Bell playing in a club that was a block down from where we stayed called Chicago B.L.U.E.S. We like the joint. It's a cross the street from another blues venue Kingston Mines. On Sunday nights one ticket gets you in both places. 


I noted that on this night there was a line outside Kingston Mines to see Carl Wheathersby. I guess you might say he's a little bigger name. Like I always do I proceed to the less popular thing figuring if everybody's buying this thing it can't be for me and will probably cost too much. Anyway we had a great time, Cary was good and we got to watch young Asian tourists sleep sitting up with loud as heck music going on. They looked like nice boys so I did not make their picture and splash it all over for the whole internet to see. I reserve the right to do only my family that way.


Cary did give me the Jones for a semi hollow body Gibson ES 335 style guitar. I could probably make do with one of the cheaper Epiphones if I had to.

 

Winter Big Slough Photos...

After so much good holiday eatings I decided I need some exercise so I grabbed a shot gun and headed over to Big Slough for an afternoon walk. Since I had a shot gun I could have passed myself as duck hunting what with the cammies and rubber boots but I only saw a few old squirrels, fat on the tremendous acorn crop we have had this year taking the same walk I was for the same reasons.


If you look down this part of the creek the little point of land to the right of the slanted tree is where I stood for some photos I made in October. Can't get there without waders now.


Water level seems to be the same on the banks but what with recent rains the accessory sloughs and branches have filled. In this photo this filled slough probably waist deep or less was a series of muddy hog wallers.




Contrast a fall photo with clear water and summer green still on the trees with the muddy water and winter brown at this link:
http://theolderyouwillget.blogspot.com/2011/10/big-slough-photo.html