Merry Fishmus...

Looks Like this is the third year in a row for the Christmas morning catfish trip. Matt has made it three years in a row and this morning Morgan and Ali joined us. It was 33 degrees. We bundled up. Looks like last year from consulting photos on the blog we were in shirt sleeves and the year before it was sweat shirt weather.  

                Here are Mo and Ali with the mystery catfisher.

 

Matt with a good fish. We probably were on the lake less than 3 hours.

 

Old mudbelly himself caught one. Cathy had worked all night so she did not fish and Ali did not fish. All caught by me, Matt and Morgan. I guess lucky Cathy did not fish> I think we had a three man limit last year.

 

Be making the year end total and checking it twice pretty soon. Here's 21 more. We fried some right up fresh caught and Matt took the rest back to Houston. If you get on Instagram and do #tubshot you will find Cathy's collection of catfish pictures.

 

We did more testing on the new outboard. With 5 people all dressed up in extra pounds of warm clothes and boot we clocked 16.9 miles per hour. That's fast enough.

Drum and Tuba Christmas...

I guess it's a milestone of sorts. This was mine and Mary's 5th year of drum and tuba performances. Time does fly. It does not seem that long. We only performed once at Huntington Healthcare and Rehab, my work place with me and Mary as a band and I played the Lufkin State Supported Living Center with some other guys as a moonlighting job.

Here is what drum and tuba looks like when they are on a roll. I upgraded from a Santa Suit to one of those ugly Christmas suits this year. Seems one year when we were setting up for a performance I had to temporarily duck around a corner because some ones kid was coming and the mom did not want her little prince's idea of Santa perverted. I did it but I have made one of my kids play on stage with me for this show so you know what kind of parent I am. At least the ugly suit solves that problem. No one mistakes me for Santa.

 

Hello. I'm tuba. This is drum.

 

 

 

We always end up with a Feliz Navidad cunga line. Captured a resident in the background of this photo but no worry. I showed her the photo, warned of social media backlash and received her blessing to use the image.  

 

Since this performance I have receive some great feed back. Someone told me "it was beautiful." People have said many things about my tuba playing but I think that's the first time that adjective has been used. Today the hairdresser at the nursing home told me that drum and tuba Christmas was a topic on everyone's mind as the sat for new dos.

 

The LSSLC performance was me on tuba and ugly suit, Dan on drums, Danny on bass, Mike on guitar and Rhonda on piano. I have not been back there to get any feed back so the verdict is still out but anytime I got a tuba be sure that as Howlin' Wolf said "I have had my fun."  

 

I thank Mary for hanging with me on these shows. I know with a young family she is busy. Maybe next year I'll street busk on my own a few nights. Till then Merry Drum and Tuba Christmas.

Gonna Be a Wedding...

We got a call from Tim, Rose's boyfriend a week or so ago. He asked could we be in Lake Jackson on a certain evening and don't mention it to Rose. We said yes and had a hunch what was up. So last Friday night we met at Tim's work with his parents Bill and Tina, the grandkids Coraline and Warren and when Rose came in Time surprised her with a wedding proposal.

Tim works at a computer shop. He has claimed he was not getting married unless she walked through the door. Seems it had been one year since Rose came in needing some computer repair. He saved the invoice from that exchange and wrote his proposal on it.

 

On a knee, a ring and everything.

 

The kids are excited. Tim's parents are excited and very welcoming to their knew family members. We are also excited. This is going to be a good thing.

 

We had dinner afterwards and got a nice Christmas photo.

 

No date is set. Maybe something by this summer. We will keep you posted.

You Know That Moment...

We all have our moments. You know how it was when you think about where you were when JFK was assassinated. You remember when you heard that Santa was real. You will never forget when Trump lead that Muslim prayer call from the top of the Washington Monument, oh wait a minute maybe that was Obama. You know what I mean, those special moments.

 

Here's a special moment. It's the one where Ezra heard about his possum hunting ancestors. A long tradition. I think we have photos of Morgan in this hat. You put on the hat, you sit in Pop Pop's lap and he tells you about the long journey your ancestors made from first landing on these shores, hunting possum just to survive and pooping in the woods to well, hunting possum and pooping in  the woods like we still do today sometimes. 

 

If you want to know the real truth possum is not that good but then neither are most chain restaurants. We do have the tradition you may have read about on these pages of the Christmas possum where of course no possums are hurt but I'll let Ezra's daddy teach him that.

 

I guess you might say we just like to talk about possum.

An Further Diiscussion is Unnecessary...

 

Any further discussion is unnecessary. Chicaronnies, snow cones and chips. If you don't like it eat at Chic Fillet or Hobby Lobby.

Big Slough Wilderness Area...

Well I felt hungry for that old Christmas duck today and since season is open I went over to the Big Slough Wilderness Area in the Davy Crockett National Forest to see if I do something about that. I'll tell you right off so the suspense does not build that I couldn't.

First off I slept till nearly 8am which is pretty late for me and then took care of an errand that took longer than necessary so I did not arrive at the hunting spot till about 11am. With temps nudging 80 degrees I was fat boy struggling through the brush in hip boots. That's not usually the recommended ducking time or weather but then I don't always do stuff the right way. I did not see ducks but looks like the roads are good, the trail through the woods is fairly well marked and I have not got too fat to walk in the wild.

Interesting things seen in the woods. Here's a deer stand on a push cart. Since this is a wilderness area no wheeled devices are allowed so technically illegal. Pretty near this I saw a big ground scrape so there are deer in the area. Maybe they push the cart around when no one is looking.

 

Deer track lead down to a gravel bar on the big slough.

 

 

 

 

Looking up the big slough. Rain has been light but plenty of water here. I don't think hip boots would have been useful to retrieve a duck from the other side. With the arm temps I should have worn a swim suit or may be just brought the pontoon boat. With the help of a chain saw to cut fallen logs we could have made it up stream.

 

Late last season after some rain there was a powerful amount of water coming through this junction of the slough and a back water area. Even with the sand bar showing midstream I bet it's pretty deep. I had a photo from the high water at this spot last year on the old crashed computer or we would compare.

 

Bridge on the 4c hiking trail.

 

Here's something new. A protected wetlands sign posted by a spring that flows at the edge of the road. Warns of no foot traffic past this point. Really it is the wilderness area behind the sign so that's like double whammy.it's not allowed any way. I could not tell but maybe somebody has been braking the rules but it's pretty thick woods behind the sign so I'm not sure what kind of wheel apparatus might be the best to take on the forest.

 

A shot of the spring. It's pretty small and though I have passed it for years I have never drank from it. The location right by the road makes it suspect for cleanliness.

 

No luck today. Maybe tomorrow with Pop and Geneva on the boat for a catfish trip. Hopefully we can get ahead of the norther.

Trout Fishing in America...

Yesterday we went with grandkids and big kids alike to Mcgonial's Mucky Duck, an Irish Pub in Houston to see the band Trout Fishing in America. They have been in operation since 1979 performing music for adults and kids and have four Grammy nominations in the children's music category. This might have been my 3rd time to see them.

 

Mary was really the driving force behind organizing this trip and then with the advent of the birth of sister in law Crystal and husband Herby's baby the Zamora family ended up in San Marcos. I did not realize Mary was such a fan but I do recall seeing this band once at Jazz Fest when Mary was about 10. A good lesson for doing fun stuff with your kids. It sticks with them. Don't worry, we got you an autographed cd.

 

In attendance with us at this show were besides me and Cathy there were Morgan, Ali, Warren and Coraline, Rose and Tim and Tim's parents Bill and Tina. More big kids than little I guess but all enjoyed.

 

 

Tried to get a shot of Cathy and Warren dancing but looks like the action is just a blur.

 

For the literary men and women among us some will recall the novel Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigen. I read it a long time ago.  Published in 1967 a bit of research on wiki labels it an abstract novel with reappearing characters from chapter to chapter with trout fishing as a "thinly veiled and often comical critique of mainstream American culture and society." Singer songwriter also has a song about not wanting to cast you line in that old mainstream.  I think we need more writings like this. The children's music of this band is very refreshing and is capable of making you think.

 

If you are a kid I bet you like dinosaurs.