The Retirement Blog Post...

After about a year of doing the math, studying, dreaming and scheming I told my employer last January that I would retire on May 1st. That turned out to be a day off so my last work day was April 28th. 

I use this photo I made about a year ago of a sail boat on the Hudson River in New York Bay because people ask me all the time if I'm going to buy a new boat when I retire. I'm not. The boat I have seems like it will probably last me till I'm too old to operate it. I kind of expected some of my kids to buy a boat this year and actually the PK have purchased a canoe that I have only seem photos of but looks big enough to put my canoe inside of so I think I will be taken care of. 

Of course when all these calculations were being made and the with timing of my final announcement I was acting kind if like Trump did and was not paying too much attention to Covid 19. I have read that all the indignant people complaining about their coronavirus inconveniences are really going to have their butts kicked when global warming effects begin escalating. I expect to be gone by then or at least old enough to go in the first wave of causalities so that even though I have survived the toilet paper wars I won't have to fight anyone for water or shade. 

Speaking of shade last January my retirement income tied to the stock market was throwing quite a bit of shade and a fixed income certainly looked comfortable. As of right now things are a little less and while I invested in toilet paper and am alright in that department a 14 day stay in ICU due to Covid 19, if I survived it would certainly impact the bottom line. 

But maybe all this quarantine of the past few weeks  is good practice. Staying home. Cutting back on eating out and impulse purchases. It has been a much simpler life and I still have been able to do the things I like, maybe without some of the friends and family I am used to having close at hand but I have found much pleasure in slowing things down. I've taken the time to read more, work in the yard and around the house, listen to music, and play my instrument although I must admit I am itching for a jam session or gig of some sort. With the no eating out me and Cathy have spent some time in the kitchen cooking together. Cathy is part time in her work now and meals have been fun as opposed to sling it on the table so someone can get to work on time. 

So there is no new boat on the horizon but there is an opportunity to set sail on a different course. After taking stock of what I have I don't think I need more but I intend to find some way to make myself useful. I'm ready and I'm going to be good at it.           

Reading Suggestion While Stuck at Home...

I used to read a lot. I think in the 4th grade I read 145 books that year. Only person who read more was a girl. I kept this reading up for several decades till life seemed to get busy and the internet came along so I only had time for things read quickly online or in magazine articles. Over the past year I have picked up the pace for books.

I do the Amazon Kindle thing, reading the free books offered on Prime. A forgotton password and a possibily imagined conflict/persecution by the powers that be have locked me out of that avenue and that may be just as well. It's forced me to return to the many shelves of books we have collected up over the years. 

This week I picked up a John Brummer novel Children of the Thunder. It had a book mark from a used book store tucked inside and I don't think I have read it. These are the works of his I own that I could lay my hands on and I think there are others around.   

Brunner who died in 1995 was a Englishman and probably best described as a sci fi writer but I like to call his work speculative fiction since it often takes place in the near future not too many years after it was written. Wiki gives him credit for predicting computer worms and virus, online encyclopedias, genetic engineering, same sex marriages, pot legalization and Viagra. All these old books describe a world not too much unlike the one we live in now. In Children of the Thunder there is a paragraph, just thrown in, where the characters are rushing across town but are delayed by a passing protest of the pro dog vs. the anti dog people incited by the discovery of rabies in a certain area of the country. There is no more detail than this but it sets a feel for the society of the novel and for current events in our times.

Brunner, being an English man received criticism for being too Americian in his writings but these books have many references to English life that will not be read through or apparent to the average American as a book you might pull from the New York Times Best Seller List.

Two of my favorites, not pictured here but probably in the house somewhere are The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar. I think in the last scene in The Sheep Look UP characters stand on the shore of the British Isles and say "What's that smell?" Some one replies, "It's America, burning."       

  

Cats Still Shallow For Now...

Glad we went to the lake yesterday as it is raining cats and dogs today. We had to work a bit for our catch of 28 as the action was a bit slower and the fish a little less than what we have been averaging. All that did not effect the taste as we cooked the whole bunch when we got home. 

Here is the technique I use. See the orange buoy in the photo. It's in about 5 feet of water marking a little drop to 7 feet than slopes on down into the river bottom where just off the point you see in the distance you can find 48 foot depths. Between that buoy and the point there are two creek channels. You might can just make out my cork in the front right center of the photo. 

Cathy and brother Matt fish the front of the boat. That tree behind Matt has produced the biggest part of the 68 catfish we have caught the last three trips. Maybe that's why they were a bit slow. 

As the action was a bit slower we tried one of our old deep spots and caught a couple of keepers and a bunch of throw backs. The cool cloudy weather with a bit of wave action should keep the cats in the shallows for a bit longer. 

Read for Recipie...

Another day, more of the same. 24 cats still in shallow water. A bit windy out of the south, made for a good boat lay and the wave action provide the fish with the confidence they were hid as they lurked the shallow water in the middle of the day. Not real swift action but I think we were parked on an "ambush point" so to speak. Things might be kind of slow but there would be a burst of action where we caught 4 or 5 at a time. That's the way my dad fished, locate the boat on a creek bend or some structure and the fish come by eventually, using the contours as a road to dinner time.   '

I think Cathy might have caught the most. I spent some time working on a "shy bite" rig to hook these more finicky biters. I think she benefited from my experiment. 

I forgot the big camera so these are all cell phone photos. The ospreys have become pretty used to us. There was often two at a time on this nest. I think possibly babies or eggs are there.    

Girl and catfish. 

I dusted some fillet strips in Fiesta brand fajita seasoning. It's made in San Antone and I note the label says "a non-irradiated product." That's good to know. I can only assume that if this is not on the label it's well, you know, irradiated. I think  I saw our U.S. Representative, Louie Gomert, on TV saying that eating irradiated foods cures Covid 19. I was something like that but I think maybe neither me or Louie have this quite right.      

Catfish tacos, browned in a pan with cooking spray. Take what Cathy calls "the good tortillas" add fish, a hand full of some kind of cabbage/kale salad mix, purple onion, serrano peppers, cheese, avocado ranch and top with a few dotes of Siracha and call it supper.   

Cool Front Catfish...

I follow a Sam Rayburn fishing report page. It's a good barometer of how much misinformation there is in the world. Almost every day some one either posts that the boat ramps are closed or asks if the boat ramps are closed. The answer is usually yes if you do not have the gate code to the 12 foot high electric fence that is in place to enforce covid 19 restrictions and don't have a skillet of hot grease at home. Luckily I have the code. I have hot grease. If you do check into the reports page the fishing information is very helpful. 

With a cool east wind blowing fish were a bit scattered yesterday but still shallow. I did not fish the place that has been of hot spot due to the wind direction but instead tried a couple of other spots that have been good in the past and produced these 15 cats. I was by myself and with Cathy's new counting system seems 15-18 cats is my consistent production. 

With cool water I sometimes need my hip boots loading and unloading the boat. Every time I stow the hip boots for next years cold water the weather cools off and I have to get them out again. I don't think I'll be able to influence weather patterns like this but for about another week. 

No boat ramps are closed on Sam Rayburn. Campgrounds may be closed and State Parks are closed but some State Park Boat Ramps may remain open. Good luck. 

Time On My Hands...

All this quarantined at home business is just opportunity. The world has always needed more tuba and ukulele videos and self production technology, while maybe not a good thing, is higher than it has ever been. There is also time to study up and contemplate things that you have always wanted to know a bit more about but say maybe your handlers or your wife discouraged you because it was seen as a waste of time. Now they are just glad you are busy. Two things that have kept me busy are research on bigfoot and chemtrails. What with the Covid 19 crisis I think they can be tied together. 

Everybody has certainly heard about bigfoot by now. An ape like creature with global sightings down through the ages that has never quite had proof consistently verified. My research has reveled to me that there are people that see and hear and find signs of these critters all the time. Here in Texas the Sam Houston National Forest seems to be a hot bed of bigfoot activity. People see them, hear tree knocks, vocalizations and find crossed sticks in the woods placed in consistent patterns that seem to be an attempt at communication. I figure I am pretty well equipped to begin inquiries and seek proof because I already own rubber boots, a flashlight, a sound recorder and camera. That sound recorder is especially handy because it seems to be the best way to catch your own screams when you think you have found a bigfoot. 

I took this photo. It seems that bigfoot researchers see something like this in the woods and say bigfoot did it. Same with the crossed sticks. I spend a good bit of time in the outdoors and have walked right by lots of crossed sticks. My unenlightened self never had the concern that an intelligent species was trying to initiate a conversation. 

All this brings us to chemtrails. Chemtrails seems to be a plot by the ultra rich to alter climate, decrease population, and do some kind of genetic engineering. Planes fly in the sky and what you see coming out of them are not contrails but chemtrails, visible evidence that substances to accomplish all this are seeded in the sky. Again the time I spend outdoors (when I am not on the internets researching  this stuff or making tuba/uke videos) allows me good observation of this activity. Here's a photo that I think ties the chemtrail guys and bigfoot together. 

See the crossed chemtrail at lower center of the photo. It looks a lot like the crossed sticks that are presented as evidence of bigfoots attempts at communication. Therefore I can only deduct that bigfoot is flying the chemtrail planes and they are either trying to tell us something or they just can't help themselves when it comes to making this type of sign. In only makes sense for a cryptic, seldom seen individual suspected of high intelligence to be involved in something like this. 

My research will continue. I have the time. My findings are being accumulated and documented, first presented on this blog. I don't know if this counts as a sighting but I saw it and it does indicate that bigfoot takes masking precautions against Covid 19 and is aware that yesterday was Easter.   

     

The Catfish Report...

We made one more catfish trip before our work week starts on Wednesday. I did not take any fish photos. If you are a regular you know what Cathy looks like holding up a catfish. 

With Cathy fishing from the front of the boat against the cypress and me casting off the back to the creek channel edge we boated 27 cats, no monsters all just nice fillet size. The creek channel edge was the best spot 6-7 feet deep. 

We came home and Cathy sautéed fillets dipped in flour in a pan and I fixed salad and cornbread. 

I included this nice spring photo of our fishing area because I'm not a fan of draining the swamp. 

First April Catfish Report...

So I guess we are left with fishing. In the age of Covid 19 precautions boat ramps are open. I suggest you check on State Park facilities and I believe many campgrounds are closed but on the water activity is fine. Yesterday we took long lost cousin Runt Brewster fishing. He was asymptomatic, had been at home and only complained a little when we took his temperature but then that complaint was more about the method than the motive. 

Runt is kin to me through the Nerren side of my family. I think our third great grandfathers were brothers. We probably knew each other 20 years before we discovered this and have spent some good days fishing, playing music and taking martial arts classes which is where we met. 

Final total was 44 cats but it took us about 6 hours to accomplish this so fish was quite a bit slower than it had been. I attribute this to the clear skies. The wind was out of a good direction for our spots but the clear skies make then a little shy is the shallow water. Cloudy windy days are the best. 

Runt kept most of the fish but we retained enough to swim in our bellies for supper. I blackened then in an iron skillet using Cavender's Greek Seasoning in insead of a cajun spice. It was ok. With plenty of fresh catfish on hand we are trying new recipies. So far the biggest hit is oil fillets, roll in cajun cornmeal mix such as Zaterain's and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. If baked catfish like this better for you than fried Cathy says we might out live our retirement money but that might be a moot point the way things are going. 

See you on the lake, I'm off from work so that's about all we have this week.