Everybody Splash...

Hey! Remember when Cathy had that hip replacement? No, I don't either. Remember a couple of weeks ago when she lost her top on the bucket dump feature of the Live Well splash pad? Sure everyone remembers that and she gave it her best try yesterday at Splash Kingdom. This is now the official "fats out, tats out" summer photo.     

At least they got clean. 

Probably won't need a bath for a few days. 

Our stock caption for photos like this is:

"So then I told Joe..."

The other stock caption is "Did you see that monkey poo poo in my hat?"

"You see my kids?" "No, you see mine?"

Only photo I got of Warren was him leading grandma up the stairs. 

Old Red Boots passed out. 

 

Cold Clear Spring Water...

With the hot summer temps we cruised to Boykin Springs to cool off today. There is a small lake which I estimate about a quarter of has sanded in by the flow of a spring fed creek since the late 70s and I did not check to see if the lake was flowing to the downstream creek. The artesian springs are flowing as there is just the right amount of colder than normal for East Texas water to sit in.  

Old sharp eyes spotted a rattle trap type lure imbedded in the creek bank. It's in very good condition but lacked hooks leading me to believe it had been owned by a person, kind of like old sharp eyes, not always trusted to be casting large treble hooks in the presence of innocent bystanders.     

Cathy is not a huge cold water fan and I thank her for putting up with today's adventure. Maybe we can make the trip as the summer, God forbid, gets hotter. Back in the camp ground the metal animal proof trash receptacles were almost too hot to touch for opening. 

There were several groups of tent campers in the park. I know you guys that think you are tough will want to try this.  

Old guy on a creek. 

Can you spot the Texas Spiny Lizard? The creek itself was quite an ecosystem. I'm sure in the deeper holes you might find bid redhorse shiners or small sunfish. In the shallow run where we played we spotted tadpole madtoms and other small minnows. Luca found one hidden under a rock that was probably 3-4 inches long. Most were smaller, Cathy saved one stranded in a puddle and I think they looked very much like the Gulp Alive minnows I used to catch a mess of bream on the other day.

Back in the late 70s Texas Parks and Wildlife stocked rainbow trout in the creek late each winter continuing into the spring and you could walk this trail and at every deep pool catch a few trout with corn on a cane pole. They soon stopped stocking the creek and lake stocking continued sporadically into the 90s. Now a days most trout stocking is in urban areas to give those not rural a chance to catch fish. There is a park in Nacogdoches where they stock trout each winter.    

Cathy is testing a technology we have under development right now. It's a bigfoot spotter. It's complicated to explain but essentially the forest is blocked out so you only see the bigfoot. She said she say one on today's hike.  

A shady trail and cool wet clothes make summer activity comfortable. 

Cathy did not need the spotter device to see this juvenile bigfoot crossing a short bridge. They will do that you know. 

 

 

Bream Fishing Report...

I was not the only fisherman on the lake this morning. I was the only one in a canoe probably but I did spot a kayak that took a spin on the water from a campsite. I did not see him fish. I was there to fish and using light tackle and small lures I managed to catch enough fish for a nice lunch.  

Most of the fish I caught we call them bream in the south. Actually I think this colorful specimen is a long eared sunfish. I just fished around the boat ramp cove where I launched and with a swimming area and a camp ground there is lots of open, clean bank. All these fish were caught where there was some brush in the water so they were pretty spotty, one fish here and there whenever there was a bush in the water. Best baits were the faithful crappie slider and a beetle spin dressed with a gulp minnow which is some kind of scented fish food molded into a jig body shape. I have had pretty good luck on this even though it does not look like much.

   No lunkers like over at B. A. Steinhagen Lake which has had an explosion of weed growth brought on I was told by a park volunteer by the warmer than normal winter making fishing light lines and lures harder.. 

There is no size restriction on these boys so fry them all nice and crisp.     

It's pleasant on the water and these turtles are enjoying it. Once I got home as I was finishing with the fish cleaning chores I walked out on the patio to a narrow edge catching the morning sun. I was barefooted and it burned my feet. I can't really recall that happening before in the 38 years I have lived here.  

Final catch was 8 bream. Not a record but a nice paddling work out and not too many to clean. That's when it starts to get hot, standing at the cleaning table, unloading the boat and disposing of fish guts. 

My cat, Balls thinks catfish is better eating. Cathy says it was the best lunch she had in a a while and asked what time I was fishing tomorrow.  

 

A Tribute Band Like This...

I have noticed tribute bands are a thing. A bunch of guys get together and do all songs by one particular band. Pay tribute so to speak. Some of the guys might even look a bit like the subject. I saw a Beatles tribute band once and they were quite good. They actually found this blog post in the great mess of the internet and thanked me for the review. I played on a multi band show with a Journey Tribute Band once and I supposed they were good but I never listened to Journey, I don't think they looked like them and I don't like the Eagles either. It looks like Edgar Winter of Frankenstein hit fame who grew up with his late brother Johnny two doors down from Cathy's grandmother Langdon in the old Beaumont neighborhood has a tribute band playing Johnny's music. My late friend Larry had a Pink Floyd Tribute Band once and a few years before he passed and years after the band's hey day someone in France got in contact and requested a copy of the CD the band had made. Larry got it in the mail to him. In your later years you don't want crazy fans showing up all wide eyed at your door.      

I have decided that what the world needs is an Amos Milburn Tribute Band. I have a CD with 29 songs by Amos called "Rhythm and Booze." Twenty Nine songs might be just the right amount for a set. I note that the internet says Amos's songs were good natured romps about booze and parties with vibrant word play and double entre. While most people seem to get what they need when listening to Journey music I don't think they are getting this kind of thing. I believe with just about two other like minded souls, a honking hollow body guitar and a couple of tube amps using 1940s era circuits I could get into Amos's vibe. Most of the songs are three chords which is what I am doing on most of my stuff anyway except for the tunes that are only two or one chords.

Let's just listen to Amos. 

Now I know I don't look like Amos or play piano at all so I promise to do the best I can playing all the songs like I have been drinking whisky since yesterday and just in case an Eagles Tribute Band calls I would be available for the Joe Walsh part. 

     

 

Blue Man Group...

I have wanted to see Blue Man Group for years and had a couple of convenient opportunities but the price of a big city show always put me off. For the last two nights the Angelina Arts Alliance brought the group, and I had a balcony seat for $55. That's about my limit for concerts these days and I might pay more for a day long festival but once again I stress how much a bargain these AAA shows are and after years of crowding stages at the front in my golden years I have come to appreciate how well you can see from a comfortable balcony seat. 

I like a good drum show. My youngest children, Morgan and Mary were drum line kids and I remember taking them to see the show Stomp. They later were the beginning of putting on similar spring shows each year with the Lufkin High School Drumline. Blue Man Group is a drum show and as you can see from the photos they leave a messy stage and if you sit in the front rows they give you a raincoat. It's not Gwar but it's a good show.  

Blue Man Group is a corporation, a theater company putting on shows all over the work. The are owned by Cirque di Soleil. It's origins date to 1987 when the group was formed by three friends in New York City. The themes of the group, which probably don't get enough attention in this town are from the Wiki site:

• Science and technology, especially the topics of plumbing, fractals, human sight, DNA, and the Internet
• Information overload and information pollution, such as when the audience is asked to choose one of three simultaneous streams of information to read
• Innocence, as when the Blue Men appear to be surprised and perplexed by common artifacts of modern society or by audience reactions
• Self-conscious and naïve imitation of cultural norms, such as attempting to stage an elegant dinner of Twinkies for an audience member; or following the Rock Concert Instruction Manual with the expectation that following instructions is all it takes to put on a rock concert
• Rooftops, or climbing to the top, a metaphor for the directive from Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers's PBS program The Power of Myth, namely "following your bliss"

I did not make a bunch of photos of this show as lately some of the AAA shows have request no photos for a screen free performance and that fits well with the band's themes. I could not resist this one as it shows the good mess they make.

Get together with three friends. Form a band. Play in the streets. Develop themes. Buy tickets to AAA shows.  

   

 

 

Gotta Have a Plan...

I saw a report. It was a recent account of how former President Bill Clinton, who by the way does hail from Arkansas stood in a friend's kitchen and ate a half a pan of cornbread.  Howlin' Wolf, the famous blues singer (1910-1976) who hailed from Mississippi was reportedly able to eat 50 fried bream at a sitting. There is usually no size limit or number restriction governing fishermen on bream harvest so I would imagine that Wolf's dinner might have had specimens ranging from the proverbial "hand size" on down helping him ps the numbers somewhat. My friend Suzi, a long tall girl with a hollow leg can put on such a show at an all you can eat crawfish boil that the old Cajun back in the kitchen in a greasy wife beater t shirt, a crawfish fat and red pepper stained apron will come out and with a Picayune cigarette dangling from his lip cheer on her display of mudbug consumption in a patois of Creole/English/French that his grandkids can't even understand. 

My whole point here is that this type of eating takes planning and strategy. Setting up at a boiled crawfish joint with an unscheduled amount of time on your hands, catching 50 bream or entertaining Clinton for an evening who is also reported to eat "everything but the drapes" where free food is available are not insubstantial events.

You may nosh a gallon of Bluebell, eat an obscene amount of chips and salsa, donuts, slim jims, or chocolate but that's not eating. That's just buying crap. Bill Clinton had a plan when he stopped by that guy's house for the cornbread.  

So if you are planning to eat today take a tip from my heroes whose exploits I have described and often try to emulate. Eat big, eat good, eat often and plan it out. You can start by using my Aunt Ora Ledbetter's light cornbread recipe. I think the last time I had it was 2018 and since I've been keeping buttermilk on hand lately for making special fish batters and turning out cobblers with anything vaguely fruity I probably have all the ingredients on hand. 

That's not coincidence or accident.     

By the way if you use this recipe due to copyright laws please hit the old Venmo account. I promise to use the money to fund a Wiley/Ledbetter Fish Fry. Family roots stretch back to Arkansas so I'll probably at least send Bill an invite. There are cousins that can eat 50 bream and Suzi who is not even a relation will come and fit in just fine.

 

 

Ringing...

 I did my usual tuba rehearsal this morning. It's part of a daily routine that I have developed since I retired. 

The routine starts first thing with coffee and if I have something on my mind I write this blog. If there is nothing on my mind and some say there isn't and all the good things have been written and the better things are not ready to be talked about yet I start my daily exercise. This takes about an hour. After this is when the tuba starts. 

After the tuba I usually do some yard work of some type but with the heat I kept it light and after lunch I retired with a book for what is locally known as "the lay down." In the quiet of the house was when I notice that the tuba playing had seemed to kick the old tinnitus up a notch. 

I think I first noticed a ringing in my ears once after seeing Ray Wylie Hubbard and the lost Gonzo Band play Communication Breakdown at the old Hole in the Wall bar in Nacogdoches back sometime in the early 1980s. It's been downhill from there as I have seen lots of shows since then that have been mostly in small bars and mostly up close and spent lots of time playing my own music whether with an instrument or on the stereo all way too loud. 

It's kind of a weird thing the tuba making the ringing worse but then sometimes sitting around with acoustic guitars makes my ears ring more than playing an electric gig.

So I made a meme. If all the good things have been written there will come a day when all the good memes are made. Till then ring in the old and out with the new or something like that.        

People Ask Me All The Time Just Exactly What Is It You Do and Can I Do It Too...

People ask me all kind of questions. "Mudbelly what was it you said when the plane was going down?" or "How you wake up every morning and decide what to write in the blog?" or "who dat gurl on the blog?" or "How you cook catfish?" Those things are all more closely related than you might think. 

I am of the cooking school that I look in the cabinets and fridge and decide how on hand ingredients can be combined to make a dish. I occasionally consult the internet to learn how some result is achieved but usually depart from listed ingredients in my own way. 

I grilled fresh caught Sam Rayburn Lake channel catfish fillets that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar and seasoned with Cavender's Greek Seasoning. Before this I had cooked a package of Ramen type noodles without the seasoning. Drain noodles and toss with a tablespoon of butter and two teaspoons of curry powder. While fish are grilling I stir fried in olive oil chopped broccoli, celery, red peppers, and onion in an iron skillet but please use what you like. After vegetables are done to your preferred crispness add noodles for a quick stirring reheat being careful not to burn and then pile all fish fillets onto the noodles in the iron skillet and serve. 

I cooked the noodles on the stove inside but all other cooking done on my propane stove   and the lowest end gas grill you can imagine outdoors. At the same time I fried catfish in the traditional manner because like what I said when the plane was going down it is what I am famous for. 

So while we were eating all this I related to my dinner partners something I read about "layering flavors" in the food column of the the local newspaper. The gurl on the blog looked up from her plate and said, "You don't need that guy."   

More on how I decide what to write in the blog everyday tomorrow or some other day. 

    

 

Are These Good to Eat, Slip Corks and They Will Never Find My Fishing Spot...

The eternal question which we ask about all God's creatures except for maybe the largemouth green sun fish is can this be eaten? This is a Western Chicken Turtle and he hit a slip cork rig baited with JPiggs punch bait just like a catfish. I performed CPR (catch photo and release) and I could not find any info on edibility.   

Fish were about the depth of your rod from the reel to the tip. A bit of cloud cover and a nice wind rippling the water helped provide the shade that encourages this shallow activity and cooled the fishermen also. Cathy and her brother Matt racked up this double. Fish were mostly small and we threw back a bunch.  

I did not try this area but the blue heron thinks it's good. I bet that cypress is on a sandbar with deep water nearby and is probably as good as any catfish spot. We fished about three hours including a brief try at one our deep water spots that produced a half a dozen keepers and a few throwbacks. In 35' feet of water fish were suspended from 20' down to the bottom.  

The black choppers were overflying the lake try to spot my places. 

On our way to fish we saw a green noodle floating and on return it was still there so we retrieved it in the name of lake clean up. No fish on and it was tagged properly but apparently it's been floating in the lake for 10 years. I really don't think that but I'm retired and it's hard to keep up with the days sometimes and we all lost a year with the pandemic so your guess is as good as mine. 

Final total was 28 catfish. That makes approximately 150 cats to 8 pounds from this area. It's not a record but they are all swimming in my belly.

   

 

I Take An Old Age Test...

It's that time of the year that I take an old age test. Can he still get up on some towable behind the boat toy? It's legitimate testing since I have been getting towed around on Lake Sam Rayburn since probably the late 1970s and real regular since I bought my first boat capable of towing in 1986.

Sadly to say the testing these days is done on a float thing we call the couch. The couch is a lot of fun but it's pretty much idiot proof and you can't fall off of it unless you do something stupid which I was prohibited from doing because I was riding with two little people Luca and Cullen who are under two years old. 

   

Mary rides with Ezra and Parker. 

Ali takes on a full crew. As I was airing up this tube I noticed there was a warning printed on the side that you should not tie riders to the towable. I don't know why I have never seen that before.  

Morgan gets in on the cruise. 

Here you see Mary taking the old age test on the knee board. You are supposed to be kneeling on that thing. I used to take my old age test on the board but it's been a couple of summers since I could pass it and this weekend my right shoulder was really painful which I think was an injury suffered from trying to dip ice cream that was too frozen so I declined this test. 

Not being able to perform this test made me think of something my brother, who works at what they call the "little hospital" or the East Texas Heart Institute, told me. Seems that twenty something people come in for a stress test on a treadmill (the reason being they have reported chest pain) and can't complete this test. If they can't run they then submit to a nuclear stress test which involves injecting radioactive something or other into the body which is what Putin has threatened to do to Ukrainian bodies and given probabilities a few of these heart patients probably refused the Covid vaccine because they did not think doctors knew what they were doing. In some circles "nuclear" is a threat.  

Although I have been retired from health care a couple of years I can't recall seeing patients this young who had heart surgeries so I asked my brother what the the doctor does for this type of thing. His reply was, "He tells them they need to get up and move around."

 So all this getting up and moving around was done with a 40 horse power Johnson outboard motor which happens to pull these water toys at their recommend speeds of 15-20 miles per hour. I have heard reports of 450 horse power motors cruising the lake. That seems like a lot of trouble and it only took about $15 to $20 worth of gas and a $5 entrance to the swimming area to move people around enough that all of them took naps on the way home. It's a good life.  

       

I believe these guys might be talking about another kind of movement in this photo. Hopefully I'll get to redo my testing as many times as possible this summer.