Slow Summer Fishing...

As hot as it's been and with projections for hotter in future forecasts the grandkids and maybe even great grandkids long after I'm gone will look at this photo and say, "I can't believe grandma (or great grandma) went to the lake in shorts." If there is still a lake as they will be all bundled up to protect from the burning sun. Some places in the world they are all bundled up in protection already and I figure fishing there is about as slow as we have found it the past couple of days if not completely ruined. 

Two days fishing has yielded 7 catfish. In the spirit of accurate reporting it's very freeing to say that I caught none of them. I made myself useful by cooking and cleaning the catch so I guess Cathy and her brother Matt will have me out again soon.  

I have heard some good fishing reports lately and as I often say the fish are always biting somewhere. If you don't find them in one place move up or down the river a few miles which we tried by moving to some tried and true summer spots we have not visited for several years in the Amber Forest area. A little better but even the birds like the lesser tern in this photo did not seemed to be fishing too hard.   

Matt demonstrates the hold your nose so that brain eating amoeba (common in hot stagnant water) is not forced through the sinus passages into the cranial cavity where it can take hold and do what it's famous for. We launched at Monterrey Park and picked Matt up at his lakefront property just southwest of the 147 bridge. That was a bit confusing for one of the dogs. Boat pulls up and the man gets on it and leaves. Had not seen that before. 

As I have noted here one of our favorite spots out of Hanks Creek boat ramp seems to be under some fishing pressure from other anglers as seen by decreased catches and evidence that others are baiting the spot. On our Saturday trip there was a boat bumper buoy anchored at the dropoff near our Dogwalker spot which we usually find productive hot summer into the winter months. It looked like a boat tie-up rig.  There are many crappie guide boats working the lake and at least one catfish guide and probably others so looks like someone is working my spot over. Time to find a new one.      

One of my favorite places to look at food pictures on the internet is Pee Wee's Crabcakes. Those photos often have fried catfish on red beans and rice and I have been hungry for that so I plated it. Sorry it's not on my usual china which many comment on but just a paper plate. It was still good. 

I have not tried this restaurant but just like the next hot catfish hole someday I will.  

 

Fill Dirt Wanted But Just a Little Bit...

A few months before my mom passed she was still pretty spry. She could hardly see and had recently had a surgery but with the aid of a cane she walked around the yard and I shot two short videos of her pointing out various plants that grew in her yard, what they were, who gave them to her and where they came from. Back in the old days plants in your yard were not bought at the store. You took a cutting from a plant your friend had, put it in a pot and nursed it along till it had roots good enough to be transplanted into the yard and survive. It's kind of something people did before cell phones. I later tried to make some more oral history recordings with my mom but I guess nothing interested her like the plants because she dismissed it as unimportant. 

I can recall where many of the plants in my yard came from also. There's the ones my mom gave me, a tree here and there that was a prize for taking a used up Christmas tree to the recycle, the two oaks Darwin brought from Austin, the rain lilies from Cathy's old Houston house grown by her mom, some I dug at the lake or in the woods and more. I don't remember when this oak tree that disrupted my water pipe from the meter to the house came from. It has not always been here. It grew on my watch of this property. I don't know if I should blame the tree or the long forgotten workman that ran the pipe away from the house instead of using a direct path and then angled back in an unexpected way and when the tree came along it embroiled the pipe in it's roots.     

I had the plumbers out for a little repair of the aerobic septic system which took all of 15 minutes to complete. I had already noticed this leak before their arrival and began digging but like I say, things with the water pipe were not as expected. The tree roots were just too big and too many and the pipe path too screwy so after a lot of digging and root cutting this over the ground path is what we settled on. I was warned that a reroute would be expensive. I asked will this be ok as a permanent solution? As long as it does not freeze. 

I figure I have at least 5 months to prepare against that possibility. I'm looking for fill dirt. 

This tree makes one end of a flower bed that in spring grows wild onions I sometimes cook with, blubs, an azalea and a gardenia that a home health patient gave me. A tallow tree that was a volunteer grows on the other end and there is a holly tree growing out a crack in the roots of it that can't be separated but tallows usually don't live so long and maybe I can wait it out to enjoy the holly. There are no other ones around here. 

Before all these trees were here and this was a pretty sunny area I planted tomatoes in a raised bed along here. Best ones I ever grew. I remember it was the year the Chernobyl reactor in Russia blew. Big old red tomatoes that makes me wonder if the radiation had anything to do with it. I don't use that spot anymore because it's too shady and I like me some shade. My tomatoes have been fair this year. I have some big bushy plants with lots of blooms but not much fruit. Maybe they can hang on till the next blast which also might help the pipe to not freeze.  

    

 

B.A. Steinhagen Draw Down...

 One our our local lakes, a place I have spent some time hiking and canoeing the past several years, B. A. Steinhagen lake or Dam B as it was known , has had a drawdown to repair structures at the Town Bluff Dam site. I think refilling has begun in preparation for similar activities on my home lake of Sam Rayburn which is located upstream. I noted on the trip over that there seemed to be no generation on the river but the parking lot was full of boats on a Monday morning. I enjoy fishing low water situations and apparently I would guess angling good on the river right now. On my return the river was flowing meaning the Rayburn Dam was generating. 

At a spot half way between the end of the foot trail bridge on the right and the colorful cypress tree on left I have caught world class bream. This photo is made from the canoe launch and it's so close that my son Morgan once said, "it seems like cheating to paddle out no further than this." I don't really see any features to explain why the fish are there but they like it.   

I think these birds feeding on the exposed mud flats are long billed curlews and white ibises. Here's a little science for those that believe in such:

Bird bills adapt them to certain kinds of feeding creating each on a niche so that competition for food is dispersed and every kind of bird is not trying to eat the same thing. 

You probably won't have these on your backyard feeder.   

A little over a year ago I joined a guided canoe paddle that crossed here and came out on the Neches River. 

I have caught the most fish along here on the left hand bank. I was usually morning fishing. Maybe I should try evening when the right bank is shaded. 

We hiked the Wildlife Trail in Martin Dies Jr. State Park. It comes out on the road and by the time we returned to the truck we had covered 2 miles. The white feathers Luc collected in the forest seemed to be from something other than the shore birds but without collecting one for examination I'm not sure. I am sure the bird ended up as some critter's dinner.  

Luca saw this hiking trail marker and said, "That's me." 

We came out of the woods here and sat for a rest and a snack while we watched a deer cross the dry streambed.  

I'll use this photo on social media to advance the legend that I live off the land. 

I texted this photo of scat seen in the woods to several experts and the consensus came back "coyote" or "watch what Luca eats a little closer please." 

On our recent camping trip we spent evenings swimming here with the water at the buoys about 4 to 5 feet. Buoys look 5 or 10 years from the water now.  

Town Bluff Dam site. I have driven closer to the dam but closed now with the work ongoing. 

While we usually use the State Park we did check out the Corps of Engineer Sandy Creek Park and I noted a possible good canoe area with what seemed to be a flowing creek and some shady campsites for our next local getaway. We did not check the Magnolia Ridge Park as Luca fell asleep and being recently potty trained I did not want to push my luck and have a coyote incident.   

    

FOMO...

Today someone will look at this photo of me and Hamish (otherwise know as my own personal paddler) and say, "you at the lake again?" Same thing with a photo of Cathy holding a catfish. I have about five photos of me and Hambone paddling made last week and photos of Cathy holding a catfish that go back to the dawn of the age of digital cameras. I can post photos to social media that make it seem me and Hambone, though he lives in Chicago paddle every day and I can make it seem Cathy goes fishing every day of her life. 

I thought about all this because of a comment made to me that social media makes you have FOMO, fear of missing out. If you scan through someone's photos you may think you are not having that much fun. I assure you I am not paddling or fishing every day this week. The only thing you have missed over here is me sweating through my clothes about four times this week with a plumbing job, construction clean up at church and hot dog cooking for a blood drive.  

I probably don't look much at others photos to see what I'm missing as I am too busy looking at my own. It's text messages that create a social media anxiety with me. Before my retirement I would often receive text messages from co workers located all over the East Texas region. Some important, some that should have been thought out a little better. I think text messages are a barrier to critical thinking. It makes it too easy to ask someone instead of working through problem solving steps.  

Did I mention all my bear and alligator photos from recent camping trips? I estimate I can make you think you missed out on seeing a bear or a gator and that I saw one at least once a week for about 10 weeks. Satisfy your FOMO with the bear video by Margret at the link:

  

 

I'm Always Learning Something...

 In Cathy's family both parents were teachers. They had all that time off (ATTO) every summer, 5 kids and just enough money to make a camping vacation to popular state and national parks every year. When they pulled into a campground in the old station wagon those kids came boiling out of the back and dashed to inspect the toilets. Once inspected they stuck their little heads out the door and shouted back to the parents, "flush!" or "pit!" to announce their findings on the status of the plumbing facilities. I find it very cute that Cathy still does this even though she does not have to race her brothers and sister to be the first to know anymore. It's one of the many things that endears her to me.    

While in the Great Smoky Mountains we hiked up Clingman's Dome which is the highest mountain in Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the highest point along the Appalachian Trail. At 6684 feet tall I was glad that I did not wait till I was any older to hike it. Though the trail is paved and easy walking but it's steep and I rested probably 6 to 8 times on the way up but made it down without a break. There are a lot of people on the trails and I would advise beginning early as the parking lot at the trailhead holds only so many cars. 

It was in this parking lot where we arrived early enough for a good space that I learned my thing for that day. I hit the bathrooms as a precaution (Pit! After a difficult plumbing repair in my own backyard what else would be expected way up in the mountains?) and came out to catch a little mini lecture from a guy that was probably a teacher himself explaining the workings of the pit or vault toilet which although I know there are those that don't trust it involves a good deal more science that you might imagine.

The fellow explained and I had complied with the instructions posted to close the lid of the commode after use that if the lid is closed the sun heats the black smokestack like pipe on the roof, black to increase solar heat which then draws the stink of the vault toilet out into the sky above our heads making the bathroom break more pleasant. This the experience of our youths of a pit toilet and a room full of stench is avoided. 

I did not get a photo of the toilet on Clingman's Dome but I later made a photo of this Corps of Engineers issue vault toilet on Lake Oakatibbee in Mississippi. You can see the black stack. The lid was not closed.     

I also noticed that the government wants men and women to use this restroom which is something a lot of people have their panties in a knot over lately but looks like they are mandating it in Mississippi. There were two industrial sized Corps of Engineer issue rolls of toilet paper in this facility which also seemed to be meant for unisex use.   

When we came down off Clingman's Dome the parking lot was full with many people circling in their cars waiting for a space. There were also lines at the toilets. Men and women. I don't know how the paper was holding out but the black stacks were reaching for the sky.  

Service Calls and Family Visits...

Yesterday afternoon I noticed some kind of malfunction alarm was sounding on the aerator sewer system that takes care of all the drainage, flushes and solid waste. I'm sitting waiting on 8am right now so I can give my installer Truss & Son Plumbing a call to request service. There were a lot of people at my house this weekend so there was a lot of toilet flushing, showers and so on. Some of these photos contain pictures and evidence of the culprits responsible and were either made at my house or at Mary and Miguel's home where they recently used Truss as their installer of a new septic system. I don't worry though. I'll get to the bottom of this one way or another.     

I'm sure some took this advantage to use the restroom so as not to overload the system. 

Meatball! Could be problems later. 

I had the fruit myself. 

Acting all innocent. 

Hot dog eaters. 

Lots of old hard candy probably swallowed whole. 

Many likely suspects. 

Time to make that call. 

 

Summer Ski 2023...

We hit the lake to cool off from the 100 degree temperatures with 7 out of 9 grandkids as well as some of the parents as back up for tubing and paddle boarding. Thanks once again to my friend Darwin for the paddle board. It's a new favorite activity. 

This is literally the moment I have waited for my whole life. I have my own personal paddler. 

Only problem is that using the paddle board apparently turns your hair pink. I guess I'll live with it, my hair that is. 

They crawl the equipment like lizards. 

The gang. By supper time we had everyone together in town and have a lot of activity planned with a water park trip and the July Zamora birthday party. 

The need for speed is satisfied. 

More speeders. 

I'm stepping back. Another goal accomplished.  I have a boat driver now. 

I bet somebody is peeing in the water in this photo. 

Milo made his first trip to the lake. Probably won't be the last. 

 This photo reminds me of things my dad used to say when at the lake and there was still a lot of standing timber and he motored the boat up to some still green bushy stickout with me in the front to tie up. "You see a snake? A wasp nest?"  

Big Road Trip...

 We retuned home yesterday after s road trip pulling our Rpod camper to the Great Smokey Mountains. Along the way we visited our nephew Chase while spending a night at Lake Bistineau State Park near Shreveport, one night at Burchfield Branch Park on Holt Lake Alabama, a night near Stone Mountain/Alanta, Ga. with cousin Marylou and husband Mike, and three nights at Greenbriar Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains. The return trip as another night with Mary Lou, Mike, Leah and Nathan in Stone Mountain and a night at Lake Oktibee in Mississippi. All camps were great, the family visits were fun and the only thing that went wrong were a package of pork chops we hauled around in the camper fridge that we had saved for the last night turned bad.     

Totals for the trip were 39 hours driving time, 1910 miles and 13.9 miles per gallon. The zip drive that furnishes music for our trips played 719 songs.

Our Nephew Chase at Lake Bistineau. 

Lock and Dam on Holt Lake, the Black Warrior River in Alabama. 

Cousin Mary Lou, her daughter Leah, Cathy, Leah's son Nathan and Mike. You may want to check the campgrounds but if stopping by here they will feed you well and keep you entertained.  

A hike near Gatlinburg in the Great Smokies with Cathy's sister Margaret, daughters Addison and Grayson and husband Kevin. There are many accommodations to choose from in the area that are probably great but we had a fine stay in the Greenbriar campground. 

There are camper spots, tent sites, cabins and RVs for rental. There's movie night for the kids and we left the day of a bluegrass concert. The river is cold and clear just steps from the camp with good swimming and floating and though I got skunked some folks mostly about 14 years old were catching trout.    

Hiking to Clingman's Dome what started out as a walking stick became a bear stick after spotting scat on trail. We required several rest breaks to make the 6643 elevation but made it back down in one go.  

The Appalachian Trail crosses here.   

Later in the afternoon an attempt to hike to Grotto Falls was aborted by me and Cathy while the Koch family continued on. I left my game on the practice field back at Clingman's Dome. We later saw one bear from the car. 

Much good scenery. You could stop almost anywhere for a dip in a creek and we did not have to run the trailer air conditioner at night. 

I think I have some old Smokey Mountain photos of my mom and family in the late 40s and maybe some from when I was a child. Might try to get those posted for a compare/contrast. 

Great vacations. Just remember to eat the pork early in the trip.