To Be, Or Not To Be Friends

Friends piss me off. How do you decide when a friendship is worth continuing putting effort into? When does a friend become an acquaintance? How do you deal with an acquaintance that wants to be a friend, maybe even a best friend, but is not really interested in putting the effort into it? Why do I feel like I'm back in high school? I guess that's better than being in HighSchoolMusical!
What do you do when someone you care about, hurts you, and then asks weeks later why you're being a stranger? I sometimes wonder if I'm not better off focusing on my relationship with Cat (my true best friend) and just let whatever happens in my other relationships happen. Unfortunately, Cat also just had a falling out with one of her closest friends, so I guess we're both having to reevaluate the role of friendships in our life. All I know is that I really don't have the patience, time, or resources to deal with it right now. Life is hard enough to deal with right now without the people I care about kicking me in the balls!

I Hate WInter!

It's cold out. Something like 20 degree cold with a 20+ mph wind. BRRRRR!!! Every one's getting cranky, the cat's are driving us crazy, the dog is getting squirley! Snow.... seen it, been in it, done with it! I have a bad tendency to become very lethargic during winter. Mainly, I tie flies, read books, and bitch about when it's going to start warming up.

My hats off to all of you who live farther north. If our winters were any longer or more severe, I think I might shoot myself. My in-laws live in Saginaw, Mi, and sounds like total lunacy! Growing up in the South, I'm used to wearing shorts in March, sometimes in late Feb. Moving up to the mountains was a bit of a shocker, I almost missed spring our first year here because I thought it was still winter.

In the end, things work out better. Fishing doesn't really heat up til April, which allows me to do something with Cat for our Anniversary. Then I'm fishin or workin till sometime around mid June. I just long for the warm, earthy smell of early spring blowing down a mountain stream. To see the first blood root poking thru the undercover. But alas, March will be here before long; with it's early hatches, wildflowers, and ever unpredictable weather. That characteristic neon green color that signals the rebirth of the woods. Red buds blooming, birds chirping, and of coarse, trout taking flies readily. Would Spring be as wonderful without winter, I doubt it.
Rumor has it that it's supposed to hit the 60's this week. Sweet!

Omaha Stylee

311 IS COMING TO ASHEVILLE ...
AGAIN!!!!!

My absolutely wonderful wife procured us two tickets for 311 at the Orange Peel in Asheville, in May! I'm ecstatic, as is Cat. I might be a little bit more excited, but she'd be running close behind me. I think this will be my 13th or 14th and Cat's 8th or 9th time seeing them live. Anyone who knows me is keenly aware of my obsessive nature. (take fishing as an example) It's no different here. I have copies of all of their CD's, including 3 unreleased albums. 9 times out of 10, if you're in the truck, I've got 311 playin....loudly.
Why is it so great that they are at The Peel? It only holds like 500 people, WHAT? Only 500? Last time we saw them there, we were within 25 ft of the stage. That and the Orange Peel is a great place to see a band play.
The last time Cat and I saw them was in New Orleans for 311 day on March 11 (3-11). This will now become a pilgrimage we make every other year, and because they only do it every other year.

So what is 311 day? 5 plus hours of total bliss. I think they played something like 63 songs. I was absolutely worn out afterwards. I'm sure Cat will elaborate on my declining to go party on Bourbon St after the show. What can you even say about a band that puts on a show like that for their fans? It's 311's vibe in a nutshell. Peace, love, and harmony. All laid out on edgy guitar rifts, some jammin drums, unbelievable bass lines, with an unmistakable reggae undercurrent.
Grassroots, their first major release, is still by far my favorite album, with Omaha Stylee being my favorite song. Other favs are 8:16AM, My Stony Baby, Large in the Margin...... This list could go on for a while. It's rare that I skip a song when I'm jammin out to them.

Well, I think that's enough random rambling. If you ever get a chance to listen to their music, do. If you get into STP, Incubus, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Finger 11, you'll love 311.

311 ROCKS!!!!

Peace

A New Commitment

So I'm making a commitment to spend more time posting on my blog. After suffering through almost 6 months of inactivity, I'm going to make a better effort to post more regularly. Maybe something like 3 times a week if there's nothing really going on, maybe more if there is. Cat is a driving force behind this to some extent. Anyone who reads my blog regularly has probably looked at her blog at some point. (If you haven't, you should. When you see both sides of the crazy, things seem to somehow make sense.?) She is committed! The woman is like a blog machine. I've already gotten a dirty look for being on the computer. She wants it so she can post a post about me posting a post, when I'm posting. Crazy, huh?

I started turning the garden over on yesterday, with hopes of turning another bed today. We (I) are lacking a tiller at the moment, so I'm going OOOOLLLLDDD school and turning it with a mattock, hoe, and a garden rake. If you read Fire Pit or Pit of Hell, you can see my praise of the mattock. Right now I'm cussing it. We have a fairly decent sized garden, and the thought of digging it out by hand makes me sore just thinking about it. I think it's something like 12'x70', so.... maybe 800 or so square feet to turn by hand. Oh well, I guess it will help me get into shape for spring fishing! We're still coming up with the game plan for the garden this year, but likely we're going to go with square foot type set up with "raised" beds 3'x4'. I'm not sure, but I am sure it will be entertaining no matter what!

I hope to go fishing this week. It breaks my heart that I have not caught a fish all year. Pathetic! This is the first time in something like 10 years that I've let my license expire. I'm hoping to hit the Tuck on Mon or Thurs with Adicus for some big bows and browns, if I can
remember how to set a hook. My next pattern will hopefully post this week. A steamer called the Hale-Bop that is absolutely deadly on stupid fish, particularly big brookies. I like to throw a size 6 or 8 in chartreuse, one of the uglier flies you'll ever see me throw. I've seen groups of brookies and browns coming after that ugly thing like a pack of wolves! Refer to photo below.
Well, that's enough randomness for now. Cat is watching network news as she like to do on Sunday mornings, and I think my head is about to explode over the new stimulus package. I had decided not to talk politics on my blog, but that has decidedly flown out the window. The level of idiocy and what seems to me as pure theft has left me no choice but to rant somewhere about it. But I regress, time to get in the yard and get something done today before the trappings of a good nap take over.

The Island of Time Past

Well, I just got back from Cumberland Island and the weather was absolutely fantastic. This place was all and more than I expected. Bill and I left on Wed. night around 11pm and got to St. Mary's around 6am on Thurs. morning. Enough time to catch a quick wink and a bite to eat before we hopped on the ferry.
To some extent, this was an escape from the cold and to some semblance of warmth. Thursday morning it was a frosty 26 degree's in downtown St. Mary's. Thankfully, it finally warmed up on Friday and was in the 70's Sat, Sun, and Mon. When we left on Wed, I had 4" of snow on the ground and the lows were plunging into the single digits, with 35+ winds. Needless to say, it was time to go to the beach.
I'm not even going to pretend that I can describe this place with words. I'm not even sure the photo's will really do it justice. So.... not a lot of words, but a bunch of photos! Enjoy....

St. Marys River

Campsite at Stafford Beach
























Hiking the Main Road Horse and Coon Tracks
























Gotta Bring Jack! Trail Through the Dunes

More Dunes

And More Dunes!

Driftwood on Beach

Plum Orchard Plum Orchard

Plum Orchard BaySide
Bill at Sunrise
Horses on Beach at Sunrise
Sunrise
Sunset


So there it is. A small grouping of the 394 photos I took in 5 days. This place just screams to be photographed. There were horses, armadillos, coons, birds, etc. everywhere. Hear a tank coming through the palmetto at camp, fret not, just a horse wandering through looking for a snack. want to be alone on the beach, just go for a walk. 16.6 miles of beach and only 300 people allowed on the island makes for a strong feeling of being alone. If you look at the beach shots, you'll notice the lack of other people. People tended to congregate near the camp areas, which left miles and miles of beach and interior empty.

On the downside, neither the island nor the rangers are very dog friendly. Ya'll know how we take Adicus almost everywhere. This won't be a place he'll ever get to go to. Bugs! On the warmer days the no-seeums came out in force on the bay side. I pulled 2 ticks off of me, so I can't really imagine how bad it can be in August! Be prepared to walk or pay a small ransom for a bike. We walked over 40 miles in 5 days. Bike rentals were $20 a day, ridiculous.

My overall thoughts on the island. WOW!! I'm not a beach person, but wow! SeaCamp, the main park service campground is phenomenal. Probably one of the best NPS campground I've been to. It was kept very private, they didn't try to cram in as many people as possible. Shells! Bill and I picked up over a 1 dozen and a 1/2 sandollars in one walk. I have a small cooler full of sweet shells for Cat. Not crappy bi valves, but the "spirally" type. Needless to say, she was happy with her shells! 5 types of habitats, all kinds of critters, including horses. Ruins of houses built during the Gilded Era, some restored. I give this place two thumbs up with a strong recommendation of visiting when you get a chance.

On a side note, you'll notice there are no fish photos. No rods accompanied me on this trip. It was more about being warm and hiking. When I return, there WILL be rods with me. I hoping to take Cat there in the fall, so hopefully I'll be able to post some fishing reports from there.
Hope ya'll enjoyed the virtual vacation.