That's a fish...I know because I've seen them b4

 

It's the last day of May so I've squeezed under the limbo bar and made my goal of at least two editions of Mile 14, the logbook of refuge Alaskans chasing smiles. That there is most likely the most popular sport fish in the world with a Berkley power Craw in it's mouth...I love the way they bite and like everything there's a learning curve. Dan Stewart showed me how to rig weedless and expose the hook that even though weedless it will still penetrate when bit. It's not as easy as he made it look in Mazatlan Mexico's Lake Picachos where he  is guide #003.  But I'm getting it, I go to our local Bass Lake almost every morning.

The Lake is popular. I arrive 1/2 hour before sunrise or ' book time ' as we say. I always have about an  hour  or so before I see any fisherman ( these Montana pescadors don't get out of bed so good )  and the whole early morning ritual I love. It's quiet, the Osprey and Bald Eagle are hunting and with my new hearing aids the birds are loud...and it's warm here....now THAT's a good thing.  In the last few days I've caught up to 6 or 7 per morning in an hour and a half. Gotta get back and take MPeasy for our walk and then gym time .  I've had the boat out just two times now,  just haven't had the right days but we'll do more soon.

This Lake is well used, maybe over used . Every morning I pick up  trash , usually 4 or 5 styrofoam worm containers. What is the matter with people ? How'd they ever get to think that litter was OK ?  So. if  they had a Board like the KRSMA I served on to deal with things like this on the Kenai River I'd suggest a few changes after the public see's the problems....Take the bait away, they ain't fishermen anyway. Close and lock the place at night when it all goes on. Kill the free wi-fi, what the hell does State Parks need to help people set up there dope deals and how does free wi-fi  help the State Park....explain me that one...but it's weird here in Montana, nobody seems to care.... I took this pic just this morning, the garbage is only 15 feet from a can and I assure you it wasn't a bear, if it was somebody here on Montana would've shot it !

In the right of way on our walk the other day we came across this. Now I'm not saying MP has an answer for everything but I will say that this one stumped us both. I've seen underground locate sprayed can messages that look like ancient hieroglyphics but this ain't that . In Mexico I've seen ' reunion ' spots which are really points for people to go to in an emergency but this ain't that. Soooooo.....mmmm.....any idea's ?

                                           10   GOOD THINGS

1. MP just turned 70...she's wonderful.

2, My neck  procedure was magic- I'm pain free.

3. We're both finally happy here.

4. I'm rekindling friendships and relationships that kinda languished while chasing life in Alaska.

5. I'm growing radishes...white ones.

6. My music is finally what MP calls ' fit for human consumption'.

7. We got rid of that garish blue carpet. 

8. Seattle Mariners are in 1st place....for now

9. I'm working on perfecting homemade french fries...now that will be blog worthy when I'm satisfied with them.

10. Our boys are well, happy and ahhhh...approaching middle age.

I'll do a Walleye fishing edition real soon so come back and check ....You know how I like lists so maybe I'll do 10 Bad Things...or not...bad idea...ooops . 

Wells Fargo update : We banked with them for over 40 years, business and personal accounts. Well, last fall we sold a camper to a Canadian couple who came with a Counter check for the Royal Bank of Canada. Wells Fargo took it up on themselves to assign us a " non competitive exchange rate " of  $  1200.00 American.....yikes . The people at the bank were just as stunned as we were but said they had no authority to right a wrong but said I would get a call to explain what and how this happened. Of course the call never came......So, we waited until a CD matured and went in and closed all accounts and went to a different bank, one that wanted our business. Now I know we didn't hurt Wells Fargo and revenge really wasn't my message but what it was about was being empowered to run your own life and not do things ' just because' . Our new bank has every facet better than W.F. savings interest, CD rates, free service with minimum balance etc.......But Wells Fargo was nice enough to send this....

A check for 1 cent . Hell of a way to say good bye.

Never say wooo in a horse race

 That's what Charlie Lane used to say for just about everything . Ya gotta keep moving, keep trying and keep learning...which brings me to the story....I've had a huge breakthrough in my music and I'm playing things I never thought would be possible , especially when approaching my 72nd birthday.

For years I just kinda chewed around the edges of music. I was convinced all you needed was 3 chords and all I really wanted was enough guitar skill to allow me to sing, I love to sing . There's a famous story out there about a guy named Red that grew up playing with Hank Williams. When Hank hit it big he called Red and invited him back to the band and Red told him  "jeez Hank, you know I only play G, D and C " and Hank told him " hell Red , that's all there is ".....well I was Red for a looong time . Then once I quit hanging around with a bunch of fishing guides that only drank beer and talked about who ever wasn't there I had time to play more, work more. I got to where I could roll the chords which is really just a mix of magors, minors, flats and augmented chords. I wrote some silly songs but realized it was taking time away from what I really like to do and that's sing. I've always been able to belt out a song.

But through the years I was always kinda jelly of the guys who had the ear and talent to tune the guitar to open chords and create entirely new sounds. But, I struggled just with tuning a guitar traditionally and even thought I was kinda tone deaf...so...being a lyric guy I'd look for songs that fit me and my views of life, my experiences , my hopes and I found an arsenal of about 300 songs that I learned in the last 20 years.  But I was a little bored with it and kinda tired of playing all the drinking and gizmo songs to my audiences in Mexico....

And then the magic....I was on the treadmill in the gym a month ago and I bumped into this song by Jason Isbell. I haven't heard such a cool song since I got Gary Allan singing Todd Snider's Long Year . I was inspired...but there was a problem....I'd watch the video's and Jason was playing rhythm guitar but up the neck which meant he had to be using open tuning . Now days you can find just about anything on U Tube so I found a tutorial then got out my trusty Snark tuner and tuned to open D and walla, magic. It's like other things in life that you're intimidated by , once you get going on it it's not as hard or intimidating as you thought and then you're off on a whole new level. New opportunity, new sounds, new stories to come...

Jason Isbell's Speed Trap Town in open D with a nice double bass sound. A haunting story of real life decisions, the good in people, the bad in people.....