Jeff's always insightful but usually wrong picks for the year 2012

Well, I'm going to try this again and I think the odds are starting to stack my way. They say even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then so after two consecutive years of not getting a single prediction correct....I'm due.

NFL-SuperBowl... Just last night I watched the Saints run rough shod over the Falcons, they look unbeatable to me. Its hard to not root for the Pack as they just have a cool way of doing business but I'm picking the Saints to win, maybe against the Texans or those Steelers that I detest. Its been fun watching the Tim Tebow show but that deals run its course, he's traded into a life as a back-up in 2012.

NBA...the all new Clippers, the other L.A. Team.

MLB...I'm thinking that the A.L. West teams will once again prove something that the Marlins did a few years ago...yes you can buy the pennant. So, its either the Angels or Rangers to win the series. Hows that for stratedgy to get a pick right....you pick 2 and double your odds...Wasn't game 6 of the series this year just about as exciting as it gets for a baseball fan??? Another yawner for us Mariner fans.

NCAA  B-Ball Tourney....Now that's a pretty darn exciting thing lately too. It takes a pretty good crystal ball to pick teams like Butler and wasn't it Western West Virginia or some team like that?...So, we go with conventional thinking cause I'd really like to get something right this year....Duke.

Daytona 500 and Nextel Champ.... I'm proud of Team Penske for firing that loud mouth prima dona Kurt Busch. So, I have to go with them, Brad Keselowski to win both. He was right there the entire 2011 season and Penske is due for it all.

Indy 500....this season is going to be interesting for the IRL. With the crash in Las Vegas and new cars and another engine coming its a new day, which they need. So having picked a Penske driver for nascar I better be consistent and do likewise here...so...that Hunter Reay guy.

Our Next President....ahhhhh......m.....mmm......ya know, lets get back to sports here....

Iditarod... I'd like to see our own local guy Paul Gebhardt finally win the thing. He's been oh so close for several years now...and watch out for Jeff King, he's unretired and a pretty crafty guy.

King Salmon on the Kenai River....ya know, I got a feeling that after going through a few below average years that the worm is going to turn and we're going to enjoy a great run of Kings. One thing we know about the Kenai is that its a dynamic place and anything to everything can happen....So I'm predicitng an always great silver run and a king run of mmmmm...42,000, that oughta be enough.

Oscar for best movie....The Help, great movie, go see it.
Other important things in the year 2012.

Drill Baby Drill....Pebble Project has about a 25% chance of making it...But, Chuit Coal project has a 75% chance....

We're going to see a lot of new faces on our political scene. In fact, if  I wasn't so committed to guiding I might even giver er a run. I mean what the heck, could I screw something up?...I doubt it.

Now this is the big one...Theres life on Mars. Yup. My friend Chris Fejes years ago got me investigating the moon of Mars called Phoebus and I've decided that theres something going on there...hide and watch.

Great things are to be accomplished at Mile 14...we're going to have a lot of fun and I hope all you do too. I wish you all the best of health and happiness salted with success in our next year of 2012....

All I want for Christmas is.....

Maybe its an important milestone in a guys life when he realizes he has a lot of stuff, or at least enough stuff. I drive a nice truck, MP's got a nice car, we get to live here at Mile 14, what else is there really ? I never thought my life would turn out that I own 50 fishing rods, 5 guitars and at least 8 picnic tables, we're doing just fine. So, I thought I'd show you what I'd really like for Christmas, things that in Jeff's world would be really cool.

I'd like some one new to call our local call in radio program 'sound off ' on KSRM radio 92. Maybe even someone with an original and thought provoking perspective....that would be nice.

I'd like the Kenai River Special Management Advisory Board to do something...in fact anything. I don't need them to make the river run backwards or wave a wand and create a King Salmon run of 65,000 like the old days....I just need them to do something, ya know, let us know you guys are functional over there.

I'd like for once to have my boat trailer lights work when I first hook them up in the spring....that would be really different.

I'd like the State of Alaska come out with a new 'Old Hippie' commemorative  license plate.

I'd like to see Ron Paul stick around in the race, maybe right to the end, he's good for the discussion.

I'd like my two sons to find and build the kind of love that I have...as a matter of fact I'd like that for everybody that might not have it.

I'd like to see a reality TV show about the Kenai city dock during dip-net season.

Speaking of Reality TV, I'd like to see them put all the Alaska programs together....you could have Sarah Palin going broke mining gold while the State Troopers and trying to serve her a warrant all the while as Levi is deck boss on the Time Bandit as they're anchored up off of Homer partying....Theres a lot going on in this state, lets be creative.

I'd like to catch a 20 pound robalo to go with my select collection of very cool fishes.

I'd like Gary Allan to come out with a new album...the poor guys had a tough run of it so I figure after he completely recovers from his throat surgery whatever he puts out will be special.

Well, you get the idea. Simple life, simple pleasures. I guess during the holiday season its a time for reflection, I don't think I ever really thought about what life would be like at 58 Christmas's .....I wouldn't haven't been able to imagine it being like this anyway.....sweet.

Mile 13.5

That's the scene 1/2 mile downriver from here. That darn river is one fickle creature, maybe that's why we get along so good.  Two weeks ago when I took the video of the river locking in for the winter I would have bet dollars to donuts it was frozen for good...well, wrong again.

Normally this time of year we'd have a ski track set down to Fall-in-Hole and then through the swamp and back up the bench to our house. But this year as you can see the river is just to unsafe, almost to unsafe even for walking.  The warm trend and rain we had broke up the ice and then the huge tides with the full moon the last few days lifted all the ice and left it sitting around like a martian landscape.

That picture of Jet pretty much shows you what we're up against when trying to take a walk. The ice chunks are all under cut and we have places where theres 5 or 6 feet of ice over the river bed....and its got holes in it everywhere. Several years ago Jet fell through into one of these cavern type deals and disappeared, she found her way out in an entirely different area than where she went through and let me tell you her owner was fit to be tied.

If you've ever launched a boat here you'll recognise the rock on the right that's a prop eater at low water. When I first started at Mile 14 that rock was huge and even at high water you could wing ding your stuff if you weren't looking. Well through the years its either sank some or the river has filled up around it or maybe its even eroded...whatever the case it illustrates the nature and vitality of this Kenai River, a wonderfully crazy place. Thought you might like the pics of our earliest 'break-up' ever, Dec 11, 2011...

Cardio King

That kind of sings doesn't it? I stole it from our friend Sharon Smith who is no doubt the fittest person in our gym and we call the cardio-queen. I've been off the weight lifting now for about 7 weeks, my shoulder is finally feeling like its going to heal and I'll be able to surf fish in a few weeks, it had me worried.  I should have seen a doctor but I got a little pig headed and frankly with all that's happened this year, I've seen enough doctors....You know how I feel, theres a bright side to everything and with my shoulder injury it was this, a ramped up cardio regime and some needed weight loss.

My normal routine would be 25 minutes of cardio everyday followed by a lifting routine alternating on different body parts. So since the injury I've doubled my cardio time and alternate between a fat burn and hard cardio rest / recover type of work out. For instance today was a fat burn day, 40 minutes on the elliptical trainer set at a resistance of 10 and then followed by 15 minutes of walking at a fairly steep incline and rapid pace. For this my heart rate stays right at 120 and my sweat is just moderate like in the picture. Then on the next day I'll do a hard cardio session ramping my heart rate up to 160 by pumping hard on the elliptical trainer set at 15 for two minutes and then I manually set the resistance down to 10 and slow my pedaling down to let my heart rate recover to 130 or so and then I repeat over and over until I've done 40 minutes. Then I  walk for 15 minutes on the treadmill.  These two routines I do every morning  and have for the last two months and just this last week I've taken to going back to the gym in the afternoon and walking for an hour while I read my book. In the last three weeks I've gone from 203 pounds to 195 and hope to hit 190 my Christmas. Some of the weight has to be the hard earned muscle from lifting but I feel like I've gone just about as far as I can with the 58 year old body building deal so now its time to be lean, healthy and agile. For some reason change is not something I've ever thought of as bad, we just move on.

Right before Thanksgiving MP and I were in the grog shop shopping for the other major food group when my friend Ben Jackinsky asked me if I needed some beer for the holidays. I told him no beer, to many calories and that I am training hard....he asked me what I was training for.....jeez Ben, I replied, just life.

Weak---Strong

I just go over a miserable bout with the flu. It was your basic 3 day flu deal but being a guy who over does most things I stretched it into 4 days. I have no problems with my machismo....I hate not feeling good and I tend to panic, MP says I'm  fatalistic and expect the worst.. Well, I don't know but I do know if it weren't for her help getting through that flu deal it would be even tougher. Something you risk  as a guy is that whenever you might mention your discomfort you can bounce right  off that old gold standard of misery...child birth. But I  didn't get that this time, but I did get a few of these nuggets from Nurse Ratchet.

Honey, I'm really really hot, how high does your temp have to get before it causes brain damage do you think?....."mmmmm, how high was it  that yours was last night ? "

Oh baby, I'm just dieing here, I'm just sweating and sweating...." Hey ! , I'm a 56 year old woman OK, I sweat every night. Here, put this shirt on. Do you want to borrow my flannel Snoopy capri pants ? "

I think I'm getting really dehydrated.... " Yeh, me too. I'm havin a glass of Chardonay...you want one ?"

ya know hon, I don't seem to be getting better. Do you think it could be something other than the flu? " Well, mmmm, it could be the Noro Virus ."  The What ? Whats it do? How longs it last?....." HEY, HEY. I was just jokin, ok ?"

MP, I shivered so much last night I think I tore the meniscus in my knee...."WHAT ELSE !!!! ???? "

Boy baby, if the flu can make you this miserable can you imagine what it must be like when you're dieing? " NO, I can't,,,,but I'm sure I'll be hearing about it ".

So my hard earned advice to all you guys like me is this....don't talk so much when you're sick, drink the fluids, sacrifice monday night football for Antique Roadshow, try to dry out the sheets yourself and take care of your own reading material....I'm sure a missed a few. And make sure you say thanks and I love ya baby....and never, never, never get into that 'who's tougher' argument, its soooooo obvious.