Saturday, May 19, 2012

Friday: A morning of fishing and an afternoon date with a stripper



Joe bringing in a bass
This title should get me some interesting hits.  For the voyeuristic among you, I’m providing a photo of the stripper at the end of the post.   
  

Lately, as is evident, I haven’t been doing a lot of blogging.  In fact, I haven’t even been doing much non-necessary writing.  I keep thinking about getting back to writing, but after 8 years and nearing 1000 posts, I am finding it harder and harder to sit down and write something entertaining, humorous or enlightening.  Furthermore, lately a lot of my time has been spent working on a Lightning sailboat that I brought back from Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.   I’ve pulled out the interior wood and am in need of some white oak to repair a couple of cracked ribs that came from when it was stored improperly.  Luckily, the bottom is solid and once I got the hull properly supported, the fiberglass returned to its original shape.  Once I replace the ribs, I’ll have to lay down another layer of fiberglass over them and by then hopefully will have the seats and deck boards freshly stained and varnished and the boat will be ready to get into the water.  Just give me a few more weeks and maybe then I’ll write stories about sailing.   But more about that later…  Here is a picture of the boat as I prepared to bring her home.


Sandhill Cranes (I wish I had a longer lens with me)
Yesterday morning, I went fishing with Joe on a private lake south of here.  I am not a big bass fisherman, but this lake has some nice ones and when you use ultra light equipment, it’s quite a treat to land one.  It was a productive morning.  We met at 7:30 AM and by noon, we each caught plenty of largemouth bass (the lake is catch and release only which is good as bass aren’t the best fish in the pond to eat).  I didn’t keep track but Joe said he caught 23 bass.  I was using lighter tackle and still caught at least a dozen.   We even caught a few large ones in the 15-18 inches range.  All our fishing was done with rubber worms (the lake doesn’t allow any live bait as it is in a preserve and they want to protect the watershed).  While fishing, we were serenaded by the forest choir, the frogs singing bass and the birds hitting the high notes.  A highlight was seeing a pair of sandhill cranes fly over a few times.  We talked and caught fish and forget about the outside world except for when I got a call from my insurance provider wanting information on a claim.  But even that didn’t ruin the morning although I should have left my cell phone in my truck.   As it got close to noon, I was telling Joe that I needed to get back home.  “Why’s that,” he asked, “got a hot date.”  Without thinking about what I was saying, I shouted back, “Yeah, I got a date with a stripper.”  “Wait till that gets around town,” Joe warned me as we both laughed.

Below is a picture of my “stripper” and some of the floor wood from inside the boat.  I wish I knew why blogger now seems to revert back to the original format (landscape) when I had changed it to portrait?
For those of you who wanted to see something else, sorry...

23 comments:

  1. you realize your stripper is a bit unimpressive...smiles...sounds like you had some great catching today....and get that sailboat going...i have not sailed in years, sadly....

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  2. At least my Google ad understood what I was talking about... Instead of an ad for a dating or escort service, there was an ad for furniture restoration!

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  3. I helped a friend restore a sailboat that was supposed to take one summer. It took 5 of us 2 summers in Texas heat at night.

    I agree, blogging is very challenging to stay fresh!

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  4. Lightnings are good boats. A friend had one here and really liked it. I sailed with him a couple of times and had a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy yours.

    Cheers.

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    1. You'll have to come up and sail later this summer!

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  5. Oh you are just an inspiration to us all! I can't imagine you never being able to give us something enjoyable to read! As for your stripper, I too have had a few dates with that stripper as well. Kitchen cupboards, woodwork, chests, cars....etc! Ouchy too if one isn't careful as I learned first time while wearing short-shorts! I have an old sailboat just sitting in the weeds, that I've been thinking about doing something artsy with. Your post here may have just finally pushed me over the edge about doing it too! If I do a short(before) post about it, I'll send you the link so you can see it! So happy you're out and about, with strippers and all Ha! Ha! :0 but just know we miss your funny reports on life as a Sage! Take care, Karen

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  6. Wow, be careful with that stripper. I'm pretty sure that's the kind that takes it all off.

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  7. Shrinky, me, a tease?

    Brian, but with that photo, my stripper is on her side, that's good, right?

    Pearl, yes?

    Michael, Why don't you come by (and bring some sandpaper)!

    Randall, You'll have to come up when I get it in the water

    Karen, don't do something artsy with that old boat, get it back into the water!

    Bone, that's funny!

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  8. I feel exactly what you are going through!

    J

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    1. It's a probably when your stripper smells so much you can only enjoy in a well ventilated space.

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  9. Thanks so much for signing up at my place and doing all that reading. And then, you still signed on! I'm looking around here and am liking what I see. I'm going to follow you as well. I also know some of the folks who follow you! Thanks again!
    -------
    This was a pretty funny post! I misread "stripper" and thought it was going to be about a "stripper" (as in fish...)

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    1. You even created your own joke! I really enjoyed your blogs about being in Vietnam--that was some good writing.

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  10. I think you'll always have a tale to tell, my friend, because your adventures and stories never end. You could even tell the same story many different ways and I'd read about it again. HOW you tell a story can be just as entertaining as the story itself, if not moreso at times.

    Anyway, how'd I know I wasn't going to see boobs at the end of this post? I guess I've gotten to know you pretty well here on Blogger...and I hope you don't stop posting!

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    1. I don't plan to stop posting, but I may not be as frequent as I once was. Thanks for the compliment.

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  11. That's one good looking stripper :-)

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  12. I'm drooling now over the boat. That is my life long dream to build and fix up boats. You're living my dream!

    I've had the picture problem where it reverts back to the initial orientation. I solved it by opening the picture in a different picture editor than the windows viewer and saving it after rotating it. Then that seems to fix the problem.

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    1. Come on over and bring some sandpaper! It has been fun and I'll do a post on the boat soon.

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  13. It might be an idea to drop one of those bit of planking into a bath of water. Weighing them before and after.
    In the old days a sailing ship had about 35 years. In the first 4 insurance was high since no one knew how the planking would take in water causing all sorts of crazy ballast distributions leading to a huge payout. Out the other end, for the last six years it was high also, for now no one knew when the planking would blow out. And blow it would.
    Just be very careful with a timber craft. Especially since what I've read about those lakes about has them squally in the extreme.

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    1. Vince, the hull is fiberglass with wood ribs inside the glass. The boards you see are on the bottom floor (where you put your feet and are screwed into the ribs (which keeps your feet dry if there is water inside the boat, which there will be if sailing fast! The planks have all been stripped, re-stained and have a few coats of varnish on them. When I get back from a visit to my parents, I'll refiberglass the ribs and then be ready to put the boat back together.

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    2. oh. Goodoo. It would be the very devil to slap a ditty with Sage in the chorus a la the Edmond Fitz'.

      And what do you schlep that would need that animal of a car. You could make a fair stab at moving eh lake a bit with that horsepower.

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