FoulHooked...(how'd that get there?)

Last weekend's Spey Nation was pretty sweet for plenty of reasons. In addition to the event itself, it was some much needed relaxation and QT. After a short, somewhat frustrating trip to the UFZ Saturday afternoon, we stopped back on our way out of town Sunday morning. The juvenile trout and salmon (and chubs) weren't at all put off by the sun. The only real frustration was some difficulty in hook removal. To save myself a few dozen trips up and down the bank, I handed her the hemos. With the lady distracted by dozens of hookups, the quick stop turned into over 3 hours. Who's complaining? Not a great angle but it's plain to see her technique is better than mine. We're still working on the wading part.

Taking some time on the river, feeling lucky and grateful, among other things. Six-year-olds playing war in the back yard never picture days like these a couple decades down the line. In Memorium Parents, sisters and young wives be in your thoughts. It will surely be a difficult father's day. *pic stolen from photobucket

Need I say more?

...the bugger still does, always has, and always will, produce here. And, I...like, commas...and ellipses.

I hope this doesn't put me out of the running for (another) prize out at Spey Nation next month (luck ain't my bag, baby), but...I WON SOMETHING! Well...I had some help. My only question is...who's this "Dave" character, and why won't he leave me alone? It's O.K. April, you'd be amazed to know the number of people that find my name confusing. Thanks for the book! Ella will love it (I hope). As for me...guess I'll head to the lock for the rest of lunch and contemplate a name change.

Or catsup. Dunked the camera out at the Salmon on the 1st and haven't gotten around to updating anything until now. So, to start, here's how our plan played out that weekend: Phase I: Collect Underpants (i.e. soiled diapers/depends and other assorted trash...from the riverbanks) Phase II: ??? (try not to fall down...often) Phase III: Profit! (smolts and chub"bie"s) Oh yeah...and a couple of my wild exploits from April...

Seriously...I don't know that it would have even occurred to me if not for the Hatches blogs . I mean, who has time for the earth these days? If I had thought about things beforehand a little, Alex and that other dude would have summed up my feelings better than I could anyway. I'll just add that it's a little reminder and event to celebrate all the "right" choices we make throughout the year. And that most "actions" taken on behalf of the "environment" are much like those made "for charity." In reality, they are self-serving. It makes you feel better or helps your bottom line. It means you get to enjoy the outdoors, or see smiles, or whatever, and these are your rewards. "True" altruism is a myth. Our actions are compelled by some rewards/punishment system, regardless of how conscious we are of it. Any benefit reaped by others is simply a byproduct of our self-interest. You think the earth actually cares if we make it unliv...