A scary bird tale

I went to see "The Birds" a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie from the author of suspense. Film Geek didn't think it was scary.

The day after seeing the movie, the very next day as a matter of fact, I went trout fishing in Deer Creek. It was a small creek that meandered through a wooded area as it headed for the Shenango River. The state did a (put and take) stocking of trout and they were easy to catch after they were freshly stocked. It was approaching evening when the fish like to bite.

As I was moving down the creek I noticed some birds flying into the trees around me. The next thing I knew I had 20 birds in the trees, then there wer 60 birds and the about 100 birds just chirping away in the trees above me. I could see birds flockingthe woods. The movie came to mind. Chirp, chirp, chirp!! It became mind numbing. All I could think about was all those birds flying down and pecking out my eyes. That's just the way I had seen in the movie. The birds gathered then attacked. My eyes are precious to me and always have been.

Discretion being the better part of valor, from Shakespeare, I got the heck out of those woods as fast as I could, jumped into my car and headed for home. Those birds ruined a perfectly good evening of fishing. I never saw birds surround me like that again so why did it have to happen right after I saw the movie. Did Alfred Hitchcock send them?

Youngest Grand Children

The grand-kids got ready for Halloween. The youngest grand son dressed as a police man with tickets and handcuffs. He had a lot of equipment. The youngest grand daughter dressed as the witch from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Our town does a safe trick or treating on Sundays from 3 to 5. It is safer all around for the kids. I walked them around the neighborhood.

Jelly Bean the pomeranian dressed as a witch also.

Downtown Kent

Saturday was rainy and cold 45F in Kent. I went downtown at 9:30 and it was starting to get crowded. They tend to go until early morning. Here are some Pirates of the Caribbean.
Here is the portrait of the farmer and his wife. They were stoic and wouldn't talk.

This is looking down Water Street.

This is looking down towards all the bars Kent has; it's is a college town.

Scariest Fishing Trip #1

I'll now tell you about the scariest fishing trip. I was 12 years old and again fishing the Allegheny River. It was a trip to fish all day long. We went in the morning and didn't plan on leaving until evening. My Dad and I were with my dad's working buddy Red and his son Big E. Red got his name because he was a big Irishmen with red hair and the reddest cheeks you ever saw. He look as if he had been drinking even if he didn't have a drop. Big E was my age and later went on to be a descent division 2 college football quarterback.

We were fishing the west side of the Allegheny River and drive in by car. This part of the river comes directly up against the mountain. I'm sure it was similar to a lot of the West Virginia rivers in that configuration. We drove down the side of the mountain to the river. There was a wooden staircase about 100 yards above the river and the road went down the mountain to a parking place to a bottom that was near the river.

We had fished until close to nightfall and had caught quite a few. The fish we had caught were on a stringer near the stairway . We had worked our way downstream to the parking lot and someone had to go back for the fish near the stairway. I said I would go get the fish and wait for them at the top of the stairway. It took a while to work my way upstream, get the fish and climb the stairway. It was getting dark as I climbed the stairway to wait for the car. The only thing that needed to happen on their end was for everyone to drive up in the car from the valley.

I don't know if you have ever been in unlighted place in a wooded area but the dark sweeps in like there is no tomorrow. One minute you could see the fish you are holding and the next minute you are only feeling the weight of the fish. What's the problem here, I'm ready to go home but there is no car. An eternity passes and finally I see a car start and head lights proceed up from the valley below. My heart was filled with excitement as the car approached. I was so glad to see light and the security of the car.

WRONG CART, WHAT, there was someone else fishing the area. I didn't see anyone else fishing the river. The car passes without a glance. In the dark, even with head lights, I don't think they saw me.

More time passes and there is no activity. Did dad forget his own son? Wasn't I the number one son? How could he forget me? I had no answers, only questions. I didn't think it could get darker but I think it just did. Now I am hearing sounds in the woods as the forest seems to come to life. Is there a bear coming to visit with the smell of fish attracting the bear. Who knows, all I know is it was dark and I was scarred. We used to play in the dark all the time but street lights give you some light and there was always the stars and the moon.

Did you ever start to tremble from fear? I was to that point, no stars, no moon only dark. I had been in the woods when it was dark before but never, ever, when alone.

I hear a car start, Maybe dad didn't forget me. The car climbs out of the valley. I was never so glad to see my dad's car. "Where were you all this time?" I asked. "Was someone trying to get in a last cast?" I didn't care, I crawled into the back seat of the car, still shaking, and fell asleep in the the safety of the dark car.

I never did see a bear in the woods but saw one hanging from a tree once during hunting season. It was a big black bear. I wonder if it was ever near the Allegheny River.

Gordon retains Chase lead

Jimmie Johnson sweeps Atlanta in NASCAR when he finishes the race under caution. He won all three races there this year. NASCAR tried twice to restart the race but Earnhardt Jr. losing the wheel on the second restart ended the race. Jeff Gordon finishes 7th and the "Chase to the Championship" tightens up. There are three weeks to go and Gordon leads his teammates by 9 points. It's starting to look like a 2 man race with both teammates over 100 points ahead of the nearest competitors. There is a chance someone could catch them but I doubt it.
Nascar now goes to Texas where Tonu Stewart last won.

Go Jeff Gordon!!!

Scariest Fishing Trip #2

There is one thing to be explained about this trip. You see I have Ophidiophobia a healthy fear of snakes.

Snakes and I don't need to inhabit the same area of space and time. I don't know if it goes back to the original sin story but I Don't Like Snakes. If I come across one in them in the rough when golfing, one of us will be sorry, especially if I have a wedge in my hand. If one tries to come across my lawn when I'm cutting grass the snake better watch out (spinning blades). If I'm walking along unprotected, I'll turn around and go the other way, simple as that.

So let's go on a fishing trip with the original fishing guy and my younger brother. I was about 13 and he was 11. God forgot to give give the same healthy fears I have. We were fishing the Allegheny River at the Henry's Bend section of the river. It's a beautiful stretch of river and the small-mouth love to get caught at the bend.My brother saw a snake swimming across the river toward the boat. He, with no wisdom at all , decides to hook the snake with his fishing pole. This snake was 5 foot long and black as night. Isn't that the color of a water moccasin is what went through my mind ? We not only have a snake but a snake that can bite and kill you. This is really were the term healthy fear comes to the forefront. He thinks that he should bring it into the boat to unhook it. Now I ask you, why was it hooked in the first place. I have no idea except sometimes brothers don't think things out. Now I'm really scared, there is no way a snake and I will inhabit the same space in a 12 foot aluminum fishing boat. No Way No Way!!!This is when I made the declaration, "If that snake comes into the boat I'm swimming to shore". Now everyone is laughing, except me, and having a good time. He lift the snake closer to coming into the boat. I edge to the side of the boat. The river is wide here and I don't know if can I swim clear to shoreline with clothes on. This entered my mind but was quickly dismissed. Finally Dad told my brother to cut the line. I guess he could see how close I was to the boat rail. That plus the fact that I had no color in my face. Later I let my brother know if anything of this sort happened again he would know another fear. The fear of the big brother Fistophobia.Two down and # 1 to go.

The moon tonight

Did anyone see the moon last night about nine. What a sight. I took the dog out and was excited at the look of the moon. I went in immediately to get my camera. The pictures almost didn't do the scene justice and it would have been better with a wider angle.

"Lizard Birth" what a funny story

If you have raised kids, and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, this story will have you laughing.

Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was something wrong with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room. "He's just lying there looking sick," he told me. "I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?"

I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do. "Honey," I called, "come look at the lizard!"

"Oh, my gosh!" my wife exclaimed. "She's having babies."

"What?" my son demanded. "But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"

I was equally outraged."Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce," I said accusingly to my wife.

"Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)

"No, but you were supposed to get two boys!" I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).

"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.

"Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know" she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).

By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it. "Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience," I announced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."

"Oh, gross!" they shrieked

"Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?" my wife wanted to know.

We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later."We don't appear to be making much progress," I noted.

"It's breech," my wife whispered, horrified.

"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.

"Okay, okay." Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.

"Should I call 911?" my eldest daughter wanted to know."Maybe they could talk us through the trauma." (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)

"Let's get Ernie to the vet," I said grimly. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.

"Breathe, Ernie, breathe," he urged.

"I don't think lizards do Lamaze," his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for God's sake.)

The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

"What do you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.

"Oh, very interesting," he murmured. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?"

I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.

"Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.

"Oh, perfectly," the vet assured us. "This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen. Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um . um . masturbate. Just the way he did, lying on his back." He blushed, glancing at my wife. We were silent, absorbing this."So, Ernie's just . just . excited," my wife offered.

"Exactly," the vet replied , relieved that we understood.

More silence. Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness.

Tears were now running down her face. "It's just .that . .I'm picturing you pulling on its . its. teeny little ."She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

"That's enough," I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car. He was glad everything was going to be okay.

"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad,"he told me.

"Oh, you have NO idea," my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

Two lizards: $140.
One cage: $50.
Trip to the vet: $30.
Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie:Priceless!

Moral of the story: Pay attention in biology class. Lizards lay eggs!

Scariest fishing trip #3

I thought I would tell of my three scariest fishing trips in honor of Halloween.

It was a great weather day for fishing. I guess we didn't know enough to check the weather like we do today. I had bought a 12 foot hand made wooden row boat from an advertisement in the paper. It was small enough to carry on the top of my 1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air. The car was a two door hardtop with a 256 V8. I had done the body work on the car and painted it 49 Ford red. It was the reddest red my friend junior and I could get mixed to paint the car.

My Dad the original Fishing Guy and I loaded the boat onto the car early morning and headed for Pymatuming Lake on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is a big lake but only 30 foot deep at the center. We launched at the Bay 41 ramp and rowed out to an island near the bay. There is one problem with a large shallow lake. The weather can take a toll on the lake. Needless to say a storm blew in about 10 AM and we headed for the closest shore, the island. We were about 300 yards from the main shoreline and the car. Now that may not seem far but in a row boat in bad weather it was a long way.

The storm blew in and stayed over us. It was raining so hard you almost could not see the main shore line. We stayed on the island with no signs of the rain letting up. After about an hour Dad asked if we should head for shore. I said lets go and started bailing the boat out. Talk about a losing battle I was hardly staying even with the rain and the wind was blowing hard and blowing waves into the boat. I thought we were going to capsize and drown.

Dad was rowing, he had worked in the steel mills all his life and was a tough old geezer. It was really hard rowing and I wasn't keeping up with the bailing either. Finally, we could see the bay near the dock. I was still shaking when we reached the dock. Dad asked if I wanted to fish the bay and I said "I had almost died and could come back to fish a different day". I was not fishing anymore that day. We could have died if the boat had completely filled with water from a wave. I never fished bay 41 again. I also didn't keep the boat long and moved to a larger aluminum boat.

My First Fish Ohio Catch 1991

It was a beautiful spring morning in May of 1991 when I rolled my boat out of the garage and headed to Lake Hodgson for a morning of crappie fishing. I like to be on the lake by 6 AM and catch the morning run of crappie. I was to meet my buddie Jim at the lake. I've always told him to be on time or he may miss the boat. It's a short commute to Ravenna Ohio and after stopping for minnows and picking up Jim we headed for the boat ramp. I am definitely the captain of my boat and I choose where to fish. Today I chose the north shore of Lake Hodgson. We had a Southern breeze on our back. This takes the bobbers that are floating toward the weed bed near shore. I had scouted the spot for a couple of weeks and called Jim when the fishing gets hot. He was a college student at the time and didn't like to go out unless I said the fishing was good. I set the boat up to cast toward the weed bed near shore and work the minnows back toward us. We had been fishing a while with minnows sitting at depth under the bobbers and I was working a minnow toward the boat. I normally catch at at rate of two to one on my working minnow.
We were catching crappie at a hectic pace and filling the fish basket, which is in the water keeping the crappie alive until filleting. I got a bite close to the boat and the fish I just caught was bending my Ugly Stick in big arc. I told Jim to get the net. Some people call crappie paper mouths because of the thin membrane the have around their mouth. I would rather net a big crappie rather than taking a chance on pulling a hook.
After a spirited fight, the crappie headed into the net. I told Jim that it was the biggest crappie I had ever caught. I told him we needed to stop at the lodge and the bait shop and show them our catch. Russ at the lodge told me it was a Fish Ohio catch. Don at the bait shop verified the catch and had me fill out the forms. You know how you get rules and never quite finish reading all of them. Well on the last page of the licence there is a list of qualifying fish. Crappie have to be 13" to qualify. My crappie was 16" long, a fine size for crappie in the northern lakes. You receive a Fish Ohio Pin and Certificate from the State of Ohio. I mounted the certificate and put the first pin on the hat shown in my camera blog. I had caught a couple of other big crappie and two rainbow trout as shown in the small picture.


Now that I knew the rules catching a Fish Ohio Award fish became a challenge.

The floor of the deck is done.

I finished the sealing of the deck today. I took a half day off work before the cold front moved into the area. It wasn't too bad. I had done half on Sunday and finished it today. Here are some pictures.
This is the eating area.
It has to be cooked first.
Here is the seating area.
This is the herb barrel.
This is mr. chinchillas cousin in the herbs.
http://thefishingguy.blogspot.com/2007/10/power-washing-finished-on-deck.html

Bad sports day

Last week I had a great Sunday with sports teams. This Sunday payback was a bear. I know you have to live with the good and bad, but why all at once.

Cleveland Indians fall to Boston after leading the series 3-1. They really came crashing down after a good start.

The Steelers go out to Denver losing in the final seconds. Roethlisberger throws 3 interceptions and fumbles to give the Broncos a lead. The Steelers come back to tie but lose in the end.

Jeff Gordon ends up third at the Nascar race. A positive, he is still leading in the points to the championship.

Ohio State squandered a big lead in the Michigan State game but held on to remain number one in the nation. The Buckeyes have Penn State in Happy Valley next week.

Indians lose 12-2

Well the Indians certainly made it tough on themselves. They go up 3-1 in the series and let the Red Soxs come back and tie it up. Both the Indians good starters failed to produce enough strikes. We are down to Westbrook. I wonder which pitcher will show up. That is a good question. Sometimes you get a good sinker ball pitcher and other times you get nothing. Tonight's the big game.
Go Indians!!!

The Steelers are playing Denver and NASCAR is having a short track race that Gordon and Johnson have dominated.

I better get busy staining the deck before this all starts.

Cameras I use to blog

I was asked by Shark Girl to tell about the camera I use to blog. I actually use two cameras.

Number One
My favorite is my Sony Mavica MCV FD73 which is older and has a 3.5" floppy disc. It has a 10X zoom and the picture size on fine is only 70Mb. It does close work better then my good camera and is perfect for blogging. Here is a picture of my Fish Ohio Pin hat. I will post about Fish Ohio at a later time.
Number Two
The newer one is a Samsung Digimax D53 which I keep set on 3 mega pixels. It has a 1 GB SD card. It has a 3X zoom. It takes great outdoor shots. The pictures are larger, 700 Mb, and don't post as well. You can see the difference, when I used the Samsung at the farm, in quality and the size of the pictures. I do very little photo editing, most of what you see is what I snapped, but when I do photo edit I use Ulead PhotoImpact 8. I also use Photoshow Deluxe 3 to make slide shows.

Indians have to finish it in Boston

Boy that Beckett is a good pitcher. He shut down the Indians both times he faced them. 7-1 isn't a very good hitting day. Why didn't the midges move in and bug Beckett?

I hope that the Indians start hitting again and finish it of on Saturday.

corn maze and hayride

We took the grand kids through a corn maze and on a hay ride last weekend. I was able to get a couple of neat pictures.


The maze was hard and after an hour we headed out through the entrance.

We were the only ones on the hay ride and the farmer gave us a long ride. We were in charge.

My grand daughter is relaxing on the hay bales.

My youngest grand son got into the act of relaxing also.
This is the highest spot in Mahoning County. It's not very high. You are definitely out of the Appalachian Mountains when you are in NE Ohio.

We saw cows and horses on the ride.

What a car.

MacTac's plant is just up the road from our plant. This car pulled out behind me and I stopped at a red light and ran back and got this picture. They had graphics all over the car. I thought it was cool.

Jake -our Pomeranian

Jake has one bad eye from a run-in with a bigger dog when he was a pup.
He does pretty well with sight out of one eye. This is his cat pose. Watch out mr. chinchilla.
Jake is 13 years old. We've only had him a few years but have known him for 10 years. He went to the groomers yesterday. He really needed a haircut. Sometimes he doesn't look like the same dog when he comes home. The groomers always gice him a nice scarf. This time it is a halloween theme. They give him what I call a lion cut with a flair at his face.

Who cares Manny?

I read the following bout Manny on Yahoo. I think this picture shows who cares right after there win on Tuesday. The Indians care.


The Manny diaries
By Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports

If this American League championship series becomes too much to bear for the Boston Red Sox, if this deficit is too large and these Cleveland Indians too polished for their weary baseball psyches, it won't be Manny Ramirez's head that fails them. Manny's psyche is just fine.
"If it doesn't happen, who cares?" Ramirez said Wednesday afternoon. "There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."
Presumably, this will not be the precise sentiment with which Terry Francona sends his men onto Jacobs Field for Game 5. The organization and its city stowed the wait-'til-next-year routine with the 2004 Idiots.
Who cares? The 24 guys around him, his manager, his owner, the people who carve off a bit of paycheck to squeeze into those old, narrow box seats and chant his name every night. They probably care.
The Indians, I'm guessing, care.
There are, however, two riders that need to be attached to Ramirez's flippancy. He does not speak for the Red Sox clubhouse or the Red Sox organization. He goes years without speaking publicly at all, a practice the Red Sox might now consider encouraging.

Cleveland goes up 3-1

Cleveland beats the Soxs 7-3. The Indians score 7 runs in the 5th with 2 home runs. I think Byrd got stiff while sitting through the long inning that the Indians caused. He came out cold afterward giving up back to back home runs. Then the reliever gives up another one to set a record for playoff home runs in a row. That was the end of the scoring for either team.

CC pitches on Thursday against Beckett and a win could put Cleveland into the World Series.

Let's go Indians!!!

Two memorable fishing trips

Shark Girl had asked me to tell about my fishing experinces. I have fished on both coast of the USA.

The Pacific Ocean

We had made a trip a cross country trip to Washington State in the 80's so my wife could visit her sister in Tacoma Washington. My brother-in -law Grant was a golfer and a fisherman so the trip went very well. We got out golfing a couple of times and it never rained once in the two weeks we visited. That is unheard of in Tacoma.

Grant and I fished the Pacific out of a southern Washington port. We were fishing on a charter in the Pacific Ocean. There were 10 people on the charter fishing for Salmon. I was new to this ocean fishing but not new to fishing. I catch on to new challenges in fishing fairly quickly. someone tells me what to do and I'll try it. I may add my special variance to the direction given. We would cast out lures when the boat came to a stop and try to catch some salmon. I worked my lure a little extra to try to get the salmon to hit. We caught Silver Salmon. You would tag the fish you caught and we each got to choose the largest of three of the fish tagged to take home. My brother-in-law and I caught half the fish that were caught that day. Grant caught 8 salmon and I caught 6. We were able to bring home our limit and share our catch with the other people on the charter. We were fishing along with another boat from the fleet in the harbor. The swells were so high when we travelled and changed spots the boat travelling 100 yards from our boat would completely disappear as you went up a swell and they went down. Several people on the boat hardly even fished because of seasickness. I hardly ever have that problem. We took the fish back in the car to Ohio and had several meals of fresh Pacific Salmon when we got home. The fish were in about 15# range.

We visited Mount Rainer, Snoqualmie Falls and Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada during the visit.

The Atlantic Ocean

I was working in Connecticut after a company I worked for was bought out. I would go up on Monday and stay until the second Friday. I worked a lot of overtime and and didn't have many expenses with the company paying for room and board. I visited the Maritime museum in Mystic Connecticut and at pizza ate Mystic Pizza for those of you who saw the movie.

We fished a charter out of Connecticut. There were 25 people on the party boat. We fished in the Atlantic Ocean for Bluefish which were feeding on the bottom. The captain would position the boat and tell you to lower your line to the bottom. You had to watch when you let the bait down that as soon as you hit bottom to stop the reel so you wouldn't backlash. I got pretty good at getting the bait to the bottom and not back-lashing. The first people down usually caught the fish. The Blues were a good fighting fish but you had more then enough fishing pole to handle them. They ran in the 20# range.

I was fishing with my boss and a fishing buddy from Lake Hodgeson, Jim. I had taught Jim a lot about fishing at Lake Hodgeson so I expected a challenge in the number of blues we caught. My boss caught 1 fish, Jim caught 3 and I caught 13 fish. When the numbers get that high you are not unlucky no matter what so no fear of 13. We took the fish back to the hotel and gave them to the hotel staff. The hotel staff always treated us real well.

There were two fun ocean trips that I will remember for a long time to come.

Indians go up 2-1 over Boston

Indians win1st game at home. Westbrook is one of the scariest pitchers on the Indians staff. If he has his sinker is working he stays in the game. Last night his sinker was working. He was on and the Indians bullpen holds onto a win. Byrd pitches today and with a good outing the Indians could be up 3-1. I'm expecting a good game out of Byrd today.

How about those Rockies. A team from nowhere goes 21 out of 22 in their games and wins the NL series. They are on a roll and it should make the World Series a fun time. I'm hoping that the Indians get a chance at them and we will see if they can hold up against some good hitting and good pitching.

The weather is showing rain in the forecast. It could make for another long game with rain delays. Let's hope the showers hold off so we can get the game in.

Doctor's Visit Today

I had to go to the doctors today for the annual physical. This is not done in dread but sometimes you go with apprehension. I've had a lesion on my arm that has come and gone twice and I wanted something done about it.

What word do you not want to hear from a doctor during a procedure? Well, whoops has to rank right up there. The doctor had a medical student with him who was in his third year of medical school. He did the physical with the doctor was checking over his work. Everything was fine with me so the doctor decided to take the lesion from my arm in the same visit.

The doctor numbed my arm, so I was lying there awake, then punched the lesion out. He then told the intern to stitch the cutout area. The doctor gave me a choice on the number of stitches and I chose three since I am golfing this afternoon. This is when the intern said the fateful word. He finished the first stitch and said whoops. I wonder what he had done wrong. I had told the doctor that I blogged before this happened. The doctor made a joke out of it saying this is something I could blog about. It turned out to be no reason for the whoops so it just was the idea of telling about it that intrigued me. The doctor said take an aspirin and go out and play golf.

My oldest grandson is the number two man on his junior high golf team and needed a relative to play with him. His Dad had some out of town plans that he had forgot about. So, Papa to the rescue, I'm going to play with him today after school.

Big Sports Day

It was good to be a team I root for on Saturday. Everyone, I consider a team that I follow, wins.

1. The Indians come out of their hitting slump and beats the Red Soxs 13-6 in the 11TH. After being tied for two innings, they blast the Red Soxs out of the game. The series is tied 1-1 as we head back to Cleveland.

2. The Buckeyes beat Kent State Golden Flashes. Yes, I live in Kent, but I root for number 3 ranked Ohio State. The number 1 and 2 teams lose so the Buckeyes are the number 1 team in the BCS and South Florida is number 2.

3. Jeff Gordon wins at Charlotte and extends his points lead in the chase to 56 points. He is ahead with 5 races to go. He wins his second race in two weeks. Nascar has another 5 time winner at Charlotte. The team is doing great running 1-2 in the points.

4. The Steelers don't play today but I'm sure they would have won.

Here we go Indians

Well Friday finally arrived and Cleveland plays Boston. The Cleveland bats are still alive as Hafner hits a homer in the first to get ahead. Manny. the former Indian, gets a hit to to tie the game. I'm afraid this is going to be a long game.

Friday is a long hard day for me. I gone from home for 12 hours and drive 150 miles to put in the days work. The drive has been getting longer and longer as I get older. I used to do it a couple days a week but only do it once a week now.

I hope I can outlast the game but may have to check on it in the middle of the night. ESPN has the scores available all through the night.

Go Cleveland!!! Beat the Red Sox's.

Boston knocks C.C. out of the game and takes a 8-1 lead in the fifth. Beckett is pitching great. Talk about starting a series badly. Your ace pitcher looked bad tonight. There's always tomorrow.

power washing finished on deck

It was 7 PM last night when I finished the deck. I decided to give the floor deck a second pass on Monday after finishing the railings. You learn as you go and I was doing a better job of using the power washer by the time I did the second pass. When I started doing the deck floor on Monday it was 89F. When I started last night it was 51F and when I finished it was 49F. A 40F swing in 3 days. Isn't Ohio weather great. I had to use a flash to get pictures because it was getting dark at by the end of the power washing.

Here is a view up the east stairway.

The power washer is still hooked to the water supply but the deck is complete. The floor of the deck is stripped much better with the second pass. I used a soap on this pass.

Here is a view up the west stairway.
Here is a view of the fan.
Here is the railing beside the fan.

Cleveland Indians move on.

Well the Yankees were no match for the Indians. After the Indians had goes 0-6 in the regular season they then go 3-1 to win the series. George S. isn't happy that all the money he spent on the Yankees he doesn't go further in the play-offs. It looked and sounded that after 12 years Torre is gone. He was a good skipper for the Yankees.
Now they move on to face the Red Sox's. Boston had looked bad for so may years that the fans have to be happy that they are winning again. They were the only team, along with the Cubs and the Indians, who hadn't won the world series in many a year. I would be really strange if the Indians could knock the Red Sox's out of the World Series. Can the 2007 Indians do what the 1990's powerhouse Indians couldn't do. We will have to see how Fridays game goes at the famous Fen-way park with the giant left field wall.

Rooster Fish in Costa Rica

When I was interviewing with Mr. Chinchilla I mention I had caught a Rooster Fish. Here is a picture of me on the boat with the Rooster Fish. This was the largest fish I ever caught. I bought the hat in Costa Rica and still have it in the family room.

Deer by the plant

I work in the city of Stow, Ohio. The street we are on has businesses all along with a small wooded area in the rear. I was leaving work yesterday at 4 PM when I saw a first for me. In a small open area, about 50' x 30', next to the parking lot I saw a doe standing. It started to walk toward an even smaller wooded area. I whistled at it to try to get it to stop but it walked into the woods. As I said, I was not trying to be quiet and was really surprised when a six point buck walked into the same clearing. It wasn't in the least afraid of me. It is getting close to rutting season and the buck was staying close to the doe. There is no hunting in the city but this was the first time I saw deer so far out in the open. They obviously were not afraid of me. I wish I had my camera with me.

Black Squirrels

Kent State University has imported a variation of squirrels from London, Ont, Canada. It's black coat makes it a stand-out on the campus. The black squirrels have invaded the whole city. I have had red, gray and black squirrels in my buckeye tree at the same time. I had gray and black squirrels in my yard yesterday. I was able to get pictures of the black squirrel.






Here is a link to a sight about the black Squirrels:
http://www.victoria-park.com/ksu.htm

Selig makes decision before game 3

Commissioner Bud Selig has passed down a decision on Fridays Indians/Yankees game. Selig said Steinbrenner should actually come to the game instead of being on a boat listening to the game. "I think that Selig called him a knucklehead but may have been referring to the name the Cleveland north coast calls the midges as Muckleheads." There will be no reversal of who won the game and the Indians lead the series 2-0.

The New York Post complains about the Indians winning. They called the Yankees a victim of insecticide. Were both teams playing under the same conditions or were the insects only attaching the Yankees?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10062007/sports/yankees/yanks_victim_of_insecticide.htm?page=0

Steinbrenner could not be reached for comment but from his office George Costanza said that Steinbrenner was sorry for the mistake. Costanza said that was as contrite as Steinbrenner could be.

Tim Finchem said "I did not understand completely the situation and would stick to golf comment from now on.

Donald Trump said "I told Steinbrenner originally that they called them little people not midgets but he wouldn't listen.

In a related story Joe Torre will lose job as manager if the Yankees lose.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankees-torre&prov=ap&type=lgns

Steinbrenner complains about midgets

George Steinbrenner has posted an official complaint with baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Steinbrenner who is fishing in the Atlantic heard the problems his team was having with the midgets on the field during last nights game 2. He was still celebrating the fact that the Yankees got to play the Indians first. He still didn't know how the Indians won game 1. All aboard were listening to the play by play by radio. He feels, since his team was winning at the time the midgets came on the field, that his team should be awarded the win. George said he would ban all midgets from the next two Yankee games and also would lobby for banning them from the Indian game five if necessary. He is very unhappy the umpires couldn't control the midget situation. He felt anyone could get midgets off the field and didn't understand how the umpires thought spraying them would help.

George Steinbrenner said his team had beaten the Indians every time this year and this tactic of using midgets was completely unfair. He is putting his top office man, George Costanza, onto this investigation of the problem with midgets. A source, close to George Costanza, known only as Kramer said "George Costanza would get to the bottom of this problem and will do it quickly".

Fishing with George Steinbrenner was Golf Commissioner Tim Finchem and millionaire mogul Donald Trump. Tim Finchem told source that if this happened in a game of golf and a player who had a midget disturb other players would be disqualified immediately. Donald Trump who was also on the fishing trip said he would be happy to fire the Baseball Commissioner if he didn't make the correct ruling. Donald said he was really good at firing people.

Bud Selig said he would make his final ruling tomorrow before game 3 of the series.

Yankees blame the midges for lose

The Indians went win less against the Yankees in the regular season. Now in the post season they have won two games to take a 2-0 lead. The Indians blew out the Yankees 12-3 in the first game on Thursday. The Yankees will have to win three in a row to stay in the hunt. The midges that swarm off the lake in the fall destroyed the Yankee picture in the 8th inning and he threw two wild pitches that allowed the game to be tied 1-1. The Indians won it 2-1 in the 11th inning.

Manny Ramirez (a former Cleveland star) won the game for Boston and they took a 2-0 lead in their series. It looks like Cleveland verses Boston for the American League championship. They were the team with the best record.

Yahoo has a great article on the midges attacking the Yankees. Here is the start.
(CLEVELAND – Even before Gen. Moses Cleveland arrived here in 1796 and first surveyed what would become a delirious baseball town on the shores of Lake Erie, residents occasionally had to deal with swarms of gnat-like insects called midges, which descend in vicious waves from Canada and overwhelm just about any warm body.

Friday, in an eighth inning of a game where the Cleveland Indians couldn't swat a fly if it meant pushing a run across the plate, the midges arrived unannounced and landed, seemingly all at once, on Joba Chamberlain's neck. )

Here is the link to the complete article. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=dw-aldsbugs100507&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

buckeye tree usage

The buckeye tree itself does have one more usage. Grand son and grand daughter love to climb up into the tree. She goes really high up but he also gets pretty high.

My grand son be sure to wave to look brave.

Here's something to do with the buckeyes. You can use them as Halloween decorations.

My grand daughter is real happy about finishing the greeting.

We got a new Halloween decoration that my grand son loves. The skeleton insults you and sticks it's tongue out at you. My grand son loves it.

33 Plymoth

I was over my friends Joe shop in Elyria and he had the car he had rebuilt on the rack. This has to be one of the greatest looking cars I've ever seen. It has won first place in the Cleveland Auto Show in its car division. The car's roof is not chopped and this is the original look. It was a good looking car in it's day but I know it looks even better today. The bottom suspension is from a Mustang. It is street drivable and he does take it around town at times.

The inside is really spiffed up and it is drivable. I think it is fancy inside. Joe does most of the work himself. He was offered $70K and turned it down.

It's powered by a Chevy engine and it really runs well. You have to know what your doing to build a car like this.

I love fishing

I love it when they are biting.


Here are a couple of nice crappies.

I had an interview with Mr. Chinchilla. It was a good time. He asked who influenced my fishing and I wrote in the comments it was my father the original Fishing Guy. He caught so many fish out of his home lake that people use to follow him around to see where he was catching them. He had several spots around the lake and always caught fish. I'm a pretty good fisherman and am well known on my home lake but don't even compare to dad. I did beat him, only once, and that was on my home lake. He never came back to fish there.
I love fishing movies. "A River Runs Through It" is one of my favorite. My favorite line is:
"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." -Norman Maclean
"On Golden Pond is my second favorite. Henry Fonda was a great actor.