My Best Friend Junior (Jr)

I think everyone has a BFF while growing up. Junior was my best friend while growing up in the 50's. We were the same age and must have naturally become best friends. Things weren't easy but we did have some special things going for us. As Jr often said we had things that a lot of people never had. We were rich in places to go and play.

We had our own swimming place. It was the Shenango River which was a Sharon Steel Mill river. I often wonder if the Prostate Cancer could be related to the river. The river was polluted for sure. We also fished the river and only caught bullhead catfish. We never ate the fish. There was a tree near the river with a branch which we had a rope tied onto. the bank near the tree was about 4 foot high. This gave us the ability to swing out onto the river and drop into the water. I wonder how much of that river water we swallowed.

There was an underground spring that always was running out of a pipe at about 60 degrees F all year round. This was great on a hot summer day.
We had our own football field. There was a machine shop that had an open field next to it. The field was always cut and made an excellent place to play. The field was 60 yards by 100 yards so was perfect for football. We played tackle football with no padding. I don't remember anyone getting hurt.

We had our own baseball field. It was a bowl where they had dug sand for someones use. The bowl was about 10 foot deep and rounded with a big sandbank on one side. The sandbank gave a perfect backstop and when we were younger. We hardly ever hit the ball out of the bowl. Jr's Uncle, Digger Dave, played with us sometimes. He was about 6 years older then we were. He was able to hit the ball out of the bowl. There were woods around the bowl so sometimes we had to work hard to find the ball if you hit it out. The loss of the ball sometimes ended the game.

We were rich in places to be a child. Jr and I were together all through the summer dats as we were growing up. What a wonderful time to look back to find how your life has developed.

Life Rating

JediJawa posted an interesting MySpace poll that rates your life by asking three pages of questions. It's a fun little test that asks you questions that lead to these opinions of yourself. There are definitely a lot of difference based on age. I thought the body rating would have been lower.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.4
Mind:	8
Body:	6.7
Spirit:	8.4
Friends/Family:	8.1
Love:	7.3
Finance:	8.9
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

You can try it by clicking on (Take the Rate My Life Quiz) above.

Tiger Woods Does It Again

Tiger Woods won his 62nd tour win tying one of my favorite golfers from the past Arnold Palmer. Tiger has caught Arnie at 32 years of age. Arnie won tournaments into his 50's. There are only three golfers ahead of him on the most wins list and Ben Hogan is only two ahead. The way Tiger is playing that may take a couple of months for him to pass him. This course is where a major is played this year. Talk about a sure thing. If he continues to keep his game, watch out for at least two majors this year.

Tiger just doesn't win golf tournaments, he punishes the other golfers. At one point in this tournament he was -21 when the others were -9. It is very hard to win a tournament by 8 strokes and it would have been more if Tiger hadn't relaxed toward the end. He actually lost his concentration and just played his way into the clubhouse. The rest of the field was already destroyed at that point. It doesn't make for an exciting finish but when Tiger is playing like this he is a joy to watch.

DVD "Everyone's Hero"

Here is a swell DVD for the kids and the kid in you. I do see a lot of children movies because of the grandchildren. If they don't have anyone to take them to a movie they just say to their Mother "Papa will take us to see it." I enjoy the trip to the movies. If we miss a kids movie there is always DVD. What a great invention.


"Everyone's Hero" is the last work of Christopher Reeves (Superman). He did this shortly before he passed away. It is a fun story about a boy trying to undo a wrong that was done. The fun part of the movie is a talking baseball and the talking bat that was stolen from Babe Ruth.

The bat was stolen and the little boy tries to get the bat back to Babe so the Yankees can win the 1932 World Series against the Cubs. The ending is predictable but it a great movie for the kids. Reeves can be proud of this final work of his life.

The extras on the making of the movie are something you should surely watch. Being a paraplegic didn't stop Superman.

Another Weather Story

Last night when I went to bed it was 50 degrees F. The winds started howling as a front moved into the area. I woke up this morning to 12 degrees F with 25 MPH winds and gust to 40 MPH. I think they said the wind chill was -13 degrees F. This weather is crazy. It will not get out of the 20's today but we only have a trace of snow. It is windy and cold.

The wind howled all night. There is a train track that runs about a 1/4 mile from my house. It sounded like the really long train was running all night. Every time I awoke you could hear it outside. I saw a picture on the news of a trailer truck blown over. We didn't have any wind damage but some of my friends said they had lost power.

This is crazy weather.

Movie - The Bucket List

I went to see this movie yesterday. It is not a feel good movie. As I was walking in several people were leaving and disappointed in the movie. When I left I understood the look. It is a great movie but it won't make leave feeling happy. "Kicking the bucket" is a term we used often when talking about someone passing away as I was growing up. Even though I knew somewhat what the movie was about, I was very pleased with the way the writer handled a delicate subject.


Two terminally ill Cancer patients try to fulfill a wish list known as "The Bucket List" before each dies. Corporate billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and working class mechanic Carter Chambers (Edward Cole) have nothing in common except for the Cancer. While sharing a hospital room together, they both are given a year to live. They together make a list of all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die. This becomes their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find the joy in life.


The first thing they do is sky dive and then have a fun race between a Shelby Mustang verses a Dodge Charger. They do put some dents in the cars.


The scenery is outstanding as they go to France, Egypt, India, Himalayas and Hong Kong.


The ending is very moving and just remember Chock full o'Nuts.

Weather Takes a Crazier Turn

The warm southern air is moving in today. The weatherman now says we should reach the mid 50's. It is already in the 40's with rain. This is melting the snow off the driveway and yard.

I don't ever remember reaching these temperatures at the end of January. But this is North East Ohio and tomorrow it is not supposed to get above freezing. I wrote about being on a roller coaster yesterday and it has reached the top of the hill and we are going to be headed down the other side.

Can you believe I blew 4" of snow off the driveway on Saturday. Now it's Tuesday and it looks like all the snow will melt away again. Our water supply is being replenished and this should fill up all the reservoirs. We have had our share of snow this year but it hasn't stayed for more then 2 weeks at a time.

Who knows what next week will bring!!!!

Roller Coaster Weather

What's going on. It's the middle of winter. We had to single digit starts on Thursday and Friday last week. That is certainly going to change today. After a snowy weekend the temperature today is going into the mid 40's. Can you believe it. Check out what my car looked like this morning. It was covered with snow from Sunday.


I actually used the snow blower on the driveway on Saturday morning. There was 4" of snow and I chose to blow it off rather than shoveling. There was no wind so I did it in a sweatshirt with no coat or gloves. Wind can make a real difference in how it feels outside. It actually was cold but comfortable.

Sugarland "Enjoy the Ride"

Surgarland, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, received duo of the year at the CMA Awards. The album "Enjoy the Ride" is a big part of the reason. This is their second album and they have done a good job as a duo. The first albumn was as a trio so they are starting over. The Sugarland sound is still there because Jennifer Nettles is the voice of the group.

The best song on the CD is "Stay". Jennifer does a great rendition on a very emotional song. It reached number 2 on the country charts. Sugarland is definetly riding a high after beating out Brooks and Dunn.

The album is filled with a lot of special songs. "Settlin" was one of the first releases and did well. another song I liked was "Want To". It is a good ballad.

Another good song on the CD is "These Are the Days". I'm sure you will enjoy the CD if you try it.

fishing in living room

My wife does have one display in the living room. It is a fish fountain she purchased in Seattle, WA. The stand is from Costa Rica. I think it is a beautiful addition to the living room. The fish is a trout jumping after a fly.
How do like the fountain? I took the picture with my new camera.

What Is It I Answer

Carletta guessed the close-up as the first guesser. I guess I'll have to try harder.

What Is It I

This is something my favorite photo blogger Rick Lee likes to do. I'm trying out my new camera. Do you know what it is?

I Bought a New Camera

I bought a Cannon SX100-IS last week. It is a 8MP camera with 10x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom for a total of 40x. It is bigger then a lot of the cameras with a smaller lens. I bought a 2 GB card to use with it. It came with a very small card. I don't know why they would even give you a small card. It comes with a built-in flip up flash. I think it is a good looking camera and I'm checking out it's versatilities. It has an automatic setting and about 10 other settings.
The pictures I have taken with it are really detailed.

I Received a Blog Award

It's called "A Roar For Powerful Words" and I received it from one of my favorite bloggers, Mr. Chinchilla. A special big thank you to Mr. Chinchilla. I love the way he shares his life, in and out of the cage, with us. I also enjoy the way he digs into other people blogs with his interviews. I read him daily and am always surprised when I get there.

The rules say that I have to give three bits of advice to other bloggers and then I get to nominate five more for the award. It isn't to hard to nominate five others for the award but giving advise may be harder.

Blogging advice from the Fishing Guy:

1. This is your blog so write on what you enjoy. This experience is as much for you as others. I have tried to sprinkle my blog with Fishing, Outdoors and Country Music along with a lot of other fun things.

2. Include pictures when you can. A picture does tell some stories that are harder to tell with only words. There are some great writers out there but I personally like to see pictures.

3. Tie your blog world friends into your blog. If you aren't reading others blog spots you are missing a big part of the blog experience. Don't be afraid to comment on what others write so they know you are interested in what they are doing.

Here are my nominees.

1. Rick Lee Here is a blog that is well known for the great pictures. He posts picture that arte of interest to him. He doesn't have to write a lot because his picture say so much.

2. Scott Wynn's Window Scott is a great writer of words. He is truly eloquent in his thoughts. His job is talking on the radio so his writings reflects thought he shares at his work.

3. Jo Castillo Art Blog Jo is a great artist out of the Texas and does a great job of sharing her life and art through her blog.

4. Round The Bend Carletta is new to the blog world but she has done a great job of sharing her new life after returning to her West Virginia home. She likes to share with pictures also.

5. McFly's Nashville Minute George researches what is going on in Nashville. Since I'm a big country music person I like to see his blogs about the life of the country music stars.

Another Story from the Bahamas

I would like to share another unrelated true story about the Bahamas. I had In-laws who lived on the West Shore of Florida. They had a 24 foot ocean going boat that they used purely for recreational boating. I would have done a lot of fishing if I lived down there and had that boat. The boat was stolen from their dock during one night. It was insured so they would have it replaced if they chose.

A few weeks later they made a trip to Freeport, Grand Bahamas with some friends in the friends boat. They were enjoying their time in the Bahamas and when they came back to the dock one day they saw their stolen boat from Florida at a dock near them. I think I would have gone to the Bahamian Police but they choose another way to get their boat back. They checked and no one was aboard the boat so they stole the boat back. The key had been disabled so they were easily able to start the boat. They took it back to Florida and a short time later sold the boat.

What are the chances you would be in the right place at the right time to find your boat. The odds on that happening must be astronomical. I bet the people that stole the boat in the first place were in shock. How do you report that your boat that you had stolen had been stolen from your dock.

A Work Trip to the Bahamas

I was at the city of Freeport on the Grand Bahama Island during a work trip in the late 70's. I was working for a company that made the parts for the inside of chemical towers. I was directing an installation of parts in the tower at an oil refinery. The chemical towers are 200 feet high and you had to climb ladders to get to the top. There were times you were climbing with no safety cage behind you. Climbing is certainly something I wouldn't want to do today but it was no big deal 30 years ago. The view from the top of the tower was stupendous. The chemical plant was on the shore on the west side of Grand Bahamas Island. The water was a beautiful blue near shore and there were freighters docked near the shore. That is a sight I would never forget.

The thing that makes this story funny is the fact that they drive on the left side of the street in the Bahamas. This is the first time I ever drove on the left (wrong) side of the street. I had rented a Ford with the steering wheel on the left which of course was standard to me. I tried to be careful and make sure I was driving correctly. They had a traffic circle in the center of Freeport with divided roads going into the circle. Going around the circle in the wrong direction was a true joy. You had to be so careful that you went out of the circle on the correct aide of the road.

I had gone into a Burger King for a lunch and when I came out was completely disoriented as far as driving goes. I pulled out of the Burger King and immediately went to the right side of the street. I had to make a left turn on to a divided road and there was a bus on the right side of the road going the wrong way. I wondered what the bus driver was doing. I next came another divided road with traffic on it. Bingo, I now knew what was going on. I was on the wrong side of the street going the wrong way. That bus driver did know what he was doing. I made a left turn onto the left side of the highway and was going correctly again. Now I had to go into the circle and come out on the right road. Thankfully I only made that driving mistake one time.

A Fishing Accident

There was only one time I was injured bad enough to go to the hospital while fishing. I was considerably younger and fishing a river from shore. I used to enjoy throwing a night crawler out on the bottom and see what I could catch. I have caught Large and Small Mouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Great Northern Pike, Bluegill, Suckers, Chubs, Catfish and Carp with that method. It was something I enjoyed doing at that time. You never knew what was going to bite on the night crawlers.


Today I don't even like to fish from shore except at a private pond. I guess I enjoy boat fishing too much. I was fishing at the confluence of the Little and Big Neshannock Creeks. It was a special place for me to fish. I fished there during my childhood and as I got older. I made a lot of different catches out of the hole that the confluence of the rivers created. The Big Neshannock Creek made a turn at the same time the Little Neshannock Creek joined it at the bend.

You parked your car far away from the hole and walked down some railroad tracks, crossed a railroad trestle bridge and then walked to the river. The railroad bridge was an open bridge and you could see the river below as you crossed the bridge. That added some excitement to the fishing trip. I never saw a train on the tracks but they were used.

On this particular day I was fishing with my friend Neal. We were both grown and had children which were friends. We had gone out early in the morning and were catching some Rainbow Trout. I caught a nice Trout but it had swallowed the hook. I didn't have any pliers to take the hook out (I always have and always use them now on my boat). I grabbed the Trout by the lower jaw and was pulling on the line to force the hook out of the Trout. Bad Idea!!! All of a sudden the hook came loose from the fish and buried into my thumb. The hook buried all the way and was curled around my left thumb. This is one of those time you say to yourself, Dumb - Dumb - Dumb. Yes, it was a dumb move. I was the one on the end of the line. I guess it was my largest catch ever. I certainly didn't have to reel myself in since I was already on shore. I wasn't happy with this catch. I looked at the mess I had made of that day of fishing and told Neal that we were off to the Hospital. There was no way I was going to try to get it out of my thumb myself. I cut the line from the pole, gathered the fishing gear and headed for the car.


Now for the big problem. I have to go into the hospital and explain how I had gotten a hook in my thumb. The Doctor was able to cut the hook out of my thumb without laughing. They must train those doctors how to keep their composure.


Now to pre-answer some question:

1.Yes, it hurts to get hooked.

2.They numbed the thumb before removing the hook to reduce the pain.

3. No, I never got hooked again.

4. No, I don't feel sorry for the fish when I hook them.

I hope this answers your questions.

Some Other 2003 Catches

Fishing Lake Hodgson on 6/28/03, the day before I caught Fish Ohio Walleye, I had a nice catch of some nice Crappie and a Rainbow Trout. You can see the size of the crappies are in the 11" to 12" range. This is a nice size for crappies so I took them into the lodge to get a picture. I would fish the aerator in the early morning and many people wouldn't even come onto the lake until they were done biting.

There was an unusual day on the lake when I caught 8 Trout. There were 7 Rainbow Trout and one Golden (Rainbow) or Palomino Trout. They stock about 6 of these Trout every year so catching one is a special treat. You can see the golden color of the Trout in the picture.
The lake does what I call a (put and take) stocking of Rainbow Trout every year. The first day of the season is April 1st and a lot of fisherman go out to catch the Trout. I skip that crowded first day but some trout do escape the first couple of week. The people actually line there car in position the day before the opening of the season. When the Trout start to feed on real bait, instead of corn and cheese, I will catch some. This was another unusual day by catching 8 Trout this late in the season. It was on 7/13/03 which makes the day really unusual. Most of the Trout are gone by that time. The hatchery fish aren't as smart as the ones that are raised in the lake.

It's still cold today!

I was up at 5:30 AM today and it was 7 degrees F. The went out and ran for the door as soon as he was done doing his business. We are going to rise into the 20's today. The moon was full and looked great this morning. The clear skies and the sun are a real tricksters on days like this. It looks a lot warmer then it is. It going to warm up some tomorrow. I'm shivering even in the office this morning. It feels bitter with not much wind.

That game last night was wild between Green Bay and New York. Did you see the girls in the cheese bikinis? They had to have a lot of alcohol in them to do that. I wonder if they got under cover between the plays? Just look at their faces, they are cold for sure.
Talk about 5 minutes of fame, they only got 15 seconds of fame.

Cold Front Moves Into NE Ohio

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

It was cold this morning. A cold front has moved into the area. The temperature was 6 degrees F this morning with a wind chill of -10 degrees F. The temperature will only to go into the teens today. It feels brutal when you go out and the wind is blowing.

There is one nice thing in that the sun is out. It doesn't make it feel any better, it just makes it look nicer. Our dog does go out but does his business quickly and wants to come back in as soon as he can.

The Green Bay / New York football playoff game should be really cold.

Fish Ohio 2003

I again had a drought of Fish Ohio catches in 2001 and 2002, but I made up for it in 2003. I was again fishing one of my favorite spots, the aerator at Lake Hodgson. The date was June 29th and I was casting in the early morning for crappie. I would catch anywhere between 30 to 40 crappies on the weekend. I cast across the aerator and my minnow stopped dead when I started to bring it in. I set the hook and immediately realized I had a big fish on the line. I worked the fish toward the boat and got my net ready. The fish had dived deep and I was having a tough time working him to the boat with my ultralight outfit. I finally after a 15 minutes fight got it to come up to the boat. I netted it on the first chance and was shaking when I started to measure the fish. It was a 28" 7 # Walleye.

I was fishing the same area on September 28th and had a night crawler on the bottom. A 28" 10# carp took the night crawler and started to move out. I fought the big fish back to the boat and easily netted it. When I put out a night crawler I fish with heavier outfit. This was my second Fish Ohio for 2003.



I decided to have the Walleye mounted and it became the second fish in my family room. This was the biggest Walleye I had ever caught and I was proud to have it mounted. I think the mount came out excellent.
Here is a drawing I had made of a Walleye in 1999. Like I have said before I enjoy making the drawings for myself. They add to my computer room which my wife allows me to decorate any way I want.

Fisherman's Oath

I found this 20 or so years ago and have saved it all this time. I guess it was saved for today. I don't know who wrote it and couldn't find out through the Internet who it was. So I share it as anonymous.


Fisherman's Oath


I am a fisherman for life.
I will always be a fisherman.
It's not something I do,
it is who I am.


Fishing is not an escape.
It is where I belong,
where I'm supposed to be.
It is not a place,
but a lifelong journey.


It is a passage my father showed me,
and I will show others.
When you understand all of this,
you will know me,
and we will fish together.



My Father, The Original Fishing Guy, past the love of fishing on to me and I am passing on to my Grand Sons. My passion is becoming their love also.

Country Music Mega Ticket

------------------------ Blossom Music Center ----------------------

Blossom Music Center is an outdoor venue where they have music concerts. This year they have five big country shows coming to the venue. North East Ohio is a great place to be a follower of country music. There are a lot of shows that are coming through the area this year. My wife and I have tickets to the following five shows and will be seated on the lawn. It is a great place to sit and watch a concert during the summer. Sometimes you are able to get an upgrade to sit in the pavilion. Two years ago we did something similar with a country music ticket package and saw several of these stars.

1· BROOKS & DUNN with Rodney Adkins on Sunday, June 15th
2· TIM McGRAW with Jason Aldean on Wednesday, July 2nd
3· RASCAL FLATTS with Taylor Swift on Friday, July 25th
4· BRAD PAISLEY with special guest TBA on Friday, August 29th
5· TOBY KEITH with Montgomery Gentry on Saturday, September 13th

This is a list of some of the best talent in country music along with several of the up and coming stars. I have seen Brooks & Dunn several times. I also have seen Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, and Montgomery Gentry all one time. The other young talent will be for the first time. I have never seen Tim McGraw or Brad Paisley. This should be a great summer of country music shows.

A Time for Everything

The bible talks about how there is a time for all things. I received an E-mail today leading to a wonderful sight that ties in photos to the scriptural writing of Ecclesiastes: 3:1-8&11. You can click on this link to check it out.

Fish Ohio 2000

The year 2000 produced two Fish Ohio catches. The first came on August 13TH during the dog days of summer. I was fishing the aerator at Lake Hodgson. I was on the lake by 6AM in order to beat the heat. I had caught quite a few crappie by 8AM and was happy at how the day was going. I was catching the majority of the Crappie on a live minnow that I was working into the boat when something big grabbed hold of the bait. I set the hook and started to work the fish toward the boat. Whenever I feel something large on the line I always get my net ready to pick up the fish. As I got the fish closer to the boat I saw I had a large Crappie on the line. I put the net in the water and brought the fish into the net. I did a preliminary measurement and felt it was a Fish Ohio Crappie. When I had it measured at the bait shop it turned out to be 13 1/2" long which qualified it as an award fish.

The next fish was caught two days later. I was fishing a private pond of a friends which no one fished. I got permission to take my Grandson with me. He was 5 at the time so I had to help he most of the time. We were using dough balls because the people feed the fish in the pond with bread. I had a heavy outfit which I let my grand Son use and I used my ultralight outfit. We were catching big Channel Cats on almost every cast. They were good fighters in the 20" to 24" range which we released. My Grandson cast once near shore and brought in a big Blue Gill. It was 9 1/2" long and I knew he caught his first Fish Ohio catch at that young age. I decided to cast in the same spot and caught the identical size fish. We ended up catching 2 each of the big Blue Gills. They were beautiful colored and it was a special time. We had them measured at the bait shop and both received our Fish Ohio Awards for the catches. That really made it a special year indeed.

Site Meter - 1,000 visitors

I just saw that Site Meter shows that I've had my 1,000 visitor. I take this as a milestone in my blogging life. I have been watching the number grow over the weeks from the time I added this to my blog. The 1,000th visitor was from Essex, England. It is interesting to see who has come to the sight and why they cheked the sight. My biggest draws are fishing, country music and my dog.


It is fun to see what peope are trying to find on your sight. You can add Site Meter to you sight and follow the people who visit you.

Monster Truck Jam V

They also had a BMX bike show. They brought out a small ramp and 5 riders did their tricks. They got into some strange positions.
Look Mom no hands.
I went in close and got another flash at the same time.

Flying high.
Yes, I'm upside down.
They had some fun with the big flips.
The show was fun and everyone had fun for the small venue put you on top of the action. There was a lot of did you see that action.

Monster Truck Jam IV

Between the truck shows they had some bonus shows. Here is the motor cycle portion of the shows. They used a ramp to launch and do their tricks. There were two motor cycles and they took turns flying through sky.
Here he goes off the motor cycle. Check out the cars half smashed.
Here is a closeup and I got blocked by someones flash.
Yes, he did a complete flip and is upside down in the picture. He did this twice. The grand kids were in awe of the action.

Monster Truck Jam III

Here is the complete venue at the Wolstein Center. This is the sacrificial cars ready to be smashed. Here is the flag that the boys had signed.

Big Foot was one of the original Monster Trucks.
Here are Killer Bee and Storm Damage.
Tailgator and Big Dawg.
The Monster Truck pose-off to start the show.
They did a nice job of opening the show with a Marine Color Guard. They played the 'National Anthem' and Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA' Tailgator was showing off on his runs.
Big foot and Tailgator ended up in the finals of the racing. You can see who won. Tailgator really launched his truck. They started with 5 trucks and only 3 were running at the end.

Monster Truck Jam II

This was the second show of the new season of Monster Truck Jam. The first show was in Huntington, WV. This Weekend the Monster Truck Jam came to the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH. It is a basketball stadium for CSU so is a small venue for the Monster Trucks. There were five trucks involved in the show. There were two big name trucks, Big Foot and Tailgater, in the show. We got pit passes from Suzuki on the way to the show. It was a fun show with a lot of extra events. We got under Killer Bee for a picture. The grand sons loved the show.


Here is the favorite Big Foot from summit Racing in Tallmadge, OH.

The grand kids got a couple of autographs, one from the Big Foot driver.

They especially liked the Tailgator truck. It is painted like an alligator.

This is the other truck driver from whom they got an autograph.