Flies to Tie this Winter

These are the flies I have to tie this winter:

RS2

Killer Midges

Mercury Midge

Black Mercury Midge

Black Beauty

WD40

Chironomid Bomber

Zebra Midge

Pheasant Tails - with legs

Copper Johns

Skinny Nelson Flashback

Scud/Czech

Baetis Emerger

Ultra Prince

Tricos

Hare's Ear - Olive

Green Machines


Larva

More to come....

Hockey 9/4 - Thursday League

first playoff game
no goals, no assists
played D
played with the kids
John was the goalie
played against Chris the goalie
Chris stoned me 4 times - one went off his hand then post then hand again and fell at his feet
won 11-2

Manny again!

I turned my Red Sox calendar to September today and there he was - Manny Frickin' Ramirez. I don't want to have to look at him all month. Bad enough he's hitting something like .450 with 10 HRs since leaving - which is a joke - because it just shows he wasn't really trying in Boston. The best part is? Even if he hit 1.000 he couldn't get those Dodgers into the playoffs!!

Poker

Played Poker at Johnnies last night - came in first place - won $100 out of 10 people.

Hockey 8/29 - Thursday League

nothing
played D
played with the kids
John was the goalie
Played against Scott the goalie - probably one of the only goalies I have not scored against.
Lost 9-5

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

Kyner, Cabo and I attended the LAF this year (my first time) by driving up on Friday night, arriving at 7pm. We set up the camper quickly, said hello to some of the other attendees and headed to the water to fish the Parshall hole for an hour or so. I have fished this area a bunch of times, but never the Parshall hole. The Hole is amazing - a long chest deep rifle that is prime trout water - especially for nymphers.

Kyner took a bunch of pictures, and even caught a couple of nice trout. I hooked a few, but only landed one 14 inch brown trout. It got dark quickly and I couldn't see to tie on a streamer, so we called it a night. The bugs were furosious, even after dark!

The night's festivities included me trying to cook sausages over a roaring fire! No luck, so I went back to the camper and set up the stove. I ate and fed the dog half of it and headed back to the camp fire. The guys (and Kelly - the lone girl) were whooping it up - including Kyner doing a little dance to IanB and Old Frat playing the guitar and singing. Kyner drank more than a 12 pack of Coors Light tall boys and everyone had a pretty good time. Cabo and I called it a night first around 12:30am, Kyner crashed back at the camper closer to 2am.

We got a late start on Saturday - on the river just after 9am. We drove by the Parshall Hole again and there was at least 10 cars in the lot. We decided to move up a bit, another mile or so to a spot I can't remember. The river was wide and never over waist deep. Kyner hooked into a thick rainbow right away and I hooked a 6 inch brown. We moved down quite a ways, but I didn't even get a hook up the rest of the way. The fish were keying on trico spinners - there were clouds of them moving up and down the river. I didn't have my dry fly box with me, but I had a little caddis that I tried - to no avail. Kyner managed another nice rainbow further down river.

It was hot and we were ready to move on. We headed back to the parking lot and met up with Zackdog who was ready to go down and fish the same spot. We moved back to the Parshall Hole and met up with most of the gang. We chatted for a while and then headed up to the confluence of the Williams Fork. The Parshall Hole was completely full. I had never been to the confluence, so it was nice to sneak a peek. There are some nice holes in that area, including the Cable Hole and the Confluence Hole. We crossed over to the other side and fished down the Willy. I hooked and almost landed a small brown right off the bat - it was a pretty yellow/brown color of about 13 inches.

I didn't have much luck on the Willy, I did however fall into the river in a spot that looked shallow but was much deeper. I was trying to stay within the river bank and not cross the barbed wire fence. I bit it into the river and lost my breathe for a second until I realized I was taking on water. I had a ton of water in my shirt and more in my waders. Luckily there was a nice breeze and it was hot, so I dried out quickly. Of course there was a huge black cloud blowing in with some thunder and soon the wind kicked up and we got hit with some big drops. Cabo and I met up with Kyner and got out of there.

Back at the Parshall Hole (where you walk into the Willy from) we met up with the gang. We fished the area by the island split and I hooked into a nice 16 inch brown that fought well. Kyner got a cool picture of me the fish and dog. We fished the deep hole on the far side and landed a couple of other fish, including a nice fat colorful rainbow for Kyner.

We hung out a little while longer chatting - then decided to call it quits. We headed back to the campground, broke down the camper and headed home. I was home around 6:15pm. It was a fun trip and although I didn't catch many fish, it was good meeting everyone and getting the chance to fish.

 

 

 

Friday, August 22 - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Colorado River Liver Abuse Festival - Lone Buck Camping Area

 

 

 

 

Hockey 8/21 - Thursday League

1 goal
played with the kids
played against Chris the goalie
played defense
I scored off him and while skating away to the faceoff circle he clunked me in the head with a long fling of the puck - what an amazing 1 in a million shot
we won 9-1

Hockey 8/19 - Tuesday League

zipped
played basically my same team from Thursday nights - all the young kids
Played with Chris the goali e- who played his best game ever
lost 9-0

Summer Vacation - Boston & Narragansett

We returned from our summer vacation last night at 2am. We had a great trip back east but are glad to be home, and are just about ready to go to bed early.

We started our trip by flying out on Tuesday, August 5th by flying out at 11:30 pm - which is pretty late - however, Avi does really well on the over night flights and she slept like a baby. Wednesday mroning we got in at 5 and were at Poppy's at 7 and napping by 7:30am. We got up around noon and had a nice chat with Poppy and then were on our way to Narragansett. We stopped in Foxboro at the Bass Pro Shop and picked up a fishing rod for me. We then made our way to Narragensett around 3:30.


Everyone was there and it was good to see everyone. We played it cool that night and just visited - but I wanted to go fishing! The next morning the boys got up and tried our luck out on the docks - not much luck other than a few pogies and a fluke. We did have a good time though and it was a lot like our fishing expeditions of two years ago - minus the stripers of course.

We had chowder that night and it was good. Thursday and the weekend were a bit of a blur - but we all tried fishing again, went clamming one day (although I didn't do much clamming) and even hit up some crabbing as well. We couldn't find a blue crab anywhere! The girls all hit the beaches with Avi and even hit the cove out by Point Judith lighthouse. The weather was hot and balmy with the occassional thunderstorm thrown in. We ate well - doing 10 lobsters one night, and then a dozen crabs and chowder another night. Monday Jen, Avi, Michelle and I met Dale, Hillary and Luke at the PawSox game in Pawtucket - it was a chance to break up the week and do something fun. Of course it was storm before the game too, but the game was played and we all had a good time.



Tuesday was Avelyn's birthday and we had the whole gang there - including my Mom and Dad who came up from Raleigh, and down from Boston to see her. It was a nice birthday and Avi had fun being the center of attention.

I kept busy fishing and clamming and crabbing - and eating my share as well - we did another 12 lobsters on Wednesday and more crabs on Thursday. I snuck out for some fishing on Thursday and managed a few more fish - a nice little black seabass and 4 searobins. The searobins were really cool - and they "barked" at me when they were sitting on the docks waiting to get unhooked. I had a blast chatting with the lobster guys and doing my own thing.




We spent Firday driving to Connecticut to see Jennifer's grandpa and then back to Boston to see the Red Sox. We got to the game about 30 minutes early and sat in the rain - about an hour and a half later they finally called it a rain out - and we headed home. It sucked that Avi and Poppy couldn't see the game - it would have been fun. Saturday we went to see some college friends who live in the area, then we rushed to the airport and landed around midnight - we were in bed just after 2am on Sunday morning.

It was a great trip - very relaxing and fun. It is very good to be home however.

Softball 7/31 - Thursday League

2-3, 2 doubles, fly out deep
first game of playoffs
I was secret squirrel - didn't play defense in 1st inning, and of course the first ball is hit to LC and is dropped - other team got 1 run off it
won 22-2 in 3 innings
no defensive plays in 2 innings
I USED THE GOLD BAT! which means nothing to you, but I hit two balls to RC which I have never done in my life.

Hockey 7/31 - Thursday League

1 goal, 1 assist
played with John the goalie an dthe kids
won 12-3

Manny Ramirez an LA Dodger

Good ridance!

Manny was dealt with Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen in a three team deal for Jason Bay of the Pirates. The Sox seem to have given up a lot in order to rid themselves of Manny the cancer. Moss would never have been a regular in Boston, and was unnecessary because the Sox will have 4 OFs in Crisp, Ellsbury, Bay and Drew. Hansen wasn't showing any real progress. having seen him a few times on TV, he had amazing stuff some games and then would lose it - he gave up something like 16 base runners in his past 5 innings - which is attrocious. So, those two being moved is hardly a worry.



Bay for Manny is a plus for the Sox. Bay is under the Red Sox control through the 2009 season and only costs $7.5M next season. Although the Sox would not have picked up the $20M option on Manny, now they have a position filled and $12.5M to use on other areas (C, RP, another ace - which they should have tried to get one of at the deadline as well).

Manny spent 8 years with the Sox, and none were without his challenges. The Sox were over gracious in their dealings with Manny, and finally Manny forced his way out. He is quirky, happy go lucky and rich - but that doesn't make him any less of an ass. He has been a cancer to this organization and a cancer to his teammates. Any player that loafs and doesn't appreciate his $20M salary doesn't deserve to be playing a "game" for money. I hope Manny does poorly in LA and I hope he kills his opportunity at making a huge contract for next season.

Good ridance and good bye - I hope the door know left a nice mark in your ass on the way out. As Fitzy would say - Manny GFY!

My (former) Baseball Card Fetish

When I was a kid I was a freak about baseball cards. Sure, I dabbled in hockey/basketball/football cards, but I lived on baseball cards. That is probably the number 1 reason why I am in finance and a numbers geek. I love stats, I love averages, deviations, means, everything about numbers. I'm not a Sabermetrics guy, which surprises me, but I love prediciting and forecasting stats.

I have started looking at some of my cards over the past couple of weeks and thinking about my favorite set (1985 Topps) and it got me thinking about cataloging my cards and reminiscing about all the cards I used to have. Back before I moved out to Colorado I sold 100's of thousands of cards on eBay to make my collection a little more portable. I have about two to three thousand left - and most are worth more than commons (although some are just personal favorites or complete sets).

I also started last night cataloging my cards in Microsoft Access - I'll probably start looking for want lists online and start contacting collectors and trying to find good homes (at a price) for my existing cards.

But the internet has become such a great tool - and I was scanning it to find cool sites that show the cards from my era (1970-1990). I have found a bunch - check them out:

The Baseball Card Project - pics of all your cards in one spot. From the creator of the baseball cube, comes an awesome site that I myself wanted to start (but don't have the time or energy). Help him complete lots of sets and make this a more complete database!

The Baseball Card Blog - this is a cool site that does reviews on older sets, that does a six pack habit where they open six packs of cards and analyze the cards inside.

The Ugly Baseball Card Blog - a funny look at those cards we loved.

1988 Topps Blog - a day by day card by card look at the 1988 Topps set.

A Pack a Day Blog - it ain't cigarettes, but it is just as tough to quit! Who needs Starbucks.

The Completist - Wax Heaven - just a casual look at baseball cards or today (and sometimes yesterday).

Squeeze Play Cards - fun site.

Fielder's Choice Baseball Card Blog - another addict.

These are just some sites that I peruse. I think they are fun to look at - although all the new sets are a bit overwhelming. Which is why I stick to the older sets.

It amazes me to think that rookie cards are worth hundreds of dollars straight out of the pack. When a guy has a whole career to fall on his face, after a great rookie season (or maybe he hasn't even played yet!) that seems like quite a leap. Especially after my hall of famer rookie cards hardly change and they already have proven themselves! And although I somewhat believe that the circulation of a card has an exponential relationship to the value - I have trouble believing some of the prices that an "excellent" rookie card of a HOFer gets when I highly doubt there are 200 or so in that condition of that very card. The non-mint stuff has to be worth more than they are being sold for on eBay. Sorry, but I don't get the price of these cards. If it was a 1973 car it would be priceless - but a 35 year old baseball card is just so-so in value? Whatever.

And don't get me started on grading! That's for another time.

Well, I just wanted to get something in writing here on some of the cool baseball card sites I have found. Mission accomplished.

MLB Trade Deadline

I can not believe I am going to say this - but thank God it is almost here - I can't take reading the 28 pages + on SOSH about the Manny deal that is dead/alive. Just trade him already, he makes me sick.

Hockey 7/29 - Tuesday League

2 goals
subbed for Andy
played D
played with Chris the goalie
played against the NetSeakers - they are the team with the kid I called a penalty on when I was reffing and he flipped out - but in a good way, he is not even a dirty player - I still feel guilty about calling that penalty
drew two tripping penalties - I would have had breakaways on each
played crappy D - we had 5 defensemen
won 8-5

Friday, July 25, 2008 - Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO

Friday, July 25, 2008 - Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO
Hot, hot, hot day - probably 95 degrees, mostly sunny, some puffy clouds, water temp 80 degrees and muddy and algea. By 3pm there was a HUGE rain storm that we were lucky to be off the water by.

Did the CarpStalk outing with Steffan, Andrew, MarkM and a new guy Paul. Met Paul (coming up from Co Springs) at 5:45 and was in Longmont by 7. Met Steffan at IHOP around 7:30, and then Andrew at 8:30 at Starbucks. Headed to Union and met MarkM at the docks. We launched and headed across the water. Andrew and Mark are pros at this - seriously, they both guide for carp - which is crazy to think that there is any money in this!!!

Mark and I had one boat and Andrew/Steffan/Paul in the other. Their boat had fish on almost immediately, but I think they lost a couple. We saw a lot of tailing fish - as the water color was better in the morning than the afternoon. It was amazing to see these fish wallowing in the water eating off the bottom with their tails in the air. They seemed like they would be soooo easy to catch, but that is hardly the case. I blew up and scare tons of fish - missed all of them and had no luck. I fished for about an hour, and poled for about an hor to give Mark a chance to fish. I didn't do too badly poling Mark's 16 foot skiff - which was pretty cool.

At about 11am Mark dropped me off in Andrew's boat and we fished 4 guys in it - which is not a good idea, but we managed - 1 guy would fish while the others would scout fish and tend to Andrew's needs (beer, peanuts, hold the pole while he pissed, etc.). Before I had got on the boat they had landed two (one for Andrew, one for Steffan) and lost a few (Paul lost one). Andrew had us into fish, and Paul was working the rod well - he got one on and lost it in the weeds. I jumped at the chance to cast, and they tried hard to get me into fish. Literally I missed 35 fish before I finally got one on - and it took off a couple of times - but nothing of any distance. I turned him 6 or 7 times until he finally gave up and I landed him. The fish seemed to be sunning themselves right next to the grassy areas out in the middle of the bays - not up near the cattails like you would expect.





This fish was quite the work in progress - I got skunked my last trip out there, and it felt very very good to land one finally. He was quite a handsome fella, and he wasn't nearly as slimey as I thought he would be - actually less than trout! He was rounder than any trout, and he was pretty hardy - and was 25 inches long!!

We released him, and kept on fishing - no more fish on after that. We got off the water around 3pm and headed to Andrew's house to get some of the Aunt Lydia's yarn - which I needed to tie him up some flies. The fly on the menu that works the best is Andrew's Carp Slider - the thing looks harmless, but is deadly.



Link to the recipe and instructions.

After leaving Andrew's we got stuck in a rain storm like no other - hail, huge drops and flash flooding along the highway made the drive home a bit longer than expected. We stopped at Discount Fly Fishing to pick up some materials for the Slider's. Now I have to tie a few!

Thanks guys for the great time today!

Hockey 7/24 - Thursday Night

1 goal
played D
played with John the goalie, and Harry and a bunch of new kids (same as last week, but not the same as last season).
these kids pass a lot and pass well - I like playing with them
my goal was tucked over the left shoulder of the goalie just under the post
won 10-5 or so

Softball 7/24 - Thursday Night

1-4, 2 pop ups, 1 ground ball - I SUCK!
Played with the normal crew
played the second place team - the team with the pitcher that Chris hit in the throat at the beginning of the season
played LC, had 3 decent catches, no errors
the other team scored only in one inning, 3 runs while I was on the bench as the secret squirrel was playing LC - that's how I roll!

We won 10-3, and it really wasn't that close - our Defense rocks.

Go Matt!

A friend of ours is in the final two of the TV show Design Star on HDTV. We met him at our good friend's wedding, but we had heard many stories about him. He was originally from Colorado Springs, and built a unique house in Palmer Lake, CO. "Palmer Lake Matt" is very good friends with our friends Ivan and Cheri (who have since moved to Wisconsin). Every time I needed to borrow a tool from Ivan, it seemed like it was always at Palmer Lake Matt's or Colorado Springs Jeff's house - so Ivan would go down there and pick it up (even though I told him he didn't have to). Ivan has helped me with several projects and I still call him from time to time with HVAC, furnace, water pump and other issues (thanks Ivan). Of course Matt moved to Los Angeles before Ivan & Cheri moved away (Matt has a great story about that - as he is an excellent story teller!).

Ivan and Cheri moved in May of 2007, but came back to Colorado to get married at Arrowhead Golf Course down in Roxborough in early June 2007. That is when we finally got to put faces to names. We were all seated at the same table and it was such a great night - not only were two great friends getting married, but we met a bunch more. The entire night was a blast, and we closed down the joint.

Well, about 2 months ago Jennifer got an email from Cheri (who is about to have a baby themselves next week!) saying that Matt was on the show Design Star. Well, to say the least we have watched and been huge fans every week. I have chatted with him briefly through email, and he is very excited. Of course this Sunday is the final non-live episode, and then the world votes and they announce the winner on live TV the following week. Matt is down to the final 2 and I think he could win the whole thing.

We wish Matt luck and are rooting for him! Good luck Matt!

You can watch it on Sunday's at 7pm MST.

Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Chatfield Res for Carp!

Not a whole lot to report - Cabo and I went out there, the water was easily a foot+ higher, so poor Cabo had to swim in most spots (trust me, it didn't slow her down).

We didn't see anything but the bikini hatch in all the normal places that Carp usually are. I don't think I'll be doing much more carp fishing this season.

Hockey 7/17 - Thursday Night

1 goal, 1 assist
goal was a nice walk in where no one want to cover me, I just put it in the corner
assist was super pretty - coming down the right side I slid by a guy, cut hard left at the last moment I slid a pass across and the guy slammed it in - happened so fast
new team - all young guys in their teens - but these guys pass really really well - and are fun to watch
no penalites - I basically watched a lot
won like 13-5 or something like that

Softball 7/17 - Thursday Night

1-3, I guess - BB, line drive out to center, line drive to center agin and he dropped it, strikeout looking (after the ump said something like no pitch - whatever).
played with the usual suspects
3 plays in LC, lost a line drive in the dark (under the lights) and it went for a HR
we won 19-3
my worst softball game ever (embarrassing)

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Spillway between Shadow Mtn & Granby

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Spillway between Shadow Mtn & Granby
Beautiful hot day, probably 85 degrees, no idea of the flows although they seemed low.

We camped at Grand Lake for the weekend to escape the heat of the city. Grand Lake is beautiful - definitely one of our favorites. Cabo and I got a chance to fish while Avelyn took a nap from 1:30 to about 5. Tried a new spot I had heard about - it's located between Shadow Mtn Lake and Granby on a fee area of the Natioanl Forest land. The river was beautiful, although it was pretty low - so there were limited numbers of areas that the water was deep enough. The bottom was heavily carpeted with green weeds, so adding weight just made dragging the bottom very common. I spent a lot of time cleaning weeds off my flies.

The fish were hitting everything and anything and I must have hook about 100 fish in the short period of time - on everything from tiny midges to larger nymphs to a dry fly caddis. The fish however shook so much that many of them actually shook of the hook. I think I lost about 90% of them. The ones I did catch were tiny - 8 inch stocker rainbows with no fins on their cheeks - all worn down from the stocking oens and other fish living on top of each other and pecking them off. That didn't deter the fish though - they all fought well and hit like hammers. I did manage to hook one nice 16 inch rainbow in a side channel that held about 100 fish - I hooked him 3 times, but never did get him to hand.

The river was tough to walk on, boulders just the size of basketballs and covered in mucky green weeds and yuck. Cabo and I made it down river a bit - but never did get down to the big fish! I did see another angler and asked him if he had luck - he said he did - but it was down quite a ways. I was already pushing my luck and so I knew I couldn't move down anymore and get back on time. I did hook one nice brown, I played him for a minute, but again, he wiggled off. I hiked out and made it back just in time for my 5pm deadline.

Here are some pics of our camping trip:



Cabo, she's a bit obsessed with the ball.



Some elk hanging out near our campsite.



Cabo jumping off the dock after the ball.



Daddy and avi standing over the Colorodao River headwaters.


A cool photo of Mom and Avi playing on the dock.



Avi playing ball with Cabo and the ChuckIt.



A friendly moose just outside of the campground in RMNP.

Softball 7/10 - Thursday Night

2-4, pop out to the 2nd baseman and CF
Played with the usual suspects
we killed the team 23-4
had a 15 run inning in the 1st
made 5 defensive plays - no errors

Hockey 7/8 - Tuesday League

1 goal
Played with Chris the goalie
Played against Anthony's Pizza
I scored with 1:30 left to tie it at 3, then had a turn over with 1 minute left in OT that ended up being the winning goal.
no penalties.
lost 4-3

RMNP Fishing - July 5, 2008

I fished RMNP today with Chad and Matt - it was great to get up there this year. I headed out the door at 5am and picked them up at Chad's house around 5:30am. We hit the RMNP booth at Estes Park just before 7am and hit our fishing destination (a secret) soon after. The hike in is a killer - 1 mile and 850 ft of elevation gain - wears you out. But hearing the river makes you keep going, and thank God you are doing this hike up in the morning - because if you had to hike in on the way out you would drop dead!

The water was much higher than previous years - and we have fished this river the last two years on the same weekend. The fish were still active and were right along the edges and in the slower water. I cught fish right off and missed a bunch too. The day was beautiful, slightly overcast and hot - about 80-85 degrees. The scenery is beautiful and amazing. The fish are equally as beautiful and amazing. They aren't huge, but as you can see they are very colorful. I did catch a cuttbow, which was my largest fish of the day at 12 inches. We headed out about 3pm and I was home by 5:45pm. Overall it was a great day - not the 60 fish day I usually have up there - but about half that.

I'm pretty proud of myself.

On Monday I came home and Jen told me that the air conditioning wasn't working. I tried a couple of things, but nothing seemed to work. I called the HVAC place and they had a technician come out on Tuesday at 1 pm. The guy was a nice enough guy, and he diagnosed the problem after a few minutes. The problem seemed to be a small electrical box on the outside of my furnace - this box connected directly to the thermostat and relayed to the furnace whether to turn on the furnace or the air conditioning. The box is called an Add-A-Wire and is only 2inches by 2 inches with 5 wires sticking out of it, and the guy showed me the two pieces that needed to be changed out. Problem was he didn't have the same kind of box, but he could get a similar one. He went out to his van to find the part and write up a quote.

WHile he was in his van I decided to Google the part - so I went downstairs and wrote down all the info on the box and came up and Googled it. The part was about $36. The guy came in from his van and gave me a quote of...$517 - that included his $89 fee I was going to have to pay anyways, a $46 fee to pick up the part, and the rest was the cost of the box and labor to install. I called my buddy Tim to see if I could handle this and he told me to just make sure I match up the wires and I should be fine. I declined the fix, paid the $89 and sent him on his way. I immediately got online and order the part for $36 + $21 shipping Fedex.

I got the part today and installed it in 30 minutes or so, in between putting Avi to bed and moving the camper out and showing Steve how to pop it up and attach it to his truck. The air conditioning is on now and working fine. This is the second piece of equipment I have fixed - I fixed the ignitor on our furnace last year when we had no heat - it was easy to do and shows if you have a little faith you can figure stuff out.

Next project I think is an attic fan - which will make my A/C unneeded!

Saturday June 29, 2008 - Chatfield Res. with Cabo

We've hit Chatfield a couple times this week to do some carp fishing. Tuesday we hit it with Steffan, and Saturday Cabo and I hit it alone. Neither time did we see much. We saw some huge fish jumping out of the water which got Steffan all excited, but those fish are impossible to catch. The water was up on Tuesday and back down again on Saturday. The flats looked very fishy, but we didn't see a single fish.  Cabo and I waded all the way over to the other inlet about 100 yards from the penninsula. The whole think is only half way full and only knee deep along the edges and even half way out.

We basically gave up and just hung out. Cabo found a racquet ball - which she loved - so we just threw that around for a while and headed home. We were gone only about 2 hours.

Fishing with Cabo

Softball 6/26 - Thursday Night

1-2, BB, single (could have been a triple)
played LC - made 3 plays - one pretty good one, although if I didn't have sunburned feet it would have been an easy play.
20-0 win, called after 20 mins and 3 innings.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Chatfield Res.

Tried to do some carp fishing with Steffan and Cabo. We left work early - Steffan stopped by to get changed and I showed him how to tie an easy carp fly. We headed to Chatfield and got there around 5:30pm right in the middle of a tornado wind storm - literally the wind was whipping so hard that the sand in the parking lot was killing our legs. We hiked into the bay in the back and immediately we saw carp jumping out of the water. It is a pretty amazing sight to see 20 lb fish jumping out of the water all the time.

We headed straight to the flats side, and it was quiet - less wind and no sign of mating fish. We only bumped into one "boiling" fish that we spooked. We really didn't see another fish. The water was clearer, but no fish to be found. The wind died way down and the air was completely still - the whole reservior was like glass - it was weird seeing no boats on the water and no waves. We fished both sides - the bay and the flats a couple of times trying to find fish - but still no luck. We left by 8pm. No luck. Maybe next time.

Softball 6/19 - Thursday Night

0-4, 2 fc's, 1 HR over the fence, 1 line drive out
played LC
1 defensive play
played with the usual crew
won 13-1

everyone came over afterwards for a BBQ - it was a great time!

CELTICS ARE CHAMPIONS

It is hard to explain what I feel right now. I have been a Celtics fan since I was born - watching game on TV38 on a 12 inch balck and white tv at my dad's apartment. Brings back memories, of bird, mchale, parish. of johnny most, of red auerbach. I cry. I really do - because this is something that boston fans have waited so long for. this is one of the most storied franchises in sports - and they deserve this win.

most importantly this is for PP, who has been with this franchise through EVERYTHING. reggie lewis, losing, bad draft picks, trade rumors, we get our revenge - and it is the sweetest revenge. championship! this is for you PP. thanks for bringing it to boston.

thanks to:

PP for sticking around
KG for coming to boston
Ray Allen for making this his new home - UCONN wasn't that long ago
Kobe Bryant for being OVER-RATED!
Rondo for being a huge veteran presence throughout the year - he NEVER looked like a second year guy
for KPerk being string and knowing his roll - 5 points, 10 rebounds a game.
for Posey, EHouse, PJ and Big Baby knowing that they are the real MVPs of this team - strong minutes, huge defense and strong bench support. 4 guys we couldn't do without.
for ainge - yes, it kills me to say it, but if you LUCKED out, damn you did good.
for Doc - you brought Thibadeau here and you convinced 3 superstars to play as 1 TEAM. money baby, just money
Thibadeau - no way will we ever thank him enuf. that was the best defensive performance ever. thanks T
to laker fans for being a joke - makes us realize just how great the celts fans are.
for the experts who said we had no chance in hell.
to Bill Simmon's dad - hopefully he's still alive in the morning - can't wait to see his article

most importantly to my brother in law Dale who has always been a huge celtics fan - a true fan should bask in this the most because you were there through all the bad.

to my buddy Haas, who is a big fan and always my last phone call after a championship - man we have had a lot of calls lately huh?

to the city of boston - congrats, and i miss you. you deserve this - god bless and let's hope for many more.

peace and love, enjoy the moment but save some for the future!

BRANDON!!!!!!!!!

Softball - Monday 6/16

Subbed for Mike Lane
3-4 3 RBI's ll singles
1 catch, no errors
played with the gang

cookout on THURSDAY!!!

Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Chatfield Reservoir - for CARP!

Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Chatfield Reservoir - for CARP!

Ok, so I got out today - I tried the South Platte River below Chatfield to no avail. I then hit Chatfield at my normal spot - the water is starting to rise and the waves were coming in pretty good. The fish were porpoising slightly out of the water - and I could tell that they were active. I hooked a nice sized fish, and was reeling him in nicely - problem is that this fish had NO fight at all. He was sort of swimming towards me, but he kept enough pressure on the line that I thought he was just a log. Well, turned out he was a log - a nice 48 inch stick that weighed a ton. I was pretty embarrassed that I had "played" this fish to the reel and worked him in to me. Actually I felt like an ass.

The water was so high that I could see across the shoreline that there was water on the other side - so I gave up fishing and headed over. When I got through the shrubs and over the swampy area, I walked in on an orgy. Fish were everywhere just going at it. I cast a few times in their general direction and got a bump - nothing major. Then I started realizing that there were fish everywhere - mudding in the shallows in a football sized area. There was some slight grass tips poking up and the carp were nosing around in there. I got a lot of practice casting to them. I hurt my shoulder pretty badly on Wednesday night - actually got a cortisone shot on Thursday, so this was my first "excersize" on the shoulder. Well, I eneded up hooking up on 5 total, 3 of which I hooked right and they all took me on a very long over 100 foot run. These runs were nothing of the screaming variety - just strong pulls that never seemed to end - like walking the dog and never getting control over the leash. Each fish popped the fly. The last fish I saw in a school of 5 or 6 fish - all were finning and feeding about 25 feet in front of me. I plopped the fly right in front of this guy and I hooked up quickly - he ate it and ran to the left - with a steady pull of the line, there was no way to turn him at all. Finally the line popped out of the fly and I decided it was time to go. While standing on the concrete path submerged up to my ankles with water (this path is hidden during normal water levels) I saw fish swimming right next to me in the mucky water - they didn't realize that Cabo and I were standing there. We would move around and a fish would spook 2 feet from us - scared the hell out of the dog. Cabo tried a couple of times to wander over to the humpers - the fish didn't care less, but one time, they changed directions and must have bumped right into her - she came right out of the water scared as hell - of course she tried to act all brave by pawing at their wakes, but they were long gone. She came back over to me and decided to stand right between my legs for a few minutes. Funny as hell!

Well - a bit of success - and I found the fish!!

History!!

We just witnessed history - Celtics played the kind of game you couldn't dream up for a made for TV movie. Amazing tonight - total team effort and this team shows that defense wins championships. Go Green!

Father's Day could be very very special!

Hockey 6/10 - Tuesday League

nothing
played against Aaron's team and that prick NJ Devils jersey kid
3 penalties - actually got tossed with 1 minute left
I got shouldered twice - the kid actually told me after the first I need to keep my head up - I was jawing with him and I get a penalty at the end of the first period. He shouldered me in the second, I actually went down - of course the ref says he didn't see it - total bull shit. I checked the guy into the boards and get his stick up around my neck, still no call on him, but I get a penalty. At the end of the game I am getting pinned against the baords by Nick - the dude is a nice guy, but he thinks he is a hockey player and he can't even skate. So, with his shoulder in the small of my back I put the kid in a head lock and wrestle him off me - I just grabbed my towel and skated off. Refs did nothing to protect anyone. The ref actually called a bad trip on the other team on a guy who fell down by me - I told him the kid didn't trip me and the ref is like "you want me to call a penalty and when I do you tell me I am wrong!" ...No you #!%&(* idiot I want you to call the right penalties all the time. Idiot.
We lost 6-4 - and it was my fault.

I will kill this kid if I see him again, he's a puss of the ice and some weekend he won't have the balls to face me - and I'll lay him out. Oh, this is the same kid that Deano was gunning for when he cheap shotted him on a Saturday open skate - so, I'm not exactly the only one who dislikes this asshole - so you can say he has it coming.

I'll probably be suspended for 2 games or whatever - I hope I get to play on Thursday night - that is the fun league, and we could win the first game and play the championship game right afterwards.

Hockey 6/5 - Thursday Night

first playoff game
1 goal, 1 assist
played D
played with Dean and Brian
John was goalie
won 6-2
didn't try very hard and could have doubled the score

Hockey 6/3 - Tuesday Night

first playoff game
1 goal
Played D
Played with Chris the Goalie
1 penalty
down 3-1 with 2 mins left we scored to make it 3-2.
pulled the goalie with 45 seconds left
I scored with 28 seconds left.
we won in overtime 4-3

Manny hits #500

yesterday was a cool day - I was listening to the game over the internet and decided to head downstairs and see if I could see the next Manny at bat on ESPN - of course ESPN was running at the bottom of the screen the ticker tape that said Manny was up. Thinking they would cut to the game, I weighted - but no such luck. The next thing I saw on the ticker was that Manny hit #500. I waited and waited for a replay - but nothing! WTF ESPN??? You guys blew that. Well, the phone rang and my buddy Haas was on the other end - he asked me to guess where he was....I just guessed Baltimore, and I was right. He had gotten gift tickets to the game while he was down there on a project and was at the game. He saw Pedroia and Ortiz go back to back and was having a blast. Seeing Ellsbury leg out a triple was fun too. And when Manny hit it - he had no idea it was #500 until they flashed it. What luck - he always seems to be that lucky!

Sox won again today - they are starting to show some offense finally.

Bugs