ness

Ahhhhh....so it was Congress. They should have known better. Interesting that Cuomo lifted the ban in NY. Hopefully this will gather steam convince Congress they need to vote for restrictions, pronto.

Yeah, I remember being jazzed when we picked Blackledge in '83. Best QB of the bunch in the draft, by far. BTW, what ever happened to those others -- Elway, Kelly and Marino?

When did Cheney ever get to sign anything into law? And, if I'm not mistaken, he's been gone from Halliburton for a long time. Regardless, I don't doubt the meat of what you're saying.

I want Cowher.

Nice goin' there Bamboozle!

I liked the River Why

Growing up in Independence there were a lot of stories of folks running into Truman. He was a big walker, and strolled around the neighborhood and 'the Square' daily while he could. And this wasn't with a Secret Service detail either. I'll check out that Elliot West book -- I'm interested in the era too. BTW -- the Empire book's not bad, just not great. I came out of it knowing a lot more than I did before I went in. I got used to the hyperbole and just shrugged it off after a while. The book's more about Commanche and plains Indians history, life and culture, and their struggles with the whites. Lotsa bad stuff done on both sides, and it adds a little balance to the story. It's not a Quanah or Cynthia Parker biography.

That's gonna lead to peace, satisfaction, contentment and happiness. The older (and presumably wiser) I get, the more value I place on that stuff.

If I'd have known they would have some value someday, I wouldn't have torn them to shreds in the spokes of my far out Schwinn Orange Krate.

Well, just finished Empire of the Summer Moon. I was a little disappointed overall. For a book that claims to be about Quanah Parker right on the cover, it was surprisingly light on material about him, and mostly all concentrated in the last quarter of the book. I've had Truman sitting on the shelf for years and convinced myself to start it last night. Interesting beginning talking about his ancestors and the border wars. The building I work in sits on a piece of the farm he lived on his first few years before moving to Independence (where I grew up). Lots of familiar places, streets, families mentioned there. McCullough's usually a good read.

Do I spy a fiberglass rod in those pictures? Been thinking about doing one....

Goodun. I kinda feel the same way about the fly tying mags. They're just doing their job trying to keep it interesting with the latest and greatest flies, and there's some value in that I suppose. It's pretty common to want to subscribe when you're starting out new on something -- at one time or another I've subscribed to Fly Fisherman, Fly Tier, Fly Rod and Reel and the Drake. I enjoyed getting them all at first, but the interest kinda waned after a while and I haven't renewed in years. I'll occasionally grab one off the rack and skim it, but it generally confirms that I don't want to buy it. I've given a few of the web-based ones a looksie, but I never got too excited about those either. I say give Fly Tier a try -- either by buying it off the rack or popping for a subscription. Either way you're not out a lot of dough.

Thanks for that recommendation. I've had TR in the back of my mind for some time, since a friend suggested Mornings on Horseback.

Bump. Empire of the Summer Moon about the demise of the Commanches. Pretty interesting section on Cynthia Parker -- a teenaged girl captured by the Commanches who watched members of her family beaten and butchered, then suffered horrible treatment by her captors before being accepted into the fold. Relatives searched for years, and when she was finally brought back to 'civilization' she wanted to go back (sound familiar?) She was mother to Quanah, who became a great chief, raised a lotta he!! and ultimately became a wealthy guy within the white-man's system. One of the things that really stands out is just how savage they could be. It was routine to torture, rape, dismember, burn, whatever, their captives. Pretty good stories, but the author is prone to hyperbole and bounces around in time so that it's hard to follow at times. It's got me wanting to read more on the topic.

Saw a bozillion snows on the ground up around Squaw Creek NWR a couple weeks ago.

I wonder if Spence could shed any light on that discrepancy. I'm just curious because Dean seems to have leaned pretty heavily on Spence as a source. I wonder if he was referring to the other hatchery that someone mentioned was on a tributary of Crane. Anyhoo -- I see now that Chief posted that story in an earlier post. Just swiped all Andrew's documents to add to my collection of stuff. Thanks for that.

I found where I read that there were stockings up into the 1960's: Right here

Try here: http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/cof/COF_1889-1891.PDF pp. 89-ish

I find this pretty interesting, and I wish I had the time to research it. Hopefully Spence Turner will shed some light on this. The US Fisheries Bulletins at the NOAA site are a wealth of information, but man they're hard to wade through. There are a few I've copied off and kept over the years, but they don't address this specific question. I do vaguely remember something about some later stockings, but I don't remember thinking it spoiled the 'pure' McCloud story. Seems like the official line has always been 'no recorded stockings' which is easily translated into 'no stockings'. And the vast majority of the info floating around is word of mouth, not documented stocking info. So I've always had a bit of skepticism about the whole thing. Essentially all trout everywhere are mutts. Even the extensive efforts of Colorado to isolate pure Greenbacks weren't successful -- years later some scientist found a couple Rainbow genes mixed in. Pure? Nope, but that's thee best we've got. Regardless, like some others have said, it's a pretty special place with a good story, and I like all that. It doesn't really matter to me that there may be a few funky genes mixed in. It bothers me more to see tires, Gatorade bottles and other non-biodegradable stuff in the creek.

Welp, looks like it's unanimous! I'll generally root around and find something about the same size and color of the last bug I saw fly by. If there's nothing in the air I'll go with a small Adams, EHC, BWO, or white Cahill, roughly in that order, or I might grab something else if my tummy tells me to. And, I'll lengthen and/or size down my tippet to 6 or 7x to improve my odds of a strike. Or not. I find myself tying on two dries a lot lately -- one I can see and one I think the trout will eat 12 to 18 inches off the 'indicator' fly, but not always. Hope this helps.

Seen on KU's Facebook page: "Missouri forfeits century-old rivalry. We win." It is a bummer to see one of the greatest rivalries in sports get flushed, regardless of what side you're on. Here in KC there's always a lot of buzz, and you kinda fall in one camp or the other even if you're not a fan of either. I guess that's the end of that. Hope you Mizzou fans get something for this, but I think you'll be the red-headed stepchild down there for at least a decade.

Well you'd better hurry and buy all your stuff. They're all going out of business but Mr. Big, whoever that is

Yeah -- I'll never go into Cabela's to buy a specific/sized thing anymore. They just don't carry enough stock, and they adjust inventory seasonally, so sometimes it's more limited than others. Off the top of my head, I can remember not being able to buy specific brands/sizes of waders, boots, fly line, hackle, tippet, flies and a rain jacket at the Cabela's 15 minutes from my house. All the stuff was available online though. Still bought some stuff -- like fudge or candy-coated nuts -- and handled some shotguns over in the gun library, so it wasn't a total bust. Last time I made a substantial tackle purchase I called Tim's Flyshop in Cassville, MO, talked to him about what I needed and he had it drop-shipped to my house from the manufacturer. That was a pretty easy and fair transaction.

That was neat. I liked seeing the hand work, like the girl doing the wraps, the logo and the handle.

3 pages, and I had to take a peek... This sure seems like a lot of different ways to screw up a day of fishing. Blech.