ness

Man that was very cool. Not like anything I've ever seen before. Those browns were chunks!

Wolf?

Couple of friend's dogs and my Molly on the right. Good Ol' Rocky was waiting for the girls to finish. Max Max with a typical Brittany point -- can't tell if they're peeing or pointing Max stylin'

Rat -- I've heard the same thing. Kinda scary all the things going on in the natural world these days. Lots of imbalance out there. Haven't seen a Monarch around here in a couple years, but I'm only one data point. On a related note -- I just read an article saying it was probably not a good idea to walk behind the truck spraying stuff to kill mosquitos back in the 60's. I guess that DDT stays in your system for a while, and there are some side effects. I thought it smelled pretty good, but that's probably not a good indicator.

That's a great picture, LRF. It made me smile. FYI -- for photos, I use Dropbox, which is a free service for syncing up files on two computers. For me, it's usually files between home and work computers. But, Dropbox includes a "public" folder, which is where I post the pictures I use here and other places. I haven't thought about resizing in a while -- I guess my workflow for posting pics has become pretty routine. Regardless, Dropbox is a great tool.

I thought it looked a little tight in there. Having that slab is a nice start on all this. Is this your home or another property?

Are you going to have enough sunlight in there?

Interesting article, MO. I wonder, has the statute of limitations for OA flogging of the bow hunter who shot a wolf with an ear tag and collar in 2001 run out yet?

Well, I guess I'm not surprised. The business of government can't really be accomplished in an open forum like that. I think I would have enjoyed hearing some of the crazies and their wild ideas, for the entertainment value only. Some folks can't pass up the chance to get behind a microphone. There are probably forums in which the real good stuff gets discussed, but I guess you'd have to be way more involved than I'll ever be to be privy to that stuff. I don't feel guilty about that, it's just the way it is. Not enough hours in the day. Back to work

Good for you! Sounds like a good gig and a good future too.

That's just what I did a few years back Wayne. It holds about 10 flats. Greenhouse would be cool too and a place to store some stuff.

I gave that video about 60 seconds.

It's all about hate for me. I hate Bilichick, Brady, Elway and the Broncos. I like Manning. So, the hate scale was tipped slightly more to the Pats and I had to root for the Broncos in the playoffs. That ends now. Go Seahawks.

Man, those old ones are priceless. I wish I could lay my hands on some old pics of my own, but they've been lost to time.

LOLL (LOL, literally)

You're just being a smarty pants. Let's get back to the floggings now.

Yeah Alex, the enforcement isn't what it should be. Never has been.

Good stuff in this thread. It's about adapting and being resourceful on these little cricks. You size up your spot, and do what you need to get to it. Also, you look what you might mess up and decide if you're going to fish it or pass on it for the greater good. So many times I look at a spot, and know that's THE spot, but realize what I've got to do to get to it is gonna send those gossipy wild rainbows telling the whole stream I'm coming. Or, a lot of times I'll go way out of my way to approach from a different angle. After you've fished a while, you'll learn the ways to approach without doing so much back tracking. Bow and arrow is the very last resort for me because, as easy as it looks, I never know where the heck it's going. Usually about 3 feet off the rod tip is a good bet. The other techniques mentioned are all useful. Basically -- whatever you can do to get your fly to the spot without spooking the fish is OK. The long, graceful casts are mostly for spectators or photographs. I always drilled this into my kids heads: Don't count on luck to keep your fly out of the trees. Look around you and adapt your cast to the situation at hand. Flies in trees wastes time and money, and generally screws up your good time.

I'm probably in the minority here, but why not just develop it? Sell licenses to vendors who then can build restaurants, sell liquor, rent jet skis, sponsor fishing tournaments and wet t-shirt contests? It'd be like Lake of the Ozarks, but without the poop. Why not have a venue for Grateful Dead and Elvis impersonators? Where do we send our comments?

Just got started on "The Glorious Cause" by Jeff Schaara -- an author Al recommended a while back. It's historical fiction about the Revolutionary War, told through the eyes of Washington, Franklin, Cornwallis and others. I'm only a little way into it, but I think I'm gonna like it a lot. If so, I'll plow into some of his other books about the Civil War, WW I and II. Thanks for the tip, Al.

Very nice. The camera is only one part of the equation in a great photo.

I was flying into Midway once, and just before touchdown the pilot pulled up and gunned the engines. That was scary to begin with, but he circled around and at one point while turning he was rolled darn near 90 degrees (I think). I was on the down side looking straight out at the ground, at a pretty low altitude and a really slow speed. He finished the circle, leveled out and then landed. On the ground he finally came on to let us know the landing gear warning light had come on and he showed the belly to the tower to confirm the gear was down. I had some close calls when I was landing F4s on carriers during 'Nam -- but nothing quite like that.

That happened in Wichita,Kansas a couple months ago too. Over reliance on the ol' Garmin, I guess. It was a huge 747 variant cargo jet, and they thought it might have trouble taking off, but it did manage. Certainly a black eye for Southwest.

Nice!

Ha!