skynyrd

you remember them right?

where to begin how about right here and now

I'm watching a recorded concert of the current  skynyrd  tribute band

and sipping bourbon

gary rossington's still there

looks like billy powell too

and of course johnny van zandt

the less talented brother nonetheless serving up a credible job

I fucking love it

rickey medlocke has been with the band for twelve years and he said

it seems like forever

seems his sprout named shorty after his dad

has the third guitar spot and does a damn fine job of it

rickey used to think he was gonna be the next lynyrd skynyrd

when he led blackfoot and wrote a few cool songs

now he's in the band

I need to replenish my supply of skynyrd music because it is sadly lacking

every cool wrocking guy of a certain age owned the live one and prolly wore it out

I think I'll put them number six on my list

every contemporary country band  is largely indebted to skynyrd

they played cool wrocking (can you tell I love this phrase?  I stole it from the boss)

country tunes that everyone loved

the drive-by truckers wrote a tribute of sorts called southern rock opera

in which they wove the tale of their band and that of the skyn boys

not surprisingly it's their best one two full discs

if you don't have it go get it

or I guess you could ask me for it

there was more I was gonna say but I need a smoke and a piss

currently dog-eared...

we are reading this

how it flew in under the radar last year I have no idea

rick bass is among my five favorite authors

this one is a departure from his standard eco-literary work

a fictionalized biography of the recording group the browns

who have also managed to fly under my radar

who the hell are they?

I just may have to find out

apparently contemporaries of the king

 and influencing the harmonies of the beatles

mentored by gentleman jim reeves

whatever happened to the browns?

sorry

but this is kinda gross...

last weekend I spent the morning wandering (get it) the neighborhood ponds

any walk is made better by the addition of a fishing pole

at least I think so

I had wandered off around another pond shortly after ben and pete showed up

I returned to the pond kitty corner across the street and encountered this

which was nice timing and nice work

plus rather than trying to horse the thing in ben actually landed this one

ugly fucking fish

and I think he's gonna kiss it

sorry ben, but you've got nearly the same image out there already

can't hurt to have another eh?

jumping the gun

gonna steal a page from my brother

whose writing about rock and roll bands

his top hundred list or somesuch - I dunno

I wanna talk about husker du

I watched a bucncha youtubes tonight

the huskers bringing the wrock

two queers and a cook

wrocking like the cock of the block

look em up

it's a trip

hundred dollar goat track

I missed twelve dollar tuesday

unfortunately since it turned into a humorous afternoon

billy threatened to throw turtleman in the lake

and ej broke his putter

and I missed it

too bad

anyways, about a week ago we played this golf course

twas a one-off special $5 green fee

I observed that it looked and played like a five dollar goat track

furthermore, every cheap bastard in town was out there

and it took well over four hours to complete

ridiculous

well we played there again yesterday

and the course was in considerably better condition

(how can this change so much in so little time?)

it cost a hundred bucks

no shitting

and I paid it

so the deal was this...

unlimited golf (we played 36 holes)

any pair of shoes

any shirt

I got a beautiful pink golf shirt I can't wait to style on course

and some footjoy dryjoy shoes

(very sweet and very comfortable)

I also hit a fairly good number of nice golf shots yesterday

I was also largely a three putting dog

colorblind

2/3 of the new color scheme...

door trim and baseboards are apple cider

wall is honey butter

east west running walls will get honey butter
others will be whitish (tailored linen) 

I don't know what to do about that door...

sorry so banal of late
maybe one of these daze I'll wander around the ponds...

fucking kneepads of all things

bawk bawk chicken legs

goin' down...

it official - painting is underway

proceeding unsurprisingly slowly

this color "apple cider"

reminds me of  canned pankin pie filling in the can

terra cotta planters as it goes down 

and wood as it dries...

interesting

I'm not sure I can continue this pattern throughout the house

there are some nice places for it though

I'm not using it on any walls though no fuckin' way

wall shown above will be painted "honey butter" 

a pretty color also going in the kitchen

current design scheme has honey butter on all e - w axis walls...

this is some truly fascinating stuff

I need to walk to walgreens for a carton of winstons
and an eighteen pack of bud
I'm gonna be painting all week and that calls for a lotta beer

I just love this pic

the pic sucks

I didn't take it obviously

but I love that kid and the melancholy expression on my face

I think I was mildly buzzed and enjoying a football game

sparky wanted me to take care of her horses I guess

what is it about w/ little girls and horses?
big girls like them too
and guys

I miss taking care of horses myowndamnself

but I love this pic

I also love running girls
I had to get that in there

capr!

headed out early this morning

sight fishing for koi and carp

and it's official - I've stuck my first ever capr!

notice I said stuck not caught

had him pinned for oh three to five minutes

tried to stop him and be broke me off

took my last simiseal leech too bastard

fortunately ben was on the other side of the pond and had plenty

I tied on a rubber legged simi from my box on and fished my way around the pond

stuck one capr two koi (landing ZERO!) and maybe twenty bass (all landed)

it was fun

ben's tight w/ an acrobatic koi

he figured he foul hooked him

I wish I could have snapped a pic of the airborne koi

I did get this...

WTF?

the camera's waterproof

I know

but why does this pic look like I snapped it underwater

this may well be the worst picture I've ever taken

I should mention the smallest bass I've ever seen and I caught it
it was a joke how tiny this thing was
I'm surprised the hook didn't penetrate his brain and kill him on the spot
he was released unharmed to be caught later
idiot fish - I'm not giving him long odds

still life

with garlic
shallot and tomato

I hate birds

I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again

but I hate birds

not all birds just the noisy ones

and the dirty ones 

you know what I mean

I especially hate grackles

they take to the tree outside my bedroom

and pitch an ungodly racket from about three am till about nine at night

it drives me crazy

and feel like shooting them

I hate birds

anyways that grackle in the photo above?

I watched him stalk attack and kill a lizard

it killed the lizard by slashing its throat with its beak

and then began to eat it

it was gross

I couldn't stop watching

by the time I realized I should have been taking pics

it was over

the grackle departed with the lizard carcass

firmly clamped in its bill

like a trophy or blue ribbon

rosemary

I've got three large rosemary bushes in my backyard

yesterday I found myself seated in front of one of them

while I smoked a cigarette

I snapped a picture...

cool like bob dylan

I know hunh?

this is from tour w/ heartbreakers

I saw that and it wrocked my world

rolling stone lists 70 greatest dylan songs

hard to argue with that list

except that the guy's still got a good fifty songs

that could have been listed but weren't

next up refers to the preceding post...

that poor man's scaffold scares me

in my 20s 30s early 40s no problem

as an old man I don't like it up there

I think I'm gonna sit on it

we opted for the horse radish white

honey butter yellow

and apple cider orange

(to be used sparingly because I hate orange)

 today we made dumplings

can you smell it?

dumpchix on the stove

this can only mean one thing

and it ain't good

colors chosen 

by a guy who is colorblind and didn't really put much thought into it

and I can prolly live w/ either of the three accent colors

interestingly all are named after foods

the white is horse radish

yellow is honey butter

orangeyish is apple cider

greenie is earthen cane
(presumably anita's choice)

technically not a food though one could equate it w/ bamboo

(which I do)

and some people eat that

it also reflects a certain bambooy tone color wise...

then there's this to consider...

and this...

my head hurts already 

and I haven't even started to paint

disheartened

this came in the mail this morning

and I'm sure that I'll read it this afternoon and evening

and finish it

like most I enjoy john gierach's style of prose

it's familiar and comfortable as an old pair of shoes or your favorite jeans

even though it seems like you've previously read or heard it all before
(because likely you have)

he is observant witty and well-reasoned 

this is not what I'm disheartened by

I watched in horror as my local borders closed up shop

I only visited once early on as the prices were slashed weekly

as they decimated their stock

it was incredibly depressing

the normally neat shelves in their baffling array of displays

were ramshckle

ugly yellow banners stretched about throughout the store

advertizing price cuts and whatnot

contributed to a bleak environment

that I as a bibliophile could not enjoy

I really miss my borders store

and there are no more rewards

even though they're only a mouse click away

fuck that

I wanna browse leisurely

sit in a comfortable leather chair and peruse a stack of books and periodicals

no doubt selecting one two or three

and I can't anymore

fortunately there is a barnes and noble a couple miles west of here

it used to play second fiddle but now is first chair

same baffling array

who designs the layouts of these places?

and why don't they carry more fishing books?

a decent selection of magazines

(hey I can get the drake *sucks* and fly tyer there)

anyways, I am glad it's there

but I wonder how long it'll last

I've sadly watched the demise of the friendly local flyshop

and my local sportsman's warehouse

the dwindling selection of fly fying materials of cabela's

the long slow death of the record store

and now the big box bookstore

and I'm disenheartened

I've often suspected that we're a nation filled w/ philistines

my suspicion is being fulfilled

this one doesn't look like an ant either

los alamos ants

fisheye!

looking at these last two pics is making my head spin

bottom line:  they're still goofy looking

tying flies w/ foam

let's start by saying I hate it

they're both inelegant and bulky

for the most part foam colors blow

there is no denying their effectiveness though

we've been fishing chernobyls and their variants for years now

as a matter of fact it was once a "go-to" fly

scorn for foam ultimately resulted in its demise

at least in my box

(and I'm lying - have a look at my terrestrial box)

this morning I sat down at the vise

after tying a half dozen one clump deerhair beetles

I tied up a couple cow killer ants (love the name) and los alamos ants

 I'm liking the hell out of how they're looking

and the bluegill pond down the street is beckoning

and really...this thing looks nothing like an ant

indoor picnic

on-going photo dump

love the colors in the shots above...

kiddy meal

no toy included

$12 tuesdays!

I like this sloppy sequence of shots

turtleman smoked this shot

ended up just short of the green

for an easy up and down

look is fairly confident

needs to relax

a few things to look at tweaking here...

I'd like to see a straighter and stronger front line and higher right shoulder

pretty solid though

beautiful position at the top
(whoopsie!  I didn't notice the crooked left arm)

nice right side back line

poor club choice

I did the same thing

there was something(s) I meant to say but I forgot

maybe that's for the best

think these'll fish?

really...

do you even need anything else?

was it last year when I fished w/ a mini-tin of caddis dries all season?

this one?

proven rocky mountain killer

show low

this is one of my favorite trees in the state

considerably more striking for real

back nine - silver creek golf course

on the way to silver creek

you cross this wash over a bridge

where you see them building another bridge right next door

why I wonder...

talkin' dry fly tyin' blues

my favorite flies to tie bar none

are catskill dries

ginger quill cahill

I don't like the head on this one

the rest is tight though

my buddy in prescott and from new york

tied me up a set of catskill and adirondack flies

for a trip I took a couple years back...

randy love flies under the fly tying radar

but he is a big gun w/ a mighty fine hand and deft touch

randy likes harrop style hairwing duns

now I fancy them too...

generic hairwing dun

hares ear dubbing

dark dun hackle and tail

deerhair wing

I suspect that this will work anywhere mayflies hatch
and may even pass for a caddis in a pinch

living vicariously

because it's all we can do these daze...

sunday morning I had to back out of a fishing trip

potentially  apparently a great one

health issues and my wife's birthday forced my hand

and I stayed home maintaining the D. T.  I.

(domestic tranquility index)

for possible future trips

so anyways

we ganked a few pics from the website what doesn't exist...

 the backyard

I love this place

 beautiful brown

lovely rainbow and bamboo

fuck me - there goes the neighborhood

I usually pitch my tent where that table and fire ring now are

they call this "improvement?"

I cannot even tell ya how these pics make me feel...

homesick?

optimistic?

hopeful?

nostalgic?

stoked?

all of the above and more...

much thanks apologies and photo credits to my good great friend, jeepster

aka s. rath - sorry amigo

R.I.P. seve