milestone post - the lessons of a life spent among dogs

it would be nice to have some pics in here...

anyways I've been holding off on this one

trying to wait until my birthday to make the one thousandth post here

and I wanted to be deep and profound

reflective of the wisdom gleaned

over fifty two years

well good luck with that

as if I had a chance

I had no idea what to blog about

I pondered my arthritic fingers and how 

they're causing me problems when I plane

or that one got am split 

that gives you fits from beginning to end

then I met a dog

a pit bull pup and a handsome sonuvagun

and I realized how much of my life I've spent

in the company of dogs

at times an awful lot of them

all the litters of puppies whoa...

I have one dog now and have had him the past nine years I guess

before that mr. t and I shared fifteen glorious years together

holy smokes in college there were bailey and bonnie and buddy 

mr t's running buddies and partners in crime up in flagstaff

prior to that were my restless years I suppose

I had dogs here and there

none really notable

we grew up raising irish setters - show dogs

I can't even begin to remember all those dogs

the family dogs though

catlin finn maura chara

usually a couple three pups as well

my first job as a teenager

back in wisconsin

was as kennel boy at a black lab kennel

fed the dogs cleaned the shit just like at home

weekends we went out and trained these magnificent dogs

for field trials

in wooded pastures and ponds marshes where ever

those weekends were fun plus we got tipped

not sure what the lesson is
perhaps it's in the blessings we've been to one another
our whole lives

blast from the past

a mere four or five generations ago

a good portion of the american populace 

lived like this...

the holtzmann spread

new freedom, wisconsin

my maternal grandmother grew up here

wheatley

I've got three wheatley flyboxes

a couple of which I have a love/hate relationsip with

those cool little glass lids stink out loud

they either open too easily or not all

this one happens to be filled w/ flies sent to me

by my good friend roy christie 

I do treasure those and it is why they are kept

in theis fancypants box

disclaimer: of the three I have I purchase one

the cheap one (and the one I use most often)

the other two were gifts

and very nice ones

thank you.

is that so?

I was surprised and semi-shocked this morning

to read that beagles are listed among the dumbest of breeds

while p-nutt is called ding dong or little dumbass

about as often as he is called his name

I'm a bit stunned to hear he's quite dumb

he does play dumb games I'll give him that
he barks like an idiot as well

but whenever he hears the word dumbass

he looks up at the speaker in expectation

I suppose I'd like to think that he is smart

because he is mine

I'm afraid that might not be the case

he does have his mamma wrapped around his finger(?)

game changer

water is always an issue

drinking water that is

I've got an old katadyn filter bottle that has served me well

ben over at az wanderings did a review of his

which sparked a very interesting discussion 

on a local fishing board

extolling the virtues of the steripen 

since then, I've been fortunate enough to receive a steripen 

at no cost - my favorite way to get things - and it is a deal changer for sure

I never even minded pumping 

but this thing is so easy to use

push a button swish swish swish 

90 seconds later you've got purified water

notice that the steripen slides neatly into the bottle when it is not in use

when I call it a game changer - here's why...
we spent four nights upriver at the ferry and did not bring any water
none

I must mention a caveat
the wand won't fit in some water bottles
make sure you have at least one that works
I was lucky that way

that's awesome
and thanks buddy for the great gift
I owe you at least one mang

desert jewels

fishing the cathedral again

this will be my fourth trip to the ferry this year

and to be entirely honest about things

I've fished like shit

my head and heart haven't been in it

too lazy or stubborn

jrunk and stoo-pit

to adjust my tackle accordingly

distractions

fatigue?

a lack of interest?

I dunno

what I do know is that I don't like it

  that all changes tomorrow

last time up I was on the colorado river

for nineteen daze 

and picked up a rod maybe twice

nearly traveled the river from dam to dam 

and didn't even bother trying to fish

that's pathetic at worst

lame at best

my head hasn't been in the fishing place

it's been elsewhere...

on what again I dunno

it just hasn't been on fishing

I look at this as an opportunity to regain my fishing mojo

it doesn't matter how well you tie flies

or build rods

if you don't put them to proper use

anyways...let's get it on

thanks chad and van ness flyrods for the invite

I appreciate it

ye olde rod shoppe that wrocks

october gets me to thinking of rodbuilding

the gruntwork eh?  the fun stuff if you will

 dropping temperatures have me checking the garage

periodically for temperature

still a mite warm

during lazyass hours

there's one lonely rod on the project list

and I'm itching to get down to it

may be a few daze though as the cathedral is beckoning

and the countdown is on