I have a new favorite summertime drink-

My buddy Rob turned me onto Lipton Green Tea with Citrus last summer fishing on his boat. I had another a couple weeks ago at the end of a fishing trip and it tasted so cool and light and tasty that I bought an 8-pack the last time we bought groceries.

These things go down really well for breaks between sprinkler installation efforts! I did make on mistake at the store though- I failed to ensure I was buying the sugar free version... As easy as it is to drink these teas, I won't make that mistake again!

Update on the backyard mess-

Let's see, it's Tuesday, right? I've worked all day yesterday and today and the new system is installed- I'm whupped! I don't have the timer installed or connected to the valves yet and all the trenches need filled in and the spray heads need adjusted just so, but all the lines are in and connected and there doesn't seem to be any water leaking, so I'm happy.

I'm especially thankful for the knee pads that I bought 2 years ago for the shop roof project because I've been on my knees non-stop for these 2 days!

This has been a ton of single-handed work but when it is finished my lawn will stay green without me turning on and off valves all the time and I'll be able to move on to the flower bed job that caused al this mess!

Worn out tonight!

I spent 11 hours today working on my backyard sprinkler overhaul project. I am beat! Fortunately today was considerably cooler than yesterday so it seemed like a good day to get dirty and worn out. I started out with a rental Toro Dingo trencher that made short work of cutting the new trenches I need for the new layout and that was the last power tool I used all day. Everything else was done with manual labor- shovel(s), a 6 foor pry bar, loppers for the roots and a trowel.

I didn't get much new pipe laid today but I did get the old valves and the connecting pipes dug out and one line capped and one of the connections made up at the top of the yard next to my shop. Moving the trencher around to cut the different lines pushed a bunch of the dirt back into the trenches and that is going to take a bit of time to get cleared out before I can put in all the new pipe.

Right now, the yard's a mess. But once I get it all put together and some fresh grass growing in all the dug up areas, it is going to stay green with the new watering system! I've even bought the timer so the grass can get watered even when I'm out fishing!

Opening night of Raptors baseball

Summer is officially here. Everything is perfect except for being 3 runs down right now.

Sent from my iPhone.

UPDATE: Final score- Orem Owlz 6, Raptors 0. At least the Raptors broke the Owlz no-hitter in the bottom of the 9th inning. And the fireworks afterwards were very nice.

What a day!

So my buddy Kenny & I hit East Canyon today, getting the boat wet about 8:15. We set out trolling almost from the boat launch with pop gear as we headed out. We didn't catch anything for the first hour and finally set out across the lake for the west side and broke out the downriggers.

At the end of the day we each had a limit of rainbows with a couple lost before getting netted. I caught 3 on a green metalflake e-chip dodger leading a green mylar squid at about 30-35 feet down. Last fish on my limit came from pop gear with a jointed lake trout Rapala. Kenny caught a couple just flat dragging a crawler on a sinker and hook with a silver spinner on the line or a dodger with a perch colored mylar squid.

Now- the fun stuff. One my fish the one caught on the pop gear and crankbait, after Kenny netted the fish and handed it to me, the pop gear fell off the line swivel! The snap had opened and I could have lost the entire rig but luckily it happened inside the boat! Kenny caught a fish on the flat trolling rod he was using and the fish ran and cut his line on the rod on the downrigger. He netted the fish then started moaning about getting his line cut off. But I suggested maybe the gear was still attached to the downrigger weight and sure enough- it was all down there!

The best part of the day? My cell phone rang just as I was busy catching a fish so I let it ring and joked that since I was busy, it would surely be a call offering me a job since that hasn't been happening much. Twenty minutes later when I finally checked my phone, it was an invitation to a job interview! Cool!

Anyway, we had a great day and I had a grilled trout for dinner tonight!

This trick should find me a job...

I'm tearing up the backyard...

We have a terrible, old and inefficient lawn watering system in our backyard. It leaves big gaps that doesn't get watered, the valves are in the wrong place and I've decided that as long as I am home, I might as well get busy and replace most of it. This all began because I started digging up a garden to restore it but the valve box is right in my way. So if I have to move the box, I also have to redo many of the water lines.

I've already started redoing one line today, digging up an area where I am going to add a sprinkler head and tonight I dug out the end sprinkler. I still need a couple parts and some fresh PVC glue to finish that line.

In a few days I'm going to rent a trencher and really make a mess of the yard back there as I run new lines and install new valves. I figure just about the time I get the yard to the maximum mess level, somebody will call me and want me to start work immediately. It only makes sense, right?

In other news, Kenny and I are fishing tomorrow and Thursday night is opening night for the Ogden Raptors and I have 2 tickets in my wallet! And the Raptors are being broadcast on radio this year which is an improvement over last year! I've already listened to their first 2 games this week on the radio while working outside.

I love summer...

A week without posting?

Wow. Time flies when you're unemployed! Kenny says that I'm retired but just don't know it yet! I hope that's not true but I'm still not seemingly any closer to being employed, which is frustrating and liberating all at the same time. I've been digging and pulling weeds at church, digging out an abused and ignored garden in my own backyard, I'm considering overhauling my backyard sprinkler system and I've been out fishing on a Friday- all things I probably wouldn't be doing if I were working in a cubicle somewhere.

But I do keep job hunting and I applied for a couple jobs this week that would be right up my alley so I'll keep looking and applying and sooner or later somebody will decide I'm the right guy.

My cousin Joe got married today back in Alpena and I would have loved to attend. Joe's a really neat guy and I'm certain his new bride is as charming as he is diligent. I actually taught Joe to water ski many years ago and he never fails to remind me on the rare occasions I get back there. I'm happy for him and I'm betting my mom will have some pictures of the ceremony pretty soon.

I fished today with Kenny & Jim out to Willard Bay. Jim caught a walley and a catfish while we trolled, Kenny & I were blanked all day. That's the way Willard is though, unpredictable and sometimes difficult to buy a bite. But we did have a great day fishing together, enjoying the company and the sunshine. We had a close-up flyby by 2 pelicans that was a breath-stopping minute and a real highlight. I just wish I would have known they were on approach so the camera could have been ready! Fish Slayer worked perfectly and so did my homemade sideplaners which I finally got the chance to take out and try. They pull line out at a decent angle and ride steady in the water and carried the lures we pulled just fine. I didn't catch any fish off of them yet- but they work!

So that's it- yard work and weed pulling, renovation projects, job hunting and a little fishing. Heck, maybe I AM retired!

The Spill, The Scandal and the President

I have stayed out of the political blogging business for quite some time now mostly just because there are so many better bloggers out there that you could be reading that my efforts wouldn't add anything to the conversation.

That said, I cannot not share this Rolling Stone article concerning the terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the administrations failure to get control of the circumstance going on down there. The article very neatly and concisely pulls in a great deal of information and spells out a timeline of the actions of BP, the president and his staff. It will take you a bit of time to read it but it's worth your time so check it out.

On a related note, and not addressed in the Rolling Stone article because it has surfaced since the article was published, is the story of the miles of oil collection boom that BP won't purchase and the Coast Guard Commandant claims he didn't know about even though he was given a formal letter by 2 US Senators back on May 21. Make sure to read the 2nd page of that article because it quotes the .fedgov's National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan that directs the president to take every action to mitigate damages. This plan does not say that the company responsible for the leak has the clean up responisbility, it says the president must take action!

The Rolling Stone article makes it very clear that the president has not done everything he should have done, and the things he promised he would do if elected, at every turn of this story.

Fish Slayer is fixed- Part XXXVII

Ok, maybe not quite that many posts about fixing the boat but I know there's been several and even if you're bored with them, well, I'm happy to have it fixed. The throttle control lever jammed up last week while the boat was in the carport, similar to the failure that kept Jim and I from fishing last summer. That time I was able to coax all the parts into working, this time I had to buy new parts.

Isn't it really amazing that you can buy marine parts for 32 year old boats online with no real problem? That's cool, (and helpful) to me! So the part I ordered last week arrived yesterday and I got it installed today and the throttle/shifter lever is working smoothly. Hurray!

So in spite of a lousy weather forecast, Kenny and I are heading out for a morning of fishing tomorrow!

You know its a bad day-

When the leaking toilet wax ring that you intended to replace turns out not to be the problem but is just a symptom of a bigger problem...

That was me yesterday. I thought all I had to do was replace a wax ring on the downstairs toilet to fix another leak that had cropped up. I even decided to overhaul the insides of the toilet since this one still had a ballcock valve.

But I did all that after the Rescue Rooter guy, (thanks Tony!) showed up, snaked my entire main drain line, borescoped it for further problems and departed with my check for $355. Gack! It needed to be done and I decided I would rather suffer the pain of paying than the pain of hauling, operating and returning rental equipment with no assurance that I knew what I was doing.

Eventually I did get the toilet reinstalled and upgraded with a new valve and a 2-level flush assembly. I also scrubbed the shower stall because it had filled up with the nasty water overnight, scrubbed the laundry room floor and the bathroom floor with bleach, hosed out the broom and mop after the cleanup and still got the yard mowed before dark. It's kind of important to mow by Tuesday evening as the trash truck arrives early Wednesday and I don't like leaving cut grass in the can many days.

Needless to say, I was happy to hit the shower and a beer when everything was done last night! Today- the parts for Fish Slayer arrived yesterday so I'll be putting it back together while watching the storms blow through for the next 4 days. Grr!

A Monday funny...

Our teacher asked us what our favorite animal was, and I said, "Fried chicken." She said I wasn't funny, but she couldn't have been right. Even though I wasn’t trying to be funny, everyone else in the class laughed.

My parents told me to always be truthful and honest, and I am. Fried chicken is my favorite animal. I told my dad what happened, and he said my teacher was probably a member of PETA. He said they love animals very much. I do, too. Especially chicken, pork and beef.

Anyway, my teacher sent me to the principal's office. I told him what happened, and he laughed too. Then he told me not to do it again.

The next day in class my teacher asked me what my favorite live animal was. I told her it was chicken. She asked me why, just like she'd asked the other children. So I told her it was because you could make them into fried chicken. She sent me back to the principal's office again. He laughed, and told me not to do it again.

I don't understand. My parents taught me to be honest, but my teacher doesn't like it when I am. Today, my teacher asked us to tell her what famous person we admire most.

I told her, "Colonel Sanders."

Guess where I am now...

Sent to me by my buddy Chris.

Well ain't this a kick?

My blogging buddy Bruce from No Looking Backwards has decided to look even further forward and to take action where he sees a need, so he is quitting blogging, effective right now.

Bruce has made himself a candidate for the New Hampshire State Legislature and is running for office! Good for him! I really have enjoyed his blogging over the years and I wish him the very best in this huge endeavor.

Good on ya Bruce!

For every service man or woman who has spent too many days away

or for those that love them, you must watch this video. Take your hankie. This is a real treat.

Thanks to my buddy Kenny for sharing it.