The ol' man's bike

I swear, Dad's bike has left me sit almost every time I've touched it in the last five years. It's been at least three years since I've ridden it, since the last time it left me sit.

Reckon I shoulda kept my ass off... it done it again.

Oh well. At least it was just outta gas and didn't cost me a lot of money, like it normally does.

State Days

I just returned from a few days up in State College. Get this... the 4-H program trusts me to chaperone children. I know.... shocks me, too.

But hey, I do my best to try to set a somewhat decent example for the kids, as well as impart some grown-up wisdom along the way.

Pennsylvania State Achievement Days is actually a really fun event for the teenagers in the 4-H program. The primary focus is the competitions, but it also is a nice little preview of college life and a chance to meet some new people and hang out with ol' friends. Some of my strongest friendships today were cemented back in the days of my youth at State Days. There's a little bit of freedom that comes with an event like that, and I personally think it's important that teens get to have some experiences like that from time to time.

Dealin' with teens make my job relatively easy, as the older ones help out with the younger ones, and they're all expected (and for the most part do) act like the young men and women we're groomin' 'em to be. I'm just there as a guide, more or less.

I try to make it up most years to at least assist with the archery competition, regardless whether I'm a chaperone or not. I don't know that I'd want to help out with anythin' other than a shootin' sports competition up there, and thankfully I drew the archery range again.

I got purty lucky again this year... the archers assigned to my target were older teens and were exceptionally skilled for their age. They didn't bitch about how I scored them, and they were overall pleasant to shoot with.

Archers and coaches at the line. As you can see, we had
a nice mix of recurve bows just to keep things interestin'.

Over the shoulder of my lone Adams County representative.

And, of course, after finally gettin' the kids settled in the dorms for a night and a long day on the archery range, an adult nightcap at the end of the day is in order. Just like the old days:)

Cottage Weekend Pictures

We camp on the island most years, weather permittin'. This year, the weather permitted.

Photobomb courtesy of Matthew. Clown.

Tarzan. This was before he got good and ripped.

Settin' up for some more night cattin'.

Big purty sky.

Guess what day it is?!?!?

An overdue plug

I've recently started keepin' an eye on one of the newer pages in the blogopshere. The lovely Miss K was kind enough to plug me, and I'm finally gettin' around to returnin' the favor. If you like a good variety of posts and frequent obungler bashin', this is a page for you. Check it and enjoy!

Cottage Weekend

Cottage Weekend started a number of years ago as a fun weekend for my buddies and I to gather up at the cottage, without havin' to worry about runnin' ourselves into the ground gettin' up early tryin' to slay critters.
Just a nice, relaxin' weekend to eat, drink, sleep and raise a little hell.

I managed to pick up a bug of some sort right before we headed up, so I'm pretty much no fun to be around right now. Hopefully that ain't stoppin' everyone else from havin' a good time though.

Friday night dinner at the Ram Zone.

Tater and Jaclyn managed to get a weekend off new-parent duty, so they're definitely enjoyin' bein' able to take naps and get a full night's sleep without havin' to get up and feed the baby.

Yes, that is yarn and knittin' needles... in a bar...

This afternoon, we'll be havin' a fish fry with some of the fresh striper that Schlongie and I caught a few weeks ago. We'll have some other fixin's to round out what I'm hopin' is a damn good meal.

Prior to gettin' sick, I was plannin' on spendin' the night campin' on the island with everyone else tonight. Given my ccurrent state though, I'll prolly hang out and eat mountain pies, then head back to the cottage to sleep. Not really the way I wanted to spend a fun weekend with my friends, but shit happens.

I did manage to pry myself down to the river for a little night cattin' after we got back from the Ram Zone last night. Schlongie showed us how it was done... The rest of us didn't fare so well.

A day on the bay

I try to make it down to the Chesapeake Bay at least once a year to do some striper fishin' with our buddy Robert and his family. He goes out about four days a week on average, so he always welcomes the company.

Last Sunday afternoon, Schlongie and I made the trek. We arrived in the middle of a monsoon, but as soon as it cleared up enough to head out, away we went. We had some lightnin' a few miles in front of us and passed a lot of boats goin' the other direction, so I reckon we were the only dummies headin' out.

It turned out great though. We got soaked pretty much the whole ride out, but once we were there, the weather cleared up and we fished until dark without another drop. We didn't get slammed by fish like Dad and Jess had done a few days earlier, but we did managed to pick away at a few and wound up with eight or nine of 'em to bring back for supper.

Schlongie is what I consider to be a good ol' boy, who has a fascination for all things antique and old-fashioned. That said, I was pretty damned happy when he reeled in his first ever striper on an old rod and reel that belonged to Robert's grandfather. That ol' fishin' rod has undoubtedly hauled in a helluva lotta fish over the years, and we got in three or four more on it that day alone.

I enjoyed watchin' Schlongie and Robert's nephews land a bunch of fish, but I also managed to haul in the biggest striper I've caught to date, a 30" pig that about yanked the rod outta my hands when he took the bait. One of these days, I'm gonna go down in the winter and early spring and catch one of them true big'uns that Robert keeps talkin' about...

I was worried when we ran headlong into that storm on the way down, but it turned out to be a fantastic evenin' well spent with good friends. Not a shabby way to spend a Sunday at all.