October

[DockShootinJack]

I have seen that particular movie. No doubt it was during some hyper insomnia riddled all nighter on some cable television station in the we hours of morning. I five it a solid 10 out of 10 when it's closest competition for ones attention was some sort of infomercial for blue blocker sunglasses, hair thickener in a can, backward underwater flying fishing lures, or the infamous pocket fisherman brought to you by Ronco. Writing this has made me realize that I have some wasted GB's of memory absorbed by infomercials from the 80's and 90's. I seem badly in need of a Defrag. Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays.

[Micanopy]

Here is old so-n-son ready to go to the show.




Yesterday she was finishing up her decorations and didn’t require my assistance. So I went to the grocery store to get mugged. Badly mugged. Then I fired up the SCAG and started cutting the back yard. It is about three acres of grass with weeds mixed in. Took about 3 hours or so as I had to run over everything twice. Those little stems lose their leaves, but remain standing. Takes a second swipe to make them go away.

Then out came the chainsaw to get some firewood for her bonfire. I managed to touch the driver’s side door of the truck with the spinning chain and removed some paint. After I got a good load in the bed, I decided to go look around some. That was when I saw this white hog. He had gonads and was nibbling acorns. We were about 15 yards apart and he would look over at me ever so often, but pretty much was gobbling his fill. I stood there for about five minutes and finally he waddled off. I would say he was about 100 pounds.

I had noticed all the dredging they have managed to do. The ground is just ripped up. At first it wasn’t an issue but now it seems like they are attempting to make a wallowing pit out of the whole place. So I plan to do a little shooting. Not to score meat but to scare them away. I really do not want to fool with a wild hog. However, if the grocers keep decimating my wallet I may have to. Wild hogs have parasites and such and the meat just isn’t near as good. I mean you can make sausage and stuff, but really they just ain’t worth eating.

Hormel sells these pork loins that have been marinated ( BOGO ). About 2” in diameter and come in various flavors. I like to put them in the seus vide bath and let them soak for the day, then roll them around on the charbroiler. I am telling you they are pretty good when done this way. I set the temp of the hot water to about 140 and they come out tender and delicious. I slice them into medallions and serve with rice and veggies. Leftovers get cut and placed atop of our lunch salads. Very simple, very easy.

The seus vide allows the meat to cook at a lower temperature and remain pinkish. There are two ways to kill bacteria and virus and parasites. High temperatures for a short period of time, or low temperatures for a long period of time. Even though most would never eat pig meat that is not cooked to an internal temperature that is high enough to thoroughly cook the meat, you can get away with less doneness in the seus vide. It pasteurizes the meat internally. This is how you get a great piece of meat.

The trick is to use really good bags as some will leech out chemicals when heated. I researched all that and when I read that ZipLoc brand freezers bags were considered good, stopped reading. Knockoff chinese made bags that are cheap are the bad ones.

It is an easier way to cook than the crockpot because there is no mess to scrub away at. I buy a chuck roast and it becomes a huge ribeye steak. Maybe even better flavor, too.

We eat salads for lunch. I go soooooooooooo tired of eating ham sandwiches. Switching meats did not help either. So now it is salads. I chop up leftover meat, or add hardboiled eggs. Tuna and canned chicken. Seems everything works atop a salad. Steak, pork, chicken. I like to grill chicken tenders and add those. Sometimes i just chop up some of her lunch meat. She likes turkey to munch on and it adds well.

BTW- If you see a turkey……better get him. The bird flu wiped out millions of birds and so far they are not sure if there will be any ready in time. Grain feed is $500 a ton, so not much incentive to grow any birds either. The huge farms in Michigan are where the losses occurred. I heard it was wild geese flying in with the flu that spread it. Our suppliers are not talking about whether or not they can even get us birds. Gonna be a different kind of Thanksgiving.

There was a similar flu in 2015, but we had birds. So it may all work out, but like I said if you see birds, buy them right then.

[DockShootinJack]

Certainly going to be interesting times

[Micanopy]

So I keep checking the tracking on my USPS package. It clearly said Thursday for four days in a row. Now tracking no longer shows that. Rather it no longer offers an estimate. I guess that means Monday. Why do they tease me like that ? Why not just say- Hey fella, we will get it to you when we feel like it. Be honest.





This is a little jig I tied while waiting for my Metz Magnum Grizzly Cape. Not too shabby but I want real grizzly hackle for sides and a tail. When tied onto streamer flies it seems to mimic a swimming minnow. I want to explore that. It interests me. I want my order. I have already made up about 30 jig heads all ready to go. The one above has eyes that I made.


Been watching YTube videos showing fly tiers making various flies. I troll so am mostly interested in streamers and darters and such. Many flies are designed to sit atop the surface of the water like an unfortunate bug. I like the flies that look like baitfish swimming past. One of the most effective additions to a streamer type of fly is grizzly hackle running down each side. The barred look offers the appearance of a swimming minnow’s body. An effect if you will.

Feathers offer some movement as well. I am planning to explore the addition of a single feather tail to see if I can get it to waggle about while being pulled. Want to try grizzly hackle running down each side, Want to try hackling feathers behind the head. Want to see if I can fashion up a Mare-A-Boo belly and add grizzly hackle down the sides. Lots of options for me to explore.

Tricky knowing what type of hackle to acquire, and I may have done it incorrectly. I read and watched videos and made my best guess. Some people fashion fly type bodies to their jigs, most make the standard crappie jig. Head, chenille, tail feather thingie. I want to see how little chenille I can get away with and how much feather I can bring to bear.

Anyways……



We are having a Halloween Party this Saturday. Big Doings round my dump. She has the entire place decorated and ready to go. I have the yard ready, and plenty of firewood to burn in the bon fire. She has a bunch of games planned and ready to go. I have to go to the grocery store and obtain some items. I want to make deviled eggs, and some hard boiled and made to look like eyeballs. I plan to smoke some ribs and make a display like a body has been partially eaten. She bought some kind of Asian fruit thing that is supposed to stink like rotten flesh. She got some liver and some 100 year old eggs. The rest will be finger foods. Little nibblers here and there. I can make crab balls and shrimp cocktail. My famous smoked chicken drumsticks with teriyaki sauce. The hardest part is choosing beers. Used to be a man could simply get some Budweiser and be done. Now everyone wants that sissy beer stuff. $15 a six pack for sissy stuff. Then nobody drinks it because it sucks, but I better have it handy should they want it.

She wants to have challenges followed by the consumption of something gross. I want to have challenges followed by the consumption of candy. We will have guests spending the night, which means I have to make Sunday breakfast ( no fishing ). Been fogging skeeters pretty good. It is gonna be fun and I plan to be in bed early. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz……..

[DockShootinJack]

Saw a video one a deer hair fly made to look like a baby bluegill. It was quite impressive

[Micanopy]

When they are a-biting…..any old jig will do. Other times not so much. Good fishermen claim that that is when being able to offer them options, can carry the day. I believe that, too. I doubt that there is a perfect lure out there, waiting to be discovered. A few almosts might exist and that is my goal. To design an almost.


Shipment is now unlocatable.

[DockShootinJack]

Something they haven't seen and they will wear it out

[Micanopy]

Happy Halloween



I am still waiting for my new materials. Bored to tears, so I made a couple anyways.




Her party was well attended and everyone had a great time. We are happy with the results. I learned something new. One of her co-workers showed up and he had two beautiful girls with him. He is scheduled to be marrying one of them next week. I thought they were lovely people, and then after they left I heard that they are polyamorous. Which I learned means multiple people all involved with one another. Hmmmmmmm……so this guy has like several women he is involved with, decides he is gonna marry one of them, and she doesn’t expect him to see her as his exclusive lover. There was another that wasn’t there as she was on a date with her boyfriend.

All I want to know is where were these girls when I was single ? There are at least one other dude so it gets confusing. However, they were the nicest people and were complimentary about everything we had prepared for them. I fixed smoked chicken drumsticks with a teryaki glaze. Deviled eggs of course. I had sushi set out which I bought. I made a pair of charcuterie boards. These are made of stone and I put them in the freezer. Then after I layer cured meats and cheeses on them, the stone keeps everything cold. I made Lil Smokies. Had some fresh fruit set around. The girls made a punch that was pretty good. I had a nice assortment of beers and wine and liquors and no one got drunk.

My nephew and his girl spent the night and Frog crashed on our sofa. Next morning I got up and cleaned everything up and started making breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast, juice and coffee. Then after noon everyone had headed home and I could relax and watch some football. Well sort of watch. I mean I was tired.

I am glad that is over. She has the day off and her mother is coming over to see the decorations. The. I get to take all that stuff down and start installing……wait for it…..wait…..the $850 of wallpaper she just had to have. Uggghhhhh……. I lied when I said I thought it would look nice. It is gonna look horrible and I am gonna botch the installation bad. Certainly I will.

[DockShootinJack]

Happy Halloween.

Think of the wallpaper is one giant crappie jig. You will do a great job with it

[Micanopy]

I thought I heard something behind me, but it was just some leaves rustling. Sure of it.






My order arrived.





Beautiful feathers. Long and whispy. Grizzly barred. As I removed them from the package, I spied a loosey left behind. I grabbed it and made my very first jig using the material. Check it out.





I am gonna try again, and do it another way. The stems have a nice consistency and the width of the feathers will work well with jigs. The jig looks like it would have some action to that tail while being trolled.

Too much chenille right……