I know all of ya'll are wondering about my weekend.

I have discussed prior to last week anniversary presents and such, but due to situations beyond Carol's and my control, we decided to postpone our anniversary celebration until this weekend and add an extra day off work Friday to supplement such a momentous event. As we had discussed in a previous thread, I thought a new pair of Tempress seats will be the perfect gift for my bride of 29 years. After a slight conflict over the color (I had suggested breakup and she didn't think this was a good color for an anniversary present), and she, finding that they did not make boat seats in a heart print, the breakup seats were ordered and arrived in great shape this past week. The only problem was since she beat me to the draw on clicking the order button first, she assumed this her gift to me, not mine to her. So it was back to the drawing board. Being a very smart person, I thought I would get her a very personal gift to show her how much I cared and suddenly it dawned on me. The perfect gift to show my love and devotion. The gift to let her know how much I cared and wanted to her to be around...

Even though I had given it much thought and spent $35 bucks on the perfect gift, a co2 refill for her Mustang inflatable life vest, it did not seem to impress her that much. After showing her the present thursday evening and realizing it did not seem to be that impressive muself , I thought I would install it in her life jacket. I layed the vest out on top of the deep freezer and carefully unpacked and pulled out the old cartridge. I installed the bobbin and picked up the co2 cartridge to load it into the vest. As I carefully inserted it into the vest, my finger slipped off the trigger and WHOOOOSH, a fully inflated vest lay in front of me. Carol said, "at least we know it works" and seemed more impressed with her gift. As I sadly look at the now useless $35 dollar co2 cartridge, a tear rolled down my cheek and made a little frying sound as it dripped on the floor. I must now go on to plan B. Yes, I do believe in being prepared and I did have a plan B, of which I was very thankful to have at my disposal I thought as another tear dripped from my chin and made a little frying sound as it fell to the floor. I did feel really good about my planning inspite of the tears...........

Tears, TEARS DON"T MAKE A FRYING SOUND. What is going on what is making all these frying sounds?

After looking and listening a short time, I discovered the hot water heater was making this strange frying noise. Upon inspection, I found a small leak in the supply line had dripped until it had filled up the indented area where the 240 volt connections were made. The water over top of the connections was trying to conduct the 240vac to ground and having not completely grounded out enough to trip the breaker, was making a nice little frying sound. By then, the hour was late and we were to leave the following morning on our anniversary trip so I patched the water line to make it survive till the following week and dried the electrical connections. We were back in business. Got the frying stopped, got the leak stopped, now where was I? Past the WHOOOOSH? Past the tears? OH YES....Plan B.

Plan B consisted of a Bucks Custom Crappie Rod which I had conveniently put in the shed. The rod was a thing of beauty. 12 feet long built on the same blank as a BGJP. A cork handle and rear seat rounded out the features. Any woman would be proud to say to her friends that she had a BCCR. Not only that, plan B was even bigger than this. After this puchase from Grizzly jig, I ran across a local deal on the last 11' Bucks Best Ultra Light crappie rod they had in stock. The bbul is as light as a feather and with the proper reel, has perfect balance. It also has the finger touch system so you can stay in touch with the rod blank and know what that jig is doing. It is the ultimate in sensitivity so much so if one of those lucky butterlies lands on it, you will know it as well as being able to tell if the butterfly is slightly heavier from having breakfast. But wait, there is more to plan b. I had found online a soft tackle bag and small jig case that ANY woman would just die to have and had added that to my plan B arsennal. With the above 4 items, I was prepared with "the ultimate 29th anniversary offering".

After things had settled from the co2 blow up and the water heater malfunction, I told Carol I had her a few more things. I gave her the BCCR and said I also had a BBUL for her. As she looked at the Bucks Custom Crappie Rod, with a slight frown, she said what's a BBUL and so I began to excitedly tell her all the great features of the second crappie pole. The frown stayed in place and it was at that point I began to think I should have told her that BBUL was another name for me "Big Bundle uh Lovin" and held the real BBUL for another gift at another time. I quickly said "But wait, there's more" while thinking of the soft tackle bag and jig case I was about to give her. She then said "is the other things fishing stuff"? It was then I realized that all fishing stuff for a 29th anniversary present was probably not the best idea. Being born at night, but not last night caused me to think quickly and I said OH NO baby the other two gifts are a purse and a clutch. I then revealed the soft tackle box and the jig case and I began to explain to her. "Look at all the places to put things in this nice "PURSE". You have compartments for the cell phone and keys and change, and ink pens, and pencils, and business cards. It looks like if you had a mind to you could have put a few hooks and maybe a bobber or 2 in there, but who would want do do that with their "PURSE". When she began to smile, I knew I had survived another anniversary.

She was disappointed because the 29th anniversary is supposed to be duck hunting stuff. Should have given her new waders and a duck call.

Dont make her mad. She has cookies to make.

X2