Campfire on the beach

These last couple days have been somewhat relaxed with a small school of only 12. For the most part it has been uneventful but for the sighting, screaming and general mayhem the resident bear brings to an otherwise perfectly sunny and peaceful day. I am hoping that on the long run this is not going to affect the next few groups too much though I know that this is going to be another pain in the neck to deal with. 

However the day was ended in a truly inspiring fashion with a campfire on the beach, fun songs, new songs and the skits that kept everyone rolling on the floor... some with laughter others rolling to cause the laughter.

At this point I was going to insert a clip of video that I took of the exploits of the beach, however reflecting on it I think that prudence on my part may have me hold off on it for now. But instead a clip from earlier in the year and the towers of rock by the stream.

Or maybe not... I will now endeavor to contact tech support and let them know that for some reason... random sequence of numbers... the file did not indeed load as expected. Rather a bother.

First Blood...

Well blood was spilt but more in the slaughter house than by me but I was certainly part of the latter process. With the weather starting to get somewhat on the nice side a BBQ was in order. Last night I was able to put my canines to use once again as I ripped into a slab of prime USDA meat. It was a free range cow/bull at least thats what the label said and so the fat content was somewhat low, but after a week of marinating in one of my home made concoctions the resulting slab was simply yummy. 

Pain in the neck

I think I slept wrong last night or maybe the stress is getting to me. The kids this week at camp have been on the rough side... a puker each day, beahivoral problems that the teachers seem unable to deal with... not the best group we have had this season but I cant say it has been the worst either. The saving grace to all this has been a staff that has pulled together and continues to come out of the shit storm flung at them looking clean and smelling of roses... with a slight tinge of shit in the air... but give the amount coming at them one can't really fault them for it.

All in all it has given me a pain in the neck and a definite longing for the weekend. I am also counting the days, both in anticipation of the next leg of my journey but also in savoring the last of this leg.

Memories

The last time I got wireless internet quite in this fashion was the summer of 2003... sometimes buildings are built funny. Or maybe the bathroom is where the best thinking gets done... Who knows... its a crazy world. Well off to another week and from the looks of it I am going to have to trouble shoot before breakfast is even on the table.

Update 5/11

Its been an interesting week and weekend, Fire, Rain, Sun, and nary a fish. And not to forget exams.... 

Well our story begins with a fire. All consuming and devastating but thankfully it was only a materiel loss and no lives. A long day and a hundred kids. Hot coco at 5:00 am. 

Then Exams. Early rising, had some packing, running late, no pencils, can't stay awake... rushing essays. Its all good.

Camping, long drive, indecisive, expensive camp ground, cold and rainy, sleeping in the car, 5:30 alarm. Listen to the rain, sleep a little longer. Then sun, warm but windy, big fish in a little stream. Broken rod... well not mine, buddies, but the loss was felt none the less. Do more exploring that fishing but it was All good.

And another week down and a month to go.

The days blur by

The 11th hour of saturday and it has passed by so quickly. Its amazing to me the concept of time and how we perceive it to move faster or slower depending on future events. If it is something we are looking forward to the time seems to be agonizingly slow and yet for other events the time slips by so fast it is hard to know if those minuets, hours or even days actually existed. 

What is time really but a way to demarcate the present from the past and the future. What is now the present in a moment will be the past and what was the future the present. When it all gets laid out time has no meaning other than an implied importance that we give it. 

An evening on the Salt

After many days of cold and windy weather we finally got an evening that was really nice. And to top it off I was able to take some time and get out of the office and enjoy it. Gearing up with waders and fly rod I ventured down to the beach for some therapeutic casting. So far this year I have not seen the big schools of resident blackmouth in the area nor schools of bait-fish in any large numbers. 

Walking along the beach I did see one small school of about 1 inch fry that probably had no more than 50 to 100 individuals. I also noticed that being as it has been sunny and also relatively calm the bioluminescent alga were out in force. It might be real cool out these right now to skip rocks or swirl the water and watch it light up but I am inside writing this discourse and have not figured out how to be in two places at the same time. 

I walked about 200 feet down the beach to a likely looking place, tied on a size 8 brown and white clouser with a little flash in it and started casting. I had made about 40 or 50 casts when as usual I had the line tangle up in my stripping basket and I had to drop the fly short of where I had intended to. Well it took me only a couple seconds to get the tangle undone but as I started to pick up the line to recast I had a pleasant surprise and a strong tug on the other end.

I brought to hand a nice 13 inch Cutthroat trout. It looked really healthy although it did not have much fight to it and I was able to horse it in to the net fairly quickly with my 6wt. All in all a beautiful way to end the week.