Happy 6th Birthday Sophia
We all love you greatly and hope today was a great day.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Lots of Distractions
I've been away for too long suffering from lots of distractions. After 2.5 years working in a cubicle I traded up to an office...for a temporary Director position. I'm hopeful that it will become permanent, but one never knows. I entered the aforementioned cubicle knowing full well it already had a glass cieling upon it and the only way up was if one of the four people above me would choose to move on or retire. I thought I could wait this process out. I could not.
Now I'm on a very short term contract with a local institution of higher eductaion as a Director of a small department. There are so many things to do on the to do list that I'm working like crazy whenever I'm not asleep. I want to get things done and work hard to impress them so that I get to stick around long term and get the full time permanent position.
Looming is our family trip to Yellowstone the last week of June. My previous good planning pace has faltered. I have not advanced the plans for two months now. We have our West Yellowstone reservations and Park exploration plan in pretty good shape. What I'm woefully lacking on now is the two full days of travel each way. What can we do to get out of the rig to stretch our legs? What water can we pass that I can make a few casts and find some eager yet dumb MT/ID/WA trout? I know we will do our share of geocache searching along the route and back. I want to cast a line whenever possible too.
This trip is going to happen, even if I'm on unpaid vacation. That sucks, but not going would be more suckage than I can deal with because the girls are so hyped up for the trip. Speaking of the girls and trips. We are planning a trip to the Yakima as a family in late July. The girls and the Mrs are headed to New England for nearly three weeks in August. Guess who gets to stay home and keep the work schedule running as routine? I'm not bitter...well, maybe slightly, but I need to work more than I need to take this amount of time off.
The only fishing I've done lately has been to row a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing outing where Matt and Dave worked their asses off for no fish on a beautiful day. The fish did not realize that this may have been my last outing with Matt as he's headed home to Upstate NY in the near future. I'll see Dave and fish with him again soon, I hope. Other than that, a couple of quick trips to the local lake of choice to bother the stockers. It works to clear the mind, so I'm thankful for the opportunity and therapy.
Hopefully it all works out well. I could find myself out of a job soon and that would really suck. That could put the Yellowstone trip out of reach because gas alone would break us. Lots of distractions...I'm trying to keep the important things in focus. Those are the girls and the Yellowstone trip and busting my ass to get this gig long term. Everything else will come in due time.
Now I'm on a very short term contract with a local institution of higher eductaion as a Director of a small department. There are so many things to do on the to do list that I'm working like crazy whenever I'm not asleep. I want to get things done and work hard to impress them so that I get to stick around long term and get the full time permanent position.
Looming is our family trip to Yellowstone the last week of June. My previous good planning pace has faltered. I have not advanced the plans for two months now. We have our West Yellowstone reservations and Park exploration plan in pretty good shape. What I'm woefully lacking on now is the two full days of travel each way. What can we do to get out of the rig to stretch our legs? What water can we pass that I can make a few casts and find some eager yet dumb MT/ID/WA trout? I know we will do our share of geocache searching along the route and back. I want to cast a line whenever possible too.
This trip is going to happen, even if I'm on unpaid vacation. That sucks, but not going would be more suckage than I can deal with because the girls are so hyped up for the trip. Speaking of the girls and trips. We are planning a trip to the Yakima as a family in late July. The girls and the Mrs are headed to New England for nearly three weeks in August. Guess who gets to stay home and keep the work schedule running as routine? I'm not bitter...well, maybe slightly, but I need to work more than I need to take this amount of time off.
The only fishing I've done lately has been to row a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing outing where Matt and Dave worked their asses off for no fish on a beautiful day. The fish did not realize that this may have been my last outing with Matt as he's headed home to Upstate NY in the near future. I'll see Dave and fish with him again soon, I hope. Other than that, a couple of quick trips to the local lake of choice to bother the stockers. It works to clear the mind, so I'm thankful for the opportunity and therapy.
Hopefully it all works out well. I could find myself out of a job soon and that would really suck. That could put the Yellowstone trip out of reach because gas alone would break us. Lots of distractions...I'm trying to keep the important things in focus. Those are the girls and the Yellowstone trip and busting my ass to get this gig long term. Everything else will come in due time.
Friday, February 25, 2011
A Wonderful Adventure on the Olympic Peninsula
I had the awesome opportunity to fish with two guides from Twin Bridges MT out on the Olympic Peninsula. Joe comes west and guides for Brazda's Fly Fishing for winter steelhead each year. His friend Seth came along for the road trip and to catch his first Olympic Peninsula Steelhead (formerly catching his share in a variety of other places).
Joe was working on some fly pattern variations and although he was fishing for fun and to re-familiarize himself with the changes in the river he was in full on guide mode. Telling us to fish the patters tight to structure, opting to prefer to see if there were steelhead hiding more than worry about the loss of a few flies or rigs. Seth found a pattern that worked well early on day one, brining a very fine looking steelhead to hand with ease. After a dolly he picked up another steehead in the morning, but then went on a long stretch without fish. I had touched a couple of trout along the way but nothing of size and none that I kept pressure on to get them to the net.
While in the boat moving we were using a two nymph rig, expertly set up by Joe to his very particular specifications. When we found some nice fly swinging water we would anchor at the bank and each of us would work the runs. A few grabs between us, but nothing that stuck.
Back in the boat, nymphing the last stretch before the take out my indicator went down hard. A lift of the rod tip and a nice flash beneath the waters surface and I finally had hooked into a nice fish. A minute or two later we were anchored up, I was out of the boat and Joe was slipping the net under my steelhead. Smaller than Seth's two fish, but the brightest fish of the day and this guy was really excited. There was no hooting and hollering, I kept my composure, acting like I had caught nice fish before...and could do it again too. I was very excited though, heart was pounding, grin was building and after a couple of quick pics having never lifted her from the water this beauty was off to finish her spawning run.
Thank you Joe for the open seat those two days. Thanks to both you and Seth for sharing your time with me. Thanks to Team Brazda for the night in the Bogy House, being welcomed and surrounded by so many fishy friends.
How many more days until I get to head west again?
Seth and friends:
Found a friend of my own:
Joe was working on some fly pattern variations and although he was fishing for fun and to re-familiarize himself with the changes in the river he was in full on guide mode. Telling us to fish the patters tight to structure, opting to prefer to see if there were steelhead hiding more than worry about the loss of a few flies or rigs. Seth found a pattern that worked well early on day one, brining a very fine looking steelhead to hand with ease. After a dolly he picked up another steehead in the morning, but then went on a long stretch without fish. I had touched a couple of trout along the way but nothing of size and none that I kept pressure on to get them to the net.
While in the boat moving we were using a two nymph rig, expertly set up by Joe to his very particular specifications. When we found some nice fly swinging water we would anchor at the bank and each of us would work the runs. A few grabs between us, but nothing that stuck.
Back in the boat, nymphing the last stretch before the take out my indicator went down hard. A lift of the rod tip and a nice flash beneath the waters surface and I finally had hooked into a nice fish. A minute or two later we were anchored up, I was out of the boat and Joe was slipping the net under my steelhead. Smaller than Seth's two fish, but the brightest fish of the day and this guy was really excited. There was no hooting and hollering, I kept my composure, acting like I had caught nice fish before...and could do it again too. I was very excited though, heart was pounding, grin was building and after a couple of quick pics having never lifted her from the water this beauty was off to finish her spawning run.
Thank you Joe for the open seat those two days. Thanks to both you and Seth for sharing your time with me. Thanks to Team Brazda for the night in the Bogy House, being welcomed and surrounded by so many fishy friends.
How many more days until I get to head west again?
Seth and friends:
Found a friend of my own:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Wild Steelhead on the Menu
Seriously?
I have no idea who may happen upon my blog's waste of space on the internet, my means of passing idle time. What I do know is that sometimes you can read something in an abstract location and it can key you in to something you were unaware of before.
Wild Steelhead are threatened or endangered throughout the world. We are talking about wild fish, those not reared in concrete retaining ponds destined to add numbers to the dwindling wild stocks. Those hatchery fish, or commercially farmed fish are designed to be caught, removed from the river system and fed to those interested in the meal.
I'm talking about Wild Steelhead. Those that harvest them, through commercial netting, recreational angling (yes, some places you can catch and keep those...which is wrong...but a different rant) or by tribal gill netting programs are putting pressure on a dwindling resource.
For those that find wild steelhead listed on a menu. Please be responsible, even if you could care less about fish or fishing. Please inqure as to the source of those fish. If they are from a commercial farm raised fish supply often called "wild" they really aren't, enjoy your meal. If the wild fish are truly wild, caught by the tribes in gill nets or commmercial harvesting, please boycot this meal and this establishment until they get the message.
When everyone stops eating wild steelhead, eliminating the demand, then the supply source will dwindle or maybe go away entirely. Save the wild steelhead, they are a precious and rare fish, each spawing run unique to its home watershed. We have already pushed them to the brink of extinction, please prevent them from being pushed further. My children and their children deserve to greet this native creature in its natural habitat, not in some museum.
People who care about the world and its creatures would not eat wild steelhead or tolerate those that do or would. Thank you.
An organization that is focused on preservation of wild steelhead stocks:
Wild Steelhead Coalition
I have no idea who may happen upon my blog's waste of space on the internet, my means of passing idle time. What I do know is that sometimes you can read something in an abstract location and it can key you in to something you were unaware of before.
Wild Steelhead are threatened or endangered throughout the world. We are talking about wild fish, those not reared in concrete retaining ponds destined to add numbers to the dwindling wild stocks. Those hatchery fish, or commercially farmed fish are designed to be caught, removed from the river system and fed to those interested in the meal.
I'm talking about Wild Steelhead. Those that harvest them, through commercial netting, recreational angling (yes, some places you can catch and keep those...which is wrong...but a different rant) or by tribal gill netting programs are putting pressure on a dwindling resource.
For those that find wild steelhead listed on a menu. Please be responsible, even if you could care less about fish or fishing. Please inqure as to the source of those fish. If they are from a commercial farm raised fish supply often called "wild" they really aren't, enjoy your meal. If the wild fish are truly wild, caught by the tribes in gill nets or commmercial harvesting, please boycot this meal and this establishment until they get the message.
When everyone stops eating wild steelhead, eliminating the demand, then the supply source will dwindle or maybe go away entirely. Save the wild steelhead, they are a precious and rare fish, each spawing run unique to its home watershed. We have already pushed them to the brink of extinction, please prevent them from being pushed further. My children and their children deserve to greet this native creature in its natural habitat, not in some museum.
People who care about the world and its creatures would not eat wild steelhead or tolerate those that do or would. Thank you.
An organization that is focused on preservation of wild steelhead stocks:
Wild Steelhead Coalition
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Another Snowy Adventure
Sometimes it takes forever to get the kids up and out of the house. Today I was dragging a bit, just tired and cold. Finally pulled the fishing gear out of the rig from yesterday's failed attempt at New Year's Day fishing. Loaded the backpack, snowshoes, sleds and outerwear for all and I was ready to roll. The girls took about another hour before they were ready.
We arrived at the entrance station of Hurricane Ridge to find a line of about 40 cars. Upper parking lot is full said the friendly ranger. We are letting one up for each one down. The girls watched "Madagascar 2" while we waited. About 40 minutes later, close to 2:30pm, it was our turn.
The road was slick in spots, well sanded in spots and pretty wet in others. I knew the ride down would be slick after the sun dropped below the mountain tops.
The girls suggested we sled first this time, I agreed but wondered if I'm carrying four sets of snowshoes and my backpack for nothing. I was. We got in two full hours of non stop sledding action, each girl slowly getting more brave with each run. Higher and higher they went to start. Tougher routes, bumps and tracks they took. Even Jill and I took a turn or two riding with the girls, but the fun was mostly them sliding and us watching.
The ride down was slick as expected, got a bit fishy in the spots I expected and I was having fun with it. I could tell Jill was not so I slowed down a bit and tried to keep out of hot water.
Back to school tomorrow for them, work for me and Jill will have the house to herself for a bit of the day. I wonder how all of us will do our first day back to our normal routines. We are already contemplating what we might do next weekend...after tryouts with Rising Stars of the Kitsap Children's Musical Theater, of course.
We arrived at the entrance station of Hurricane Ridge to find a line of about 40 cars. Upper parking lot is full said the friendly ranger. We are letting one up for each one down. The girls watched "Madagascar 2" while we waited. About 40 minutes later, close to 2:30pm, it was our turn.
The road was slick in spots, well sanded in spots and pretty wet in others. I knew the ride down would be slick after the sun dropped below the mountain tops.
The girls suggested we sled first this time, I agreed but wondered if I'm carrying four sets of snowshoes and my backpack for nothing. I was. We got in two full hours of non stop sledding action, each girl slowly getting more brave with each run. Higher and higher they went to start. Tougher routes, bumps and tracks they took. Even Jill and I took a turn or two riding with the girls, but the fun was mostly them sliding and us watching.
The ride down was slick as expected, got a bit fishy in the spots I expected and I was having fun with it. I could tell Jill was not so I slowed down a bit and tried to keep out of hot water.
Back to school tomorrow for them, work for me and Jill will have the house to herself for a bit of the day. I wonder how all of us will do our first day back to our normal routines. We are already contemplating what we might do next weekend...after tryouts with Rising Stars of the Kitsap Children's Musical Theater, of course.
Kicking off 2011 in Chilly Family Style
It was pretty cold today when we went out for some fresh air and adventures on the first day of the New Year. The Mrs is really into geocaching and has introduced each of us to this very economical and fun way to add some exploration, hidden treasure and adventure into our lives. It is really a fun way to spend time together. Taking turns as the line leader following the path on the GPS keeps us all engaged. Making suggestions of where we might think the geocache might be found has really kept our interest. It also has made us wonder where we might stash a cache of our own.
Finally today we did. After bungling a cache placement on the 30th of December, because we did not know of another very close pre-existing cache, we had to relocate my first cache. My fly fishing themed cache was found by a fly fishing friend because I had posted the coordinates on washingtonflyfishing.com before the cache was activated by goecaching.com (hence my total bungle). My friend read the coordinates and headed out and found the cache. Today I fixed my mess up. The ladies tracked down the Little Miss Muffet cache while I moved Take Me Fly Fishing to the north by approximately 400'. This put me out of the too close range of the existing cache and with any luck we'll get approval of the new coordinates.
After placing mine, the Mrs took the coordinates and tracked it down. I wanted to make sure that she could get to it and see how the route was. She found it, with a bit of difficulty, but the coordinates seem to be right on the money. Total freeze on the lake prevented me from making this a water craft required cache access, but we rolled with it anyway.
Then we headed toward a few other nearby JeffCo caches. In hand this time was little Sophia's Starter cache. She asked for an ammo can, had me paint black over the white certified empty sticker and she loaded it with a "first to find" prize and some other trading trinkets. She was very focused and impressed me significantly. We found a nice spot for her cache to be placed and she directed me step by step into its proper placement and concealment. My work met her approval, our coordinates are far enough from several other caches and with any luck we will get approval on her cache too.
The other two ladies will have to prepare their caches next...but not tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to return to Hurricane Ridge, this time to snowboard and snowshoe again. Sleds were again mentioned, but as a lazy dad not wanting to have everything in the garage in the back of the truck I asked to leave the sleds at home. I think it will work out. I should be getting my rest. When in snowboard mode, we put them on pretty gentle slopes for now. My job is lift service. I let them stay buckled in and take turns lugging them up the hill, which is a pretty good workout for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me.
Finally today we did. After bungling a cache placement on the 30th of December, because we did not know of another very close pre-existing cache, we had to relocate my first cache. My fly fishing themed cache was found by a fly fishing friend because I had posted the coordinates on washingtonflyfishing.com before the cache was activated by goecaching.com (hence my total bungle). My friend read the coordinates and headed out and found the cache. Today I fixed my mess up. The ladies tracked down the Little Miss Muffet cache while I moved Take Me Fly Fishing to the north by approximately 400'. This put me out of the too close range of the existing cache and with any luck we'll get approval of the new coordinates.
After placing mine, the Mrs took the coordinates and tracked it down. I wanted to make sure that she could get to it and see how the route was. She found it, with a bit of difficulty, but the coordinates seem to be right on the money. Total freeze on the lake prevented me from making this a water craft required cache access, but we rolled with it anyway.
Then we headed toward a few other nearby JeffCo caches. In hand this time was little Sophia's Starter cache. She asked for an ammo can, had me paint black over the white certified empty sticker and she loaded it with a "first to find" prize and some other trading trinkets. She was very focused and impressed me significantly. We found a nice spot for her cache to be placed and she directed me step by step into its proper placement and concealment. My work met her approval, our coordinates are far enough from several other caches and with any luck we will get approval on her cache too.
The other two ladies will have to prepare their caches next...but not tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to return to Hurricane Ridge, this time to snowboard and snowshoe again. Sleds were again mentioned, but as a lazy dad not wanting to have everything in the garage in the back of the truck I asked to leave the sleds at home. I think it will work out. I should be getting my rest. When in snowboard mode, we put them on pretty gentle slopes for now. My job is lift service. I let them stay buckled in and take turns lugging them up the hill, which is a pretty good workout for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ending 2010 Right
Spent the last day of 2010 with all three of the ladies in the wide open spaces of the Olympic National Park. We headed up to Hurricane Ridge to enjoy the crisp clean air on a beautiful day. The sun was shining making the cold temps feel so much more comfortable.
Our trip plan included our first family snowshoe outing. The Mrs and I have snowshoed before, with the girls in tow in either the Chariot on its ski attachments or in a sled. This time all four of us had our snowshoes. Both girls did absolutely awesome. We kicked around below the 8 and under sledding area near the visitor center. Then we headed down the road toward Hurricane Hill. Of course we did not go that far, but we did go a full mile out, took a few photos along the way, and then back. The girls were so awesome the whole day. As a treat for them as they began to lag a bit on the uphil back to the sledding area, I offered to tow them in the sled.
I put their snowshoes on my pack, they got comfortable and I pulled them up the final 1/8 to 1/4 mile. This got me into a bit higher heart rate level so it was good for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me, and got them a bit of rest for some sledding.
I'll post some photos later and try to catch up on the fishing trips from 2010 that I've neglected.
Our trip plan included our first family snowshoe outing. The Mrs and I have snowshoed before, with the girls in tow in either the Chariot on its ski attachments or in a sled. This time all four of us had our snowshoes. Both girls did absolutely awesome. We kicked around below the 8 and under sledding area near the visitor center. Then we headed down the road toward Hurricane Hill. Of course we did not go that far, but we did go a full mile out, took a few photos along the way, and then back. The girls were so awesome the whole day. As a treat for them as they began to lag a bit on the uphil back to the sledding area, I offered to tow them in the sled.
I put their snowshoes on my pack, they got comfortable and I pulled them up the final 1/8 to 1/4 mile. This got me into a bit higher heart rate level so it was good for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me, and got them a bit of rest for some sledding.
I'll post some photos later and try to catch up on the fishing trips from 2010 that I've neglected.
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