Missing Posts Found

Scroll down past a few of the recent posts to find two posts that disappeared while I was working on them. I did not know that they had been saved without my knowing. Live and learn. You would think that my smart daughter would have clued the "Old Man" into the fact that posts don't really disappear, that they can be found if one clicks on "edit" posts. Since she knows a whole lot more about this blogging business than do I, I know she had to know that. Didn't she????? Hmmmm. But then she probably never makes a posting error and never has had the need to edit a previous post. Now I ponder the possibilities, but think I will start reading another James Doss novel. Maybe even tie a few flies.

My wife believes that success is not a destination, but a continuous journey. Is she right?
Papa Coyote loves you all

Fishing and Observing

Since the last post Papa Coyote has been fishing twice, but the fish suffered little discomfort from his actions. Saturday Perry, Jim and I caught several smallmouth bass on the Oxbow Reservoir in Hell's Canyon. Wednesday Jim and I traveled north of McCall and walked two miles into Pearl Lake. The wildflowers were blooming profusely. We saw arnica, mint, glacier lily, shooting star, red monkey flower, huckleberry (berries not yet ripe), dwarfted huckleberry (berries not yet ripe), columbine, elepahant head, two different ranunculus, lupine, fireweed, parrot's beak, heath, red Indian paint brush, yellow Indian paint brush and magenta Indian paint brush, elderberry, spirea, bluebell, mountain penstemon, and a few that I have forgotten the name of and will have to look up. We hiked in the day after a hard rain and saw only one species of mushroom and wouldn't you know, I could not find it in my mushroom book. Drats! We only caught three cutthroats at Pearl, but had several other fish on. The fishing was slow. I did have one really large fish on for about four seconds, but could not hold him. The Fish and Game has cut way back on stocking mountain lakes in Idaho. They used to stock most lakes every two or three years with about 600-900 fingerling. Some lakes were stocked every year and some lakes were stocked with more fish than the usual 600-900. Now they are stocking every three or four years and they are only stocking about 250-300 fish per drop. I suppose now that they know that Otto and I are not going fishing several times a year, they can afford to cut way back on the stocking program. The real reason is probably the escalating gas prices and the department is looking for ways to cut back and save money and mountain lake stocking has been one program chosen to be cut back. For those of you who might not know, fish are not native to the mountain lakes of Idaho. All the lakes have to be stocked by air and those lakes in the Wilderness that were not stocked prior to the passage of the Congressional Act that created the Frank Church of No Return Wilderness Area cannot now be stocked. So once in awhile one will come upon a beautiful lake that looks like it will be great fishing, but it will be completely devoid of fish. I took the camera on both of these fishing trips, but forgot to take pictures. Dumb! Dumb!! Dumb!!!

I have included pictures of the some of the denizens that can be found on or near the house. The barn swallows have hatched and are looking out over their world (and mine). Their nest is attached to the northeast corner of the house overlooking the pond. I was able to get some pictures of the fish that mostly hide under the lily pads. Feeding does seem to draw them out and they are becoming a less shy.

In the first picture of the pond, if you will look in the upper left corner, you will see the largest of the black fish that are in the pond. He is just to the left of the gold fish that you can more clearly see. In the third picture you can see several of the small black fish that have mysteriously appeared in the pond. This picture is taken with a flash at night. In the last picture you can see three of the large goldfish and one orange koi in the upper left of the pond. I have only ever put goldfish and koi in the pond, so we don't know what these black fish are all about.

You all have a wonderful day now,

Papa Coyote

Updating What the Place Looks Like in the Middle of July

I can hardly believe this. I had thought I lost this post when the computer shut down one night just before I intended to click on the save box. I went to edit the last post (include three more wildflowers that I had just remembered seeing) and found two posts that I thought had gone poof. I take back the Bah Humbug!


You might remember the pictures taken of M floating in the pool on his visit with us a few weeks ago. When we returned from taking him back to his Mom and Dad and brothers, we found the pool in this semi-collapsed state. Big flood! The inflatable ring at top gave out. I don't know the extent of the damage yet because I have been busy with other stuff.

Right across the lane looking due north is a wheat field. These fields have turned and will be harvested in 2-3 weeks. It will then be really dusty around and in the house. There is no keeping the dust out of a house that was built in 1922, but I do appreciate a house that can breathe. The house was built by a guy who had split with his wife. I don't think a divorce was involved, but he or she could not stand to live with one another anymore. So he built two identical houses. Really pretty well done. When we moved into this house the other identical house was situated at the corner of Crystal and Glascock, a quarter mile down the lane to our east. At the time we moved-in in August of 1972, the house was lived in by the Petersons but they gave up on it and moved into a trailer (not a double-wide) set beside the house. Later the house mysteriously went up in flames. I don't insinuate that there was any hanky-panky, but the house was very dry, unlived in and it just went up in flames. Ours is still standing and hopefully will remain in such condition for several more years.

Looking cross the lane from our house toward the town of Weiser which is five miles away and the nearest town. Onions are growing in this field. All the other fields surrounding our house are planted in soft white winter wheat this year. Farmers are expecting a good price--maybe $12 a hundred weight.

Looking along the west side of the house. We have lots of sunflowers again. I went through and hacked the weeds out that were growing among the sunflowers. There were not many weeds. Now that the sunflowers are so big, no more weeds will get a start. Sunflowers make for a great way to control weeds and also provide privacy from the road. Weeds grow really well in SW Idaho.

Our house is really in there some place. The shade in the afternoons is a real blessing. But I spend many hours in the autumn raking leaves. There really is no free lunch.

Another view of the front of the house. The border of hostas show well in this picture.

Front of the house. Picture does not show the border of hostas very well, but these were all divided and replanted this spring. In three years I will divide again and have no place to put the 75 or so plants that I will then have available. Anybody want hostas in three years? I have always loved bleeding hearts since I was a toddler. Mom and Dad had them planted in front of our house at 4211 N. Howard and on the north side. When we bought our own house, I wanted to have Bleeding Hearts, so I do.

I had seven yards of red bark delivered and so stayed around the house while Gramma J went to Boise. I wanted the bark dumped in a certain place. Turned out that the truck driver is the fiancee of the girl Jane is making the wedding dress for. By the time I took the picture I had moved seven wheelbarrow loads to an area around the birch tree in front of the house. I worked on this for a couple of hours and then stopped so as not to work in the heat of the day. I will work on this for the next two mornings and think I will have it done. I am trying not to come up with too stiff a back by only working 2-3 hours a day shoveling this stuff. Got the job done in three days, but am going to have to get another four yards.

It has been hot around here. L knows how to cool off.

Gramma J went shopping yesterday in Boise and stopped by to visit D's family. We have a new driver in the family. She is two and can run that battery powered ATV given to her by Cousin Carley.

The big trees that you see pictured with the house are oak trees given to us by one of my all time favorite people, Harry Zanks. He has departed from this world, but he is one of the folk that made the world a better place in which to live while he was here. The trees are part of his legacy, my effectiveness in the classroom and on the baseball field or volleyball court and children who benefited from my skills and efforts are a more important legacy of Harry Zanks. I know he is with his Maker as he would believe because a few minutes before his death he was fishing on a dock at a small pond in the fog. His daughter came to the pond to video him on a whim that early morning and just as she started the video the sun was rising and the fog lifted in such a way that a shaft of light lit up the sliver of dock upon which he sat and of course lit him up. SuZ was filming from behind him and above on the bank of the pond. He did not know she was there. When she returned home, a few miles, she was called and told to get back to the pond as fast as she could because her father was dead. He had caught a fish and while holding it to remove the hook he fell back and died immediately. A man who often fished on the dock at the same time in the morning as Harry had just set foot on the dock and witnessed his death. The video that SuZ took that morning was played at Harry's funeral. It was pretty moving to see that video knowing of all the good works Harry had done in his life. He had become a lay priest in the Catholic Church after his retirement.

Papa Coyote has to go but is feeling good about recovering this posting. I added some, but it mostly was written a week and a half ago.

Miscellaneous

One of our favorite friends, Laura, was married in Massachusetts on July 9. We wish you the best of luck in your marriage and that you have a wonderful life, henceforth. Life sure has been good so far because of your wonderful parents and your great work ethic, talent and compassion for people. Well, probably better give sister Lynn some credit, too. She is pretty special! With your MA from the New England Conservatory of Music, you are well prepared! Go get 'em, girl!!
Bring your new hubby back to Idaho and we will get him into the mountains at 9,000-10,000 feet and see if he can keep up with you.

Laura on a poster announcing her Senior Recital at the Univ. of Washington. She was sooooooo good!

Laura fixing dinner at Baron Lakes, Sawtooth Mtns

Laura, father John, and Lynn on a horse packing trip into the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho 2002. Laura and her Dad actually climbed over those peaks and onto the other side after this picture was taken. Papa Coyote and Lynn lazed around a lake at the base of those peaks and sent encouragement to those two by mental telepathy.

I sat down to update this blog, but decided to check to see if there were any comments made on any previous blogs. Troutbirder commented which caused me to take a detour to his blog which I always enjoy reading. He has a great post about memories which has given me an idea for a future post about Harry Zanks and our oak trees. Well, after making some comments on a few of his posts, I had to check the comments others had made to his posts. That got me off on another tangent to Connecticut where I was sidetracked into making another comment. An hour later I am back to the task. Not having to prepare lessons, grade homework or tests, figure grades, or contact parents leaves time for these enjoyable little detours in life. I am even learning about some birds around the country.

I don't have pictures, but I have been tying flies. I have learned from Indian Head Fly Fisher members about using CDC. That is the feather that is found on the ducks waggle tail. The duck preens those feathers to get oil that he can spread on to other feathers. At least I think that is the correct fact. Anyway the feathers are known to be super bouyant and able to keep a dry fly on the surface much longer than other feathers. I have been tying mayflies and caddis patterns using CDC and there is a learning curve here. I never liked curves much because they were so hard to hit when I played baseball, so, I became a pitcher and learned to love the curve. I don't know what that has to do with learning to tie flies with CDC feathers, but I thought I would throw that bit of biographical information in just because the reader can now know a little bit more about me. I had a pretty good 12-6 curve that I could throw at two different speeds and a devastating slider that I taught to my pitchers during my coaching career. Six of the seven kids that I coached that were drafted by Major League teams were pitchers. Not bad for a school of about 350.

What else? oh yeah, I am stupid. Well, that is not really a revelation, but I just spent $306.96 to buy seven yards of red-dyed bark to be delivered tomorrow morning. That means I will have this load dumped on the apron of my garage and proceed for the next few days (in 90+ degree heat, we don't have much humidity in Idaho--whew! I use to live in Indiana until I graduated from high school and I don't miss that humidity at all) to carry, by wheelbarrow, all seven yards to various points in our yard to spread over those areas that I have covered with weed barrier cloth. I have removed the old bark that I spread nine years ago (it had really broken down and made a great compost for various flower beds and under the Ponderosa Pine). Now this is going to be a lot of work (hopefully I will lose some poundage because son D is finding some time away from work to accomppany me hiking into some mountain lakes next month) and I am going to lose out on some serious fishing time and I still have not caught a fish this year. Geez! I really am dumb!

J and I have really got into reading James Doss books so I have put in an order with Amazon for six more Doss books. I can hardly wait. I just finished a J.A. Jance mystery. Might not have been bad if I had not just got done reading three of Doss's books. That was a mistake. Should have read Jance first. Now, I don't think I will ever read another Jance book. Just too cookie cutter. Characters are not developed well and the author does nothing to create a reason to really care about her characters. At least that is my point of view, not that anybody probably really cares.

Until the Amazon order arrives I am reading a biography of the Arapaho Chief Left Hand. He was a remarkable human being faced with a terrible crisis as his people's way of life was destroyed by the onrushing white people. I try to think how I would have dealt with the problems people faced in the biographies I read, (Walk a Mile in Another's Moccasins) but I don't know how I would have managed. I have great admiration for the leaders of the various tribes during the late 1800's. Well, even now. They still have huge problems with which to deal.

Gramma Jane came and closed the door on me sometime ago so she could get some sleep. Guess I had better go read a chapter about Left Hand and get up and get ready to haul bark---one wheelbarrow at time. Man, what have I done!

Love you all,

Papa Coyote loves you all. Yeeeeeeeeoooooowwww!

Indian Head Fly Fisher Club at Work

Club members were busy teaching 8-13 year olds (and, of course, by default, their mothers) how to tie flies and cast flies with a fly rod. We found that 8 and 9 year old boys are probably too young to teach to tie flies, but they did fairly well with the casting part. I worked with a 13 year old boy who was casting 50 feet by the second day of instruction. That is quite an accomplishment. He is also picked up tying flies pretty well and has even built his own box to hold his fly tying stuff. Pretty cool. His ten year old sister picked up casting real well and also ties flies well. We converted the whole family into fly fishing and they intend to attend our meetings. We had a cute 8 year old blonde girl that picked up on the fly tying and casting real well. So those two mornings were fun. After finishing today's session we went home for lunch and then five of us drove over to the Owyhee River to help Eastern Oregon Fish Biologist, Ray Perkins, unload 12,000 six inch rainbow trout into the river. That was a lot of fun. The air temperature was 100 degrees and the water temperature was 52 degrees. It is wierd to have the feet too cold and the neck too warm! You can see the pictures. Perry was leading me to a hole to watch feeding browns while we waited for the truck to arrive from Sisters, OR. We had to pass through a huge dense growth of brush and wild alfalfa when I said, "Perry, we are standing in poison ivy." Yeah, we were!!! He had long pants on I had shorts and river sandals. I was about a foot and a half into the patch and the leaves were touching all over my feet and legs. I have always been real good during my first 64 years to avoid poison ivy by being pretty watchful. I have heard that ten percent of people are immune to it, but I never really wanted to find out if I was one of the ten percent. I think that I am. At least, I never got itchy, nor do I have a rash and I was most assuredly in contact.

First time I have ever used a net to put fish into the water. I have always used the net to take fish out of the water. On Sept. 8 and 9 the biologist will shock the river to determine how many of the 40,000 three inchers planted on June 3rd and how many of the 12,000 six inchers we planted today survive. Club members said that those big 18-28 inch browns were in a feeding frenzy with those three inchers being dumped into the river. Made them think of videos of piranhas feeding that they have seen on nature shows. A guide had two clients fishing below the bridge where we dumped half of the fish. They just quit fishing and moved above the bridge because the browns suddenly shifted from small mayflies to six inch fish. The Owyhee is considered by many fishermen to now be the premiere brown trout fishery in the world. One can certainly see people from all over the world fishing there. Fish that are caught are usually over 20 inches and the good fisherman often can catch ten or more fish in a half day. I am not one of those good fishermen. So, Troutbirder, pay attention to this post if you are looking for a really exciting place to fish and to test your skills. This is a catch and release fishery for browns, but RB can be kept. I talked to a fisherman this spring during the club's clean up day on the river who had caught a 7 pound RB that morning. He was pretty jacked because it took him a half hour to land the fish. He released it. If you Google images for Owyhee River brown trout, you can see lots of pictures and read lots of accounts of fishing the Owyhee. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dreamsonthefly.com/idapwr.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dreamsonthefly.com/owyhee.html&h=227&w=302&sz=9&hl=en&start=15&tbnid=1bPcc2LG3u-06M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3DOwyhee%2BRiver%2BBrown%2Btrout%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4RNWN_enUS237US237

I just provided one of the sites picked at random.

Gramma J and I have found a new author who writes somewhat in the style of Tony Hillerman, but we think even better. He has humor in the manner of Patrick McManus, but is a better story teller than either Hillerman or McManus in our opinion. Not much better, but a little. He sets his stories on the Southern Ute Reservation in SW Colorado and his main character is a 7 foot tall Ute Indian who is an owner of a very large cattle ranch and a special investigator for the southern Ute tribe. He has a very old reclusive aunt who is a Ute shaman so there is some of the mysticism of the Utes worked into the stories just as Hillerman works into his stories some of the mysticism of the Navajo people. We find the stories to be very entertaining, so I have to leave you now and go read more of the Butterfly Woman. Oh, yeah, the author's name is James Doss.

Pape Coyote is still loving you all,

Good Night

Bah Humbug!

Yesterday morning I spent an hour and one half posting pictures taken during our recent trip to Newberg and wrote an account of our visit with daughter and her family. Just as I was pressing the left side of the mouse to publish the posting little red letters say that I am not connected to the internet. It was too late, I had already clicked! And that was the end of the post. It just disappeared. I don't know if I will try to recreate that posting. I hate to do things a second time. Now I have to get my fly tying stuff together and a fly rod and reel so that I can go help members of the Indian Head Fly Fishers Club instruct a group of 4-H 'ers about the intricacies of tying flies and learning patience (one learns patience by casting with a fly rod). Perry informed me that we were also doing some kind of instruction at the library on tying flies to another kids' group at 2:30 in the afternoon. Glad I went to the Little Theater's annual picnic board meeting in the park so that I could find out how I was spending today. Well, I need something to do now that I am retired. Hahahahaha. Did you know that serious fly fisher people press down the barb on hooks so that the hook is barbless? The theory is that by doing so the lives of fish can be saved allowing them to be safely returned to live yet another day. I have come to believe that the real reason for smashing down the barb is so that fly fisher people can get the hook out of their clothing or worse when a devilish wind swirl blows the flying hook onto an errant course. Also, works great when fishing with children. It is a lot easier to get a barbless hook out of fingers, etc. I recommend barbless hooks for all kinds of fishing.

Papa Coyote loves you all,

Gramma and Papa Coyote Journey Westward to Return M to His Family

Gramma Jane and Papa Coyote returned M to his den and visited with S and R and the boys. While S and Gramma went fabric shopping on Saturday R, the boys and I went to a camera shop in Portland so that R could to some comparative shopping for a SLR digital camera. When his pickup sells (Good News: the pickup sold and R has his new camera--Yahoo) , he intends to buy a camera with some of the money. Anybody interested in a good Ford 150 PU? I think it is a '92 or 93 full size pu with shell and autotrans. We then rode the Portland streetcars and Max to travel to Powell's Bookstore and Whole Foods were we caught a lunch. Then onto Pioneer Square to see a collection of electric powered cars on display. We then walked the waterfront for awhile. When the women finished fabric shopping, we met them for dinner at the Whole Foods in one of those other myriad of small (really big by Idaho standards) towns around Portland. On the 4th July we attended a Berry Festival at a berry farm. J and I brought back six quarts of berries (we picked). The low light of that day was the sickening thud of the motorcycle rider and his wife cruising down the highway and hitting a van pulling out of the farm. Both of the motorcycle riders eventually picked themselves off the pavement, but I bet they were very sore come Saturday. I did not take pictures, so no yellow journalism today!

R and S bought a big pack of safe and loud fireworks for the 4th. We combined with the next door neighbors to have a fun evening of firing off fireworks. M learned that one can still have fun with fireworks without Uncle D. Four neighbors at the end of the block used yellow caution tape and closed off the street to through traffic, brought out the tables, chairs, barbecues, backyard games and fireworks and had a great time. Since the sheriff lives on the street there was no sense in anybody complaining to the local officials. I only noticed one car having to backup and turn around to use a different route.

I think that Gramma J and Papa Coyote did our grandparental jobs of thorougly spoiling M and then sending him home for the inevitable readjustment to real life. Hope we did not make it too hard for the parents. Gramma J's mother use to tell her when she misbehaved (hard to believe, huh?, J misbehaving) that she would get it twice as bad when she had kids. J used to say the same thing to her daughter. Now, I am having a hard time believing S was really all that bad because she is enduring some serious grief some days. But, J likes to say that I was in lala land when the kids were at home, so what would I know.? Yeah, Right!!


Love your neighbor and do unto others as you would have them do unto you,

Papa Coyote

Cub's Last Day with Papa Coyote and Gramma

This will be the last posting before debarking tomorrow to return M to his Mom and Dad and brothers. We have enjoyed him. Who else but a nine year old can catch an 8" planted trout and say, "Grandpa, it's huge!" while reeling his catch in? My old buddies catch a 22" brown trout non-chalantly and then after a fifteen minute fight release it to fight another day.
Not that I don't like my old buddies, but the change of fishing partners is pretty refreshing.

When it is really not outside, like 101 degrees, M knows how to find relief. Either go to the basement where it is about 68 degrees and play while Gramma J is sewing new outfits for him, or go outside and laze around in the pool on pool floaties. Of course, when outside he has to put up with the Trickster who has a garden hose all to close for comfort. (I have not used it once upon him, I swear). He can be much more relaxed with his trustworthy Gramma J even if she keeps reminding him to quit scratching.

I have included pictures of the white daisies blooming and the lily pad blooms in the pond. Unfortunately, this hot weather is bringing forth the algae bloom in the pond, also. And you might ask what happened in the living room. M's favorite thing to do here at our house is to gather all the cushions, even the ones in the basement, then make various structures that he can crawl in and out of and even collapse them on Papa Coyote. That may well be his all time favorite thing to do---collapse two-story cushion structures on Papa Coyote. Oh, My Aching Back!

We went to the high school grounds to fly M's new gliding plane. He can toss it about 90 feet on a good toss. He took a look at the rubberized track (the company that installed it is located in Tualitan) and decided to run a quarter mile. This is at noon on a day that is predicted to see 101 degree temperatures. He marks the time on his watch and takes off. He has to walk about a third of it but finishes with a strong 100 yard run in a time of 2 minutes and 29 seconds. I thought that was decent for a nine-year old on a hot day.

I have to go move the water around. When it is this hot, the yard needs extra water in some places.

May the smoke blow in the other guys eyes and all your trails be slightly down hill,

Papa Coyote

It Is Time to Talk about Government

Okay, Okay, I know I have lost most of the readers, but it is time to talk about government. Those who know me know that I think our government is broken since the coup of 2000 by James Baker and the U.S. Supreme Court who then handed the reins (reins and reigns, notice how similar these two words are?) of government over to Dick Cheney. There is much that I can say about that, but I want to relate a more personal story. About the time that we taxpayers were to receive our stimulus checks (gas money to be ultimately pocketed by Cheney, Bush, and the oil crowd), J and I received a $4 Treasury Warrant from the U.S. Treasury. No letter of explanation, just 4$. You can imagine my dismay and the thoughts that rambled around my head. I took the warrant to our trusty tax accountant (Bruce) who looked up the records as to what overpayment we might have made on taxes. None! Just as he knew because he had prepared the taxes. He said, "You really did not get any letter of explanation!?" "No," was my reply. But I did get two letters of explanation about the stimulus check we were about to receive which really ticked me off because the government was spending $141 million of our tax payers' money to tell us something that any ignoramus that had a heartbeat would know from all the discussion in the news media and general water cooler talk. Bruce checked the schedule and said, "Well, your $1200 warrant is being sent out today. You should receive it in 2-3 days." He was right on. "So," I says, "What do I do with this $4 warrant?" He told me to spend it. So I did. I have no idea why I got that four dollars and hope the government does not come after me for bamboozling them out of their four dollars.

Now the other part of the story. Because I had made too much money in 2007 by teaching at Fruitland High School for two hours a day, I had to give part of the Social Security money back. I was good with that and went in to the Social Security Office in Ontario, OR, to notify them immediately the month that I went over. I got lectured about not telling them that I would go over last January at the beginning of the year. I told them that I did not know if I was going to teach another year at that time, but Esmerelda (the clerk at the desk) thought it was a pretty lame excuse for not doing my duty. I showed her what I owed and suggested that the next check be for $900 + rather than the full $1315 that I should get. She said okay. Alright. That seemed okay, since I had the month before had a letter from the SSI that they were going to deduct $2200+ from my credit card account to recover what they had overpaid me. God! What a mess. This misunderstanding came about because Esmerelda did not understand the nature of teacher's contracts and could not fathom a contract running from Sept.--August. All contracts according to her ran from Jan.-Dec. and I was not going to get away with lying to her about that. So the next month (Nov, 2007) I am expecting a check for $900+. I get no check at all. Back to Esmerelda, who at this time is being referred to by me as "That Bitch." (behind her back, you understand) I ask her why I did not get a check as we seemed to have agreed upon and she said that the SSI does not issue partial checks. It is either none or all. I explained that policy was cheating me of $333 and I had a print out of the exact mathematics of the issue. I gave her the printout. I had used the SSI website which had my exact problem figured out with different numbers. She allowed that there was no such problem like that on the website. I gave her the URL for the website and that really drew a scowl. I said, "Is there someone here that I can appeal your decistion to?" Her answer, "NO! and it will do you no good to appeal out of the office. I am following SSI policy."

So I get on the phone the next day (that can be a real circus of waiting and waiting or being told that the lines are too busy to take calls) and talked to a lady who said I could appeal the decision and sent me a form to do so. Five days later I have the form. I fill it out, but the envelope that was sent with the form was addressed to the Ontario, OR. Oooops! I sent the form and waited a month for a reply. I can imagine that Esmeralda tore the form up and trashed it. She really does not like me and I am such a nice guy. A real enigmatic person this Esmeralda. I call the Social Security hotline again and say it has now been a month and I have not heard about my appeal. "Oh, that my take a few months" I call a month later, "Oh, you haven't heard, well, that might take another month." I tried the next month and the month after that, but neither time could I get person. I was just told that the lines were busy and I should try calling at another time. I think that is the automatic response when the caller ID kicks in that the caller is a "crackpot."

Meanwhile, I told Bruce about my issues with the Social Security Office and about That Bitch. He says, "Do you know who the clerk is?" I told him that her name is Esmerelda. He told me that he has a client whose handicapped daughter is entitled to SSI assistance, but Esmerelda blocked his claim and he has not been able to get an appeal. Something always goes wrong with paper work in Ontario.

So, I am looking at my online bank account today and see that I have a $334 deposit by the SSI. I can't believe it. It just showed up and a dollar extra to boot. No explanation! No eating crow! Just my $334. I am happy and I hope That Bitch got fired!!!! But the system ultimately did work. Wow!

A very nice lady (Chariman of District Nine Democratic Party) called me last night and tried her best to talk me into running for a House of Representatives seat challenging the incumbent who is the Speaker of the Idaho House. I very nicely told her that I could not do that. I ran in 1980 and lost by 152 votes in an election where 10,00o votes were cast. But, runnnig campaigns is expensive and in our area of Idaho the voters don't elect Democrats or moderate Republicans, so I just could not be talked into wasting my money or valuable fishing and hunting time. The worse case scenario would be that I might get elected and I really don't like Conservative Republicans (they lie and cheat, really) and would have to serve in the legislature with them.

I have some work to do on the pond,
Papa Coyote loves you all.

And.....More Fishing and Catching

The morning was to begin at 6:00. Why six? Haha because M always gets up at six,or before, like he has done every morning he has been here and just like he does at home. So of course there is no need to set an alarm unless we want to get up before that. Right!? I roll over at 5:53 and think, "Geez, I had better get up because that rascal is going to jump me in about seven minutes if not a few minutes before that." So, I am up, I get the paper, I get breakfast and M finally makes an appearance at 6:30 and rather sheepishly says, "I don't believe it. I always get up by six except this morning when we are going fishing." He really wanted to be up. No problem. We are on the banks of Paddock by nine and fishing. When we get there we meet an old guy from Nampa with his teen nephew who have been camped there for a few days. He tells us that he had called the F and G and found out that the size and take limits have been dropped since the reservoir is so low that the fish are going to be lost by the end of the year. I tell you that because the first fish M catches is about 3 inches long. A crappie. I unhook it and slip it back into the water. What! M caught that part of the conversation about no limits. "Why did you throw my fish back?" I had to explain that it was just too small to clean. He then catches about a five inch crappie that swallowed the hook (we are using worms), so we keep that fish. Then he catches a six inch bass which he keeps. He had lots of fun catching those. Then it starts getting hot and he wants to go. Good call, M! I say how about one last cast. He was good with that and with that he catches a bullhead. It fought harder than any other fish and even spun out some line past the drag causing the reel to scream. He loved that. As you can see by the picture at the lake the bullhead was a little sand encrusted for picture taking. It was about ten inches long. I hate cleaning catfish, but M was sure not going to be talked into throwing his biggest catch back into the lake. The old guy we talked to at the beginning properly admired M's catch and showed him the proper way to hold a bullhead, but M was having none of that.

So on this trip M has caught rainbow trout, crappie, bass and bullhead---seven fish in all. He was pretty pleased and did a good job of fishing. He says that when he gets big and is a good fisherman, he is going to buy a boat and take me fishing. I am really alright with that. Tomorrow morning M is look forward to a breakfast of two really small crappie filets, two pretty small bass filets and two bigger catfish filets. There is just enough meat there to make a decent fish breakfast for a nine year old.

Gramma J is hand sewing a heavy duty flannel liner into big, heavy sleeping bag for an old Alaskan backwoodswman. He is in Weiser for a month or two visiting, but is heading back up to Alaska soon. Says he needs that big, heavy sleeping bag in the winter and really needed the lining replaced. He found out at the local coffee shop that Gramma J would do such things for a reasonable compensation. J loves his gnarled, wizened look and the long beard.

Papa Coyote is thinking that feet in the swimming pool might be really refreshing and relaxing right now. Oh, I guess after I wash up the kitchen area having fileted those fish.

Papa Coyote loves you all,