Boy oh boy oh boy, summer of 2020 is already starting to exit. There are lots more butterflies on the bushes, birds are gathering, and football practice has started. And many anglers are spooling up with fresh line to prepare for fall fishing. I’ve often said that June and October are my ...
During a quick stop at a local auto parts store last week I heard singing from one of the aisles. I peeked around a corner and saw a store employee singing away while stocking shelves. Always an unapologetic smart aleck I told the young man, “You know, there are America’s Got Talent scouts in the area today!” He looked up and grinned. “Bring ’em on!” he replied. I assured the young man that he had a nice voice and I admired people who sing while they work. He told me he sings while he works all the time. Pointing to an older gentleman in the store, the young man said, ...
Crappies are an interesting fish. In mid and late summer they can seemingly disappear from a body of water that was infested with them just a few weeks earlier. They have a unique appearance: It’s hard to mistake a crappie for a different type of fish. Walleyes look much like sauger, ...
Medicine has come a long way since I was a kid and they used hypodermic needles over and over. If you were the poor soul who got a shot with a blunt needle it felt like the doctor or nurse was driving a 40-penny nail into your arm (or other even more tender portion of the anatomy.) Back in the ’50s we didn’t visit the doctor as often as we do now. To a great extent, our mother was our health care provider and she had some pretty good cures. Chest colds were treated with Vicks VapoRub™. Dad smeared a glob of Vicks on our chests and rubbed it in with his big calloused hand until ...
It started way back at least fifty years ago. That’s when I developed an interest in fishing. In that era, fishing was a summer thing. Not many people fished through the ice in the winter, and we went to school in the spring and fall, so all of the fishing that we did was in the summer. ...
While I was never a “mama’s boy” I had a good relationship with my mother and miss her daily. Mom passed away in November 2018 at the age of 91. Some of my favorite memories of Mom are the words and phrases she used and in my mind I still hear them often. Mom grew up one of 12 children in an impoverished home of immigrant parents during the Great Depression. Her waste-not-want-not upbringing was still alive when I was a kid. Mom was an excellent cook but her menu choices were “Take it or leave it.” I always took it. Mom had no time for finnicky eaters who she called ...
