Bigest fear is…

Bigest fear is…

I was asked what my biggest fear was the other day and I responded that the thing that bothered me the most was headaches. I have had bad headaches all my life. Some have lasted for days and most H.A. Meds are useless in stopping them. 

Back in grade school I would have sudden onset headaches would come on about midday and go away late in the afternoon after throwing up. I would look forward to throwing up so I would feel relief. These did not happen often and my teachers figured I had a problem with something I ate.

In junior high one year I was put in a home room with a real witch of a teacher heading it. One week I had 3 bad headaches, 3 days in a row and on the third day the headache got so bad I ask if I could go home.

Mrs. Grant (the witch) pulled me to the front of the class and was telling me in a loud voice, my actions were not acceptable to her and they must stop. I had a wave of nausea as she was talking to me. I started to look around for a waste basket to throw up in. This upset her and came over to me, grabbed my chin, leaned in to my face, and through clinched teeth said loudly “You look at me when I talk to you!”

She just had gotten the statement out when I threw up in her face and in her blouse. She let go of me and I grabbed the waste basket to finish throwing up. She was furious and puke covered. My parents were called, I was sent to the office and I knew I was going to be killed. 

As it came out, the other students in the class told that I could not help it and I had been looking for the waste basket to throw up in. She had just gotten in the way. I was somewhat a hero for throwing up on the witch. It was the best headache I have ever had.

When I went to collage I would get headaches that would last weeks at a time. Most of the time they would just be dull headaches, and I could work through them. If I was doing something I did not think about it and could get things done. When I stopped doing things I would feel the dull pain. At end term test time J would get head bangers that were severe and would last for a week.

When I was in the Army a Army doctor gave me a script for a med that would turn off the headaches in a flash, but it also made me useless to do anything for a day. I could have gotten hooked on these easy.

Over the years I have been given a number of meds for the real bad headaches. The ones that work well also put me out for a number of hours and a doctor will give them. If I notice a headache starting and take over the counter HA meds and stop what I am doing for about a ½ hour they do not billed up to a big one. I do fear the big ones that I just have to ride out. They take a day to get over after the pain goes away.

As I have gotten older the headaches have lessened a little in frequency but when one comes one I still have a fear it could build into a bad one.

Fishing Lures and Dock Lines

Fishing Lures and Dock Lines

No matter what type of fishing lure I get, they will catch my dock lines better than they catch fish. Lure’s with treble hooks seek my dock lines out almost as soon as I take them out of the package or out of the tackle box. 

What I just started to do is put my dock lines in the plastic containers that coffee comes in. They are plastic so they do not rust. They are about a ½ gallon jug size with a large mouth that the lines can easily be coiled in to them and they repel hooks well. You can cut a U in the top on the edge for the line to go through and then snap the lid on. This keeps the lures from heading for bulk of the rope. The lures don’t like it, but that’s tough. I tell them the need to look for fish! 8-)  The little jugs also make good bailing jugs when there is water in the boat. 

Now the lures and hooks have started to go for the Bimini straps and the straps on the life jackets. At least the hooks come out of the straps more easily than out of the ropes. 8-)

 I have been thinking about putting a piece of water hose over the section of rope from the ring on the bow of the boat to the coffee container  to protect that section of rope. At the stern the lines drop right into the coffee containers so very little rope is exposed.

 

Fixing Soft Wood In Boats

Fixing soft wood in boats.

Finding soft wood in your boat can make you feel ill. The cause can be from many things, and the soft spongy wood has little structural strength if any. Replacing it can be major work. Depending on how bad and extensive it is will determine what needs to be done. You can do some repairs on soft woods in place and not have to pull it out and replace it. It can be done with clear penetrating epoxy sealer that will treat, seal and restore the wood.

The soft wood needs to be well dried out. Then the sealer is put on the wood. The soft wood will suck in and penetrate the soft wood where the mold roots have traveled into the wood and also into the good wood fibers. More sealer is added as the wood sucks up the sealer. When additional sealer is added to the wood before the first application is fully sealed, everything seals together. The result is a hard epoxy filled board that cam be drilled and worked like regular wood.

If there are holes and gaps or in the wood, the gaps can be filled with thick epoxy filler that bonds to the sealer and wood restoring the shape needed. This can be sanded, sawed and painted and worked like reel wood. The impregnated wood allows for normal expansion and contraction like the original wood.

The sealer will also absorb into new wood but the absorption rate is much slower. 

There are a number of different brands of CPES Epoxy products. It is always nice to have different repair options open to you. Color can also be added to the products. 

Sealing and restoring the bad wood can be an option that is well worth looking into when doing some repairs.

Caught A Plastic Bag On The Outboard Motor Prop 8-(

Caught a plastic bag on the outboard motor prop 8-(

Mondays can often be a bad day. Monday comes only once a week and you just have to deal with it. Right? I got up and going and cut the grass at our duplex and did some yard maintenance. That job I wanted to get out of the way before it got to hot or rained. It took about 3 hours and as a reward I stopped at the Bass Pro shop to check out what I might need. 8-) I got out of there for less than $20 so I lucked out on that one.

I picked up a umbrella rig that was on sale and wanted to try it out. I put lures on the rig and got it ready, got the boat ready and headed out.

I got less than 10’ from the dock and the motor that I had just gotten back from getting serviced made a flapping sound and died. I took it out of gear, it restarted but as soon as I put it in gear it made the flapping sound and died. I tilted up the motor and found a large plastic trash bag wrapped around the prop. I paddled back to the dock and spent 10 minutes getting the slimy plastic bag off the prop. 

I got away from the dock smartly and headed to an oxbow near our house to try the rig. The rig worked well. I caught a nice large branch on the bottom on my first try. Getting 5 hooks out of the branch was great fun.

The wind picked up while I was un-hooking the branch and I could hear thunder in the distance so I thought it best to head back to the dock. I got back just as it was lightly sprinkling. I was able to get everything put away before any real rain started. 

I will try the umbrella rig out on a better day and maybe even catch a fish with it. 8-) 

When I go out in the boat I often come back with a bag of trash I pick up. There are a lot of plastic bottles, cups and food containers, bottles and cans and trash that has been pitched overboard just floating down river. I may not be able to come home with fish, but I can always come back with trash. At least the outing is not a total loss. *-)

Mullet Jumping

Mullet Jumping

About the only way to catch mullet is with a cast net. I can not throw one with any success so the mullet in the river and canal are safe from me. But the mullet still tick me off by jumping.

The mullet jump all over the canal and river. When you are fishing and not catching anything and see all these mullet jumping, it is frustrating. You know there are fish out there, but you are not getting any share of them at all. Then you get your hook caught in the weeds ( or in my case a tree ) and have to try to retrieve it. With the retrieval attempt you know you will scare any fish that were there away. Then a mullet jumps out of the water 4’ from your boat just to tick you off. These mullet are 12” to 15” in size. Then you catch a 4” bluegill on a bait that is for a 12” fish.

I was out the other day and put 2 jugs out to maybe catch a catfish and then started casting with a swim bait set up. I had no luck with the cast fishing and was just sitting there when a herd of mullet came swimming and jumping past my boat. I know they did it just to taunt me. Then I saw one of my jugs take off. 

I moved to the trolling motor, put it in forward and all I got was noise of water fluttering. I put it in reverse and the same thing. I tipped the motor up to see the prop…No prop!

I had not bothered to bring the gas tank for the 8 horse, I was just going to go to the river end of the canal and fish there. 8-(

At least I had brought the oars. By the time I had gotten to the Jug, the fish had ditched the hook. At that point I just rowed to the other jug and picked it up and the back to the dock.

I guess not all was bad. Now I have a real reason to go to the Bass shop. 8-)