Boy's VS. Bulls: Sometimes when you win, you lose.

   It's happy Hump Day!  So, this is a story from my teenage years.  Yes, I had them and survived them...barely.  As you all should know, I am an avid fisherman.  What that has to do with this story is anyone's guess, but I thought I'd throw that out there.  Anyway, until I got my drivers license, I was stuck fishing ponds that I could either walk to, bike to, or that my dad drove me to.  Thus, my experience in fishing until I was 16 was limited to about a 5 mile radius.  The problem with this was that the largest pond within 5 miles was in the middle of a pasture with one of the meanest bulls I have ever had the pleasure of running from.  Let me correct that, it should read displeasure since it is kind of hard to be happy about trying to outrun 2 tons of angry beef while carrying 40 pounds of fishing tackle and poles.  This probably explains why the fishing was so darn good.  The good thing about the pond was that, once you got there, it was protected.  There was a fence around it and the cattle weren't allowed near it.  The pond was visible from the highway and we could see the fence around it.  That was the reason we were determined to fish it.
   I remember the first time we were actually able to fish it.  It took us 3 days of trying before we were actually able to reach the pond.  The first day was spent learning the speed of an angry bull.  Fast, darn fast.  From that data, we were able to determine just how far away the bull had to be for us to reach the fence before the bull could use us as horn ornaments.    We figured that if we added on a few yards as a "safety" margin we'd be fine.  The problem?  All of our calculations were done while we were unladen.  Turns out, we couldn't run near as fast when loaded down with the proper fishing gear.  We managed to forget this until we were 100 yards into the field on the second day. 
    "Does he seem to be gaining on us a bit quicker than yesterday?" John managed to ask between wheezes.
    "Yup," was my reply as I did a U-turn and headed back to the highway.
    I still remember the how glad I was when I was finally clear of the fence and couldn't smell the stench of chewn grass.  I never realized just how bad bull breath could be.  I was also unaware just how easy it could be to clear a 5 foot tall barbwire fence with 40 pounds of fishing gear at full speed.  When I finally caught up with John a mile down the road, we decided we had to throw out the previous days data and recalculate.  Thus we spent the better part of the day on research.  We were later accused of teasing the bull, in our defense, neither of us were that stupid. 
    Our final conclusion was that we would just have to wait until the bull was at the far side of the pasture before we attempted the crossing.  That moment finally arrived about mid morning.  We decided that rather than starting at an all out sprint we would make our way in a controlled fashion until the bull decided to move toward us.  Thus we were halfway to the pond when we noticed the freight train en route.  Within 2 steps we were at top speed and we managed to clear the fence quite quickly.  We were elated, we were finally going to be able to fish this beautiful pond. 
    Only 2 things ruined that day of fishing.  First off, after about an hour and 10 fish later, we realized the bull wasn't leaving the fence and we had no way to get back to the highway and our bikes.  The second thing occurred when we were finally able to get the farmers attention and have him save us.  As he was driving us out of the field, he taught us both a valuable lesson.
    "You know, if you'd of asked," he said calmly, "I'd have moved ol' Brutus into the north pasture for the week.  Next time just call me before you head out there."
     At least we got our exercise.

Random Thursday Thoughts

   So today is change of command.  Conveniently, I forgot bits and pieces of my uniform so I didn't have to participate.  I did however have to sit in the office and work, which makes me the late guy today.  Oh well.  So I was thinking that there has got to be a better way to do yard work.  I decided it was time my kids started doing it.  So tonight I get to see my 9 year old push the mower for the first time.  I hope he can do it.  That way he can get it done while I am at work this summer.  If not, I will give him other things to do.  There is so much that I need to to do.  Especially since I need to put the house up for sale so I can have it sold before I retire.  The backyard has holes and hills and needs a bit of smoothing.  Both the front and back need re-seeding.  I have a strip of yard under the front window that needs landscaped (namely weeded, matted, and rocks put down).  Not to mention I need to put gravel down in my parking space and fill some holes there as well.

    Enough of my yard woes.  I am so looking forward to doing stuff with my boys this summer.  I need to get my fishing license so I can take them fishing.  I  really do want to do some fishing with them.  The ponds here on base are stocked and I know the boys will love it.  They have been bothering me to let them practice casting.  Mathew is getting pretty good and John and David are already pretty decent at it and are working on accuracy vice distance now.  I so look forward to it.  I also think Laura will enjoy the experience of camping at new places this summer.  We have already decided that we have to go to Mt Rainier this summer.  Not sure when we will start as I still have a lot to do to the camper to get it ready.  I think the boys would try to sleep out in the backyard in their tent if Laura would let them.  I don't know whether they would last the night or not, but it would be interesting.  I don't know if I could resist trying to scare them (Laura might be able to stop me, but I would probably try anyway).  At least the weather is turning nice now.  Oh well.  Not much else is going on.  I will continue to write daily when I can.  If you have ideas for topics, please write it in the comments.  I have started to notice that I am quickly running out of ideas.  Thanks and enjoy.

Just for laughs.

   Yesterday, while talking to my lovely wife, I was informed that my posts were a bit dark and I should write on something more positive.  This sounds easier than it is.  The news is filled with pain and sadness, there are problems everywhere.  It is just so easy to get caught in the loop of being down that it is easy to forget there is an up side.  So I have decided to institute a minimum of one happy post a week.  This week it will fall on a Friday, but I think I will shift it to a Wednesday and call it Happy Hump Day, just for fun.  So here goes.
   For this weeks installment I believe I will share a funny story from my life.  Years ago, when I was 13, I was allowed to start camping on my own.  I got a tent and a Lantern for Christmas and my friend, John, and I thought it would be great to set up the tent on the dam of a local pond so we could fish and camp at the same time.  Why not, we loved fishing, and camping was just a way of extending the camping day.  Besides, we checked the weather and the forcast said no rain for at least a week.  And it hadn't rained in a month so why should it change?  So we packed our stuff.  Turns out, when you go camping the first time you tend to take to much.  I didn't recognize this rule until much later (my wife still says I take to much, but I like to be prepared.)  So there I was, on my mountain bike, 2 gunny sacks (one on each side for balance) filled to the brim, my tackle box on the rack in the back, and my back pack.  My tackle box at the time was a large metal one filled with lures, hooks, weights, lines, and leaders and weighed approximately a ton.  I had a smaller plastic one, but I needed everything in the metal one so I drug it along as well.  Needless to say, once I had everything loaded I ended up pushing my bike to the campsite (about 10 miles away) because when I tried to ride the tires went flat and I fell over.  Besides, it was easier to use the seat to carry the backpack because for some reason when I put it on my back I couldn't stand up.
    We got to the site about 3 in the afternoon and set up camp.  You'd be amazed what two 13 year old boys can carry to a camp site.  The small mountain of pots, pans, utensils, canned food, bedding, and other necesities would have filled a small cathedral.  I had the tent so I was in charge of choosing a location.  The center of the dam was perfect.  We could set up our poles on the dam and fish the deepest part and not be to far from the tent and fire.  We set up the fire pit and put our lines in the water.  We then tried to start the fire.  We finally gave up 3 hours later when we realized neither of us had a clue how to start a fire with the small amount of twigs and brush we could gather.  In the four tons of equipment we had brought, neither of us had bothered to bring firewood.  The stuff is just lying around everywhere after all, isn't it?  So we went with out a fire.  It was summer, so who needs a fire anyway.  It's not like we had steaks to cook anyway.  Besides, we could eat the canned food we brought without heating it.  The next hour was spent argueing over who was supposed to bring the can opener.  That's when we learned lesson number 2 of camping, always make sure you write down who is supposed to bring what.  This is great advice if you plan months in advance and are face to face.  Doesn't work so well if you plan your camping trip the way I do and leave the same day you thought of it.
    It was now dusk, so I lit my latern and was amazed at the amount of light it put out.  This was great, now we could see what we were doing, as could the astronauts.  It was then that we realized we had had our lines in the water for about 4 hours and hadn't had a nibble.  We brought in our lines to check and sure enough, the worms were gone.  We rebaited the hooks and threw them back out.  Now that we had nothing to do but watch our lines we noticed that the fish were starting to bite.  In the next 45 minutes we hooked 10 good sized catfish and were having a ball.  That was when we noticed it was completely dark outside of our circle of light.  We had flashlights, but who needs them with a propane lantern.  That's when we discovered that if you leave the metal handel of the lantern standing up, you will recieve a nifty red line accross your palm when you pick it up.  As we cast out our lines after removing catfish number 10, we were smiling and having a good time.  Then the fish stopped biting just a suddenly as they had started.  We watched our lines intently for the next 10 minutes and nothing happened then John looked at me and said, "did I just feel a rain drop?"
    I looked at him and that's when it rained.  Not a slowly growing rain.  You know, the kind that starts as a light drizzle to warn you of things to come.  No, this skipped right to the grand finale.  The rain where everything is soaked in 2 seconds and you can swim through it.  The kind where you see fish swimming through the air because they don't know where the surface of the pond is supposed to be.  Then the lantern went out with a hiss and it went dark.  The kind of dark where you know the hand touching the nose is yours, but you have no way to prove it.  Then the Lightening started.  I heard a mumbled curse from John as we both dove for the tent.  Turns out, the tent may have been able to withstand a drizzle, but a flood was a different story.  Further, the flashlights didn't want to work.  For some reason, if they get wet they don't like to work.  We quickly grabbed the essentials, namely the food and bedding and started the trek home.  Luckily, the lightening was frequent enough that we didn't need a flashlight.  I'd say we used the flashes of lightening to get our bearings, but since the light was continuous, we just used it to walk home.  We ended up sleeping (or attempting to) in my barn at home (didn't want to go in and admit defeat).
   The next morning we went back to the campsite to grab our gear.  Luckily everything was still there including our fish.  Dad just laughed and informed us that we would have to rinse off in the hose before we could come inside.  The weatherman said that the freak storm the night before was one of the most intense in years.  Duh, John and I could have told him that.  The amazing thing was, dad had a better story from his younger days.  I don't remember what it was, but it involved a hundred mile trek, freezing rain, and an angry bear.  Must have been one heck of a good camping trip, wish I could have been there.