After sharing several tales of my youth with my neighbor, tales that were overheard by my 17 year old daughter, she no longer believes I am the fuddy-duddy she thought I was.

As these tales, which shall here for now remain untold, she was genuinely shocked and appalled that I, her apparently revered father, actually knows how to have fun and an old fashioned good time.

I think I should of kept my mouth shut til I had scanned the room to see whose ears may have been listening for I fear I may have forever ruined any authority I ever had when it came to discouraging my daughter from participating in good old fashioned pranks.

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Over the past couple of weeks I have gotten all dirty, greasy, grimy and sweaty countless times working on the '79 Buick and I have not minded one bit. There is something uniquely satisfiying about wrenching and working on a old car or any car for that matter.

My wife does'nt understand. I cannot fault her for that. She should not have to and I do not expect her to.

Not to sound sexist, and I apoligize if this does, but wrenching, taking apart and restoring an old car is a "guy thing" , It is manly work at it's best. It is a slow quiet conversation to mutual understanding between man and machine.

Categories: The Car

Description: 1979 Buick LeSabre Turbo Sport Coupe ... one of 3,582 made that year ... but this one has the factory optional 4 wheel disc brakes! It's only the second one I've seen with this option though there are unconfirmed rumors that there were only between 13 and 15 of this model made with 4 wheel disc brakes that year which makes it special!

This vehicle was a one owner car and now that it is in my possession a 2 owner car, a gift from my brother in law, and is currently under repair / restoration. Photos below.

This engine in this car is most known as the "Grand National" engine and, in it's day, cold beat the V-8 model in the quarter mile quite handily! See Chart:

Hemmings published a great article on this very car in July of 2004! ... Click here to read article.

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Ansel Adams, the renowned photographer known for the black and white images he took, used a technique he called "the Zone". His technique was to carefully study a scene, visualize the final print, then determine the correspondence between portions of the scene and tones in the print. His basic rule #1 was "Expose for the shadows; develop for the highlights."

Fly fishing also has a zone. In fact with a few slight modifications one could follow Ansel Adams technique and apply it towards ones fishing. Study the River, Visualize the environs where trout are likely to hold, determine the proper correspondence between the angler and the target. As a very basic rule, cast into the shadows and hope for some highlights.

Fishing was good Memorial weekend. After completing a lengthy wade one morning I waited atop a rise under the shade of an ancient cedar just off the bank of the South Branch for my fishing companion to join me. Having my camera handy, and feeling somewhat inspired, in the Zone and rather Ansel Adams-ish I snapped some pics which I present here.

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Jigsaw is a long standing, and, according to some, a very under-rated English pop music group fronted by the singer-songwriter duo of Clive Scott and Des Dyer. In Australia the group was called "British Jigsaw" due to the existence of a local band of the same name.

Originally a six piece band, formed from musicians in Coventry and Rugby by Tony Campbell in 1966, they went on to score a number of hit singles around the world. They also released thirteen albums. The group was partly influenced by fellow British musicians The Beatles, at times sounding Beatle-esque, especially their ballads, which show leanings towards Paul McCartney's musical and vocal arrangements.

They are probably most well known for their hit "Sky High" (click link to listen) that made it to #3 in the U.S. but went to #1 everywhere wlse in the world. A final single under the Jigsaw name was released by Splash in early 1983 called "Love Isn't At Home" The band, as a unit, finally ceased in 1981. They do have a curent release "Best of Jigsaw, Vol. 1"

Categories: Tunes for Tuesday

Since I had surgery on my elbow I have been having a bear of a time getting a proper nights sleep. This is very annoying and I am unsure of the underlying cause.

So, Here I sit at 1:05 in the fricken morning doing what I do best ... Tinkering with, and repairing, personal computers.

Now I don't know how many of you have bought or sold items on E-bay. I have done quite a bit and am fortunate that I have not ever been really screwed over. It was only a matter of time till it happened.

By and large I love E-bay. This venue has treated me well with supplying needs and well as assisting me with getting rid of stuff that I no longer need or, what I like best, selling stuff that I have bought on the cheap and sold for a substantial profit. Cha-Ching!

So, I got screwed this week. Like I said it was bound to happen sooner or later. In some respects I am to blame for not erring on the side of caution. When I asked about the items ( A laptops) working condition and the seller replied with the phrase "to the best of my knowledge" in his response I should have listend to that small voice in my head. The real kicker here, and what sold me on the purchase, was the fact that the seller bragged about his 100% feedback and his item description claim that " I don't screw people over" while also saying in his description "God Bless" implying that he was a virtuous person. Yeah. Right. Lesson learned. Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware!

When I confronted the seller about the issue he refused to offer any sort of refund unless I left him positive feedback first! Fucker!!

In the end I got about 2/3rds of my money back and kept the item. I am in the process of testing it's various components and will part out what is salvageable. I think I may actually come out ahead.

Categories: Tips

It must be a guy thing. I get attached to my vehicles and drive them til they die. My latest, the one I have been driving the past, almost, 10 years is a Jeep Cherokee Sport.

She (most guys refer to their vehicles as females) had to go in for repairs this past week. The bill was just over $926.00. Ouch! I have 141,000 miles on this vehicle, I should easily be able to get upwards of 300,000 on it so the way I figure it she is just shy of being at 50% of her life so the cost, I feel, is worth it.

Last year it was the water pump. The year before that the AC compressor. The year before that is was the ball joints and front bearings and U-joints. Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! But she's worth it!

She is now adorned with all sorts of bumper stickers on her back end ... It give hers character and each of them defines me and my passions just a little .... Ok...Maybe more than a little. My wife ain't too keen on it being all decorated the way it is. I know I should care about that, but I don't. I'm such a rebel!

I love my Jeep. Then again, I have loved all the cars I have owned in my lifetime. I guess I just weird that way. But I see this as a good thing.

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I am back, and have been back, since Monday. Since that time I have been compiling backdated posts of my fly fishing foray in Northern Michigan that tell the tale. You will find those posts in dated order below this one if you feel so inclined to catch a brief, though most likely inadequately described, glimpse of my daily activities.

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Closing up camp has become an art for us. It is done with efficiency and is done pretty much in silence. The only sounds are of supplies being packed away. Everyone knows the chores and duties that need to be performed. There are no assigned tasks, everyone does their part.

There is a certain sadness that comes with going home. True, we often feel more at home here, we feel more normal and more sane, in this place, but our life obligations are never too far from our thoughts.

In the matter of an hours time we are ready to depart and we glance around camp taking it all in as if it is the last time we shall ever see this place. It is at this moment that the desire already starts to well up in us to return and we have not even closed the gate and driven a mile down the road. It is a time of mixed emotion.

Driving down M-72 it has started to rain and now, approaching Grayling it is really coming down. We welcome the rain as it has been very dry up here and the land is thirsty and it too needs to be revived. We hit the highway and glance back in our rear view mirrors and say our goodbye to this good place yet, already, the wheels have begun to spin and plans are being laid down for the next trip...it will happen soon, but not soon enough!

Categories: Fly-Fishing

Today is Michigan's traditional trout openers. This occurs each year on the last Saturday in April. The previous 3 days have been outstanding and we have awakened to a new day. It was warmer than the previous 3 mornings as we had cloud cover all night and those clouds have remained this morning.

Yesterday morning I cooked omelette's for everyone in camp that were stuffed with ham, onions, mushrooms and cheese. This morning, not to be outdone, Jeff is made his "Mountain-Man Breakfast". This is a complete breakfast cooked in a dutch oven and consists of browned sausage & hash browns. Once those are browned all the ingredients are placed in the dutch oven and well scrambled eggs are poured over top and then sprinkled with cheese. The lid is put on the dutch oven and hot coals are placed on the lid. A half hour or so later, viola'! A delicious breakfast concoction that is very satisfying.

Opening day, to paraphrase from "Escanaba in da Moonlight" is like Christmas with fly-fishing as the gift. No need, really, to blast out of camp too early for any fishing on dry flies today is going to be later in the afternoon.

After bright and mostly sunny days we are blessed with cloud cover today so we had high expectations of better hatch and bug activity then the previous days ... Hennies like clouds, or so we thought.

Jeff, Rick and I fished the South Branch again where we waited patiently and diligently for the hatch to come on, but the hatch never came. We had a few very sporadic rises but other than that fishing was a disappointment. The only tale to tell of any adventure was Rick stumbling over a log, falling into the stream, coming up, soaking wet. No one likes to fall in, but this was tempered with a bit of a bonus of a caught fish that had taken his fly!

It spit and rained off and on, but it was really nothing of significance. In spite of the slow fishing us three enjoyed good conversation and used the opportunity to further let the troubles of our daily lives drain from our systems....This is, really, the key and purpose of our trip anyway.

Made it back camp late and upon our arrival we found everyone already chowing down on dinner, Beef stew. They got tired of waiting for us and so their appetites prevailed! I feel we are fortunate that there was any left! Fishing has a way of creating in you a deep hunger that begs to be satisfied. From what we have been told it sounds like us three were just in the wrong section of river. There was good hennie activity below the Chapel and the group down there got into some nice fish with my brother Mort caught a nice sized brown trout that measured from his inner elbow to the fingertips of his extended hand! Measured out that came to about 19+inches! Nice! So we have another lesson learned ... Location, location, location!

Tonight we sleep in camp. Tomorrow morning we pack up and head home. While we are always anxious and excited to go camping and fishing by the time our trips come to a close we are equally anxious and excited to head home to wives and children.

Categories: Fly-Fishing