37 posts tagged “fishing”

Aside from the 29 inch walleye my brother caught, the fishing was a total bust this weekend.  That's pretty typical for August.  So, the kids entertained themselves trying to catch one of the many rabbits around the cabin.  Cody made a trap and put a slice of bread in it since we didn't have any carrots or lettuce.

There was a rabbit in the trap twice but they didn't get the rope pulled fast enough either time.  Then, they decided to move the trap closer to the long grass.

Cody spent hours watching the rabbits which is incredible for him.  They finally got a big rabbit trapped but he managed to get himself out before they got there.

My brother and I taught the kids how to play the dice game Zonk (also called 10,000).  We used to play with my Little Grandma but really haven't since she died to we had to look up the rules.  The kids absolutely love it and it's something we can all play together.  We've also got my brother playing Squeak.

 

 

My brother caught this 29 inch walleye at the lake yesterday.  It was 1 inch short of mounting so he released it after taking the picture.  Unfortunately, it was the only fish caught the entire day.

Our neighbors from Jamestown go to a family camp called Trail Ride at the Little Missouri River State Park every year. 

 

Its located just an hour from our lake cabin so they met us there for a day.  The kids weren't ready to be apart so Lily & Cody went with them and we kept their boy whose Jace's age.  We took the boys out fishing for a bit in the morning but didn't have any luck.  Then, we drove to the Trail Ride to trade kids and spend a little time.

I didn't expect my kids to be afraid of horses but they were pretty nervous.  Lily was practically crying here until I got the camera out and then she smiled. 

Jace was pretty tentative, too.

One of their favorite activities at Trail Ride is going to the mud pit on the Little Missouri River.

On the way back to the cabin, we saw a turtle sauntering down the road.  He got shy when we stopped for his picture.

 

Ray caught the biggest fish from the trip.  These were each around 25 inches or 5 lbs.

My brother and Lily.

My brother fishing

 

Thumbs Down:

1. Facebook not letting me post status updates.  It's obviously not doing it to everyone.  Are my updates just too boring or what?
2. Having to wait a week for my MT drivers license.  There's no sales tax in MT and ND doesn't charge MT residents sales tax on purchases over $50 if you have a MT drivers license.  Ray and I need to run to Menards this weekend and get a bunch of stuff for the new house.  Guess we'll have to make mom come with so we can use hers.

Thumbs Up:

1. Being at the lake!
2. The guys bringing in 16 walleye today.  There's nothing like fresh walleye and rhubarb crunch for supper!
3. Only having to drive 2 hrs to get to the lake.  It sure beats 3 1/2 hrs.
4. Jace & Lily's Vacation Bible Camp finale.  Lily did the opening prayer all by herself.  I'll have to share that video later.
5. Cody taking 3rd at the wrestling camp takedown tournament.

The kids got done with school at noon on Friday.  It was a hard day.  We left right away for the lake.  You may remember that the lake had gotten very low the past several years but was starting to come up.  Well, it was up 25 ft. from this time last year and is supposed to come up another 8 ft!  I think that will make it higher than when we first started going there.  It's awesome!

For a Memorial weekend, we were treated to fairly nice weather Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was Cody's 12th birthday.

 

 

In addition to the rollerblades, Cody got some money from his siblings and uncle and a rebound soccer net from my parents.  After opening gifts, Ray, my dad, my brother, and the boys went out fishing.  The girls stayed back and played squeak and went shopping in town.

The guys had some good fishing success and brought in 9 walleye and saugers so we had enough for supper. 

 

 

Sunday, the guys went out fishing again.  Not long after they'd left, we got a call that my dad's truck had broken down.  I went and picked them up and we hauled the truck to town and then the boat back to the cabin.  Then, the guys used my Yukon to go fishing and they came back with 19 walleyes!! 

Lily helped grandma cook and they even made a german chocolate cake to celebrate our anniversary which is today - 14 years!

We have some new neighbors from Sidney at the lake.  It happens to be one of my old babysitters and her family.  She has 2 teenagers and a son who's Jace's age!!  I am totally psyched that we haven't even moved and he's already got a friend there.  They really hit it off.

 

My BFF from h.s. was also there with her boyfriend.  He's got a 4 yr old daughter so Lily and her played a lot and then Cody played with her son whose a year behind him in school.  Uncle Ray played his first game of Blongo Ball.

And we saw our very first fox den with at least 4 little foxes!

After my visit to the chiropractor today, I went over to some friends' houses to help them sandbag.  I know, not the smartest thing to do but it made me feel better (mentally).  Let me tell you, those things are HEAVY!!  After about an hour and a half, I could barely even lift my arms more or less a 10 lb. sandbag. 

You can see the river off to the right. The situation is more dire across the river.  You can see the giant dike in front of this house.

Ray took the boys to fill sandbags now.  The situation 30 miles east of us is not helping my mental state.  They're on another river system and have been fighting the flood for a good week.  They were winning against the water but had the entire sewer system collapse today.  It's a community of 7000 and they had already evacuated about 1/2 and now most of the rest half to leave.  They're putting up 400 porta potties!  There was no school this week, they've cancelled it next week, and it's possible they won't be able to return for the rest of the year.  Though our house is high and dry, the sewer issue would definitely affect us.

Ray & a friend fish a tournament on the reservoir 6 blocks from us every year.  It's already cancelled and it wasn't until the weekend before Memorial weekend!  The river levels are actually down a bit today because they've decreased the releases so the diking can be done.  After that, the releases will go up and eventually, both reservoirs will go over their spillways.  Let's hope those hold because 2 other small communities have had breaches in their dam once the water reached the spillways.  We've already been told to start conserving water.  I'm guessing we'll also have school cancelled once the water has reached the spillways.   

We had a Variety Show at church last night to kick off confirmation which Cody begins this year.  Lily & 4 of her best friends sang "Come to Jesus".  Unfortunately, its really hard to hear them but Lily does the 2nd solo.

 

Ray & I were also 1 of 4 couples asked to play the "Not-so-Newlywed Game".  We didn't tell the kids about it so it was a surprise and Cody quickly turned the camera on video.  Unfortunately, he never stopped it so the file is too big to share.  I love the "Newlywed Game".  We played it on our honeymoon in Jamaica and lost in a 1st place tie-breaker.  Ray was not excited about playing it again but I had high hopes that we would do well.  I sure wasn't prepared for the difficult questions they asked!

First, they ushered the wives away and asked the men questions.  In blue are the answers Ray gave and mine are in red.

1. Who says "I Love You" more? Husband. (Whatever)!!  Wife.  It's actually probably quite similar.
2. If you had to describe your family as a TV show, would it be "The Cosby's", "Seventh Heaven", "Survivor", "The Simpsons", or "The Osbournes"?  The Cosby's.  I was the last to answer this and everyone before me said "The Cosby's" so I should've just gone wtih that.  However, I thought it was between "Seventh Heaven" and "Survivor".  I chose the latter.
3. If you were going to describe your wife as an animal, which animal would she be?  Unicorn (because I used to collect them).  A bird because I sing.  And unicorns aren't real animals!!  Duh! 
4. When was the last time you and your wife were out past midnight together?  New Year's.  Dang.  It had been so long I couldn't think of anything.  I finally just said the lake because we're often up until at least midnight.  New Year's WAS a long time ago!

So at the end of the first round, we were the only team with 0 points.  I couldn't believe it!  They ushered out the men and the wives got our questions.

1. If you're husband could quit his current job and get one doing whatever he wanted, what would it be?  In my head, I thought football player (too old), be his own boss, or hunt/fish.  I chose fish.  Play football.
2. What % of the housework will your husband say he does?  Again, difficult because we have a cleaning lady so she probably does close to 1/2 of the housework.  I said 25%.  30%--so close!
3. Use one word to describe your husband while he's sleeping.  All the other wives said loud or quiet.  Well, Ray's not a big snorer but he has a hard time sleeping and the covers get much messier when he's home than when he's not (get your head out of the gutter).  I said restless knowing he'd never get that one.  Restless!  Hallelujah, we were on the board with 10 pts.
4. What would your husband say is his biggest strength?  What would you say is really his greatest strength?  Obviously, this was hard because he has many strengths.  Ultimately, my answer for both was that he can fix anything.  I could also have easily said great husband, dad, or that he's very funny.  Good dad.

So, we took last but it was so much fun.  I just can't tell you how adorable Ray was up there.  At church, he's often quiet and more in the shadows while I'm the visible person.  I loved that everyone got to see the hilarious side of him that I first fell in love with.  Even though he dreaded doing it, he'll be reaping the rewards!

Don't worry.  I'm not pregnant.  I am, however, counting down until lake season returns.  It's always so sad to close up the cabin for the winter when it seems we were just opening it for summer.

I didn't take a lot of photos over the weekend, but here are a few.

 

Jace's northern pike

 

 

So, Monday morning, Ray gave in and said we could take Blu home with us even though he didn't think it was a good idea.  The kids were ecstatic.  We spent all morning winterizing and cleaning the cabin.  Minutes before we were going to leave, I ran over to Dawn's cabin to use their bathroom since ours were no longer available.  Blu & Rascal had been over there for awhile playing with Dawn's pommeranian.  While I was in the bathroom, I heard what sounded like high-pitched screams but they were very faint.  When I came back outside, Cody was crying and Dawn's son was bawling with his head buried in her chest.  I asked what happened and they said Blu was tearing him up.  At first, I thought they meant Dawn's son!  I didn't see where he seemed to be injured and then they explained that Blu got mad at Dawn's dog, grabbed him by the neck, and was shaking him like dogs do to their toys.  Dawn's mom had been holding the dog's leash and finally managed to get him in her arms when Blu tried to grab him again.  That's about the time Ray came sprinting over and was ready to kick Blu in the ribs when he ran off.  The only people who missed it were Lily and me and I'm sure glad!  Dawn's parents kept saying that it wasn't Blu's fault and that Bailey had egged him on but I don't think that made anyone feel better.

After that, I didn't know what to do.  Ray checked Bailey over and he seemed uninjured.  I'm thinking all that hair saved him.  We loaded up and had Blu in the car.  Rascal looked distressed and Blu was bouncing all over the place in the car.  Obviously, I was having some serious doubts about taking Blu home now.  I was very grateful when Cody said he didn't want Blu to come with us.  That's all I needed to hear.  Lily was sobbing but it was the right decision.  Rascal seems to have a respect for Blu and doesn't antagonize him but Bailey was the 3rd little dog he'd gone after.  Those were all yappy dogs but we couldn't take the chance that Rascal would tick Blu off.  So much to my parents' dismay, we unloaded Blu and he got back in the truck with them.  I think he just needs to be a ranch dog and hopefully his neutering on the 10th will help mellow him out.  He's such a pussycat when it comes to people but he sure has issues with other dogs!  Needless to say, it was another solemn ride home.  I'd actually been praying that God would send me some kind of sign as to whether Blu was supposed to be with us or not.  I think he sent a lightening bolt. 

Yousa!  It was 89 degrees this afternoon and it is now 59 degrees and not expected to get over 60 tomorrow.  At least we got through the majority of the weekend before the weather turned.  The fishermen had no luck at all today and my dad's under the weather.  Ray's also having major allergy issues.  He couldn't suddently be allergic to dogs, could he?  He usually has big allergy attacks in the spring and during harvest so I'm hoping that's it.