Easter in March? I don't think so!!

Which one of the early christians decided that once every so many years Easter should arrive in March? They oughta be shot! Easter should come with new life, not just one lousy dafodil poking its trumpet through a bunch of dead grass and leaves! The woods look like mud holes in March, and it looks like spring will never come. Easter should arrive with Azaleas in full bloom. Tulips and dafodils should be shouting their colors everywhere! The temperatures should be in the seventys and you should say,"Ahhhhh!) when you walk outside. Grass should need its first mowing. That's when Easter should arrive. I think that I will write to our presidunce. Ol' dubya will fix it!!
The Ol' Curmudgeon

Easter is here but what about spring?

Spring is late! I don't like it when spring is late! The robins have passed through. The Ospreys are on their nest having sex several times a day. The plants in my flower garden have poked up some green, and the Dafodils are blooming, but all we get every day is temperatures in the fortys and low fiftys. Usually by this time of year we have had some temperatures in the high sixtys and low seventys, but not this year. My lettuce was planted thirty days ago according to the directions on the package, and it has popped its head up but that is all. The package said that it should be ready to eat in ten more days, but that won't happen. The crab season starts April first. Come on damn it!!! Let's have some warm!!!
The Ol' Curmudgeon

This years Fla Keys fishing report

Glenn and I arrived home at 11:00 PM last Monday night. We had driven eighteen hours after leaving Pine Island, Florida. We had stopped there to fish Speckled Trout after leaving Marathon in the keys.
The keys fishing was the best that we have ever had. We were able to get our seventeen ft. Carolina Skiff out to the nine mile reef off of Marathon on five consecutive days. For once the wind stayed down. We hooked two Hammerhead sharks simultaneously on our heavy rods, but the rods were not heavy enough. The fight lasted about five minutes at which point the line got cut. We weren't fishing with shark rigs.
We also hooked up with two Bonitos at the same time on light rods. My fish stripped half of the line from my reel before I could get the rod from the holder, and then snapped it. Glenn's fish fought for forty five minutes before we boated it. It weighed about twenty five LBs. He caught it on fourteen LB. test line and a crappie hook that we were using to catch Yellowtail Snappers. The hook broke as the fish dropped in the boat.
We figured that we probably caught five hundred fish during the two week trip. We released everything that we weren't going to eat each night. We caught several varieties of snapper, and grouper, as well as Hogfish, Parrotfish, Grunts, Speckled trout, Spanish,King, and Cero Mackeral, sharks, and the list could go on for ever. We bought a book of Fla. fishes, and several of the fish weren't even in the book.
The kids from St. Mary's college were there on spring break and we shared our deep fried catch with them. They all loved it!
We are already planning next year's trip!!
The Ol' Curmudgeon

forty MPH on freeways is crazy as hell!

I recently drove up I-95 from Florida to Virginia. I tried to keep my speedometer between sixty eight and seventy two miles per hour. Traffic flew by me. Occasionally someone would be doing fifty five which would cause traffic back ups immediately. My attention was captured on numerous occasions by a speed sign that stated that the minimum speed was forty miles per hour. People that would do forty miles per hour on any one of our freeways in this country would become or cause some other poor soul to become road kill in short order. I believe that the minimum speed should be changed to fifty miles per hour on all freeways across the whole country. I thought that it would be fun to get about twenty vehicles some time to get on a busy freeway and all do forty miles per hour. Each car would be about a quarter mile from the next vehicle and the vehicles would all be positioned in different lanes. Imagine the fun! Horns blaring cars skidding sideways, terrible language, middle fingers raised in salute, cops trying to figure what's going on. Let's do it!!
The Ol' Curmudgeon

trucker accent

My good friend Jim travels a lot between Louisianna and Wisconsin and told me that a CB radio was indispensable to him. He advised me to get one to use on my own travels. He told me that it isn't like it was back in the seventys when everyone had a CB. "Basically only the truckers use them now," he said. I thought that he had stumbled onto a good idea so I went to Radio Shack and purchased a hundred dollar unit. Pat and I went on a trip to Atlanta shortly after purchasing the CB, and I have to admit, it was very helpfull when we needed directions on how to get someplace. There was always instant answers from the truckers to any question involving directions, cops, or traffic situations. I always knew why traffic was backed up, and at times was offered an alternative route.
One thing that I noticed right away was the accents of these truckers. They all sound as if they came from the same town somewhere in Alabama. Even the truckers in Michigan had the same, "twang" in their voices. I began to wonder, Are all truckers from the same community in Alabama? Or is it an affectation. Do they all need to sound alike to feel included?
The other thing that I noticed was that you probably don't want to use the CB when children or people who are overly sensitive to profanity are in the car with you. These truckers use every one of the words that George Carlin says that you can't say on TV repeatedly!!
The Old Curmudgeon

wer'e outta here baby!

Glenn and I will be outta here at 3:00 tomorrow morning, and should be in Marathon Key, Florida, by 11:30 tomorrow night. We packed the vehicle and boat during a genuine Nor'Easter today. The wind was whipping at about 35 knots, and the torrential rain changed to snow as the wind went from south to north east in about a half hour. The temperature dropped 18 degrees in an hour and a half. It was a bitch loading things and trying to keep them dry at the same time. Anyway, we are ready to go to Florida. We will undoubtedly lay around the first day, and rest up as we did last year. We stay at Knight's campground which has a laid back attitude. Just keep it somewhat cool, seems to be their motto. We are equipped for some night fishing this year. We have been told that's when the bigger Grouper, and Snappers come out. We have some chum and several live eels that we are taking with us also. We have ten fishing rods. Everything from light to heavy duty. Hopefully the weather will allow us to get to the Tarpon.
I can't wait to get to the seafood restaurant across the street and get into one of their lobster ruebens! They are $13 but there is enough for 2 meals.

open mic at the Bay School

Pat and I just returned from the open mic session at The Bay School Of The Arts which happens on the first Sunday of each month. I read several of my poems and truly feel that people enjoyed them. Some were serious, and some were humorous. I will include one of the serious ones in this blog. It is entitled, The Real Reason.

Away in the manger, the old hymns say
Mary lies sleeping and beside her does lay
the new baby Santa looking out on the day

In another few hours three wise men will come.
There names will be Sony, Rca, and Samsung.
Stock holders are happy. Their savior has come.

In springtime at Easter I'm sure you will see
a pretty pink bunny up there on the tree.
Retailers are happy. He died to save them you see.

The Ol' Curmudgeon

Winter's end

God! I hate the dregs of winter here in Tidewater, Virginia!! It is to cold and damp most of the time to get anything accomplished outside, and warm enough that there aren't any winter sports to enjoy. It's damp enough outside that if you stand in one place for more than an hour mold, and moss will begin to grow on your north side. I actually get somewhat depressed late in February every year, and stay that way until our Florida trip in the middle of March.
The Ospreys haven't shown up yet. They should arrive any day now, and will start redecorating last years nests in a couple of weeks. Shortly after that the female will sit on eggs for what seems like an eternity. The Osprey's call is extremely irritating! There is a nest box on a pole about a hundred feet from our bedroom window. The call is a very loud high pitched, " cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep! It never changes. We do enjoy watching them though. Our windows are about as high as the nest so we can look down on the chicks when they hatch. It's enjoyable watching them grow, and fledge out, and finally they jump up in the air above the nest and flap their wings madly. Eventually they will fly and then I will see them sitting on my dock, boat, crab pots, etc, until they finally figure the flying part out. The pair nesting in front of the house are good fishers. They successfully raised three young ones in each of the last two years.
The Ol' Curmudgeon

writing class ends.

I have been taking a three week long writing class at the Bay School Of The Arts here in Mathews, Va. We met for four hours each of the last three Saturdays. I have really enjoyed these classes, and wish that they would continue. We were exposed to a lot of tricks that writers use to get into their right brain. As well as a lot of tips on how to develop skills. The class consisted of twelve people. Some were college grads, and others weren't, but everyone of us was there because we enjoy writing. Our group of students will continue on our own. There is a meeting scheduled for later this month, but I will be away. I certainly will attend the next one though.
We will have open mic. again this Sunday at The Bay School. I read three of my poems last month, and will read three more this month. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to read your,"stuff" in front of people and know that they are enjoying it.
I hope someday to write some things for publication. I know that I have the skills.

The Ol' Curmudgeon