I'm Still Here...

   Hello everyone, no I'm not dead. Often when we don't hear from someone for a while we assume that something is wrong. Well that is not the case here... Things have been going quite well actually. I've just been BUSY. It is spring and the gardening season has started, so I have been trying to keep up with getting peoples gardens and yards in order. Throw in some fishing and a little adventuring and it doesn't leave much time for sitting down at the computer and writing. Keeping up on this Blog has not been easy for me. It is hard for me... I write well enough I suppose, but it doesn't come easily, and I write (type) slowly. Sometimes it takes me a few hours to write one post. And honestly, it's not a lot of fun for me. I enjoy the results, not the process. I feel like I have received some really good benefits from writing this blog, and I am not going to give it up. But I probably won't post as often through spring and summer.
   So... What has been going on with me lately? Let me start with the important stuff... FISHING. This has been a great year for fishing so far. Fishing for me is what life is all about. Hanging out with friends, being outdoors, experiencing nature, finding peace and serenity, the excitement and anticipation of the catch. I love it all. What is not to like about fishing. (Don't answer that, if there is something wrong fishing I don't want to know about it...) It is one of the things that not only puts a smile on my face, it puts a smile in my soul. It just makes me feel good.
   The first notable fishing trip since my last post was with my friends Don and Greg. We took Greg's boat out on Belville Lake to see if we could conquer some White Bass. We did... We probably caught a couple dozen Whiteys, some of them pretty big (15 - 16 inches). We also caught a couple of Walleyes in the mix, but they were out of season and unintentional. These pictures were taken April 19th.

   Not too long after that (April 22) my buddy Tom and I made it to Gallup Park in Ann Arbor. We went for a little Carp fishing. We were both successful at catching our first carp of the year. They were little, but they were still fun.

   On May 6th Tom and I went to Buck Lake in Hamburg. We went to his buddy Bruce's house (cool dude) and cruised the lake on his pontoon. We caught some nice Bass, I was hoping for a pike but it just didn't happen. We didn't have any ice last winter, and I think Tom missed ice fishing a little to much. As you see he was catching some Gills off the end of the dock with his ice rod.

   Then on the 16th Greg and I took his boat back out on Belville with no particular plan. We decided to throw some lines off the back of the boat and just cruise around trolling to see what we could pick up. We caught Walleye, White Bass, and a nice Channel Cat. And we had a lot of fun (at least I did...)

   And just a couple of days ago I made it back out with Tom to our super-secret Carp hole. We both caught a nice fish, but Tom took the trophy for big fish that day with a monster weighing in at around 18-20 lbs. The picture doesn't really do the fish justice, but Tom is a big man, with big hands, and that is a BIG fish...

   And that pretty much covers the fishing since my last post. The bulk of my time since my last post has been working. Rototilling, mulching, weeding, pruning, mowing, digging, raking...etc. Gardening isn't an official job for me, it's just something I have fallen into over the years. I do enjoy it, but it isn't really a sustaining job. The weather and the seasons dictate the amount of work available, and come late fall and winter the work is non existent. But I'd never give it up, as I said I like the work, and the people I work for even more. Here are some of the fruits of the labor. These are all pictures of flowers and plants from yards and gardens that I work in. All of these pictures have been taken this year.

   I have taken hundreds of pictures of flowers this year already, to many to publish here. For Mothers day I printed out a couple of dozen pictures of birds and flowers that I have photographed this year in my mom's yard. I printed them out on big 8.5 x 11 photo paper, and they really were quite striking. She really seemed to enjoy them a lot. I'm glad she liked them. And speaking of birds... The bird watching in my mom's bird garden has been pretty spectacular this year as well. I have spent a fair amount of time sitting in the garden there with my camera also. Here are some of the birds I've been able to get in my camera lens.

   And finally, I have gotten in a fair amount of adventuring around town since you have last heard from me. Here are some of the pictures I have come up with while exploring the world around me.

   And that pretty much sums up what I've been up to. Not to shabby I must say. I'll try not to go quite so long until my next post. But I make no guarantees. There is no telling what I may get myself into next. As for now... It is a beautiful day and I have spent all morning writing this post. I hope you all enjoy the pictures, but I am going fishing. See ya...