Today is the start of the bear hunt. I’ve been ambivalent about it and don’t think it will do much good since the bears are a problem in areas where hunting will not be allowed. The ambivalence changed this morning when I went up to get the paper and found the trash can knocked over and the contains scattered. Double the hunt. Update – bear hunt over. They got close to the quota in 2 days so the 2 week hunt was stopped.

From the beach. Got here Saturday afternoon and was fishing by about 4PM when the tide was close to high. The water was rough with a strong long shore current so fishing was not optimal. It did look like typical bluefish water so I rigged with a steel leader, 6/0 hook, and a special rough surf holding sinker, 5 oz. I was using whole, frozen finger mullets for bait. There was more seaweed than normal but not terrible. Just before dark I hooked something really large and it broke the line. Actually the line had gotten tangled earlier and I had to cut and retie it with not enough light. I think I messed up the knot.

Sunday was a repeat with maybe a little better surf conditions. I started about 5PM and within 10 minutes or so hooked another large fish. This time I got a couple of jumps from the fish and recognized it as a large tarpon – no way I expected that. It looked bigger than 100lbs and I knew that there was little chance of landing anything that big in this surf. He was on for about 10 minutes before the line snapped. Re rigged and went at it again. Not too long before another monster strike. This guy pulled all the line off my reel, down to heavy backing line. I suspect I have 100 yards of 40# power pro line and my drag is set heavy so it’s almost unbelievable to see the whole spool evaporate off the reel. Just before it got to the backing, he turned north, alongshore, and I was able to run in that direction and regain line on the reel. He literally pulled me about 1/2 mile then turned and headed south. I was really tired, tired, tired by then but he was slowing down. We got about halfway back to the house when I finally got him close enough to the shore to see what I was dealing with – a large shark. Looked 6-7’ long and really heavy. My hope was that the waves would help me beach it but the undertow was stronger than the onshore push and the fish was simply too heavy to get him out of the rough water. Another guy saw me in distress and came down to help but there just wasn’t an opportunity for either of us to grab the fish by the tail – probably just as well. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I was fairly well worn out at this point and fairly confident that he was going to beach himself. Luckily, the line broke. I suspect he just eventually sawed thru it. Tomorrow, I’m switching to shrimp and try to catch smaller fish for a couple of hours.

Nancy’s eyes have improved enough that she’s now back quilting. Not really intricate stuff but certainly real quilting. She’s also able to read the computer screen again, most of her quilting magazines and the trailers on the TV screen. So we’re encouraged that she’ll get back to where she was a month ago soon. She gets another exam and shot the end of this week so we’ll have a more definitive assessment of her progress.

Got the onions planted and after a few days, they seem to be doing just fine. I’ll plant now and then again in March. My spinach seed failed to germinate in the garden so I’m trying again with a new batch of seed. That seed was date 2013 and spinach is one of those seed types that don’t last too long. Luckily I have some 2014 on hand. I also put some potato pieces in the same row. Nancy had some of her potatoes start to grow in the fridge so I cut them into chunks with visible eyes. I’ve done this before with nominally decent success. They’re Idaho’s so I planted them on northwest side of the garden.

George ended up back in hospital for a couple of days as the cuts were not healing correctly. His hand and arm were really swollen and the wound was oozing some nasty looking stuff. They redid it and told him that there were still pieces of the grind wheel imbedded but that they would come out naturally. The surgeon felt it was just too risky to try to remove it surgically. A home nurse comes daily to change the dressing and he seems to be getting along fine.

Nancy’s sight continues to improve and she is now doing some quilting and has been to bridge the past two weeks. She gets another shot next week while we’re at the beach. We’ll find out then if she is cleared to drive – she’s pretty sure she can handle it right now but I’d rather get a professional opinion. Besides, I got new tires on the truck so I can load the kayak in the bed and check out some new fishing areas while she’s playing bridge. But the moment of truth came up yesterday. For the past 10 years or so, Nancy has cut my hair. I’m not at all fussy and never liked going to barbers from age 1 until now. But I was wondering exactly how to politically handle it. So when she said I needed a haircut and broke out the gear, I decided to just let it happen rather than hurt her feelings by suggesting another barber. I figured the worst that could happen was I had to get a repair job or stay clear of any mirrors. If people started laughing uncontrollably…………… Anyway, we went ahead and it seems ok to me.

We hit the beach next week. We’re thinking about changing our beach algorithm in the future. We’ve really loved going and the place we stay is perfect but we have to fix the date so far in advance and it isn’t always the best timing. So we’re thinking of changing two full weeks into a series of 2 and 3 day trips when we feel like it. We would move around to different beaches from time to time – give Crescent Beach a shot, for example or the Sebastian beach area. I don’t think we’d have trouble securing places if we focus on mid week stays – keep away from the weekends. To me surf condition is important and there have been several times in the past where the surf was just too strong to fish for half the trip. We haven’t severed the ties yet but that’s where our head is now.

Congrats Chris. Chris ran and finished a 10K race this past week and finished respectably. He enjoyed it so much that he signed up for a 15K in a couple of weeks. This one is a hot chocolate run and supposedly is a well attended annual event in Chicago.

I mentioned a couple posts back that my neighbor had an encounter with a running side grinder and came out on the losing end. It was stitched and seemed all taken care of but as with most things George, it didn’t heal well. His hand swelled dramatically and apparently was infected. He went back to the doc who redressed it and told him to come back in a few days. It got even worse and the same doc told him to go to the emergency room. The information we have is sketchy right now, but it seems that there was still a piece of metal imbedded in the wound that they missed the first time around and that was the source of the problem. They admitted him right away and he’s to see a surgeon today. Poor George – nothing ever seems to just happen normally.

The fire damage to the car was not as innocuous as previously thought with little anomalies popping up – indicator lights etc on the dash board. I took it to the local shade tree guy and he was shocked that it still ran with all the burned wires and sensors. I explained that I was not interested in a large scale, expensive rewiring job and he said if he could take his time with it and use it as filler work, it could be done much cheaper. He’d only work on issues that impacted safety and not worry about the cosmetics under the hood. He said he could get many of the burnt caps from junk yards. All that sounds good to me but I’m guessing I’ll still be in this for a couple hundred bucks before it’s all said and done. The thing about this particular vehicle that keeps me from just dumping it is that the back seat folds down for a clean shot thru the trunk. That’s important because I have a couple of one piece surf rods and I can’t get them in the Grand Marquis but no problem with the Toyota. I mean lets face it, all cars move people but not all cars move fishing tackle, camping gear, or kayaks. The Merc is a nice car but it only moves people. So my thoughts went to the truck.

I haven’t been using it much at all, mainly because it has old tires and I really hate to put new tires onto a vehicle that I drive about 5 miles a month.
That all changed yesterday. I had Tom help me load the marginal lawn mower into the truck and decided to drop it off at the repair shop. I had moved the truck a couple of days ago but this time it wouldn’t start. The first issue surfaced immediately when I couldn’t unlock the hood. It had been so long since I had opened it, the latch was locked up with rust. I wrestled with that for 20 minutes or so and finally got it. In all fairness, I knew this day was coming and should have oiled/greased it a couple of years ago but never quite got around to it. The battery seemed fine to me and the starter solenoid was getting a good bang but I tried all the conventional things – jumps start from another car, put a charger on the battery, cleaning the terminals – then I remembered that I have had this exact problem about half a dozen times in the past 20 years – a loose or crummy electrical connection to the starter. I have fixed it myself several times by claiming under the truck and banging on the starter connection with a hammer or equivalent. This time when I got upside down under the car, I started to get seriously dizzy. So that wasn’t going to happen. I called AAA and the tow truck guy was here in about 10 minutes and went through all the things I had done even though I told him what I thought was the problem. Finally he climbed under the truck, hit it with a hammer, and it started right up. I took it to the mechanic who is rewiring the Toyota and told him about the connection and asked him to clean it right. Done. I asked him about the tires and he said they were dry rotted, ok to drive around town but nothing more serious than that. He added that he could put on brand new tires, mounted and balanced, for under $400. That’s about half of what I expected so I told him to jump on it. Not only that – when we drove it to the lawn mower guy I gassed up, both tanks, so I’m now committed to working the truck into the rotation and back off the Toyota. Now that I’m driving Miss Nancy, I’ll load the kayak on the truck and explore new lakes and rivers while she’s doing her things. I’m ok with the Toyota being offline for as long as it takes – or forever. I found I had a couple of very nice 2 piece surf rods so problem solved.

The Gator loss to LSU was not so bad. They had a chance to win right up to the end which bodes well for the rest of the season. I can see a 9 or 10 win season now instead of the 9 or 10 loss season I was expecting.

Never a dull moment at the lake. Nancy had a routine appointment with a doc to review the latest scans of her thyroid. We drove to the place, parked and walked to the extension trailer he occupied. There was a sign on the door saying he had moved to a suite in the main building. That caused us to turn around and stare at the car which was billowing smoke from under the hood. I lifted the hood and told Nancy to get the fire extinguisher from the trunk. Sure enough there was a major conflagration going on – a fiery rat or squirrel nest covering, what looked like, half the engine compartment. She couldn’t find the extinguisher so I was batting it out as best I could with a dish towel that she did find. I was making some progress but it looked like a goner to me, especially if it ever burned thru a gas line. At what point do you back away and let nature take it’s course? She found the fire extinguisher and I had it out within a few seconds. She headed to the doc’s office while I tended to the smoldering heap. After the smoke cleared I got in and tried to start it – first crank so I knew that nothing critical had been damaged. Most of the burning was the nest material, not the engine parts. When I got it out, a security guy came over and suggested I move the car around to the back where there was a hose so I could wash off all the residual from the extinguisher and the remaining burning embers. The amazing thing to me is that I had just had the car worked on last week and know there were no problems under the hood so all that nest building had taken place subsequent to that. We’re going to find another place to park the cars and then resume the critter wars with some serious poison.

Update – I put 8 chunks of serious rat poison under the shed and carport where I suspect they nest. I checked first thing the next morning and all of it was gone. This is a slow acting poison so I’ll give it a few days to a week and then repeat the process. In the meantime we won’t park the toyota in the carport for a while. I was also suspicious of the new firewood pile George had constructed a few months back. The old firewood pile was home to several colonies. So I put a couple of chunks of the poison on the pile closest to the carport. They were still there, untouched overnight so that area seems clear.

Had a coral snake in the garden this morning. Don’t freak out but I felt something touching my toe as I was standing at the garden fence checking it out. I looked down and saw the 2’ critter slithering along and over top of my toe. It had the yellow on black banding that I think means it’s a coral snake – doesn’t it? In any event, it’s now composting along with fish carcasses.

Another Emergency room happening – not me, not Nance, but rather George. I was sitting on the back porch reading and heard George calling for Barbara – over and over. I had heard him grinding away on something, I thought fixing the lawn mower, then it stopped and he started yelling for Barbara. Not unusual bur it persisted. I decided to check it out and got there just as Barbara was coming out of the house trying to call me on the cell phone and also call 911. George was bleeding profusely from the arm and face. He’s on a blood thinner so the bleeding was scary. I ran home and got the car, prepared to drive him to the regional clinic if the 911 route didn’t work. Within a few minutes I could hear the sirens coming and soon the EMT’s were working on him. The face looked bloody but didn’t seem to be cut nearly as bad as the arm. They got pressure bandages and wrappings on it quickly and within 10 minutes he was in the vehicle heading for the hospital. He never passed out and the EMT’s didn’t seem to think he had lost all that much blood – they said it looked like a lot, but he was in no danger of bleeding out. Final word – he was stitched and back home just before dark, about 6 hours start to finish. The face wound was an abrasion not a cut; the arm was cut in a couple of places and did hit a small artery but nothing critical. Twenty stitches total.

Got the ABS brake light problem fixed on the Merc – turned out to be a wiring problem where rats or squirrels had eaten thru one of the sensor wires. I guess I have to break out the rat poison again even though I haven’t sighted any nest building under the hood for at least a year.

The weather has turned fall like, air conditioning off, doors and windows open, so I’m planting up a storm in the garden. Put in carrots, more lettuce, radishes, spinach, turnips and beets. Next, all the greens move from the starter trays to the garden. I should be approaching 100% by the middle of this week. In fact the only thing not planted are the onions. I have space allocated but they haven’t released the sets for sale. I’m also thinking about trying some potatoes again. I have the room and the season’s right so if I see something nearly sprouting at PubliX, I’ll pull the trigger.

One of the seasonal garden tasks was disrupted by the Daytona News Journal – they decided to reduce the physical size of the paper. They described it as a way to keep from raising prices and I can appreciate that but I’m sure they never anticipating the impact on me personally. Between garden rows are walkways. The width of the walkways has been defined by the length of the paper. I clean out the walkway then put down a section of the paper and cover it with mulch. The layer of paper is critical to stopping weed growth and holding in moisture. When I started the process this year, the paper didn’t fill the span between the rows so it took two sections, overlapped to make up the difference. Either that or change the size of the walkways. Turns out the WSJ downsized similarly but since I haven’t had to redo the walkways in a year, I never noticed or had forgotten about it. Bottom line – I made the walkways a few inches narrower. Another way to say that – I made the planting rows wider. After I lay down a layer of newspaper, I overtop it with mulch. I use special mulch for the walkways – rougher, tougher stuff such as oak leaves, pine needles, or palmetto fronds. Material that will hold up at least 6 months before breaking down into soil. That compares to garden mulch that I use on the planting rows which is softer and breaks down into soil much faster. You know you have enough mulch when you start organizing it!!

Sorry for the break in postings. We’ve been having health issues that have involved numerous trips to doc’s, disrupting our normal activities. I even let weeds grow in the garden and Nancy got behind on her quilting so you know we’ve been otherwise consumed. Now we’ve got this hurricane to contend with. I officially end hurricane season 10/15 so we seem to have escaped another year. So, we’ve had zero hurricanes since 2004. And yet the globe continues warming and the predictions for hurricanes keep getting more alarming. Eventually we’ll have a big storm and the warmers will give us a big “I told you so”. Or they’ll start saying the reason we’re getting milder hurricane seasons is because of global warming. And come up with another computer model that proves it.

The house up the road is gone. It had been built on a large mound of dirt which was destined to be hauled away. George suggested that they dump some of it on a spot we could both access as wanted. If you live in a jungle on a lake, you can always use fill dirt so we now have enough to last a few years. I’m guessing it’s close to 20 yards – lots of shoveling and wheel barrows in my future. I’ve already started filling in low spots near the dock.

Nancy’s cruise to Bermuda was great. There’s a hurricane heading that way right now so the timing was just right. Tom came up to the lake a few times while she was gone to keep me company and make sure I was watching the right football games. We took in a game at UCF where he has season tickets and ate out a few times at great sports bars.

Fishing is picking up. It’s really not been much all summer but in the past couple of weeks I’ve started picking up nicer size bass. I try to get out for an hour or so every day, mostly in the evening but sometimes mid day when the spirit moves me. Hooked one large enough to tow the kayak around a bit before wrapping himself in the lily pads.

I’m at one of those points in life where things start breaking down. Not me, but things. The ABS light is continuously lit on the Merc; the high speed window wipers on the Toyota don’t work; and the lawn mower won’t run. Granted all of these have 10 years + service but still………….. I just had a window motor replaced on the Toyota a month or so back. So I have a suggestion for the new set of politicians running – a medicare benefit for old cars. A car over 20 years old and driven by someone on SS should be covered for health problems – such as window motor replacements. The Merc wouldn’t be covered since it’s almost new – 2006 but both the Toyota and truck would easily fit. I would hope lawn mowers would also be covered but ours is only 12 years so not yet ready. Also, I managed to fix the mower myself.

They stepped up the work on the house demolition and it will be completely gone by the end of this week. I went up last night and purloined a couple of concrete blocks that were destined for the landfill – everybody needs a few blocks around, don’t they? The pic was taken last night.

About 2 weeks ago Nancy gave me a 28oz can of frozen grease drippings. I put it in the freezer intending to add it to the trash when I rolled it out for pickup Monday morning. Out of sight, out of mind and I totally forgot. I caught it this week and put it in the container right away. Bad move. I set it up so it couldn’t spill when it melted but wasn’t thinking of it as a bear lure. The can was turned over last night and the grease can was sitting near by, neatly scooped out. So putting it in a ziplock bag doesn’t seal the fumes in.

Picked the first zucchini from the August planting. The seeds went in the ground Aug 8 so seed to table in about 6 weeks, about 2 weeks earlier than predicted. Of the 4 plants that germinated, 3 survived. The other is a dependable variety so it wasn’t an experimental choice. It fell victim to little green caterpillars. It was side by side with the other plants and that one was the only one eaten. I yanked out the carcass last night and put in crook neck squash seeds. If we have a warmer than usual fall, we should be eating little crook necks by mid November. I’ve never tried this particular variety so it’s a bit of a crap shoot. If it works and likes Barberville, I’ll plant more in the spring.

Got much of the winter stuff going now – where going means planting seeds. That includes kale, collard greens, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce and broccoli. These items will literally be put in the garden by mid October. Still to go: spinach, chard, beets, another kale variety, peas, radishes and more lettuce varieties. I’m also going to try turnips again. I tried them very early in my Florida gardening efforts and got absolutely nothing so it’s time to try again. I’m going to really focus this year on spreading out the plantings so I have a continuous flow of goodies and good variety. That sounds easy but I invariably end up with loads of X and not so much Y.
The rain has persisted and the lake is now at the peak for the year. We’re just about through the rainy season and have more than enough to carry us through the winter. When I plant in the garden and dig down a foot or so, it’s mushy wet.

No nose bleeds for a full week so I’m calling it fixed. I finally, today, got an appointment with an ENT for next Friday. The only reason for keeping the appointment is to get all the information regarding the nose sprays first prescribed. When do I stop taking them? and do I need a renewable prescription or is there some over the counter med that does the same thing?
Nancy is winging her way to Bermuda by way of NY.

We’re still getting more than enough rain – 1/2” plus almost everyday with a few real downpours. Part of the garden is lovin’ it; part, not so much. The pole beans and cucumbers are crawling their way up the trellis, the butternuts are a few feet long and one of the zucchini bushes has a 2” fruit started. The tomatoes are looking pretty funky. I think with them it’s the heat and humidity, not the water directly. I put in a patch of carrot seed but not sure how that will work out. It’s really early but supposedly this variety can handle heat. We’ll see. Another item that’s actually looking positive is the tetrogonia aka New Zealand spinach. I tried some last season and had zero luck – never could get any seeds to germinate – but at the same time Joey did really well with his and said it provided good greens throughout the summer. I got a couple seeds to germinate which is actually all you need. The seed pods are clusters so if it does germinate, there will be multiple plants. That’s the same as beets and chard so I guess they’re somehow related. Anyway, it’s a bushy plant that you just cut and eat as you want so just a few plants will get the job done for a long season.

If they greet you by your first name at the Emergency Room are you there too often? I made two visits last week for the same thing – spontaneous, persistent nose bleeds. After the first visit two Saturday’s ago I tried in vain to get in to see an ENT guy. I called the closest one, highly recommended, and told them I was referred from the Emergency Room. I later learned that’s the wrong thing to say. Doc’s don’t like emergency room kind of patients so never returned my calls. They were always courteous and said they’d pass the info along to the doc and he would call and set something up. I learned that after the second trip last Thursday. I asked them for the name of a local ENT and they included that info with my discharge papers. I called and said I was referred by the Emergency room and the nurse gave me the same story – we’ll tell the doc and he’ll get back with you to set something up. I asked the nurse if it would be easier if my regular doctor did the referral and she said it would be much, much easier – less paperwork. I interpreted that to mean they really don’t won’t to deal with people who use the emergency room and I can understand that. I also interpreted the delay to mean they needed to run a credit check or something. I called my regular doc and they said they’d take care of the referral so if I’m right, I’ll probably get a call Monday setting up an appointment. The good news is that the nosebleeds have stopped for four days now – the longest stretch in a couple of months. They cauterized it which is not the most pleasant experience but it seems to have worked.

The other good news is that they checked my blood level and I have plenty.
Nancy heads off to Bermuda this week. Somebody has to stay at the farm. I was concerned that a tropical storm might interrupt the cruise but doesn’t look like it. One way I can tell is by looking in the fridge and seeing the containers of future dinners building up.

The house up the end of the driveway is history. They started about 7AM this morning and by 4 it was torn down. It’s destined to be part of a pasture for cattle – much mo bette. The place was a bit of an eyesore and temporary housing for lots of immigrant fern workers.

The workers told me it would be about a week before all signs of the old place are gone.

The storms became much about nothing. We really didn’t even get much rain and no wind to mention. A couple of good lightning storms but that was it. Some areas of the state did pick up substantial rainfall but not us. The lake is full but not overfull but we still have two months of the rainy season ahead of us. September and October are classically higher likelihood of tropical storms but right now there doesn’t seem to be anything in the offing. Nancy and Joey are going on a cruise to Bermuda later this month so maybe that will stir up the Atlantic.

I’ve started transplanting a few plants that I started in July into the garden. They include a few tomatoes, a few peppers, and a pair of egg plants. If they hold up for a week to 10 days, I’ll transplant a few more with the expectation that they would all be in by the end of this month. I planted squash, cucumbers, and pole beans a month or so back and they are all doing well. I’m expecting eatable results from those by the middle of October. Starting the winter plant seeds in a day or so – cabbage, broccoli, kale etc etc etc. We had house guests this past week or I would have started those then.

Sorry this posting was delayed. Computer issues for the past few days. All fixed.

The lake level peaked in May, then dropped thru Mid July, and has been rising ever since. It’s now back to the May peak – and we still have Sept and October ahead of us – the peak of my official hurricane season. A decent tropical storm can drop 8-12” so there’s not much margin at this point. Speaking of which, there’s one aimed at Miami right now. I’m ready. Got my generator fueled and about 20 extra gallons of non-ethanol gas; chain saw oiled; batteries installed in the flashlights and lanterns; 2 full propane tanks for the Holland and good rope to tie up the loose stuff on the dock. I know the generator works because Simon and I cranked it up for a few hours back in May to run the chain saw and I know the flashlights worked because we lost power for a few hours a week ago. They worked but were too dim to be useful which is why I knew they needed new batteries. I’m guessing this particular storm, Erika, is not going to amount to much for us but no sense not being ready.

Last week there was a seed swap at the Ormond Beach library. I’ve never been to one but thought it might be interesting and I could perhaps learn the best way to preserve seeds. I decided to combine that trip with surf fishing- which turned out to be a bad move. The fishing was fine – great weather and a few small fish. I left the beach and headed for the library. I was inside for less than an hour but when I came back to the car, I noticed that the tip of my very best surf rod was drooping badly. I pulled it out of the car and sure enough, it was broken about 6” down from the tip. Other than a very good fly rod I received as a gift, this surf rod was the best rod I’ve ever owned and will be difficult to replace. I took it to a rod repair shop and the guy told me that not only was the tip broken but it had a slight, but noticeable twist so the guides didn’t quite line up. He said he knew what had happened to the rod – “you left it in a hot car”. And I did. Apparently graphite rods and hot cars are a bad combination. It can easily get over 120 degrees in the sun but still I wouldn’t have guessed heat would be an issue.

Plus the seed swap turned into a bust – a bunch of little ole ladies talking about flower seeds. When I mentioned that I was only interested in veggies several noses turned up to the sky. One lady said there was a seed packet labeled cucumbers and I asked what kind. Blank stare. I said thanks but nobody would ever just plant a random cucumber seed without knowing something about it. Is it a pickle cucumber?; lemon?; Armenian?; Burpless? I lasted about 5 minutes.

It looks like my ice maker theory is fact – the more ice in the bin, the faster it produces new cubes. I did a 100% dump the other day to load a cooler for a trip to Sam’s. When we got home about 8 hours later it looked like it had made one or two new trays. That compares with about 1 hour to make a tray when the bin is nearly full. That gives me a clue as to why the temp setting may have been changed initially – to accelerate the ice making process. I’m tempted to do that but decided to leave well enough alone.