Gone Fishing

This weekend I got a table saw (SCORE!) and a 4’x8’x”1 sheet of birch plywood (for the desk I’m building). Begin side note: If you followed the previous link you’d note that’s a really funny name for a computer desk, way to go IKEA My desk model: blood stained waste of time. End side note.

Normally, that’s plenty of goodness for one weekend. Heck, normally that would be a great weekend. Not this weekend, NO SIR! The high point of this weekend was going fly fishing with Todd. We had planned to see Kill Bill Vol 2 but the day was extraordinarily pleasent so we switched plans late last evening to an all day fly fishing adventure. Todd has plenty of pics and such, can describe the nature treks much better than I could ever hope to, so I’ll leave that to him.

I’ll transcribe the more mundane bits of the trip: We drove to the Smokies, found out we had been frequenting the same restaurant (Shady Thicket) and caught up on what’s been going on (for me=nothing, Todd=getting married).

When you go fishing with Todd one of two things happen: Either you spend the day casting around shallow easily accesible waters, really fishing OR you shag your ass up the mountain via a stream. Not sure how he decides. This time it was the shag your ass up the mountain version. You end up fishing about 3% of the time and worrying about adding a ninety degree bend to your ankle 97% of the time. On the other hand you’re fishing waters that haven’t been fished since the last bear was there and you see much natural beauty.

Todd caught a rainbow trout, I did not. I suspect it’s the casting procedure. Todd has a stiff arm, elbow to hand moving like a metronome resulting in a flawless cast. My arm flops around like it’s having it’s very own Grand mal seizure, hence my casts are somewhat off the mark.

The odd thing about the whole hike up the mountain: I’m flailing and falling, moving tentatively, scrambling to the nearest handhold and resting constantly. Basically just getting over the next boulder is all I can do. I’m very grateful for the protection and gripping power provided my Teva sandals, thanking myself constantly for wearing them. Todd forgot to wear wading shoes so he did the whole thing barefoot…with a backpack..and still moved like a mountain goat. In retrospect I looked pretty stupid lumbering along…. We’ll see who looks stupid when I show up at his apartment with a pillowcase full of unopened Coke cans.

Game (keeping with the fishing theme):Sharkbait

Monday night TV pick: Wood Works For some reason master woodworker David Marks always seems a little stoned to me…and stoned people around power tools? That’s entertainment.

All important tridiot rating: 128.098724954411% +/-.0000000000000001%. This post brought to you by: my ever stiffening knees, busted shin and mountain streams so cold it’s like standing in a beer cooler.