Question:

Before I go off to bed – which I should have done a while ago – I wanted to just think of a nice thing to write about, just in case someone wanted to read about a nice thing – or later write about their own nice thing. Saturday my son and I went to a movie.  There is one of those stores that has everything for a dollar near there, so we went there while we waited for the time for the movie.  I found a necklace rack – and we make lots of jewelry, so lots of times we get chains from those dollar stores to hold pendants that we create from stones or coral or shells encrusted w/wired strands of beads and semi-precious stones, etc.  Okay, so on this rack were also necklaces w/little openwork stars set in colored rhinestones, and also enameled dragonflies and enameled butterflies.  We got them all.  We like to take jewelries apart and put them back together in new ways with our own new components and it comes out to be a beautiful new things.  We thinks that some of you would like to see how they are.  If we knew what kinds of things you liked, we could even make some things for yous.  Yes, we could and even would. That is what we get enjoyment from – we gives our things aways.  Is it pretty to think of the stars w/rhinestones?  They are small, the stars, and the rhinestones are tiny.  Oh, and guess what?  We were at a party on Sunday and there were lots of babies there, and there was one tiny newborn girl who was only three weeks old and her name is Isabella and she was so beautiful and we liked looking at her and she just looked as if her life is going fine.  That’s a good thing, isn’t it?  And my son swam in the pool and made friends – even though he won’t see them again, because the party was far away – but we are so happy my son can do that, because we didn’t be able to when we was of his age. Thanks for your listenings.  Please to write nice things, too, if you feel like it – Beauty.

Response:

great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff  

Response:

Oh, e, I have always loved hearing about your cats.  There is a wonderful book I picked up on remainder called C*t K*ngdom, about a kind of experimental cat run some peoples created in Japan – I think it was Japan (I might be inventing that part).  The cats had a huge barn and also a huge fenced barnlot, and the peoples just watched – watched how their social structure worked, how they interacted, how their hierarchies worked, etc., over a few generations.  It is full of lots of pictures.  That’s kind of what your story made me think of – except that your situation is much more free-ranging and – purposeful.  And personal.  Again, much respect for what you do – and it did give me a lot of pleasure to read about all the cat friends, esp. Ty who growled his way into affection.  Oh, yeah, and Stella – that brave, wild queen. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – thanks, Beauty. i liked hearing about the necklaces. and about Isabella and about your son having fun.  :-)   thanks. the main nice thing in my life now is that my "wild" cats have gone outside, along with most of the older "domestic" cats. they’re all between about 14 mos. old. and 2 1/4 years old. the semi-feral cats and the domestic cats have become good friends. they all seem to get along well and enjoy each other’s company. an almost completely untamed cat, Stella, is their ringleader. (Stella is another story. we got her too late to tame well but she’s such a sweet cat who loved to be petted in her cage and "mothered" most of the other cats, that we had high hopes that she’d tame up;  become our new "favorite, wonderful" cat; and sort of take the place of our old favorite, wonderful cat who died recently. but Stella never liked to be held and when she escaped from her cage late this winter, she was gone. except she comes in regularly to eat. anyway, the "house" cats have calmed down. the kittens are almost grown and so tear through the house much less frequently. they’re much calmer and quieter, although they still like to play. all the kittens are lap cats now except Becky who is afraid of the other cats and so mostly stays by the window. Puka, from the litter that came at the wrong time (i had too many other cats, some of them sick, and was out of it from the meds i was taking so i never paid enough attention to them when they were young and most tamable), is very friendly and follows me around like a puppy. but isn’t as yappy.  she still doesn’t like anyone else, though so adoption is still a long way off.  :-P~  her brother, Silver, was *very* friendly until i tried to get rid of his ear mites. now he only lets me pet him when he’s eating. but he had become so affectionate and he is so sweet that i still think he may eventually tame up better than Puka. we keep hoping that Sid (for Obsidian) will join the outside cats. he’s not at all tame and hides most of the time but i think he’ll be ok outside and will come in for food regularly. Ty, the formerly abused cat who’d lived outside or in our garage, is becoming a house cat. he still spends about half his time outside but he comes in often to be petted. he’s quite demanding.    :-)  when we first got him (as an adult) – right after he’d been neutered – i was afraid to touch him bc he growled so fiercely when i fed him or otherwise went anywhere near his cage. he kept it up the whole time i was near. after about a month or so, i decided i should let him go to become one of my outside cats. but i thought i should at least give him a chance at becoming domestic so i donned two pairs of leather gloves – he’s large and if he bit me i think it could have easily gone to the bone – and started to pet him. he backed up in the corner of his cage and faced me squarely. he was growling fiercely and loudly and looked poised to pounce. but i was determined to at least try to pet him. somehow i scruffed him and started petting his back. to my amazement, he started purring. when i stopped, he cried as if he wanted me to pet him some more. so i tried but as i reached for him, he growled and looked like he might attack me. but i tried again. and he purred again. this went on for a week or so. every time i’d get near his cage or feed him, he’d growl loudly and look like he was going to attack. but as soon as i began to pet him, he turned into a pussycat. and as soon as i’d stop, he’d cry for more petting. but when i’d try to pet him he’d growl and get in attack position as if he were thinking "if i can’t kill you, i’ll d*e trying." but as soon as i started petting him, he’d purr. after about a week of that (with both my kid and i taking turns petting him bc he was so demanding), he started crying soon before feeding time. and he’d cry for an hour or so after we’d left bc he wanted more petting. (we were usually good for around 30 min but rarely more. sometimes less.) but he’d still growl a LOT when we first began to pet him. it was funny. we’ve now had him around 10 mos. this week, he discovered the joys of laying on the sofa.  at first he kept jumping up and running away every time someone or something moved on the sofa (which is frequently when you have lots of cats and a big, pushy dog , but he’s much better about that now. and last night, when i got a toy – one of those flexible plastic sticks that has feathers attached at the end – to play with Puka and Silver (bc poor Puka, who hadn’t been played with in a couple of weeks, was so desperate that she’d been chasing the broom all around as i swept , Ty ran most of the 10 ft. from the sofa, where he’d been laying, to the open door. but i called his name and he stopped and turned around. he didn’t come back but he watched from maybe 6 ft away from the toy. he seemed fascinated but scared as he watched Puka and Silver play. i sat on the sofa, which was next to where i’d been playing with the cats, and called him. he came right away bc he loves to be petted, even if he’s still very skittish around ppl.  i petted him and put the feather toy next to him. he sniffed it a while then licked it. then he started batting it so i moved it a bit. he batted it more. then i moved it more and Ty started playing with the feathers. so did Puka.  :-) anyway, Ty is still skittish but otherwise you’d never know that he’d ever been anything but a very affectionate, sweet, and demanding cat. and my dog is calming down and not chasing the cats as much.  :-)  so a few of them actually like him now.  :-) he likes that. e Before I go off to bed – which I should have done a while ago – I wanted to just think of a nice thing to write about, just in case someone wanted to read about a nice thing – or later write about their own nice thing. Saturday my son and I went to a movie.  There is one of those stores that has everything for a dollar near there, so we went there while we waited for the time for the movie.  I found a necklace rack – and we make lots of jewelry, so lots of times we get chains from those dollar stores to hold pendants that we create from stones or coral or shells encrusted w/wired strands of beads and semi-precious stones, etc.  Okay, so on this rack were also necklaces w/little openwork stars set in colored rhinestones, and also enameled dragonflies and enameled butterflies.  We got them all.  We like to take jewelries apart and put them back together in new ways with our own new components and it comes out to be a beautiful new things.  We thinks that some of you would like to see how they are.  If we knew what kinds of things you liked, we could even make some things for yous.  Yes, we could and even would. That is what we get enjoyment from – we gives our things aways.  Is it pretty to think of the stars w/rhinestones?  They are small, the stars, and the rhinestones are tiny.  Oh, and guess what?  We were at a party on Sunday and there were lots of babies there, and there was one tiny newborn girl who was only three weeks old and her name is Isabella and she was so beautiful and we liked looking at her and she just looked as if her life is going fine.  That’s a good thing, isn’t it?  And my son swam in the pool and made friends – even though he won’t see them again, because the party was far away – but we are so happy my son can do that, because we didn’t be able to when we was of his age. Thanks for your listenings.  Please to write nice things, too, if you feel like it – Beauty.

Response:

This is a lovely post, too, cliff.  Thank you for sharing the beautiful evening.  Your words really brought it alive to us. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff

Response:

Hello, Beauty and J/c,    I think your jewellery making sounds wonderful, Beauty, and I would love to see what you do with the stars and things. Sounds lovely! And J/c, you have done some interesting things and seen some, too. My nice thing is that today my pottery class went to a potter’s studio to see his work and where he does it. He has a restaurant there, too, and we all had lunch together. We laughed, and shared food, especially the desserts, and we wandered with the potter in his fabulous gardens. The spring flowers were blooming, peonies bigger than dinner plates, and lupins and iris. The fish were swimming lazily in the pond, and the water lilies were in full blossom. We saw his wheels and the kiln and everything. We watched him throwing, and he showed us some special tools he has devised for certain purposes. It was an afternoon when DID didn’t. Not much. Driving there and back along the country roads where the green grasses and the gardens are lush was wonderful to see and smell. A nice thing today. jane – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff

Response:

Oh, it sounds so beautiful, jane.  Gardens and food and pots and fish.  What more could anyone want? Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, Beauty and J/c,    I think your jewellery making sounds wonderful, Beauty, and I would love to see what you do with the stars and things. Sounds lovely! And J/c, you have done some interesting things and seen some, too. My nice thing is that today my pottery class went to a potter’s studio to see his work and where he does it. He has a restaurant there, too, and we all had lunch together. We laughed, and shared food, especially the desserts, and we wandered with the potter in his fabulous gardens. The spring flowers were blooming, peonies bigger than dinner plates, and lupins and iris. The fish were swimming lazily in the pond, and the water lilies were in full blossom. We saw his wheels and the kiln and everything. We watched him throwing, and he showed us some special tools he has devised for certain purposes. It was an afternoon when DID didn’t. Not much. Driving there and back along the country roads where the green grasses and the gardens are lush was wonderful to see and smell. A nice thing today. jane great post, Beauty. we, B and me (B being the fellow i care for), have had a busy week. he requested to go to several events this week, more than he ever requested before. one was a small festival by the river in a park that is low lying to the rest of the town since we have gentle mountians surrounding us. he requested a soft serve ice cream cone, and sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree as a local country band played music in the distance in an amphitheatre. we watched people walk by, and some who knew us stopped to chat a bit. the air this evening was warm and slightly humid, and the breeze from the river passing through the trees cooled us. as the sun went down, the lights from small children rides and food vendor’s wagons shown brightly, even with the ball field lights glowing high up above everything and everyone, high up on top of their poles. being a small community in this valley, i recognized many people walking by; people i knew over the past ten years. the younger folks looked so young and behaved in such a free spirited manor, some wearing clothes similar to the style i had worn in the seventies, but somehow more exaggerated. i noticed more jewlery, and piercings. the older women spoke of book reading clubs at the library, and cleaning crates of strawberries for the festival’s one day shortcake event. a few comments about ch*rch, and light humor were shared. B and me felt safe, and took in the varied sounds, and smells, and watched the world go by, as some would say. sometimes all is forgiven and forgotten, and life is breathed in and out of our lungs with welcome and ease. cliff

Response:

That is amazing about the other ducks, and thank you for helping the duck and we holding the duck in thoughts for healing best.  And here is a strange and funny thing:  we was watching M*ts and Or*oles game on television and there was a pair of mallards which came during about the 2nd inning and stayed through the 8th inning!!!  They was just wandering around out on the field together all that time together, and we think that is so funny and amazing and funny and then they just flew off and the camera kept showing us them and they showed us them flying off together, too.  Isn’t that funny and odd??? Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting.  she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond.  no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved.  i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first.  what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him.  wish the duck luck.   best, samantha

Response:

well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting.  she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond.  no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved.  i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first.  what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him.  wish the duck luck.   best, samantha  

Response:

hey – we had ducks too! i did forget all about them until now you say you had ducks. we lived in suburbs too, but there was a little bit of woods and a lake behind our house, and the ducks did live there. they would come quacking up through our back yard, and we would give them bread crumbs or something, and then they would go quacking home. what i remember as good about childhood was the lake behind our house. we would go there, and there was a tree with a little clearing that we could sit under and be lazy, and then there was cattails growing by the lake, and we could walk all around the lake on a little path, and sometimes go down to the water and watch little fishes. and sometimes go fishing too. and i think it’s not allowed now but we would whack the cattails open and it would be like little feathers floating and falling through the air. and then also we would pick the blackberries that did grow there. yum yum and sometimes ouch. i remember now i really did love the lake. tv

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little.  They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm.  They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid.  Thanks for writing. Beauty. hi beauty,  those ducks at the game sound really cute!  i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them.  all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved.  still trying to find out more.   best, samantha

Response:

We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little.  They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm.  They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid.  Thanks for writing. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – hi beauty,  those ducks at the game sound really cute!  i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them.  all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved.  still trying to find out more.   best, samantha

Response:

Thank you for the nice things.  We will tell you of one magical morning.  We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like?  They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings.  We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen.  The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers:  when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots.  Amazing!  I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures.  There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are.  But you know that.  Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha.  The duck was very lucky that y’all came along.  Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot,  both within 5 minutes .  They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha

That was so kind of you, samantha.  The duck was very lucky that y’all came along.  Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot,  both within 5 minutes .  They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

hi beauty,  those ducks at the game sound really cute!  i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them.  all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved.  still trying to find out more.   best, samantha

Response:

Now we say funny – we had our ducks from when they used to have to be allowed to sell them in dime stores, back when the did still have dime stores, which they do not anymore, now they have dollar stores.  But one night we all did go to the dime store for something we don’t remember what because we were only maybe four years old and we did see ducklings and chicks under warm lights and going peepeepeep like they do and we were so happy to see them and all of a sudden the fthr said we would get two of them, for my sstr and me and the mthr argued no it was crazy but he did make it happen, and we could hardly believe it!!!!!  They did let us pick out our ones and we did, and they did get a shoebox with holes in the top for the ducklings to get air for us to take them home and then we couldn’t stand it for when we got in the car we just had to peek and of course out they did hop and all around the car and peep peep peep and under the seats and things but we did finally get them to get back to us and we got them back into the box and to the house and they did live there, inside and out, until they did get big and white. Beautys. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – hey – we had ducks too! i did forget all about them until now you say you had ducks. we lived in suburbs too, but there was a little bit of woods and a lake behind our house, and the ducks did live there. they would come quacking up through our back yard, and we would give them bread crumbs or something, and then they would go quacking home. what i remember as good about childhood was the lake behind our house. we would go there, and there was a tree with a little clearing that we could sit under and be lazy, and then there was cattails growing by the lake, and we could walk all around the lake on a little path, and sometimes go down to the water and watch little fishes. and sometimes go fishing too. and i think it’s not allowed now but we would whack the cattails open and it would be like little feathers floating and falling through the air. and then also we would pick the blackberries that did grow there. yum yum and sometimes ouch. i remember now i really did love the lake. tv We had ducks, my sister and I, when we were little.  They grew up and got white and we gave them to a farm.  They were cute ducklings – we had suburbs so we couldn’t have big ducks, it would have been stupid.  Thanks for writing. Beauty. hi beauty,  those ducks at the game sound really cute!  i had pet ducks as a child, have always loved to watch them.  all i know about my duck so far is the vet sent him to animal rescue, which i think means he could be saved.  still trying to find out more.   best, samantha

Response:

(trying to focus some, and hurting some too) writitng seems to be my salvaion, eventhough i don’t do it so well. good things, yeah, they happen. like last evening, watching the sunset from a higher point in the valley, before it dipped down low where fields, spotted with round bales of hey and cattle, little homes with white wooden siding and porches, barns and silos, rail and wire fences, and trees reaching the first mountain ridge, exposing the next ridge, and then the next, maybe four rows of mountains leading to the final horizon all in lighter shades of blue. warm air breezes carrying rich sweet smells of fresh cut alphalfa (sp) hey intoxicated my senses. i didn’t want to leave. thanks. oh, and Beauty. i sing everything, proudly, and badly! )) cliff    

Response:

cliff, I have read the place where you wrote how much you want to speak/write – how you yearn to reach for language.  Oh, you do have it, my friend.  Your prose does sing – proudly, proudly – and w/strength.  And the humility and pride, hand in hand, augment the strength. Peace – Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – (trying to focus some, and hurting some too) writitng seems to be my salvaion, eventhough i don’t do it so well. good things, yeah, they happen. like last evening, watching the sunset from a higher point in the valley, before it dipped down low where fields, spotted with round bales of hey and cattle, little homes with white wooden siding and porches, barns and silos, rail and wire fences, and trees reaching the first mountain ridge, exposing the next ridge, and then the next, maybe four rows of mountains leading to the final horizon all in lighter shades of blue. warm air breezes carrying rich sweet smells of fresh cut alphalfa (sp) hey intoxicated my senses. i didn’t want to leave. thanks. oh, and Beauty. i sing everything, proudly, and badly! )) cliff

Response:

Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty.  Magical indeed!   I love birds, too, as you might have guessed.  My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker.  We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat.  He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like?

Oh, yes.  But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message

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You would love it where we are – pileated heaven.  Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site.  And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree.  Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!!  We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer.  The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty.  Magical indeed!   I love birds, too, as you might have guessed.  My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker.  We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat.  He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes.  But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

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P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention).  So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer. W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated.  His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter.  You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft. You probably know most of that, right?  I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds.  One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat.  That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading.  That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty.  Magical indeed!   I love birds, too, as you might have guessed.  My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker.  We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat.  He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes.  But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

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Hey Beauty Really enjoy reading your *bird* posts…..:o)) Thanx Those pileated sure are something aren’t they!! Don’t get to see very many of them up here.. In fact I think they are on the endangered list… Just a couple of years ago my p*rents stopped the government from building an access road to their secluded community because a mating pair had settled in the bush behind their place.. They live 20 miles to the nearest road and they like it that way..;)  Gov. regulations forbade any construction within the area….  :o)) Cool birds to watch… too!    :o)) J/c btw… we see a lot of evening grosbeaks up here too!! beautiful!!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You would love it where we are – pileated heaven.  Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site.  And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree.  Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!!  We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty. Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty.  Magical indeed!   I love birds, too, as you might have guessed.  My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker.  We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat.  He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes.  But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . . Best – Beauty. well i was at the park and i saw my daughter’s dog running along with someone, it was her friend who is dog-sitting. she stoppedand we were talking a minute when some people were noticing an injured duck at the side of the pond. no one wanted to help it so we took it to the emergency vets and they will see if it can be saved. i haven’t called yet to find out but we felt really good about trying, duck had bad leg, couldn’t swim and would have suffered out in the heat tomorrow if the ants didn’t get it first. what was really touching was how the other ducks were gathered around him and wouldn’t leave him. wish the duck luck. best, samantha That was so kind of you, samantha. The duck was very lucky that y’all came along. Hope it’s doing better. My nice thing is that the other day I saw a Northern Oriole, and a wild parrot, both within 5 minutes . They were both so incredibly beautiful. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail: message GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site.

Yes, I would love that.  I can’t even imagine a sight like that!  About 11 years ago I saw a pair, but hadn’t seen any since, until this one. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!!

Oh, wow!!  I’ll bet they were cute (or so ugly they were cute.) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling.

Wonderful!!!!!   Once we had the privilege of watching a chuck-will’s-widow nesting in our yard (actually, there was no visible nest at all-she just laid her eggs on the ground.  It was a wonderful treat because we had heard them at night for many years, but had never seen one.  We got to see her and her three young ones up close and personal.  An amazing bird–really put on quite a display if anyone got to close to the nest. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention). So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer.

Didn’t know that….or if I did, I forgot W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated. His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter. You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft.

Yep, knew that….this one was a male. You probably know most of that, right? I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds.

Several years ago I used to lurk at rec.birds……lots of bird talk there.  At least there used to be.  I used to know a lot more about birds than I do now.  I kind of lost interest while I was really depressed, and have forgotten quite a bit,  but my enthusiasm for birdwatching has been returning during the past couple years.  I need to get some new binoculars and get back out there..   One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty.

Oh, that is so cute…..<broad smile  what a wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing this. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

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thanks so much to tv, Beauty, samantha, mdove, and others who’ve talked about their experiences with birds.  :-)  i like watching birds but try to discourage them from being in my yard, partly bc of my cats and partly bc of the neighborhood dogs, including mine. but to have birds land on your head would be magical!  :-) i can’t imagine how much work it must have taken. i’m reminded of Beauty from the story "Beauty" (IIRC) which was a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". oh, and D*sney’s and others’ versions of the story, too.  :-) e You would love it where we are – pileated heaven.  Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site.  And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree.  Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!!  We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer.  The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Beauty.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat.  That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading.  That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Wow, what wonderful sightings, Beauty.  Magical indeed!   I love birds, too, as you might have guessed.  My most exciting sighting this year was a pileated woodpecker.  We get lots of red-bellied, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, but this was a real treat.  He was magnificent (and noisy, even tho’ he was pecking very slowly and deliberately). mdove Thank you for the nice things. We will tell you of one magical morning. We woke up about 17 years ago in April to a freak blizzard of about four feet, and out of nowhere, perched all over our half a dozen bird feeders (we lived on a hill surrounded by deep woods) were scores of evening grosbeaks – do you know what they look like? Oh, yes.  But I’ve only seen one, many years ago. They are huge brilliant yellow birds  w/parrot beaks and black markings. We couldn’t believe it – we had never seen them before in our lives, and then there they were by the dozen. The other thing we saw that was wonderful once was a group of newly-fledged scarlet tanagers: when they are newly-fledged, they are not completely red yet – they are part red and part green – also like parrots. Amazing! I adore birds – they are the most incredible, incredible, beautiful creatures. There are no words for how wonderful, delicate, unearthly they are. But you know that. Oh – and the unearthly, subtle, inexpressible colors of the mourning doves . . .

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Sometimes we pretend that when they say "dee dee dee" they are really advertising the latest in video recording technology (DVD).  It’s funny when you think of it in chickadee talk. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – P.S. – Did you know that pileateds are the only species of woodpecker who begin by pecking slow and get faster as they peck (that is, when they are pecking in rhythm, and not in that single-stroke, deliberate way you mention). So that’s one way you can tell if there are pileateds around even if you don’t see them – their pecking sounds like a ten-penny nail being driven into a telephone pole by an accelerating hammer. Didn’t know that….or if I did, I forgot W**dy W**dpecker is a pileated. His crazy laugh is modeled on the actual sound they make, which really does sound like maniacal laughter. You can tell the males from the females because the males have crests which are entirely red and the females have crests which are red only along the top of the tuft. Yep, knew that….this one was a male. You probably know most of that, right? I’m just being excited, because I like to talk about birds. Several years ago I used to lurk at rec.birds……lots of bird talk there.  At least there used to be.  I used to know a lot more about birds than I do now.  I kind of lost interest while I was really depressed, and have forgotten quite a bit,  but my enthusiasm for birdwatching has been returning during the past couple years.  I need to get some new binoculars and get back out there.. One winter I worked to get chickadees to land in my hands and eat. That spring, they still knew me, and they used to land on my head when I was sitting outside reading. That was one of my most magical experiences ever – the feel of their little feet – I can’t even begin to describe it – and knowing that they would come to me, let their little feathers and bright eyes live so close to my seeing. Beauty. Oh, that is so cute…..<broad smile  what a wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing this. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

Oh, yes, the pileateds were purely cute.  And we do love those ground-nesting "willow" birds – nightjars, are they called, as a type?  Our favorite is the whip-poor-will – what a beautiful, beautiful haunting sound, which echoes from mountain to mountain through the early pre-dawn mists.  And if you hear one close enough, you hear a tiny cough just before the call.  Also reminds me – have you see the woodcocks do their mating dance?  Or hummingbirds? We’ll explain, given the slightest excuse.  Never did see a chuck-will’s-widow.  Our other favorites are the little screech owls we get to hear in our riverine woods, and the pair of great horned owls also nesting along the river.  The female of the species has the deeper voice of the two. Oh, and once a barred owl got tangled in some fishing wire and we got to help rescue her –  and her eyes – oh the solemn depth of blackness – and the soft depth of feathers. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You would love it where we are – pileated heaven. Someone once counted 26 pileateds at once in a single site. Yes, I would love that.  I can’t even imagine a sight like that!  About 11 years ago I saw a pair, but hadn’t seen any since, until this one. And we have them living right around us – across the road mostly, in a big old rotten tree. Also, our favorite thing – once we saw a nest of baby ones – just barely fledged – sticking their silly little baby necks all out of the tree squawking for the mthr – and then the next day – they had flown the nest!!! Oh, wow!!  I’ll bet they were cute (or so ugly they were cute.) We also had a phoebe who nested for years atop the light just outside our door, attached to our house – we passed w/in inches of her nest coming and going all spring and summer. The last summer she was here she raised two broods – they were *darling*!!!! when they were just to the stage of standing on the edge of the nest ready to fly – looking down at us with this completely unfazed gaze – just too, too baby even to care that we were another species – darling. Wonderful!!!!!   Once we had the privilege of watching a chuck-will’s-widow nesting in our yard (actually, there was no visible nest at all-she just laid her eggs on the ground.  It was a wonderful treat because we had heard them at night for many years, but had never seen one.  We got to see her and her three young ones up close and personal.  An amazing bird–really put on quite a display if anyone got to close to the nest. mdove — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – And, p.s., we also have wild turkeys in abundance around here, and I saw a baby turkey once and it was *funny* *funny* *funny* looking. And we do love those ground-nesting "willow" birds – nightjars, are they called, as a type? Yep… Our favorite is the whip-poor-will – what a beautiful, beautiful haunting sound, which echoes from mountain to mountain through the early pre-dawn mists. And if you hear one close enough, you hear a tiny cough just before the call. Chuck-will’s-widow sounds very similar to the whip-poor-will, I think, except there is a little "chuck" sound before the call. I didn’t realize the whip-poor-will had the cough sound. Interesting birds. Maybe the cough was a chuck. Seems likely. Or a cluck. Or something. It was a very, very, very small sound, only audible because the bird was practically sitting on my windowsill. Well, under it. Also reminds me – have you see the woodcocks do their mating dance? I’ve never seen a woodcock in RL, only on television. They are pretty cool looking. That must be quite a sight. Here’s what they do. They like to live near wetlands that have adjacent meadows – they go into the meadows at twilight. The males fly straight up like rockets and then come spiraling down – and as they come down, special feathers in their wings cause a whistling sound!!! I’ve seen the females sitting on the ground, too – kind of looking like, "Get off it." You know.

Too cool.  I’d love to see that. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Or hummingbirds? Have seen many ruby-throated, but none doing a mating dance, unfortunately. They are amazing. Male hummingbirds also have special feathers that cause a humming sound when they do their mating thing – which is a wide, swinging, pendulum motion in flight, before the seated female. We’ll explain, given the slightest excuse. Never did see a chuck-will’s-widow. Our other favorites are the little screech owls we get to hear in our riverine woods, and the pair of great horned owls also nesting along the river. The female of the species has the deeper voice of the two. You know, we have one of those bird clocks, and the 12:00 bird is the great horned owl. That is fine for noon, but if I am working at the computer at night, I need to remember to dim the lights in here prior to midnight, or the hoot resounds throughout the house. When we first got the clock, my son used to imitate the owl incessantly. Once I was awakened at 3:00 am by the sound and was just about to yell out at him to knock it off (I wasn’t quite fully awake), when I realized it was the actual bird, very close to our house. We had never heard one before we purchased that silly clock, and were wondering if perhaps the clock had attracted one (it is a really loud clock!) They have about five or six hoots per call – hoo! hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo . . . hoo – I never knew that until I read Peterson’s guide and then heard them.

Yes….this clock is very accurate, as was my son’s imitation.  Now we call all do it, but my son’s hoo-ing is by far the best. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Oh, and once a barred owl got tangled in some fishing wire and we got to help rescue her – and her eyes – oh the solemn depth of blackness – and the soft depth of feathers. What an incredible experience that must have been. Was she calm as you helped her? They’ve got some pretty sharp talons. She was calm as a lamb. I think she was so frightened – she had been up there so long – and probably weak – that she had no fight in her. We have pictures of her, because the local newspaper was there and got color photos.

Wonderful… Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does.

me, too.  I like butterflies, too.  I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable.  Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it. Today, too, we saw a beautiful butterfly – I don’t know what kind – yellow and black on top with yellow and black and aqua underneath!

Sounds beautiful.  I have a butterfly book around here somewhere. Haven’t looked in it in ages. And the black raspberries suddenly turned ripe – as my son discovered. He wrote a beautiful poem called The Garden: Like the garden of Eden it is. So vast, like the ocean. The hours fly like a bird in the air, when I am there.

Oh, that is beautiful beyond words! Can you see why I love him so much?

Absolutely!    Oh, shoot….it’s midnight, and I forgot to dim the lights.  There goes "Hoots"….. g’night mdove Beauty.

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snip Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does. me, too.  I like butterflies, too.  I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable.  Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it.

do you have any recommendations for plants (for next year)? i love butterflies. i have since i was a kid. i used to know quite a bit about them but i’ve forgotten most of it. i’ve never known which plants attract butterflies. TIA (thanks in advance), e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

What mdove said and also – bergamot, beebalm, monarda (all names for the same thing) – hummingbirds love those, too. Beauty. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – snip Thanks for reading. I like this talking about birds – they make me happy when nothing else does. me, too.  I like butterflies, too.  I used to have 2 butterfly gardens, but surrendered them to the weeds during a couple years of depression. One is totally gone, but the other is probably salvageable.  Maybe I’ll go out there one of these days and try to start rehabilitating it. do you have any recommendations for plants (for next year)? i love butterflies. i have since i was a kid. i used to know quite a bit about them but i’ve forgotten most of it. i’ve never known which plants attract butterflies. TIA (thanks in advance), e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

snip do you have any recommendations for plants [that attract butterflies]? Well, keep in mind that I’m no expert, and it probably depends on where you live.  You might try some verbena, buddleia (butterfly bush), pentas,

what are pentas? do they take much water? asters, and even marigolds.  In my yard I have blue porterweed, pentas, day lilies, passion flower, lantana, and some other stuff I can’t identify.  

i have day lilies. they grow well, although the ones in shade don’t flower much. is passion flower the same as passion vine (Passifloraceae)? thanks for the recommendations. i’ll try some of them. I know monarchs like milkweed, but I’ve never seen it growing around here, and haven’t tried planting any.  Your local cooperative extension could probably provide you with information about what to plant for butterflies that are inhabitants of your area.

thanks. e — For info about this service, see http://anon.twwells.com/help/ or e-mail:

Response:

Question:

On the 7th and the 8th, we *will* leave early for our journey to the Credit. What time does Hortons open?  <g

At least Dave doesn’t have a net to rig up to his back And Willi, to answer your question from a another thread (which doesn’t appear on this server) i haven’t been back to the urban spring creek. I have been fishing instead on the rio grande just 30 miles upstream from my house where there’s been reports of monster browns.  These reports have left me skeptical because i’ve tried every trick in the book up there with no success until sunday.  Check this link out.  Scroll down to the bottom of "catches of the week" http://www.abqjournal.com/go/fishingline.htm The fish was more like 21" and 3.5 lbs, but still bigger than anything I’ve caught in the San Juan, or anywhere else for that matter.  The Rio Grande in that area is what i imagine steelheading to be like, ie not many strikes, but when you get a hookup, it’s a good one.  The report also says "tiny silver fly".  They asked me to show them the fly i caught the fish with.  It was a lite brite prince, size 18, tied real skinny and buggy. bruce h Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – When I got home, my Hardy catalogue had arrived from England and in it was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. I think that’s especially true if you’re close enough to some water to able to fish when you can get away for only an hour or two. Spending twenty minutes getting dressed and undressed doesn’t work too well. One of the things I do is to keep a rod rigged up. I made a case from a piece of PVC piping lined with some foam pipe insulation. The end has a notch cut into it that the reel slips into and which holds the rod in place. I just hook the fly into the hook keeper, break down the rod rell in the slack and slide the rod into the case. Pull it out and you’re ready to go. In the summer I wade wet, but I’m looking into a pair of boot footed hippers. Easier than waders, boots, gravel guards etc. Willi

– Trust my experience.  Hip Waders come in only one size.  A quarter inch too short.  Stick to the wet wading. IF you do get the hips waders, make sure they have felt bottoms with studs.   (C) George Gehrke 2001 http://www.gink.com/shopcart/index.html     fine bamboo flyrods & blanks

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Yesterday after work, I stopped at the Burnhamthorpe parking lot to put in a couple of hours of fishing on the Credit.  This involved planning the previous evening to pack up everything I would need and loading the truck.  Then on arrival, strip off my work clothes and pack them away, pull on assorted longjohns, sock systems, kangaroo, quick dry pants, waders, boots, gravel guards, wading jacket, wader belt, hat, fingerless gloves, camera, vest, fly boxes, tippet, then rig up the rod.  — The couple of hours available for fishing already had a 20 minute dent in it I still wasn’t at the water. When I got home, my Hardy catalogue had arrived from England and in it was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. Peter

Yes there is.  Simple = good, IMO. I love my stockingfoot hip boots.  They take up practically no room, are lightweight, cooler than chest waders and suffice rather nicely on most of the creeks I fish.  I’ve been a hip wader user for many years, though, so I’m used to being careful about my depth on bigger water. I’ve also done lots of wet wading in sandals and shorts with minimal tackle–nothing more than I could fit into a pocket or two. Think minimalist.  Consider everything other than rod, reel, leader, tippet, flies and flask as luxury items.  Rubber boots and a net sounds like a deal to me.  Don’t forget your Ketchum Release <g. Tom G minimalist angler on numerous occassions

Response:

And Willi, to answer your question from a another thread (which doesn’t appear on this server) i haven’t been back to the urban spring creek. I have been fishing instead on the rio grande just 30 miles upstream from my house where there’s been reports of monster browns.  These reports have left me skeptical because i’ve tried every trick in the book up there with no success until sunday.  Check this link out.  Scroll down to the bottom of "catches of the week" http://www.abqjournal.com/go/fishingline.htm The fish was more like 21" and 3.5 lbs, but still bigger than anything I’ve caught in the San Juan, or anywhere else for that matter.  The Rio Grande in that area is what i imagine steelheading to be like, ie not many strikes, but when you get a hookup, it’s a good one.  The report also says "tiny silver fly".  They asked me to show them the fly i caught the fish with.  It was a lite brite prince, size 18, tied real skinny and buggy.

Nicw fish. Some details.  How big of a river is it?  Was it low and clear this time of year? Is this down stream from the canyon? Have you fished the canyon? Willi

Response:

Thanks Warren,

No problem. When does runoff start up there?

Sometime in May is normal.  It depends on what river as to what part of May.  The tailwaters dirty the slowest, and the Yellowstone seems to get it first if I remember correctly.  The Gallatin goes next and then the Madison. — Warren Findley "The vice or virtue of any form of angling lies not in the method but in the man." Author Hugh Falkus

Response:

Once again I’m responding to a question from Willi that hasn’t yet shown up on this server. Bruce, Send me your email address. your post, I doubt he would have been able to send his email to you <g

Thanks Warren, When does runoff start up there? Willi

Response:

This!  Is a man that KNOWS! was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. Peter GEAR….you gotta have GEAR!  Once you have GEAR you always need MORE GEAR and to use it you need fly tying STUFF!  Once you get STUFF you never have what you need and you are always on the lookout for more STUFF!! Wayne to fish is human….to release Divine! Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com

– (C) George Gehrke 2001 http://www.gink.com/shopcart/index.html     fine bamboo flyrods & blanks

Response:

Once again I’m responding to a question from Willi that hasn’t yet

shown up on this server. Bruce, Send me your email address.

your post, I doubt he would have been able to send his email to you <g Warren

Response:

Once again I’m responding to a question from Willi that hasn’t yet shown up on this server. Willi, I’ve fished the canyon of the Rio (the NM part).  Up near the CO border, it’s like a typical large-ish beautiful freestoner, with very little fishing pressure.  There’s miles of water and access is difficult. I caught the big brown about 100 miles downstream, in an area that we never formerly thought would hold trout because we assumed that no trout would survive the summer.  But it is a tailwater, as Cochiti Resevoir is located on the Rio about 40 miles upstream of Albuquerque, and we fish about 10 river miles down from the dam.  Apparently the water’s warm enough within the first 15 miles or so down from the dam.  I know now that there are really big browns in there. The river below Cochiti is mostly wide, sand and gravel, with big riffles like the Madison near Ennis.  That’s about the only similarity to the madison of course.  The water is mostly thigh deep, the river is about 100 yards wide mostly.  There are a few deep runs below the narrower riffles, and that’s where the big browns are I think.  I say "I think" because I’ve now been there five times and gotten a total of one strike that I know of.  It’s just that the one strike produced the best fish I’ve ever caught.  I think even Angie, the queen of spey, might say "nice fish" but probably not Yesterday afternoon I went back and got skunked like usual.  There were tiny brown mayflies galore but no rising fish nor were there any visible fish.  Oh well.  The SJ water just went yucky, everything else down here is in runoff mode, so maybe I’ll go back to the RIO tomorrow. bruce h Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com

Response:

Once again I’m responding to a question from Willi that hasn’t yet shown up on this server.

Bruce, Send me your email address. Willi

Response:

When I got home, my Hardy catalogue had arrived from England and in it was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple.

Of course, fishing catalogue photos aren’t necessarily representative of reality, either.   Truth is probably somewhere in between.   You could get by with less, the guys in the photo would need more to fish where you do. Joe F.

Response:

When I got home, my Hardy catalogue had arrived from England and in it was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple.

I think that’s especially true if you’re close enough to some water to able to fish when you can get away for only an hour or two. Spending twenty minutes getting dressed and undressed doesn’t work too well. One of the things I do is to keep a rod rigged up. I made a case from a piece of PVC piping lined with some foam pipe insulation. The end has a notch cut into it that the reel slips into and which holds the rod in place. I just hook the fly into the hook keeper, break down the rod rell in the slack and slide the rod into the case. Pull it out and you’re ready to go. In the summer I wade wet, but I’m looking into a pair of boot footed hippers. Easier than waders, boots, gravel guards etc. Willi

Response:

Yesterday after work, I stopped at the Burnhamthorpe parking lot to put in a couple of hours of fishing on the Credit.  This involved planning the previous evening to pack up everything I would need and loading the truck.  Then on arrival, strip off my work clothes and pack them away, pull on assorted longjohns, sock systems, kangaroo, quick dry pants, waders, boots, gravel guards, wading jacket, wader belt, hat, fingerless gloves, camera, vest, fly boxes, tippet, then rig up the rod.  — The couple of hours available for fishing already had a 20 minute dent in it I still wasn’t at the water. When I got home, my Hardy catalogue had arrived from England and in it was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. Peter

Response:

Last night I rummaged around the basement, looking for ways to do this better.  I found an old rod tube that’ll help with the rigging problem and I dug out  my neoprene stocking foot hippies.  That still leaves me with boots and gravel guards but the clothes changing part is now history.  For an hour’s worth of fishing on the Credit, a pair of insulated rubber boots and a jacket with a couple of big pockets are all that’s really necessary.  Always an excuse to buy more stuff, eh?

What you really need, Peter, is a horse and a telescoping fly rod. — visit my web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/

Response:

On the 7th and the 8th, we *will* leave early for our journey to the Credit. What time does Hortons open?  <g Dave

No worries, all Timmies are 24/7/365 Peter Visit The Streamer Page at http://members.home.net/pcharles/streamers/index.html

Response:

was a picture of a couple of guys fishing from the bank; no special gear except for a fishing rod, net, and pair of rubber boots.  There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. Peter

GEAR….you gotta have GEAR!  Once you have GEAR you always need MORE GEAR and to use it you need fly tying STUFF!  Once you get STUFF you never have what you need and you are always on the lookout for more STUFF!! Wayne to fish is human….to release Divine! Submitted via WebNewsReader of http://www.interbulletin.com

Response:

One of the things I do is to keep a rod rigged up. I made a case from a piece of PVC piping lined with some foam pipe insulation. The end has a notch cut into it that the reel slips into and which holds the rod in place. I just hook the fly into the hook keeper, break down the rod rell in the slack and slide the rod into the case. Pull it out and you’re ready to go. In the summer I wade wet, but I’m looking into a pair of boot footed hippers. Easier than waders, boots, gravel guards etc. Willi

Last night I rummaged around the basement, looking for ways to do this better.  I found an old rod tube that’ll help with the rigging problem and I dug out  my neoprene stocking foot hippies.  That still leaves me with boots and gravel guards but the clothes changing part is now history.  For an hour’s worth of fishing on the Credit, a pair of insulated rubber boots and a jacket with a couple of big pockets are all that’s really necessary.  Always an excuse to buy more stuff, eh? Peter Visit The Streamer Page at http://members.home.net/pcharles/streamers/index.html

Response:

Petah writes: Yesterday after work, I stopped at the Burnhamthorpe parking lot to put in a couple of hours of fishing on the Credit.  This involved planning the previous evening to pack up everything I would need and loading the truck.  Then on arrival, strip off my work clothes and pack them away, pull on assorted longjohns, sock systems, kangaroo, quick dry pants, waders, boots, gravel guards, wading jacket, wader belt, hat, fingerless gloves, camera, vest, fly boxes, tippet, then rig up the rod.  — The couple of hours available for fishing already had a 20 minute dent in it I still wasn’t at the water.

On the 7th and the 8th, we *will* leave early for our journey to the Credit. What time does Hortons open?  <g Dave

Response:

Question:

When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"? I’m at my Wit’s end here. Thanks.

Response:

Try a LA Habor trick, They strung mono-filiment line ( fishing line) across the areas that the pigeons and seagulls liked to pearch and nest. They can’t see it and they fly right into it and bounce off and sometimes hit the ground. They learn quick that they can’t land there. Cris-cross it like a spider web, as I understant it,  it works very well. Other solution is a tack strip, with small sharp nails, the birds can’t stand on it. I hope this helps, (back to my regular lurk mode) John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"? I’m at my Wit’s end here. Thanks.

Response:

I had the same problem in my old three story house. Instead of a BB gun I used my sons’ Super Soaker squirt gun. It worked OK for a while – they seemd to know when I was gone and planned their activities accordingly. Mark Molnar – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"? I’m at my Wit’s end here. Thanks.

Response:

When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"?

I had a similar problem with the house I bought a few months ago. The blame could be put on the previous owner, who neighbors told me, fed the pigeons. There are a couple of solutions, you can do them yourself or hire a professional (Look under "Bird Control" or "Pest Control" in the yellow pages). – You can put down spikes in strategic locations. – You can put up netting. – You can live trap (OK, the trap catches them alive, but due to – pigeons’ homing instincts you can’t just let them go, so they have   to be killed). http://www.flybye.com/ sells supplies. I went with a local pest control company that put up spikes and netting and tried to live trap. The live trap didn’t work for me; in fact the pigeons had no respect for it as they would walk all over it, but not go in it. It wasn’t cheap to have it done for me: $400 for the spikes and netting (on a 1.5 story house), and $140 for trapping. For a few weeks the spikes and netting only seemed to work a little. A neighbor recommended putting rubber snakes on the roof. I bought a couple of rubber snakes, but I never did get around to putting them on the roof as after a few weeks the pigeon visitation stopped. Another alternative that I thought of was making the roof accessible to cats. I have a few and there are plenty of neighbor cats. I thought of some designs for "cat ladders" but I never had the need to construct one. — Doug Rudoff

Response:

When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"?

A couple of cat would discourage them, particularly if you don’t overfeed them. Otherwise, cover all entrances with 1" poultry netting (aka chicken wire); if they’re nesting in louvers or something on the outside, cover those as well (the wire will be virtually invisible from a distance). Place a radio up there blasting heavy metal or rap at full volume, if it won’t bother your neighbors. Scatter around a few handfulls of moth balls. I’m at my Wit’s end here.

I’ve always wanted to build a street named "Wit", terminating in a cul-de-sac… Gary — "It’s like complaining if wood has grains in it. Wood does have grains in it, and it is still beautiful."  Apple VP Phil Schiller, trying to explain away cracks in the Apple G4 Cube as being "mold marks".

Response:

: Try a LA Habor trick, : They strung mono-filiment line ( fishing line) across the areas that : the pigeons and seagulls liked to pearch and nest. They can’t see it : and they fly right into it and bounce off and sometimes hit the : ground. They learn quick that they can’t land there. : Cris-cross it like a spider web, as I understant it,  it works very : well. Other solution is a tack strip, with small sharp nails, the : birds can’t stand on it. : I hope this helps, (back to my regular lurk mode) : John

: When I moved into this place 3 months ago, I found that there was 3 dozen : pigeons in my gables.  Through a very intense early morning patrol of: : removing nests, slamming doors, making a presence known, building a board : with nail, then putting an owl on the 3rd floor roof, I finally tried to : scare them off with a BB gun.  Is the next step "Rat Nip"? : : I’m at my Wit’s end here. : : Thanks. These sound like good ways which DON’T involve killing. No need to do that. —

Response:

Question:

This seems a particularly inauspicious time to post a report about George’s handiwork, but then again when the hell isn’t it.  He will piss off most of ROFF every other post.  Nevertheless, I promised this report and ROFF will get it. The brown truck arrived this afternoon as promised.  This evening, I departed for Spring Creek with  a 4 and 5 wt line as well as a comparison rod.  I am not an expert on cane rods, although I have two which I fish regularly.  One is a 1950’s vintage Orvis with the letter line rating that translates to a 6 wt.  That rod was not unsheathed this evening.  The other is -at least until now – my favorite.  I purchased it at Farlow’s, Pall Mall, London and it is a 7 ft. 4-5 wt. Tony and Mike, among others,  will know of the store.  When I was there (1989) the cane rods were all stowed across the rafters in the ceiling, while the carbon rods were on display along the walls.  I climbed a ladder and picked out several rods, eventually purchasing one without the benefit of casting -which was not possible under the circumstances.  That rod, however, is a magnificent fishing tool. I took the Bastard to Spring Creek fitted out with a four weight line and fished it.  The rod was a superb fishing tool.  At normal fishing distances – for me 30-40 feet – it performed as well as any rod I have fished.  Then, I went up on the bank along the stream for some pure casting comparisons and put the 4 wt. line on the Farlow’s rod. After that, back to the Bastard for more casting.  At normal fishing distances, the Bastard was better.   With a modest double haul I could put out about 50 ft., but that was the absolute limit at my abilities. The Farlow’s rod can get better  distance than that – I punched out 60 ft. this evening.  But to George’s credit the Bastard is lighter and at normal fishing ranges it peforms better than the Farlow’s rod.  Of course, I  understand that Wayne Cattanech (sp?)did not make the comparison rod and I am hardly the equivilent of Steve Rajeff. Nevertheless, the Bastard is a fine product that by my standards is all that I could ask for in a bamboo rod.  The only thing I would change is to use a cigar rather than full wells grip. Thanks George, and the check is in the mail. Mark Faulkner

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – This seems a particularly inauspicious time to post a report about George’s handiwork, but then again when the hell isn’t it.  He will piss off most of ROFF every other post.  Nevertheless, I promised this report and ROFF will get it. The brown truck arrived this afternoon as promised.  This evening, I departed for Spring Creek with  a 4 and 5 wt line as well as a comparison rod.  I am not an expert on cane rods, although I have two which I fish regularly.  One is a 1950’s vintage Orvis with the letter line rating that translates to a 6 wt.  That rod was not unsheathed this evening.  The other is -at least until now – my favorite.  I purchased it at Farlow’s, Pall Mall, London and it is a 7 ft. 4-5 wt. Tony and Mike, among others,  will know of the store.  When I was there (1989) the cane rods were all stowed across the rafters in the ceiling, while the carbon rods were on display along the walls.  I climbed a ladder and picked out several rods, eventually purchasing one without the benefit of casting -which was not possible under the circumstances.  That rod, however, is a magnificent fishing tool. I took the Bastard to Spring Creek fitted out with a four weight line and fished it.  The rod was a superb fishing tool.  At normal fishing distances – for me 30-40 feet – it performed as well as any rod I have fished.  Then, I went up on the bank along the stream for some pure casting comparisons and put the 4 wt. line on the Farlow’s rod. After that, back to the Bastard for more casting.  At normal fishing distances, the Bastard was better.   With a modest double haul I could put out about 50 ft., but that was the absolute limit at my abilities. The Farlow’s rod can get better  distance than that – I punched out 60 ft. this evening.  But to George’s credit the Bastard is lighter and at normal fishing ranges it peforms better than the Farlow’s rod.  Of course, I  understand that Wayne Cattanech (sp?)did not make the comparison rod and I am hardly the equivilent of Steve Rajeff. Nevertheless, the Bastard is a fine product that by my standards is all that I could ask for in a bamboo rod.  The only thing I would change is to use a cigar rather than full wells grip. Thanks George, and the check is in the mail. Mark Faulkner

Very nice report Mark. But I gotta know, did ya get skunked? walt — Ezflyfish.com http://www.ezflyfish.com BRBG http://www.abebooks.com/home/BLUEBOOKS P.O. Box 5112  Banner Elk, NC 28604 (828)963-5001

Response:

Hi Walt,  My brother is looking for a Cortland Fairplay line in WF4F, I didn’t see one listed on your site…do they even make a WF4F?  Come to think of it, all I’ve ever seen in WallyWorld is 5 & 6 wt.  Just curious… Frank Church Elkhart, IN USAF  RET.

| | This seems a particularly inauspicious time to post a report about | George’s handiwork, but then again when the hell isn’t it.  He will piss | off most of ROFF every other post.  Nevertheless, I promised this report | and ROFF will get it. | | The brown truck arrived this afternoon as promised.  This evening, I | departed for Spring Creek with  a 4 and 5 wt line as well as a | comparison rod.  I am not an expert on cane rods, although I have two | which I fish regularly.  One is a 1950’s vintage Orvis with the letter | line rating that translates to a 6 wt.  That rod was not unsheathed this | evening.  The other is -at least until now – my favorite.  I purchased | it at Farlow’s, Pall Mall, London and it is a 7 ft. 4-5 wt. Tony and | Mike, among others,  will know of the store.  When I was there (1989) | the cane rods were all stowed across the rafters in the ceiling, while | the carbon rods were on display along the walls.  I climbed a ladder and | picked out several rods, eventually purchasing one without the benefit | of casting -which was not possible under the circumstances.  That rod, | however, is a magnificent fishing tool. | | I took the Bastard to Spring Creek fitted out with a four weight line | and fished it.  The rod was a superb fishing tool.  At normal fishing | distances – for me 30-40 feet – it performed as well as any rod I have | fished.  Then, I went up on the bank along the stream for some pure | casting comparisons and put the 4 wt. line on the Farlow’s rod. After | that, back to the Bastard for more casting.  At normal fishing | distances, the Bastard was better.   With a modest double haul I could | put out about 50 ft., but that was the absolute limit at my abilities. | The Farlow’s rod can get better  distance than that – I punched out 60 | ft. this evening.  But to George’s credit the Bastard is lighter and at | normal fishing ranges it peforms better than the Farlow’s rod.  Of | course, I  understand that Wayne Cattanech (sp?)did not make the | comparison rod and I am hardly the equivilent of Steve Rajeff. | Nevertheless, the Bastard is a fine product that by my standards is all | that I could ask for in a bamboo rod.  The only thing I would change is | to use a cigar rather than full wells grip. | | Thanks George, and the check is in the mail. | | Mark Faulkner | |Very nice report Mark. But I gotta know, did ya get skunked? | |walt | |– |Ezflyfish.com http://www.ezflyfish.com |BRBG http://www.abebooks.com/home/BLUEBOOKS |P.O. Box 5112  Banner Elk, NC 28604 (828)963-5001 | |

Response:

Same old story as many others really….

(another tale of woe snipped) Joe –  Several years ago I finished fishing Spring Creek at dark, just below Bellefonte, and put my cane rod on the roof of my car while I got out of my waders, had a beer, etc.  As you would suspect, it wasn’t until I heard the rod roll off the roof of the car onto the asphalt that I realized the magnitude of my stupidity. Mark Faulkner

Response:

Very nice report Mark. But I gotta know, did ya get skunked? Yes. MF

Mark is too much the gentleman to say this, but I understand that conditions are abysmal in PA.  Spring Creek has been reduced to a trickle, Penns is a puddle, and Fishing hardly flows.  Under such conditions not even the vaunted George could tease up a fish. Peter P.S.  We’ll have to have ourselves a little cane shootout once life gets breathed back into that little creek.

Response:

Joe –  Several years ago I finished fishing

Spring Creek at dark, just below Bellefonte, and put my cane rod on the roof of

my car while I got out of my waders, had a beer, etc.  As you would suspect,

it wasn’t until I heard the rod roll off the roof of the car onto the asphalt

that I realized the magnitude of my stupidity. Mark Faulkner

Mark; The three basic rules of fishing cane rods are: when you are thru fishing, 1-take care of the rod! 2-take care of the rod! 3-take care of the rod! follow all three steps BEFORE moving on to removing waders, drinking beer,etc. and your rods will last much longer John Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.

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Joe and Jon – Bellefonte is still a nice little town, that has the additional advantage of a first class trout stream running right through it.  The story of the six weight deserves to be told. Mark Faulkner – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Mark: I’ve got an uncle in Bellfonte (sp?), and family (with land and creeks) in Brookville. I grew up catching brookies there. Nice area, Ditto that.   I used to go there on business and knock off early to fish Spring Creek.   Bellefonte is a pretty little town (I thought).   Despite driving my car over my 6 wt. there, I’ve always wanted to come back. Joe F.

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Joe and Jon – Bellefonte is still a nice little town, that has the additional advantage of a first class trout stream running right through it.  The story of the six weight deserves to be told.

Same old story as many others really.   I was downstream from Bellefonte toward Fisherman’s Paradise trying to squeeze in just a few more casts before having to be somewhere else.   I came out of the stream and began packing up in a hurry.   Waders off, shoes on, vest off, etc.   For some reason I was distracted enough to leave my rod leaning against the passenger side of the car when I backed up to leave.   I heard the rod scrape against the side as it fell and realized what I’d done, but too late.   From the position of the rod, I certainly had run over the tip. Surprisingly, it looked undamaged except for a slightly bent guide, so I put it back in the sock and tube and went on my way.   It wasn’t until weeks later getting ready to fish the Tulpehocken that I thought to check it out before I hiked down to the stream in my waders.   I tried a quick cast on the parking area and; well, lets just say the rod was a bit less stiff than I liked. Joe F.

Response:

Very nice report Mark. But I gotta know, did ya get skunked?

Yes. MF

Response:

Mark: I’ve got an uncle in Bellfonte (sp?), and family (with land and creeks) in Brookville. I grew up catching brookies there. Nice area,

Ditto that.   I used to go there on business and knock off early to fish Spring Creek.   Bellefonte is a pretty little town (I thought).   Despite driving my car over my 6 wt. there, I’ve always wanted to come back. Joe F.

Response:

Hi Frank, The Fairplay line isn’t manufactured in a 4wt., 5wt being the smallest. It is a good line for the money….I have one loaded on a Danica Large Arbor reel and it performs quite nicely. There is a 4wt 333HT but it costs more. However, all the 333 lines are on sale everyday at ez…. –Walt, puttin the lid back on the can. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Walt,  My brother is looking for a Cortland Fairplay line in WF4F, I didn’t see one listed on your site…do they even make a WF4F?  Come to think of it, all I’ve ever seen in WallyWorld is 5 & 6 wt.  Just curious… Frank Church Elkhart, IN USAF  RET. | | This seems a particularly inauspicious time to post a report about | George’s handiwork, but then again when the hell isn’t it.  He will piss | off most of ROFF every other post.  Nevertheless, I promised this report | and ROFF will get it. | | The brown truck arrived this afternoon as promised.  This evening, I | departed for Spring Creek with  a 4 and 5 wt line as well as a | comparison rod.  I am not an expert on cane rods, although I have two | which I fish regularly.  One is a 1950’s vintage Orvis with the letter | line rating that translates to a 6 wt.  That rod was not unsheathed this | evening.  The other is -at least until now – my favorite.  I purchased | it at Farlow’s, Pall Mall, London and it is a 7 ft. 4-5 wt. Tony and | Mike, among others,  will know of the store.  When I was there (1989) | the cane rods were all stowed across the rafters in the ceiling, while | the carbon rods were on display along the walls.  I climbed a ladder and | picked out several rods, eventually purchasing one without the benefit | of casting -which was not possible under the circumstances.  That rod, | however, is a magnificent fishing tool. | | I took the Bastard to Spring Creek fitted out with a four weight line | and fished it.  The rod was a superb fishing tool.  At normal fishing | distances – for me 30-40 feet – it performed as well as any rod I have | fished.  Then, I went up on the bank along the stream for some pure | casting comparisons and put the 4 wt. line on the Farlow’s rod. After | that, back to the Bastard for more casting.  At normal fishing | distances, the Bastard was better.   With a modest double haul I could | put out about 50 ft., but that was the absolute limit at my abilities. | The Farlow’s rod can get better  distance than that – I punched out 60 | ft. this evening.  But to George’s credit the Bastard is lighter and at | normal fishing ranges it peforms better than the Farlow’s rod.  Of | course, I  understand that Wayne Cattanech (sp?)did not make the | comparison rod and I am hardly the equivilent of Steve Rajeff. | Nevertheless, the Bastard is a fine product that by my standards is all | that I could ask for in a bamboo rod.  The only thing I would change is | to use a cigar rather than full wells grip. | | Thanks George, and the check is in the mail. | | Mark Faulkner | |Very nice report Mark. But I gotta know, did ya get skunked? | |walt | |– |Ezflyfish.com http://www.ezflyfish.com |BRBG http://www.abebooks.com/home/BLUEBOOKS |P.O. Box 5112  Banner Elk, NC 28604 (828)963-5001 | |

– Ezflyfish.com http://www.ezflyfish.com BRBG http://www.abebooks.com/home/BLUEBOOKS P.O. Box 5112  Banner Elk, NC 28604 (828)963-5001

Response:

steve, by far the best post yet on the whole issue of  bastard rods thanks for your time and effort chris smith – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

Steve….     As someone who has lurked more than participated in the Bastard Bamboo Rod fiasco, I was more than a little uncomfortable that such extreme positions were taken on one side or the other.  Your report, coupled with photos, is, in my opinion, the best post on the subject to date.  It was a fair and accurate report and you did a good job of articulating your opinions and backing them up with photos.  Thank you.  I think that anyone thinking about purchasing a Bastard Rod will be in a much better position to make a purchase decision thanks to you..     As to those who took "extreme positions" in their posts, I’m not throwing rocks at any of you.  If you were not happy with the quality of the rod you received, then all of the feelings attached to such a transaction are going to find their way into your post.  Similarly, when George felt that he was being "attacked", his defensive posture also came through in his posts.  All of this is understandable.     It was nice, however, to see a post like Steve’s Barry

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

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Steve, I got to tell you, that was a beautiful well done work. Although I haven’t been around in a while ( I relocated and been busy with the new home), I found a little time to read some post. I must say that the post concerning the Bastard production line held my interest. Although George has his foes, he has a respectable amount of heart. If his rods are lacking (judging by the previous posts), I am sure that they will improve with experience. Chris Fleitman Fisherman by nature-goofball by society.

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Steve, Nice pictures. I had wanted to see the tipping wraps. I had a dicussion with George on his chat room one night about and he had told me that they were four threads wide. But on your pictures some of the guide wraps are tipped and some are not. sf

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

will, i got involved with george origionally on VFS. i pointed out an inconsistancy in a statement he made about pricing  which included a general insult to a large group of people. i was polite. he replied with venom and vitriol. i contacted him privately. we communicated calmly and civily. he offered to send me a rod to see for myself how well made it was. not to buy, just to try. i said if he’s willing to go that far the least i can do is buy it – if it’s as good a rod as he claimes. sadly the rod he sent was pretty miserable. not suprising since it was one of the rods he’d sent to daytripper. which was returned  -which george said was so bad he destroyed it -which he now claims is perfectly fine. i told him i would give him a chance to talk about it privately before i posted my thoughts publicly, which was something i stated i planned on doing right up front. i sent him my review and had no responce. i sent him another request to respond and a time when i would post  publicly.from the time i posted to him to the time i posted publicly( 2 days) george was on line responding to and attacking others. my post was polite and truthful with a couple suggestions and best wishes for future success. his responce was typical george-i was made out to be a liar and ignorant. my next reply was georgian. if he can’t take it he shouldn’t dish it. i’m glad codemarine recieved a rod he’s happy with. it’s alot nicer looking than mine. BUT if you look at the cane work you can see there is room for improvement. the flats irregularities show up even in online photos. georges claimes of being better than Granger, Heddon et al are bad for this reason; it blinds george to realization that there is room for improvement in the bastards. if he keeps this attitude about his work and continues to trash anyone who dares disagree with him or finds fault with one of his rods, he’s hurting himself and his business. i for one tried to give the guy a chance AFTER he had ripped into me and look where it got me. on george gehrkes’ ENEMIES LIST. i wish him luck because with him instabilities he’s gonna need it.  bob smith                  .  I do believe George    is honestly   doing his best to satisfy all his customer< —–he has a funny way of going about it—

Response:

 Steve;  A wonderful report on the Bastard Bamboo Flyrod. It’s been extremely interesting reading these posts on ROFF about these rods. I’m a graphite man myself–although I do, on occasion bring out my Orvis Battenkill 8′ 6 wt. circa 1965.   I have no intention of ordering a Bastard–and if I did–I’d have to consider that decision quite carefully after reading some of these exchanges. Well done, Thanks!   Dave M

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Bill: Thanks for a thoughful and conciliatory post.  I wish you would post more often. I myself enjoy quite a reputation for my rod building talent (glass & graphite), but hesitate at the challenge of building a bamboo from scratch.

I apologize ahead of time if I should recognize your name/business in a commercial flyrod context, but I don’t.  Do you build rods commercially, or just as a hobby? The reason I ask is that I honestly wonder how other people who post here, *and* make a living somehow from flyfishing, feel about George’s commercial use of this group.  It has always been shrugged off in the past as the acceptable (to some) price that was paid for all the "contributions" he made to roff.  Personally, I’m having a hard time seeing the contributions of late, but maybe that’s just me. Bob Before you buy.

Response:

Bob, You really shouldn’t recognize my name/business.  I’m just a "have fun" flyfisher who enjoys the sport immensely.  I’ve been involved with many Fly Fishing clubs at one time or another and have taught several rod building classes in my time.  Lost count of the number of rods I’ve built at around 300 or so and that was quite a few years ago.  I just enjoy getting the best performance I can out of a blank. Most of my rods have been donated to good causes or traded for flies.  I definitely have a reputation for having built more rods than flies.  I did meet George at a show a few years back and I believe him to be sincere although a little sensitive concerning his products.  In my opinion, he tries too hard to make everyone satisfied (which is impossible) and then is hurt when someone isn’t satisfied.  His commercial posting on ROFF would seem out of place to me if it wasn’t for the fact he seems to be a part of the group.  Each group needs a diverse set of personalities.  George contributes to the group on a regular basis, providing information, insight, and definitely excitement. You haven’t seen me post very often, because I’m too busy.  Life has caught up to me and I had to get an education to change careers.  I just graduated with a BS degree in information systems while working 65 hours per week. Lurking on ROFF has helped me keep some sanity in my life during this time that I’ve been locked into my studies.  Hopefully not too long now until I can get employed at a real job and will be able to enjoy my weekends fishing again. Bill – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Bill: Thanks for a thoughful and conciliatory post.  I wish you would post more often. I myself enjoy quite a reputation for my rod building talent (glass & graphite), but hesitate at the challenge of building a bamboo from scratch. I apologize ahead of time if I should recognize your name/business in a commercial flyrod context, but I don’t.  Do you build rods commercially, or just as a hobby? The reason I ask is that I honestly wonder how other people who post here, *and* make a living somehow from flyfishing, feel about George’s commercial use of this group.  It has always been shrugged off in the past as the acceptable (to some) price that was paid for all the "contributions" he made to roff.  Personally, I’m having a hard time seeing the contributions of late, but maybe that’s just me. Bob Before you buy.

Response:

Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Steve, All I can say is OUT-FREAKING-STANDING!!! Well done!  A truely fair report and analysis.  I especially liked the pictures to back up the claims made and to actually receive my first glimpse of a bastard! A++ Warren Riding a horse through a stream and chopping down a tree near you!

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Just when we thought it was safe to go in the water

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This, I think, says it all. A masterful production, codemarine. My hat’s off to you. — visit my web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/ something bogus to avoid spam)

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A breath of fresh air, a Bastard related post without name calling, well done and informative. Thanks, Jim – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

Steve, you are to be congratulated on an excellent report on the B*stard rod, one I consider fair, well done and containing excellent advice for all concerned. I have stayed out of the fray, primarily because I am not in the running for a rod named B*stard, say what you will, but that is an offensive term to me. (maybe someday I’ll get over it) But I digress…I hope George takes to heart your advice, because, notwithstanding his reputation in ROFF, I wish him well.  Yours is not the first post stating that you found him to be a personable, decent fellow when not trading insults, etc. on ROFF. Let me say right up front that I believe these were honorable, trustworthy people who sent rods back to George, it is just incomprehensible to me that they would even consider dealing with George in any other way. It is my hope, yes even my plan to someday fish with Dave L., Daytripper, Mudfish and all the ROFFIANS that I can fit in to my fishing life, and yes, even George. Life is too short to spend it in any other way than to enjoy in person those people who I’ve come to know and respect on ROFF. It grieves me to see what has been going on these past weeks, for I’ve been a member of ROFF for over 5 yrs now and although I’m not a frequent poster, this group has jump-started my day (with a cup of coffee) for the past 5 years (when I’m not on the road)  It has become a part of my life, instead of having coffee and a donut, I have coffee and ROFF. And, a last special request to George…..read and reread CodeMarine’s advice, step back and give it some thought. As stated before, I wish you well in your rod venture, but you must change your public persona, and stop believing that people are out to "get you" with sabotage or other devious means to hurt your business venture.  Until you go nationwide with your rods, these folks on ROFF are all you’ve got to ’spread the word’ about B*stard rods. In other words, be cool George! In my opinion, _you_ are your own worst enemy, and only you can change that. Good luck and remember, regardless of what’s happened in the recent past, I’ll bet 99.9% of ROFFIANS want to see you succeed. I’m on the road this morning to Denver for 4 days, I want to see some positive feedback from you when I return George…..now, get your ass on over to http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ and read and heed! Respectfully, – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

A really nice, balanced report — thanks!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

<<Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. Great post Steve.  Thank god for gentlemen.

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<SNIP Excellent.  Thank you very much for the effort. I am also glad that you enjoy the rod and am pleased for George. Hope he takes your suggestions to heart. TL MC

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Steve, A hearty THANKS from all of us.  A positive and informative post is as refreshing as one can get and with pictures to back it up. Kind of verifies what I have thought all along.  I don’t believe any "Lies" have really been said on this news group.  I do believe George is honestly doing his best to satisfy all his customers.  The fact that he sent those rods to Dave and Dave at the last minute is proof of this.  However, that was a definite business error on Georges part.  He himself admits rods #11 and #12 were sent out in a rush, I think perhaps with a cut back in Quality Analysis to make the deadline. An effort to satisfy a customer at the cost of the perfection George is striving for. Dave and Dave on the other hand having received these rods, noticed some imperfections and felt a need to correct George on these points.  An appropriate action to take.  An action I believe I would have taken under the circumstances. The blow up seems to have stemmed from this action. I believe George is a man of honor who honestly wants to help people enjoy the sport. And has accomplished that many many times over.  However George tends to take on challenges of large magnitude.  None of us would take on the challenge of producing a quality production bamboo flyrod.  In fact it’s quite difficult to produce a single quality bamboo fly rod. I myself enjoy quite a reputation for my rod building talent (glass & graphite), but hesitate at the challenge of building a bamboo from scratch. I believe George takes great pride in the work he does and as well he should.  He has accomplished the close to impossible in the challenges he has taken on. Several posts from satisfied customers verify this.  However I’m afraid he strives to perfection to a fault.  He wants every product he makes to satisfy everyone perfectly and he won’t stop till he gets there. Unfortunately, no one is capable of perfection,  so when a criticism is made it is perceived as an attack. Thus a defensive stance which provokes another defensive stance which then provokes another defensive stance and so on it goes. It is time each forgive one another.  Motives were correct from both sides of the camp.  Perceptions, however tend to have a life of their own. I’ve heard comments about complaining to ISP’s and such.  Come on, bury the hatchet.  Let’s enjoy one another as the Roffians that we are. I neither defend George nor Dave and Dave.  I simply believe that the majority of all this uproar is due to misperceptions on the part of all. George misperceived Dave & Dave’s comments as an attack and the correction George made to those comments were perceived as an attack.  It’s just time to forgive. Bill (the Lurker)

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello, all. I am the owner of a new Bastard bamboo rod and so I thought I’d share my experiences (and many photos) with you. I had planned to post my story directly to the group, but because the battle has escalated to such an extreme (and embarrassing) level, I’ve decided to post only a link to it. Here it is: http://www.ipass.net/~stevez/gehrkerod/ If you’re interested, check it out and feel free to respond here or directly to my email address. For those of you at the Ball, I’ll see you soon!!! Steve Zimmerman

Response:

(snippage has occurred) Steve Zimmerman

Well thought through and well designed post Steve.  However, considering the touchiness of the situation, I will have to see the longer term results to say it was effective in all the areas you intended.  I do think your post serves well as a model for resolving intense, sometimes emotional, conflicts on ROFF. — Wayne To fish is human….To release Divine! Before you buy.

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Question:

Do you really think that selling fly reels is the "public welfare"?< Well, it’s in MY welfare and last time I checked, I was a member of the great unwashed public.

THIS IS NOT MY POST!!!!!   I DID NOT POST THIS Check for your self.  I might be a lot of things-  but I would NEVER post under anyone else’s name.  Look Ken F.  I’m laughing like a dawg at a lot of this,  but YOU were cool to me when a few others dogged my ass…   Don’t you let this fool you. I can play games w/ the best of’em-  but the bastards better play fair-  ’cause  I sure as hell know how to fight dirty-   You see for your self.   I am nothing if not loyal to my own ethic.  You may not understand that ethic-  BUT  look around and see…   I made one hell of a mark fer a new scum bag.   Do I EVER not sign my posts? The primary concern of the individual should be that of becoming ‘diluted’, more specifically- Delusion. That shit is NOT RIGHT!!!!] The real BRUCE post Outta be 200 lbs of low grade CHUM!!!!

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – THAT wasn’t the question Bellows.  The question was, why aren’t the shop carrying all our other products because the are so good. Now THAT, is a good question. Finally, this isn’t a question of me/us/ making money to pay many people their rightful wages and livelihood.  It is a question of "SERVICE" being provided at the retail level.  We make more money for Distributors and Retailers then what we profit by at the lower food-chain level of capitalism.  I hope you remember that in your regard Mr. Bellows.  I’m not the injured party here.  It is the retail shop owner and the American Fly Fisherman that are the injured party because the Retailer isn’t looking out for your interests and finally, not his own.

george, get over yourself.  there are plenty of other products that compete with your products that are just as good, if not better.  while it’s all well and good that you are proud of your products, and i would expect nothing less from a business owner, you must realize that other people’s products are damn good… and that if a fly shop decides to carry them instead of your products, they are doing what they feel is best for THEIR customers.  i frequent a shop that doesn’t sell many of your products… do i feel short shafted?  HELL NO.  if i thought i’d gain by using your flyfuzz (or whatever the hell it is) vs. the naturals and synthetics i allready use… i’d let the owner know and have him order me some.  i’m not losing out on diddly, no matter how much you think so.  same with your dubbing wax.  if i thought i absolutely had to have it, i would.  george, it’s friggin wax for christ’s sake.  i can’t imagine my tying would be so much better with a different kind of wax, no matter what gerke propoganda you choose to use. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thank you for your comments.  If you haven’t tried a NEW tube of FLY-MAKER’S WAX then you may not know what you are missing as a fly tier, for instance, nor any of our other products. George Gehrke/President Gehrke’s Outdoor Fly Fishing Products. Visit: http://www.gink.com MAY I SUGGEST THAT THOSE WHO cannot get our products at their local fly shop MAY ORDER FACTORY DIRECT at the same retail level (and sometimes less).  WE want to get any or all of our products into everyone’s hands, no matter what it takes. Please visit the capitalistic pig’s WEB SITE ABOVE.  or here : http://www.gink.com/ Read about what we can do for you.  If you want to truly protect your fly lines for instance, TRY our PZ fly line dressing and cleaner.  It is the best in the world.

when you call everything you make "the best in the world" my bullshit alarm starts screaming. EVERYTHING is guaranteed.  I defy everyone not to like anything we make.  

well, i’m not a huge fan of gink.  it’s allright, but not divine.  i enjoy trying out lots of different products… some work well, some don’t.   We happen to have the world’s best Guarantee also.  It seems to never end – this quality of products we make.  We are in a very Special Field of this Industry.

blah, blah, blah, propoganda, blah, blah, blah….lol chris

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THAT wasn’t the question Bellows.  The question was, why aren’t the shop carrying all our other products because the are so good. Now THAT, is a good question. Finally, this isn’t a question of me/us/ making money to pay many people their rightful wages and livelihood.  It is a question of "SERVICE" being provided at the retail level.  We make more money for Distributors and Retailers then what we profit by at the lower food-chain level of capitalism.  I hope you remember that in your regard Mr. Bellows.  I’m not the injured party here.  It is the retail shop owner and the American Fly Fisherman that are the injured party because the Retailer isn’t looking out for your interests and finally, not his own. Thank you for your comments.  If you haven’t tried a NEW tube of FLY-MAKER’S WAX then you may not know what you are missing as a fly tier, for instance, nor any of our other products. George Gehrke/President Gehrke’s Outdoor Fly Fishing Products. Visit: http://www.gink.com MAY I SUGGEST THAT THOSE WHO cannot get our products at their local fly shop MAY ORDER FACTORY DIRECT at the same retail level (and sometimes less).  WE want to get any or all of our products into everyone’s hands, no matter what it takes. Please visit the capitalistic pig’s WEB SITE ABOVE.  or here : http://www.gink.com/ Read about what we can do for you.  If you want to truly protect your fly lines for instance, TRY our PZ fly line dressing and cleaner.  It is the best in the world. EVERYTHING is guaranteed.  I defy everyone not to like anything we make.  We happen to have the world’s best Guarantee also.  It seems to never end – this quality of products we make.  We are in a very Special Field of this Industry. Very Special. gg

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Otherwise  L.R.  I don’t know what else to do.  Every fly shop that carries all our products grosses several thousand dollars a year or more.

george, you’re the only one making lots of money of gink, xink, and your wonderful wax… how many bottles of gink must a shop sell to make thousands of dollars<G?

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_______ Everyone needs to have a heart to heat with their local pro shop.  Each Pro Shop that orders some of our other products they don’t carry, gets free samples of everything we carry that they can sell at full retail which is around thirty – $50 dollars worth of pure profit. Take this into your local retail outfitter and show them this offer.  If anyone has any other idea, I’m for it.  I’ll donate a whole box full of products for your favorite fly fishing club or person in need.  Each person that gets a fly shop to order two or more new products they haven’t tried with us yet, gets a complete set of FISH-FUZZ.  This is around $66 worth of free, deadly, streamer, wet fly, tying material in dazzling colors. Otherwise  L.R.  I don’t know what else to do.  Every fly shop that carries all our products grosses several thousand dollars a year or more. We move a lot of product that takes care of the majority of most fly fisherman’s needs world wide, but we could do a lot better Mr. Trout. You are certainly correct about this. Thanks for your support.  It is an excellent fly tying wax at that. Sincerely, george gehrke Used your fly tying wax for the first time this evening tying up some Golden Ribbed Hare’s Ears.  Best wax I’ve ever used.  How come so many places only carry Gink and not your other stuff? L. Baird

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Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Md and Va saltwater licenses are recipocle (sp) — bob D&B Marine http://www.tqci.net/~dbmarine 888-535-BOAT Big Gunpowder Falls River in Maryland has some very nice Browns and Rainbows.  Lots of catch and release stretches.  There is a good fly shop in Monkton I will be relocating to the Washington, DC area next month and I would love to have any fishing info for the area (including Chesapeake Bay).  Bait shops for advice, public fishing areas, tackle choices, where to get a fishing license for Virginia/Maryland (do I need both states and fresh and saltwater?), time of year to catch certain fish.  I’ll take anything related please respond via e-mail Barry

I think you will find this helpful… <http://www.gmu.edu/bios/bay/links.htm

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Big Gunpowder Falls River in Maryland has some very nice Browns and Rainbows.  Lots of catch and release stretches.  There is a good fly shop in Monkton

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I will be relocating to the Washington, DC area next month and I would love to have any fishing info for the area (including Chesapeake Bay).  Bait shops for advice, public fishing areas, tackle choices, where to get a fishing license for Virginia/Maryland (do I need both states and fresh and saltwater?), time of year to catch certain fish.  I’ll take anything related please respond via e-mail Barry

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Md and Va saltwater licenses are recipocle (sp) — bob D&B Marine http://www.tqci.net/~dbmarine 888-535-BOAT – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Big Gunpowder Falls River in Maryland has some very nice Browns and Rainbows.  Lots of catch and release stretches.  There is a good fly shop in Monkton I will be relocating to the Washington, DC area next month and I would love to have any fishing info for the area (including Chesapeake Bay).  Bait shops for advice, public fishing areas, tackle choices, where to get a fishing license for Virginia/Maryland (do I need both states and fresh and saltwater?), time of year to catch certain fish.  I’ll take anything related please respond via e-mail Barry

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I will be relocating to the Washington, DC area next month and I would love to have any fishing info for the area (including Chesapeake Bay).  Bait shops for advice, public fishing areas, tackle choices, where to get a fishing license for Virginia/Maryland (do I need both states and fresh and saltwater?), time of year to catch certain fish.  I’ll take anything related please respond via e-mail Barry

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Check out worldwideangler.com or chesapeakeangler.com different name same site. Good luck

I will be relocating to the Washington, DC area next month and I would love to have any fishing info for the area (including Chesapeake Bay).  Bait shops for advice, public fishing areas, tackle choices, where to get a fishing license for Virginia/Maryland (do I need both states and fresh and saltwater?), time of year to catch certain fish.  I’ll take anything related please respond via e-mail Barry — Flyfish NC                                                   Gordon Churchill http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3853                                                                    

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Question:

Hi– On my way to Schroon Lake/Schroon River in upstate NY from Erie, PA.  Although I’ve lived there on and off for over 35 years, I am new to flyfishing.  Will trout still be active in the river? Should I head for the dam near Chestertown? Or, is the season finished?  Thanks for any assistance! P.S. Time won’t permit a side trip to the Ausable…although I plan on it in the spring. Regards, Brian

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Hi– On my way to Schroon Lake/Schroon River in upstate NY from Erie, PA. Although I’ve lived there on and off for over 35 years, I am new to flyfishing.  Will trout still be active in the river? Should I head for the dam near Chestertown? Or, is the season finished?  Thanks for any assistance! P.S. Time won’t permit a side trip to the Ausable…although I plan on it in the spring. Regards, Brian

   Although the Schroon is heavily stocked by both the State and Warren County it is a put and take river with virtually no holdover. Come back in the spring after mid may and the water levels will be down to where you can wade the river.

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Question:

Would appreciate advice on anyone who has used Orvis’ ‘Sure-Step Bootfoot Waders. ‘  These are waders with a wading boot attached to a stocking foot wader…sounds good in theory, but are they any good? thanks…

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I have them and like them for any cold water fishing.

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Would appreciate advice on anyone who has used Orvis’ ‘Sure-Step Bootfoot Waders. ‘  These are waders with a wading boot attached to a stocking foot wader…sounds good in theory, but are they any good? thanks…

If you really must have bootfoot waders, I think these are the best choice.  Usually the biggest advantage to bootfoot waders is the ability to get them on and off easily.  The disadvantage is that they are not much good for athletic wading over rocky surfaces.  Normal bootfoot waders offer no support.  Stocking foot waders allow you to get a wader that fits and then put on a boot that fits and gives support.  Using this system is time consuming but gives you great mobility in the water.  The Sure-Step boot foot neoprene wader falls in between the two – much better than normal boot foot waders but not as good as the stocking foot with seperate boots option.   The boot foot on the Sure Step waders has laces on the outside of the outer boot (the boot is stiffer than is normally found on boot foot waders).  This allows you to adjust the fit of the boot to actually get some support in the foot and allow you greater mobility and confidence in your wading without taking the time and expense to get both waders and boots.  I use them for surf fishing in Northern CA because I get sand in between the boots and the stocking foot of my "normal" waders.  I’ve used them on rocky jetty’s and they work pretty well, but if I was only going to fish off the jettys or rocks I’d prefer my stockng foot waders with a seperate boot with studs.  So it depends on the conditions under which you fish. Sandy, gravel, or pebble bottoms don’t challenge these boot foot waders at all and they are a good choice for such conditions.  On a scale of 1 to 10 (from easy wading to impossible wading)  these are fine up to about a 6 (IMO).  I’d think twice about using them on fast deep waters with treacherous footing and I wouldn’t even consider regular boot foot waders in such conditions.                                                  Hope this helps,                                                           Dan Dan Gracia                                                               Orvis West Coast Fly Fishing Schools If you kill that big fish you can’t catch ‘em again.  So what if they eat other fish?  If you kill the big ones there will only be little ones left (funny how that works!).

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Question:

: Okay, what’s the best (and most frugal) slip bobber stop? : : I’ve always had pretty good luck using rubber bands.  Tie them bellow : the bobber at whatever depth you want and then trim off the excess with : toe-nail clippers. I’ve always used dental floss, tying it around the line using a uni-knot. The major advantage of using the dental floss is that IT NEVER INTERFERES WITH CASTING especially if the depth you set is more than 20′. Rubber bands, mono’s and braided lines will snag your line in the spool when you try long casts causing a backfire pull. There is a way to avoid this: everytime you reel your line you manually put the stop in the back of the spool so that it will not interfere with your casting. I always forget so I only use dental floss, but of course, there is a finesse technique to use it efficiently, otherwise it would come off often and may be more of a problem to a new user.

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Okay, what’s the best (and most frugal) slip bobber stop? I’ve always had pretty good luck using rubber bands.  Tie them bellow the bobber at whatever depth you want and then trim off the excess with toe-nail clippers. — xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Jeff Mills                                                     xxx Lexis-Nexis                                                    xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I usually use a small piece of mono…. Works great and there always some laying around the boat.

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Okay, what’s the best (and most frugal) slip bobber stop? I’ve always had pretty good luck using rubber bands.  Tie them bellow the bobber at whatever depth you want and then trim off the excess with toe-nail clippers. — xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Jeff Mills                                                     xxx Lexis-Nexis                                                    xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Okay, what’s the best (and most frugal) slip bobber stop? I’ve always had pretty good luck using rubber bands.  Tie them bellow the bobber at whatever depth you want and then trim off the excess with toe-nail clippers. — xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Jeff Mills                                                     xxx Lexis-Nexis                                                    xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I usually use a small piece of mono…. Works great and there always some laying around the boat.

In regard to the best slip bobber stops, I feel that braided dacron fishing line of 18 lbs. test or less works well. Heck, even simple kite string has worked very well for me. However, in terms of the "best" and cheapest, I feel that Cortland’s braided "Micron" 20 lb test flyline backing makes the best stopper knots. Sold at most better fly shops, one spool will probably last one a lifetime of float fishing. I like it for its ability to grip the line well, and because it ties a nice, tight, compact, and easy-to-see stopper knot.      For storage on the river, I use six-inch lengths pre-cut and knotted to a size 5 barrel swivel, which is hooked through one of the D-rings or zipper pulls on my vest or rainjacket.This method,combined with the brilliant yellow color, always reminds me that I  have the stopper knot material with me! And I always know just how much of it I have.      Rubber bands work, and I have used them, but they sometimes grab on the guides or more disconcertingly, pop off and allow the weight to sink and snag up. I never did like rubber bands. I have even used 10 lb test monofilament. That works too, provided your floats or beads have small enough holes.

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Question:

I’ll be teaching at Hollins College in Roanoke for the spring semester, February-May, and wonder if I should bring my gear with me…I know nothing about the nearby fishing, though I’ve fished some of the eastern streams.

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I spend some time down in the Blacksburg area (Va Tech grad) and I’d like to hear about fly fishing opportunities in SW VA.  So if you find out anything, let me know!   Thanks

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South fork of the HOlston river.  Opposite the hatchery for about 200 yards up and downstream.  incredibly huge trout.  average is around 4 pounds.  tough turf.  go small and pray for rain.  two weeks ago i landed a 23" rainbow.  no joke.  Bob Crawshaw  Flyfishing Virginia, L.L.C.   804-467-6668

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