Fish Stories

So, we survived the great fishing expedition of 2009. Barely.

I went home and collapsed face-first onto my bed and didn't wake up for a couple of hours. It was great to see how much fun the kidlet had, though, so that made it (mostly) worth the sleep-deprivation.

This is a man-made lake called "Oso Reservoir." It's attached to a campground and the whole thing is operated by the Boy Scouts.

Looking northwest towards the 241 toll road. Which, I know, means nothing to those of you not from the OC.

Some of the "master" fishermen at work. Also, you can see how low the level of the lake is - all that ground in the picture is normally underwater. Yes, we are definitely in a drought.

Some of our guys got brave and went out in a little leaky rowboat. That's them way out there in the distance. I drew the line at doing the leaky little boat thing with just me and the kid (they wouldn't allow 2 adults in one boat). I just didn't think I could handle 2 fishing poles, keeping the kid in line, rowing the boat and any potential emergency that might happen. One of the other dads very kindly offered to take my kid out with him and his kid so it worked out fine.

Looking east with the Saddleback Mountains in the background.

Another view to the east.

For security reasons, I don't normally post pics of the kidlet, but I just couldn't resist with this one. At least his face is not full-on to the camera. I call this picture "Opie" because it reminds of Ron Howard on the old "Andy Griffith" show. Seriously, how CUTE is this picture?

Oh, and here's the wildlife report for the trip:

Rabbits: 2

Lizards: 2

Turkey vultures: 2

Red-tailed hawk: 1

Bald eagle: 1

Guppies: 100's of them

Catfish: 0

Bass: 0

Bluegill: 0

Trout: 0

Can you tell that the "fishing" part of the expedition was not necessarily a great success? LOL! But the kids had fun anyway.

Oh, and I made a pair of earrings on my lunch hour last Friday:

I call them "Jumping through Hoops" earrings.

Patina'd copper dolphins and rings, copper chain, Czech purple glass rondelles, blue opal Swarovski crystals.

I can't decide if these colors really "go" with the copper or not. I wanted some kind of water element, but they may not really be working. I'm starting to think I should stick to working with silver as copper doesn't really seem to be my "element." I have a hard time putting colors with it.

And that's it. I got some great beads in the mail this weekend so I should have some good things to post on Friday. Maybe I can even get my muse to start cooperating again because I'm just not happy with the things I've been turning out lately!

KJ