Ah Skeet Skeet, mutha trucka…

Ode to the 2009 BASSmaster Classic winner….Mr. Skeet Reese:

SKEET REESE ladies and Gents…Skeet is ‘da shite’ and he represents the WEST coast well…

BASS fishing received some notoriety this year because ESPiN had “Mike and Mike” broadcast there? …Uh, no…

BassAnglerSS (BASS) can kiss my ass…They stopped bringing their “TOUR” to western states a few years ago because we were kicking the shit out of  “dems soufern boys.” It’s true…

-My boy (Luke) from Spokane won this tournament too and represented well..

Regardless, I’m just happy that Iaconelli(sp?) didn’t win…

CONGRATS SKEET!!!

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My broken birthday…

Happy Birthday to me!! My birthday fell on Friday the 13th this year, so I decided to do something special…

A few weeks ago, I had a “genius” idea to rent a Party Bus. Put your friends together on a bus, serve alcohol, play music, and dance your way from bar to bar…no one drinking and driving…and no one having to mess with parking in Seattle…actually, that IS genius!

At the beginning of the party bus adventure…not enough alcohol yet…clearly!

Too bad about that whole “twist” I had to throw in for kicks and giggles…

All I will say about my “double knee injury” is that it sucks. I have to be on crutches for the next 3 weeks with the knee braces for the next 6-10 weeks…followed by a little surgery for my torn ACL. Doesn’t that sound like fun?? It’s not super exciting, but it could be worse (says the doctor…) so I just have to buck up.

As for the the party bus? I actually had people suggest that I cancel it. Ummm…they must not know me very well…

Since wandering around on crutches for hours and drinking didn’t sound like a very smart idea for a girl who seems to be a little accident prone…I rented a wheelchair…MORE genius!

People were very nice to me…making room for me…buying me drinks…letting me into the bars without my ID (since genius here left that at home!).

And although I did expect someone would tip me over…or that I would get stuck on some hill in Seattle and roll down and break my neck, the only wheelchair “incident” was someone else’s…this is what happens when you leave your friends with your wheelchair while you go to the bathroom.

Hilarious!

All in all, it was a happy birthday to me! Good friends, good fun…a great night!

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Bring back “The Kid”

-Clemens and Tejada (among others) are getting fitted for jail suits and home monitor bracelets, Roberto Alomar is wishing he hadn’t banged any hookers (I wonder how that umpire he spat on feels) and ‘F-rod’ is trying to win the public opinion battle (screwing Madonna won’t help)…I wonder how Bud Selig is feeling these days…

Well, how about some “good news” about baseball for a change? The rumors are flying around Seatown that our favorite son Ken Griffey Jr will be returning…

Judging by the crowd reaction when the Reds were in town in June 07 (yeah, I was there), “The Kid” is and always will be loved by Seatown baseball fans:

The ‘rumor’  is that the M’s and Griffey (agent) have agreed to a one-year deal (5 million?)…Of course, he must pass that physical test first which we all know takes…forever…

Considering that the 97 AL MVP doesn’t really have anywhere else to go; why not bring him back to Seattle!? The M’s need another bat and Griffey is perfect for the DH slot…I don’t expect to see him playing defense much (liability) but I’ll admit that it would be nice to see him in CF again…

He’s a shoe-in for Cooperstown: 2,679 hits, 611 homeruns, 1,772 ribbies, .288 BA…Sending him to the Hall of Fame in a Mariners uniform seems appropriate…

Wrapping up his career in Seattle could be beautiful…He’s a huge part of bringing life to baseball in Seattle and getting Safeco field built…If he returns, he’ll be accepted and loved, fill the seats and hopefully crank-out 25 home runs…I think we all would love to see him reach 700 home runs…however, reaching that plateau is a long shot…

Naturally, I’m biased regarding Griffey because I grew up watching him in the concrete confines of the Kingdome and he’s always been one of my favorite players…With that said, you won’t hear his name mentioned around the ‘steroid scandal.’ I’m a firm believer that “The Kid” did it the right way and never cheated…He has always kept a low profile, good attitude and remained a class-act…He’s exactly what baseball needs more of…

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Welcome, “Dubs”

The University welcomes it’s 11th Alaskan Malamute as the school mascot:

“Dubs” (after the “hip vernacular U-Dub”) will make his Husky Stadium debut on Sept. 5th vs. LSU:

Cute little bastard, now I REALLY want one:

Mr. Linde (aka Malamute) has a great story about the history of  ‘DAWGS’ Here.

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So embur-sing…

Update: After a visit to the doctor today, here’s the “good” news…I have a sprained MCL on my left knee, moderately severe, requires a thigh to ankle brace that won’t let me straighten my leg for the next 6-10 weeks.

The “bad” news is that I may have done something to my ACL on my right knee, or I may have done some damage to my miniscus on my right knee…had the MRI today and will know more later this week. Best case scenario is the same brace as on the left leg (yes, at the same time!). Worst case scenario is the brace followed by surgery.

And now I’m done…no skiing for the rest of the year. I will have to spend my ski vacation in the lodge, looking helpless and hoping people will buy me “pity drinks.”

With that said…I should be in “working order” in time for opening day of fishing season…at least until I have to have surgery…

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Ski lesson #2 started on a good note this morning. Since I mastered “pizza” and “french fry” in Lesson #1, I was trying to work on my edges for this lesson (i.e. learning to turn with my skis together).

It was a gorgeous day…but the snow was really mushy. I have way more trouble turning left, so I was working on that when IT happened…I turned, and instead of coming together, my skis started pulling apart like I was trying to do the splits. Unfortunately, my knees decided to try to correct things by twisting the opposite direction, until I landed HARD on my ass…both knees twisted the wrong directions…

Ummm…ouch.

Ski patrol to the rescue! Since I couldn’t ski or walk down the hill, the ski patrol came and picked me up in their little ski mobile and towed me down in a toboggan…it was super…super embarrassing, that is! (For whatever reason, but not because of my little incident, they even blew the siren while I was headed down…gah!)

At the ski patrol hut, they made sure I wasn’t dying (or planning to sue). Plus, they made me a fantastic cardboard splint (see picture below), iced both of my knees for awhile, and then put me in this little contraption (called the beetle) so they could “ski” me to the truck and send me home.

Since they never let me stand up while I was there, and literally lifted me into the truck so we could go home, I had no idea I couldn’t walk on EITHER knee until I got home and tried to get out of the truck.

Since that’s a slight problem (I can’t be missing work right now) my friends went and got me some knee braces and crutches. More hilarity…girl who can’t put pressure on her knees trying to walk around in crutches. Good stuff.

Currently I’m thankful for ibuprofen and ice…because as of writing this post, I can actually walk a little…I may look like an old lady, but hey, I am just happy to be somewhat mobile.

My only hope at this point is that I will be mostly healed by the end of this month so I can go on the ski trip I have planned. Sun Peaks is a long way to go to sit in the lodge…

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Pheasant flies…

Some ‘variations’ of fly patterns that I tie…

Pheasant Tail Leech (modified):

Hook:Mustad 9671, umpqua 3761, whatever—sizes 6-10 (I also tie some 1x)

Tail, Beard and Wing: Pheasant tail fibers

Body and Rib: Peacock herl, gold tinsel (some prefer fine gold wire too)…

I suppose that it could somehow represent a leech, this pattern has always worked well on lakes…It’s classified as a ‘wet’ fly or ‘streamer’ but I’ve always thought that (specific variations) represent a dragonfly nymph more than anything…The pattern was supposedly created by an eastern Washington fisherman and I’ve seen numerous variations of it…This fly is great for brook, rainbow and cutthroat trout…I’ve also caught some warm water species with it…They’re easy to tie and a staple in any fly box…Basically, if you can’t catch fish with this fly, you’re helpless because it works damn near everywhere…

Beaded Pheasant tail Nymph:

Hook: Umpqua 3769, whatever…sizes 14-18

Tail, body and wing casing/thorax: All pheasant tail parts and peacock herl. Fine copper wire ribbing and brass bead head…

I’m not a fan of ‘nymph fishing’ (long story) but the pheasant tail nymph is a staple in my fly boxes…It’s a proven producer more times than not so I always have a few available if need be…The bead helps it sink faster and sometimes I’ll also wrap the hook with fine lead wire…These little buggers are a pain-in-the-ass to tie so it’s a good thing I don’t go through very many every year…

To give you an idea of how tiny they are: 

-The two top ones are a size 16…I think I’m going to start buying the flies that are smaller than a size 16 because it takes me too long to tie them…They sometimes don’t turnout looking very good either…

…I’ll be sure to pinch the barbs on those hooks too…

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