lot of discovery

Lake  Camanche

When I was a little fellow I dream of making a scientific discovery, like Newton, or Einstein, or maybe Edison.  As I grew up in school I found that it was hard to make such discovery. Someone else had not already made them. All the mountains had been climb and named, rivers had been crossed, and someone did it before I could.  The years have gone by like the melting snows of my childhood, and I have not made a historic discovery.  I have done many things of historic note like working on the first space shuttle, and the development or the air bag for cars.  Being part of a team is one thing, but being the first to do something, to make the discovery is another.

1987 October 1 was my wife and I’s twenty wedding anniversary, to celebrate we went on a second honeymoon, of sorts, at lake Camanche in California.  We got a cabin with meals and a patio boat for fishing, for a weekend of romance and fishing. We arrived there Friday around 6 o’clock in the evening check in and had a champagne and steak dinner with all the trimming at the lodge, then retired to our cabin and shared a Jacuzzi hot tub.  We had a sunrise call for breakfast and the patio boat was waiting for a day on the lake fishing, the lodge had packed us a lunch. Being October is not the prime time for camping at the lake we had the lake to ourselves.  On the boat we head up the north arm of the lake to a spot that we had been to before and the fishing was good. The early morning air was crisp, a little fog layer hovered over the water giving a spooky passage up the inlet of the lake.  I threw out the anchor and we settled in to fishing. My wife poured us a cup of coffee the lodge gave us, there we sat huddle together drinking coffee and fishing.  

As we fished we saw deer come and go from the water edge, raccoon fishing for crayfish, and even a skunk along the shore. The fishing was every slow we had not had a bite by lunch time.  Looking at the fish finder we should be catching fish as there was a large school showing on the finder.  Looking over the side of the boat we could see hundred of fish. They were feeding on something in the water. What we could see was a quarter sizes round objects floating in the water. In my backpack was a quart plastic bottle that contained the last of the beef jerky we brought along to snack on. I empty the bottle out and started to try to catch the thing the fish were feeding on. After four of five attempts I managed to catch a pair in the bottle

  At first I thought I had not got anything but then I saw something moving in the jar. It looked like a jellyfish, but this is fresh water and we are a hundred mile from the any salt water.  The excitement started to come over me, had I made that big discovery.  I had never heard of fresh water jellyfish; never saw one in any book on fish. My wife and I started to catch them using our coffee cups.  We had about twenty or so in the jar, so I pulled in the anchor and we head back to the lodge.

When we got back to the dock we show the unusual catch to the attendant and he said he had never seen then before or ever heard of freshwater jellyfish.  He said we should take them to the rangers at the forestry office.  So we drove to the forestry office and showed them to the ranger. They made a full report and had us show them where we found them.  They had never heard or seen them before either. They took about half of the ones we had and I told them I was going to that them to the researcher at mount Diablo marine studies in Pittsburg where we lived, down in the bay area. We had an exciting two day but it was time to head home. On Monday morning I took the jellyfish to the researchers and they said that these were the first they had ever seen or heard of.  It was about a month before they reported back on their finding.  Well guess what? Yep someone had found them before, and wouldn’t you know it I am possibly related to the first person to report them. His name was John Durham a professor of biology who reported them some fifty year before. 

 If you would like to know more about the freshwater jellyfish  go here http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1068

Oh well I am not dead yet, maybe I will write a great novel.

Thank you for stopping by and god bless.

lot of a short tail of short tail

I guess I let the cat out of the bag.

The spring of 65 was different as I was nineteen out of school and as they say foot loose and fancy free, whatever that means. There was a bunch of us that kind of hang out together trying our best to see just how much trouble we could get into.  We all had jobs, mostly part time, so we had a lot of time to run around chasing girls, fishing , hunting, racing and some time chasing each other. We all had pet name or nick names. Cliff short for Clifford was called the nose. He had a nose on him that some years later he would get surgery shorten. Then there was john he was called doggie, he drove an old dodge truck that someone “I won’t mention any names” had replaced the necessary letters on the hood of the truck to spell dogge thus doggie. There was the chief, Ed chow a full bold Ute and he would let you know about it. One other was Nathan Gore but I will let you guess his nick name.

It was the first week in June we found some girls to go camping with us and we all headed up to the porcupine dam. It was remote and secluded, a place where you could go skinny dipping, get drunk, and have fun, kick up our heels a bit. John worked a Safeway store and got hold of a keg of beer.  There is a ravine on the north side of the dam that opens up to a sandy beach and is about the only place you can camp at the dam.  Cliff had brought a couple of the big buckets of Kentucky fried chicken and all the trimmings, the leftovers from work. He worked at KFC. So he would load us up with chicken.  We built a big bone fire and were having a big time goading the girls to going swimming in the buff, we all had fun.  The girls were a little worried about the cries of a cougar up the ravine from camp and I was put to the task of taking care of it.  The cries of a cougar in the dark can unsettle you a bit.

I was known for my way with wild animals, so with a lot of encouragement form my buddies I hike up the ravine to the spot where I could see the cougar in the mouth of the old mine that had been dynamited back when they built the dam. I could see it was a young cougar it had not lost its spots, and it looked to be about four months old.  I look around for the mama, but it was not to be seen. I was about to shoot it, when I had the wild idea of catching it.  I ran back down to the camp and got a rope, and the bag of chicken gizzards, that we were going to use for bait the Kokanee salmon love them. I went back up to the mine and sat down and started to talk to the cat that was just inside the opening. I threw some gizzards to him and he came out to eat. I could see he was very thin and had not eaten in a while.  I feed him some more and he came closer. I reach out and touch him expecting to lose my hand but it did not attack or shy away. So I pick him up and continued to feed him gizzards.  I took him back to camp where he and I was the hero’s of the evening. When thing settled down in camp the kitten was a sleep on my sleeping bag. We spent four day and night up there at the dam fishing and hunting for rabbits which I feed to the kitten.  It followed me everywhere and it was hard to leave him up at the dam. Every time we went to the dam that summer he would come into camp and we would feed him.

Things change the next summer  about the last or July we had gone up to the dam and found a bounty poster on the cougar that the ranchers had seen up there, some said that it was killing cattle. There was a five hundred dollar bounty on the big cat.  We all knew where to find one and it would be an easy five hundred buck. We were on the hunt for the cat. When we got site of him we could see he was coming to meet us at camp. I knew it would be his end so I shot toward him off.  My buddies would shoot to kill, at least that what I believed. My aim was not that good, and I hit him about the middle of the tail.  He ran off to hide and nurse his tail which is now about a foot shorter. We recovered the piece of his tail and the fellows were all sorry that we would betray the friendship of the cat.  But he now has a name Short tail. For year after he would still come to camp to be feed, and would stay about twenty feet away. He is gone now they don’t live but ten to twelve years in the wild. I never heard of him being killed.

  

 Thank you for coming by god bless

lot of Saturday

Saturday, what a day. I have been looking forward to Saturday from the beginning.  It is the day of fun, to run and play. When I was little it was the day that dad was home and the day we went out and had fun. Saturday is the day to loaf in the sun of a summer day. Go fishing, ride a horse for fun, and have an adventure. Yup Saturday is the day.

porcupine dam looking out from camp

Now I have seen a Saturday or two about 24,012 counting this one; but who is counting.  There was one I think it was 7,637 or there about.  I got off work about 5:30 on Friday evening and the wife and I loaded up our ford station wagon we had at the time and head out for a weekend of fishing.  We headed up and over the mountain road from Eden to Avon then up the porcupine road to the scare canyon area and the porcupine dam.  As we got there it was dark and my wife did not want to ride in the car over the winding dirty rocky mountain road. There was a big drop off on her side of the car. she had been over the road in the day light  and did not like the road.  So I let her walk with our little dog peewee and I drove real slow so as to keep from running them over as they walk on the road in front. She and peewee made it clear that there was something out there following us. It was only about a quarter mile to the camp site, and it was pitch-dark, after stopping  a dozen times to reassure her that all is well and trying to get her to get back in the car; we made it to the camp site.

 They don’t call it scare canyon for nothing.  The hair on the back of your neck will give rise to the a occasion.

We got to the camp site and unloaded the car putting all our supplies and fishing gear under the car. Then we made our bed in the back of it.  As we were putting things under the car my wife shown the flashlight around the area and found old short tail peering around an old fifty-five gallon barrel what was used as a garbage can and target. Short tail is a mountain lion that inhabit the area and that another story.  Anyway I tried to reassure my wife she had nothing to fear from short tail.  She was a little unhinged playing peek-a-boo around the garbage can with a 130 pound mountain lion,she was sure it was what was following her.  It was after midnight and now Saturday. So it was off to bed and to an early rise to catch fish.  

Peewee could not be assured that all was ok he kept barking and running around the car as we tried to settle in and get some sleep.  I was about ready to put him outside the car so we could get to sleep when there was a flash of lighting and a loud clap of thunder, it was raining hard. You are not going to get out of the canyon after a heavy rain for a week and I had to be back to work Monday. The soil in the canyon is that red clay, and so is the road out of there, that turns into a sticky muddy bog that will hold you there till it dries out. So much for fishing, we need to get the well, you know make like a tree and leave.  We got up and run around the car putting our stuff back in the car.  When I stared up the car and turned on the head lights, there not fifteen feet in front of the car was a big black bear.

   Dog barking, wife screaming and tires spinning we were out of there for a dryer and less primitive place to camp and fish.

Yup Saturday is the day for adventure.  

What is your Saturday adventure?

Thank you for coming by and god bless.

Friday moment 4/13/12

This Moment

"A single photo – no words – capturing a simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

at 4am in the rain

spring shower this day

“This Moment” is a ritual found on Life inspired by the Wee Man adopted fromSouleMama which was introduced to me by Sarah-Jane. If you find yourself touched by a Moment and would like to participate, post your picture on a Friday and leave your link in the comments section.

Thank you for sharing this moment God Bless