Summer Vacation, Day 70: Gone Fishing (Belated)

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Spent the day at Hardy Dam, and the kids learned a bit more about fishing and camping – namely that, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, you never know what you’re gonna get. Bren, Gabe and I went fishing with Dziadzi early in the morning and caught seven or so small walleye (8 to 13 1/2 inches; minimum to keep ’em is 15). I caught a 22-inch pike (minimum is 24 inches). So, no keepers, and Bren didn’t catch any at all!

Jodi and Busia went to town for groceries (our family changes the entire feeding dynamic at the camp site) and the kids decided to read (Bren = The Silmarillion; Gabe = The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen) or nap through a good part of the afternoon, so Dad and I read (East of Eden continues to be a masterpiece; Dad is reading Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising). When the ladies returned, we took the kids to the beach, but a steady breeze had blown a thick layer of pea-soup muck into the swimming area. The kids played in the sand, instead, and I went with Dad to install two more bunks in the houseboat.

Afterward, all of us set out to go fishing, only to be blown in off the lake by a rapidly advancing storm. We barely got the houseboat docked again before the rain began – the cabin catches a lot of wind! So we went into my folks’ fifth-wheel to eat supper and watch the Olympics. Oh, and we learned that smallmouth bass are quite good to eat – cousin Kyle had left one behind. Not really what we planned, but it all worked out. Amen.

Summer Vacation, Day 69: Tuesday (Belated)

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Didn’t get to visit Jacqui – sick kids and craziness conspired against us. This made me sad.

In the happy column: made it to my parents’ log house before noon, in plenty of time for the kids to ride Polly, dad’s wonderful sorrel mule, and to see Katie, his Morgan mare, and Extra Bold Joe, her colt, who is the color of strong coffee. Then we headed to Hardy dam, set out on the folks’s houseboat, and I hooked a 13-inch smallmouth bass, while Busia (my mom, Polish for “Grandma”) caught a couple of small walleye (one of which caused a double take as we tried to decide whether it was a baby walleye or a jumbo perch – on the hook, it was hard to tell …).

Just enough fish to get the kids excited, without the work of cleaning and cooking them. All in all, a good first day.

Summer Vacation, Day 68: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Belated)

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On Monday, Emma got sick to her stomach, Gabe got stung by a wasp twice in the neck, I wrote several more pages of a novel, Brendan battled his cousins on the Wii, and Trevor approached Jodi out of the blue to admit, “Mommy? Sometimes I don’t listen to you …”

We still don’t know for sure what that was about.

Headed to Mom and Dad’s today to see the horses, mules and longhorns, then from there to the lake and campground. Probably won’t blog again ’til Thursday at the earliest. Take care out there.

Summer Vacation, Day 67: Into the Wild

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Got up super-early (like, 4 a.m.) to travel with my brother-in-law to his patch of hunting ground near the Ohio border. 60 acres, mostly woods, with a little stream – kind of a wild drainage ditch – hills, a bit of corn. They’re building a small house out there – cabinish, but more than that. Deer, rabbits, raccoons, turkeys. Lovely.

I want a place to hunt, to shoot, to camp, to write. To escape. We’re years away from that – but we had a place in the Upper Peninsula when I was a kid, and friends, I hope to again!

Summer Vacation, Day 66: Good For Nothin’

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Today, friends, was a good-for-nothin’ day. In fact, it was great for nothing. Soaked the sun and visited with family. Almost nothing else. So nice!

I may even write a little tonight. It’s hard – I have “free time,” didn’t have to write at all today … but you know? I have almost no desire to write. First day off from speechwriting, and you want me to write other stuff?

And East of Eden is calling me, too – what to do; what to to? I can tell you this: until I decide, I’m doing nothing!