The Last Fishing Days of Oil Creek

• My husband and I decided to not be a part of the steelhead madness at Walnut Creek and opted to go to where nature still rules, Oil Creek. I was a bit disappointed that so many people were there. I figured it would be too cold for most fishermen or that most that didn't mind the cold were up steelhead fishing.
  



• But we found a spot and I was prepared this time. I've learned from past fall-fishing days not to underdress. I layered clothing until I looked like a Sumo wrestler. I barely could get my wader bib up around my chest. Inside my pockets I had those packaged hand warmers. So toasty! I purchased $2.99 shoe warmers for my feet. I explained to my husband while at the store, that if you spend all that money on gas and flies, it only makes sense to spend the extra $2.99 so as not to want to go home early because of cold feet.



• I had no luck with wooly buggers. My toasty feet were starting to get numb from coldness.
  



• I switched to a blue and white streamer with a silver cap on it that we bought at Oil Creek Outfitters. Bam!! I caught a really nice rainbow.
  



• I caught three nice rainbows in about 1/2 hour and then the action stopped. I think I fished the hole out but I didn't want to move because my feet were getting really cold. So why wasn't my feet staying warm?, I wondered.



• I don't like to use the word skunked but I guess it fits. My husband got skunked, not that there's anything wrong with that.


• We decided to call it a day, my feet were so cold! As I undressed the cause of my cold feet became evident. I had put the warmers inside the wading shoes but to the outside of the waders. They were sopping wet. Dah!!!


• Maybe with some new warmers and a break in the weather we can fit another weekend of fishing in at Oil Creek before it gets too cold.
  

Erie Panorama Postcard with details and labels-1912

For those who need help in figuring out where everything is on that 1912 panorama Dennis posted, I scanned an antique postcard panorama of the same picture. I divided the picture into 3 parts. Click on each picture to get a size that you can read all the details. These will be full-sized scan files.

The Aftermath of Steelhead Fishing (pic)

Two years ago, my husband and I went to Walnut Creek during a winter month and had to laugh. We hadn't noticed the amount of "entanglement" until the leaves were gone from the trees. I can only imagine the amount of swearing that must have taken place there. Below is a sketch I made honoring all those who left a little something behind.


Click on picture to enlarge.

I've been tagged by Toni -5 facts

Thanks, Toni. Well, I think this tag is not so bad. It is "5 little known facts about yourself".

• I used to train and show obedience dogs, mostly American Cocker Spaniels.


• I once owned a race horse that raced the California circuit for 2 years. (loser!)


• Years ago, my Appaloosa parade horse was chosen to be ridden by the Grand Marshal at the State Fair Parade in Sacramento, California. During the parade my horse spooked under the monorail, scampered backwards into the crowd and almost threw the guy. (that was terribly embarrassing!)
  


• I've been to every state west of the Mississippi (Hawaii but not Alaska) and almost all of them to the east. I'd like to see them all.
  


• I love power tools and woodworking. Along with working on restoring my house, I've always a woodworking project in progress.
  

Gee, I don't know who to tag that hasn't been tagged. It's a wild card. Anyone that hasn't been tagged, please step up, ha.

Good Things About Erie #2 (pic)

Don't Take it Literally

"He made the save standing on his head!", screamed the announcer on TV as I walked into the room. "Darn, I missed it! What a show off, he really made a save standing on his head?", I asked my husband. Thank goodness he set me straight about hockey expressions way back then because I'd hate to think that a credulous person like me could have and possibly would have believed the puck had eyes or that there was cutlery out on the ice.

Here are just a few of the hockey expressions I've personally heard from the colorful hockey announcers after some big plays in the past few weeks of NHL hockey. The Penguins announcers are the most expressive. I can visualize these expressions and find them quite funny and hope you do to.

• Oh, he blew a tire!
• He was hit in the noodle!
• The puck had eyes!
• He takes the kitchen sink in with him!
• Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!
• He beat him like a rented mule!
• He's taking the heat out of a hot kitchen!
• Boy, can he set the table, he brought in the cutlery!
• Well, how much chicken can you eat!
• Fasten your seatbelts!
• The turkey is on the table again for the Penguins!
• Slap me silly, Sidney!
• They were chopping lumber there!
• The table's set there just isn't anyone there for dinner!
• Let's go hunt moose on a Harley!
• Oh, she wants to sell my monkey!
• Oh, get that dog off my lawn!
• They're heading for the vomitories here in St. Louis!
• He didn't know whether to cry or wind his watch!
  

Memories vs Mercyhurst Womens Hockey

• I have vivid memories of my Dad coaching boys high school basketball in Minnesota when I was very young. My sisters and I were the only kids other than the team to be allowed on the court. We stayed off to the other end of the court and shot baskets while my Dad coached. I felt special.


• My dad also was the announcer for our home high school football games in Minnesota. I remember it being so very cold outside. The wind would always seem to be whipping the snow into our faces and when I got too cold, I'd climb the stairs of the schoolhouse and follow the hallway tracking snow to the second story room my dad was announcing from, it overlooked the football field. There was hot chocolate. Again, other kids weren't allowed and I loved it. "Go, BlueJays, Go!", I'd yell out the window away from the microphone.


• You move away but you always root for your home team even when you have moved away to live in California or Pennsylvania. Go Vikings!, Go Twins!, go Minnesota Gophers!


• I have the Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey jersey in my closet, waiting for a chance to wear it.
  


• My husband and I are fans of women's hockey. I especially love watching and rooting for Mercyhurst Womens Hockey (I'm not Catholic and I have no ties to the college but love the caliber of hockey there). Last night they played the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. That was my chance to wear my jersey, but how could I? I'm rooting for Mercyhurst or was I?
  


• We were surrounded by Minnesotans at the game. They were everywhere, they showed up in force. They are real chatterboxes and they say things funny, kind of like the Canadians do. Take the word, Minnesota, they say that funny. I say that funny. I learned to talk in Minnesota and decades later I can't shake that funny ooooo sound in Minnesota.
  


• I was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde during the game. I was sad Mercyhurst lost, but happy Minnesota won.
  

A Good Thing About Erie 1 (pic)

The Pleasures of Getting Skunked

• Our vacation was spattered with painting, fixing cracks in the plaster, scraping woodwork, cleaning out closets and one day of fishing.

• The most memorable day was spent at Oil Creek. The water was very low but they did stock it last week. I was hoping for some dumb hatchery fish to fall for the tiny fly I had on the end of my hook but I guess my clumsy splashing through the water to get to my spot made even a dumb fish wary.


• I find that I'm a pretty good flyfisherwoman for about an hour. My line lays out softly and pretty accurately when I concentrate on my form. If after about an hour I don't catch a fish, my attention span is shot. I soon find my line slapping the water in an almost spiteful way. Maybe I'll hit one on the head.
  


• Then I start looking around to see if anyone else is catching anything. Is someone else catching them all? Perhaps my husband? I spot him down river and he seems content and happy sending his line out across the water but I don't see anyone catching anything.


• Then I'm starting to think that perhaps I may soon have to find the restroom, not yet, but something to think about as I stand in the running water and starting to get a bit chilled from the late afternoon breeze.
  


• Soon after that I'll go through my "looking around" stage. Oh, look at that bird. Gee, is that a beaver? What made that noise in the bushes?
  


• Then a large orange leaf catches my eye as it floats gracefully down from the tree on the bank. Suddenly it is so quiet I can actually hear it hit the water.
  


• Wow, it is so beautiful here, I'll think to myself. Then a Great Blue Heron flies overhead.


• Thank goodness the fun of fishing doesn't depend on catching fish.


• When the day was over and we were heading back we came across a nice lady who asked us how we did. Skunked, was my answer. She got 2, her husband, 5 rainbows. Really? "What did you use", I asked. Wooly buggers was her answer. Ahhh....wooly buggers.
  

A&W, Vintage Hawaiian Shirt, Treasures in the Closet

• We're on vacation. Our plans are no plans at all. Whatever, whenever.


• My husband has already cleaned out his closet, getting rid of old shoes and out-dated clothing. He went through boxes of old books and got rid of them, too.


• I watched in envy as he organized his closet. I couldn't even get into mine. I have to reach over bags and boxes just to reach the pull switch for my closet light.


• While I was running my bath water I thought I'd check my closet to see if there was anything in the spur of the moment that I could include in his pile of stuff to go to fill the car for places unknown. A blouse with the tags still on it, goes (it didn't fit)...the pair of pants, a skirt, those clunky shoes....can go.


• I shut the bath water off. Back to the closet for a few more things I saw that could go. This and that, that and this.....the pile was growing and growing. It was clear to see I was on a roll and that I shouldn't stop.


• I was suppose to be getting ready to go with my husband to drop off his pile of stuff and go shopping. He came upstairs to see what was taking me so long and looked....happy, dismayed? I'm not sure. I had a huge pile of clothes stacked up. He said my bath water was cold.
  


• We decided he should take what he could fit of my stuff into the car and go ahead without me and I'd be ready when he got home. I was still "purging" when he got back. I couldn't stop. He took a whole 'nother car load of my stuff yesterday. I can walk into my closet, turn around and dance!


• Good things come from getting organized. I found the vest of my old A&W carhop outfit. What happened to the pants and blouse I don't know. Ahhh...the memories... Hey, that was hard work!


• I came across my dad's vintage hawaiian shirt that my sister rescued from my dad's closet years ago. I was going to display it in a shadow box as a tribute to that 60's era. How could I forget about that?
  

Trials and Tribulations of Home Repair 1

• I think I will start a new segment on the trials and tribulations of home repair as I seem to becoming an expert at it. (not of home repair but of Murphy's law)
  

• I thought I was so far ahead of the game of being ready for winter that I was becoming a bit smug about it.


• Then I went out on the porch. Dog gone it! The nice white top of my freshly-painted porch side railing was covered with little insect corpses with their tiny legs stuck in the paint. If you want an insect-attractant, just try painting something white. I tried to brush one off and it left a red streak across the now dried paint. I'll wait until a sunny day , if one ever comes, and then try to lightly brush them off with a soft brush, trying not to squash any in the process and maybe I won't have to repaint it.


• My husband came in from getting the mail in the rain and mentioned to me that the front stairs were "bubbling up". NO! They can't. I prepped them perfectly and followed all the right techniques of painting and they had plenty of time to dry before the rain. Again, I'll have to wait until a sunny day and do it over.


• Though the mud porch door paint job turned out pretty good, the color dried too glossy. Again, I'll wait until a sunny day....perhaps again this year I'll be drying paint with the blow dryer while the snow if falling after all.


• The worst part is the embarrassment of knowing the neighbors are probably going to get a good snicker out of seeing me redo all of this.
  

Mercyhurst Women's Hockey Rocks

• There is no charge to watch the Mercyhurst Women's Hockey team play, not even at the Tullio Arena where they played yesterday and today because of ice problems at their arena.
• After losing yesterday to Minnesota State Mankato, the Mercyhurst Women's Hockey team came back strong today to beat Minnesota State 4 to 2.
  
• These girls are tough and the game gets rough. One girl from Minnesota left the ice with what looked like a dislocated shoulder after a hard hit.
  
• Mercyhurst's goalie, Laura Hosier, treated us to the only time I've ever witnessed a perfect split done in full uniform, blocking the net toe to toe. I don't know how she can do a flat-out, on-the-ice splits with all that gear on. And she just pops back up without any effort. These girls are true athletes and they played their hearts out.
  

The Worst Star Spangled Banner I Ever Heard

I try to be open minded when it comes to music but what my ears heard at the LA Kings vs the Phoenix Coyotes NHL game from Zakk Wylde was pure alright, pure annoying noise. How anyone can like that is beyond me. I've heard some long, bad Star Spangled Banners in my day, ie Rosanne, but this one was all-time bad.

Woohoo! Done Before the Snow Flies

• Not quite done but will be. I'm close to finishing up all painting on the exterior doors, porch floors, railings and pillars. I even repaired the front stairs and have them painted.
  
  
• In prior years, you would see me on a ladder still painting outside as the sleet and snow flies, using a blow dryer so the paint dries enough so it doesn't get washed away (it works, but an electrical hazard). I even had people walking and driving by that have had yelled comments on this practice. I have a history of waiting until the last minute. In years prior I just hadn't adjusted to the fact winter sets in about 3 months earlier than California. This year, I can't explain it, other than I think I've got it. I live in ERIE, I've run out of time, get with it!!
  

How Not to Spackle

• My spackle job turned out pretty bad because I had to use a spatula with a long handle to reach the stairwell ceiling (I guess I have incredibly short arms). After I made a big deal about how I can't reach the ceiling and can't use a ladder on the steps, my husband comes out with. "I can reach the ceiling, easy."
• So, my wonderful, very tall husband volunteered and gave up a day of his weekend to sand it for me. I decided to give him the orbital palm sander that orbits and spins in a circle to make it a bit easier. He did a fabulous job.
  
• I knew ahead of time the result of using an electric sander on spackle. (I've been through it before and swore never to do it again but this was kind of an emergency.) The whole house is still full of fine white silt that has finally settled...everywhere. Every piece of furniture, fixture, book, every shelf, every nook and cranny in the house has a film of powder that is like fine baby powder. I have a couple of plaster patches yet to make and then comes a complete fall cleaning.
  
• DRAT! Luckily, I now have Swiffers.
  

Flightplan Review

My husband and I went to see Flightplan at the movie theater last night. All in all it was a good movie but it is one of those movies you have to chuckle here and there because, come on, it just couldn't happen, and wouldn't happen. Luckily, it had Jodie Foster, she's so good at "tense". At the end it became a bit ridiculous, music and the loose ends all tying up in a neat little package, and again, it wasn't believable. But it was entertaining with plenty of tense moments. I judge that part by how fast I eat my popcorn.

I asked for it

I asked for it (please, honey, please) and I think I'm getting it. The NHL package!!! Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, something worth watching on TV. TV is sooooooooo bad. I have watched reruns of Seinfield and Everybody Loves Raymond until I'm blue in the face. Everything is just plain junk out there in TV land. What happened to writers? It's all teenage crapola. We did rent the first season of LOST. And we got hooked. So, on Wednesdays, we will be perched on the couch watching each episode of the current season. Oh, but conflict arises. Wednesday is the first day of the NHL season. I'll have to tape LOST.

I thought "If Walls Could Talk" on HGTV was gone forever. I came across an episode last night. I wish they would bring back "Modern Masters", too. I love these shows and they disappeared for a while, even in reruns. I used to listen to the shows while I scraped wallpaper and spackled the walls. Now I listen to my MP3 player with Etta James, BB King, Taj Mahal, and, of course, Jakes Blues while I shellac and paint. I'm not complaining as the blues have served the walls well. The texture of the walls seems to have rhythm, but I was trying for the "Modern Masters" look.