Pond fishing

Took the wife down to the pond at the bottom of the property I take care of today to do a little fishing.

I paddled around for a bit in my old, plastic Coleman canoe. One of these days I'm gonna do a post extolling the virtues of such a craft, and its place in among the "finer vessels" of cedar strips, carbon fiber, and fiberglass; but I just haven't made time.

However, I wasn't able to do much paddling, or even fish for myself. Why? Because my wife was catching up a storm! Every time I started to paddle away, she hooked another bass and needed me to come rescue her! Have a look:

This was the third or fourth one she caught, after I gave up on spending time in the boat. Since I couldn't convince her to unhook 'em herself, I made her take the pictures!

 Here's the next one. She didn't catch a single bass under 14".

Talked her into handling one, before they quit biting for the day.

 

Mwahahaha...just call the fire department right now

 So I've been learning farriery for about a year or so. My mentor traded a couple of shoeings for a forge for me so I can practice fitting shoes on my days off. And if I make a bottle opener or a steak flipper now and then, well,that's just part of the fun!

Took the wife fishing...and caught something odd!

So I finally convinced my wife to try fishing again. She used to a lot when she was younger, but hasn't in years. In the interim she changed to an all vegetarian diet for health reasons. Anyway, we have been looking for something we can do together that doesn't cost a ton of money, so I found a spincast rod for $5 at a thrift store, gave her an old tackle box I had lying around, and filled it up. We went to the in-laws place and paddled around their pond for awhile, and she caught about 12 bluegill.

She even did some "vegan fishing!"

I caught a handful of 'gills, a couple bass, and this weird looking dude.

Body and coloring of a bluegill, but a huge mouth like a bass. This fish was about 8" long and you could have fit a golf ball in that yapper.

I posted this over on Bushcraft USA, and the general consensus was that it is a warmouth, or goggle-eye.

Made a friend.

I think I made a friend! 

 

 For a few weeks, this red-shouldered hawk has been following me around the property every time I weed whack. 

The weedeater must sound like a dinner bell.

Fatwood

Went for a walk with the father in law the other day. Came back with this:

Overall about 6 feet of 3" diameter prime ponderosa fatwood, once all the rot gets scraped off. By far my biggest find, and there's a lot more where this came from if I just look! 

Made me a holster

So I had a hide shoulder on hold at the local trading post until I brought in enough acorns, roadkill, and rocks to trade for it. I finally brought it home the other day, and decided to make a holster for my ranch edc revolver. 

Glued the edges and drying.

Stitched up and ready for wet forming. I used dental floss since I didn't have any artificial sinew.

Wet formed and drying. Next is the first burnishing and dyeing.

All set up and ready to dye, put on a nice smooth coat of dark brown...ah crap!

Alright so it's not all smooth and even...I guess that's what you get for using wood stain instead of proper dye...but hey it looks pretty cool!

I'm happy with how it turned out. I like the horsehair tassel for the hammer loop.

Took a hike at Spenceville yesterday

I took a hike down at Spenceville Wildlife Area yesterday. I thought I'd share some of my pictures.

A large portion of Spenceville is grassland, with a smattering of scraggly oak trees in the areas where ranchers graze their cattle. The WA is also used for dog field trials, hunting, and horseback riding.

Beaver dam across a small stream.

Wild roses, with a few rose hips left over from last year. Rose hips are edible, and they contain a lot of vitamin C.

Watercress.

 

 

A little ribbon snake...

...and a couple of his much bigger cousins, making more. Biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen.

Rattle from the male. I counted 14 buttons on that bad lad. Don't wanna run across him in the dark, that's for sure!

Remains of an old root cellar from one of the homesteads that used to be on the Preserve.

Hand dug well from the same homestead.

Mortar stones. The natives would grind acorns into flour in these.

Had a pretty good hike. I think I walked close to 10 miles. I gathered a bunch of bone for various projects, thanks to a few coyote-killed cow carcasses.