I hope you all survived your busy Christmas Holiday... We had a ton of fun visiting the neighbors on Christmas Eve and my niece, Chelsea, and her mom, Deanna on Christmas Day. We gathered at my middle brother's (Jim) home on Christmas Morning for the opening of family gifts and then we ate a traditional ham dinner around 1;00 p.m..
Afterwards, my oldest son, Chris, and his family traveled to our home so that my beautiful granddaughters could open their gifts that Santa dropped off at our home. We had a great time gathering as a family and then Julie and I walked to Deanna and Chelsea's condo which is located just behind our home at Summerfield.
This past weekend, my old fishing partner, Josh Kreider and his new found fishing partners, David Ace and "Squirrel", hit the Juniata River for two days of fishing after cold water smallmouth bass. Josh sent me some great pics of their outings on Saturday and I stole two of David's "Pigbeast" from Monday's outing...
So, sit back and take a gander at these great pics and enjoy...
Saturday (December 27, 2014)
Q. Can Anyone ID this Launch?...
A. Amity Hall
Josh's "Big Catch of the Day"...
Squirrel's Nice Catch of Saturday...
Monday (December 28, 2014)...
Check out this fantastic 21.75" HAWG caught from a wintering hole on the Juniata River. Great job, David!
Those of us who own a Golden Rule Measuring Board know that they measure up to 23+ inches... You can tell that this bass was well over 21" by it's location on this measuring tool.
Josh wrote and told me that the black and blue hair jig was a very productive lure for the day.He also caught some on the Silver Buddy... Pretty cool grouping of fish over the past two days, Josh, Squirrel, and David!
Here was a post I placed on Facebook the other day. I went and bought a medium priced "Sun" bicycle and had it rigged by Tom Pod at the "Cycle Circle" on N. Plum Street in Lancaster. I have been working out on our stationary recumbent bicycle at home and I thought that I was doing well... Not as well as I thought, see the following FB Post...
Facebook Post
"I have set a goal for myself... To ride a bicycle by Spring. I've been slowly working on our indoor stationary recumbent bike... a little at a time. So, today I took a chance to see if I could flex my left knee well enough to make a full rotation. I worked extremely hard over the past month, but I figured out today that I truly am not ready and need more work.
I have committed myself to succeed by Spring because I've already purchased a trail bike at the "Cycle Circle". I must move my seat a bit closer towards the handle bars on the stationary recumbent bike... a little bit at a time to reach my rotation goal. Wish me luck or I'll have a really nice bike for sale come June 2015."
I have been practicing my gear shift changing on my new Mustang over the past two weeks. I am averaging about 20.5 mpg driving the river hills in Southern Lancaster County... Along Rt. 272 and 372 (Holtwood Road). I even took Zach over to a local parking lot and had him try his hand at shifting gears yesterday afternoon... What a funny experience that was. It only took us about five attempts before he figured out how not to stall the engine going into first gear. But once he got moving, he did pretty well in changing into the upper gears. I made him stop and start quite often so that he would get the feel for the clutch. It will take him quite some time before he is comfortable and safe to drive on the main streets.
I am seriously thinking of selling my G3 in the Spring. I may be asking about $12,000 for it. I just placed brand new batteries in it this past season and rarely used it due to the low water conditions. But I will take the next few months to make my final decision... It seems that I get out fewer and fewer times over the past three years since my knee was replaced. I know that my fishing partners have found other interests in their lives and I understand completely... I'm getting old and it's not as fun fishing with an old geezer like me...
I do have an adventure approaching this coming January 2015. The "Lancaster Area Judo" Club has asked me to help them as they start up their new club. Although I am very limited in what I can do physically, I believe that I can still instruct able-bodied individuals and share my background knowledge with those competing in Judo. At one point in my Judo career, I was a Nidam (2nd Degree Black Belt), an owner of my own Judo Club (The Academy of Kodokan Judo), and a regional referee who refereed in a National Event at the age of twenty-two years old... I was the youngest referee at that National Tournament. I refereed several matches that included Olympians like Tommy Martin, etc.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
p.s. Please, if you can find it in your heart, to keep the family of the 17 year old missing on the Susquehanna River, Medard Kowalski, in your daily prayers. Medard has been missing since he went out in his canoe to hunt on December 2, 2014. God bless and help the searchers find him soon.
