so instead of blowin up facebook ---

hiya folks !

i'm back..  but then again, where have ya heard that before?   we got home saturday afternoon from Falcon Lake, Tx. from our 20th anniversary vacation week.   boy, i never knew that fishing could be so darn exhausting.  we sure had a good time tho.  sunburns and all.  :))  i couldn't tell you how long it's been since i had a sunburn like that.  or 'this' i should say.  i think even my eyeballs got sunburned!  they hurt even still.  no, i don't really think they got burnt.  but they hurt.  my legs and arms and hands and everything else burnt tho.  my lower legs even peeled!  that hasn't happened in like 7 years or more.   it was hot down there.   
our first or second day was actually kind of funny ... it was reminiscent of our seventh anniversary.  almost exactly.  on our 7th anniversary , we took a vacation from Wichita kansas to lake fork, tx.. also to fish a world renown trophy bass fishing lake.   we had all these big hopes and dreams of catching our 'walters! ' .. (of course 'Walter' wasn't even heard of back then.. but we have always had the dream of a ten pound bass) -- so we drove all those miles - with a 5 year old soulkid to celebrate our anniversary -  and when we got there - and rented a 14 foot -- really not very sea worthy - john boat -- the sky opened up and poured rain... hard -- if not for hours it was a day or two.  - we didn't let it ruin our trip back then - and guess what?
 here we are - all these years later -- 13 years later to be exact -- at yet another - world renown trophy bass fishing lake -- still chasing after our 'walter' -  and what happened?  yep, you guessed it ... the sky opened up, and poured rain on us... it even hailed -- pea sized hail....  on day one of our vacation.   we could only laugh, and remember our first big bass lake vacation.  you know it's cuz we are us.   it wasn't bad though.  it was kind of nice.  i should have taken a few pictures but i didn't think to.  i got a lot of other pics tho -- but, we didn't let it ruin our trip this time either .  (unlucky 13?  nah)

anyhow, in honor of my dadio - who was a lifer in the  border patrol, i took several Border Patrol pix -- some awesome ones at that --

 (my dad- back in the day)

border patrol, zapata, tx

inspection station, BP, near Laredo , tx

i had never seen a border patrol boat like that, i thought it was the coolest thing ever. note the engineS, TWO big ole engines on that thing, i bet it hauls booty!   i  wondered if my dad ever got to patrol on one.  i don't have the opportunity to ask him, so if anyone in the family knows -- let me know.  
i do know that he was stationed in Puerto Rico for a few years -- among some other coastal places.. so he may have had a chance , but i bet back in those days, they were nothin like these boats.

so, Zapata , Texas,  what a town.  it has a population of maybe twelve.  :))   it's a small place.  not much of a variety of places to eat or sleep.  soulman smoked a brisket on our big green egg before we left and we took that and some other eats with us.. it lasted a few days , and made some viscous tacos.  we ate tacos twice a day for three days :))  there was one restaurant there in Zapata that a guy on TV with a fishin show - "Mark Zona" - ate at when he filmed his show down there - so of course we had to go there... they had some awesome chicken fried steak -- we ate that - BOTH times we went there. :))

 (never enough gravy - :))

we originally had rented a condo for the week, but that didn't work out too well.  you know the drill.. it's cuz we are us  :))  it wasn't terrible or anything, it was just that there were a few 'issues'.  such as .. .. well,  we were layin in bed on the second night (maybe even the first)  and it was like 10:00 PM or so, when suddenly a shot rang out in the dark.  or three.  oh yeh.  for real.  maybe four.  i was so tired it didn't bother me that much.  normally it might have scared the crap outta me, but i was so exhausted every night we were there that nothing seemed to matter much - except the next day of fishing - or maybe the next meal.     but as for soulman?  it bothered him... a lot.  we didn't talk about it tho.  he got out of bed and scoped things out of course.  he didn't see anything or anybody around the house, but he was worried about it.  for the next day or two things were pretty weird .  the area we were in apparently wasn't the best in town... obviously.  ya couldn't really tell by lookin at it tho-- but we would be out - goin or comin from fishin or eatin or something, and a car would drive by real slow - or circle around the block a couple or three times .. it was real weird.  creepy even.  we only slept there two or three nights when soulman went to the tackle shop and before he even got back he called me and told me to start packin our stuff cuz he got a hotel room in town  :))  he just didn't feel safe there -- and leaving me there alone was all it took for him to realize just how unsafe he felt. 

so we got a nicer safer place to stay for the rest of our time there.  no more gunshots -- no more ants.. yep - there were ants on the kitchen counter at the condo too.  beats roaches, but i hate them just as much .. i don't know why, i don't know where they come from or why they bother me like they do, but i was glad to be rid of them.  the hotel room had a fridge and a microwave - so it was nice.  of course -- on our first night there, we went to heat up some left -over chicken fried steak .. when guess what happened?  yeh.. the microwave didn't work -- cuz yup -- we are us!  :))  BUT -- we got a brand new in the box microwave for the rest of our stay  :))

so - the fishing?  oh it was fantastic-O!!  soulman caught the first several fish.. of course.  i almost began to feel like i wasn't gonna get any.  ooooh that's a bad feelin.  he was haulin in some awesome fish too.   i was gettin skunked :((  two hours prolly went by - he had two, 7 pound bass - AND a few smaller ones,  i had nuthin.

but then -- my luck started to change ! -- they started small ---  like the ones from home at the pond -- but i was happy with em !

after a few like these, (that i caught the next day ) - guess what happened ?

KABOOM !

almost SIX pounds hammered my line!

at this point - i had my biggest fish - to date - on my rod --

that made me a happy soul !  :))

before him, it had been years since i caught a fish that big.  when i did? i named him .. i named him 'uncle George'

hmmmm... now that i see 'uncle george again..

he doesn't seem so big after all.

i think i've caught many fish bigger than him since then  :))

he's still a nice fishy tho, isn't he?  that was my first 'nice fish'.. kansas 1998-ish.

i was quite the chunk myself eh?

so, after my big catch, it was soulmans turn again -- and he got his record catch, and THE record catch for the Falcon trip--  a whopping EIGHT POUND BASS !  and one of the very few photos of him without that UV protective buff thing over his face :((

we had soooo much fun!  i don't even know what was more fun, 

catchin fish or watchin each other catch fish.  it was all fun!

we both broke our big bass records - him with 8 pounds , me with 7.3

i don't know what i will do if i ever do get 'walter' at ten pounds or better.  i just can't even imagine pullin in a fish that big after what it was like bringin in the ones i did on this trip.  it was insane!  

after i had time to think about it , i realized that my bigger bass wasn't much smaller than soulkid was when she was born!  she weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces.  my fish weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces !  and for soulman, his was BIGGER than she was at birth!  it's just crazy to think that a bass can be bigger than a baby!

this was my biggest BASS of the trip - 7.3 lbs

just a few ounces bigger than the one i got just before it.

and only SIX ounces less than my child was at birth!

soulkid - 3/9/1994

7.9 LBS

here is soulman, and his almost 7 pounder - with the greatest catch of his life :))

this one weighed in at 6.8 pounds

this is my other big one -

i got him first that day.

biggest fish of my life at that moment.  you can see it on my face can't ya?

i was even happier than i look!

bringin in fish like these isn't as easy as you might think either -

it's actually quite hard work -

some of you have heard me use the term "bass burn"

i had it worse than ever from this trip -- 

it was/is well worth it tho.  it doesn't hurt anymore.

but when it did hurt - i didn't care  :))

what i DO care about is bein home finally.  it seems like we were gone for a month.  it was so strange to be away from soulkid for that long.  she did good tho.  except for the fact that one of the first things she told us was that she quit her job.  ummm. yeh.  she did.  when the cat's away , the mouse will play.  no. it's not as bad as it sounds.  she had another job offer.  it just doesn't look like it's as secure as she thought it was when she quit the job she had.  live and learn.  she does have other options though.  good thing we didn't stay away any longer than we did i reckon.  :))

other than that?  i had about 23 words with friends games goin when we left -- i didn't play a single word on our trip.  ummmm...  guess where that landed me?  yeh.  the doghouse.  if you play the game at all - you know it forced me to 'forfeit' every last game.  i didn't do it on purpose !  don't hate me!  is 23 goin through your mind like i'm crazy for havin that many to begin with?  it IS crazy, but it happens.  it doesn't take long before ya end up with 2 or 3 games with every one ya play with , and the next thing you know - there you are with two hundred games goin and you're just outta control!  then , see what happens?  so don't hate me, i was on my hunny-moon  :)) i still love ya <3

i really just didn't barely touch my phone. only a few trimes to update facebook, and of course i talked to my soulkid every day.  other than that - i did nothing but eat, sleep and fish :))

now, i am on the verge of recovery, and gettin back on track with  life and my peoples, and my biness. i have medicine to refill, bills to pay , errands to run.. next week i have appointments to get to...  just life in general to get caught up on and the groove to get back into.  so y'all should be seein me around a little bit more.  i hope that's a good thing?  it is for me.  cuz i have missed y'all.

anyhow, i must get offa this thang.  my eyes ballz are burninnnnnn

g'night folks!

hope y'all have a happy day tomorrow - and a happy week ahead!

Falcon Lake sunset