Springtime

... sorta' missed out on the biggest portion of winter this time 'round... oh well... personally, consider this weekend to be the (unofficial) beginning of Spring in these parts... the folks out west can't complain, though...

(internet clip)

... still, can't complain 'bout Springtime... maybe next year...

Country Club Worms

... noticed that they are currently renovating the 'Donegal Lake' dam and spillway...

... Donegal Lake...

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...lake conditions - Fall 2016...

... saw some on-line photos of several large 'muskellunge' ("muskies"), 'bass' and 'rainbow trout' that  were removed and subsequently relocated during the process of drawing down the lake water level in preparation for the reconstruction - there were some big fish...

... used to fish the lake every opening day of PA trout season back in the day... used to do pretty well following the opening day trout stocking... also always considered that day more or less to be the official last day of winter in these parts (mid-April) as each year the ridge (around El 1500ft) produced some last, usually mild, snowfall...

... other than a bit more sleet and wind than usual, this particular day was no different... was up there early along with then brother-in-law, Randy ...set up along the shoreline at a decent hole we fished every year and we're both loaded with plenty of nightcrawlers - we're "fishin' the bottom", about twenty feet apart... man - from his first cast on Randy is pullin' out one fish after another - mostly average size 'brooks' and a few 'rainbows' as recalled - I'm not even gettin' a tug on the line - after about a half hour he's caught maybe twelve fish... after about another half hour it's becoming clear that this guy's potentially havin' the greatest fishing day of his life - he's snagged maybe another eight - think I caught one, and we're in the same spot fishing side-by-side for the most part... what the f*k?!...

... a few catches later and he's now amped and somewhat boisterous (to put it mildly) and proudly displaying his now large stringer of fish with each catch (which wasn't going unnoticed by the many others fishing this end of the lake as well - particularly the guys out in boats)...

... he's crediting his success to his "country club worms" - Randy lived right next to the local country club golf course, and the night before (and after a day of some persistent rain) he went out to the nearest putting green and gathered up a mess of what were some huge and fat nightcrawlers - he attributed their size to the nutrients and such that the club used to condition the greens and fairways (well, don't know about that)...

... eventually we got maybe eight boats that trolled into and surrounded our spot, all anchored around thirty feet offshore and all casting directly our way - a bit irritating to say the least - but as time passed they're catching nil, and Randy's still "pullin' 'em in"..."ha-ha-haaaaaaa!!! - uproarious laughter along with a display of the ample stringer with each catch... 

... around 11am we've pretty much had it for the morning... final tally Randy 44, me 2 - think we eventually saw less than ten catches amongst the boats - also a few tangled lines between boats which was entertaining in itself considering the intrusion... didn't even know if you were allowed to take that many fish or not (will probably have the Fish Commission bangin' on the door tomorrow morning lookin' for an easy buck) - they were all legal size at least and nobody said anything as we were packin' out... regardless, we went back to his place and that afternoon had a pretty good impromptu grilled fish fry for all...

... personally don't think so, but maybe there's something to those "country club worms"...

... ha!... other than the ending this clip always reminds me of that day...

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... not many years after initial construction, was travelin' alone on a short two day overnight out-and-back on the 'Laurel Highland Hiking Trail' (LHHT) - Rt 653 to the 'Grindle Ridge' shelter - a little over five miles out - with the intent to set up camp early and continue on about another two miles to reach a small lake (around El 2950ft) located along the trail at the 'Seven Springs' ski area - had swam in the lake on a previous thru-hike and had noticed several large schools of panfish swimming about - always wondered what the fishing was like - packed along a three-piece pack spinning rod and some lures...

... the dashed yellow indicates the 'LHHT' trail route with mileage...

... don't know what the fishing is like now'days, but wound up spending a pretty nice afternoon hooking a few bluegills and perch before returning late evening to camp... later was settin' with feet danglin' off a short split-log creek crossing eatin' a can of chicken noodle soup when I accidentally dropped a piece of chicken into the shallow water - a large crayfish immediately charged from hiding and started devouring the chicken - I tossed 'em a few more pieces and soon had a whole squad (or whatever ya' call a half-dozen crayfish) battling over the meat - they got pretty vicious with one another... had the entire campground to myself that night as planned - went mid-week when I knew it would be empty... a lone hoot-owl to lull ya' to sleep at 9pm followed later by an abrupt screeching bobcat (?) to scare ya' sh*tless awake at 3am...

... in all, a pretty nice short trip along the trail with no need to shuttle vehicles...

A Little Head

... some compensation is better than cash...

... a "genuine" shrunken head from Ecuador we recently received...

... photographed this thing earlier today and was up in the studio downloading the images - returned to the makeshift photography stand (which we threw together quickly and was a bit wobbly) and paused - holy sh*t!! - where'd it go!? - turned up the lights - HA! - there it is - had "accidentally" rolled off on to the floor... 

(internet clip)

... at least we think so... (???)....

Life Is So Strange (aka: Destination Unknown)

... winding down a pretty shi*ty winter (meaning no significant snow up to this point) - pretty much stuck in the 'sanctum sanctorum' for weekends on end - not much to do in the rain... f*k cleaning and that sort of thing (until it gets too out of hand) - reading, workin' out and watchin' a lot of old Pirate movies - 'Errol Flynn' is one badass Pirate and those are some "well built" babes from back in the 40's and 50's...

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...'Against All Flags'...

... also too much time to set around and ponder the "meaning of it all", as we occasionally do... 

... massive... 

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... iReleaseEndorphins...

... miniscule... 

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...'The Incredible Shrinking Man'...

... great film finale...

... and the list of questions is endless... 

... "if it's not on the internet, did it really happen?"....

... "if a man makes a comment, and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?"...

... so you ask yourself...

... When my time has come

Has it all been said and done

I know I'll leave when it's my time to go

'Til then I'll carry on with what I know...

- Missing Persons                                               

(internet image)

... 'Missing Persons'...

... man - we gotta' get out of the f*k'n house soon...

You Don't Know Bruno

... was out visiting a project site for the "real job" a few weeks back - was accompanied by one of our younger guys (not long out of engineering school)... along with a few others we were meeting with a local rep from one of the city public utility providers, who in the course of discussion mentioned that the professional wrestling great, Bruno Sammartino, once lived in the area, which was now part of an expanded city park...

... "Who's 'Bruno Sammartino'?" asks our young hand... well, everyone just stared at him in disbelief and it was crickets...

(internet image)

... this be the man, 'Bruno'...

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... speaking of which, we learned that another wrestling great, 'George "the Animal" Steele' passed away last week - here's a highly entertaining clip and some great "theater" of the 'Animal' in action (along with 'Randy "Macho Man" Savage, 'Miss Elizabeth', 'Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat and "Mean Gene" Okerlund; with 'Vince McMahon' and 'Jesse "the Body" Ventura providing color commentary):

(internet clip)

... Randy Savage vs the Animal Steele, 1987...

... Rest In Peace George, "Macho Man" and Elizabeth...

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... "Studio Wrestling", as it was known at the time, used to exhibition at the local civic centers, armories and high schools and such back in the day before expanding into the much larger and successful 'World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) of today... we caught a stellar lineup at the local Junior High School back in the late 70's, which included 'Bruno Sammartino', 'The Batman', 'George "the Animal" Steele', 'Domenic Denucci' and "Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio among others... had great seats, and about halfway through the line-up, and between matches, took a quick trip to the men's room... the place was jammed, so was a bit late on the way back to ringside... on the return we noticed 'Domenic Denucci' standing just outside the locker room door and between the bleachers, dressed in street clothes (running shirt and slacks) and observing the action...

(internet image)

... Domenic Denucci...

... his bout had been first on the card and he was through for the evening - no one was noticing him as he was back of the crowd, whose attention was transfixed on the ring action - so, took the opportunity to go over and strike up a short conversation... he supposedly went around 245lbs, but looked a lot slimmer and in great condition - we were both around the same size (heavy lifting days on my part - actually think that I may have had some size on him)... so we're standin' there talkin' (heck of a nice guy) when this older lady comes up and asks him to autograph her program for her kid (still got mine) - "Dom" scribbles his signature and she then turns and hands the program to me - OK! - I signed it as well (hey, she asked) - made sure that I inked it very clearly and legible as well... so, probably to this very day there is still an old wrestling program out there with my one and only ever autograph - probably worth a few bucks by now ($1?)... wonder how many times someone has viewed it and commented "Who the f*k is this guy!??"...

The Sky Above, The Mud Below

... wanted to include this the last previous post as an aside to the "Expedition Sewing Kit" but for the life of us couldn't remember the name of the movie... after a bit of searching on-line this past week we present:

(Internet Image)

... Brilliant!!!!... 'The Sky Above, The Mud Below'... now this is a real expedition!!... 

... along with the "skull-bone necklace", love the tag lines:

"They Filmed the Actual Fertility Rites Never Before Photographed!"

"They Lived with the Guru Cannibals!"

"They Built Seventeen Bridges Across Swollen Jungle Rivers!"

"They Faced Thousands of Hostiles... Thousands of Miles from Civilization!"

"They Witnessed the Secret Orgies of the Cult of the Severed Head!"

"They Were Forced Into Intimacies with the Wives of Their Savage Hosts!"

"Only Two of Them Made It!" 

... man, not unless you got a thousand man-eating savages ruining your picnic you are just beginning to get away for the weekend... saw this film in the theater as a kid, probably eight years old, but have never seen it since - remember we saw previews for it the previous week while watching "Party Beach Monster" or something there other - was to be double-billed with some flick titled something like "World Without Sin" we recall - the trailer for which showed plenty of topless (white) babes frolicking on some "uncharted deserted isle" - sat thru 'em both twice!!... Amazon currently offers only a VHS copy of the tape, but we discovered that theres a DVD copy of a film titled "Black and White in Color" that contains "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" as a bonus feature...

... as an added bonus herein, included in our search we came across 'David Lee Roth's' (yea, of 'Van Halen' fame) account of his own early 1980's trek across New Guinea - coincidentally, he also references "The Sky Above, The Mud Below":

... from his brilliant "The Roth Show"...

... all good stuff!!...

Update: 02/26/17:

... picked up a DVD copy and checked it out this morning... Holy Hell!! - been years since we'd seen it, and then at 8 years old - cannibals, leeches, head hunters, flies, torrential rain, more leeches, heat, more flies, freezing temperatures, even more leeches, mud, even more flies, floods, tropical disease... and leeches and flies... the best thing that could happen to ya' on this trek was to die... highly recommended viewing - we give it 5 skulls out of 5... definitely gotta' get us one of those skull backpacks...

What Not - RP's, Stitch Kit, Snow Cat

... read that German-born Australian climbing legend and engineer of 'RP' small wire brass stoppers,  'Roland Pauligk', died recently. Those things were pretty much mandatory on many sketchy, blank un-bolted face climbs and usually saved your ass when you felt that you had climbed yourself into a jam - or at least made ya' feel like you were out of a jam until ya' were. Searched high and low this morning for the set of six I had, which for some reason aren't on the old gear rack, with no luck. Recall that I may have lent them out (?) to an old climbing buddy and have apparently never got them back... Sh*t!!... but, alas, have no need for 'em anymore, anyway... no need for that fight...

... here's an old set of 'Black Diamond' small wires similar to RP's - don't recall if they're brass or aluminum, though - look like brass - need to clean 'em up (sure we will) - hey, what's up with that small broken size 1?...

... looks well used... took the only ever leader ground fall on that thing to end its days - went flyin' after about fifteen feet up - snapped that wire and the dynamic force on the (about 5ft) lower, small slotted TCU placement fractured the lip of the sandstone rock seam when loaded and it popped as well - landed hard on the ground in a perfectly seated position - hit so hard it popped a lens out of the glasses I was wearin' - after about twenty minutes of searchin' for the lens and recovering some nerve, went back up and finished the route - spent the next three weeks nursing a very sore tailbone, though...

... constructing a "bomb-proof" placement out of small wires is virtually an art form - especially if you're totally pumped and gripped and "hangin' on for dear-life"... a "good-man" above - the small-pro master "sewin' it up"...

... thank's for all the fun, Roland...

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... came across our old (man - use that work a lot these days - second time here) 'Black Diamond Expedition Sewing Kit' while searching for those RP's... never actually used it on an "expedition" and come to think of it, have never really been on an "expedition" (depending upon what your definition of an "expedition" is) - but it works just as well when not used on an "expedition"... 

... bought it at the time to repair a ripped tent - that small stitching awl works great - have used the thing a lot over the years to stitch tents, packs, jackets, jeans - even stitched a rubber raft tube once - and have gotten pretty good at it... recommend using 'bowstring nylon serving line' for a heavy duty stitch - pictured a spool here but ya' gotta' get it separately from any shop that sells archery gear - a dab of super glue on the final stitching knot works great, too...

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... finally got some winter weather this weekend - just in time for spring (almost)...

... this guy's happy and in his element...