2017 Part Deux- A New Beginning

One  of my favorite pictures I've taken so far
this year

Looking back on the first half of 2017, I can say, that outdoor wise, it has had some ups and downs. I'm not talking about everyday life and things we can't control. For me, I'm just talking about the stuff I'd write on this blog. Everyday life has its challenges such as cars breaking down, taxes being due on April 15, and a variety of other challenges we call life. I do not judge a year by those things. I can't make the starter in my car last forever, and I not can keep my family healthy. This blog is not about everyday challenges. Who the hell would want to read that anyway? Besides, lets be honest, if you are reading this, there are a lot of people worse off than us, so I count my blessings

I judge a year, by how many great memories I make. Some of those memories I share with others while many I do alone. Unless the year is marred by something catastrophic, I usually focus on the positives.

None the less, I am a big fan of looking back at those memories I've made. I very much enjoy making a photo album at the end of each year. I am an obsessed list writer. I make lists for everything. I have lists for each book I've read, movie I've seen, daytrip I've done over the last fifteen years. I also make lists for daytrips I'd like to do and a calendar of upcoming events.

So it is no wonder as we pass the halfway point of the year, I look back at the beginning of 2017. I realized a couple of things. The first, I caught a lot of fish, and a lot of big fish. Secondly, if you take away fishing, the first half could have been a lot better.

My first ever channel cat will always be fond memory

Winter is winter, and I just hope to get through it. All in all, it was kind of fun. I bought tickets to
enough low cost plays and concerts that I always had something to look forward to. I tried skiing but got hurt. I got lucky and I healed fairly quickly without medical treatment. The one thing that set me back was I was exercising a lot before I got hurt. Since I healed, quite frankly, I've been too lazy to make time to workout much or used that time to constantly fish. Of course, the outcome of this, is weight gain, that will kick my ass when I eventually start hiking.

Needless to say, I get excited for spring. I have so many ideas and plans, that I really can't do them all in the best of circumstances. So when Mother Nature throws me some nasty weather, it screws up my spring more than any other season.  This May was dreadful. Even when we had nice weather, it usually ended the day before my scheduled days off. This led to a cancelled camping trip to bird and fish in Newburyport along with other cancelled plans throughout the month.

Once the weather got nice, I started doing the work of three people at work because two of them got

Too much rain,
not enough birding

hurt. I tried to do my job as best I could, but was also doing the donut deliveries and managing a store 2-3 days a week. This of course, led to two things, less free time and extra money. Combining the rainy spring with the extra work (both people are now back to work) has led me to look fondly on the turning of the page to the next half of the year.

A New Beginning-

Sine the last two months were kind of stressful and did not live up to my expectations, I have decided to start fresh. With July now here, comes different types of fun that only summer can bring.  The first two weeks of July can mean a lot of our favorie places are over run with people. I don't blame them, if your two week vacation is in July, then you are limited on when you go on vacation. Because so many people are out and about, I'm going to postpone my New Hampshire weekends until the 20th.

However, I have a lot of fun ideas for the next two weeks. Going to the Paw Sox game and fireworks tomorrow.  Monday, I celebrate my birthday by watching fireworks in Cumberland. The 4th, Laurie and I are going to Concord if I can get out of work early enough.

On the 8th, I'm trying to convince Laurie to go to Providence Waterfire. We are also talking about going to a Drive In movie, an A&W stand (like from the 50's), a polo match in Newport, and to see Sea Turtle eggs. The weekend of July 13-16, my town has a Kid's Day carnival where I can watch fireworks again on Fri and Sat while eating delicious Blade Meat sandwiches.  Not a bad first three weeks of July.

I have a list (of course I do) of things I want to do before the end of summer. The things I wrote are on there along with a few others. If I do most of the stuff on the list, then it will be a great summer full of memories which will cancel out a so so spring.


For the record my favorite memories from Jan-June

5. Two Lakers and a Salmon at Wachusett on the same day.

4. Three days in March I went to two concerts (Femmes of Rock, Dropkick Murphys) and saw a King Eider

3. Golden Trout- Caught 13 trout including 3 over nineteen inches and a 20 inch bow

2. A five day period  I caught really big fish- Carp (Conn River), Black Sea Bass (Buzzards Bay), 20 Pound striper (Narragansett Bay), Keeper Striper (Downtown Providence), Huge blues (8-19 pounds from kayak)

1. Going to Race Point with  Laurie and seeing the Whale Show

Here's to having a Great second half of 2017!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                       You've got to accentuate the positive
                                       Eliminate the negative
                                       Latch on to the affirmative
                                       Don't mess with Mister In-Between