Tag Archives: dumpster diving

Imagine what they found when the Red Sea Parted

It’s the consequence of attempting lemonade when handed lemons, no matter how sour. Uncooperative fish, warming water, triple digit daytime temperatures, lingering drought, and a hound that requires exercise, each serving to make an outdoorsy type clamp on his hat and carry his rod if just for the exercise …

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… then again, a nine footer makes a perfect weapon to filch decaying “dollar bills” off the tree stumps,  Considering your average plug is about $8, there’s a pile of “dead presidents” represented here.

As I spent much of my youth “dumpster diving”, this is akin to the wreck of the Atocha. Replace the hooks and buff anything shiny with a bit of steel wool, and you won’t feel the bite of teaching your child to fish – given all the tackle he’s returning to a watery grave was rescued from there earlier.

The volume of worm weights and sinkers, rubber worms (whose colors have long faded) and decaying blades from Kokanee trolling is beyond counting. Large stumps have absorbed so much tackle pulled into them from the shore, that there is a leaden debris field on the lake side of each stump, where the sinkers fall once the hook rusts away.

All you can carry, and all you need is hip boots and a dog looking for a walk.

And so shall it return to the aquifer from whence it came

Naturally I attributed my proximity to my earlier howl of misfortune. Rant or critique being immaterial as there was no expectation of accomplishing anything, rather the commentary was like the Bat Signal over Gotham City – Justice being more important than revenge.

I walk in it, I fish in it (I scratch my chins after fishing because of it), and you are an unknowing consumer of it. Much of the Northern snowmelt feeds it, trucks haul it, and chemicals kiss it to juicy perfection.

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… and on rare occasion the rear half of the semi stutter-steps into the turn just a bit fast, and the life giving snowmelt is returned to its prior form after a bit of sunlight and decay.

Which can smell like … well … Justice.

Naturally being a tremendous fan of both physics and dumpster diving, I opted to cut my fishing trip short and assist the Department of Transportation in clearing this dreadful mishap.

… with a shovel and a waiting pickup bed.

boiling_tomatoes

These are the Roma variety, commercial grown to be a dense fruit with a thick skin to aid harvest and transport.  Boil until the skin starts cracking, then shock under cold water to loosen the skin. Peel. Toss five pounds in a bag to freeze so they soften further when unfrozen, and then chopped or blended to make crushed tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. Toss in some extra parsley, basil, chopped onions, and a few bay leaves and refreeze as “Italian seasoned.”

Just remember my hammy feet when your spouse says, “We’re having Italian tonight, Sweetums …” A gift from my watershed to your suddenly sensitive colon.