Someday, a long, long time from now - I
hope, they are going to put: You shoulda been here yesterday! on my
tombstone. Anyway, my nephew Cory, the pro bass angler was
prefishing bass on Thursday near Stoddard. He stayed with us that
evening and his news was that: “They are hammering the panfish on
Stoddard Bay!” He said he watched as panfishermen were reeling in
bluegills as fast as they could get them out. He even caught a few
bluegills on bass baits. It didn't take much to change our plans, so
on Friday morning, Ellen and I went fishing out of Stoddard.
The sun was getting almost too high
when we got to the landing. There was a slight breeze and a few
clouds, but it was as nice a morning as you could order up. We
glided smoothly outside of the berm in the Queen to a spot north of
the berm so we could try the already thickening weed lines. We got a
few bites, and I put one keeper sunfish in the livewell, but
otherwise, nothing, nope, nada, nuttin' honey. We saw Cory casting
along the rocks and stopped to talk. He said the bass were not
hitting either. The water was dirtier and appeared to be coming up,
so the fish got finicky we guessed - we shoulda been there yesterday.
Anyway, we called it a day by
midmorning, and that evening, we went Rocky's for our fish dinner
along with Bob Bonine and Rox Fox and Curt Christensen as well as Ron
and Tammy Von Glahn. After a great dinner, we came up the coulee to
have a night cap on our porch, but the humidity and bugs drove us in
to the air conditioning.
On Saturday morning, Curt, Ellen and I
went down to Genoa to the Vernon County Dairy Breakfast on the Steve
and Gina Nickelotti farm. We took the bus up from Genoa Park and our
old friend Tom Venner was in the driver's seat. Ron and Dorothy
Stokke and Dorothy's mom and their son's Chris and Ben sat by us on
the way up, catching up with lots of the news about our families. In
the breakfast line the ladies piled on pancakes, scrambled eggs,
sausages, cottage cheese, cheese curds, along with milk and juice.
Never had cheese curds for breakfast before, but I think I like it!
While we were eating, Krista Hall brought us coffee and my favorite:
a big bowl of ice cream - another breakfast staple-to-be at my house
from now on. Krista was wearing a Syttende Mai royalty sash; many of
the other servers were Vernon Country royalty as well. I took a few
pictures and and visited lots of people including the hosts and their
children. The oldest, Alexis, one of my former students and a UW
Platteville business grad, has been doing PR and marketing for the
Wisconsin Beef Council for three years already - where does the time
go. El and Curt and I had a long visit with Congressman Ron Kind
and then it was time to go. On the ride back to Genoa, it appeared
as if Ma Nature was marshaling a bit of weather for us off to the
west.
Saturday was also Dump Day. So I
loaded up the Ranger and headed to the Town of Bergen dump site where
I got dumped on as I was unloading more than a week's worth of trash
when a brief but heavy thundershower gave me my second shower of the
day. Back at the ranch after I got a dry shirt on, Curt and I and
Ellen sat on the porch, enjoying the steady shower while sipping
coffee and reading the morning paper. Later Curt and I would go
graduation party hopping, getting filled up for the second time that
day. We also stopped at the DHS Class of 2004's Ten-Year Reunion to
catch up with some of our former students. After California Chrome
crashed in the Belmont, we all went to another graduation party, this
one for my buddy Vince's daughter, Amanda. I am afraid to walk into
the same room as my bathroom scale at this point.
Until next time, get out - this last
week, I attended a retirement celebration for my dear friend and
former co-worker, Sue Flick, the De Soto Area Schools district
secretary for 35 years. She advised and helped countless students,
staff (me many, many times), and survived six superintendents during
her time there. She will be missed by so many, who I am sure all
wish her and Les the best in their retirement. Finally, we have been
seeing some whitetail fawns around the coulee, but what happened to
the gold finches and Baltimore Orioles we had so many of a couple
weeks ago? Maybe they're cleaning up after graduation parties and
too heavy to fly home. Enjoy.
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