Fish/Food for Thought

I’m not sure how to explain this without coming across condescending. I like having a routine to my day. I suspect that I brush my teeth with the same number of strokes each morning. When I arrive home, I put my wallet, phone and keys in the same spot every day. When Shannon arrives, her keys are placed somewhere safe. Where safe is doesn’t seem to make sense when she’s trying to find them later though. Today she lost her keys. She had been tearing the house apart to find them and had the kids involved in the melee as well. During dinner, Ellie announced that the keys had been found:

…this spot on the calendar is where she’s supposed to hang them when she doesn’t need them. After hours of searching, the last spot to look is where they’re supposed to be. Lo and behold, there they were! I love my dear, dear wife.

We have a TV that is the master bedroom that has no use. I’ve had it hooked up to a coax-splitter that also services my cable modem; but, the quality of our internet connection takes a hit if I do that for too long. So I’ve also tried using an antenna with an HDTV-converter box but that doesn’t pick up all the channels and they’re fairly weak due to the room being partially below ground.

24% is the best that I can attain with my $10 antenna on this channel. I came across this video and I was intrigued. Today we made a few purchases with the gold 75/300 transformer costing the most. All together, the stuff was either scraps or recently purchased for under $10.

I did the majority of the work by myself; but, Wesley was a big helper and assisted in screwing the hangers into place. Shannon snuck in with my phone and snapped a picture of two while I was doing a channel scan.

It is an ugly contraption; but, what matters is the performance.

Over double the quality! If I have the antenna by the window or hold it higher in the room, it’ll reach into the 70’s. I’m sure if I ran it into the attic I’d hit in the 90’s. Very nice.

When I needed the washers and transformer I took the kids with me to go shopping. There is a walkway bridge over I-240 that we pass often and the kids have walked across it a time or two and they always ask me if we can do it again. The weather is nice, with a chill in the air, and we hiked across. Bradley did not want to walk by himself so I carried him across. We went down the walkway and stopped for a picture:

Brianna’s tuque is out of control. No, it is not diaper on her head as I first thought. We headed back to the van and Bradley decided that he wanted to walk like the big kids. I preach safety quite a bit and if you notice, they’re all holding onto the hand rails. Wesley let me know that it wasn’t so scary if you didn’t look down or at the cars. I fully agree with him.

…the kids had much fun. Which means they’ll continue to badger me to walk across when we’re in the neighborhood.

Tomorrow night we pick Shannon up from the airport. I was able to accomplish a few honey-dos; but, I wasn’t able to get to everything I wanted. I didn’t mop the floor since I wasn’t able to rent the jackhammer. You’d think as well-fed as Bradley is that he wouldn’t have so much dropped food around his chair. Anyhow here’s a few pictures and thoughts from the last couple of days.

Ellie received a Marble Slab Creamery gift card and we went there for an afternoon snack on Sunday. She initially said that she wanted to buy a sundae that everyone could share but that benevolence disappeared once she saw that there were sprinkle-covered waffle cones. What flavor did she choose? Pink. She didn’t care what flavor it was as long as it was pink. Strawberry it is. Would she like it covered in sprinkles? Of course. Kids and I differ in this regard, I like vanilla bean. In a bowl. With a spoon. I’m sure if they asked her if she wanted a syringe full of pink sprinkles injected into the middle she would’ve squealed. Since she picked that, Brianna, Wesley and I shared a strawberry shortcake sundae. We finished much faster than Ellie and she had to deal with this for the remainder of the time:

…she didn’t budge. She didn’t share a single bite.

The kids were to decorate turkeys this year for school. It’s an annual event and there’s always some theme or another. This year the turkeys are trying to disguise themselves so the farmer doesn’t eat them. Instead of pulling together a billion decorative things and letting the kids go hog-wild, I asked them what they wanted their turkeys to be. So, Brianna picked Hello Kitty, Ellie picked a princess and Wesley picked Star Wars. So, I loaded up Photoshop and put something together that they could color:

The princess is my favorite by far. They were all very happy and evidently several kids at school commented on how cool Ellie’s and Wesley’s pictures were. Mission accomplished.

I’m sure that most folks have played with an Etch A Sketch at some point. Wesley brought me his drawing and I thought it was pretty good. It’s supposed to be a picture of me at the top of the stairs. He was at the bottom staring up at me while I was tidying upstairs. The second picture is a house on the left, and him sitting at the table in the kitchen. I’m not sure what’s on the table; but, it looks like a lamp. He even wrote his name across the top by his head and spelled backward. I don’t remember for sure; but, this is darn better than what I did as a kid.

As always, feel free to click on the graphics for an enlarged view.

With Shannon gone my breakfasts have been quick and easy. I miss having omelets and all the other tasty things that she makes. I’ve had a bagel everyday she’s been gone and though filling, it’s certainly bland. So, time to make some eggs for breakfast.

Keep in mind that I don’t cook enough to remember anything. Recipes are my friend. So, I cruise the net looking for ideas or suggestions and it’s amusing that it’s just assumed that everyone knows how to make scrambled eggs. Of course, I thought about justing cracking the eggs open and mixing it up; but, I’m sure there’s more to this than that. So, I found a nice site that gave me some tips on making scrambled eggs. I used the Perfect Scrambled Eggs recipe and they turned out fabulous.

Yes, the kids are still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. I prefer the kids eating breakfast and brushing their teeth before changing. So, it’s not that I’m lazy; but, it’s planned. Also notice that Wesley’s smile never changes–just the angle.

Again, I have no idea what mood the kids are going to wake up in. They had no interest in the toast; but, like a pack of wolves they tore into the eggs. A cold front moved in last night and the weather that’s been in the 70’s (21° C – 26° C) all week has dropped at least ten degrees to a high of 60° (15° C) today. We’re going to stick around the house through lunch and then we’re heading to Marble Slab Creamery for an afternoon snack. Ellie went to a birthday party last week where she received a gift card for the Creamery and it’s been burning a hole in her pocket ever since. She finally decided that we’ll get a large banana split and eat it as a family. Should be fun.

I figure after that, we’ll come home and putter around the house some more. I’ve a few more piddly things that I want to do before the weekend ends.

After taking the kids to swim lessons yesterday at the Y I was in no mood to make dinner. Ellie then started a conversation:

“Daddy, have you ever ate at Wendy’s“

“Yep.”

“Did you like it?”

“Sure did,” was my response. I’m really talkative when my patience is wore thin.

“I wish I knew what Wendy’s tasted like.” She then sighed and continued to look out her window. Very slick of her.

“Hey folks, what do you think of having Wendy’s for dinner?”

Of course I was met with hoots and hollers in the affirmative. I could’ve swore that I even saw Ellie pump her fist like Tiger Woods.

Today I made dinner. I was feeling a bit Italian; so, we had Hamburger Helper, peas and to spice things up I made some Olive Oil Bread Dipping Sauce. Nothing too fancy; but, I took some extra-virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning (which Shannon has enough of to feed Italy for a month), sea salt, crushed pepper and some crushed garlic. Notice that my bread came from the oh-so-fancy loaf of sliced bread. I probably should’ve toasted it; but, maybe next time.

Brianna enjoyed the round beans very much. She had two servings and finished her hmmbrgr-helper just fine. The big-kids were so-so with the Hamburger Helper and peas but tore the bread and sauce up. Neither of them finished their peas and h-helper but must’ve had four pieces of bread apiece. Wesley made the proclamation that he could eat bread and sauce everyday forever and Ellie sagely nodded her head. I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand the quirks of kids.

Shannon, can you see that I’ve been watering your little garden in the background. Your watering can stinks; but the plants should still be alive when you get home.

Well, the kids were a both excited and disappointed with dinner tonight. I put some ground beef in the fridge yesterday to thaw for tonight with the idea of Hamburger Helper. While on the phone earlier, I started to restack the pantry and I found some odd cans:

These don’t have partners in the pantry. The naked can is green beans and we’ll eat that in no time. We have much creamed corn but this is the only whole kernel corn, same with the peas and chili-ready tomatoes. We I ate the sauerkraut tonight. I made sandwiches to finish the turkey breast and rolls. Also allowed me to finish off the lone tomato soup can:

So, a nice well-rounded meal. The kids liked the sandwich and the soup. They did not like the sauerkraut. That was my favorite part. This is a picture before they started eating dinner:

Notice how happy they are now. That changed within a minute once they started into the sauerkraut. Oh well, more for me. We’ll have Hamburger Helper tomorrow and I’m sure they’ll be happy again.

Well, Shannon is back in BC visiting family. She only took Bradley with her which meant that the other three are stuck with me. My boss (and work) have allowed me to go on an intermittent vacation. I take the kids to school in the morning, go to work and leave early to take them home again. Whatever I’m short of forty hours at the end of the week, I’ll supplement with vacation. This allows me to keep most of my vacation and still be able to fully care for the kids. Very nice.

I think it’s pretty well known that I’m not an overly socialable person. This means that I’d rather go to the zoo on a weekday rather than a weekend so I can avoid the crowds and such. I figured I’d take the kids to Noble to donate some stuff at the Clothing House, visit the grandparents and then head to the Norman library. I posted some pictures of us visiting the Norman library before. So, here’s some new ones:

…what I didn’t realize is that the library was hosting an American-Indian event and there were people evvvvverrrryyyywwhhheeeere! Silly me thinking that I’d be able to avoid the hustle and bustle. The kids had fun and it was quality time for all.

Ellie had a craft project due this week. They’re studying Mesoamerican cultures and more specifically the Mayans and Aztecs. We worked on the temple and house together and they turned out pretty nice. Everything is either glued or stapled to the each other. Including the sand, shrubs and stand-up figures. You can see Ellie and Brianna nicely in this shot in front of the temple:

…and this is a clean shot of the pig, horse, and Wesley and Bradley inside of the house:

…Elmer’s Glue recommends allowing glue to dry before working with the glued items again and I wasn’t sure the best way to keep things in place while this was happening. I was trying to think of a way to clamp the pieces together and I recalled that Shannon has been making billions of hair pretties and I realized that I could use the small clamp.

…they worked perfectly to hold the paper and other items in place while the glue dried.

Bradley came downstairs after a bath recently and he was very pleased looking at his hands:

When I was younger, I believed that once your hand was pruned-up like that, it was a sneak peek into the future and that’s what my hand would like as an old man. Now, I don’t know if it’ll prove true; but, it’s amazing what kids find fun.

I’ve a new favorite meal. It’s actually a meal that I’ve loved for a while; but, I’ve not officially titled it as “Daddy’s Favorite Meal.” It’s a pile of mashed potatoes (must be lumpy still with skins–no whipped potatoes for me!) with a brown gravy saturated with meat. Beside this pile of steaming goodness, my wife attempts to throw some healthy sidedish or salad. I call this beauty, Potato Volcano:

I took Elsaysha and Wesley fishing a while back at Lake Draper again. I had downloaded a map of the area and noticed that there are several fishing docks available for people to fish from. We went to on on the northwest side and some fun. A few other folks were fishing there and they told that the fish weren’t biting. They did give us a small container of worms though and the kids were very interested in my cutting and hooking of the worms. Though we had fun, we didn’t catch anything.

I’ve a friend named Eric that I work with and he hunts and fishes on a buddy’s land close to Ada. He asked if I’d be up for taking Wesley to the pond and he’d guarantee that we’d catch some fish. I took him up on the offer and we took off. We stopped at a bait shop and I bought some minnows. We arrived at the property and after an off-road drive we arrived at the pond. After getting set up and Eric showing me how to hook a minnow, look at what Wesley caught:

…he was busting at the seams and I’m so proud of him. We unhooked the fish and tossed him back. The only fish we were looking to keep were crappie and though I was tempted to preserve the fish and mount it on a plaque, that wouldn’t be right. We didn’t have any other luck at this spot; but we were early and we went off exploring. Eric took us along and showed where during the Spring a creek waterfall is and we eventually wandered back. We started fishing along the other side of the pond and it wasn’t long before Wesley landed another:

Now we’re talking! Now Wesley can be quite the chatter-box and he then started to ask us when we were going to start catching fish since he had caught all of them so far. Eric caught a bass and returned it. Wesley told us that he needed to catch lots of fish, “so I can feed the family.” Kids are darn cute. I looked at our stringer and only saw one fish though–not nearly enough for our family of six. The sun continued to drop and that’s when the fun began.

…yep, I caught my first real fish. Wesley’s attention drifts quite a bit and he didn’t pay much attention to his line or bobber. That meant that Eric and I would start hollering at him to set his hook and start pulling in. This was his favorite part and he told us about it constantly, “DaddyIlikethebattle.Thebattleismyfavoritepart.Whenisthebattlegoingtostart?EricshouldIstartpullingitinyet?Ismyminnowstillgood?Whenisthebattlegoingtostart?” Wesley did a good job overall and he even hooked his own minnows. He’s not the best for paying attention to who’s around him when he casts though. Need to keep working on that. I started to get the feel for how big stuff was based on how much fight was in the fish and most of the crappie were easily caught. I did have something that was a beast. With my rod bent in half, my line snapped. Evidently I hadn’t adjusted the tension on the line for a big fish and there should’ve been some give for when he was swimming away. Live and learn.

So, in the end, we kept around 7-9 fair-sized crappie. Eric returned a bass, Wesley returned a perch and I did the same. We brought the fish home on ice and Shannon filleted and fried it the next day:

…it was the best fish that I’ve ever tasted. Wesley is sooo stinkin’ proud that he fed the family. Of course, he wants to know when we’re going fishing with Eric again.

Well, I took Ellie and Wesley fishing today and we caught zero fish.

I prepared our rods last night and once our day had started we loaded up into the van. I stopped by an ATM to take a few dollars out as there are some local lakes that evidently charge to fish at. I googled a bait shop that was close to our house and I figured that I could ask about local ponds and such. Unfortunately, the bait shop has closed down; but, the pawn shop owner next door did give a few suggestions.

We first stopped at Kitchen Lake, which costs a dollar per person to fish. I wandered around the shore a bit and the entire lake-shore is surrounded by lily pads thirty yards wide. There are a few clear sections that can be fished from the shore; but, there are other folks already there. I later found out that Kitchen Lake has a haunted area nearby. I doubt that I’ll return.

We then drove to Lake Draper. We walked along the shore until we were upwind and spent some time casting. I’m not sure I can call it fishing as we didn’t get any bites though I did see some fish jumping in the distance. Both kids are getting pretty decent at casting their own line and I’m almost as good as them with my spinner rod. Overall we had quite a bit of fun. I’m sure that Shannon can’t wait until all four kids are old enough for me to take all of them.

Well, I’m curious if I’m approaching a midlife crisis of some sort. Lately I’ve been a bit listless and looking at different hobbies and such.

When I was younger, Dad took me fishing a time or two and I’m sure that I showed little interest or he showed a lack of time or patience because it was not something we did. I’ve looked fondly back at those times and I’m sure that I’m remembering the positive and none of the negatives like mosquito bites and such. Anyhow, it is something that has caught my eye lately, especially after puttering around with the big kids at Lake Murray.

My teammate at work, Eric, is an outdoors-man and is quite proficient at hunting and fishing. I’ve been picking his brain lately and we’ve walked over to Sporting Goods to discuss different types of rods and such. I’ve talked about it a bit with my current class of trainees and they’ve shared their experiences. Well, I decided to splurge and buy a few rods and some basic tackle to have some bonding time with the kids.

Before I made a purchase, the trainees purchased me a few items to surprise me and to thank me for the training that they’ve received. I’m now a proud owner of a nice tackle box and some starter items to fill it. There’s nothing stopping me now as it must be destiny.

I’ve now purchased three rods and I’m looking to fry some fish. Anyone got a nice pond that we can fish at…locally of course?