Bummer

Bummed out.

• John's undefeated baseball team got beat.
• Kimmer's AAU basketball team got beat in local tournament by "huge" Seattle teams. Fourteen year old girls over six feet tall were common.
• And, Susan Boyle got beat! I'm now home licking my wounds.

We shall all live to fight another day!! What was that I said about competition? Remember I didn't say I wasn't competitive ~ just that it shouldn't be applied in situations where it wasn't appropriate. Oh yeah, I forgot ASU's girl's softball team got beat in the national tournament. But it is double elimination. :-)

John's baseball field in Colville is beautiful. Above is a shot of scoreboard and hillside in the back. Those are deer grazing in the field below the hay shed.

G

p.s. I did get the camper trailer dragged down to Jennie's in position for future fishing trips and horse camps ~ so all was not lost.

Nice to understand

My friend Chris responded to my rant on competition as follows. I thought my non-surfing friends would enjoy his thoughts.

Hi Gordon,

A response to your rant:

When I started surfing as a teenager, I made surfboards for myself and friends. My mother made us individualized surf trunks. My parent's garage turned into a permanent shop with a floor covered with dried resin and walls white with fiberglass dust (toxic as hell- I can't believe I'm still alive). Surf shops sold surfboards and nothing else. Surfing was experienced as a spiritual dance with nature. The object was to flow with the wave and feel relaxed. We called ourselves soul surfers. In the late 70s commerce finally took over. Surfing was big business. The business people sponsored competitions where the surfers were judged on how well they could "shred" a wave. Riding a wave had become a competitive sport where "ripping up" a wave and doing a lot of non-functional tricks was deemed exciting to watch and worth gobs of money. Surfing now is divided into two camps. Those who "free" surf and those who are working on their shredding moves. In the later, it does not matter whether or not one rides across the face of the wave to the end, the point is to get in a big move before you fall. Most surf shops now make most of their money selling image, in the form of clothing. Surfing for me, is a personal experience.

It's good to hear from you in the form of your blob, glob, bog, whatever.

Chris

I suspect at the most basic level fly fishing and surfing have a lot in common. A way to lose one's self. It's the moment of total involvement - forgetting all in total enjoyment. Of course for me if I were surfing it'd be forgetting one's self in total terror~! At least when you fly fish you don't have to worry about drowning - unless you're my friend Leonard who wades in really strange places. Maybe Leonard gets totally involved and forgets he is getting him self in some serious trouble! :-)

G

Susan Boyle

I have a new hero. Why wasn't she discovered sooner? - But I guess No trip No story.



We need more Susan's.

G

Priest Lake slideshow

Check out this slide show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/priestlaker/sets/72157604643345253/show/with/2201971693/

I found the link on the "As the Lake Churns" Priest lake web site. Cox is name of person setting up the slide show. Nice job.

G

Competition - fly fishing

Read an article this morning in the Spokesman Review on a "fly fishing contest". Now, I've always had a problem with the idea of competition, but to have a "fly fishing contest" seems to me to be a bit ridiculous. Comparing fly fishermen to determine the best fly fisherman is akin to saying "I love my wife more than you love your wife and let's have a contest to prove it." I mean what's the point? Whose to say? Who cares? So you say, "well Skip they are not judging your love, they are judging your technique". I'd prefer we not go there!! So who do we consult on that one; observers or the trout or women. And, if the trout and women, how many? I mean most fly fishermen are doing "it" because of their love of fishing and all that surrounds it, i.e. quiet, mountains, smells, sounds of creek, etc. How can you make a "competition" out of that? I fly fish not because I'm good at it (let alone the "best") but because I enjoy (love) it. I'm adequate and that's good enough! Why does the human animal insist on injecting the idea of competition into areas within which the concept has no place - relevance?

Now I know competition has a place in this world. I'm a student of the sixties, remember, and was raised on the free markets and global competition curriculum. I want to "win" as much as the next guy. But let's be honest. Some things in life are simply not meant to be in the arena of competition. And, fly fishing is one of them. I don't understand "Bass tournaments" either. And, I bet, if the truth were known most thoroughbred horses run because they enjoy it, not because of what some human thinks!

My rant for the day. Other than that, pretty nice day here in lake wo-be-gone.

G

Lake visit

Spring is arriving at the lake. I hunted four hours for mushrooms the last day I was at the lake. Finally gave up and went exploring back roads in the pickup. I had no idea of where I was but hated to turn back because I was making such good time! :) I knew I was in trouble when I read a sign saying Idaho border - entrying Idaho. I didn't realize I'd left Idaho! Had to turn back when I ran into snow drifts on downside of the mountain I had just climbed. Could not find a spot wide enough to turn around. Had to back my way out of the situation. Not fun. I keep thinking I wonder how long it will take them to find my body? Anyway, not all was lost. I found one mushroom I could eat and got these photos of white flowers. I can remember the name of them but can't remember how to spell the name! Dang. Story of my life. Somebody help me out! Phonics, trill yummm. spelling? Still not getting the camera focus I would like. The yellow center spot on flower is not well defined as it should be. The lone mushroom mixed in with my Mac and Cheese was great. The weather this weekend is great. I'm sure mushrooms are just popping up all over the place up there. May have to go back last part of week.

G

Need to Know Basis

Ran across a couple of articles in the past couple of days that included the term "on a need to know basis". And, I got to thinking, if any of you have "a need to know" that you are loved and cared for, give me a call and I'll tell you that you are! We all have that need to know on a regular basis. So let people around you know it. Tag, you're it!

Dad/G

Jennie - that's a Camas flower. Right? How do the roots taste? A logger friend at the lake says spotted owl tastes a lot like chicken.

Recent events

Did anyone notice during the last ten days that,

• President Obama stated that his administration would be going after business's organized off shore to avoid income tax.
• Warren Buffet in his 2009 annual address to his stockholders stated that the current mess was the result of 1. greed, 2. stupidity, and 3. herd mentality.

Hmmm sure supports some thoughts I had a while back. :-)

Now for the "bigness" idea. Can the monopolies idea and resultant 1930's regulations somehow be used to address this problem? After, of course, we put back in the "guts" we ripped out of these regulations during the last twenty years. ~too big~ is not a new concept after all.

Just thinking,

G

Some thoughts

One thing having a blog has taught me, some thoughts in life you simply cannot share as much as you would like to. Ultimately, we are alone - with our thoughts.

G