Olebiker

I find nothing wrong with "fixing to." The American Heritage Dictionary notes that it is a regional variant, while Merriam-Webster makes no special note of its usage. Don't get me started on "less" and "fewer."

You will catch more fish using braid because you will be spending less time picking out backlashes than you would be with fluorocarbon. Can you tell that I am not a big fan of FC? I will use it as leader material, but that is all.

I used to pull my 17 foot Bass Tracker with a 4 cylinder 1999 Mazda with an automatic transmission. It did OK, but I live in Florida and didn't have to climb any big hills. I did, however, pull it from Louisville, Kentucky to Tallahassee with no problems. Just make sure to turn off the overdrive.

I work with two people like you. While they are debating between themselves how to do something, someone else gets it done. I love them both but they drive everyone crazy. Without turning this into a slamfest, you TOTALLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAID. I work with people who may think they get things done while I'm figuring out the RIGHT WAY to do it. I got hired to fix their shotty work. Case in point, the project I'm working on right now was three years behind schedule. This was a team of ten. Two of us outside consultants were hired to replcae them. In six months time, the project was on schedule. The issue was the way the went about completing the work. Too much work filling out paperwork, not much work. Oh man, I sure didn't mean that to come out the way it sounded.

Oh man. I don't blame you for getting out of Watertown this time of year. My daughter and ex-son-in-law lived there while he was in the Tenth Mountain Division.

I work with two people like you. While they are debating between themselves how to do something, someone else gets it done. I love them both but they drive everyone crazy.

It was great fun to watch.

I have 2 Premier rods. I absolutely love them except for the guides. They are very prone to breaking. Check out Falcon Low Riders. They are about the same price and are built with better components.

I have been married to the same lady for 38 years and I still don't understand why she does some things. Take this, for instance: She comes in from work and rants and raves for 45 minutes about her job. I offer rational, considered opinions on how she should resolve the conflicts arising in her job. That seems like something a loving husband would do, right? She gives me an exasperated look and says, "I don't want problem-solving from you. I just want you to listen." For the first 20 years I figured she was just crazy until we went to a weekend program called Marriage Encounter where one of the big things they teach is that feelings are neither right nor wrong and she is just expressing her feelings and I should just sit there and affirm her feelings. They didn't seem to share my father's philosophy of "a problem shared is a problem doubled" or "kill your own snakes." I still don't know what she gets out of making me sit there through her diatribe, but it seems to make her feel better. While she is blowing off steam I ususally try to busy myself with something so the time is not completely lost. She is usually pretty tickled that I have done the dishes or cooked her supper while she ranted. Let's see now. . . where did I put that man card?

I love his understated manner. I could just hear him telling Katie Couric, "Why shucks, Ma'am, twarn't nuthin'."

I hope Jack grows up to be a point guard at Louisville. ;D

Congrats! Is this your first grandchild?

Some came from Home Depot and some from Lowe's. They were all made by Swing-N-Slide. I just downloaded the plans from their Web site but I didn't buy the whole kit from them. Having a sliding compound miter saw made this a much easier job.

Start saving your money. All that stuff is expensive.

If I had to spend a day in a boat with a Yankee, it would be Al Lindner or LBH. I don't think I could put up with Zona or Moore. I could learn something from Ike but that screaming would get on my nerves. One thing I would do, though, is teach Ike how to wear a ball cap. That flat bill, off to one side look is just a bit to urban for my taste.

I just finished this swingset for a couple of my grandchildren: They think I'm a pretty good fella right now.

I don't know how far down they drew it. You can buy this photo, laminated, at Tri-State Marine.

Couldn't you just see a basement remodled by Krenov. It would be full of beautifully made but totally useless objects d'art. Give me a Sam Maloof rocking chair any day.

I am about halfway through The Three Musketeers by Dumas. I was surprised to find out how funny the darned thing is. I have a love/hate relationship with Hemingway. I love his writing when he is discussing the outdoors or anything having to do with action. His dialogues are nearly incomprehensible, however. He seemed to use his spare dialogue as an art form rather than an attempt to write as people actually spoke. His dialogue is like abstract art rather than realism.

Here is a link to an aerial photograph of the lake taken when it was drawn down back in 1983: http://home.comcast.net/~olebiker/Talquin1983.pdf You can get a feel for where the river and creek channels are.

I wondered about that myself. It was almost like they put an asterisk beside her being in the Classic.

The new version of their Hot Maps Premium South edition has some problems with Lake Talquin. I would love to give the folks at Navionics a geography lesson. There is no way that Nebraska or Kansas could be consider to be in the South. Don't hold your breath waiting for Navionics to respond. They are a bit on the arrogant side.

He was so far behind the pack he was able to react to the crashes. I'm just concerned that this thing might turn into a 2.5 mile Bristol.

Who are you meeting up with? Be careful on Talquin. The common line of thinking is that it is not IF you hit a submerged stump, it's WHEN you will hit one.

Looking at how those cars were bouncing and sliding around Saturday night I expect there is going to be a high premium on getting to the front and staying there. If you are more than about 10 cars back you can be pretty sure of getting caught up in a wreck.