Eating and Fishing and Eating and Drinking and More Eating at Green Valley Lake

Some pics from Mike & Stan's fishing adventure at Green Valley Lake in the San Bernadino Mountains east of Los Angeles.

Our first day's catch. The big trout was on the grill that evening, and the small trout were in the frying pan Sunday morning.

 

The first day's catch was prepared "au naturale" on the Weber with alder wood smoke and served with rice and green beans for Saturday dinner.

 

The breakfast fish were sauteed in butter, salt, pepper, a "wee-dram" of Balvene scotch. and served with with grits on Sunday morning.

Then back out on the lake for more fish.

The Day two catch (6 more)... 

 

... highlighted by Stan's "dragged worm" trout as we were heading back.

Sunday night's preparation:

After one hour in a soy sauce, hot chili olive oil marinade, the fish was grilled on hand-hewn year old oak planks.

Served with rice, grilled jalapeno, green salad with blue cheese dressing and a 2000 Gabianno Chianti.

 

It was really really good. I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

EDITORS NOTE: This back post from a contemporaneous e-mail to friends and family

Report from the San Francisco Peace Protest

In honor of the inauguration of our 44th President on January 20th, 2009 - this post-dated report from the San Francisco Peace Protest almost 6 years to the day, and the legacy of the last administration.


E-mailed Report from of the January 18, 2003 protest on the streets of San Francisco.

=================

Yesterday, my hometown of San Francisco was the focus of the west coast peace movement in what the local paper described as a "huge protest". Seeking the truth, I joined the march myself. Anticipating that the SF Chronicle coverage would be less than adequate, I decided to take this opportunity to explore a new career as an investigative photojournalist. You are the beneficiaries of my initial efforts.

Your fearless reporter wades into the crowd armed only with a digital camera.

I was impressed with the range and diversity represented by this broad coalition for peace. Some examples:

Giant Soft Pretzels for Peace.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for Peace.

Tango Dancers for Peace.

Garlic Fries for Peace.

Illiterate Anti-Semites for Peace.

Back Masseuses for Peace.

Stupid People for Peace.

Of course, there were a few malcontents who completely missed the point.

Next, I decided to seek out crisp, clear, logical articulations of the arguments against the war as revealed by the protest signage:

Many signs spoke eloquently of the reasons for peace.

While I found a few of the arguments to be a bit specious...

...other arguments were compelling.

But in the final analysis, it all boiled down to this simple comparison...

This Bush is for War, and ...

This bush is not.

Sonnet for a Shag Lake Visit

Glass is like Lake

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Sonnet for a Shag Lake Visit
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 15:39:00 -0800
From: mw
To: Family

Sonnet for a Shag Lake Visit
Iambic Pentameter in Shakespearean Sonnet Format
Illustrated with Digital Photographs
by mw

First Quatrain

While winter's water at Shag ran high.

And the Forties harvest was made complete,

The garden of Harlan and Mom and was nigh,

Emily her betrothed did meet.

Second Quatrain

Poppa declared the lake is like glass,

The Escanaba became a property line,

Mom assuredly captured the bass,

And the Neumann reunion was particularly fine.

Third Quatrain
Smoked turkey and chubs fed the clan
And a fish fry of bluegills, not undersized bass.
Electric hot water is in the plan
After talking and talking about liquefied natural gas.

Final Couplet

Departing we left Ladyslippers still shy.

While turtles basked under a sun filled sky.

After the cut...

... over the winter of 01-02.

Sid and I tour the property with Ken, the forester who managed the cut.

ATV's permitted us to cover a lot of ground in short order.


Overall, Sid and Ken were both pleased with the selective cut, the work done by the loggers, and the state of forest.
A crappy self-portrait, but the only shot where I managed to get other than the back of Uncle Sid's helmet.

Soldier Field's Last Stand

Quite a season for DaBears. Winning the NFC North, Dick Jauron as Coach of the Year, a Brian Urlacher led defense giving up the fewest points in the NFL and a competent quarterback in Jim Miller (which is all the Bears ever need) finished with a 13-3 record. The only disappointment this season were the losses to the rival Brett Favre led Green Bay Packers. Bears would face the Wild Card winning Eagles in the playoffs.

Harlan and I decided to go to Soldier Field and get scalped for the game.

The playoffs and season were delayed a week after the 9/11 attacks cancelled and rescheduled a couple weeks of the season. The game was also significant as the last game at Soldier Field before the old stadium underwent a major redesign.

Bears were playing at home and  favored over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC divisional playoff. We had high hopes.

The game didn't turn out the way we would have liked. The ESPN Recap:

"The Bears, who gave up the fewest points in the league this season, head home, disappointed after winning the NFC Central and making their first playoff appearance since 1994... McNabb, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and once played in a prep championship at Soldier Field, completed 26 of 40 passes for 262 yards and rushed for 37 more in the last game at the venerable lakefront stadium before it undergoes a major renovation. McNabb was resilient the entire game against the team he rooted for as a child.

"I think Donovan showed that in the biggest games what he's all about. That's all part of his journey," said Philadelphia coach Andy Reid, whose team lost in the divisional playoffs a year ago. "We just weren't on the field that much," Bears offensive tackle Blake Brockermeyer said. "McNabb just killed us. We had him wrapped up many different times and the guy just made plays."

Couldn't say it any better than that. "McNabb just killed us."


Better luck next time. I doubt the Bears will face the Eagles in playoff game again anytime before 2019.