Asheville to Argentina

This picture says it all. Joe, Bill and I went fishing on Sapphire lake this past Saturday. I don’t know why, but I thought the whole trip was really funny. It started out by taking golf carts from the house over to the lake, where, tied to the dock was a giant pink flamingo paddle boat.

I had to get in it and dork around. I would of loved it if we could have fished from this thing – but alas, it was chained up. I checked!

Here, in preparation for the expedition, the men are unloading supplies from the golf carts into the boat.

Unfortunately Bill had a hard time getting into the boat, so I set him up on the dock. The kid working at the boat house gave me an umbrella that I tied to a folding chair and I got him a glass of water. (thats him in the background) I told him to ring the big farm bell if he needed anything. The lakes not that big. I could have gotten there in time if need be. I’m not a terrible person – right?

So off Joe and I went for some hard-core fishing:

Yeah, thats as big as they got. But it really was fun. Joe has lived next door to my family since before I can remember. In Lighthouse Point he and Jerry were always our neighbors and now they live right next door to my Mom in NC. Its really good to know that she has such old friends so close by – and it was nice to go out with Joe who remembers going fishing in the Everglades with me, my dad and grandfather in the 1970′s. Theres no substitute for history.

When I go visit Mom I ask her to make me a punch list of things that need doing around the house. On this trip one of the things she asked was that I fix up the gas grill. It needed a little work after having blown over in a windstorm and then just some general spring cleaning. After getting it all cleaned and back in shape Bill and I enjoyed a few cocktails and a nice grilled dinner on the deck. The next morning when I went outside I saw a perfect little paw print made from pollen that had been stuck to a racoon’s foot. I could just see perfectly how he planted it on the front of the grill, stood on his hind legs and reached up with his nose to smell what we had cooked for dinner.