The wagon Subaru should have built

A lot of guys/gals wish that Subaru would have made a wagon version of the STI during the years of 2002-2007. Sometime back in 2005 or so, my friend Ron had a 2003 WRX wagon (with the bug eyes like mine) that he had done quite a bit of work to (full STI interior, wheels, suspension, brakes, 6 speed trans, front mount intercooler, exhaust, etc). The car was super fun to drive. It looked/sounded awesome and was still practical to go get the groceries in. We always thought it would be cool to have a wagon from that era that had the sedan doors and the quarters on it. Well...here it is. I'm pretty picky when it comes to cars but this is extremely tasteful. I'm trying to get more pics of it.

Rejection

Several months back I submitted an entry for a casting call of the show Man vs. Wild. Well tonight's episode was Fan vs. Wild. Evidently I was not selected. I was bitter at first and even debated organizing a boycott of all things Bear Grylls. However, I tuned in to see the 2 knuckleheads that got to be on the show. Impressed I was not. The producers were not looking for people that could show Bear up but, rather, dudes that could barely tie their own shoes. I was able to make it through til the first commercial break and then I switched to the Wire and Jimmy McNulty, Bunk, Kima and, indeed, Omar. I realize now that I am more than Bear Grylls. In fact...I think Bear Grylls not only desires to be me but probably has a pretty hearty man crush on me. Allow me to present to you Exhibit A. In the past, Bear's knife has been custom made for him by a guy. This season, Bear has been using a knife crafted in Portland, Oregon by the fine folks at Gerber. It just so happens that I have been using the exact knife (the no longer made LMF II...not to be confused with the new and smaller Prodigy) since the end of last summer. Regular readers will even recall that I did an entry on said knife here and even took a rather sexy picture of it with my Ross reel while backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park last September with the Coconut Rum crew. Coincidence? I think not. I've been rockin' Gerber knives for years Bear. It appears that Bear and Gerber are going to work together to come up with a new knife that will be out this fall. I'm sure it won't be worthy of my hands and no where near the surgical weapon that the LMF II has proven to be. I'm pretty sure that if I was put in a situation where I needed to take out a rabid boar suffering from a hangnail that I'd do just fine.

In other, less exciting news, I decided a few days ago to go try and harvest a mustache again. I've attempted this before to no avail. It never last more than a week and then it bothers me. Problem is...with blond hair it's gonna have to get some body to it in order to really show up. I normally never make it past the point of looking like a pre-teen Swedish boy. It's ok though...I don't even know that Bear shaves.

Labor Day

Pretty relaxing and uneventful day really. I actually had to do some work and Heather was nice enough to help. I think that probably the biggest reason I was asked to be the department head for special education at my school is because nobody else wanted to have to deal with this task that I've been assigned. It's pretty large and I've been given zero leads to work with. Pretty excited about it. So we spent a few hours at school doing some research and then came back home so I could pour over some stuff and try and get some ideas generated.

Tonight I went for a mountain bike ride and it was pretty darn nice. Fall is definitely coming in the mountains. The air is getting cooler and the Aspen leaves are starting to change. This is my favorite time of year. The weather man even says we may hit freezing temps tonight.

Last night and this morning there was a lot of this kind of stuff going on. We were flying through season 3 of the Wire. The more we watch the series the more Heather says I am one of the lead characters (James McNulty). He's an Irish cop who doesn't believe in hype, niceties, and he doesn't do bullshit. He's a little rough around the edges and pisses some people off. That is SO not me. Awwwwww my phone's ringing.......what the hell does this person want?

Doing my part

I managed to net this super nice rainbow tonight. This was definitely the nicest fish of the evening. Note the trippy forceps laying on shore.

This was actually the last of 3 Northern's I scooped up tonight. These things are taking over. The first one I caught didn't even have enough meat on his bones for a Ritz cracker and much to the dismay of the Department of Wildlife....I let him go b/c killing anything is SOOOOO hard for me. I did not get a pic of the second one but he was bigger but still not worth the effort of carving up. Then this guy was fooled by my flawless presentation and I said to myself, "Self...there's too many damn Pike in this water and if they get big enough they will eat the beloved trout". So....I cut this guy's head clean off with the precision of a damn butcher.......while closing my eyes and yelling loud enough to get the attention of some other dudes that were pretty far away. When I realized they were looking at me I tried to redeem myself by asking if they wanted some. They shook their heads no and they were NOT doing so in dismay. I realize that there is a spinning rod in this picture and.........it is mine. I brought it along on this trip and was glad I did when I got to the water because the wind was silly.

This is the first little Pike I caught. He was ballsy as evidenced by the spoon to head size ratio.

Out here we sometimes like to try to score a trifecta when we head to the water. The Pike and this fish DO NOT constitute any part of that. Normally it's the Brown, Rainbow and then the Cutt. Tonight I shoehorned in a Sucker. I think.....no.......I know.......that I catch more of these little bastards than anyone else. Too bad they're such a trash fish. I did actually let this one go. In this water....the Pike is far more troublesome.

Watching the sun dip down below the Divide NEVER gets old. I will miss it dearly. What a great night. Wish I could have shared it with someone. I've been solo all weekend because my normal companion is kickin' it on the Jersey Shore right now. I don't think he's even doing the Striper thing. I wonder if he's doing the stripper thing though.

Today I fished Spinney Ranch. There weren't many dudes there but I think it's been fishing pretty tough lately so it's no surprise to me. This weekend I started at the barns and there weren't many skeeters to speak of. Flows still suck at 151cfs and what few fish are in the area are hunkered down in the deeper pools and pretty spooky. This is the first hole I decided to start at. While I looked into the middle I saw a dinner plate sized flash almost immediately. I pulled 2 browns out but not the one I was looking for and moved on.

Much of the river looks like this right now with long stretches that are ridiculously thick with grass. It's very frustrating when you need to get down to the bottom quick but not too quick that your junk gets hung up in the weeds or else you have to clean your rig after each drift. I caught 6 or 8 browns but nothing big. I had 2 or 3 break off and the last one felt like it had a bit of size to it but still not what I was looking for. I think I'm back to being a snob.

I walked the river all the way up to the spillway but just didn't see anything that was making me stop in my tracks. On the way back downstream I decided to stop here and eat some lunch and drink a beer. The far side of the bank and just to the right of the fence is where I asked Heather to marry me. There were salmon by the trailer load in the river that year. Haven't seen it like that since. Damn gill lice wiped em out.

Shortly after this portrait was taken, I fell asleep. I already no where I'm going tomorrow night.