Last day of the trout season

I didn't make it out to our Escanaba River property during the spring trip and today is the last day of the trout season.  In the past I've had some good luck on the last day, so decided to make the run.

Fall color and Two Heart Ale

Fall color is just underway. Despite recent rains the road was most dry, a little overgrown at the end but no problems getting in.  One of my favorite quotes about the U.P. is from Hemingway in the Green Hills of Africa...

'The best sky was in Italy or Spain and in Northern Michigan in the fall'

On a day like this, you know exactly what he was seeing.

Not much in the way of fish this outing, but it was a spectacular day on the river.

Oh yeah, my one fish...

a small brookie...

Not enough of a meal for both of us, so the fish was offered as a tribute to the King.

Simple prep... light flour breading and sauteed in olive oil with garlic and onion.

It looked pretty good. I should have caught more.

Yooper Autumn

Frosty Sunrise

We arrived to a warmish sunset on the 28th, but the temperature dropped throughout the night. By morning sunrise, things were quite frosty. The wood stove kept us toasty in the lake house.

Warmish Sunset

 Awoke to frost on the dock in the morning.

 Apparently, no one ever wonders about the lack of returning footprints.

Color change is underway.

Forecast indicates this will this will be the weather pattern this trip - highs in the fifties, lows in the thirties.

Northern Michigan in the fall is always great.

Cubs, Omens, Strange Signs and Portents in the Sky

The night was filled with strange signs and omens in the sky, no doubt foretelling great and momentous events.  Significantly it was a full, blood, harvest eclipse of the moon:

"There is a total eclipse of the moon on the night of September 27-28, 2015. It happens to be the closest supermoon of 2015. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon, or full moon nearest the September equinox. It’s the Southern Hemisphere’s first full moon of spring. This September full moon is also called a Blood Moon, because it presents the fourth and final eclipse of a lunar tetrad: four straight total eclipses of the moon, spaced at six lunar months (full moons) apart. Phew!"

A Blue Moon. A Cub Moon

More significantly, the Chicago  Cub, led by likely Manager of the Year Joe Madden,  have clinched a spot in the post season playoffs. This young talented team is too naive and inexperienced to understand the utter hopelessness and despair of being a Chicago Cub player or fan. It's our best chance in decades.

This night the Cubs are playing their likely Wild Card opponent Pittsburgh Pirates. The likely Cy Young Award Winner Jake Arietta is on the mound, likely MVP Anthony Rizzo, and likely Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant in the lineup.

And I am there - in the Holy of Holies at the Temple - in the left field bleachers at Wrigley Field with my brother and nephew.

In left field bleachers

I was here, in the left field bleachers for the World Class Choke of 1969 - but this is no time to wallow in the failures of the past...

The 1969 opening day lineup: Kessinger, Beckert, Williams, Banks, Santo, Hundley, Hickman, Young, Jenkinson. 

... or worry about recent disappointments. This is a time to believe. This is the year. And this was quite a game.

Hot Doug's Polish

Wrigley Field Panorama with Hot Doug's prime rib sausage, blue cheese and horse radish.

Jake Arrieta hit the only run he needed with a solo home run. And I called it.

I really did. I called Arrieta's homer. Just ask these guys behind me. 

Harlan, Jonah and a Hot Doug's Dick Tidrow Hot Pork Jamaican Jerk sausage with Plantains. Jonah only gave me one bite.

Another filthy Arrieta win with six innings of no-hit ball and a shutout:

"Arrieta (21-6) retired his first 18 batters before Gregory Polanco grounded a leadoff single into left field in the seventh. He struck out nine and walked none while improving to 15-1 with a dazzling 0.89 ERA in his last 19 starts."

2015 Abalone Report Card - Nos. 6, 7, and 8.

We had a slow start this abalone season. No dives and no abalone before the July break. But we are finishing strong in the "second season." On the August opening weekend, Zach and I each took 5 abalone over two days.

Sunday was a high low tide of +3 feet at 10:30 AM.  Dive buddy Jeff met me at the cove at 10:00, with his two boys in tow.

It's been a couple years since I'd seen Blaine and Travis. They've grown. Blaine is a young man. I guess that's what happens with kids.

Then and Now

They are also good luck. When they were last here, we had near perfect conditions and a couple of spectacular dives. Sunday another perfect day was on tap. They couldn't wait to get back in the cove.

I've switched cameras again. My GoPro 300 took great pics and video, but only lasted 4 dives before the case leaked and destroyed the camera. My previous Olympus Stylus Tough lasted 4 years of hard dives before it succumbed.  I've gone back to the Olympus brand with a new Tough TG-860. The Reader will have to suffer through the lower quality video - assuming I ever get around to editing and posting it.

Here a selection of pics and vids (eventually) from a great day in the cove.

Jeff and I went hunting...

... while some abalone sat for formal portraits ...

...and the boys played in the cove and harassed crabs in the tidal pools.

 It was a good day to dive (C'mon - you know I was not going to get through an entire abalone post without saying that).

There is some good eatin' in our immediate future.

Nothing tastes better than that first apres-dive brew.

And a good day was had by all.