Hello on Thursday

Dear Friends,

My day went exactly as planned on Wednesday. I arrived on the frozen lake a little later than I normally would. There was plenty of ice, but it was kind of funky. It was in layers. The bottom of the ice was a solid 7 or 8 inches of ice. The next few layers was ice formed by compacted snow from our multiple snow storms. It wasn't a firm 18 inches of solid ice which we have had for the past few years. Good thing that I packed my ice creepers because the parking lot that I normally use at the end of Narragansett Ave was a sheet of ice. I thought that I would have to walk through several inches of snow, but that wasn't the case.
I only got two flags all day long. One flag went up in the morning. The fish beat up the bait, but I didn't catch whatever was toying with the bait. The second flag went up during the middle of the afternoon just as I got a call to nature, and had my coat, and jump suit unzipped. There was some kind of small fish going around in circles and toying with the bait. I missed him too.
When I picked up my tip ups around 3:30 PM, every bait on the five tip ups had teeth marks on them. I must have been in an area which had some small fish. I was using larger bait because I really wanted to catch a big old Northern Pike.
I am going back to the lake once again as soon as daylight arrives.

Linda had a pleasant day without me being around for 5 or 6 hours. She did spend a good portion of the time on the telephone either calling friends, or receiving telephone calls from them. She had fun with her knitting group last night at Panera Bread.

Social Calendar -- My day will go from ice-fishing, taking a late afternoon nap, and heading off to Patrick's Pub to be cheering on a local band Rakish Paddy who will be recording an album during their gig this evening. I will be there around the 8 PM time frame.
Linda would normally be with me this evening, but she is booked into a potluck dinner with a bunch of girlfriends. The girlfriend who is hosting the party actually lives a few houses away from the parking lot where I will be going this morning.

Weather -- It was nice on the ice yesterday morning when the sun was out. Later on in the day the wind picked up, and the clouds rolled in, and it got chilly. I got a pretty good wind burn from being out on the ice yesterday.
It is a balmy 28 degrees right now, and we will reach 47 degrees later on today. It won't be that sunny today, but not wearing so many layers will be a real pleasure.

Sports -- I never made it through to the end of the Celtics game, but the Celtics did win the game. The fresh air that I got while ice fishing can really tire a person out especially when you are a baby boomer.
Our parents always told us to get out of the house, and go outside and play. They knew that good old fresh air was like taking a sleeping pill, but with no side effects. I am not sure if this generation can get their children off of the couch, and away from their electronic toys, and into the fresh air like I was yesterday.

A Catholic Church in a northern Berkshire town has been closed for 782 days, but the parishioners have been holding a vigil both day and night in the Church ever since it was closed. They made all kinds of appeals to the Vatican to reopen the Church. They finally got news yesterday that the Church is on the path to being reopened. Our local newspaper sort of jumped the gun, and said that the Church was going to open for sure, but it is still has to get an okay from the Bishop of our Diocese.

I see where a Pennsylvania teacher's blog got her fired from her job as a high school teacher. She said that her students were "out of control, whiners, rude, use foul language, etc., who want to negotiate grades instead of earning them." Welcome to the world of anyone who thinks teaching is an easy job with great benefits. Linda and I have had students and classes which are just like what this teacher has described. Your job as a teacher is to try and change the above mentioned attitudes which is not very easy. Sometimes even the honors' students want a good grade without putting in the time and effort.
Here we are again when a person asks Linda and me if we miss teaching. A day on the ice with me not catching a single fish is less stressful than returning to the classroom. Do you think that Linda wants to give up her 4 or 5 hour session of Mah Jongg on Tuesday's, her knitting group on Wednesday nights, etc. to return to the classroom?

Politics -- Our Republican Senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, said that he was abused by a step father.

Michael Vick decided not to go on the Oprah Winfrey show. He and his agent probably figured out that he could get himself in a whole bunch of trouble going back when he was arrested for the dog fighting affair, and the two years which he spent in Federal Prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

After I arrived home from my ice fishing adventure, I took and shower and headed off to the Italian American Club to see if they needed help for another pasta fund raiser. The guy running this fund raiser, the head chef at Cranwell Resort & Spa, said that he didn't need my help. I came home and had a Chicken Novena since Linda was at Panera Bread with her knitting group.

Yes, I am up early once again because I fell asleep to early. I will make my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and see if I can grab a couple hours of sleep before I leave for ice fishing.

Have a great Thursday.
You know that Linda and I will be having a great day for sure.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad