Cisco Carp

I haven't made a post for a while.  I have been waiting for the tourists to come and the wind to stop.  Neither has happened yet but think it will happen this weekend.  The ones that are really anxious for the people are the Cisco Carp.  All their friends have arrived for the holiday and they need food and toes.

No restrooms for these guys.

It is amazing how boaters are creatures of habit.  During May and the first part of June we have some beautiful days at the Marina.  The water temperature is almost 60F and with the exceptions of weekends (which suck) but the parking lot is always empty.  A few more seasonal cruisers and sailboats have been launched but for the most part, boater have not shown up yet.  Maybe it is because there is so much green goose shit (sorry, no other way to describe it.  Anyway, I caught the long legged culprits yesterday strolling along the vacant Marina.

Carp

Well. it obviously the first summer weekend at Bear Lake because there are huge snowflakes falling from the sky.  No boat rentals today.  On a happier side,when it warmed up yesterday afternoon by old buddies the carp made their appearance.  I hadn't seen them since last fall but when I picked up a handful of fish feed and started dropping in the lake here they came.  Shadows from under the docks, yellow lips slurping the tasty morsels down after not eating for five months.  They are so glad that they hung out at Cisco's Landiing for the winter.  Soon, manna will be falling from the skies.

Thieves

I hate thieves.  They slink around, usually under the cover of darkness, taking things away from people who have worked hard to acquire them.  I have lost stuff like three outboard motors ripped off my boats inside the Parks storage area, fuel tanks full of gas taken off my pontoon boat, who knows how much shoplifted out of the store, but this weekend takes the cake.

I had spent a couple of days in Midway watching grandson activities so on Sunday morning I went down to check on things.  The first thing I noticed was my fishing boat was not in its slip.  I finally found it tied up in another slip a few rows away.  According to Mike, it was just drifting around on Saturday, ended up near the slip so he tied it up.  I took care of that and  then noticed that a 20'x10' Connect-a-Dock that I had tied up since last fall was missing.  Another search of the Marina turned up nothing.  I talked to Curtis, who is the "eyes" of the docks and he said that he had seen a fishing boat towing something toward shore early in the morning the day before.  He said they took it to shore in Daisy Bay.  Great, I thought, good guys try to get it off the lake where it could be recovered.  I couldn't understand how the dock had come loose however, let alone drift out of the Marina through all the docks, and out the entrance without someone seeing it.  I went back out in the boat with a tow rope to retrieve it.  I found it about where Curtis said he saw it towed but to my astonishment, it was perfectly positioned perpendicular to shore with pipes beaten in all four corners to hold it in place.

That angry feeling that I usually avoid, welled up inside me as I drove back to the Marina to get my truck and tools to free my property.  After partial disassembly and digging to get the pipes out it was free.  Back to the boat I went and towed it back to the Marina.  By the way it was a real effort to get it back trough the docks to its original tie up.  I reported it but I know it would be almost impossible to prove anything.  "We just found it washed up on our beach so we decided to use it" would be the thieves response.  They will be contacted just so they know, I know.  What a way to start the summer season!     

Paddleboards

It has always been interesting to me how many different ways we find to have fun on the water.  A few years ago when I was in Hawaii I saw people standing on boards paddling down a slow river.  Boring, I thought.  Then at a number of places in the Caribbean and Mexico I have seen tourists paddling around on the calm ocean bays.

There must be something to it I thought but why weren't popular in the US.  Then they started showing up at Lake Powell so I bought an inflatable paddle board from Hyperlite.  It didn't rent too much but my family had a blast on it.  Carter, my seven year old grandson, loved it and made his Mom rent one when they went to Starvation Reservoir.   This spring after coming back from Cabo, MX, Lance Bourne showed up on one in the Marina.  After talking to him and doing a little research I found out that they are the "rage" for great exercise, eco friendly and fun.  What is really great is they don't use $5 gal gas.  Cisco's Landing now has six rigid boards for rent/sale.  I can make you a fair price on them.  What a great way to keep kids entertained at the lake without firing up the boat.  When I open up in May come down and check them out or call me..

Insomnia

My family seems to think that I have Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Since it wasn't named when I was a kid we didn't worry about it.  This time of year, when things for me to do other than sit around are limited.  I always have an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I should be doing something.  Where am I going with this?  I usually go to bed around 9.00 watch the Daily Show and drift off.  Now, I don't drift off, I just lay awake for hours.  I am not worrying about anything, I just can't go to sleep.  I have read books, which sometime help but not now.  Doreen has suggested that I listen to soothing music at bedtime, lower the lights and take some of her hokey medicine.

Most of my music is not soothing so I downloaded Bolero which is relaxing but it causes me to think of Bo Derek.  The other night I was looking for "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and oldtime favorite.  There was Johnny Cash and a bunch of others but they just didn't hit me right so I downloaded the "Outlaws" which I had never heard of but looked like a bunch of long haired freaks from the 70"s (my people).  I didn't know what to think the first time I heard it but then it attached to my brain and has been there since.  It is a combination of cowboy, the Venture's Fender guitars of the 60's and a rock band combined.  I still don't sleep at night.

Tracks

We had a huge wind event here yesterday.  It howled all day, shut the canyon down and made life miserable for everyone.  Today the sun came out, the wind quit and the landscape was untouched.  I like these kind of days because I can go out and see what kind of animals are roaming about.  As I took Maggie for a run through Shundahai this afternoon I looked at the untouched snow.  There were few tracks, nothing had been moving.  The first set of track that I saw were familiar.  The wild turkeys were on the move.

I expected to see some deer or moose tracks but there were none to be seen.. I did see some tracks that indicate that spring is on the way.  Apparently a pine squirrel had come out of hibernation and made a foray to see what was around to eat.  Nothing, so it went back to the nest.

You know animals are sometimes hard to see but they leave their ttraces everywhere.  Come on spring.