Computer Hell!

Well, hopefully my computer problems are solved now. I had to resort to some geek help to solve the issues I had with this new computer. I'm not going to go into the specifics because no one understands what I'm talking about anyway, but after a long day of staying home yesterday and reinstalling my operating system it all seems to be working like its supposed to. It turned out to be a comedy of errors on my part and a faulty connector on the motherboard. It's funny how you can have a problem and in trying to resolve that problem you create more problems. I have always known that to be true and usually I'm very careful but I was at my wits end and I was trying everything. That just got me in deeper.

I have used forums before but it's been a long time and try as I might, I finally had to resort to using a forum for help. There were a couple of guys who finally pointed me in the right direction and after staying indoors all day yesterday when it was sunny outside, I finally got everything going again. Good old technical forums. You Gotta love it!

Fishing in the rain!

Yesterday Chris and I went up to Antelope Lake and did a little fishing from shore. As you can see, I was successful but unfortunately, Chris wasn't. This fish probably went around 2 lbs and it was the largest of the three I caught, but I didn't bring a scale so I'm just guessing at the weight. I got one crappie on a jig next to some rocks and the other two were bass. It rained on us on and off all the time we were there, but it wasn't really all that cold. It was nice to get out and I have to do that more often. I had forgotten that when the weather is bad, you don't have alot of competition. There was only one boat that we saw on the lake and very few bank fishermen. This fish, most likely a male, had a tail that told me he was fanning a nest. You can see it in the picture. I'm thinking crappie fillets for dinner!

Biking up the Bizz

Went for a bike ride today up Biz Johnson trail. I rode up to Goumaz and back. I had lunch above Devils Corral on a sunny spot above the Susan river. It looked like a good place to get a picture and it was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep lying there in the sun. The trail was in good shape and there was only one muddy spot. Roundtrip today was about 24 miles and I only ran into two people until I got down near Hobo camp. You Gotta love it!

I love computers!

One of the cool things about Windows Vista is that you can dictate and have it type for you. I have been playing around with this for a while and boring my friends and family with emails that I'm dictating. I finally got my new computer working the way it was supposed to after uninstalling Bit Defender.

It turned out that Bit Defender was causing all kind of trouble on my new computer. I was experiencing quite a few application crashes and other weird things and they all stopped after uninstalling that wayward program. Now things are working like they are supposed to. You Gotta love technology!

I just did this post totally hands free.

Fishin' at Shasta

Wow!! Nice week last week, not only for the weather, which was picture perfect, but for the fishing which was really good. Two of my old friends and I rented a houseboat and did a little fishing. The houseboat was the cheapest one we could find but it worked perfectly for us. You can rent some really plush houseboats at Shasta but for our needs this was the one. We never spent much time on it anyway except to sleep at night and get ready to go fishing in the mornings. The fish I'm holding weighed 2lbs 2oz. Dennis caught one the same size on the first day and Bob caught one that might have been bigger but we didn't weigh or take a picture of it since it was bleeding and we wanted to get it back in as soon as possible.


You can see how clear the water was although some areas were a little murkier. We found water temps to be running in the low to mid 60's. I caught quite a few on a spinnerbait, which I dearly love to catch them on. They hit those things really hard.

Our little bay where we had the boat staked out was sheltered and private even though there was very little wind the whole time we were there. Between all of us we caught 217 fish in 3½ days of fishing. Ya can't beat that!!

Blooming spring...

Had a nice bike ride today up the Bizz and down the Susanville Ranch Park trial system. Weather was nice, cool but not cold and great bike riding weather if you ask me. Yesterday I went fishing up at Antelope Lake and caught a couple of pretty nice bass. The biggest was around 2 lb.

The green of spring has started around here and this willow was starting to get it together. I'm leaving for a fishing trip down to Lake Shasta on Monday so I need to get packed tomorrow and buy some groceries. Ya gotta love the spring, I certainly do.

Saline Valley!

Summer? Looks like it, doesn't it? It was in the mid 90's when we got down there and the day after, when this picture was taken. We were using the best shade we had available, the blooming creosote bushes. I just love that place, but the best thing for me is the outdoor shower. There is something special about taking a shower with the sun shining on me. It was kind of windy there a couple of days and that made the shower a little chilly as the water was almost blowing sideways, but it was still good.


It rained while we were there and that was the first time I had been down there when it rained. I really liked the way the desert smelled after the showers. The desert plants and animals must have been happy about it too since that is such a rare occasion down there. This sunset picture could have been better if I would have had a wide angle or fisheye lense, but I didn't. Still it was pretty.


The wind was blowing pretty good a couple of times, especially one evening. We had a fire going but it was hard to stay warm. We would have gotten into the hot springs but it was full of people also trying to stay out of the wind and neither one of us wanted to join the crowd. I took this picture on a warmer night, the shorts tell the story. You didn't need the fire for warmth especially, just entertainment. Ah, the primal instinct to watch fire!


I took my UV light with me and we went out a couple of nights and looked for fluorescent minerals. We found some but then I spotted this little critter. In fact, we found many of them this way. I guess that's better than finding them in your shoe. The scorpions were quite numerous but we never found any too close to camp, and let me tell you, we checked! It was a perfect week in many ways, we did lots of hiking and bike riding and had a great time. I met lots of great people and with the exception of some asshole playing his music too loud one night, there were no bad times. You know, I just don't understand why some people think everyone wants to hear their music. Nobody wants to hear your music! Turn it down or wear headphones and shut the fuck up!