Disneyland Dreamin'

We had a fantastic visit to Disneyland this year! It was a little later and a lot hotter, but it was quality time none the less. We are home finally! Since I left to go to St Louis on the 10th of June, I have only spent about 5 days at home, and here it is the 19th of July. The rest of the time has been spent in either motels or on the Disney Wonder. I am happy to sleep in my own bed, but who is going to make it tomorrow?

One of my favorite rides steaming into Tomorrowland Station on a round trip tour of the "Magic Kingdom."

Aboard the Columbia. Disneyland's Sailing ship that does laps around the "Rivers of America" at Disneyland.

Lining up to blast up the ramp on California Screamin, the Awesome roller coaster at California Adventure

(right before I quickly took off the hat so that the coaster would not do it for me).

Poor guys... It must be 200 degrees in those latex suits. I am melting as I take the pic. I am standing at an ice cream vendor.

The Happiest Place on Earth...

That's right we went back to the "holy land"... OK not the holy land, but we went to Disneyland (and we don't worship Walt) with my brother and his family. We have had a great time!

Steve and Sam going into the park
California Screamin'
An opportunity to get drenched

Mickey's Fun Wheel

Hollywood Tower Hotel

Twilight Zone

Tower of Terror

Some More Catch and Release

We had a visitor when we got home. Patti called me at work and said that she stepped over a rattlesnake on our back porch as she was going into the house, and was wondering if I could come and dispatch him to another plain of existence. I on the other hand felt that I could catch him and put him where he could be of benefit. Somewhere that he can catch mice, crickets, and other bugs.

When I got home I moved a few things on our porch and found him coiled up behind our couch. Poor guy, looked scared... I got a 52 oz glass from the truck stop and coaxed him into it, shut the lid tight, and took him into the desert. Good for the snake, good for me, good for Patti and Corky.

As it turns out, he was a Pituophis catenifer or Bull Snake. He is non venomous relative of the Gopher Snake and harmless to people. He tries to act like a rattler by shaking his tail and striking (a behavior that nearly got him killed) to ward off predators. I was asking for sticks and buckets to get him, Patti kept bringing me shovels and hoes. I guess she is in favor of other plain of existence idea.

The Bowfin (AKA Mudfish)

Every year I go fishing here in Florida, I catch a Bowfin. These are considered trash fish and not worth the time it takes to remove the hook, for good reason they have teeth. I was telling my friends in New Mexico I was catching "Mudfish" and I would get a strange look from them as they asked, "what is a Mudfish?" I didn't know, and I never took it's picture, until now.

Bowfin are the lone survivors of an earlier primitive family of fish known mostly through fossils. In addition to gills, these fish have a modified air bladder, like the gar, that enables them to use surface air that it gulps in and to live in polluted or stagnant water unsuitable for most fish. The swim bladder is lined with blood vessels and can serve as a lung.

The bowfin is commonly used as laboratory test animal because of its status as a "living fossil." It is easy to maintain and has interesting behavioral and physiological temperaments.

They are fighters when caught on sporting tackle, but they are generally considered poor eating. Their eggs however are said to be good tasting. Food critics have given "Cajun caviar," a delicacy made from the eggs of bowfin, rave reviews.

The list of alternative names is lengthy, but the most common are "mudfish", "dogfish, " "grinnel", "grindel", "cotton fish", "swamp muskie," "lawyer," and "tchoupique".

Fishing at Lake Panasoffkee part 2

Okay, this time I was legal. We kept the fish we caught!

Wendell and I took the boat we had on the Gulf yesterday to Lake Pan. It is a nice sized party boat, a 30 footer with a kitchenette and a closet built for a toilet (bucket with a seat). We did pretty good. We caught a number of catfish, brim, and something Wendell called a mudfish. 21 fish in all. We used hotdogs and shiners for bait, but the most important thing was talking to the fish. Wendell said I needed to do it to catch the fish, I laughed, but when I humored him and tried it within a second (honestly) I had a bite. I was out talking to the fish after that.

We started out moving to a few fish bed around the lake, but Wendell noticed that they had been fished recently so we moved the boat into a creek that feeds into Lake Pan.

Fun fun fun!

Thanks again Wendell

Out on the Gulf

Yesterday we went out on the Gulf of Mexico on a pontoon boat with my cousin Wendell. We did some scallop diving about nine miles out. We caught a few fish... a puffer fish (which I understand is very poisonous), a small barracuda (full of teeth), a couple of small perch, and Danneel caught a speckled salt water trout (that she refused to touch). The trout was the largest fish of the day. It measured out at 14.75 inches making it 0.25 inches to short to keep. We also did some scallop diving! I was all about the diving... I found 15. It's kinda like Easter egg hunting under the sea. You have to be careful with them too, as they can clamp down pretty hard. During this we had a stingray encounter. The stingray scared a kid in out party pretty bad. He was screaming "get me out... HELP!!!" I stayed in the water looking for scallops though. He came over to me curious about what I was doing in his neck of the woods and we circled each other for awhile. We had a lot of fun and caught some UV rays to boot.

Thanks Wendell!

I'm scallop diving

What we were after

Smile

Danneel and her trout (she didn't want to touch it... Girls!!!)

What I was swimming with

Fishing at Lake Panasoffkee

Yesterday Patti Danneel and I went for a little ride, and decided to go to Lake Panasoffkee (Lake Pan to some of the locals). We wanted to get out during a break in the rain storms and see something. Lake Pan is close by so we "gassed" up the truck and went for a ride.

When we got to Lake Pan we went over to my cousin's house to get a look at their 8 foot tall tomato plants. I asked if they were doing some nuclear testing or something like that. Why can't mine grow like that?

Afterward we drove over to my Aunt Alice's house. She has a little cottage on the lake with its own dock. We visited with her for a while, then she came out with fishing poles. We spent a couple of hours catching brim, and a few shiners using bread for bait. They were small fish, but fun to catch. It's not like we were out there fishing for our supper, although there were a few edible ones. In total we caught about 20 fish in about an hour's time.


We then went to "Catfish Johnny's" for dinner. Catfish Johnny is a local musician who started a restaurant a few miles west of Interstate 75, Exit 321. The restaurant specializes in Southern-style dishes like catfish, alligator, frog legs, as well as shrimp and other seafood

http://www.catfishjohnny.com/.


We had a good time.


With a records breaking brim


Patti caught a few too

CATFISH JOHNNY'S

Had some snow crab legs, mmmmm