The Fishing bug bites deep

Ok not as big as this particular one.....but only slightly smaller :)....

I had been promising to take my step son fishing for a while once the school summer holidays were here, and eventually after looking at the price of fishing tackle because we aren't exactly rolling in cash, we decided to take the plunge, we were pleasantly surprised by the cost, we managed to get two rods and two reels along with hooks and split shot weights and bait for under £40, admittedly the fishing gear isn't designer, but the fish don't care or in fact know that you're using a £15 rod and reel, and they work perfectly well, besides no point in splashing out top dollar only to find out they don't enjoy it....

Anyway I setup the rods packed up the bait and we set off to our local river, it took us a while to find a good spot, but fortunately it's within walking distance, and once we got there, I put a worm on his hook and showed
him how to cast it into the river (in fact I had to cast EVERY time for him) no sooner had I dipped my fingers into the bait box to put a worm on my hook than he was reeling in his first fish, literally under 2 minutes of fishing produced his first ever fish, it was well undersized, and unfortunately it had swallowed the hook too deeply to remove it without killing the fish, so I put it out of it's misery, and explained it would have been thrown back in usually, something he wasn't impressed considering it was his first fish !!!

I tried to get him to worm his next hook but that too was met with "no thanks, I'll just watch you again", anyway overall we were out for just over an hour, and we brought back 2 decent sized brown trout and a tiddler....he is hooked and loved it....and to be honest I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy it

We hatched a little plan on the way back with me telling him to say to his Mum that he hated fishing and was never going again, they fell for it hook line and sinker (pun intended) and gasped with amazement when they saw the haul (ok it was 3 fish, but 3 more than they expected us to catch !!) , he was particularly chuffed that he caught the biggest fish and is now completely convinced he is a far better fisherman than me.... I'll let him bask in his glory for as long as he wants, he is only 8 after all....

And yesterday we all went to Telpyn point minus the Xbox360 recluse and took in some sunshine and surf, and I taught him to body board, like I had my step daughter a few weeks back but he wasn't interested at the time and didn't want to go in the water much, well not past his shins anyway..... but this time it was completely different.... the look on his face when he caught his first big wave was just priceless !!! :)

It's the little things that matter..... :)

it did make me sad though for some reason I ended up missing my daughters awfully that day, I guess it was
because I was having fun, or maybe it triggered a memory, I dunno it hits you at the weirdest times :(

Miraculously !!

My ears are fixed !!! and what a relief that is, last night after getting home they just stopped hurting as if a switch had been turned off, my step daughters ear has stopped hurting as well so the ear drops have worked for both of us :)

I'm still going to carry on with them for five or so days, I have no intention of it coming back....

On a slightly different note, I have tasked my bezzie mate Chris up in North Wales to source a pair of cheap rods and reels, he is insisting on delivering them by hand, so it looks like we will be going fishing this summer, he has been dying to try out the rivers down this end and it's a case of any excuse it seems.

The last time I fished the rivers of this area I was about 9 or 10 years old, I remember the disgust my mother showed when I brought back trout and eels and then proceeded to cook and eat them, they were just above legal size but big enough for one, I really used to enjoy fishing, and we have quite a few medium sized rivers very close by to us and my youngest step son
has always wanted to go fishing but never had the opportunity....

But in the mean time I think my task this weekend is to put freeview into my step daughters bedroom, I have bought the longest drill bit I could from B&Q I hope it reaches through from her bedroom into the loft where the distribution amplifier is .....or I'm stuffed :(

The weather seems to be improving and it's nice to have a bit of summer in between the downpours we have been having, the only other notable thing was a mouse caught in the dog food bin, it was jumping around trying to get out when Roxy needed to be fed, I was all for dispatching it to mouse Valhalla, but caved in when my nearest and dearest said "noooooooooo SAVE IT.....pointing to the youngest child and wagging her head from side to side"....

So I attempted to retrieve the mouse from the dried dog food bin, needless to say the second I managed to grab the little bast@rd it sank its yellow fangs into my little finger and promptly jumped out of my hand and disappeared back into the shed, meanwhile with my finger dripping blood I cursed my way to the tap to wash it off and see to the rodent damage, it was only a little bite but by God it stung!!! And bled way too much for such a little bite. I suppose I should get a tetanus jab but so far my finger has remained pink and my jaw hasn't locked up yet :)

Needless to say I explained to my dear caring mouse loving wife, that in future I would deal with the mouse problem in my own and mostly terminal way, anyway last night another mouse had found it's way into the dog food bin, how it got in there is a mystery, they must be scaling the walls and abseiling down mission impossible style into the bin !!!

There aren't many ways you can deal with a wild mouse jumping around the dog food bin you could squash it I suppose, but I didn't relish Roxy eating mouse entrails, so the executive decision was made, the air rifle was loaded and said mouse was dispatched at point blank, it didn't even have time to bleed over the biscuits, the pellet however went through the mouse and the biscuits and the bottom of the steel bin.....oops.....probably overkill, and if you scaled it up it's probably like shooting an elephant with a 32lb Howitzer field gun point blank, but nobody got bitten and the mouse didn't feel a thing........THEY WON'T WIN THIS WAR....

I will go on to the end; I will fight them in the yard,
I will fight them on the grass and decking,
I will fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, I will
defend our outhouse, whatever the cost may be,
I will fight on the nettle patch,
I will fight in the static horse box,
I will fight in the fields and on the road outside,
I will fight in the hills;
I will never surrender........

Fade to "Battle of Britain" music....... ;¬)

Ears (the update)

Well I went to the doctors, bizarre experience that it was, I've registered with a doctor, I haven't been to one in years not since well before the divorce, it turns out the doctor I have been assigned is the very same
doctor I had before I went into the Army in 1979, he is now the senior partner and the years haven't been kind to him, although when he was my GP he was fresh out of medical school, the bizarre experience though was when I handed in my registration form, the receptionist said "your Ann's brother aren't you ?" she remembered me and it's only when she saw my name it confirmed it to her...... the genes are strong, there's no mistaking a Brabrook it seems

Anyway the upshot is I have otitis externa which basically means my ears are cracking up and oozing plasma/pus, so much so that yesterday morning when I woke up, I had the pillow stuck to my right ear, which was very bizarre and I hit the roof when I peeled it off my face, because it disturbed my ear,
whatever it is it bloody hurts, turns out now that one of the kids has come down with it as well, I do feel sympathy for her, because it's not pleasant at all, luckily though only one of her ears is affected, both of mine are, it's not often I have to take a day off to get better, that's born out by the fact I haven't seen a doctor in years, anyway I have the opportunity now to have a full medical, so I will take advantage of it I think. My step daughter wants to go "coasteering" but unless her ear clears up, I don't think sea water will do her any good at all, I hope it does clear up, because she will enjoy it... I did :)

Anyway nothing much else to report except the kids cleaned out the static horsebox and painted it inside yesterday, they intend to use is as a den of some description, there is even talk of putting a TV and DVD player in there.....

GOD whatever happened to roughing it ? Next thing she will want her mothers GHD ceramic straightner's in there and a bathroom suite. ahh well it keeps them occupied these long summer holidays I suppose :)