Coach

Wow, that is just aweful. My prayers go out to the families that lost loved ones in this tragic event.

I can help you with that, if you want. I find making strong-boxes therapeudic.

Wow, that's a really nice bear. Congrats, and well done!

Thank you Amanda. I can tell that you, too have had to try and make sense of this...

Thank you all, for your kind words and prayers. At times I try not to disclose too much, but I feel there might be some people out there with doubts about life, death and what happens later. As my wife was comforting her mother in the wake of what happened, the room was filled with police and a neighbor who was renting the house adjecent to their home. It was close to midnight, as the detective from Winslow sat with my wife, my mother-in-law who had just seen the event, and several sherriff's deputies. They were seated around a small table talking about the events. Just then, a small bird flew down from somewhere in the room, and landed next to my mother-in-law, Steve's wife...It's the middle of the night, and this bird somehow, appears to all of them, lands right next to the woman who had just lost her soulmate, and just sits there.... Everyone around the table just looks at eachother, blankly... My wife cupped her hands next to the bird and it just hopped in, not afraid. She carried it outside and had it perch next to the front porch where Steve had spent so many hours. It never tried to fly. We all can draw our own conclusions about this "occurance" but I for one, believe it was a very clear message from God. That our souls live beyond our physical bodies, and whether this tiny bird was "Steve" or another angel, those we love don't just dissapear, they join the Kingdom of God.

I plan to spend at least one day up there with the family.

Those are nice! I agree, it's a really fun game to play while camping or having a BBQ.

That really sucks. I'm used to the days when a man can park his truck and go fishing without worrying about whether some scum will break in, or steal his camp...Times are changing, and not for the better. I'm very sorry for your loss, and I hope whoever did this will one day get caught in the act and receive the beat-down they deserve.

Nice bass. Looks like there is a lot less silt and mud where you were.

Are you sure it wasn't ASU? Let's check closely...nope ASU is watching the remaining games, as usual. Gotta hand it to 'em. They're a rowdy bunch - always ordering wings and piitchers of beer, rooting against all the teams that took them from the dugout to the sports bar next to Chili's.

Nice! Clean looking rig! Ya gotta love Jeeps.

Nice post bonecollector. It's always important to take some time to remember what it is we are celebrating. Not just a "party weekend", we all need to think about those who have served our country so bravely over the years, and those still in harm's way.

Wish I knew. I had a perfect spot going with lots of deer activity. I put nothing but salt and minerals in, and the next thing you know, it became a cattle feed lot. Stinks like crazy now and haven't seen a good deer in there since the cows totally ruined it. I can't imagine how bad it would be if I had any corn or hay in there.

On another note, looking at the pictures from 1 year ago of the same spot we fished today... The water last year was crystal clear, and the banks were covered with grass and sand. Today, the water dark brown - so brown it stained our lines. You couldn't see the fish or the pools behind the rocks. And all the places in these pictures with grass were under about a foot of mud.

I sure wish I knew what happened. I've checked the card and the camera's internal memory, and NADA - Zilch on the entire day, and we took lots of pix. Kind of a bummer on one hand, but we'll always have the memories. I do wish I could get pix of the bruiser Josh reeled in. It was kind of funny, I had just reeled one in, having found what they were after - and I cast out and hand the pole to Josh, telling him just reel fast at first and see if you feel any bumps on the way in. When I looked back he thought he was hung up, but I could see the movement of the line. No exaggeration, as he got this fish closer to the bank I knew it was "one of them". As I tried to step into the river to help him land it, I sunk past my knees in the silt left over by the fire. He's reeling and pulling hard while I'm thinking, on 4lb line this thing is going to break off for sure. As luck would have it, we were able to wrestle the big old female into shore without breaking off. I sure wish I had a scale at the time (or the pictures), but the average fish we catch in there is under a pound - sometimes you get one in the 1-2 pound range, and occasionally the 3 pounder. In 20 years of fishing the Black, I've seen 3 fish come out that would go 4-6 pounds, legitimately. We all agreed, this one was at least as big if not bigger than a toad from last year. After looking at this picture, I think the one we caught today was easily two inches longer and very thick from head to tail. I'm 6' tall and have long fingers. The tail on this fish easily spanned my palm and fingers.

Nice article, Bill. I was a transplant to Pinetop/Lakeside from Oklahoma in the mid 80's. Met my wife at Blue Ridge High School. We've lived all over since then - Tucson, Chandler, Houston, TX, then Cave Creek, but managed to make it back up here about 10 years ago. We are always boring our kids with stories about how much has changed even since then.

LOL. Reminds me of a story my grandpa used to tell about hunting in Colorado. He hunted a ranch where the rancher would spray paint "COW" in bright red on his cattle. Said it was to keep the Texans from killing his cattle while hunting elk. True story - grandpa NEVER exaggerated.

You guys did better than we did, but we still had a blast. The area we fished was really murkey and there was a lot of silt and mud. Fishing started out really slow, but eventually we caught quite a few, and on really big one. Unfortunately, the pix were lost . Not sure what happened but this was one of the top 3 biggest smalleys I've ever seen caught on the black. From the sounds of it, the further down you go, the better.

Today was the last school day, so tomorrow we'll be heading to one of my favorite spots on the Black. I had plenty of worries after the fire, but from the sounds of it, the lower part of the river is doing well. Hopefully, some pix will follow.

I can't wait to hear of the reports on the lower areas. Fishing the lower Black has always been a rare treat. Anybody down there with some news?

last bump. This is a very cool shotgun.

Selling my Spas-12. This gun has been shot very little. I bought it a while back mostly for the "cool" factor, and as a collectible gun. The guy I bought it from was the first owner and shot it rarely, and since I bought it I've been pretty much holding it in the safe. On the few occasions I've taken it to the range, it has been a blast. Just an awesome, fun gun to own and shoot. This is one of the most collectible configurations of the Spas 12 with the folding stock and very rare factory folding hook. The hook is NOT a reproduction, but the original, and has the markings to prove it. I want to buy a Kimber .45, so it's time to let this one go. This gun is one of Hollywood's favorites and is featured in The Terminator, Jurassic Park and dozens of others, as well as all popular FPS video games. It's kind of a "cult classic" as guns go. There is probably not a single more intimidating looking gun anywhere - and it is highly functional. This gun was designed for the military and police and its unique auto/pump feature allows the gun to be used with "less-lethal" rounds (rubber shot/bird shot) on pump mode, and semi-auto with hot loads like 00-buckshot. Anyway, if you are looking, you probably already know all the cool stuff about the gun. This is the only picture I have, taken for insurance purposes, so there are other guns in the background. I can provide better pix if requested. I'll try to post more and better pictures tomorrow. The price is $1400, and it is VERY firm. If shipping is required, the buyer will have to pay whatever shipping/FFL charges are required to ship to their FFL.

Still for sale

Nice work, and isn't it a little sweeter knowing you just made some pitchfork junkies squirm a little?

You guys rock. I had a great birthday watching Josh at the mound and getting a nice "tripple" off of the pitcher the boys are scared to hit off. For all of the negatives of turning 41, (I sure hoped it would be going backward and I'd get 39 in reverse), it was a nice day. My wife still loves me, for whatever reason, I can still take my boys hunting and fishing, play some ball, and realize that God has given me an awesome gift in my family. For that, I couldn't ask for a better birthday present.