Hey all;
I have been offline for awhile. It happened like this. I went to visit the old man. Three days after I got there he got called up by the Red Cross (for which he has been a long time volunteer) to man a shelter in North Dakota to deal with flood victims. He got 36 hours notice. This seems like BS as the shelters have been in place for a couple of months, and you would think think they could give greater lead time for staff given that there was no urgency, just a continual need for replacements.

Anyway, rant over, he took off and I decided to stay at his place and fish (yes I would have gone with, but the Red Cross won't take folks who haven't completed their training). Anyway, long story short, he was planning on doing his rotation in ND and then renting a car and touring the Pacific North West. Then he got the flu. He called me on a Saturday morning, an hour before I was to leave, and asked me to pick him up at the airport that night. He was a mess. I drove him home, and praise God I stocked up on groceries, including his medicinal Evan Williams the next day because 24 hours later I was just as sick. We spent the next three weeks setting land speed records for the head and doing our best to cough up a lung. What was supposed to be a two week trip turned into the better part of 5 weeks. When he and I are too sick to fish, it is serious.

However, all things pass. Last week we got out a couple of times and I have returned home. We are both relatively healthy. It just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished. I appreciate the concerns expressed by the board. Its just that internet access at his place is difficult and I was too damn sick to follow the board anyway. I thank those of you who expressed concern and regret that I couldn't chime in on the whole zombie like resurrection of Romney. More to follow on that topic.

FQ13
PS I delayed my return home for one day due to the start of stone crab season. The best restaurantin Everglades City, (read the Florida equivalent of a lobster pound), didn't get their crabs in till today, and damned if I was leaving till I'd had some. These things are the food of the gods. Anyway, I showed up at 11 am and was told that it would be an hour before the claws got there. The owner went to school with my dad and when I asked if I could cast to the baby tarpon rolling off his dock while I waited he said: "Sure, make yourself at home" and he even threw in a free beer. I caught two small tarpon about three feet long on a light spinning rod and got several jumps out of each before they threw the hook. (Note to Yankees: a tarpon throwing the hook after a respectable fight is a good thing, as its all catch and release and there is no point in fighting the fish to exhaustion). Anyway, the crabs arrived, dad and I ate a pound each, and it was a great end to a somewhat ill fated trip. Flu aside I have no complaints.