Weird How Stuff Happens...

Last weekend, we met this nice young couple camping. They were part of the family that was camping all around us and all nice folks. Anyway, we got to know this one couple pretty well. He, Rob, is a painter by trade and she, Cristal, works in a Quest call center, so the 'girls' had lots of call center chatting to do...

Rob, also does crown moulding and guess what, we still need to get our crown moulding done. So, after a few phone calls, they are coming down here this weekend for the Memorial Day weekend and doing the crown moulding for us. We are supplying all the tools, materials, food and lodging, and they are going to install and paint it. I sincerely hope this works out well for all concerned...

We have been picking up more camping hardware. Costco is having this big camping act going on and we got a new camp kitchen from them. Actually, we also got one from Sportsmans, but after seeing the much smaller Costco Coleman unit, we are going with it instead.

Also, after not being able to get the Cabela's tent air conditioner, I went on-line to check on it and found out enough about it to be thankful that we didn't get one. The reviews I read about it were horrible. But, in the process of checking that one out, I tracked down another one that works sorta the same way but is cheaper and a much better design. In the Cablea's one you had to put ice cubes which would only last about 1 1/2 hours. It only held 2 lbs of ice. This other one is a plastic top that snaps into a 25 quart Igloo Marine ice chest and has a 12v fan in it. So, you fill the ice chest with ice, or the deal is you freeze a couple of 2ltr soft drink bottles and add more ice and gel packs as you have, and it is suppose to keep things cool for 8 hrs or so. It also works great for any confined space like a car, truck, trailer, boat, etc. - and it cost $39.95. I will let you know how it works, but I sure like the concept and design.

After my second back shot last week, I am feeling great. I played in the weekly 8 ball tournament Wednesday and ended up winning it. That was the first time I have played pool for months without my back killing me and it showed in my play.

O, speaking of back shots, I got the bill for these shots. The previous ones, where I have to go to the surgery center/hospital and have the IVs and all were about $2,500 each. These last ones done in the doctor's office were $600 and were a better deal all the way around. The doctor was taking more responsibility for his work as I have fewer folks to blame, if something went wrong I guess, but all the 'prep' and hassle of the 'operation' setup is just now needed and is pure CYA overkill, IMHO...

We had the guys that we met at the Mother's Day Brunch, he was our server, come out and start working on the 'estate grounds' this week before it got nasty out. They are starting a landscaping and maintenance business and I think we were one of their first customers. Anyway, they replaced the sprinkler lines for us so far and did a great job. When we had the whole place professionally landscaped 3 years ago, they put in about 500' of laser cut drip lines covering all of the front and back hill that the house is built on. Since there was only about 30 plants on the hills, most of the drip lines were watering the ever growing weeks that would cover the hills and look awful. So, I had them rip all that out and put in a system that would only water each of the plants that were out there. That way, we can also keep the weeks defined and terminated at will.

The garden is starting to do well and the seeds that were planted are starting to grow.

Well, Rob and Cristal are going to be here tonight and I have a tone of stuff to get done today to be ready for their arrival. So, I must get my yoga done and get to it here in DaHo...

Back from CJ Strike Camping/Fishing Trip...

Well, the camping/fishing trip was good and bad... The park was very nice as I had written about before - except for not having any showers. There is this very large central bathroom building that I assumed had showers in it because it was so large, but nooooo. It had two regular sized bathrooms (3 stalls and 2 sinks) each. I found out that the central section, which was probably 10X20 feet in size was the physical plant room with all the water heaters, sprinkler controllers, etc.

When we got there all the good camping spaces were being watered by the automatic sprinklers. The place was sort of a lake when they finished so we couldn't setup camp until that all soaked in a lot. But, after a while, we got all the stuff out and setup the camp in a very nice spot with a tree and all. The bad news was that what I thought would be the best spot to fish from, and where we were able to camp at, was probably the worst fishing spot. After fishing for 2 full and one partial day, I ended up getting NO bites at all - Grumble, Grumble...

The place to fish is all the way at the other end of the park, by the output from the power plant turbines. There were a bunch of folks camped up there and were doing quite well. They use Crappy fish for bait as that is what is being output from the water turbines and what all the fish are waiting for to eat. So, you have to catch the crappy and then use them for the Sturgeon bait.

On the second day, after getting no fish action at all, I walked down to the other end of the campground and talked to a lot of folks down there. They were the serious fisherman that have gone there regularly for years and knew all about what to do and when.

I guess just before I had came by to 'visit' this one guy had just landed a 10 1/2 foot fish. Now, that is a serious fish. By the charts, its about 700 lbs in size... The group of 4 fisherman had caught 8 fish that day between 6 feet and the big one, but most in the 6-7 foot range - which is big fun. There were about 4 camps at the end of the campground there what were all into the 24 hr fishing thing with big spot lights all setup and all. It was quite a setup. If I had known what was going on, we could have camped quite close to the action and had a LOT more fishing fun than we did. But, it is definitely a lot nosier there by the turbines, so there are downsides to it - I guess - Grumble, Grumble...

We met a number of neighbor campers and had a general great time. We ended up about 50 yards from the bathroom and it gets real old getting there and back in the middle of the night, which I had to do 3-4 times each night - did I mention Grumble, Grumble? Well add a few more on for this one... I was having leg craps as well at night which made the getting dressed/bathroom trips sooo much more enjoyable...

The camp was really great. We are getting the new tent act down and it is really a nice one, as are the sleeping bags and other stuff we got last year for camping. I picked up a new ice chest that worked great for all the food. It has 3 slide in sections that you fill with water and freeze which partitions the size and really did a great job of keeping everything cold and well maintained. It took me over an hour to select the new ice chest. I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and they had sooo many to choose from. Each one of them had different features that were appealing, but none of them had enough to make it stand out. So, I went back and forth having three different ones in the cart at some time in the process - and the one I ultimately selected in it twice...

Another one, called an ATC for ALL Terrain Chest, had this wheel arrangement that snapped onto the unit and flipped around to the center or end of the chest, with blow up tires and all. It said it wasn't for highway use but it looked like it could be towed behind a little 4X4. I almost got it, as it was super to get around, but I am glad I got the one I did as the water filled dividers worked out great. We just stuck it on the little trailer hitch attached platform we have so it wasn't much of a hassle to deal with it.

Speaking of food, I must say we had great food. Pam did a wonderful job of cooking and preparation. I did most of the eating and cleanup. We had two great breakfasts, which would usually last me most of the day and a fabulous dinner consisting of Angus Rib Eye steak, great double baked Ho taters and garlic asparagus and garlic bread. I had mine in a skillet and it was one of best meals I can remember.

We packed up camp yesterday late morning/early afternoon and took a side trip home to Boise. I had seen that Cabelas was having this "Truck Load Parking Lot Giant Sale" at their Boise store so, since we were pretty close we decided to go there on the way home. They had this one item that I was really interested in. It was a tent air conditioner. The ad said that it would keep a tent 30 deg cooler for 30 hours on a set of 6 or 8 D cell batteries. That is my kind of 'roughing it'... So we drove there and they were sold out - Grumble, Grumble... And, there was no big truck in the parking lot or anything... I bitched about it to them and they said that some of the 'Bigger' stores were actually having a truck in the parking lot for show, but they didn't. Well, the ad sure had one... I was underwhelmed to say the least.

I also stopped by the Harbor Freight store while there. Its a tool store that has zillions of things and is a real trip to just walk around in. You find all sorts of stuff you have to have that you never knew existed before. Pam was not feeling well so I have to hurry up, which takes all the fun out of it, but I did get a couple of items I have needed for the needle making business.

Speaking of the needle making business, we have yet to get a real online order from it so all my work to keep it low key until after the trip worked perfectly. I hope my new task of now generating lots of online orders will work as well...

Well, my hands are really sore and this typing is getting painful. I have all sorts of minor nicks and pricks on them from camping and working with fishing stuff and those Crappy fish with their little needle sharp fins. So, I am done with this post. We had a great time camping and a horrible time fishing, but now we know what is going on and what we did wrong. So next time we will catch one of those 10 footers here in DaHo...

Mothers Day and Beyond...

I took Pam to this new restaurant here in Twin Falls for a Mother's Day Brunch. It is right on the Snake River Canyon rim, overlooking the golf course and bridge in the background. It is one of the most amazing views I have seen. The place, Canyon Crest, is a brand new restaurant and convention center. It is head and shoulders above any other place I have seen in Idaho. We had a great brunch and a great waiter. He also has a landscaping and grounds maintenance business and is going to start doing some work for us here on the estate...

Early tomorrow, Pam and I are going camping for a few days, so if we don't answer, that is the reason. It is called Scout Park at the CJ Strike Reservoir. It's about 1/2 of the way to Boise from here. There is this big dam that has spillway on one side and then about 200 yards down, is the big power plant. In the middle is this park. The water comes out of both sides and all around the park. It is all grass with big trees and nice camp spots and a large, real, community bathroom with showers, flushing toilets and all that stuff. Not like the dirt holes we have camped at before. You can fish for sturgeon right off of the park. So, hopefully we can catch a big one or three. I stopped by there last year when I was coming back from visiting my doctors in Boise and its really nice.

The website is up and running. You can check it out at www.DaHoProducts.com. Now I have to figure out how to get it listed on all the search engines so other folks will know about it also. I need to add some educational materials to show how to use the needles and probably some related additional products to make it all work: glues and other little bits made by other folks.

I didn't want to get it too fired up yet as we were going on this trip and I am still waiting for delivery of my new packaging materials for the needles. I didn't want a bunch of orders before I had the new packaging, and so far I have been very successful in that endeavor...

I got another back shot Monday and it all seems good - so far. We shall see what all the camping fun does to it. Getting all the stuff down from the storage shelves and getting it all packed in the Jeep was quite an effort today.

We lost about half of the newly planted vegetable plants. Right after we planted them, it froze and did them in. So, we have to replace them with new ones and hope that the freezing is finally over.

Well, its late and I need to sleep, so that is about it from DaHo for now...

Finally - My First Fish for the Year...

I went fishing today at Auger Falls. Its real close to home, but you need a boat to get there. My new local friend, Dennis, has a old, little flat bottomed boat with at 75HP Evenrude Jet outboard on it. Anyway, he hooked up with two fish and landed one.

I hooked and landed one, my first fish of the year, on my old Penn/Ugly Stik spinning rig. It was bigger than 6 feet and put up quite a fight. I had my gimble belt on and was standing in the boat most of the time during the fight, and most of the time the 12’ Ugly Stik rod tip was almost in the water. I really didn’t think they would bend that much – almost in half…

It took about 20 minutes, or so, to land it. We saw a number of large fish jump and roll during the day. It was real windy which usually slows fishing down, but I guess they are hungry from a long cold winter. I didn’t get any pics as I left my camera in my jacket pocket, in the Jeep, which I took off to put on my life vest. He picked me up at the local Scotts Access I have mentioned before. That minimizes my drive distance and boat ride time by a significant factor.

That was my first fish of the year and a real rush – yet again - Love It…

I did a lot of rock/steep bank climbing today and woke up with both feet/ankles/calves spasming. I was sleeping on my side, and I guess I had my calves crossed. Anyway, there is nothing like waking up to muscle spasms – especially mult-spasms in both legs…

I had another back shot last Monday and that is going fantastic. This one was done in my pain doctor’s office, instead of a hospital/surgery center. A much better and easier, and probably much cheaper, experience all the way around. I was in and out of there in 45 minutes. He used all the same electronic equipment to ensure proper placement and all. A great experience, for a back shot…

The spliced line worked great on the Penn spinning reel. On my last outing, I got it caught at DaHole an had to end up cutting off about 200-300’ of line. If it had been any other line, I would have had to replace the spool, but I just spliced a new top section of the spool, with my splicing needles and it was back to a full spool again. A splice is 100% strength and takes about 3-5 minutes to do and is real easy. You can also make 100% strength loops in the end of the line in a couple of minutes. I haven't hooked up a big fish on the new super-size Fin-Nor Offshore spinning reel yet, but sure do like the way it feels and works.

Well, my legs are calming down and I am tired… Tomorrow, I hope to finish the DaHo Products business web site and store. I also have to do my first mow job of the year. The grass is starting to grow like crazy again.It was a good Day in DaHo.

The Website is Almost Up...

The past week or so has been very educational. I have been creating the web presence for DaHo Products. It should be published in a day or two. I have also almost got the web store up and running.

The technical part is the easy part. Its all the design, writing and entering all the information that goes on the web pages that is the hard part. But, rev 0.0.1 is about there...

I have all the orders done from my initial dealers. So, now it up to them, or the web presence to bring in more orders. Once I get the store up, I am planning on doing a large dealer acquisition program in my spare time. I just really don't know what the volume of customers is going to be at this point...

Pam and I also almost have the garden up and growing. Last weekend, we picked up a bunch of plants and got them planted, after I re-installed all the sprinkler lines and all the 'fun' stuff. Then, tonight, Pam did a bunch of seed planting. So, we should have good garden bounty in a while.

I would have been out there also, but got another back shot today. This was at my sorta new pain doctor's office and was a lot less formal that the other ones I had last year. Instead of having to go to a hospital or 'surgery center', this was done in his office. He has all the necessary equipment there and it was a lot simpler all the way around. We shall have to see how the results end up, but it sure seemed to be the same thing as before with a LOT less hassle.

It has turned warm, er very warm, here in DaHo. The grass is growing and its about time to get the old lawn tractor fired up and hacking at it.

I picked up another 500GB disk for the Home Server. I finally figured out how to 'merge' the recorded TV folders on the three local recording Media Center machines with the Home Server. The end result is going to be much better all the way around, but it requires a number of bits of software to get it all together the way I want it all.

My pool has really sucked as my back has been killing me when I play. Hopefully, the shot today will resolve most of that problem. The big local annual tournament was last weekend here in Twin Falls. It draws players from all over the country. I went down and watched a couple of times - Pretty amazing stuff. The interesting thing is that I didn't see one thing happen that I haven't done a hundred times in the past. I was on top of all the logic being used and all the details. The only difference between me and the best players there is just consistency. They don't make any mistakes. They always have the cue balls in the right place on the table and always make the shots - something that I have never been able to do consistently. I have almost been there a couple of times, but just never made the commitment to dedicate myself to making it happen. I always had some other aspect of my life that needed to happen first...

They just opened a grand new convention center and restaurant complex on the Canyon Rim. It is suppose to be quite a place. For their first big event, they are having a Mother's Day Brunch and we are going to check it out.

I haven't had time to do much fishing. I have only been once in three months for an afternoon. I got a bunch of bites, but the bait was old and I didn't get any hookups. I am going out with a friend in his boat this Thursday and should have some good news to report. I am going to hopefully break in my new spinning rig that I spend the winter building. But, the weather is right and fishing is starting. Its just pretty crazy to drive where I use to always go with the gas prices as they are these days. I am planning on going to the local place a lot more this year. It doesn't have quite as big of fish there, so far, but is a lot easier and cheaper to get to.

This guy, who was one of the electricians that built DaHouse. He said his father and friend went down by Hagerman a couple of weeks ago and caught a 9 1/2 footer. He said it took them all day to bring it in, taking turns when one of them got tired. That is a serious fish - about 500# or so...

Well, I am feeling sleepy again, so I am off to bed again. I just wanted to get an entry posted here as its been a while and I have been meaning to get it done. But, this web design and building stuff has consumed me. I will post a link to the web site here in a day or three. Until then, I hope everybody is well and happy with their lives...