Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

It's cold people!  Everyone up here keeps saying that this is not the normal June temps for Idaho but I'm thinking we skip June next summer and concentrate on July and a week or so of August.  We're adjusting well to the way of life up here.  I have no idea of the day, date or time most of the time.  I can now drive the boat without feeling so nervous and anxious.  I think we've got the cabin stocked and organized well enough and the boys are quite the fishermen.  We still have no legal way to get the grey water tank pumped (the septic company who were going to accommodate us went belly up so that's in limbo right now for all the float homes) so we've been conserving our waste water and using biodegradable camp soap.  We let very little water actually go down the drain.  Don't think having a shower put in was a waste though.  I just line the entire bottom of the shower with buckets and catch as much h2o as I can and then empty the buckets on shore (using only camp soap of course).

Jude: Loves to "fish" which means he takes his fishing pole and smacks it in the water and scares all the real fish away.  Jon took time to rig his pole with a hook and bobber.  After about 3 minutes we decided a bobber would be plenty special.  He and Silas bathe in a large bucket and think it's awesome because with the two of them the water goes up to their necks.  Jude is confused about where he actually lives.  He keeps asking "Is this Maggie's lake cabin? Is this my lake cabin?"  He loves riding in the boat, fishing and having fires.  He's already burned 3 holes in his nice new speedo life jacket that I make him wear every minute of the day.

Silas: Is so ticked that he's not old enough to be in the boat when just Elias and Isaac go out.  He too loves fishing but gets his line tangled ALL the time.  I'm thinking of only allowing him to fish for 1 hr. a day until he can fix his own pole.  He still hasn't caught anything so we'll see how long his patience lasts.  He is really good at kayaking and feels like hot stuff when he's out on the water alone.  He attempted to learn to ski but the water is way too cold for him to be patient with his efforts.

Isaac:  Is a good fisherman. He's up to 4 crappie (horrible name for a fish even though it's pronounced croppy).  Jarom taught him how to clean and cook the fish so he pretty much eats everything he catches.  He is however going to have to be better about where he disposes  the leftover parts!  Frank brought down a little 8hp fishing boat that he and E have learned to drive and they put around the bay, throw out their anchor and fish.  I say "put" with some reservation.  I told the two boys to go out and practice driving in the bay but to stay within 100 yards of the house so I could help them if they needed it.  Isaac drove first.  He went straight out and started spinning doughnuts like he was on a jet ski or something.  I, of course, was calmly jumping up and down waving my arms to get him back in for a lesson on keeping the throttle at a very low setting.  The kid has no fear.  He's been extremely helpful with all things boat though so that has been nice.

Elias: Has an ongoing competition with Isaac.  They are keeping a fish count and whenever one brother is ahead you can't stop the other from fishing.  Elias has completed all the dirty work required for the fishing merit badge.  Last night he caught a good sized large mouth bass.  The boys were so excited to eat it so I went to build a fire.  As they were cleaning it Isaac all the sudden began jumping up and down with glee.  He ran over to me at the fire pit and said, "It was pregnant and the baby survived!".  I gave a quick lesson on how fish don't have live birth... duh.  It apparently had just eaten a little baby fish that survived the cleaning process.  The boys put the baby back in the lake.  It only swam for a few minutes then keeled over.  I guess it was all too much for the little one.  Elias was quite proud of his accomplishment. It was the biggest fish caught so far.  He's a lot more cautious than Isaac so maybe if the two of them stick together they'll even each other out.

I'm heading to Houston on Friday since Caleb can't make it down this weekend.  The boys will be spending time with their grandparents up here in Idaho.  I'm sure they'll be ready to get back in the action as soon as I'm back!