I learned to handle a motorcycle on 202. I was once walking down 202 with a Winchester pump, and a cop stopped and asked me to please break it down because an old lady was worried. No biggie -- we were through for the day, but I remember being surprised by how polite he was. I don't think kids today would get the same break.

They built a college along there after I left, so I guess it's busy now and not as much fun. I used to fish that stream all the time.

Here is my Monday morning greeting! Was out shoveling the deck off at 4:00am

And no two snowflakes are alike.

We have had a miserable spring, thankfully no snow. Cold and rainy. Today is the first day in the 70's not counting that freakish week in February. But I'm heading to a warmer climate. Off the Vegas on Wednesday and I can't wait! Sunshine, poker, and way too much too eat and drink sounds very appealing to me right now

What is all that white stuff, and what is this 4:00am of which you speak? This whole thing is making me a little queasy.

its snowing a little now in kalispell. no big deal as it will melt off here soon as it stops.

fish is having a breakdown because of all the snow this year. maybe a straight jacket is coming his way. perhaps someone needs to send him a care package or a picture of a warm place without snow.

Lol, Snow is already melting off today. It is supposed to be almost 80 by Thursday as well and will likely be all dried up.

Will be in a boat fishing over Easter weekend. It is a 4 day long Holiday weekend for us. Yeah!!!!

Made me a little queasy when the thought of shoveling it hit me at 3:00am this morning!

fish they are catching tons of good sized rainbows over at hauser and holter. they are starting the spawn and the boaters are wacking them.

over by me all the lakes except Flathead are still frozen over.

I haven't fished those lakes yet. I have heard they can be very good.

Fish, 80 here in RI today. Low 60s the rest of the week. But after months of cold, this is wonderful.

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Here's a bit more about Austin and it's intersection of human and nature. I was chilling in my living room when a green and yellow frog comes bounding out of the bedroom. I opened the door and waited for it to go outside, but ended up using a dustpan to encourage it. It was about the size of the palm of my hand yet it looked so damn fragile.

If you have an image of a frog being all bouncy and nimble, this wasn't it.

****

The story of that dead roach in the photo. That's an AA battery, if you didn't know. It was found on the floor of a place I lived in for about one month.

Every day when I came home from work, I would find about 10 dead roaches all over the floor. I had no idea how or why this was happening.

One night, I'm laying in bed and watching the fan spin. I see what I thought were flies around the light bulb, but these flies were a bit clumsy and their wings were making a very loud buzzing noise. I didn't think much of it since everything is bigger in Texas, lol.

One of the "flies" hits the spinning fan and hits the ground with a loud thud. That may or may not be the roach in the photo, but they all look the same to me... I'm not an entomologist.

Aaaand remove Austin from the bucket list.

No doubt John. Our bit of winter was all but gone by that evening. When I got home the driveway was all clear and the only snow left now is where it had piled up from falling off the trees and where I threw it off the deck.

60's as far out as I can see now with 80 expected tomorrow.

Bugs down south are a whole different sort of evil. I can remember being in Florida at a steakhouse and something almost knocked the bottle of A1 sauce over. Was a damn Palmetto bug (Flying cockroach, Blech). We picked out stuff up and moved to a different table. Waitress asked what was going on and we told her we were worried the bug was going to drag one of our steaks off. We get our fair share of nasty bugs and spiders but nothing like when you go where it is warm all the time.

One benefit of moving to the new digs is the dogs. **** hound and golden retriever. Cute as can be. Until they carry ticks to the door.

Don't get me started on the evil of those things.

Well, since I have time. Keeping bread out was a bad idea. they would eat through the plastic and I'd come home to a bag of crumbs.

The fridge would be filled with them as well. They didn't take to the cold very well, so got a bit of free extermination with the electricity bill.

This I've never seen, even in my most broke student days.

Texas has never interested me. Austin is good for a visit, though. Dallas is just not interesting. Houston less so. San Antonio? LOL.

I once drove from Jax, FL to L.A. Most of the way on the 10. I visited family in Shreveport. Got off the main highway in New Mexico and really enjoyed the incredible views and the desert. It was beautiful. AZ less so, but still interesting.

Texas? Took me more than a day to drive through that place. It was the most uninteresting, God-forsaken drive ever. And I've driven across Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa.

Desolate and dusty and not at all beautiful to look at. Ugly, even.

You can have Texas. Instead of building a wall, we should just give that damn state back to Mexico

Dom,

I drove that 10 route as well from New Orleans across Texas to get to Big Bend National Park, which is one of the most beautiful places I've seen, and, as Zeno might say, it was nearly completely uncontaminated by people, unlike almost all other national parks. And the Badlands National Park around the magic hour was a glorious experience. We had the place to ourselves it seemed.

I can forgive Texas most anything soley because of brisket.

Oh, I was talking about Miami Beach, FL, not Texas. I don't think we have palmetto bugs here, do we?

Eh, it is what it is. It's like saying Nevada is nothing but hot desert unless you go to Vegas and Burning Man. The live music scene is basically Elvis impersonators, right?

Arizona has those awesome mesas. I do agree that New Mexico has a more beautiful desert though.

Yeah, whole lotta nothing for a few hundred miles. But at least you can check "drive for 24 hours and see no life at all" off your bucket list.

I was all in favor of the wall until I found out it wasn't going to be built along the Red River.

I've driven across Texas quite a few times. And did work in the southern portion somewhere south of San Antonio. West Texas is a bit desolate, the panhandle flat and windy, but for the most part I've liked my stays and drives across this state. And there are gems of beauty somewhat unknown, John mentioned one, another is Guadalupe National Park which I have visited. And wonderful small towns dot the landscape, this one was great that I wondered through, that also had an excellent coffee place, roasted in house, and also was a surprise for the historical significance:

fredericksburgtx

And Texas BBQ is just the best. Whether from a small rural roadside stand or a brick structure that has a lighted sign.

I couldn't find a lounge pet thread, so

My new best friends
Hunter - less than a year old

Winston - **** hound

After I post pictures of how beautiful that river walk is, you want to build a wall.