with this years la nina you will have plenty of time inside with all the rain coming.
dont tell why you would cut down an apple tree. shame.

sounds like you will get that house in shape though. good luck. i finally got most of mine there done this fall.

Very old apple tree, that although I trimmed it last year, just was not doing well (and had some stump rot) and it blocks light to the house. So I finally decided to cut it down. In Oregon you need all the light you can get.

Great day of fishing with nice weather and no wind, but no fish. No one else on the rivers were doing very well either. Only saw fish in one pool which turned their noses to my fly. Salmon are the toughest fish to get to bite anything. Hardest fishing in the world IMO. But worth it when you finally do hook into one and land it.

Went fishing down at the mouth of the Elk River. Only three of us, two fly fishing guys and one spinner guy. The spinner guy caught the only fish, about an 8 lb Chinook on the incoming tide. That is chance and how fishing goes. Fishing is very slow and this year looks like a down year for the rivers located close by. Good weather but slow to bad fishing.

A small yearling deer was killed right by my driveway last night. My neighbor, who has a small backhoe, took the carcass up behind his place - he has his own private dump up there - and got rid of it. I forget to cut the tail off - it is good fly tying material. Good to have a neighbor with equipment like this - I've already made use of it.

wait for the steel head they will hit your fly.

Rain and wind returning to the coast. Had to go up and patch leaks in my sister's roof and then check in the attic for possible damage etc. What a pain it is to crawl about near the edges etc. She will probably need a new roof this summer. Another job I don't want.

Need to stock up on whiskey and other goodies to get me through the holidays; families have a way doing that to you. Food and cookies and other goodies are nice to look forward to though.

start looking soon. the contractors are booked solid around the coast. wait too long and they wont get it done this summer. then you will have to have the roof doctor do it. they do a good job but expensive.

So I finished refinishing (removed old dark stain and put on a clear coat) all my wood kitchen cabinets and it really bighted up and added some luster to the kitchen. On to next major task which is to construct some built-in book shelves and TV/Stereo shelving along one wall. Will do this with Birch plywood, made in Russian. May add accents of hard wood on front.

A few boats on the rivers for the winter steelhead. Rivers are low for this time of year - not as much rain especially compared to last year. Will check on the take and decide if fishing is worth it. Crabbing season is very late this year in my area but the pots are stacked on the dock and it looks like they will be getting out soon.

Went on an afternoon hike down to a very secluded beach - hard steep climb down and up but it was worth it. Beautiful day, only partly cloudy, with puffy clouds that spit little misty showers and the rest of the sky blue and bright, and little wind. Absolutely stunning and picturesque - greens, blues, cascading waves, rocky cliffs and shore and the hilly inland as backdrop. I can't post pics - didn't take any - but it would make all you too jealous anyway.

commercial crabbing opens jan 15.

they recently stocked a bunch of big brood stock fish in garrison lake, go get them.

You know more about my area than I do Ray. I don't even want to how you do it as it will just scare me I think.

Just had my boat out on Garrison for a tune up run - getting all my boat gear and stuff ready and organized. Amazing how much stuff you need and/or are required to have even for a small boat. License is now good for two years. My boat is in great shape but the trailer will fall to pieces soon. Fixing stuff up never ends and more toys you have the more you need to take care of equipment.

Hello, sir. How come no children? Any regrets? Could you please kindly share some experience instead of talking about your stuff.

sorry zeno but me being so famous i have to have everyone i know followed 24/7.
so everywhere you go and things you do i get a complete rundown on.
when you look out in your backyard do you notice anything?

When I look in my backyard/forest/fenced garden area I usually just see all green trees, brush and grass, and sometimes deer. But it would be easy to hide a video camera in the foliage and spy on my movements. Do you post the videos on YouTube?

Had some really beautiful days and some nice breaks of wonderful weather which made walking on the beach a real pleasure with great surf watching as we had large waves crashing all along the coast. Now it is settling down and raining again in earnest. Rivers blown out so no steelhead fishing but it was slow anyway. Not a good year for sea run anything it appears.

Replacing the disc brakes on my Ford Escape. Front was easy. Back wheels, I have to "rent" a device to rotate the brake piston back. I got one at NAPA and it is essentially free if returned on time and you have 14 days! What a deal. Didn't want to have to make my own tool just to do this one job.

Need to buy this winter: Ox/Ac torch, welder (stick), dual-fuel generator, table saw, and a 12-inch glide miter saw that I can put on my large bench area on back wall of shop. That way I can cut long pieces of lumber with ease.

Any hints as to good quality stuff listed above? I won't buy cheap **** as that is really stupid when it comes to tools and machines.

buy used on the welders. lincon on the tombstone and miller or lincon on the wire feed. if doing light work you ca get by with a 110 wire feed. but in your shop have a 220 pluging for the welders or any other 220 thing you may get like a big table saw. i use 110 for all my stuff except the welders. and my air compressor.
break open your wallet my friend.

chop saw, rigid is good from home depot. or dewalt better. mikita beast. both cost too much. about 6oo for what you want.
ryobi is cheap and for just general building will get you by. about half price on those.

you also need a bench grinder with a wire wheel and a stone.
a good vise
a drill press
a sawzall
band saw preferably a 14 inch
a jig saw

Sound advice, thanks.

I already have a good vise, and sawzall (plus about every small power tool you need) and two bench dual grinders - one with wire and stone, and one bench grinder with two stones; one course and one fine. The latter one I purchased used from a really good secondhand tool store in Redneck Town # 2 nearby. Works very well. The other was a gift from my brother, also a used one but it works very well.

I have a band saw also - it's a bit old, a 12" craftsman. No drill press, so I'll probably upgrade and get a drill press and new band saw at some point.

When I rewired my shop last summer I had two 220 volt outputs installed in the panel. One a 20 amp, and one a 50 amp. So I'm set.

So yeah, I need to slap some money around but that's Ok; that's what it for.

Crabbing season still in limbo from my area south to the California border.

Revamped some of the drainage system from the roof of my house to runoff goes away from the foundation. Idiots that built the place more than 50 years ago placed it at the edge of a former log pond (it had filled in by then but it was still the low place on the property). The immediate area and upslope was logged about 100 years ago and logs yarded and placed in a small pond made for that purpose. My dad found some of the old equipment abandon in a swampy place just off the little creek that runs by the backyard, behind the house.

Smart people would have built the house further upslope, more near where the shop is now. But no. This just shows how most people have little foresight or plans or understanding, and, they ignore history. A lesson there. But only a few listen.

maybe 50 years ago they didnt care about the joker that was going to move in 50 years later.

Yep! The joke is on me. And I stepped right into it.

ive dumped my rain gauge twice this week. today it cleared though. my gutters were overflowing from a little stuff in them it rained so hard. some steelhead around.

Twitched my left leg muscles pruning the apple and pear tree and then racing about on the beach enjoying the rest of the day. Getting older is the pits. Now have to take it very easy for a few days.

I see a Lawyer in a week. Need to do a will. Put your request(s) in now so I can ignore them early.

I'm thinking of buying one of those small weather stations and putting it up on my property. They record a lot and you can hook them up to local weather/websites so others can see the data. Kind of fun and somewhat useful.

try looking out the window when it is wet the weather station will say raining.
sunny it will say clear
tree moving it will say windy
where you buy it will say sucker.

besides around the coast they last about a year and self destruct.

you dont need a lawyer if your will is simple. use one off the net.
if its complicated start spending some money and enjoying it.

the proper way to die is on your death bed all your money is gone and you have maxed out all credit and credit cards. and borrowed all you can from anyone stupid enough to give it to you. then say yippe i o and close your eyes for the last time.
be careful giving anyone except me power of attorney to make life decisions for you if you cant. they will have conflicting interests with you even loved ones.

That's not how scientists do things, Ray. We need oodles of data so we can befuddle everyone and make it seem like we know it all. Because we do.

The will thing is important mainly for the house and property, and if I get into a plane crash from my frequent trips to Europe and elsewhere. My wad of cash needs to go somewhere besides to the government thieves.

And yeah, I do plan on spending all my ill-gotten wealth before I kick the bucket. Between 75-80 is the target age. The closer I get to 75 the more risky my adventures will be. I may do some gun running/smuggling before the end; I know someone in the Keys that has a 35 ft boat with a 345 HP turbo charged engine. And he has connections all over the world. He used to worked for a company that lay tele-cable on the ocean floor. Zing!

ifin you die without a will next of kin gets your hard earned money. no will needed for that. although a simple one expedites it.
you may want a living will. so your body parts get put to good use. and if you become a vegi i dont have to contribute to your doctor prolonging the inevitable.

and choosing power of attorney to deal with things like paying bills out of your account if you are not able to function.
dont spend yourself broke too early as only the good die young.

Commercial Boats finally out for crabbing Cape Blanco south to California border. They started out to set gear on Super Bowl Sunday at 8 A.M. They can't start pulling gear until three days later (9 A.M. Feb 7, called a presoak) so the first commercial crab won't get to the dock until about noon on February 7. But recreational crabbers are all in.

Beautiful weather today. May do some steelhead fishing soon. And on some rivers a bit away from the homestead.

they been out 24/7 north oregon. crabs havent been overly full. steelhead is slow as not many have come up. still a bunch of hatchery ones though in a couple rivers.
the first chinooks will start showing in tillamook bay shortly.

Beautiful day on the coast. Froze last night but warmed up nicely. Rain tomorrow. Steelhead fishing is really down this year close by to my abode. Don't mind that much as I've been doing much work about the shop, home and property. Since fishing is poor good time to spend getting the homestead in shape.

The dock is packed and lots of activity as the crab boats are harvesting like mad. They have had some good weather days so extra busy. Hope they can make up for a late season.