I had a chance to fly in a plane (they called it an Otter). It was made in 1952. I was designated as the person next to the pilot (hense, co-pilot). There were 5 of us + the pilot. We flew 100 miles into a remote spot in Canada for some fishing. Get a load of the sign on the instrument panel in front of me...

This year we (eight of us) decided we would take our dad's fishing. We drove to Wintrop Harbor, IL. Camped for a week. Caught coho salmon every day we could get out. Here is a picture of some of us (dad's too) cooking some of the day's catch.

Fishing was slower than past years (all over). Can't explain it. No one seems to know why. Everywhere I fished this summer was VERY slow. Many times if ya got a bite, you were lucky.

The neighbors were celebrating just before Memorial Weekend. They went through 3 bottles of Henessey Cognac, in shots, by noon! My friends stuck to the beer (thank God).

One dude was soooo blasted that he fell backward of the table. So, in the groups infinite wisedom, they tied him to the table with a dog leash. He finally ended up taking a header into a tree stump smashing the F**k out of his face. After talking to "Ralph" for an hour he then passed out. Next day it looked like a bear attacked his head!

I'll be pretty much incommunicado for a while due to summer activities away for the Internet (and cell phones). Catch you when I can...

I am working on a project involving the Fire Rescue Training Center and the Training Chief invited me to sit in on a firefighting training session to get a better sense as to how training works. The one I went to was called Flashover Training. We all sat in a modified shipping crate and observed the full life cycle of a fire. At a certain point, the fire gets hot enough that even the gas coming from it spontaneously catches fire (flashover). We were in there about 25 minutes and the fire reached a temperature of about 900 degrees and as you'll see from the attached picture, I was in full fire resistant bunker gear. It's pretty cool, I learned that the bunker gear is tested to withstand 14 seconds of continuous fire (meaning they blast it with a flamethrower for 14 straight seconds to see if it works).

It was a pretty amazing experience. I am enjoying my time in Fire Rescue and look forward to doing as much hands-on activities as I can to learn about the department. And in case you are wondering, I am not thinking about becoming a firefighter now, but the training only added to the respect I have for these people.

This one that did not get away

Bud and Mary's Marina, mile marker 80 (Islamorada Key - Florida Keys). Where I spent many hours as a kid helping the charter boat captains with their mundane tasks. Most of the people I knew are dead or gone now. A few old timers remembered me from when I was 6-8 years old.