July 15th, 2008
By Arthur

It really is a thing of beauty.  And it honestly always brought a smile to my face.  What could be better than watching a poor unsuspecting victim be attacked by a humongous white bird?

Ok, so what sounded a little harsh, and I can already hear the comments, but quite honestly everytime it happened all of us laughed.  No harm was done to the victim, except for them being a little startled, and every single time the event happened it brought tears to our eyes. 

What am I talking about you ask?  Well, on the torch river there is quite a bit of bird life, and in particular, there are quite a few swans.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many swans confined to one area.  The other thing, is that during the this time of year, they are either in the process of having babies, or they already do, and because of that there are numerous nests along the river.  This sets the stage for some laughter.

When boats are travelling up the river there is a strict no wake rule, so everyone is going at really slows speeds, even the jetskis.  For some reason, and I think it is directly related to their size, the swans don’t take kindly to these particular water vehicles.  The boats can pass them all day, and nothing will happen, but the minute a jetski comes by, the show begins.

As soon as the male swan see’s the jetski he will start postering, and heading right towards it.  Now most people aren’t aware of the issue, so they just keep going along without even realizing what is happening.  Normally the birds attack from the rear too, so that makes it even harder to know what is coming.  At first they will just put across the water trying to catch the “intruder”, but after a little while they will actually take off and fly, eventually catcing the rider and thumping them in the back.  I can’t deny that it is quite a spectacle to watch.

Last year Jeff almost got attacked, and that is the only reason that we are aware of the issue.  The birds are real protective when the waverunners come around, and we just wait and watch.  The attacks are never vicious at all, but they definitely let the rider know to move on.  It is so funny.

So next time you are in the torch river, and you’re on a waverunner or jetski, make sure you watch your back, or you might be on the next episode of “When Swan’s Attack”.

Popularity: 15% [?]

July 09th, 2008
By Arthur

I was usually awakened by conversation, along with the smell of fresh brewed coffee. If I was home I would have been up hours ago, but not now-not while I was in this place. I rolled over at 9, or maybe even 10 in the morning, and proceeded to get dressed and head down the spiral staircase to the main floor. The start of another great day.

Normally everyone was awake before me. They would be sitting around the kitchen counter enjoying their black go-go juice. They might even be sitting out on the deck enjoying the start of another great day on the Torch River. I was a little different, since I hate coffee, so I would head to the fridge and pour my cup of orange juice. I love the smell of coffee, but I could never get used to the taste.

Slowly I would walk down the hallway onto the laminated wood floor of the living room, ease the sliding glass door open, and proceed out onto the deck. The river, which was only a few feet away, would normally call to me and I would grab my fishing pole, already rigged with bobber and worm, and head out onto the dock to try my luck for that morning. The fish weren’t big, but they were a challenge to catch, and that was good enough for me.

After trying my luck on catching the perch, rock bass, or bluegill, that decided to fall prey to my hook and bobber, I would check in on everyone and see what was happening for lunch, or see who wanted to lose at a game of horse shoes. Some afternoons were spent on the pontoon, taking in the sun and the sights, and getting in some football throwing while wading on the Torch Lake sandbar. It was a rough life.

Evenings would bring about food-all kinds of food-from ribs, to frogmore stew, to pork chop and scallop potato casserole. We always ate good-no doubt about that. Of course, even with all of this food available for consumption, it wasn’t anything a nice cold beer couldn’t wash down. And boy did we drink plenty of that-in moderation of course!

All of my vacation days went pretty much like what I described. They were great, and as always went way too fast. It is amazing how time just flies by when you’re on vacation and almost comes to a stand still when you’re at work. I still haven’t adjusted to having to wear socks yet. I was barefoot pretty much everyday, sometimes with sandles on, and it was awesome.

Now it is back to reality, and to be honest I like being home. I like getting back into the routine of everyday life, but I can’t help but think about what it would feel like to be at the cottage again-being able to walk out my back door and enjoy a little fishing. Hopefully those days will return once again. I’m sure it won’t be soon enough.

Note: Stay tuned for more vacation posts. I have plenty. What’s in store you ask? Well, there will be a swan story (and no it’s not a nice story). I will introduce you to a little vacation friend that we met, and I will also be covering a few of our fishing escapades. I have plenty of things to write about, and I finally have my internet connection back as well, so the posts will keep on coming!

Popularity: 21% [?]

June 26th, 2008
By Arthur

Last Saturday, during our visit to South Carolina, my cousin came up with a pretty good plan.  He wanted all of us to head down to Atlanta, Georgia and visit the world’s largest aquarium, and it definitely wasn’t a disappointment.

The Georgia Aquarium  was awesome.  I really wasn’t sure what to expect, and having not visited an aquarium before, I went in with an open mind.  The aquarium was great, and it was especially cool for the kids.  We had a 4 yr old, a 3 yr old, and a 2 yr old with us and I don’t think any of them left disappointed.  They did have their moments, as all young ‘uns do, but for the most part they were very well behaved and got to see some great sites.

The aquarium was devided into a bunch of different parts, but the greatest part for me was being able to ride the people mover and glide underneath one of the bigger areas of the aquarium.  To stand on that mover and watch a huge Whale Shark pass right over head was awesome.  Sure I had some thoughts about jaws and such, but it was quite an experience to feel like you were in the tank with the fish.  It was great.

There was also penguins, otters, sea lions, many different species of fish, and my personal favorite, the beluga whales.  They had four in one area of the aquarium and they were a blast to watch.  I swear they knew they had an audience and that they weren’t about to let anyone leave disappointed.  I laughed out loud at a couple of the things they did.

Another great part of the aquarium was the touch pools.  At these pools you could touch manta rays, certain sharks, sea stars, shrimp, and a few other aquatic species.  It was pretty cool to be able to touch these particular fish and such and the kids just loved every minute of that-well maybe not, but I liked it!

The aquarium was a great time, and despite a little bit of a haul to get there, it was worth it.  Definitely something I can scratch off the list and a unique experience to say the least.  Maybe we will have to go back when the dolphins arrive in 2010.  We’ll have to see.

Popularity: 24% [?]

June 23rd, 2008
By Arthur

I’m not sure why, but I have been thinking about this lately. Where would I go, if money was no object, for the hunting or fishing trip of my dreams? I have many places that come to mind, but which one would be my top pick if I could only choose one, and I didn’t have to worry about how much it costs. This is a hard one.

I would absolutely love to black bear hunt somewhere. I was thinking maybe up in Ontario, or somewhere in that general vicinity. Heck, I wouldn’t even mind a black bear hunt in Northern Michigan, but since this is about money being no object, I wanted to set my goal a little higher.

I would also love to hunt Elk out in New Mexico, or Colorado maybe. That would be an absolute blast. Jeff and I could take a week off of work and head out west and chase some bugling beasts. I can already see the nice 6 X 6 mounted on my wall. I’m not sure my walls are big enough, but hey we are dreaming here right?

I would also love to hunt grizzly somewhere. I’m not sure where to be honest, but Alaska always seem to come to mind. I would of course be using my bow. That would be so nerve racking and oh so beautiful all at the same time. Can you imagine coming to full draw on a grizzly at a mere 20yds? I think I might need to bring extra underclothes for that trip. That would be a hunt that confirmed I was definitely alive!

Now lets talk about fishing. My ultimate fishing dream trip is to land a salmon in Alaska. Actually, to be honest, I don’t even need to land a fish for this trip to be worthwhile. I just want to be fly fishing in Alaska somewhere. It doesn’t have to be great weather, and I don’t even have to catch a fish, I just want to see my fly line touch the water in an Alaskan stream. We have planned this trip a couple of times, but sometimes life gets in the way and prevents things from happening. With a little one on the way, and getting prepared for that, the Alaskan trip is postponed for now, but it will come back again. Maybe next year? Only time will tell.

So those are a few of my favorite hunting and/or fishing trips that I would love to go on. I would love to hear from all of you what your dream outdoor trip would be. It doesn’t even have to include hunting or fishing, but it does have to involve the outdoors. If you do pick a hunting or fishing trip, I would love to hear what weapon you would use as well. So, if money was no object, where would you go for your ultimate outdoor vacation?

Popularity: 22% [?]