A stream of winter...

So to-day I toured over to a little creek not far from home to see what was happening over there. Lots of snow out in the bush yet. Winter walks can be fun if you're dressed for it and pumped to get some exercise and fresh air.









The Deep White, covering all but the gently flowing stream...The silence here is disturbed only by the gentle rippling of this cool little creek and the caw of a crow in the tree tops overhead. I lose myself there for a moment and reflect on how fresh and free and clean, everything looks and feels and smells out here in the woods...
Babbling along...

I think it's so neat how just a simple walk can give a person such pleasure, even in the heart of winter... :-)

Peace!

Some forum posts...

When I first started participating in forums on the Internet, I was in it for the learning/sharing angle, due to the variety of forums I was frequenting. If I could learn something on a particular forum, I was a happy camper. If I could share one of my ideas on a particular forum that asked for it, I was a happy camper. All that worked out pretty well and soon enough I was gettin' pretty good at throwin' a couple of paragraphs out there, to comment on someone's post, or ask a question. It's when you start gettin' replys and comments on your comments, that these forums really start gettin' interesting! The Participaction, is what it's all about. Open communication between MANY from everywhere, IS indeed, where it's at folks. Well, at least for this wordsmith anywho...

So to-day, I decided to blog a few of my posts from an outdoorsy forum I participate in, so you can get a glimpse of how this interaction stuff works through the eyes of lb, your faithful life reporter/promoter/blogger! :-)

Ready? Here we go...


and then there's this one...



and this one...

I'll add others from other forums in the future too but these should get you going for a few minutes.:-)

later,

Feathers ruffled etc...

A Bush tour...

While on a little walk in the local bush yesterday, I was fortunate enough to first spot this well hidden lonely looking Cardinal, quietly fluffing up his feathers to keep warm, in a low bush just off the side of the trail.

In the second shot, as you can see, I discovered a number of signs of some Rabbits, "at work"! :-)


Finally then, just before heading home, I paused to reflect on this little peaceful scene and as I stood there for a minute, I wondered out loud if this indeed, was then a sign of an early spring or is it just a bit of a January thaw? Only time will tell, as they used to say back in the day...



Peace out...

Natural children...

Yup, it was about a decade and a half ago, if I recall correctly in the early spring, that I was last up around one of my favorite fishing spots, the quaint and sleepy little river hamlet of Burritt's Rapids on the gentle and scenic Rideau River. That trip was very special at the time because I had driven up there with my two children, Brooke and Lee on their first day long fishing and adventure trip of their little lives. Although she was only five at the time her and her brother had already caught and landed plenty of perch, bluegills, pumpkinseed, rock bass and even some big creek chub, suckers and catfish over the last two seasons, she caught her first Small Mouth Bass on this particulary wonderful spring day. Just to see how happy she was with the whole thing and how talented and co-ordinated she was turning out already, was one of the biggest thrills in my life, up to that point.

You see folks, Brooke was indeed, living, breathing, thinking and acting proof, that children can fall in LOVE with Nature at a very early age, if given the opportunity. I made sure they both had plenty of opportunities in the outdoorsy world, at a very young age. Anyway, this little dolly simply lipped this little "Bassy" as she called it, just like it was a perch or whatever else that she had been lippin since whenever. You'd have thought she was a grown-up all shrunk down in a tiny wee body, the way she performed the lippin' ritual, that dad had shown them both the year before. After me helping them for an hour or two, they had said they would like to try to land their own fish if that was o.k. with me and of course I jumped at the chance to get them to skip a grade or two in the fish handling world of their own futures! Seems like there's NO fear of fish lips what so ever on this little girl's part, at all. :-)

Little Fishin' Missy

If you are a parent, just know that your children can and will get smarter, about ANYTHING you take the time to guide them towards, on a personal level. In my case as you should all know by now, Outdoorsy stuff has always dominated my interests, so it's only natural that my little kiddies would really get into this Nature related stuff too. :-) All I had to do was simply show them, in real life episodes, some of the many, many reasons why I had always dug this outdoorsy stuff all my life. ;-) If this girl is not a Canadian fishing name in the future, it is not because I didn't instill the love of fishing in her and her cool baby brother Lee. They both passed MANY physical and mental tests all through their early years, by the way, which I started giving to them, from day one. Their eyesight was at that time exceptional, and their hearing was tuned much finer than any ten year olds out there at the time that I had compared them to. Their knowledge and accurate recall of pertinent facts about trees and birds and money handling things even, which I had shared with them at some point, was something that always made me burst with pride. To hear these very young children using my quotes to relay various info to others, is VERY enlightening to this parent to be sure. Thank GOD, I even still have some video tape segments of them in the early stages of fire-building 101, daddy style. Watching these videos, now years later, of these wee children, each gathering their own little bundle of fine kindling and talking about the dryness, thickness and brittleness of their choices, while they worked, is still totally thrilling to me to this day! So mature at such an early age they were and to know that it all got started with them and me and all this bush stuff which I so love, mixed together in a very productive and positive blend...

Folks, if you have kids, Don't limit your children's learning abilities by letting them stay in the house all the time, playing freakin' video games. Show them some outdoorsy stuff, build a little fire out in the bush with them sometime. Bring a few wieners or even some marsh-mellows and let them"cook" their own food over a small, well contained, "Indian" style natural fire with you there. Talk to them about how that all makes them feel etc etc. If I know ANYTHING about it, you won't get too much closer to your children ever again perhaps. Life has a way of grabbing them away from you and letting others become their instructors, teachers, lovers and friends. Their time with you now, is VERY, VERY precious. PLEASE do NOT waste these opportunities to educate your kiddies about Nature and the Great Outdoors and what it can do for them. Any problems, refer them to me and I'll hook them on Outdoor stuff before the day is out. Start to-day, there's not a minute to lose.

Oh ya, my outdoorsy beliefs and those which I have instilled deeply into my children also say, that NO studs, tats or other disfigurements, will adorn the body of any bright woods-raised child. One who knows all about how to go about making more important, even life threatening choices and of course, easily more intelligent decisions. This is all gained out of an ongoing sheer respect and love of our own precious bodies or temples. Woodsy kids do NOT operate out of fear of peer pressure nor do they worry about what others may or may not think of them. Bushy kids will in fact, be deservingly quite confident in everything they choose to do, because of their foundation and sincere relationship with the woods and rivers and all of the total realities out there. They've already been there and done that and seek cooler kids to hang with and share experiences with. You won't see a tattooed flock of them taking over a bus and being all rude and rowdy in the future. More like a week-end in the bush with their cool and loving parents eating wild foods and stuff... ;-)

So, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well, we're into another new year again, already. Are you ready for it? Woa, where did the last one go? I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's all true. The older I get, the faster the time seems to fly. That, of course, is a major reason why I'm always preaching for everyone out there to make a little more effort to gather up a little more love in their lives and to get outdoors, into the real reality, as often as possible too. :-) When we were kids, our parents put us outside in the morning, right after breakfast and told us not to come back into the house until they called us for lunch. Man, were those grown-ups organized back then or what? :-)

To-day there's an awful pile of kids are all stuck indoors all day playing stupid video games, while the baby sitter watches soaps and yells at them to quiet down or to play nice or whatever... :-( Is it any wonder then that lots of modern day kids are what I call, sickly? They spend their time in NON Reality land to feed their little brains and eat all manner of "dead" food, provided by their too busy parents to feed them health producing, "live" foods, to feed their little trying-to-grow, bodies.. For instance, did you know there is a grain/seed type of food out there which provides ALL of the 8 things our body needs to effectively produce healthy new cells? Did you also know that this very same food is NOT used in at least 75-80% of American and Canadian households? Google "millet" and do a little investigating of your own on this historic and powerful food. I've been feeding myself this birdseed for over two years now and I'm still very impressed and also amazed that I had never been told of this wonderful food in the last four plus decades. Why were schools, parents, doctors etc etc keeping this info from me, all those years? Well, like they say, you're NEVER too old to learn. Add Millet and also Quinoa, the other top grain, to your daily food intake and your body will benefit greatly from the addition. :-) Are you a parent? Get your kids starting to eat these grains at an early age and give them a jump on growing healthy bodies and minds. There are a gazillion recipes for these amazing foods on the net, just poke around and you'll find them.

While typing out this bit this morning, the Real Fishing Show with Bob Izumi, came on and lo and behold there's my good ol' fishing chum from days gone by, Big Jim McLaughlin on there. Here's an old scrapbook photo I took a number of years back, while we were fishing Walleye's together in behind the Parliament Buildings, on the shore of the Ottawa River. Even back then, the big man knew his warm water fishing. Feels good that I even knew the guy, let alone had the opportunity to fish with our now famous, past Canadian Fishing Champion. Nice to see him hooked-up so well with my favorite T.V. Personality too. Good one there Jimbo! :-)

Big Jim - the younger days...


Too much! The boys are up in Northern Ontario fishing for Laker's through the ice. Very good show. Big Jim, hand-landed both of Bobby's big fish for him, like any cool show guest would do for a man like Bob. Like always, with Bobby, there were a few laughs in there too like when Big Jimbob was tackling BobbyI and both of them just laughing their faces off and having a great time out there. I laughed my butt off for a minute too. :-) I mean like, two definitely fully-grown men, acting like boys again! Loved it! :-)

Interesting point I noticed. Of all the boys out there on the ice during the whole day of filming, the main man, was the only guy to actually land any fish. Well, that's if you don't mention Big J's tiny wee perch. :-) Just goes to show ya now don't it? You don't get your own top rated fishing t.v. show, just because you've got a pretty face. Ya gotta know how to catch fish, even when others can't. ;-) Go Bobby, my Man!

One day, before I give up the ghost, I would LOVE to spend a day on the water with this remarkable man who represents to me at least, the Canadian version of Al Lindner, the well known tackle innovator/publisher/spokesman/folk hero etc of the American fishing world. Bob and his brother Wayne, just like the Lindner brothers, Ron and Al, fell in LOVE and LUST with the great Sport/Art/Science of Fishing at a very early age and they stuck with it. They lived only to fish. That is how you excel at anything in life, by the way. Develop a LOVE for something and then, get RIGHT into it with both feet and your pedal to the metal...

On another note, some of you know that I've been offering some of my cool little collectibles for sale on two free advertising boards. Well, that has been keeping me quite busy, I'm glad to report. Unfortunately there are a few folks out there who like to waste your time with dorky questions or don't show up after us making plans to meet and complete a nice little low-key sale. But, despite those types of little annoyances, it's all simply numbers and it works out O.K. after all the dust settles. There have also been some amazing clients that purchase extra, but related stuff that I show them when they arrive to pick up what they saw advertised on the boards. :-) Those kool folks make up for the odd doofuss. :-) Do you do Collectibles? Take a tour over to Kijiji and or UsedOttawa dot com and see what's up over there. You might like it...