The faux pas (sp) go on.

Yesterday I went down to Boca Grande to see some longtime friends. We talked some (I should say I talked a lot and they tried to get words in occasionally) before George and I went out and took the fishing rods for a ride. It was a beautiful day and we talked about everything including the taboo subjects of politics and religion (I did catch George inserting ear plugs once).

Two problems. One is that I had explained to them about some lingering problems from the bike dive (judged scored a 7.5 out of 10 due to the poor landing) including problems with multi-tasking. The area we were trolling had clumps of sea grass or weeds or whatever it’s called and George spent quite a bit of time cleaning off the baits. While he was doing that I got to steer the boat (happy as a little kid driving the car at age 14).

We trolled on the edge of a sand bar back and forth. You fishermen know that is the place where predator fish often hang out. I think it’s either because the bait fish are in the shallow water and the predators rush in for a quick meal and retreat to the safety of deep water or they lurk there for the bait fish that have bumped their heads against a dock and wander to the danger zone. Anyway, I couldn’t stop talking but, since I can’t do two things at once, realized after a while that we had wandered onto the sand bar and were trolling in five feet of sandy clear water. I wonder why we were skunked.

Problem number two. I’ve fished all of my life and learned at a very young age (fishing off the pier at St. Joe for perch) that sun block is necessary on every trip. I didn’t think about it until after we got back in and my neck felt a little hot. After I got in bed it seemed to get hotter by the minute and this morning isn’t very comfortable. As a side note I wore a long sleeved shirt (even on hot days it can be very cool on the water – wind blowing over cold water but no science lesson -takes too long) and had pushed the sleeves up. The lower third of my arms are red and the rest has a two week old light tan. Not quite as embarrassing as falling asleep on the beach in St. Joe with my hand on my stomach but let’s not go there.

Barb and Ernie Strong have offered to keep an eye on me today so I’m on my way to Sun City Center.

Just Jack

P.S. – Barbara and George helped me pack up my handful of clothes when I left to come back to Venice. We finally found my cell phone in the bathroom (no, I didn’t talk to anyone while I sat on the can – I’m not sure why it was there).