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Targeting Trout in Venice

“My relationship with speckled trout goes all the way back to 1993 when I caught my first while bank fishing a canal in southern Louisiana. Redfish was the target species for me back then but a bi-catch of speckled trout made for great table fare and at times, a treat for our dinner. The meat on a speckled trout is flakey-soft and less coarse, unlike a redfish or catfish filet, and it doesn’t have a strong fishy taste, but at the same time, a distinct taste that I always recognize right away. When I lived in Louisiana, we fried a lot of speckled trout and added a side of red beans and rice to the plate and called that dinner. After living there for a while and purchasing a boat, I learned where to catch speckled trout in different seasons but always struggled in the hottest few months of the year down there. They were plentiful in the fall, winter and spring but in the summer, I had a harder time fishing good numbers out of the marsh. When I say, “good numbers”, the speckled trout limit was 25 fish so a good day would be filling a cooler with 50 fish for you and a buddy. That was a lot of fish fries. Nowadays, the limit of trout is 15 per person and I find it interesting to figure out the cost per fish after factoring in guide services, lodging, gas, food, etc. I grew up on a small farm in a weird sustenance type of lifestyle when it came to meals, and I still enjoy keeping my catch to store in the freezer. Louisiana is both a place where I can restock my freezer and also rekindle this profound love I have for the marsh. I spent four exciting years emersed in the culture of southern Louisiana while in the Navy and it seems that every year, I’m drawn back, and called to run the marshes again”.

It’s probably been a few years since I started noticing these two fellas that were charter captains down around the Venice, La. area that mainly targeted speckled trout. It was a Venice fishing group on Facebook where I first saw Jon and Brandon Carter from Reel Shot Guide Services. It seemed like every day they were just bringing in piles of trout, day after day. It got to the point that there was never a bad day with these guys. Even in the hottest months of the summer these two brothers were hammering the trout, so I put them on my radar for a guide trip. Last year Lisa and I went in the spring and restocked the freezer with red snapper and redfish from Venice and by now our freezer was completely depleted of fish from last year. It was time to make a run for a restock and I wanted to see for myself just how these two brothers were catching the limits of trout every day, even in July and August. I called and got a reservation for two consecutive days of fishing with Jon for Lisa and I it took about 6 weeks to set up a trip for two consecutive days so there was plenty of time for anticipation for the trip. Weather, and health is always a factor for a fishing trip to Louisiana set up in advance this time of year and timing-wise, both Lisa and I were in good health for the trip. We couldn’t have asked for better weather both days and we never got rained on. It did get a little warm in the late morning, but we were back at the marina by 11:30 both days. It’s always a gamble during hurricane season down there, but everything worked out perfectly for health and weather this year. The last obstacle was the fish; we had to find and catch them. That’s the part that really piqued my interest and I was looking forward to finding out the technique to limiting out on trout on every trip. My experience with trout has always been a few here and there but when I lived down in La. there were a few months, we might catch a dozen and consider it a great day.

This year I chose to rough it a bit and stay ala cart, so to speak. In the past we’ve always stayed at an all-inclusive lodge, so we really didn’t need to worry about shelling out a lot of money while on the trip. At the lodge, it’s just a flat rate fee for fishing, meals, private rooms, etc., but usually the total cost can be a bit pricy if you’re on a budget. Lisa just retired from her job so we’re both retired now and on a budget. So, on this trip I decided to find a little cheaper sleeping accommodation, and I found the Venice Inn rooms for a little over a hundred bucks a night. It looked good enough for a 2-night stay, so I booked it. I gotta say this, it’s not exactly a Marriot property but they had a nice king-sized bed and good air conditioner, so I considered it a win. Lisa, not so much.

We pulled into the area on Saturday evening and checked into the hotel. It’s been quite a few years since we stayed in a hotel or motel where the door was facing the exterior and not a hallway, but we endured.

After dinner we got a text from our captain, and we were all set for a 5:15am launch from Venice Marina. I forgot to reset my wristwatch to local time, and I was up an adam at 3:15am waking Lisa up, and making coffee, thinking it was actually 4:15. Eventually we got to the marina and met our guide for the next couple of days. It was still dark when we left the marina and we had a pretty lengthy run of about 30-40 minutes till we started fishing. We cleared the marsh and hit open water fairly quickly as I started to piece the navigational puzzle together when the sun rose to our right. Our guide Jon reminded me of a Brittany Spaniel bird dog we had growing up. That dog was all about the business of finding birds and didn’t spend a lot of time on hospitality and socializing during the assignment. That kinda pleased me because I’m not all about listening to some chatty Cathy guide stroking his ego and telling sea stories on my nickel. If you’re looking for a guide that wants to know about you and your history, Jon’s probably not going to be your best choice, but if you’re looking to put your limit of fish in the boat, Jon’s your guy. It’s that simple.

We had a job to do and a freezer to fill, so that was the goal for the trip. When we pulled up to our first stop, it was open water, nothing but a few cut-off wells and smaller abandoned platforms as far as we could see. Jon explained that there was a certain type of bottom that attracted the speckled trout to an area in the summer months, out in the shallow open water of the gulf. In the fall through spring the trout move into the marsh but this time of year they are in big schools out in the open water. We started off with two live bait techniques, the Carolina rig and the popping cork with live shrimp on both. Jon put us on spot lock according to the current with his open center console, and he basically told us where to cast in order to target the bottom we were looking for. The Carolina rig was very effective on the shallow bottom for the trout as well as using the popping cork. Lisa and I would alternate using either bait and we would usually catch 5-10 per stop and move on. There wasn’t a whole lot of bi-catch, except for some very pesky ladyfish and hardheaded catfish. If you are familiar with saltwater fishing, you probably already know about hardheaded catfish. They are considered a trash-fish and not good to eat. As an added bonus, they have poison dorsal and pectoral fins, and I just happened to take one to the thumb while helping to remove a hardhead from my hook. It was bad for about 30 minutes, then the pain from the poison and the swelling subsided a bit and I went back to fishing. My best recommendation for a wound from a hardhead is constant pressure and maybe some ice till the pain subsides. Between moving around and catching trout here and there, over the course of the morning, we put our limits together popping and dragging shrimp around old oil platforms and open water waypoints. The picture below was one of very few we took while fishing but most was just open water from horizon to horizon.

It was basically 2 days of bringing in trout and having a good time knowing that with every trout was a meal for our dinner over the next year. We limited both days and headed back to the homestead with a feeling of success. Here’s some random pictures from the trip.

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Banana Delight

This is an easy recipe that I like to use for a dessert when going to a party or I need a quick southern dessert for dinner with guests. It’s pretty easy and I promise that everyone will be complimenting you on your delicious dessert.

Ingredients:

  • 5 ounce box of vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 box vanilla wafers
  • 8 ounce box cream cheese at room temperature
  • 2 tubs of cool whip
  • 1 can of condensed milk
  • 5-6 bananas
  • 3 cups of milk
  • chocolate shavings or small chocolate chips for topping.

In a large mixing bowl add the cream cheese, condensed milk, 3 cups milk, pudding mix and half a tub of thawed cool whip. I mix the ingredients with my mixer until very smooth. (It takes a while) I use a 9×12 glass baking dish when at home, but I just use a disposable aluminum pan of the same size when making it to go.

I layer the bottom of the pan with vanilla wafers and put a layer of banana slices (2 bananas) on top of the vanilla wafers. I pour about half the pudding mixture on top of the wafers and bananas then I use the other half of the cool whip as a small layer on top of the pudding mixture, then repeat with another layer of wafers bananas pudding mix and then a top layer of vanilla wafers and bananas. I cover the top layer with cool whip and garnish with chocolate shavings or small chocolate chips. I chill it in the fridge for a couple hours and it’s ready to serve!

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Our Easter Prayer

This Easter Sunday our family gathered for an evening meal, and it’s always been a tradition of sorts that someone say the blessing. I’m kind of a box of chocolates when it comes to prayer aloud, and you could hear about starvation in Croatia or our sick feral cat with one ear if I’m saying the prayer, so I usually opt for someone like Lisa or someone more trustworthy to say the blessing before our meal. For the past few years, grandson #2 of 4, Dawson has volunteered to say the blessing during our family gatherings and to be honest, I don’t know exactly where that came from but none the less Dawson continues to lead us in the blessing at family gatherings. Dawson knows about prayer from going to church with us from time to time and at his old daycare, for years they said blessings when they ate. This Easter Lisa and I talked about who would say the blessing and I told Lisa that it should probably be her or Dawson. Dawson is young and a little nervous when it comes to the blessing, so I told Lisa to take over in backup for Dawson if needed.

When the time came, right before our Easter meal, Lisa asked who wanted to say the blessing and immediately Dawson piped up and volunteered for the task. He didn’t shy away from the challenge once again and I was very proud that he had no fear of praying in front of others. He started a little shaky and I could tell he was losing his concentration. I was thinking Lisa was going to jump in for assistance, but Dawson stopped mid-sentence, smiled and glanced at me very briefly. He started over but this time it was more fluent, and he hit the mark we were looking for by the time he had finished with an amen.

The more I think about that event, the more I think that grandfathers are supposed to be the one that gets that quick glance when there are uncertain times and grandfathers need to set the example for their grandchildren in order to establish generational faith. I’m super proud of our grandson Dawson taking over the duties of saying our family meal blessings and I’m looking forward to Tate and Jasper doing the same one day.

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Checking In

It’s been 26 years of silence, but I’m still waiting and praying.

It’s been a minute since my last post, so I thought I’d write a little this afternoon. Last week I had a couple doctor’s appointments, and I have a few more scheduled for this week. Tomorrow I’m seeing a spine surgeon from Peachtree Orthopedics, and he should be able to tell me the best route to take with my spinal issues. I’ve had quite a few injections in my cervical spine as well as my lower back, before I had spinal surgery about 10 years ago, and I’m hoping that we can take that route with the latest issues. The headaches, dizziness, vertigo and increased tinnitus problems could all be stemming from the spinal issues according to my ENT doctor, but I still need to start Physical Therapy for the vertigo and dizzy spell this week. It’s been kinda hard to keep the headaches in check while managing the pain killers, but I’ve reduced the pain killers to a few 200 mg Motrin a day. Getting back to regular bowl movements while managing pain has been an issue also, but I think I’m back to normal now. My weight this morning after the long holiday weekend was better than I thought, and after my walk this morning, I weighed in at 196.5. Not as bad as I thought but I’m probably going to try another 3-day water fast very soon. I need to keep losing but it’s going to get harder and harder as my body is getting used to a 4-5 mile walk every day. I may try and shock it a bit with adding 30 minutes on my elliptical machine a few times a week. The elliptical machine gives me a full body workout because it has the handlebars for the arms so I can get more of a core workout. We’ll see how that goes soon.

I’m continuing my work on the manuscript for my autobiography and I’m still on track for an October 5th release. I haven’t settled on a publisher yet and I’m still working to find a good fit for the book. All three parts of the book have been created as well as the bonus recipe chapter. Right now, I’m in the process of building the story of “Twenty years on Lanier“. It will be the longest of all the short stories in Part One upon completion. It covers a lot of what I learned along the way. It may shorten the learning curve for beginners just starting to fish Lake Lanier, written by someone who gets to wake up every morning with the lake right outside the window and fish the lake almost every day for years. I can honestly say that there wasn’t a lot of fishermen who fished the lake more than I did in those 20 years.

Part one is called “Fifty Years of Fishing” and it will take the longest because of the time span and the information covered on Lake Lanier. It will be at least another week to complete that chapter. The rest is just short stories about fishing during my life and is dedicated to Lucky, Oscar, Jerry and Steve. They were four of the best fishermen and friends I’ve known along the way.

Part two covers my Navy career, called “Twenty Years of Service” and that will probably take a few weeks to complete, but most of the short stories are ready to go. I will need to add another chapter covering the ugly part of the job. Dealing with death in the military came quick for me and I’ll cover some of the sailors and Marines I didn’t really know as well as friends that lost their lives along the way. You’ll get a raw look at the ground side of life in a few fighter and fighter/Attack squadrons.

Part three is called “Finding my Faith” and it’s also in the works and will be the last part to complete with a deadline of late August. It is another part that will take some work. It’s basically my autobiography as it pertains to my journey through faith and an inside look at some of the unexplained occurrences as well as my course changes and corrections throughout life.

Lastly, part four is the good stuff and twelve of my favorite recipes to add to the end of the book, so if you’re not into the fishing, Navy or faith stuff, maybe a few good Cajun recipes may interest you. Hopefully, there will be a little something for everyone in the book and I’m looking forward to the release.

It’s still a long way off but I fooled around with AI and between AI and Canva editing over the weekend. Here’s a sneak peek at what the cover may look like. This will probably be tweaked and adjusted before the final product goes to print, but it can give you a general idea of what the cover may look like. The cover is probably the furthest from my mind right now as the actual writing has a long way to go before, I really focus on the cover. I’ll post again at the end of my week, and hopefully I’ll know a bit more about my neck and spine issues.

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Definitely Seeing Improvements

Weight: 196.2lbs post walk

Diet: Fish, cottage cheese for dinner, banana for dessert and 1 protein bar for breakfast

I did the exact same distance as I did yesterday to see what the difference would be and there wasn’t much, as far as the distance, but I did plan to push a little harder today since it was the end of the week and I could rest for a day or two. My body definitely needs it. My left foot has been the work horse for the last 3 weeks, mainly because I’m still recovering from the right knee replacement and the weight shift has been to the left side. You can tell a lot by looking at the bottom of your shoe and analyzing the pronation wear. Normal pronation should show shoe wear somewhere near the big toe on the sole, or the inside toe area of the shoe. The heel should show normal wear on the heel, just to the outside a little. If you are walking or running normally, the wear should be even from the left shoe and the right shoe. If there is a weight shift, it should show on the sole as more wear on one shoe compared to the other. It usually takes some mileage before the wear starts to show, but it’s a good idea to check your soles from time to time, so you can tell if things are correct in pronation.

Today I dropped to my lowest weight yet. Last week when I came off of my fast, I weighed 196.4 and under a normal diet with no fasting, I dropped down to 196.2 this morning. A few of the things I’ve been doing this week to drop weight was to stay away from any greasy stuff, very limited amounts of sugar, no chocolate unless it was in a protein bar. No fast food and no beef! Obviously, no soda, unless it was Fresca, but I didn’t have a Fresca this week. I did start drinking Gatorade to supplement the electrolytes for hydration during recovery. I like those little Honey Stinger energy chews during my walks. I just pop one in my cheek and let it slowly dissolve while I’m walking. I usually have about 3 chews while walking.

Once I got home there were some guys working down at the dock and I needed to chat with them. I wound up making 3 trips up and down the hill to the dock which is about 72 steps from the back door to the dock, so I hit 10k steps before lunch today. Usually, it’s mid-afternoon. I can also count those 3 trips down to the dock as hill work this week because coming back up is a lot rougher than the trip down.

All in all, it was a good week and there were definitely some noticeable improvements in appearance and energy this week. Diet and exercise go hand in hand for weight loss. Have a great weekend!

Song of the day. Love some Katie Holmes!

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End of the Road

Weight: 199.0lbs post walk

Diet: Chicken, asparagus, rice and soup for dinner and 1bagel and honey for breakfast

According to the trail, the milage was just shy of 5 miles but the watch said somewhat less. My gut and my sore feet said it was close to 5 miles, so I’ll go with that. I went a little further than anticipated but I wanted to see what was ahead of my usual turnaround point. When I used to run the trail years ago, I would go quite a bit further than my walks have taken me, but when I got just past the 2.2 marker the trail ended with a gate across the trail. Distance-wise, that was probably enough for one day. I really liked the time splits because my 4th mile pace was almost as fast as the first mile pace. That tells me that I hit the runners high after a couple miles which is typical for a distance runner. I think I’ll work with the distance I’m going now and work on increasing the speed a bit. The way I always increased my speed as a distance runner was to work on my gate, do some intervals (fartlek training) and the dreaded hill work. One way I can accomplish this is to do some up and downs on my steps going down to the boat dock and back. That will work on the hammies, as well as strengthening the muscles around the knees. It will also work the ligaments around the knees in prep for some soft runs later on.

I did a little bit of soft running this week and it was brutal on the knees. Just when the knees settled into a soft running pace, I went back to walking and I could feel the knee confusion. A lot of that was due to weight so I need to work on that a little more. I’m probably going to do another fast next week. My last fast was very successful, and I went a total of 60-65 hours with a water fast.

One thing I know about my body is that it is very smart. After a few weeks of walking, my body thinks this walking thing is the new norm, so the metabolism freakout is over and it starts to slow again. That would explain the slow-down in weight loss over the past week. I always need to combat the metabolism slow-down with new surprises. I may need to incorporate some light sculpting weight training or maybe hit my elliptical for a few hours a week. The elliptical machine is a great way to combat a metabolic slow-down but it has its dangers too. If you’re not careful you can overdo it and hurt yourself when introducing new stuff to confuse the body and tap into a few new muscle groups. I need to take it slow and trust the process.

Tomorrow is the last day to hit the trail this week unless we do something with the twins on Saturday. We’re baby-sitting the twin 2-year-old grands Saturday afternoon and evening, so I’ll get a pretty good mental and physical workout from that. They are like half spider monkey, half octopus, all jacked up on expresso with at least eight grabby hands, but best of all, there are 2 of them to chase around. In all honesty, I wouldn’t trade any of my grands for the world. I’ve been blessed and looking forward to tomorrow.

Song of the day.

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Maintenance Walks

Weight: 199.2lbs post walk

Diet: Chicken, asparagus, rice and soup for dinner and 1bagel and honey for breakfast

This entry covers yesterday and today but I only timed todays walk. Also, the mileage on my watch and the data above doesn’t really match what’s marked on the trail, but the real mileage was about 4.2 miles total today. Yesterday was a three mile walk.

Yesterday, I invited one of my favorite people out for a walk. It was the first time my neighbor, David, and I walked together after fishing together for the last 10 years. I have been his mentor in fishing so he can take his grandkids out on the lake and be successful or at least have a clue about what to do. That’s very important to me because grandpa needs to know where the fish are and how to catch them when the grands come for a visit. In return, David has been my spiritual mentor, and I have learned so much from him over the years. David and his wife, Ann, have authored at least two books, and I wanted to pick David’s brain a bit about a couple of aspects of writing, as well as some spiritual guidance on my new endeavor. I got both from him; but more importantly, I got the encouragement I needed to keep going.

It’s kinda funny in a way, but David asked me what the folks around me thought about me putting down the fishing rod for a while and writing a book. I had to crack up a bit because they have busy lives and really don’t read my blog, but that was all okay because that’s what gives me the fuel I need to keep going. It’s like I shouted, “Hey, guess what fam? God told me to write a book!” This is a good pictorial depiction of the expected response….

Man, I love that picture and sometimes I crack myself up looking at it. It’s like I just told a raunchy Navy joke or something.

I told David that I know it sounds weird, but I no longer had the slightest desire to fish, and the book is what I’ve been tasked to focus on. So, David and I walked on, and then David put his hand on my shoulder as we walked along, and he prayed for me aloud. People were walking by, and here we were, David and I walking in prayer. It was David on my left with his hand on my left shoulder praying, and Noah was on my right with his hand on my right shoulder, saying, “Welcome to my world, Jim.” After our prayer, David said, “If there’s anything I learned about you over the course of the last ten years, it is that you have an uncanny dedication and devotion to your interests, whether it was training for a marathon or learning to improve your fishing skills.” I wasn’t looking for technical help in my writing skills or suggestions from David as much as I was looking for encouragement, and he did just that.

This is my third week of walking the trail, and one thing that I get from spending this kind of time by myself—whether it’s fishing, running, or walking a trail—is clarity. It may be the extra oxygen from being outside, but for some reason, I can sort it all out and come up with a plan. Remember a few entries ago when I talked about always setting goals for yourself? One goal I set for myself is to get down to 175lbs and see if it’s possible to run again on two replaced knees. But another goal for now is to finish my writing over the course of the next few months. Here’s a sneak peek at the layout and title. The title is explained in the preface.

The book has three sections of short stories, and the name of the book is “The Shadows of October” (Stories of Fishing, Freedom, and Faith). Each section has a number of stories from my life.

The fishing section is called “Fifty Years of Fishing” and will interest the Lanier fishermen because the first story is called “Twenty Years on Lanier” and that encompasses a lot of what I learned in those twenty years and some of the fishermen around the lake that were an influence on me. There will also be other stories from some of my fishing adventures over the years.

The second section is called “Twenty Years of Service,” and it will encompass 20 years of service to the Navy and this country in short stories. There are a few stories from the blog that will be included in this section, but there will also be some stories that I’ve not shared with anyone. There are some things that I experienced in the Navy that I don’t talk about much, but some people ask about them. You can’t work in the environment that I worked in and not see some gruesome things over the years, so I’ll share a few of the more heinous incidents that used to give me nightmares, as well as a raw look at what it’s like for us maintenance folks in fighter and fighter/attack squadrons.

The third and last section is called “Fishing for Faith” and is about faith as it pertains to my story and my journey through Christianity. This section will be devoted to my grandchildren so they can have a tangible look at their grandfather’s life (so far). There are stories of some unexplained events and explanations of how God has been a factor in my life and has given clarity to the unexplained. I’ve said it before in the blog, but my grandfathers were great men and significant influences in my life in their unique ways. I just wish someone would have written a book about their lives because all I have left of my grandparents are the pictures and the memories, and they are fading fast.

My plan is to release the book on my dad’s birthday in October which gives me about 3 months to finish my work. We’ll see how it goes but eventually this blog is going to go away, either by a hacker or myself, but I’m going to extract everything I’m going to use in the book very soon. Most folks don’t know this, but my blog was already hacked, stolen and sold off without my knowledge once, but it was recovered. The next time I might not be so lucky.

Song of the day. Not the original but an awesome rendition.

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The Aftermath

Session: 70-minute walk

Weight: 201lbs post walk

Diet: 4 days of good stuff

I didn’t really exercise for the last 4 days, and I guessed that my weight would be around 203 this morning, but it’s not as bad as I thought. After my walk this morning, I checked the scale and it was 201 even. Lisa and I went to the Braves game on Thursday evening and had a great time. I found two last minute discounted tickets on Stub Hub and they were front row seats, field level. Best seats I’ve ever had, and we were right next to the action. The Braves beat the Mets, and I got to watch Juan Soto play for the first time. For some reason, we were surrounded by Mets fans and after the Braves jumped out to lead the game, things got awful quiet in our section and the only sounds being made was me chattering it up, like I was still a first baseman back in the day.

I joked with a buddy on Facebook, that I may have to fight our way out of the section we were sitting in, which prompted an old friend of mine to like my comment. His name was Oscar Tellez, and I knew he got a big chuckle out of my comment because he and I had to fight our way out of a section at a San Diego Padres game some 33 years ago. I was a Cincinati fan at the time and I was wearing an Eric Davis jersey at a ball game between the Padres and the Reds. Eric Davis played for the Reds back in the early 90’s, and he was a favorite of mine. The Padres were winning the game till the 8th inning when Eric Davis came up to bat with ducks on the pond. The Reds were down by two and I was receiving a lot of flak from the Padres fans in our section where Oscar and I were sitting. Oscar was wearing a Tony Gwynn Padres jersey, so he wasn’t catching as much flak as I was getting. Eric Davis hit a 3-run home run, and I stood up in my seat to cheer as the Reds took the lead. When I did, a couple of drunks from a couple rows above threw a beer and hit me with it. It splashed on Oscar also, so it took us about 3 seconds to grab a couple drunks and go to town on their cabeza’s. That prompted more drunks to join and get involved and then these knuckleheads tore my Eric Davis jersey. That’s when it became an all-out brawl which involved several fans and several security folks. We were blamed for the scuffle and Oscar and I were escorted out of the area in the end. They let us watch the rest of the game in a breezeway far away from where our fight went down. Oscar was a Padre fan but when it came to sticking up for me and fighting these guys, he was right there with me.

I got a call from an old Navy friend on Saturday morning to tell me that Oscar passed away suddenly the day before and that really hit me hard. Oscar was one of my best fishing friends out west and another one of our fishing crew that is now gone. If you’ve read my story, “Mooning the Lincoln”, you’ll read about myself, Oscar and the passing of our fishing friend Steve and Lucky, both of which has passed from our old crew. It’s pretty much down to Frank and me now. I know for a fact that Oscar got a chuckle out of my comment about fighting my way out at the ballgame and I almost made a comment about our fight years ago. I’m going to miss you buddy. RIP till we fish again my friend.

Lisa and I took a little road trip up to Ruby Falls and Chattanooga to checked out some stuff up there last week. We had to stop at Buccee’s on the way up and the way back for some of their delicious food and a few snacks, so I decided to break from my diet for a few days. We ate our meals on the road and at restaurants once we got to Chattanooga, but I tried to eat semi-healthy when I could and stay away from grease and chocolate, my two favorites. If you’ve never been to Ruby Falls up in Chattanooga, it’s worth the 2-hour drive to get up there for a visit. We stayed at a nice hotel on the river and had dinner at a nice place Friday evening before heading back home on Saturday morning.

Yesterday evening I threw a couple blackened red snapper filets on the Blackstone and put them on a bed of pasta to end my weekend and get back on my weight loss plan this morning. Party’s over but it was a fun four days off the diet. Back to the trail and back to the diet.

Song of the day. The first time I heard this song was while I was on my latest trip to the big easy for some red snapper.

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Hump Day Week 2

6/17/2025

Weight: 196.4lbs post walk

Diet: 1/2 chicken breast, cottage cheese, crawfish pie for dinner and 1/2 bagel for breakfast

One thing I learned today was that the distance meter on my watch is way off. My walk today was a total of 4.4 miles according to the markers on the trail, but my watch only showed 3.58 miles. That’s a major distance difference so I’m going to try a different app on my iPhone to see what that says. I’m not sure what the watch uses as a reference for measuring distance but I’m wondering if there is a drop in service along the trail if it’s using GPS type data. We shall see. Today I felt great on the trail and pushing my distance was pretty easy. I put a half a bagel with honey in the gas tank this morning and I think that helped. I also had a scoop of mushroom coffee mix this morning, which usually gives me an energy boost. Dropped closed to another pound this morning but my left foot is taking a beating. This is what distance runners deal with, so it’s just like old times for me, minus a few toenails falling out. Mind over matter means no pain, no gain. Sorry, for the graphic photo if you’re squeamish!

A week ago, I had to have some work done on a bone graft placed in my jaw three months ago for a permanent replacement canine tooth. It was pretty painful, so I’ve been taking some pain meds off and on as needed. The pain meds cause constipation and sometimes I need to take some drastic measures. Back when I was competing in marathons with the Navy, I was very conscious about my weight right down to the last pound or two in my colon. On race day I always wanted to run with as little weight as possible. This was me at 38 years old at the 24-mile marker during the Blue Angel marathon. At the start of the race, I weighed 152 pounds and at the end, I was probably in the mid to low 140’s. Just a pound or two of extra weight means a lot when running 26.2 miles and you definitely don’t want to have a colon blowout during the race. Trust me when I say, that’s not a good look for the finish line pictures.

Just to give you an idea of colon weight, when I came in from the trail this morning this is what I saw on the scale.

After one tablespoon of this tasty stuff and two hours later, Boom! Race ready!

Meal deal of the day: I’ll let you guys in on a little secret of mine. I’ve mainly been eating Chinese and for about 21 bucks I can split it up and get three meals from the Chicken and asparagus entree, fried rice and a large egg drop soup. That’s about seven bucks for my dinner and it’s the perfect size so I don’t overeat. Not sure where they get their asparagus but it’s always fresh and crisp.

Recipe of the day: *Hard work, pain and determination are the three main ingredients to achieve a higher level of success. –Jim Farmer

Favorite song for today.

by

Finally broke 200lbs!

6/17/2025

Weight: 199.2lbs post walk

Diet: 1/2 chicken breast, cottage cheese and pineapple squares

I had to split my walk today because I accidently reset my watch when I turned around to head back to the trail head where I started, so I have 2 different recordings today. The second half was a little less because it took a few steps before I realized what I had done. This fitness watch does a pretty good job though. I wish I would have had something like this 30 years ago. I knew I was going to be close to breaking 200lbs this morning, so I pushed just a little bit more and it paid off. I dug through my closet this morning and found a pair of unused New Balance 613 cross trainers that I had rat holed a few years back. New Balance shoes have always been the Cadillac of running shoes for me but the 613 isn’t really ideal for distance running. No further than I was going walking today, it wasn’t a big deal and the shoe is definitely lighter weight than those Asics I’ve been using. Feet are just about always an issue for distance runners. I can’t ever remember training for and running a marathon without a few blisters on my feet and dropping a few toenails along the way. It’s just part of the deal and pain tolerance is very important because you will experience pain if you’re going to train for marathon distance. I wrapped my big toe with the giant blister this morning, but little did I know that the big Band-Aid I used was rough and rubbed a blister on the toe next to it, so I wound up with another bloody sock today.

I gotta say that those blisters were all worth it when I weighed myself and saw that 199.2 on the scale so I decided to celebrate with a slice of my homemade crawfish pie for dinner this evening. Great morning out there on the trail this morning and I even stopped to have a quick chat with momma deer. She stayed around while I chatted with her for a little while and she said that she liked my shirt, before trotting off.

Just pulled the crawfish pie out of the oven and it will still be warm for dinner! It’s awesome with a dab of sour cream on top. If you’re interested in making a crawfish pie, my recipe is in the recipe section of this blog.

Favorite tune from today!