Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

We've been enjoying the most lovely September that I can ever remember in my thirty four years of living here. Typically, you don't need to look at the calender to know that September has arrived. Usually the continuous rain and cold winds leave no doubt in anyone's mind that winter is on the way. Most years, by mid- September the mountains over at Homeshore would have terminaion dust on them. That's the first light dusting of snow that shows on the higher elevations. That's sure not the case this year. The weather has been unseasonably warm...hot even. I don't want to complain, but I probably will anyway. I just worry that all this sunny,dry weather will play havoc with the salmon. We need all the rain we usually receive at this time of year so the creeks will fill up and provide a good place for spawning. Fortunately I never had to worry about whether or not it rained- we had kids in all kinds of weather. Oh well- enough of that. As I was saying, this weather...

This past Sunday Jan and I decided to pry ourselves from the couch and go out to join several of our kids and grandkids for a picnic out at Long Island. The weather was uncommonly warm and sunny that day and it was nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Jennifer and her family are regular visitors to this sand spit and by the time we arrived on the scene, Ben had a fire going and all the food was layed out on a blanket. That's just the way I like it. I show up just in time to eat and have fun and leave before the mess needs to be cleaned up. Jen is the master weenie- roaster today. She wisely chose to purchase a commercial hot dog roasting implement for just such occasions. It has a long steel rod with two spears on the one end and a wooden handle on the other. While it's better than most sticks that I've used, I think it should be more solidly built- perhaps out of stainless steel and another foot longer with an insulated glove built into the handle so you don't h...