I love lake living!

There is something so peaceful about looking at water! Whether the sun is shining on the surface, giving it a diamond like effect, or if boats or jet skis are zipping along, I can’t help but sigh deeply (in a good way) just looking out our windows.

I love going out on the boat, and I love fishing! We aren’t great fishermen–we’ve caught very little to show for the time and effort we’ve put in–but again, the tranquility of the water and mountains that surround the lake is worth it. But we want to catch fish. Especially bass. I’ve asked Curt– the neighborhood ‘go to guy’ for fishing hints–to tell us what to do other than that pesky part about getting up at 4 AM. He said “Well then you won’t catch fish!” We try anyway, mostly in the late evening. We caught several large catfish and, after throwing them back at first, decided to keep the next ones we caught and cook them. But you know how, most of the time, fish caught in the wild are healthier and tastier? Not so with catfish. Farm raised is best, as they are fed floating pellets, which keeps them from bottom feeding, which affects their taste. I don’t know whether it’s because they were wild caught or because I looked them in the eye before they were cleaned and cooked, but ugh!!!! Kenn says it’s because I refused to deep fry them. Who knows, but no more for me!

Besides the catfish, I’ve caught one little blue gill, but no bass. I have caught several sticks, my shirt, the canvas cover of the boat several times, Kenn’s shorts, his line, and almost his ear and Casey’s nose. Kenn said he was going to start wearing a hard hat and work goggles to go fishing with me.

We also have a jet ski, a Sea Doo in fact. That’s Kenn’s favorite toy! We went out on it on Wednesday. I have only ridden one once in my life, so it was a little intimidating to me. We got about 30-45 minutes away from our dock and nature called for me. I decided to slip off into the lake without getting my hair wet, take care of business, hop back on, and off we would go. In reality, I crashed off of the back of the jet ski, gulped down lake water, and came up coughing and sputtering. Then the fun part. Getting this body back on the Sea Doo. Kenn had to hold onto the handles and keep it as steady as possible as I was thrashing about behind him trying to get some leverage to crawl back on. I finally hoisted up far enough to grab some rail things on the back of the seat and begged him to just drag me back to the dock but he refused. I finally got one leg up on the foot platform and got the rest of me up there. Then, hallelujah, I didn’t flip the thing getting back on the seat. I felt quite accomplished. Kenn asked me if I remembered to go to the bathroom, and I told him I was going from the moment I fell off until I was almost back on! As much as I love (NOT!!!) wearing a swimsuit, there could have been a ring of boaters around us and I wouldn’t have noticed or cared.

I will ride again and hopefully, will be able to remain seated the whole time, as that was quite fun. And someday, we may  bite the bullet and get up early to go fishing!