After a week in the cool confines of Red River we came home to, well, the cool confines of Amarillo but Saturday was warm and Sunday was downright toasty. It felt like summer. There was rain to go along with the cool during the week, some five inches. If you are scoring at home, that’s nearly six inches for the month. It was timely, too. We were beginning to get dry. After the last few years of marginal moisture, I start getting nervous as the weeks roll by without any rain.
Red River was its usual pleasant self. It was cool and rainy there, also, but it really didn’t interfere with our good times. We may have spent a little more time indoors but we still fished, swam, ate ice cream and watched movies, all very restful for this hard-working old coot.
Our girls were very persistent fishermen but other than the two caught, one by Kaylee and one by Vivian, they were not rewarded. From my point of view, in spite of the dearth of fish caught, we had a good time trying. After several years of this I finally remembered to take a chair. My job was to manage the tackle technical issues so I set up my chair with my tackle box at my feet and baited hooks once I’d gotten the poles ready to go. Kari, Jill and Abigail took over from there. Kaylee, Rebecca and Sophia are mostly self-sufficient one their poles are ready to go. The big three encouraged them to leave their bait in the water but the fun of reeling and casting was, for the most part, just to attractive. In years past that bugged me but not anymore. If they are happy I’m happy. The only time I got actively involved was when the two fish were hooked. I sprang into action with my net and pliers to secure the fish and remove the hook. Oh, and I cleaned them once we got back to our rooms. All the reeling and casting kept me busy re-baiting hooks. We use salmon eggs, which are about the easiest thing to put on a hook. One jar of eggs is more than enough bait.
I forgot my swim shorts so I stayed out of the pool, which was fine with me. Jill and Kari, and once Abigail, swam with the little ones. A couple of afternoons while they were swimming Abigail and I binge-watched Bones. After dinner there was ice cream and a movie for the granddaughters and me while Kari and Jill went for a walk. Joyce didn’t feel very well while we were there. Her friend Phyllis suggested it was altitude sickness. Could have been. Her symptoms were what one would expect from that. Phyllis said people who have never had a problem with altitude sometimes get a dose and then are never troubled with it again. Joyce is fine now.
After so much rain, the grass and weeds have cranked back up. It’s going to take a lot of work to catch back up. Oh, well.