Partly Cloudy

Having worked until midnight last night, I obviously didn't get to bed until pretty late. On top of that I slept in till noon, before finally stirring and getting a phonecall.

"Mike, wanna go fishin?" my friend asked.

At this point I was still groggy, and had a pounding headache.

"We'd like you to guide us."

So naturally I said yes, and we headed off. Granted, it's very difficult fishing with 3 people on such a small stream, but even so, in two hours we caught about 10 trout between us. I was flattered that I got to GUIDE two full grown adults on a stream! It was so much fun for me. Perhaps a possible career of sorts?

___

The sun's warm glow was muffled frequently behind a sea of gray clouds, but no rain as of yet. The water was low, and clear as glass, making trout sharp as nails! From the density of the rhodadendron, various songbirds sang merrily, picking off mayflies and other insects from the undersides of the leaves.

In one particular section of stream, the rhodadendron touched the water, and the riffles caused by the rocks were enough to make any trout fisherman's mouth water!



There, and in a few other holes I managed to catch a few trout, most of which were small native stream-born "brookies" which I slipped back into the water as soon as possible. Further upstream, in a deeper pool, I caught a rainbow that was about 12 inches, and pretty fat on top of that! Both the species, and fat attribute made this an undoubtedly stocked fish. Regardless, I tossed him back into the water where he will hopefully live and grow over the next few years.

Overall, a short, but good trout outing. We said our goodbyes (one of the guys had to get back to his wife), and they thanked me for guiding them along the stream. I was very pleased, and hope to do it again soon.

(Btw - the one guy I was fishing with has Lyme's Disease. He had medicine pumping constantly into his system from this weird patch thing on his arm. He cautioned me to get checked out next time I go to the doctors being that I was bitten by a tick, AND had a rash.)

___

After the fishing trip, it was back home into the shower were I washed with this new AXE "Snake Skin Peel" body scrub. Holy HELL does it smell good!

Then it was off to grandma's (only about a mile from the stream I had JUST come from)where I managed to get some pretty pictures.



The roses are blooming...at least those ones were. But I noticed that bright pinks, yellows, and violets show up blurry on my camera for some reason. I haven't mastered the art of photography, that's for damn sure! I'm not sure what to do, other than adjust the color saturation on the pc. Any tips?

Oh...here's an unedited rose:



Note how the bright color almost glows. How do I fix that problem? Can I? Or will I just have to adjust color saturation EVERY time I take a picture of a bright plant?

---


Ah...the Pansy. Probably one of my favorite domestic flowers. Me and mom actually call them "Monkey Faces"...I'm not sure if it's something she made up, or if that's the standard nickname for it.



Then of course there is the lilac. Gotta love those! They smell so good!





The tulip season seems to beginning to wane. As sad as this is, it only means more beautiful flowers are likely coming into season.

I need some help too...I don't know what kind of flower this is:



As well as these pretty things:



I need to get some wildflower identification books, as well as something to identify the garden varieties.