I was in Juliette yesterday teaching my son Will how to drive. He turned fifteen recently and got his learner’s permit, so we now go driving most Sunday afternoons. We both like Juliette cause it’s perfect place for him to practice - not much traffic and a whole lot of country roads for him to drive around on. It also has one additional thing going for it - if we practice driving in Juliette, we can ease over to Ed Jr.s’ house after we’re done and spend some time with him.

That’s exactly what we did yesterday. We drove around Juliette for awhile, then rode over to Ed Jr.s’ house. We’d barely gotten out of my truck when he appeared at his front door, yelled hello, and told us both to come on in house. And that’s exactly what we did.

The three of us talked for a good half hour, and we had a blast. During our conversations we pretty much solved Middle East crisis, decided which Georgia flag is best, and figured out whether Britney Spear’s chest is real or silicone. It was all great fun.

After that we decided to go outside and stretch our legs. As we walked around Ed Jr.s’ front yard we happened to amble over to where his combination storage shed/garage is located. After serenading us with a couple of slightly off color jokes, Ed Jr. asked Will and I following,

“You boys ever played country tennis?”

Will looked over at me like I’d know what his grandpa was talking about, but I didn’t have a clue. I shrugged my shoulders and said,

“Can’t say that we have. What is it?”

He replied, “I’ll show you.” And with that, he walked around side of shed and returned with a tennis racket.

Will and I didn’t want to say anything, but I’m sure we both wondered just how you’d play tennis standing right outside a storage shed. I think Ed Jr. sensed this as well, so he handed racket over to me and then pointed around a corner to where some bumble bees were flying around...

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First Boat Trip of 2005

Met my brother at boat ramp around 11 in morning. It was first time he got his boat in water this season. I was very surprised by how clear river was compared to week before. When we powered away from ramp we started planning where to start fishing. It was then I noticed fish finder was not in boat. That meant we had to fish spots we knew about and hoped fish would be there. I had intended to use fish finder to pinpoint fish to increase our odds of landing more fish than usual for us.

My brother got all 6 rods baited up as we motored to fist spot. He used large chunks of frozen skipjack as bait on all rods. He has an array of 6 rod holders that allows a wide area to be fished at same time. We settled back once all lines were in water at our first stop. One of my brother’s rods got a good bite. The fish hit it hard some more. My brother did not get very concerned; he said he would just let fish hook himself. The rod did not move any after he said that. We started to wind in our lines to move to our next spot. He picked up rod that had bite that is when he realized fish was still on line. When he got it to top of water he saw catfish had wrapped line around its body. There was no way it could use tail section of its body at all to swim off with line. My brother had to cut line so fish could be free of mess so he could take a couple pictures. The Channel cat was in 6 pound range and good shape as he was returned to Licking River.