Russ' day off

Went steelhead fishing today with a friend and his young nephew. No teaching or planning, no farm work. Caught a beautiful wild steelhead. The wild ones are catch and release while the hatchery fish you can keep. So, no picture today. I like to release as quickly as possible. The youngster got to see me catch it. Steelheading is not really perfect for an 8 year old. You can fish all day without a bite. But I know I would have loved to spend a day in the outdoors with a couple of scruffy, late middle aged, woodsmen when I was that age. He lasted a few hours before he lost patience with the fishing.

I enjoy bringing home steehead and getting them in the smoker, but actually it's kind of nice not to have to come home after a long day and clean fish. I've been eating smoked steelhead on crackers every day for two weeks anyway. A cracker, a slice of tomato, and a hunk of steelhead. Mmmm.

Tomorrow I will be building ramps into the barn in two places. Both for the animals and also to make it easier to clean out the ancient hay and manure. I'll be building a frame of scrap wood and old pallets then filling it in with gravel. It should work well.

We are having a workday in a few weeks. We are recruiting some local friends who need some extra cash and paying $50 and a farm lunch for 4-5 hours of work. I'm hoping everyone will think it is fun and worthwhile. Pitching out the hay and manure really will be a strenuous and dirty task, but I'll be working right along side.

I remember helping with a barn raising when I was a younger man and it was a really fun day of hard work.