meeting the miceli’s June 10, 2009
Posted by saltcastings in Family, Friends.Tags: Seattle Children's Theater
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While Dawn was off baking herself in the Palm Desert sun, the boys and I met Pat, Carrie, Max, Sophia and Rocco at the Seattle Children’s Theater for I Was A Rat. Show was ok but the kids really had a great time and it was fantastic catching up with Pat and Carrie. What a beautiful family!
Jack, Rocco, Sophia, Max and Noah
back in the saddle June 10, 2009
Posted by saltcastings in Family, Fishing.Tags: Leadership Tomorrow, Picnic Point, sea run cutthroat
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I know. Been a while. Whatever.
The boys started swimming for Innis Arden a few weeks ago and love it. The coaches are great and practice runs from 7-7.40 weeknights — a great way to end the day. They’re still not sure if they want to swim in the meets, but I think once they see one and all the excitement, they’ll be right there in the blocks with the rest of them.
Can hardly wait for the salmon to come back. The Game Dept. estimates there will be north of 5 million pinks this year through the Sound. I caught a dandy sea run cutthroat the other day at Picnic Point. Around 16 inches or so and beautiful. No sea lice at all. Picked him up on a simple white and brown baitfish pattern.
Heading to fish the Deschutes at the end of July. Yeah, baby.
Lucy started walking a few weeks ago. Still prefers crawling — well, being carried, actually — but seems to be stretching her legs more every day. Amazing how little she still is. 16 months old on Saturday and maybe 19lbs?
Leadership Tomorrow is almost a wrap. We’re presenting our project to our client, Seattle Education Access, next Tuesday and to the class on Thursday at our last challenge day. Graduation is on the 23rd at Woodland Park Zoo. Really glad I did this, but man, was it a lot of work. Love the people.
24 random things about me February 10, 2009
Posted by saltcastings in All-purpose, Family, Fishing, Friends, GS.add a comment
Copied from my FB page.
- I eat peanut butter almost every day and once bet a co-worker $50 I could eat a pint of Adams in one sitting. I would have done it if I hadn’t looked at the fat content and worried if my heart could take it.
- My oldest son, Jack is an amazing athlete and will be twice the soccer player I ever was.
- My youngest son, Noah, will invent something that will change history.
- My daughter, Lucy, will make me bald.
- I would fly fish every day if it would pay the mortgage.
- Dawn and I skied at White Pass for our second date. In the afternoon we hiked up a hill and threw snowballs at people going by and laughed until our sides hurt. I knew at that point she was the girl for me.
- My favorite TV show of all time is 60 minutes.
- There is nothing like the sight and sound of a ringneck pheasant exploding out of tall grass.
- I believe good people find each other.
- If money wasn’t an option, I’d have five bikes in my garage right now: silver ‘02 BMW GSA, ‘01 Ducati 996R, late-90’s Ducati Monster, ‘66 Ducati Mach 1 and an MV Agusta F4.
- My wife is the strongest person I will ever meet.
- When I was 12 I jumped off a 20+ foot cliff trying to catch a tree to impress my friends. I missed the trunk and caught my leg on the last branch. My head swung past a rock that probably would have killed me. I worry daily about the cliffs my kids will face.
- I wouldn’t be half the person I am today if I had not spent as much time with my grandmother as I did.
- I subscribe the theory that one can never have too many fly rods. Or shotguns.
- I have zero time/interest in watching sports on TV, so for years I’ve watched Sports Center highlights to keep up with my peers at the water cooler. Figure I’ve saved years of my life and they are none the wiser. The only exception to this is the World Cup.
- I can’t wait to get a dog.
- The anthems of my youth can be found in the lyrics of Minor Threat, The Cult and Public Enemy.
- I only wear shoes when I absolutely have to. Otherwise its flip flops.
- I love to cook, especially things that come with a chance to learn about another place, time or culture.
- I have been overserved in six of the top ten U.S. cities.
- You can find a picture of Tiger Woods and me in a 2-page Accenture ad in the January-February 2009 issue of the Economist.
- I once hauled a brand new surfboard all the way to Fiji and never put it in the water. There were no waves that week anywhere in the islands. Not even Cloudbreak.
- I love to win, learn from getting beat, and hate to lose.
- I’ve managed to catch crabs three times in the past three years. Dungeness, that is.
Goodbye, 2008 January 4, 2009
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I’ve been putting this one off for weeks now. Just not sure how best to sum up the year, I guess.
In the positive column, and in the simplest terms possible, I’ve still got my wife, she’s healthy again and the four of us got Lucy. We’ve been talking a lot lately about this time last year — the hospital, the doctors, the surgeries — how surreal it all seems now. Dawn found some old notes yesterday in her planner as she was transitioning her her new 2009 book that brought back some of the specifics. I still don’t know how she did it. I would have thrown in the towel weeks before. But her strength brought more joy to our lives than I could have ever imagined. The months between then and now have been some of the richest of my life. They’ve also been among the most challenging. If you’ve ever transitioned from man-to-man coverage to a zone defense you know what I’m talking about. What little hair I have left I’m sure will continue to recede in 15 equal increments so that I will be completely bald on Lucy’s 16th birthday, if not sooner.
This year Jack proved to be a proud, yet distracted second grader. Noah embraced Kindergarten with equal parts curiosity and skepticism. I think he’s actually having more fun than he lets on, but that’s Noah. February is just around the corner and my God, how are we going to pull off four birthdays in one month?
Don and Becky continue to be a huge and important part of our lives. I can’t describe the gratitude I have for their help this year.
2008 was also filled with more loss than I ever thought possible. Nana, Shawn, an old friend from West 30th in Kennewick. And Carol. I’ll never forget that call from Dawn, just days after Nana’s funeral. I said if anyone can beat the odds, it’s Carol. She wasn’t going to give up on her family and they sure as hell didn’t give up on her. Scott, Darla, Heath, Shawn, Jim, Judy – day in, day out, right there by her side. And she did. And she is.
I think it was Wendy who first spoke of the timing of Lucy’s birth and how it happened to coincide with Nana’s last visit to the hospital. Dawn and Nana happened to be a few floors apart for about three days, I think. At first I couldn’t believe my luck — the two most important people to me in the world, both in the same hospital at the same time. But once Lucy arrived it was obvious it had nothing to do with luck. You can see it in her personality today, the same sparkle in her eyes, the same laugh, the same sweet smile.
All part of Nana’s plan. I miss you so much.
What a year it was.
christmas treed December 7, 2008
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We picked up a permits from the ranger station in North Bend today and headed up to the area around Denny Creek to harvest trees with Uncle 
Beefer, Erin, Kate, Don and Becky. The open area was along FSR 5510. We drove up about 3 miles, just above where the snow line would be if there was any this year. I know this because the rain turned to hail and then to snowflakes the size of golf balls just as we parked. The wind howled and we all got soaked. Dawn paraded LuLu around in a puffy pink one-piece getup – complete with idot mittens – in the backpack. Once the trees were loaded up we piled into Don’s van for hot chocolate and ham sandwiches. Ho Ham Ho.
tacos al pastor December 1, 2008
Posted by saltcastings in Family.Tags: tacos al pastor
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Took a stab last night at one of my favorite mexican dishes, tacos al pastor. Don, Becky, Uncle Beefer, Erin and Kate joined us for dinner. I used this recipe and love the way they turned out. Next time I’m going to grill up some pineapple and add it to the chopped pork just before serving. A friend of mine also suggested rubbing dry mustard on the roast before adding the marinade. Good stuff.
Noah’s first sea-run! November 30, 2008
Posted by saltcastings in Family, Fishing.Tags: Carkeek, mini-ceiver, pink comet, sea run cutthroat
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Noah and I tested the boys’ first pair of waders this morning at Carkeek. John, the old guy from Patrick’s, was just coming off the water after a shutout as we were gearing up in the parking lot. After he identified
my mystery fly as a pink comet, we scampered across the bridge. My plan was to do the casting and let Noah start getting the feel for managing the rod and stripping in the fly. I tied on a trusty pink and white mini-ceiver on my 4-5wt with a floating line and leader. The first cast and retrieve was rough. The second was a little better. My third cast was a bomb, the kind when you wish you had another five feet of line pooled at your feet. Noah stripped it a few times then bam, a little sea run cutthroat hit. He held the rod while I pulled it in. It was hard to say who was more excited – me or him – though I think I was the one doing most of the hollering. Bright fish, about eight inches, but the poor thing was covered in sea lice.
We worked down the bank a few more yards and saw a fish roll within range but couldn’t get it to rise. A couple of casts later we had another fish follow the fly in and make a pass just at the surface before spooking at the sight of us. Couldn’t tell how big but loved the sight of the bow wake.
Noah decided after that he wanted to play with some other kids on the beach, so I picked up my rod and gave the pink comet a bath. Got one solid hit but that was all.
Eglon road trip November 16, 2008
Posted by saltcastings in Family, Fishing.Tags: Eglon
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The boys and I jumped on the Kingston ferry this morning, javanated when we landed and used the power of Google Navigator to wind our way up the coast and down to the beach at Eglon. Great little saltwater park with a covered eating area and fire pit. I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a public boat launch, though the lot was small enough to make you realize it could easily turn into a pre-dawn rodeo of tail lights and fisticuffs on a busy summer morning.
I waded in just north of the launch in the outgoing tide, working my way over to a small gravel bar, then out as far as I could go before heading up the beach. Just after I switched out a pink mini-ceiver to a pink candy/clouser I hooked a decent fish, probably in the 14-inch range. Guessing it was a local salmon given the fact it was very silver and it didn’t immediately come out of the water like most of the sea runs I’ve caught. Regardless, he spit the hook as I was taking in the slack and making my way back to shore so Noah could muscle him in. My long-distance release skills seem to be improving, unfortunately.
Saw two other nice fish jump within casting range but couldn’t get either to take a fly. Our plan was to motor north to Point No Point but certain crew mates got hungry so we turned back to Kingston for burritos at Salsa – one of our faves.
