Field
Notes - Dispatch 39 – Rose Cottage, American Falls, Idaho, USA
Saturday,
September 29, 2018
Greetings,
Fellow Adventurers!
As
fall quickly approaches, I find myself fondly reminiscing over this
year’s fly fishing season’s high notes. As I lie in my
anti-gravity lounger gazing up at the trembling golden aspen leaves,
I ask myself, “Why the heck is this chair called anti-gravity?”
A silly name if you ask me. They should have called it the “Gin
and Tonic Reading and Snooze Machine.” But, as usual, no one asked
me.
This
trout season was truly a humdinger. I set a new personal best by
landing a thirty inch cutthroat trout and, you may find this
difficult to believe, I did not fall in any ice cold mountain
streams. Not even once! HA! Apparently my cat-like reflexes have not
deteriorated as quickly as the rest of me.
Last
weekend my brother-in-law Mark and I floated down the Teton River
near Driggs, Idaho. This is a wonderful little river flowing beneath
the mighty Teton Mountain peaks. Mark supplied the drift-boat, drove
the car and purchased the fuel. He also supplied a cooler of snacks
and beer, and did all the rowing. If I had known brothers-in-law
could be so accommodating, I would have married off all my sisters
when they were still in junior high.
Anyway,
under my tutelage I feel Mark has made significant progress in his quest
to be a fine fly fisherman and rowing expert. Obviously, he will
have to row me down many more rivers in the years to come to achieve
his goals, but I have every confidence in his eventual success as
long as he does not run out of funds to purchase our expedition
supplies.
Scout
and I have also recently attended the Oktoberfest at Grand Targhee
Ski Resort and gone to a sand-hill crane festival. There is nothing
quite like drinking excellent beer under clear blue mountain skies,
sniffing alpine scented air while eating brauts and throwing rocks at
sand-hill cranes as they fly over head. Well, that last part is not
true. Scout and I happen to be very fond of the old cranes and have,
over the years, expended more energy than I care to remember
trundling about the countryside to view them.
Speaking
of large edible birds, it will not be long before we can all start
looking forward to Thanksgiving and holiday season. I am not much
for Halloween but from then on I can get pretty festive. It is not
too early to visit the www.OldTrout.fish online store and purchase some useful
and attractive fishing gifts for those on your Christmas list. All
of this year’s net profits will be donated to….me. I need a six
weight Sage fly-rod and what could possibly give you more holiday
happiness than knowing you have helped to get that rod under the
tinsel- trimmed tree for this good boy? So log on and spend freely.
This
morning I put the finishing touches on the airplane I have been
restoring for the head-start school here in good old American Falls.
It has been quite a project and has entailed some real learning on my
part because my knowledge regarding aeronautical engineering is
somewhat limited. Nevertheless, I have persevered and will be test
flying the aircraft this afternoon given some decent flying weather. I
have attached a commemorative photo for your Old Trout image collection.
Wish me luck and some good tail winds.
