Things I've been able to do in captivity - Looking at the bright side

I mainly fly fish now, but I still really enjoy gear fishing.  I'm using my vice to tie up some lures for use with a gear rod.  Several Hoochie, baitfish, and even a Pt Wilson dart mutant.  I've even cut up a few glow in the dark hoochies and used parts for my own Frankenlures.  I can place beads and stinger hooks at any distance or grouping.
Like others have pointed out, my other fly boxes are getting pretty full.  Might not catch fish, but fun to test the imagination.
I'm trying to make a Muddler that will spin.

Thanks to a bunch of help from Mrs. Redbeard, the fishing tackle is the most organized it has ever been. Also I built some brackets out of scrap metal for a pull-up bar, and stripped and repainted my powerboat anchor. And I've got plenty of time for yard work.

Captain, I'm surprised, I think you need about three times that many rods. I'm also glad to see some people are actually making bread. When I saw all the empty shelves at the stores the last few weeks, I found it hard to believe that all of a sudden people were going to start learning how to bake bread and cook dry beans. Fortunately, although I might prefer to take a fishing trip right about now, I have more than one pastime. Right now I am getting all ready to plant a garden once it dries out enough. This week looks like it might be about right to get serious. We are also using the food we have in our freezer and have inventoried everything after defrosting it for the year. I made our last piece of salmon with and emmer pilaf and homegrown asparagus. We are going to make a lot of tomato sauces and salsa this year.

Captain Redbeard and C_Run, now this is what I'm talking about!  Getting things done and making the most out of our confinement.

I'd like to be back at work, business as usual, or better yet, stop staring at the Cape Kiwanda Webcam every morning, and get out there and fish, but I don't want to create any unnecessary problems for anyone else out there, especially our medical professionals, and essential workers, who don't get a choice on what they do.

Captain, I'm surprised, I think you need about three times that many rods.

I don't want to disappoint... Just remember this is rods for 2 people, so really it's only half as bad as it looks 

Honestly I could survive with 1 saltwater rod, 2 freshwater rods, and 1 salmon rod. But what would the fun in that be? 

C_Run - love the food and garden starts. I've held off having a garden at this house because we do so much on the weekends but depending on how long this lasts maybe I should reconsider.

C_Run - love the food and garden starts. I've held off having a garden at this house because we do so much on the weekends but depending on how long this lasts maybe I should reconsider.

It doesn't hurt to start small on the garden. It's just become routine for me over the years. It looks like you've got room for a big one if you want. I guess you've got me beat on the number of rods but just barely.

Beat me on rod count, too - back in my pre-fly-fishing days.  I only had 28.  Now I have three fly rods, trout, steelhead & rockfish, and salmon.  Got down to that before you, huh?

I'm not going to show you the state of my front yard because it's horrific - just bare dirt - so I'll be tilling in some soil amendments and planting new grass this week, then chopping down the rest of the blackberry brambles so I have fresh canes, and after that I'll plant new baby rhododendrons (and hope the dogs don't pee these to death the way they did last year's plants), and maybe I'll get around to planting something more than strawberries in the garden patch.

I was planning to re-organize my fly tying bench, but everything's still packed-away in boxes while the guest house is occupied.  Darn.

I'm trying to make a Muddler that will spin.

Maybe add a really small Spin n Glo, or a tiny Macks Smile Blade?

Latest jobs around the house are done.  Tore down the pergola out back and put up a nice metal gazebo, then repurposed some of the wood from the pergola and made a 3 tier kayak rack.  Next is a bathroom remodel tomorrow... 

The more I get done around the house now, the more I can fish later 

by absolute luck, I had a big construction project planned for 2020 on our lot.  the first week of March, I started demolishing ~1000ft2 of stuff (3 cabin/sheds, decking with roof over it), to prepare for a slab pour and install of a metal garage workshop (18' x 48' with 12' walls) beside our tinyhouse.  Inside I will frame out to create an art room for my wife (240ft2) and fish room for me (200ft2), plus a workbench platform that our 16' PB can store under.  Above the rooms will become our storage area, eliminating our storage unit in town (where all our stuff is currently stored).  I am keeping access to the Outback and related kit for bottom fishing so that come summer, once I have my permits and the building is ordered, provided things have opened up and the ocean cooperates, Pepper and I can 'punch' the surf again at Sunset Bay and load us up with some lingcod/rockfish/crab.  Ocean salmon out of Depot Bay is our stretch goal for the year but the weak coho forecast makes that less likely. 



first shed coming down...


2 sheds gone as of late April, just laundry and my wife's art cabin left with some covered deck.  the top of those retaining wall blocks on the right is the grade level for the slab, I still have lots of sand to shift after the rest of this is gone.
   

I wish I was making progress against it all, but I am still working since I normally work from home anyway and they've closed all our offices and sent everyone home to work as part of our "business continuity plan".

I do have a project in the planning stage to rehabbing a 16x32 "shop" in our barn, which needs all the existing shelving and cabinets ripped out, a new roof, new pellet stove, new roof, actual insulation which I'll be going with spray foam so it seals all the critters out, then sheetrock. I'll paint the concrete floor, line the walls with chrome racks except for 10' linear feet of fishing rod storage. All my fishing, hunting, and camping gear will go down there. A futon will make it a man cave where I can sleep the night before an early morning departure. A small fridge for beer and bait.

But first I gotta put a new roof on the whole 32x64 barn. That's gonna be spendy. Along with the spray foam insulation.

I'm toying with the idea of putting solar on the roof and a battery bank so the entire barn can be disconnected from the grid - I have a second PGE account that I'd like to ditch.

The remaining problem is internet. So pondering what kind of point-to-point extender would go 350' from the house over to the barn so I could put up wifi cameras, streaming and browsing and wifi phone calls since the cell signal is pretty poor.

Current electricity use is an hour a day of LED lights, and maintaining the RV house battery. With this new scheme I'd be adding the beer/bait fridge all the time, and when occupied a few hours a weekend some more lighting and the pellet stove. So maybe a small solar setup with a mini-turbine and a pair of batteries. And for times when I need to run any power tools or the AC in the summer, a 35kw generator. That's gotta be cheaper than a super big solar system. Then ditch the PGE service account.

I just broke ground on the deck I have been meaning to build for the last 2 years.  The kiddo took a tumble off of the nasty concrete steps and skinned his ear. That got my wife on my case to do something about it. I spent most of the afternoon with a rented jackhammer knocking off the top step to clear the joists.  Who in the heck pours solid concrete steps?  I was expecting to break through a few inches of concrete and hit sand, but it was solid all the way through. 

I got a good start on the bathroom remodel today.  Got the old vanity and toilet removed and pulled the baseboards.  My wife painted the walls.  Then we got the vinyl flooring put in and put the baseboards back on.  Installed the new toilet and vanity.  I don't have the vanity connected up since I will have to move it out of the way to fix the drywall that came off with the tile that the homebuilders glued right to the drywall.  If Home Depot or Lowe's wasn't such a mess right now it would have all been done today.  Oh well, that will give me something to do next weekend.  Drywall and and a nice tile backsplash.

update on my 2020 stay-home project, new garage/workshop went up yesterday, electrician coming today.  My goal has been for Pepper and I to be back on the water for Siltcoos Coho and that is on track. 

My Outback project queue, which will not take long once I dig the kayak out of storage, includes Boonedox landing gear (Kiwi and beach wheels), plus the Aluminum rudder and Armor Plate from Snipe Air. 

Hoping to complete most of the workshop interior work by the end of the year but with plenty of fishing mixed in.  cheers, roger