To Catch A Fish So Juicy Sweeeeeeeeeet!

The rocks and pool
Is nice and cool
So juicy sweet
Our only wish
To catch a fish
So juicy sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

       Sorry, I couldn't help myself. My brother recently discovered a new fishing place near our house - one of the only ones that doesn't have contaminated water. This is good for two reasons, one, we can actually eat the fish we catch (yay!), and two, it is even within biking distance. We went there for the first time a few days ago, and although we only stayed fir an hour, we scouted out all of the best places to fish from, and I landed a bass. A pretty small one, only about 1 1/2 pounds, but still good. We also saw bigger ones jumping out near the center.

        Above you see the bass that I caught. :) I caught it on a topwater frog that my brother had salvaged from his favorite lure collecting spot. Now I don't know all the specifics on this jackpot, but apparently he found a place where everyone's lures and such get stuck in the trees, so he climbs up and untangles them with a special pole and gets free lures. I've never been there - but it sounds great to me! He said he didn't think that this frog would catch anything because of its unusual coloring (I gave him a hard time after about his motives for putting it on my pole), but it did! He was using a frog too, but either the fish didn't like his frog, or his way of pulling it across the water *laughs*.

        So anyhooz... I'm looking forward to going back there and fishing some more when I get the chance. We've been doing a lot lately at a pond (man made) out near our church; we go early and get some fishing done before it starts. Who cares if I smell like fish anyway? I certainly don't, but I'm not sure about everyone else. ;) We catch bluegill just for fun, to release or to take home live and put in my mom's pond, and catfish for our neighbor to eat. My brother fillets them and takes them down to him when we have a lot.

        Last week, I had my first experience butchering something other than birds (or fish, if that counts as butchering). I had been wanting to learn how to do mammals for a while - I figured it would be a good skill to have, and handy for when I want to go deer hunting. There is a family we know from church who has both meat rabbits and chickens, and I finally worked up the nerve to ask the dad if he would teach me how. Actually, that is a lie. I just kept awkwardly following him around trying to get up the nerve to ask him until someone else just finally told him there was something I needed to ask him. So there. He had been really busy - he is a fireman and a professional beekeeper - so it took a while to sort out a good time, but we finally did. It was a great experience, let me tell you! And, dare I say, fun? Don't hate me for enjoying the rabbit slaughtering; they were raised for food, not as pets.

        And that has been my week! Along with school and goats, my schedule has been packed! I drew up the plans for a new milking stand the other day, and am going to be building it this week hopefully (stay tuned for pictures!). On top of that, we are trying to get rid of some goat lice that came home with a bad bale of straw, which is not fun. If you've ever dealt with anything of the sort I am sure you know that. I'm sorry there haven't been very many posts lately, but I'll try to keep it at about six posts a month or somewhere around there. So long!

Blessings,

Reyna

P.S. Thank y'all for voting on the poll for my new blog look! I'm glad you liked it as much as I did!