The Song

     Christmas season came fast and furious out on the line this year.  And we had vacation plans.  Fortunately  the the outcome wasn't planned.
     The beautiful Brenda had time planned in Cody, Wyoming.  Our plan was to spend six days there and visit her kids and take in the sights, and laugh celebrate Christmas, and listen to the bumps and bruises of grand kids, and eat good food,  and then say goodbye, and plan for it again.
    Then we were going to spend about the same time up in Penguin Lodge via Middle River, MN.  And spend some time in the woods, and play with the kids, and fish, and eat and laugh and have a little gift exchange, you know the whole Christmas new years shebang!
   But my work had different plans and i had to cut Wyoming short by a few days, zip up to Minnesota for only a few days, and head back out on the line near Tioga, ND on the 29th. Listened to lots of holiday music  in the 25 hours on the road.   It could have been worse.
   So during our time in Cody, we took in the Cody Museum.  Wow!  I enjoyed the gun collection and the Buffalo Bill stuff.  Then I heard the song of the wolf and was particularly drawn to the museum of natural history and the wolves in the Yellowstone section.   It seems the debate in the mountains is the same as the one in Minnesota.   The wolves (designed to hunt and kill) are struggling to share space with sportsmen and ranchers.    The wolves actually don't get a say in the situation.  It;s actually people (naturalists and conservationists) taking the side of the wolf claiming they restore balance in pristine wild places fighting with sportsmen and and ranchers trying to raise livestock for profit and hunters claiming not enough game to hunt creating a polarizing debate.
     So the news in the Rockies is the same as it is in the flat lands.  But that's not the good news.   Better news came later in the week when my daughter Gracei came out west to the Patch to spend the rest of her vacation with us.  Hunter and Mom came out on Friday to spend the weekend with us too.   And it all worked out better than I could have planned it, and perhaps even better than Brenda the planner could have planned.
     I got to spend a day on the lake with my Thomas and Dakota, and they claim the fishing is good, and will keep an eye out on my fish shack for me.  Skylar and Haley came for dinner too.  What a blessing.   All good news from the line.  Still no word from Jose Jimenez, last I heard he was on a project in Africa. I did see him in the background of a reporter coming off a plane  in a Fox News Ebola scare story.  Passing news.
      But I can't top the Good News, the reason for the season.  And Yes! Joy to the world!  And even with all the sacred and secular joys and songs I attempt to sing during the holidays,  nothing more moves me than the song of the wolf.  Nothing more stands the hair on my arms and neck or gives me goosebumps than their songs and harmonies.   First one, then another then the others.  In the pines and over the next hill and river valley,  heard and not seen, like us designed for a reason.  Perhaps they were here before us, like it says in the Bible, maybe; the evolutionists claim is true then the wolves did come first. Another polarizing debate which unarguably come to the same conclusion that they did come before man,  And if that is true, I can not help but emphatically add that the wolf was like man was designed to make a joyful noise and lift their voice to Heaven. Man thinks. Animals just do what they are designed to do.  And perhaps maybe it was the wolf who taught man to sing.  For the song of the wolf is so beautiful and deep and has stood the test of time,  and in its song words and melodies so intense that the snowy headwaters of the the Mississippi weep, the invisible walls of the arctic tundra not fathom, nor the Rockies baffle thier resonance.   Of all the creatures whomelse's song is worthy of imitating?  Perhaps that howl was first song. Maybe we stole their song and are too jealous and prideful to give something back or share credit? The Good news is we are who we are and all belong to God.  And the only question is what would God have us do about it.

Walleye Adventures

John 21:3 ESV / 

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

  It all started a few days before Christmas.  Fish house... check.   Auger ... check.   Game on! Me and the boys were going fishing.  We were up at the butt crack of dawn.  One stop for minnows.  Lunch was packed.  We are living in Minnesota, and we are going fishing- 26 below.  It don't matter.  We are having fun.
     Hmmm!  here is how it really went.  When we stopped to buy minnows, and gas,  it took an extra half hour because the computer was down at the bait shop.  Finally we got out on the ice.  hook the fuel canister to the new auger, and "pshhhh!" propane leaking all over.  No big deal just a hose.  8:00 back in Warroad MN .  9:00 back out on ice.   9:05 auger won't start.  9:10 Auger is broke.  9:15  boys having a caniption fit.  9:20 Strangers help us get fishing. 9:30  getting lines in water.  10:00 no fish 12:00 no fish 2:00 5 fish 4:00 no more fish and time to get home.
     It's good doing business in small towns.  The next day, I returned the auger and got one that works.  Just in time to head up to Lake Kabetogema near International Falls.    Fishing with my new bride.  My luck has changed I think.  Day one of fishing... 1 perch and 2 pike.  Baby's feet got a little cool.      Day 2 no fish... Baby decides to stay in cabin.   Hmmmm.
      So after a vacation and a honeymoon in a winter wonderland, its good bye land of 10,000 lakes and home to the Missouri flats near Williston.    I had this thought.
     I was thinking that maybe if I built a little fish house and tried fishing the great Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea, my walleye luck might change.  So I built it.  And I geared up and and tried my hand at fishing in North Dakota yesterday.  I went out to a place called Lund's Landing.  I fished.   I moved around a little and low and behold I got into some 5 lb pike.  Not a bad day.  Left early because of the storm that didn't come. Anyway I am still here to write about it.
     So today, I went back to the bait shop to pick the brains of some local fisherman, and brag a little about my adventure.   A guy said ,  "Hey! if you want to catch walleye and sauger, follw me and I will point you in the general direction."  So I did.  I went out to Lake Jenny,   a flat on the Missouri complex, a general area of Sakakawea.    We get out on the lake.  The reader will notice how I did not give directions to this sweet new fishing hole.    It would break all fisherman code to reveal such a location.   And we drive up to this guys fish shack.  It has satellite dish.  light generator, solar panels, alarms, motion lights, bath tub, couch, wi-fi.   Its like a mini-Radisson on ice complete with pole dancers and a wet bar.   Just as I was getting out of my truck to introduce myself,  the dark haired brown skinned grinning familiar smile of none other than Jose Jimenez popped his face out the window.   "Come on in and have a burrito Tomas."
     It seems i.t was his brother-in-law I met at the bait shop.   Little did I know before today Jose's sister lives near Williston.  Cool!  I fished until 7:00  had a bite.  Jose showed me his walleye, and a burbot (they call them ling here).    When I got home I had waiting for me a fresh batch of  fish patties from the northern I caught.  How wonderful she is  Williston is feeling a little more like home, and I feel my luck has changed for the better.   The walleyes will be jumping into my bucket tomorrow.