A Great Book...

I am not a huge reader, but if I find a book that has someone to do with one of my hobbies or interests, it usually grabs me. Over the years I have kept this blog, I have made a few posts about books, but not many. Since I just finished another book that I really enjoyed, I figured I would post it here.

The book is called "Cop Book" and it was written by a recently retired officer, Richard Greelis, from my department. The book is basically a memoir of his career and if very well written. Even if you don't have any knowledge of law enforcement you will be able to read it like you do! It is a very good capture of the weird crap police officers see during their career. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

The book can be purchased online HERE.

Presents for Me!

Well, as some of you may or may not know, my birthday was July 2nd. I ended up getting some pretty cool gifts from my family this year. I'm the kind of guy who is ALWAYS happy getting clothes. I hate shopping for them, so what better way to freshen up my wardrobe! I did get a few cool "guy" gifts too!

First, from my beautiful wife I got a Trans Am restoration book and from my Mom and Dad I got a really cool embroidered Trans Am t-shirt that my Mom made on her embroidery machine.

I got a few air tools from my brother, some gift cards from my in-laws, and one more neat gift from my parents:

My parents and my brother ended up finding this old air compressor at a garage sale. They knew I have always wanted one and figured this would be a good way to get one economically. After handing the owner the $10 asking price, my Dad spent the better part of a day getting it cleaned up, rewired, and outfitted with some new fittings. It works great and is a great addition to my garage. From what I can tell, it is possibly a 1969 Montgomery Wards air compressor. I tried to find some information about it online, but didn't come up with anything (if anyone knows anything about this air compressor, or might even have a matched unit, leave a comment or e-mail me). Down the road, I am going to try and get it sanded and painted, but I have a few other projects ahead of that!

I am very thankful for all of the nice gifts from my family!

Preplanning a Trip...(in pictures!)

I have been doing a little preplanning for a trip:

FIREWOOD +

ADULT BEVERAGES (yes, those are stacked two high!) +

FIREWORKS =

The 11th Annual Guys Cabin Trip!

As you read this, I will driving up to my buddy's cabin for our annual cabin trip. I think we have eight people going this year and are brining a speed boat again for the second year! I will make sure and post pictures when I get back! Have a great weekend!

Beating the Summer Heat...

Anyone that knows me, knows that I HATE the summer weather (mainly the humidity), but Maeve loves being outside, and live her kiddy pool. So a couple weeks ago when the temperatures were in the high 90's (with the heat index being in the +100's) I wanted to get the pool set up for Maeve. I didn't really want her in the direct sun and I could think of a better place to be also, I used a little bit of my Eagle Scout intuition and constructed the "Ultimate Kiddy Pool!"

Using a camping dining tarp, I made a nice shaded area for Maeve to swim in and me to watch under! Maeve had a great time and if it ever gets hot again (you can even SEE the heat in some of the pictures below) I will put it up again!

Walleye Fishing on Lake Erie...

As I mentioned in one of my recent posts, we all took a road trip to Michigan to visit some of Shannon's family and go to a couple graduation parties. I was very excited about the trip for a few reasons, I hadn't met some of the family living out there, I wanted to see how the Altima did on the highway, and I was going to get to go fishing on Lake Erie!

We did A TON of driving, we put on 1700 miles in about 5 days. The trip itself was 700 miles one way (1400 total) then everyone we visited seemed to live about 40 or 50 miles away from where we were staying at. The Altima did great on the highway. The ride was very comfortable, no wind noise, and it got GREAT gas mileage. On the way out there (driving the speed limit and no A/C) we got 35 MPG! On the way back (doing about 7 mph over the speed limit and with the A/C on) we got 31 MPG! I don't think I have ever owned a car that has got better than 20 mpg, so this was a treat!

This was a Thursday night to Monday night trip, so on Saturday morning, we (my Father-In-Law, Tim, Shannon's Uncle, Tom, and myself) got up at about 0700 and headed to the marina to do some fishing. I don't even remember the last time I have been fishing. Honestly, out of all the outdoor activities that I participate in, fishing is the one I know the least about and almost never go out and do. So, having the opportunity to walleye fish on one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie, was exciting for me.

The marina that Tom keeps is boat at was also something I had never seen before. Instead of keeping the boat in the water (which is what I expected) the boat is kept in a warehouse and a giant (I mean huge) forklift plucks it out of some racking and drops it in the water. All you have to do is get on and go!

After the boat was in the water, we fired it up and headed out. Tom is very good friends with a lot of the professional fishing guides that work the lake and had some information on some good fishing spots, so we headed out. Being on a boat on one of the Great Lakes was fun, you can't really go full throttle anywhere, but you pretty much just set a speed and go. The waves weren't too bad and overall the ride was quite pleasant! We were actually fishing in Ohio waters on Lake Erie, so I have officially purchased an Ohio fishing license (which is ironic considering I have never purchased a Minnesota one!). Once we got to our destination (which is a secret, not that I could ever tell where we were!), Tom went to work. I was expecting him to hand us all a rod and tell us to start fishing, but it wasn't anything like that. He set planer boards out to each side of the boat, hooked up 6 rods using snap releases to the planer board line and let the line out. We pretty much just trolled along and when one of the lines would get a bite, we would take turns reeling the fish in! This was very fun!

I think after about 3 hours of fishing, we ended up with 10 walleyes that were keepers. We did catch other fish (Silver Bass and Sheepheads) but I learned they are considered "junk fish" and were all thrown back. Tom said it was a so-so day, he was expecting to catch more, but I still had a blast!

I am very glad that I had the chance to go fishing when I was out in Michigan/Ohio. I would like to thank both Tom and Tim for giving me this experience. Overall, the trip to Michigan was a great one and I can't wait to FLY out there and see everyone again!