"Sprout Your Next Meal" by Dorothy Cady

Sprouts and sprouting...

Just found this fantastic website. It's the BEST place I've ever visited on the net, to do with the real nuts and bolts of actually living simpler, smarter and of course, healthier, into our retirement years, for less money than You would think... :-)

Also, I've talked a little about the benefits of putting fresh sprouts into your diet before in my blogs, so this link from Homestead, will help You get Your very own Sprout Garden growing, easy like. :-) Think of it as, your vegetable garden without all the waiting, weeding and all the dirt! Enjoy!

"Sprout Your Next Meal" by Dorothy Cady

Here's some that I enjoyed down by the river the other day. I call this shot, Sprouts on the rocks... :-)

Trout fishing lessons...

Forest Life...

Trout aren't easy...
So last Saturday my new fishing friend Arthur, picked me up @ about 4 bells and we headed out to the Calabogie area. I was happy to be part of his new canoe testing and glad to go along as ballast too. :-) After a work-out getting the canoe in the water, at the first lake, we got blanked by the Specks that are supposed to be living in there. :-( Now that's with Art using worms and me sticking to my artificial lures, like always. I'm kinda stubborn like that. ;-)

So, we packed up then and with just a few stops for a breath, we managed to get back up the hill to the vehicle. Soon, we were headed up the road to the Rainbow Trout lake where I was real glad to see an easy launching spot to make up for the harder one earlier. :-)

Well, after an hour or so of tossing live worms and lures at those Rainbows, buddy Art sets the hook on his first ever Rainbow Trout! Surprisingly enough this particular 'bow did not jump out of the water like most Rainbows are prone to do. But a 12 or 13 inch Rainbow, feels real good in the hand, even if he's a non-jumper! :-)

I tossed some of my favorite stuff like a #1 silver Mepps Aglia spinner and a Dardevle Skeeter as well as a #0 Panther Martin spinner, and even an F5 Rapala, all to no avail. Finally, I got one "bump" on an old silver #0 Olympic spinner, but didn't get a hook-up. :-(

The jagged rocks and tall, thick conifers along the shorelines of these little lakes, so reminded me of my own home waters of Sudbury, fishing them as a kid, so many years ago now. As I looked around it was like touching my roots sort of, if you know what I mean. I noticed that there was much activity in the shallow waters along the shores of both lakes. There were lots of tiny minnows about an inch long and many little schools of two and three inchers, swimming about too. I lost track of how many little Crayfish I spotted moving among the shoreline debris and lots of two plus inch long crawdaddy's too. I eyeballed three or four frogs of various sizes, and a snake over two feet long, not positively ID'd but looked kinda like either a Water snake or a Milk snake perhaps. This thing swam underwater far too easily and was going after one of the frogs when I spotted him. Unfortunately, I broke one of my own basic rules this trip and "forgot" to pack my camera along, so, no snake pics for the blog... :-(

As we headed back to the launch site, I took a few last casts right to the edge of a massive glacial boulder sitting in fifteen or so feet of water. If ever a spot looked "trouty" this big boulder was it, and yet, not a single strike to my best presentations.

We started unloading our gear and bringing it to the vehicle when Art tells me he's gonna let another worm soak, off this nice lookin' bit of launch-site lake-shore, while we finish getting the gear stowed. "Sounds good to me!" I call back from my perch on an old stump nearby, while taking in all of the beautiful scenery. Not even two minutes pass and Art walks over to his pole between loads to the SUV and says, "I think I've got a bite"!

"ALRIGHT", I fire back, as I jump up and head over to the action spot myself to join in. Wow, a real nice lookin' fish flashes below the surface about ten feet out from shore and buddy is cheerin' while I'm whoopin' and this fish is pullin' and splashin' every which way but loose. Being as this is a Trout lake, in that pretty clear water, we both got to see everything happening, live. Man, what a rush that was, to even just SEE all this stuff going on! :-) Can you imagine how Art must have been feeling through all of this beautiful action?

Well, after a little bit of fancy dancin' and possessed with a strong desire to win, my man Art, grasps this lovely Rainbow Trout around the bod and holds it up where I can see that's it's probably pushin' a bit over the two pound mark, or nearly a kilo if you do your calculations that way. ;-) A really fine fish in anybody's books, I'd say.

He then asks me if I'd mind if he took one more cast and of course I said to go ahead, so he did. He puts the rod down at an angle, sets a rock on the butt section to keep it solid and then calmly lights up a smoke. We talk a little, while I follow suit, about that sweet 'bow he just landed and as we look over at the propped up rod, it's tip is doing a little two-step. A second or three later and my Trout guy is reeling in another freakin' Rainbow. This one is around a pound and it didn't jump either. Strange. So you see folks, it pays, to make that "one last cast" now doesn't it? :-)

Final Score from two lakes: Art, the Trout Guy, 3 Rainbows... LarryB, the web guy, zip!

Yup, as for little ol' me, unfortunately, I had to wear the skunk button on the way home. :-) The main lesson I should have learned on that outing was, Use Worms For Trout! The proof, again, was that even my friend Art, who had never caught a Rainbow before, spanked me good, by sticking to Dew worms for these finicky critters. I should have baited up and took a few more last casts... :-)

lb

P.S. Trust me, the next time Art needs ballast, I'm using worms and that's all there is to it! :-)

Presenting the Minnow Rap By Rapala...

Rapala - Strikes Again...

Rapala has come full circle, as Al Linder so aptly says right here in this great video of the new deadly Minnow Rap! In case you didn't know it before, Al has been my Fishing Hero for many, many years and it's just awesome to still see that eternal fire in this man, when he fishes or speaks about fishing. His excitement shown over pretty well all fishing stuff is absolutely contagious and he can rekindle your own personal feelings about what Fishing can do for You too... :-0

I know you'll enjoy seeing my man almost laugh with glee over the numbers and sizes of the fish they were catchin' on these hot new Rapala balsa baits. :-)

So what'cha waitin fer, check it out...



I think I may have to track down a couple or three of these sweeties myself in the next little while. ;-) That's if there's any of these deadly lookin' suckers left, after this vid gets shared around the web by more cool folks like You and I, my brothers and sisters! ;-)

Cheers,

Senko - Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing

World Class Fishing Lure...

Just had to share this awesome piece about quite possibly THE best soft plastic lure in the whole world! If You like to fish for Bass, then you've just got to know about the amazing Senko, Killer stick-bait!

Senko - Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing

Oh ya, don't be shy about hooking up with them for their free EZine, filled to the brim with Bassin' related stuff. They are a solid 10 in my bass fishin' books to be sure! :-) lb

The Canadian Storm...

A Super Service for all...

First off, I have to say that this entry is yet another little departure from my regular Outdoorsy flavored bloggin' fodder, but I really just wanted to help a few of the other folks out there on a tight budget, like myself.

I've always just wanted and or needed, a regular dial up connection to the web for my style of Inter-netting, so that's exactly what Storm provides for me, in aces. Let me also just say right here, right now, that these folks are totally Affordable, with a capital A! Oh, and if you want Faster, they've got DSL too or how about Wireless for like fifty bucks a month! :-)

There's a Storm a brewin'...

I knew for years that these guys were really good, but Man, I'm glad to report that now Everyone knows it too! :-) This Consumer Choice Award Cool award is so great to get in such an already busy marketplace.

I've been with Storm for a number of years now and I am Very glad to say here, that they have simply been Awesome in all regards. They've walked me through a problem or two, for instance, while talking to me on the phone and little ol' me typing on my keyboard, what they were telling me, all live. Next thing you know, problem solved! Woa, fast, efficient and talk about being great @ teaching other folks how to fix stuff and especially newbie dudes like this little ol' Bushguy...

Storm not only knows computing inside out and backwards, but they are also The most people friendly geeks I have Ever had the pleasure of meeting and dealing with. :-)

So my friends, if You are looking or know someone else who is looking, to get hooked up with The Best Internet Provider, in the whole Ottawa area, Storm's Your best bet, bar none! :-)

Go check 'em out right here...
News Releases | About Us | Storm internet

You never know, You just may want to switch over even, for any one of many reasons...

Chow 4 now,

Sean Gibb & His Large Mouth Bass...

Meet the Gibb's...

Sean Gibb and a Big Bass...

Down at Dow's Lake last week-end, young Sean Gibb seen here with his proud dad, showed me how to hook a real nice Large Mouth Bass, off the dock! Yup! On the first cast, with a little straight shafted spinner, this fine Largie turned that little fishin' pole of his, into a high-tech, horse-shoe shaped piece of throbbing and bucking life! Splash, crash, smash, biff, bamm and more splashes and finally then with a deft grip by dad and a teeny bit of coachin' from yours truly, Sean soon had the biggest fish of his life, in hand.

I'm positive that the memory of that toe-to-toe bassin' battle, will be stuck in this little boy's mind for quite a while! :-)

I was thrilled to be lucky enough to be there when it all happened. Grateful that I had packed my little Pentax along in my handlebar bag too. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and this one is no exception. Also, I have to say that this little fella remained calm and cool throughout the whole thing. I personally know a few adults that would have been flippin' out, fighting a fish this size, but not our boy Sean. No Sir-ree Bob! Thumbs Up to You Sean Gibb, ya done Reel Good Son! :-)

I'm looking forward to perhaps meetin' up with the Gibb's again one day, down on the docks...

later,

Field work...

And now...

Milk anyone?
More Milkweed blossoms to harvest for my next couple of evening meals. Thank You again Mother Nature!

And a few feet away, in the tall grass, resides this familiar and well loved, common little Field Daisy. She Loves me, she loves me not. She Loves me, she loves me not... :-)

Daisies aplenty...

Did You get over to Twitgoo yet? :-)

L8R

Go go, TwitGoo...

TwitGoo, is Goo-o-o-d...

So, I've told y'all about the cool folks over at Twitpic.com before and just how easy it is to submit your pictures with your Tweets, right? Well here's another Cool Twitter related photo submission place, that I've been field testin' lately too. I really like it equally as much as Twitpic. :-)

These two pics of an Oyster Plant just hit Twitter a few minutes ago, through the use of Twitgoo. Go take a boo over there and then maybe you'll like them enough to hook-up with them too, like I did and do. Then You can Goo too. :-)
Twitgoo pics by larrybourgeois...

You can click this picture to see it closer and larger, if you want...

A Radiant Goat's beard...


Now check this out.

I turn about 35 degrees, with the sun at my back. Same time, same place, yet This particular Goat's beard, or Salsify (or Oyster) plant is totally seeded out and waiting patiently for a breeze to spread it's seed. It's at the end of it's life cycle for this year already. Boy oh boy, a plant's life, sure is a short one, eh? :-(

Makes ya kinda glad you're Not a plant, eh? :-)

Cheers,

ESPN - 20Qs: Rick Clunn

Presenting Mr. October...

Rick Clunn

This is a link to an interview with one of my very favorite Bassin' Hero's, Rick Clunn. ESPN - 20Qs: Rick Clunn You can learn quite a bit from this legendary Bass Man! Rick is still the Only man to win Four BassMaster Classics, ever! :-) He's a real thinking fisherman with a knack for finding bass, anywhere he goes too. Folks who know him well, call him Mr. Consistent! :-)

later,

Tackle Pics...

I LOVE Lures!

This happens to be my most favorite "walk-the-dog" lure! This particular finish is a little scarce but still as DEADLY as the day I first threw it. It's kinda like a fore runner to the now well known, Lazer Lures. :-)

Spooky!

You see friend, light does indeed attract fish and this wild finish here on this Heddon Spook is something that fish are most definitely attracted to. Not just Bass either. :-)

Cool Lures...

Here's Spooky in a group shot with a few other dazzlers, which fish have NO trouble seeing. The Bagley bait here in the foreground, was pretty flashy and life-like, in his day, but seems almost dull by to-day's, fishing lure glitter standards. :-)

Now, talkin' about glitter and glitz, here's a pretty face for ya. Just take a close gander @ the details on this fine little fishy's face folks... :-) Man, these lure manufacturers have sure come a long ways in the last few years, eh?

Awesome Finish...

I couldn't leave without zoomin' in on this fine little puppy too for ya, so You can eyeball this life-like finish, attached to one Very Hot lip-less rattle-bait style fishing lure. ;-)

Hot Rattle-bait...

Have a good one!

LarryB's Blog...: Marcia Rubin - Women's Bassmaster Tour Pro...

Lady BassMaster...

Just got time for a quick link to a nice blurb for Marcia, before I head off Fishin'! Enjoy!

LarryB's Blog...: Marcia Rubin - Women's Bassmaster Tour Pro...

Marcia & Hanna Rubin...

Future looks Bright!

AYA - Angler Young Angler

Kids and Fishing...
Well as you may or may not already know, I've been pushing for more children to get into Fishing for a lot of years now, because I believe it is something basic and natural that ALL children need. Doesn't matter where on the planet You live, Your children have nature areas near you, where fish live and can be pursued. :-) My own two children, Brooke and Lee, both held live fish just after they started talking. My delightful little daughter's 25th word, was "Fishy" which described and identified anything with fins and scales and gills, to her at that young age. :-) Her little eyes would brighten right up as her wee arm went up and out with fingers extended, so as to hold the little fishy by the lip. :-) Good Times! :-)

Anyway...

I just wanted to make sure and share in here to-day, what I believe to be The BEST way to get Your beloved children a super foothold in something Outdoorsy and so great that it could change their little lives forever.

My very own Super Hero and King role model in all of Fishing Land, none other than Al Lindner, has always been with this awesome program too and THAT ROCKS! :-)

So slip over there now and get Your children involved to-day. Here's the hyper-link.

AYA - Angler Young Angler

...On parting this morning, here's a picture of some 2008 Winners, courtesy of AYA, and they sure look happy to me! I'll bet Your Fishin' Kids would look REALLY Good in there this year. :-)

Fishing Rocks!

Chow 4 now,

Co-Angler….What do I bring with me???? | Peter Larmand Outdoors

Good Advice...

For all of my Bass Fishing readers and followers out there, I'd like to share this article with you, by my old friend Pete "The Flippin' Fool" Larmond, a well known Ottawa area Bass Tournament Angler, with a lot to give to this fine Sport. It's nice to have a seasoned pro tell ya where it's at

If You are lucky enough to get to be the, "boater" with a serious bass fishin' dude, you'll wanna follow Pete's solid advice here, to make sure you don't cause buddy any grief or make things even more complicated out there than they are already. And, of course, to let You and your Angler enjoy a great day with a little proper pre-trip planning. ;-)

Co-Angler….What do I bring with me???? | Peter Larmand Outdoors

Oh ya, Pete also just successfully ran his third annual Fishing Kids Charity event, for CHEO and has so far to date, raised over a thousand dollars for the cause. Thumbs up Pete, a super play for those kids! If You have kids and You'd like to help CHEO, through the fine Sport of Fishing, maybe You and Your children could hook-up with my man Pete for next year's event? He'd Love to have you. :-)

Tight lines...

Twitpic is Awesome...

TwitPic Forget-Me-Nots



If You use Twitter and like to Tweet, then you should look into Twitpic too. It's the New, Cool way, to share pictures with Your Tweets! Oh ya, like Twitter, it's also Free too! :-)

Here's another shot of these beautiful blue babies that hasn't made it to Twitpic yet. You, are the First to see it, before all the Twitter-ers out there get a boo. Now, don't forget, they are called, Forget-Me-Nots... :-)



Chow 4 now...

lb

WakeWorld -- Media Galleries- Dallas Friday

Photographer: Bill Jamison

WakeWorld -- Media Galleries- Dallas Friday


A great picture of a real Winner!

I just discovered this awesome Woman Athlete to-day and Had to share her with any of my readers who also recognize Greatness and need someone to look up to in life. This woman knows how to overcome adversities and seeks betterment in her daily life. She is a total inspiration.

My hat is off to this wonderful young role model of the female world. Google her if you want well over 4,000,000 hits too.

Dallas Friday Rocks & Rules!

Cheers, lb

M40 Project - 10 Cent Survival Knife

NOTE: All photo's are By M40 and can be seen even better on his Very Fine website...

This is the Best little Outdoorsy related Do It Yourself project I've seen in years...

M40 Project - 10 Cent Survival Knife

I saw this sweet idea before, a while back, and then I lost it with a crashed computer but I just re-found it again this a.m. over on the forum at SurvivalPodCast... and I simply HAD to share it right in here with You and my little stable of readers and friends. :-) Now, by following these great instructions, and fantastic pictures, EVERYONE can have his or her own, Hand built Survival knife, that lacks Nothing. You can easily add any sort of material, like rawhide lace for instance, and even including the world famous Duct tape or Gaffers tape, to the handle area for your own style of comfort and looks too... :-)



One thing not mentioned in this well known author's article, is the very Cool point, that this High Carbon steel hack saw blade knife, makes it a Super striker for any type of ferrocerium stick or fire stick, as I like to call 'em, which you may be carrying with you. The spot between the handle finger groove and the last section of the bottom part of the blade, is left un-ground, exposing the 90 degree (square) blade surface, to your ferrocerium (or whatever) rod, making a shower of sparks EVERY time. :-)

Cool or what?

So, head over to M40's excellent website to-day and get ready to build yourself a simply sleek and very slick, and super cheap, survival knife, par excellence. Take a look around once you're there and get ready to become a fan or follower or whatever of M40 too, like I am. :-)

later,

lb

Another interest...

Some Small-bore Stuff...

177 caliber lead pellets...

So, in all this blogging for the last few years, I've never once mentioned that I have a pretty good interest in cool air rifles. I've owned two for years. I don't do expensive or fancy guns either. All they have to do for me is shoot fairly fast and hit pretty hard, depending on the lead you're throwin' and the FPS (feet per second) of the air rifle itself.

The ammo...

The caliber of the pellets shown in the photo above is 177 but I also have a 22 caliber rig as well. It shoots quite a bit HARDER than the 177 CrosMan and propels a heavier chunk of lead to boot. That awesome little single pump, is used mostly as a small game hunting unit, to fill the stew pot, when I feel so inclined, to add a little meat to my wild food harvesting. :-)

You'll notice the different types of pellets in this shot. I have all told about 19 or 20 different types or styles, by a good number of manufacturers. There's domed and pointed and hollow-pointed and flat, head shapes, and there are grooved and un-grooved skirts and the ones in the red box even have a plastic skirt and a steel head. Some pellets are definitely WAY better than others. Then too, some pellets are so poor, that they tumble every time you fire them. Tumbling pellets are NOT accurate pellets, as you may already know. :-( They need to spin, which is caused by the rifled barrel of the air-gun,in order to maintain a straight, stable trajectory and stay facing forward throughout their flight. :-)

Anyone else out there use an air rifle, or know someone who does? :-)

I taught both of my beloved children at a very early age, to know about air-guns. We used to hang aluminum pop cans up by their pull-tabs, on branches of shrubs and both kids could easily hit them every time up to about 40 or 50 feet. Now THAT teaches them more hand/eye co-ordination, than yer average video game. Besides, look @ ALL the other Cool related stuff they get to learn about and experience while out there. :-) Like safe gun handling, first and foremost. Learning how to judge wind direction and velocity. How 'bout, what kinds of trees and shrubs are we hangin' these recylable cans on? What kind of plant is that, that's twining it's way up and around the tree we're using to set up our shooting gallery? :-) SO many excellent things out there for my (Your) precious children to become wrapped up in, for good results. Not like in the city, all Rapped up in head-banger noise and gamed-out into total non-reality mode...

I've never owned a high-power rifle. I probably never will. Seems to me that low-powered lead pushers are about all I've ever needed and will ever need. :-) Of course, if the SHTF, I still have my trusty little 410 single shot and a belt full of mixed shells and a slug or three, to boot. ;-) (wink)

later,

Cool Fish Artistry...

Something Fishy goin' on over here... :-)

Sweet Sticklebacks...

Wanna see even more Very Beautiful Fish Art? Then just click the high-lighted link below, or, the main link, at the top of this post...

Thanx to my fellow Flickrite,Happy_Sleepy from my own home Province of Ontario, the whole electronic world, now gets to see some totally Awesome and Very unique craftsmanship as well as, Superb Photography.

Take a tour, if you will, over to her Photostream to-day, to get a pile of her vivid insight and views through her eyes. You Will be impressed...

:-) lb

Some Spring Signs...

YIPEEE!

The sweet little Crocus, is alive again...

Well friends, a lot has happened in the last two weeks and of course Spring has most definitely revealed even more of her lovely and refreshing self, to this ol' Nature Observer, since my last entry in here...

This spring, same as last year, the beautiful, yet unassuming little common Crocus, has been the first flower to poke through the ground in my local hood. Yup, this darling little toughy has been known to pop up right beside a chunk of ice or old snow even, in it's desire to seek the welcome warmth of our sun's powerful spring rays. Man, now That's determination and fortitude, if plants can indeed possess such qualities, which I believe, they can and do! :-)

White Water...

This is a view from about twenty five feet above the shoreline of the Wild and swiftly flowing, Petawawa River and there's No ice anywhere. She's free to run right now, if you're into the wild river, white water canoeing thing... :-)



I may get out this afternoon to explore my little spot up by Pinecrest to see if the Fiddleheads are starting to pop yet, if the weather holds up. She's pretty cloudy and really windy out there right now though...

later,

...

O.K. It's later, :-) (2:30P) and I've just come back from the Pinecrest corridor and the sun even managed to come out for a little while out there. :-) It's a good thing I had my trusty Titanium jacket on to-day because the wind was certainly quite chilling.

I had only been in the damp woods about 7 or 8 minutes when suddenly, Lucky ol' me found my first specimens of Wild Leeks, pushing their way upwards through the old leaves, in a tiny little, sun exposed spot about five feet across. They are obviously, JUST now starting to appear. Next week-end will be perfect if it's sunny at all this coming week!



I plucked a few tender samples, field dressed them easy like and then popped one into my mouth, right there on the spot. That by the way, is one of my tests for the BEST Wild Edibles. If I can eat it RAW, without any cooking or whatever, then it's at the top of my list for hunting and harvesting. :-)

Aren't they just a gorgeous little plant?

Spring run...

So I made it out on my first bike run of the year to-day. Man, did that feel good, or what? I took a few pics, soaked in some fresh, raw, vitamin D and got my legs and lungs started down the healthier/better road again. What a Super day to be Alive, and able to be out and about on my trusty ol' mechanical steed once more...

First Bike Ride '09

I was tempted to gather a bunch of these willow shoots and make a basket or a fish trap or something... :-)


Willow shoots...

I hope YOU got Your dose of Vitamin D to-day too my friends...

lb