Urban Wildlife

A large patch of my front yard died over the winter. I am not sure why. The damaged area is directly below a maple tree, so maybe the grass doesn’t receive enough direct sunlight. Maybe the lack of snow this past January failed to insulate parts of my yard from...

Catch and Release

As usually happens, I came back from my annual Canadian fishing trip with the fishing bug. Last Saturday Dennis, Buzz, and I went fishing on the Upper Mississippi in Dennis’ boat. The sky was blue, the fishing was lousy, and the day was a good reminder that retired...

Follow Up

Each one of our Lake of the Woods fishing trips generates a fishing story or two. This is what happens when seven guys fish ten hours a day for six straight days. Our most recent outing generated more than the usual number of good stories, but the best ones did not...

Unusual Easterlies

Last week was my annual fishing trip to Lake of the Woods in Canada. For the second consecutive year, the weather tested our mettle and led to post-trip discussions about how much longer old men can boat into the backcountry and sleep in tents pitched on granite...

Forest for the Trees

What am I to think when a piece of writing that was once easy to read now becomes difficult? Either my well-honed mind is picking up nuances that I missed in earlier readings or my worn out brain is showing signs of age. I have very little doubt as to which of these...

The FG Knot

About five years ago I switched from monofilament line on my fishing poles to fluorocarbon. I really don’t know the difference in terms of chemical makeup, but fluorocarbon is less stiff than monofilament, and it comes off the reel with less resistance. Fluorocarbon,...
Steven Simpson