Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Adventures of Bubba-3

For those of you who fish, today would have been a kool experience.
I loaded my Hydro-Traxx, ATV and headed in to Spirit Lake today. My old dog ( fishing partner), Ron Holloway went with me.
The ice was a good 18 inches thick which always makes me happy. The Hydro-Traxx will float 1000 lbs. if it has to, but I don't like for it to "have to".
Ron and I have a special place on the lake to fish. It only takes a couple of minutes to drill the holes with the power auger. I park the rig to block the wind and set up a nice propane heater.
Today I didn't have time to set the heater up until we were almost ready to leave.
I tried using two poles but the fish were biting so fast that I couldn't use both poles.
I don't know how many fish I released. I wound up having to take some home due to them swallowing the hook so deep that it would have killed them.
Ron caught the big fish of the day with a 2 1/2 pound rainbow. Most of the fish are land-locked silver salmon that run about a pound.
I'll be going in there every day or so until spring.
Some of my nephews run in there with their snow machines. It only takes them a few minutes to make it. I prefer to use the old Hydro-Traxx, because I can take my chairs, heaters, lunch, auger, and all of the rest of the gear. I like a nice comfortable ride better than a fast dash. Besides, my rig has a roof and soft, spring-loaded seats. An old feller needs a few comforts.
Just havin' fun.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Adventures of Bubba-2

A few years ago, while working along the pipeline, I had the misfortune to stay at another one of those little out-of-the way places. I was with one of my working partners.
We had to try-up for a few days while testing the fiber-optic controllers, and it was during the long-dark winter.
It was also far from anywhere and we were lucky to have a place to stay at best. The little log motel was located a couple of hundred yards from the restaurant. The first night, my partner's toilet managed to get plugged up. He called the Manager, who wore a dirty Donald Duck t-shirt, to get the toilet unplugged. Soon the cook showed, up in his equally nasty t-shirt, and apron, ( with big greasy splotches) with the plunger in hand. After several hard plunges, the cook managed to free the plug, and went back to the restaurant to attend his cooking duties.
I'm not so persnickety that I would let something like that bother me too much. My partner, on the other hand, got a bit squeamish. He was sure the nasty cook had not washed his nasty hands, because he didn't seem like one to wash anything.
I did eat the evening meal, which wasn't really that bad. Nasty maybe, but not that bad. My partner was hardly able to eat anything.
I requested that the cook make us some sandwiches in the morning, as we weren't going to make it back until late that next night. He proceeded to make the sandwiches right then, so he wouldn't be under so much pressure the next morning. We were the only ones there, so I didn't know where the "pressure" was coming from??
I ordered ham and cheese and my partner ordered peanut butter and jelly. He didn't think the cook could mess-up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was right!! The cook did make my ham and cheese, and threw in some lettuce with big slices of tomatoes. By the next day, the tomatoes had oozed all over the bread, turning both pieces of bread to a sloppy mess.
We lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for three more days.
Today, I can hardly look a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the face, much less eat one of the things.
Oh well, just havin' fun.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Adventures of Bubba

While I'm waiting to get my book ,"The Wilderness Trail", re-published, I thought I would share a few adventures of the past. I'm a firm believer that it is possible to find a little humor in most every ridiculous thing that happens.
Having said that...A few years ago I was working on the fiber-optic controls for the Trans Alaskan Pipeline. Since we were doing a lot of traveling, we found ourselves having to bunk in many different places. Some of the places were fairly "modern", but some were a bit crude.
I remember one place, and I can't give up where it was located, was a special place. They had opened up the hotel for us to stay in because it was in the "winter", and only the cafe was open.
It was a nice thing for them to do and we were grateful.
The cook was a big sour-faced lad. They didn't have a waitress, so he would yell out in a booming voice to get our orders.
The last morning I was up early and down to the dining room. I hadn't slept very well and probably a bit "sour" myself. Being yelled at wasn't something I really needed.
He yelled at me, "Want breakfast?" He didn't say it like most do, instead he "growled it out"in a thundering blast. I thundered back at him, "Yea, I'll take BRAINS AND EGGS."
He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face and said, "Got no brains."
(Good answer!!) I paused a moment, and looked at him before I answered. Then I said, "I was afraid of that."
"Just give me some scrambled eggs and a side of French toast."
He stood there for a minute watching two others, who were trying to eat, choking on their food.
I'm sure he did figure out what I had done to him because it flustered him so badly that I never did get my French toast.
I watched him cook my breakfast to be sure he didn't spit in it. I never did go back to that place, mostly because I made the mistake of telling that story to ONE of the Locals who spread it all over town.
Just havin' Fun.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Jay Leno and Bubba

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Just Havin Fun

Got my last case of books on the way. It will be the last of the old original copies that I get.
The new version should be out in a couple of months.
I'm doing a "Book Signing" at the Soldotna Trustworthy Store as soon as the books get here. Probably around the first week of January.
I'm getting ready to load up my "track rig" and go ice fishing in a couple of days.
While I'm on the subject...I have a message for you old Gassers.
It seems that people are always asking me when I will "slow up." Well, I'll be 63 this March, and I have no intention to slow up on anything!! I still like doing all of the things that I did when I was 20 years old. I just don't get them done quite as fast as I could back then. BUT, they still get done. It makes me sick to see people stop doing all the things they like to do just because they get over 50. I'm not "over the hill", but I may very well be above timber line. I also would much better be "over the hill" than "under it."
Don't complain about how the old bones are stiff, or joints are sore. I didn't say that I am "pain free", but I'm not about to give-in to it! Yea, I had a bout with cancer 4 years ago. I was only out of the hospital a couple of weeks when I killed the biggest moose of my life. The doctor told me that I couldn't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. Well, I told him that was about what my 375 Magnum weighed. My little wife skinned, cut up, and packed it 50 yards to the truck.
That little 110 lb. gal is tougher than most men.
I suppose that I could give-in to the sore bones, but it will be when they scatter my "OLD" ashes in the Alaskan outback.
Until then, I'll keep on keeping on and let all of you old gassers get old at 40.
My Dad died the day he was planning to go on a bear hunt. Unfortunately, I know a lot of men who have resolved to sit on the couch before they out of their 30's. What a waste!! I'll be going to some of their funerals.
So much for my soap box!!

Monday, December 12, 2005

12-13-05

Of course Comp USA couldn't fix my old Mac lap-top, and they sent it off to the Mac. Fac.
I'm not shut completely down though. I plugged my burner into my old Dell, and it is kicking out some good stuff.
I presently can reproduce the DVD's of the audition of "moose calling" that I sent to Leno, and a seminar on "Bear Safety".
I done several seminars on bear encounters this summer and had my book, "The Wilderness Trail" on hand for those who might want one. It worked really well. I was able to help a lot of folks to understand bears enough to be able to get out of an encounter with out getting chewed on MOST of the time. Nothing works all of the time because bears, just like humans, have their "bad days" when they can be unhappy about every thing. It is during those days that they may dissect anything they come up on.
I'm making a DVD about moose calling this fall. My DVD will cover several ways to skin, gut, and cut up the moose. It will cover how to keep the meat clean and how to get it cooled down asap. I'll be talking about how long to hang the meat for the weather conditions.
I'm also doing an instructional video on all of the ways to clean, cut up, and get salmon ready fcr the freezer. It will cover smoking, filleting, preparing for canning, barbecuing etc. I will also have recipes for salmon burgers, chowder, and several ways to grill.
I'm also doing an instructional DVD on digging, cleaning, canning and freezing clams.
If anyone has an interest in some of these DVD's, shoot me an e-mail, and I'll put you on the list.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

12-11-05

Well, heck, this is my first whack at the blogging thing.
Today my Mac lap-top turned toes up and I had to send it to town to get looked at. I use the thing for editing my DVD's. I have a ton of folks wanting my DVD that I made for Jay Leno this summer. It was on calling moose. It was only 3 minutes long. I intend on doing a longer DVD this winter on how moose calling actually works, and when to do it.
It looks like a lot of people are interested in how it's done. I'm not the worlds best caller, but I have been doing it for 40 years or so.
It certainly worked good this year. We got three nice bulls. One was so close that it was shoot or get stepped on. Luckily it was a legal bull.
I have had a lot of folks ask me how I got on the Jay Leno show. Well, it was by doing moose calls at the North American Moose Foundation convention last year at Park City Utah. I competed for the world champion moose caller. They got too busy auctioning off hunting trips to have the finals, so I wasn't able to win the thing. I did have the Canadians beat though.
Last July the producer of the Tonight Show called the Moose Foundation and asked if they knew anyone who could call moose. The Moose foundation gave them my number.
The producer, Steve Ridgeway called me and asked if I would be interested in coming down and doing it on the show. He requested that I make a DVD and send it to him.
I made the DVD and they liked it enough to invite me to L.A. to appear on the show on 11-30-05.
They picked me up at LAX in a long black lemo, and gave me a tour of Tensile Town. They put me up in the Universal Sheridan Hotel. The next day they took me to the Universal Studio to rehearse. I had my own dressing room with my name on a plax. Kool stuff!!
Jay Leno came to my dressing room to visit for a half hour after rehearsal.
I was the first one on stage to try to "impress Ed Asner".
Jay Leno asked me what I was going to do to impress Ed, and I told him that I was going to do a love-sick cow moose call. I had a gallon bucket, and a squeeze bottle full of water.
Ed Asner asked me what was in the bottle, and I told him PEE.
I explained that when cow moose were rutting, they bawled, squalled, groaned and peed.
He asked what I would do if he responded. It almost threw me, I wasn't expecting that out of Ed.
After the crowd stopped laughing, I told Ed that I didn't care what he did as long as he was "Impressed".
He asked me to go ahead, and I raised the bottle up over my head and began peeing in the bucket. I then let out two long, quivering cow bawls.
I had water all over the stage, and had to clean it up.
The next contestant came on to do his dance routine and Ed told him to watch out, because Bubba had left some moose pee all over the stage.
It was a hoot, and they gave me a check for $300 for coming down. They also paid all of my expenses.
That evening I flew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to attend this years Moose Convention. I wound up having to do that moose call three times at the convention and two times on live radio at KJAX Radio. This week I had an hour interview on KCRM Radio in Kenai. Busy-busy!!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Jay Leno

If you watched Jay Leno on November 30th you will have seen Bubba. He was there to Impress Ed Asner. Bubba did a love sick female moose call. And Ed Asner was impressed!
If you missed it e-mail Bubba to buy a copy of his Moose Call dvd.