Jim J

I will try and be there also.

HA Took me a while to figure out. Threw a piece of rug on the bag top of car. Lifted the front on to the edge. Went to the back and lifted and pushed. Kayak slides right up the rug and on to the cushiony cradle things. Throw a couple of tie downs and I'm ready to go. Those blue tubes are actually really great. They pump up with air (I leave them pumped up) and they strap through the doors. They have rings and then I strap the kayak down to the rings and it's solid and works great.

HA PM me your full real name and address, (not something like Lucas McCain) and I'll mail you some. If you want it to look like mine, you'll have to take some real, itty bitty scissors and trim the white border. Then... you'll have a cool looking sticker. Oh, are your dues paid up?

On Saturday, I was able to get my new Coosa out for the first time on the river. been rigging it out a bit and need to start getting used to it and figuring out some stuff. Did a short two hour stint paddling upriver and floating back. I have loading it by myself figured out well and in 15 minutes I'm loaded and ready to go. I loaded it on Friday night so I could get out early on Saturday. Well Saturday morning was about 30 degrees or so and there was some frost on the old boat... The boat worked great and I was able to start getting comfortable. Here are some pics I took.

She was on right on stage but the far left of that group. In the rehearsal she is in a back and white top. I think there were 8 with cellos and violas also. Bummer about the silhouette. Nice effect but that's show biz.

Video of rehearsal proving she was there.. HA

Here is what went on for the far majority of the time at the Blowout. Fun! Excitement! Over a hundred prizes won! Some numbers for you. We have been averaging about $6800 to $7000 per year raised for conservation. This year attendance was down by 30 people and we were worried and . anticipating that we would raise less money this year. OUR MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS CAME THROUGH IN SPADES!!!! After the numbers were crunched by Scott I'm happy to announce that the ISA set a RECORD TOTAL RAISED of over $9000 for conservation!!! THANK YOU!!! Enjoy these pics. Some with captions and some without. Bill Chase and the Kwit bros. Scott and Ed checkin in... Coosa Pontoon for raffle Dick G and John L Great Food and Ken D deep in thought over the baked bean Jeff checking out Jeff's great high end spinning rod combos Dick and Pat sellin...Kwit buyin... and Ron thinkin.... Jeff Tallis with the fantastic Spinning Rods for raffle Jumping for joy and winning! (Sorry Charlie) What a winner! Spinning rod-Spinning reel and Paddle1 Pat winning and nice soft tackle box Jeff and Ron with a winning spinning combo Winners! Winning a framed Al Agnew Winning a great tackle box Winning a nice spinning rod Another nice spinning rod Winners!

Boundary Waters. crankbait small walley Hooks goes into finger as I was lifting inside canoe. Thrashing while attached to my finger. Cut everything off but last remaining hook. Waited back in camp while the two dentists got back. The smart one got some rubber bands and wrapped them around my finger until blood was cut off and it was numb. Pushed the hook the rest of the way through. Only time in my life I had tears in my eyes. Oh and except when I saw Wicked for the 4th time.

There's indoor plumbing now?

More from my daughter texting.... "Ok, Idol is a lot bigger than I thought. 30 million viewers. Live. I have ten hours of rehearsals at the most famous soundstage in LA. This is one of the top songs in America and we are actually playing LIVE. no tracks. I get paid by P Diddy and Bad Boy Entertainment. Looks like Thursday night is the night. Song they will be playing is called Coming Home. HA

Windows ME

Jim this year since we had so many back issues we decided to give them out to everyone who came by rather than showing them a sample they all got to take an issue home. I think we gave away over a thousand.

Not a throwdown. An intense discussion (mostly on my side).

There was supposed to be a comma after "closing" Doesn't read well.

yea special ed

Well then... I guess our show "special" wasn't as "special" as theirs...

I read too fast. I think it was the 4th martini..

Maybe Wed. He will be mentoring this week but now I hear he may not actually perform until April on the show. My daughter is still getting info about rehearsals etc. When I find out the day I will post for all of us P Diddy and Idol fans. HA

Maybe you guys weren't given the info about our show special and didn't know. We've had a sign that says "Show Special" on it showing 6 copies of the newsletter along with a box of baits for the last three years or so. It's supposed to be displayed at the front of the booth in an effort to draw people looking for a deal. At that point you can promote all of the good things about the ISA. Unfortunately we were out of shirts at the Blowout but I think one of the officers has a connection to someone with the logo who will put it on any piece of clothing etc. So if you have a favorite shirt etc. you want embroidered they can do it. I'm sure someone will post here.

You may not see her anyway. Last time she did Glee she was far in the background. I appreciate it guys.

My daughter who is a professional violinist in LA will be playing on Idol this week behind P Diddy. Just got a text from her. HA

Big thanks to the many volunteers and officers for making this a fun and exciting event. Highlights were many. Fantastic speaker in Joe cornwall. Great food. The great raffle prizes. The coosa auction The faklis and tallis rod auction Great seeing friends Much money raised for conservation

Native Ultimate 12 Kayak $1650

Schedule of events and menu: Approximate Schedule of events: 3:00.............Smallie Socialization/ticket buying 5:00............. Announcements 5:15.............Dinner 6:15.............Joe Cornwall 7:15………..Smallie Socialization/more ticket buying 7:45.............Raffle Tables 8:15.............Silent Auction ends 9:00.............Good Night Fried Chicken Italian Beef Italian Sausage Mashed Potatoes Baked Beans Corn Pasta Salad Cookies I will be finishing a PowerPoint tonight. It has pictures and slides from previous years. I didn't know if I was going to integrate new stuff but I can. Anyone that wants to, e-mail me a picture can do so at: James6031@aol.com Make sure your name or whoever is in the pic accompanies the picture.

Freddie.... Those are a new invention since the days of Sir Isaac Newton. They are designed as an upgrade to catch more fish.