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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

New Camera! New Pictures!

My brother recently purchased a Canon EOS 60D so of course we had to get out and take some pictures. here's what we got.









Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Last Time Grandpa Took Me Fishing...

Last year I was asked to share a story or memory that would be put in a family book.  I chose to share the story of the last time I went fishing with my grandfather.  If you grew up in the Sunbury area, you might be familiar with Rainbow Lakes.  If you were to ever visit the lakes then you would have met Gail Jacobus, my grandfather.  He passed away in 2007 and this is one of the best memories I have with him. 

The Last Time Grandpa Took Me Fishing


I feel as if I could write a book myself of all the adventures I have shared with Grandpa, but If I could choose just one story it would be of the last time Grandpa took me fishing.  Most fishing trips with Grandpa started by cramming in the passenger side of the black olds that was already filled with tackle and Bess.  We would then make our way up to the dam at Apple Valley to fish off the rocks.  We would fish all day and usually come home empty handed except for the “large potatoes” from McDonald’s.  But the last fishing trip I took with Grandpa would not start out or end like this.  This would be a day I would never forget.
The day started with Grandpa telling me to fill up the truck.  We would be taking the truck because Grandpa had a “new” boat.  Waiting for the truck to fill up, I kept looking around the farm for this “new” boat Grandpa was excited about.  All I could find was Uncle Jamie’s gold bass boat that looked about ten years old with twenty-five years of wear and tear.  I kept telling myself that we weren’t taking the boat, even as I was locking the tongue on the hitch of the truck.  As worried as I was, I couldn’t say anything to Grandpa as he was especially excited to use his new boat.  Because the live well didn’t work in the new boat, Grandpa had bought a new extra-large cooler to keep our catch.  He wanted to just put it in the boat, but I convinced him to throw it in the bed of the truck so it wouldn’t blow out. 
“He put something in the cooler to weigh it down, right?” I thought to myself as I was loading tackle.
“He must have.”
I was terribly wrong.  As soon as we made our way onto rt. 62 and got up to speed, the extra large cooler instantly became a missile heading towards the white jeep behind us.  Of course, I was the only one to see it.  After a few “Daggunnit’s”, Grandpa decided to pull off and down into the steepest driveway on 62.  I ran back and grabbed the cooler, found a few rocks to weigh it down and threw it back in the truck.  Now all we had to was be on our way.  Grandpa backs the truck up to turn it around, not seeing the pine tree he just ran over, and suddenly mashes the gas to get up the drive.  The truck barely moves. 
“Grandpa, I think your spinning the tires.”
“Maybe." I’ll back it up a little.”
Grandpa backs the truck up about three feet.  I can hear another tree snap from the boat that was on top of it.  I decide to get out and inspect the damage to find an eighteen inch rut from grandpa’s left rear tire in this driveway.  I’m praying that no one is home, and find that the man is watching us from his back porch.  After about a half hour and a few more ruts in a gravel drive, we are back on rt. 62 and headed towards Apple Valley.  The day has just begun.
It’s almost noon and we are finally on the water.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the batteries were charged and the trolling motor worked.  This might turn out nice after all.
“Where do you want to go, Grandpa?”
“The Dam.”
We worked all morning to get the boat and the truck ready, and Grandpa wants to fish the same spot he always fishes! I just laugh and agree.  After a while and a few fish Grandpa decides to move shop. So up to Crappie Bay we go. 
As I’m enjoying my cheese sandwich waiting to get to the next fishing hole, I start to notice the water.  It was a nice day and the water was clear and cold…and getting higher? It was a calm day, but the ripples on the water were breaking of the bow?
“Grandpa, we’re sitting awful low in the water.”
“Ahh, we can check it when we get to Crappie Bay.”
I was on edge.  Were we sinking? Is the bilge working? Did Grandpa install the plug? Was there a hole in the boat?  All these questions were racing through my mind as we neared the bay.  We were definitely sitting really low in the water.
As we neared a dock that grandpa wanted to fish, it finally became clear to Grandpa that we had a problem.  As he lowered the trolling motor, he started to question why we weren’t moving.
“is something wrong with this? Why aren’t we going anywhere?”
“Grandpa, we are sitting on the bottom. The boat is sinking.” I was trying to be calm. The boat was bouncing off the rocks in about three feet of water.
“Hmm.  Did you check the plug?”
I didn’t know that “checking the plug” in the bottom of the boat was my job.  To check it now, ill have to jump in the cold water get half way under the boat and look for this plug.  So, I jump in.  It is cold, after looking for the plug, I find where it supposed to be, but there is no plug.  I jump back in and look in every compartment I can find to look for this plug. Its nowhere. By this point, I’m at a loss for words.   We should have just given up when the cooler flew out on 62. 
We get the bilge working and its starting to pump water out, but the bilge doesn’t help much when there is water coming over the bow.  As I try to rid the boat of as much water as possible, Grandpa is able to flag down another boater.  Once we had the bow back above water, it was time to get the boat back to the truck.  What could go wrong now?   We had lost the cooler once, almost sunk the boat, just start the motor and get me out of here!  Crank, Crank, Crank…But no fire. The motor won’t start.  Good thing the other boater was still there.  He agreed to tow us back to the ramp. 
So here we are, being towed by another boat back to the ramp. Trying to keep the water going out faster than it can come in. after about twenty long minutes; we were back to the ramp. I thanked the boater and he was off.   I was cold, and wet, but happy to be back on dry land.  Once the boat was on the trailer, and we were on our way back towards Johnstown, I was able to take the time to reflect back on our experiences.
          
I would not trade that day for the world.  I learned so much from Grandpa that day.  He taught me to be patient in times of chaos. To never panic.  He showed me that day that no matter what situation you are in, there is always a way to get out.  Anything is possible.  Anytime that I am stressed or feel like I cant solve a problem, I think back to this day, the last time Grandpa took me fishing.