I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Eat lots of good food!

 

Don't go waiting in lines after dinner or the day after.  Get out and enjoy what's out there!  There's so many other things that you can do with your time that would be much more enjoyable than waiting in some department store line to save a few bucks.

 

I know I plan on getting out and going for a hike or possibly a quick wade on some small waters that I know won't produce any fish, because, it's that time of the year...but who cares!  It'll just be nice to get out and enjoy nature.

 

 

I have many doppelgangers, and my friends love to find them.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families.

Not The Only Blogger

I'm not the only Blogger in the Carfagnini family.  My cousin Brianna recently made her cooking/food blog public, and it is looking good!  She is one helluva talent in the kitchen, DIY projects, and crafting.

I highly recommend that you check out her blog.

FYI - It'll make you hungry.

Click Here -> Swinton Kitchen.

Juice. We Can Still Go Fishing.

It's Monday, and I had planned to take my cousins Sam and Dom fishing after work.  It was storming most of the afternoon and in my head, the chances of us fishing were out the window.  I text my Aunt informing her that I don't think I'll be coming by to take the boys fishing.

When I finally got off of work there was light rain, but the skies to the west were all gray.  Once I arrived at home, I received a text message from my cousin Sam that read "We can still go fishing..."...and after a quick glance outside at the dark skies in the West, I said to hell with it, and told him that I was going to pick him and his brother up shortly.

When we arrived to the lake, there was a steady drizzle of rain, but no thunder or lightening, so, we were all good to fish.  The boys didn't mind the rain.  They were just so excited to get out and fish.  Awesome!

We all hooked up with fish.  My cousin Sam (Grey shirt) was the first to hook up, and he ended up with 2 on the day.  Dom (Orange shirt) caught 3, and ended up with 2 sunnies and 1 small bass.

It was really awesome to see how excited they were to get out and fish with me.  I'm hoping to take them out more and more before the cold weather arrives.

I ended up hooking up with a decent sized bass on a top water lure.  I was doing a lot more coaching than fishing, but that was A-okay with me.  I really wanted them to hook up with some bigger fish.  I know they will eventually.  They were super excited to see the big bass I caught.

...but they were also quick to remind me that they were up on me in the fish count numbers.

• Dom - 3
• Sam - 2
• Juice (My family nickname) - 1

When the mosquitoes were too much to handle, we packed it up, and I treated my cousins to some cheese curds and ice cream from Culvers....a dinner of champions.  Ha

Always a good time when it's family time!

The Dells

 When I think the Wisconsin Dells, I think of water parks and an insane amount of kids running around everywhere.  Don't get me wrong, I love kids.  They're a blast to hang out with, and I hope to have my own one day.  This was a guys trip that my Uncle Mike organized.  2 days 2 nights in the Dells.  "The Classic" as my Uncle would refer to it as...

Life advice for Giac, "....what you'll need, is more vodka." - Uncle Mike

We had a great spot on Lake Delton, and had an absolute blast.  Day One -- We rented a pontoon boat, tossed a football, swam, BBQ'd, relaxed, and then proceeded to terrorize the bars of the Dells.  Good times. Haha

Great location.  Right on the beach.

So much love for this man, my Uncle Mike.

Beautiful night.  I'm surprised I didn't wake up in one of the chairs on our beach in the morning.  

Lot of love for my family.

All in all we had a great time.  On Saturday, we went golfing to this beautiful course.  I played like crap, but we still had fun, and that's all that matters.  We had plans of taking it easy on Saturday night, but that just did not happen.  Haha. Oh well.

Saturday night turned out to be my favorite, and it put itself up there with the greatest time of my 2016 summer thus far.  I won't go into detail, but it's all due in part to someone in the picture below.

It's Gotta Be The Glasses

Over the weekend, I was just hanging out at the house doing what I always do, plotting to take over the world.

Then my sister called me, and said that she was in the neighborhood with her boyfriend.  They came by and we hung out, had a few beers, and I tossed some pork chops on the grill.

Beer and Barbecue.

This was my first time meeting her boyfriend, and we got on the subject of fishing.  I saw that the fish were getting active in the shallows of my backyard lake, so, I suggested that we go down there and fish.  They were both game, so, I grabbed the only 2 rods I had set up.  My 5 wt and an ultra light spinning rod.

Bluegill I caught.

After some difficulty with some tangled line on my ultra light rod, I decided, to let my sister and her boyfriend have a go at my fly rod.  I gave them a fixed amount of line, and it was GAME ON!  They both had the short cast down, and were catching fish!

My sister.  I made her fish.  She had a great time!

Her boyfriend is an Oakley fanatic, and he dug my white sunglasses.  We deemed them my signature trademark when I go fishing, so, he suggested it was only right that they took pictures with fish while wearing them, because, I was teaching them.  Ha!

It's gotta be the glasses.

Told her this was the most cliche' pose that she could make.

My sister and her boyfriend Javier and a bluegill.

While my sister was using the 5 wt, I had fixed the line on the ultra light, and tied on a small jig and bobber.  My sisters boyfriend started using that, and he hooked up with a really nice bass!  He was stoked, and so was I!

Taught him how to long arm.

Fish Kisser.

Say Hello to my little friend.

Oh, and I overcooked the pork chops, because, we were busy catching fish.  I didn't overcook them that bad...nothing that some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce couldn't fix.  It was well worth it.  We all had so much fun!  I think my sister and her boyfriend want to do this more.  Awesome!

Setting Up The Camper

It's that time of year, again.  I usually head up to my grandparent's camper with my Uncle and Cousin Donny, but this year was different.  My Grandmother and Father were already up at the camper, and my Father called and asked if I could come up and help out.  Of course my answer was, yes.

I didn't have to clear the screened patio of any leaves this year.  What a relief!  That made things go much quicker.  We were able to get the canopy over the patio, no problem.

Zip tie the canopy to the supports, because, you can't fully trust the velcro to hold when there is a storm with strong winds rolling through.

That be my father.

No Carpet....

My Grandmother and Father

With carpet.

Once we were done with all of the heavy stuff, we decided to eat lunch, and then my father and I headed down to the lake to see if anything was biting.  My father has never used plastic artificial worms, so, I rigged him up with my spinning rod and a wacky rigged senko.  I told him to cast it out, let it drop, pick it up, reel in the slack, let it sink, and repeat.

What do ya know...he hooked up with a feisty male on his 2nd cast!  Pretty cool, and kind of funny how the tables have turned.  He taught me how to fish when I was a little kid (1st grade) using live bait and watching a red/white bobber, and now here we are, roughly 27 years from those days, and I'm teaching him how to fish using artificial lures.

He ended up hooking up with 3 more after that first one, while I was tossing a fly and receiving no attention from anything.

CATCH AND RELEASE

My father got hung up and lost the worm he had on, and called it a day.  I on the other hand, put away the fly rod, and took the spinning rod and rigged it up with another wacky worm, and there you have it.  I beat the skunk.  My father bragged about how he had me beat 4 - 1 when we got back to the camper.

Camper with the Family

Family time is the best time.  My GF and I, headed up to my Grandparents camper at Fish Lake Beach in Volo, Illinois, to hang out with some of my family. 

We arrived just in time to join in on a hay ride around the campgrounds.  Not everyone joined us.  My Grandma stayed behind to wave at us when we rode by.  Everyone but 3 people on the hay trailer were a part of my family.  We were the best group that the residence of Fish Lake Beach ever experienced, hands down.

We always know how to have a blast.

When we were nearing the campers behind my Grandparents.  My Grandma was standing outside with a sign that read "Homeless - Need Family"....Hilarious!! We all got a great big laugh out of that.  Ain't she a riot!!

She cracks us up!

After the hay ride, a few of my cousins and I headed down to the lake with our fishing gear.  My cousins have all fished before, so, they all sort of know what they're doing.  My cousin Giacomo (Red Shirt), and Jeff (Not pictured) have more experience than Michael aka Big Red and Sam.  This lake had a terrible fish kill when we had our polar vortex winter, and some have told me it has bounced back through stocking, but I am not too positive about it.

The fishing was tough, as expected.  I was the only one to hook up with a fish, and boy, oh boy, was it a whopper.  After trying several streamers, I switched flies to a small san juan worm, and I cracked the code to Fish Lake Beach.  

Trophy catch.

After fishing, my cousin Jeff and I headed to the store to restock the firewood back at the camper.  Once we returned there was a fire already started, and we all started to make use of it for a snack.

Hot diggity dog.

Awww...here's me pictured with the person that hates all of my jokes, my lovely GF. :)

My Love.

Here we have pictured myself with a few of my many cousins.

We're a pretty awesome group.

As the evening turned into night.  The campground was having a Ho Down type dance at their pavilion a stones throw away from the camper.  Before we all headed over there, we made some pot pies.  Butter, bread, pizza sauce, and some cheese.  Close the pot pie, and stick it in the fire, and viola, a great meal. 

I've always enjoyed a good campfire.

I apologize, but there were no photos taken of my dancing.  I know you're all disappointed, but what I do have, is photo with my very awesome, special, and beautiful Grandmother. 

My Grandparents are part of the reason I love the outdoors as much as I do.  As a kid they used to take me, my sister, and my cousin Sharese camping with them all of the time.  They used to have a pop up camper, and belonged to a group who would travel together to different campgrounds. 

She doesn't read my blog, but in the event that she does - I LOVE YOU!!!

Love this woman!

Happy Mothers Day

I just want to wish my mom, a Happy Mothers Day. I'm cooking today, so, I hope that everything turns out just as good as all of the amazing food that she makes.

Me, my Mom, and my Sister.

And a Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mothers out there!

One Last Time...

Took a ride with my Uncle and Cousin to help with the grunt work of setting up my grandparents camper.

Things on the usual agenda.

1. Get the roof/tarp over the screened in deck.

• Not a problem for my Cousin Donny and I. The key to getting the roof/tarp over is a trick our Grandfather taught us of rolling it up, and once it's through the tracks, we can then roll it down over the rest of the roof, but the thing that made this go so quickly was my Uncle Mike utilizing the broom stick. =)

• This was the hardest part of the day, and to think, our Grandfather used to do this by himself with the help of our Grandmother using the broomstick. Unbelievable.

Clean up all of the leaves that accumulated on the deck and stayed all Winter.

• There was an incredible amount of leaves on the deck. We grabbed 3 brooms, and started sweeping. It was not until we were pretty much finished that we had the thought of a leaf blower. My Uncle went to check the shed, and sure enough, there was a leaf blower. There's no doubt that Papa Carf was definitely shaking his head and laughing at us.

Roll out the carpet.

• Check.

Set up the tables, chairs, and cabinets.

• Check.

Make sure there were not mice.

• No rodents. The moth balls win, again!

Run the water and make sure the electric works.

• Check.

My Grandma is going to be selling it this summer. A lot of good times and great memories were had here. It's going to be a sad day once it's sold. Until then let we're going to enjoy it with our Grandma and the rest of the family a few more times.

For those of you that do not know. My Grandfather passed away July 2014. I've had a draft post about it pended for quite some time. One of these days I'll muster up enough to finish it.