A Different View

From the Boat
Here’s an interesting view looking down two of the fishing rods. We’ve got strong rod holders, and heavy duty rods and reels that we use when fishing for lake trout. The line is 50# test, and reels count the amount of feet that has been let out. Sometimes that line is going out to water depth of over 70 feet where the big lake trout lay in cool waters.

The picture above shows the right side of the boat. We have an identical setup on the left side. Then on the back of the boat we have two more rigs, giving us a total of six rods when we are trolling. We usually travel 1.7-2.0 MPH as measured by a Garmin combination GPS & depth finder. You might wonder about water depth. Usually we are trolling in 125-180 feet of water, but it is un uncommon to pass over areas that exceed 220 feet.

I hope to be on the lake today see in real life what is in that picture above. I hope you have a great weekend! See you Monday!

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
I heard this the other day,
“Some take life for granted;
others take life with gratitude.”
We have lots to be thankful for and
don’t forget to express your thanks.

~~~

Quote of the Day
Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
~Albert Camus

~~~
Joke of the Day

Recently, while attending a dinner party, by way of conversation, the guest seated beside me asked "Do you stir your coffee with your right hand or your left?”

To which I replied "My right hand”.

The response "Interesting indeed, I stir mine with a spoon!”

…And….

A woman went to her dentist to have her dentures adjusted for the fifth time. She said they still didn’t fit.

“Well,” said the dentist “I’ll do it again this time, but no more. There’s no reason why these shouldn’t fit your mouth easily.”

“Who said anything about my mouth?” he woman answered.

“They don’t fit in the glass!”

 

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Remember Flight 1549, January 15, 2009

Reconstruction of the Flight
I’m sure you remember this famous flight often referred to as the miracle on the Hudson. The following video is a 3D reconstruction the flight along with all the audio from the tower and Pilot Sullenberger. It starts with the takeoff from the airport, shows the impact of the birds, and ends with the landing in the Hudson River. I think you’ll like this video.

 

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Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
It has been said that a bell is not a bell till you ring it and a song is not a song until you sing it.
And good intentions are not worth a pinch of salt.

~~~

Quote of the Day

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

~~~
Joke of the Day

The photographer for a national magazine was assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene was too thick to get any good shots, so he frantically called his home office to hire a plane.

"It will be waiting for you at the airport!" he was assured by his editor.

As soon as he got to the small, rural airport, sure enough, a plane was warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!" The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air.

"Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make three or four low level passes." "Why?" asked the pilot. "Because I'm going to take pictures! I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures!" said the photographer with great exasperation.

After a long pause the pilot said, "You mean you're not the instructor?"

 

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Dad’s Selling Books

A Great Way to Sell
Dad now has a neat way to sells those books that were written by the late Vic Weals. Vic was my uncle, and a writer for the Knoxville Journal for many years. Vic liked to get off the beaten path and talk to folks that lived in the mountains of east Tennessee. He published two books which are for sale at my Dad’s website at Dad’s Books. The books are:

• Legends of Cades Cove and the Smokies Beyond
• Last Train to Elkmont

Click on the books above or below for more information.

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Love is not love until you give it away.

~~~

Quote of the Day

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. 
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

~~~
Joke of the Day

Bubba had shingles. Those of us who spend much time in a doctor's office should appreciate this! Doesn't it seem more and more that physicians are running their practices like an assembly line?

Here's what happened to Bubba:

Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said: 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Bubba what he had.

Bubba said, 'Shingles' So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examining room.

A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, 'Shingles..' So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.

An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and asked Bubba what he had.

Bubba said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, ‘Where?'

Bubba said, 'Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload 'em??'

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Where Is This Country Headed?

Do We Need A Big Hand Basket for the USA?
I don’t know about you, but I feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. There is just so much I don’t agree with. For example: Why haven’t we secured our borders? Why aren’t we tough on illegal immigration? Why do we give so much money away to foreign countries? Why do we have so much welfare handouts that are out of control? Why are we not independent of foreign oil? Etc?

Well, I don’t think one person is responsible. I think both political parties are responsible. But here’s a video that puts all the blame on Obama. Interesting but wildly exaggerated. One man can’t do all the damage that has been done!

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
A Solemn thought:
Some night the stars will gleam upon a cold grey stone & trace a name & “Lo, twill be your own.”

~~~

Quote of the Day

Liberty is always dangerous,
but it is the safest thing we have.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick

~~~
Joke of the Day

A hooded robber burst into a Texas Bank and forced the tellers to load a sack full of cash. On his way out the door a brave Texas customer grabbed the hood and pulled it off revealing the robber's face. The robber shot the customer without a moment's hesitation.

He then looked around the bank and noticed one of the tellers looking straight at him. The robber instantly shot him also.

Everyone else, by now very scared, looked intently down at the floor in silence. The robber yelled, "Well, did anyone else see my face?"

There were a few moments of utter silence, in which everyone was plainly afraid to speak. Then one man tentatively raised his hand and said, "I think my wife may have caught a glimpse of you."

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Happy Forth of July

Immigration & Greatness
The following is a letter to the editor of a California paper that was not published. It’s about new immigrants. Since today is the forth of July, I thought this might be a good read. It’s a good time to reflect on this country and its greatness. Immigration was essential. A lot of immigrants today seem to be different from from those immigrants of yesteryear. I wish I was wrong. Well, read the letter…

Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed)
Rosemary LaBonte

 

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Don’t celebrate the forth with a fifth!

.

If you are a citizen of the USA,
you are an American, and that’s it.
We don’t need classes of Americans!

~~~

Quote of the Day

The American Revolution was a beginning,
not a consummation.
~Woodrow Wilson

~~~
Joke of the Day

A nice, calm and respectable lady went into the pharmacy, walked up to the pharmacist, looked straight into his eyes, and said, "I would like to buy some cyanide."

The pharmacist asked, "Why in the world do you need cyanide?"

The lady replied, "I need it to poison my husband."

The pharmacist's eyes got big and he explained, "Lord have mercy! I can't give you cyanide to kill your husband, that's against the law! I'll lose my license! They'll throw both of us in jail! All kinds of bad things will happen. Absolutely not! You CANNOT have any cyanide!"

The lady reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband with the pharmacist's wife.

The pharmacist looked at the picture and said, "You didn't tell me you had a prescription."

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Unusual Korean War Hero

A Horse Named Sgt. Reckless
Read about this hero here: Sgt. Reckless Official Site

Check out the video here:

Thanks to my cousin Don for sharing the above with me.

The Fishing Was Good Yesterday
We had a great time on the lake yesterday. We finished with our limit of 6 keepers that weighed a total of 27 pounds and 4 ounces. The largest lake trout was 6 1/4 pounds. That stringer was heavy and hard to hold.

We have no more room in the freezer for fish, so I didn’t keep any this trip. Ralph will have the honor of cleaning these fish. I’m sure he will enjoy eating them. They are a good firm fish with nice white meat and they don’t have a strong fishy flavor.

Catching fish is a bonus to the beauty of the landscape. Here’s a scene from the lake showing clouds over the mountain…

Did you know that today is July 1?

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Often when we lose hope and think this is the end.

But it’s just and bend in the road, not the end.

Keep on, keeping on!

~~~

Quote of the Day

Gratitude is the best attitude.
~Author Unknown

 

 

~~~
Joke of the Day

A man was checking into a hotel when he saw a golden retriever sitting on a rug near the hotel elevator. Talking to the man behind the desk, he asked, "Does your dog bite?"

The attendant said, "No, he doesn't." But as the man let his hand down to pat the dog, it bit his hand and held on so tightly that the man had to throw him across the room.

Returning to the desk, the man said, "I thought you said that your dog didn't bite."

He directed the attendant's attention to the dog, who now had returned to the rug. The attendant simply answered, "My friend that is NOT my dog."

 

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Cars from the 50s and 60s

A Good Show
A friend sent me the following link to a slide show showing the old cars of the 1950s and 1960s. It brought back a lot of memories to me, and I thought some of my family and friends might enjoy it also. Click on the link below:

The Cars We Drove

The above presentation was developed by OldBlueWebDesigns.com

Two of My Cars
My first car was a 1950 Ford. Here’s a picture of me with that car when I was in high school.
I later had it painted black and it was a beauty. It had a flat head V8 engine that was smooth and quiet.

My favorite car I owned was a 1957 Chevrolet convertible. I had this car when Beverly and I got married. Here’s another picture that shows the car. The car was canary yellow with a white top. Oh, I wish I still had that car today.

Fishing Today
I hope to be on the lake today. Doug, Ralph, and I are going back to South Holston Lake to troll for some of those big Lake Trout. So far this year, we’ve gotten our limit each trip. The limit is 2 lake trout per person.

~~~

Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
This is true, “All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.”

Remember, this too, shall pass.

~~~

Quote of the Day

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
~Kimberly Johnson

~~~
Joke of the Day

This farmer had a grouchy wife who nagged him all the time. One day while he was outside plowing the field, she came out and started nagging him. While she was doing this, the mule kicked her and she died.

At the funeral, the ladies came up and talked to the farmer. The farmer nodded his head "yes".

The men came up and talked to him and the farmer nodded his head "no”.

Well this other man wondered why he nodded his head "yes" to the ladies and "no" to the men. Then, he went up to the farmer and asked him why.

The farmer replied,” Well, when the ladies came up, they told me how pretty my wife's dress was and how pretty she looked. When the men came up, they asked,’ That mule for sale?'

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