Abnormal

A VERY SMALL DINNER

To Bed Early

up and gone - the bite is on

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.. Not wanting to be an antitraditionalist yesterday, we had a wee bite of ham and a taste of turkey and a spoonful of smashed potatoes dampened with butter and gravy. We drank some cider and had a sip of tea with a small slice of sweet tater pie. Then to bed.

COMEANFISH SPRING CREEK BOTTOMS

.. Morning came way too early and the kids down the block had breakfast ready long before daylight, (they have understanding wives.)
.. As many sourdough pancakes as could be wolfed down were laid on the bottom of the old oil drum in the garage. Bacon, eggs, and other vittles were available.
.. The cast iron skillets and griddles work real fine on the old wood burner. We ate too quickly and crammed our self into the jump seat of a modern pickemup. The Z's came quickly.
.. The nice thing about Black Friday is that the roads are lightly populated and most of the "Join-all-anglers" are at the mall or various feather merchants scarfing up sooooper deals. Bless them all.
.. Bumpy ruts and crazy curves disturbed our rest as we approached Farfromhere, Montana. The sky is not so small in the lowlands and it's  heavy gray color said that we'd made good time. We buzzed over the cattle guard and stopped between the barn and the front porch.
.. The doors opened and the kids went different ways as we tried to disentangle ourselves from the gear. Just as some order had come to the jump seat the doors slammed and off we went down the pasture road toward the heavy willows in the bottoms.

.. There's not many folks that live near the bottoms along COMEANFISH SPRING CREEK. One of the kids has some ex-outlaw cousins that welcome us mountain folk if we're in the neighborhood. We're the butt of jokes and such. Entertainment provided by the highlanders - at our expense.
.. There are open spaces in the willows. Gravel bars and shallow fords invite parking and fishing. Catching comes quickly and easily in the lightly fished creek. It's still the tail end of fall in the lowlands and the sun can warm a fisher if the willows block the heavy breeze from the snow clad mountains.

.. We fished the day away and called it Spectrum Friday for the various fish we caught and released. Many gravel bars and many fords provided sheltered sunshine and fishing progressed at a lazy pace as we watched the continents of clouds that were scudding across the big sky.
.. We nibbled on cold fry bread and sipped various libations between bites and the occasional cigar and tall tale.
.. It's a rare joy, this time of year, to get in one more day of warm fishing. The warm was as much the quarry as the fish. We were delighted with both. We'll spend one more day down here before heading back to the high country.
.. There's a little pub not far from the creek where the ex-relatives live and we're meeting up just after sundown, (about a half hour from now.)
.. Service is good. The burgers are great. They present a fantastic twice baked potato and have the best local information around. Dinner and a few more stories should prime the pump for another bit of warm relaxation before the snows fly in earnest.

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