mikechell

During my ... sabbatical ... there were many things I missed here.  This in one of them.

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm Blue !!!

In the 80's the last couple of days.  This rose seems to only produce one bloom at a time.  This one was about 5 inches across.

A rare sight these days.  The native American Green Anole.  Almost completely run up to higher levels in the trees by the invasive Porto Rican and Cuban Brown Anoles, it's a good day when you get a glimpse of one, let alone see it this close.

You've officially joined the ranks of "Bad Dad Joke" fogeys.

Happy New Year to one and all.  My hope is for all of you to have a prosperous, healthy and happy 2023.  Best of wishes to you and yours.

I wouldn't recommend a screwdriver, either, as that will likely end up with two broken tools.

If you have a chisel punch and a chunk of wood to lay the jaws on, you should be able to drive the punch in enough to release the hook.

If you're sending it in for repair/replacement ... I'd leave it in there.  As you said, let them take it out AND you won't have any tool marks on the vise indicating misuse.

Steve ... remember to spin that top.  If it never falls, you're dreaming.

🤣  Have any "bad dreams" lately ???

Yes, it's impressive.  All the sculpture/3-D print stuff Steve's done are in there, and it all looks truly amazing.

It's easy to see why his fly rods look so good, when you see the effort he puts into his hobbies.

I've seen them roll, but they usually stay correctly oriented ... at least enough for the fish.  It's been my favorite top-water since my first outing with it ... caught fish everywhere I've tried it.

9 minutes ago, niveker said:

Nice to see you posting again, Mike.  

Interesting tie there in the middle row, middle box.  

Thank you.

Which ones?  The long mesh minnows or the green katydids?  The green katydids ... I've been tying those for years but the folded and glued green foam bodies would "unglue" after a while getting wet.  So, with these, I decided to sew the tops closed.  Hopefully, the fish will tear them up before they become useless from delaminating.

Favorite flies tied while hotelling in Ohio a couple of weeks ago.

Beautiful red wraps.  Beautifuller BLUE wraps.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, members and their families.

First, let me start this with an apology to Steve.  I know this leaves you with a bit of a shortage.  You and I had a couple of conversations before the storm, so this isn't a total surprise.

I started on this site in 2012.  I've never been a "fly tier".  I've always been a fly angler who ties flies for my fishing.  Over the last couple of days, without power or internet, I've had time to spend with my Wife and my thoughts.  I've got plenty of reasons for my decision, priorities in my life, etc.  Without getting too philosophical, FTF isn't one of them.

I've got a couple of true friends that I've met on this site.  I hope those will keep in touch with E-mails and such.  I'm not "deleting" my profile or anything.  I might be  back.  For now, I hope all of you have healthy and happy lives.

Tie well and tight lines!

At it's worst.  The water never got into the house.

The street in front and beside the yard ...

The workshop's driveway ...

no mowing for a week or two.

Power and internet are back.  Life is normal for us.  We got lucky.

That's a good looking vise ... except, it looks quite crowded and hard to tie near the bend.

For all our members from the British Commonwealth.

My condolences for the loss of the Queen.  

While I don't follow the Royal family and couldn't pick post of them out of a photo line-up, Queen Elizabeth was special.  Her sense of humor and connection with the people will forever be the embodiment of a true Monarch.

They're right there ... beside the doonkonkle shaft.

3 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

However,  I still fail to see what extra features this vise brings to the table.

Didn't you see the doojaflippy on the gadapackle?

My guess is that, no, there's no "coloring" pen that will stay on wire.  Sharpies quickly lose color in water if not covered with some protecting layer.  If you're going to use UV resin or similar over the top of the wire, color THAT.  Wire for shine or shimmer and a coating of transparent UV or nail polish for the desired color.

Just throwing the suggestion out there.

4 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

I should start printing small alien space ships and put them along the rivers to mess with guys

😄  Yea !!!  That would be too funny, if you have a trail cam set up to film it !!! 

I leave the bone in on the raccoon tails I get.  I just put them in a jar, then fill the jar with clay based kitty litter (oil dry material).  After a few weeks, it's dried out like an Egyptian Mummy.  I leave them in there when not in use ... keeps them dried out.

Oh, that reminds me.  I've got some deer tails sitting in a box of kitty litter.  Forgot all about them until just now.

You could also put a stream beside it and post it in the "Interesting things found while fishing" thread !!!

Looks great.  Will you have Ewoks climbing on it?

Down here, the flying squirrels are nocturnal.  They're around, you just don't see them during the day.

As far as I know, we don't have black squirrels here.  They are a melatonin variation of any squirrel species.  In areas where they are most prevalent, the strain is out competing the regular colored squirrels.  I've never lived where they are, but we vacationed on Rice Lake in Canada, and they were everywhere.  They were solid black.  No white belly, tips or underfur.  Just black.  For us visitors, they were an exotic species. They were used to being hand fed and some would even sit in our laps while they ate.

👍