We had guests for the first time at the lake this weekend so of course the fish weren't biting and a storm came through just as we were about to jump in the water for a swim. It was a big summer thunderstorm so the power went out. This is not so bad since dinner could be cooked on a gas grill, but water at the house is pumped from a well which is powered by electricity. And then there was the problem of not being able to call the power company because the phones are cordless and our cell phones don't have a connection in the boonies. After the weekend was over and we were cleaning up, we found an old school dial phone in the closet. But since we didn't know about that, we were driving around trying to find a spot where my cell phone would connect. In the battle of cell phone providers, T-Mobile and AT&T would not get service at all, and Verizon's service was intermittent. I called the automated line and left a couple of messages and they tried to call me back, but my phone kept cutting out. The other issue was that the house has no physical address, so I'm trying to give the voice recorder 'country directions', which involves phrases like "off County Road 15", "the owner of the house is John Doe", and "over yonder by that fishing lake". When I could talk to an operator (this is after the clouds cleared up and a signal became stronger), she asked what town the house was located in. HA HA. Once the operator talked to the serviceman, he knew exactly where the house was located and fixed the electrity outage within a half hour.

This delayed our dinner a while and we ate very late, around 11 pm. It took some time to filet and clean the fish. While they weren't biting well (the water temp is too hot), my boat caught three and the other boat caught one. I am proud that I was the captain of the boat that caught three, which consisted of two adult females and a silly little dog named Ruby. I worked the trolling motor, changed lures, and took fish off the hook. It was a lot more work than sitting there throwing out a lure, but it was rewarding. It was a rite of passage: I am able to hold my own in bass fishing without needing help (most of the time!).

Ruby had a turn with driving the boat. I'll post a photo of her once I download it from the camera.