Bud Baker

KW Judy, white bass are a lot like crappie. They run in large schools, are very prolific spawners, but fairly short lived, so don't get really big and aren't really adversely affected by fishing pressure, so have the same liberal catch limit as crappie here, 10 inch minimum size with a 25 fish daily limit. They are stronger fighters than crappie, so are really a blast to catch on light tackle. They're very aggressive, not the finicky feeders that crappie are. Lots of people do like to eat white bass, but they just aren't nearly as good to eat as crappie. I release all the white bass I catch.

I was already going through a lot of changes, starting to think about retirement and reducing my world down to the things I really like and want to do. I guess my diagnosis did tend to speed things along, in that vein. I was already very fit and trying to live healthier and lessen the unhealthy and stressful stuff, and I keep trying to improve there, too. I don't think there's any way you can hear that diagnosis without having some perspective adjustments happen. It can sure change what seems important, and improve appreciation of what's near and dear to us.

Welcome, Chrissy. Randy is right, this beginning part is the scariest. Once you get a treatment plan started, you'll feel better. I was stage 2, so had surgery, but there are plenty of others here who had a similar diagnosis to your mom's. Best wishes for you and her. Keep us updated.

Good morning, everyone! It was 45 degrees with a thick fog as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 62. MI Judy, I think yours is the right attitude about scans. I always expect everything to be fine, and just don't do much of the scanxiety. The only time I got worked up was when they were going to make me wait three weeks for my results. I went and picked up a CD copy of my results, and told everyone there exactly what I thought about making someone wait three weeks, including dropping a letter in the hospital director's box. I hope your trip is going well, Annette. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It's 44 degrees outside. Forecast high is 47. They also forecast a seventy percent chance of rain this morning, so of course it's dry. Yesterday morning, it was 39 degrees when I got to the river, and stayed 39 degrees for quite a few hours. There was a thirty percent chance of rain, and it thirty percented on me pretty much non-stop all morning. But the fishing was fun. Sometime after last weekend, and before yesterday, the white bass reached my crappie spot. They migrate up the river during the winter for a spawn in the river's headwaters sometime late in February or early in March. They stop at the deeper holes like my crappie spot on the way. There will likely be schools of them passing through my spot the next three weeks or so. They draw a lot more fishermen than my finicky crappie do. While they're there, the biggest challenge to catch crappie is getting through the white bass. I probably caught over 100 white bass yesterday, but still brought home a nice mess of crappie. Even in what you could only call miserable weather conditions, I had a blast. Good luck with your trip, Annette. Maybe spring will break out in Minnesota by the time you get there. KW Judy, if you move your mouse pointer to Spinks Airport, just south of Fort Worth on that weather map, that's the NOAA station I always check. It's just four miles east of me. Eric, I'm sure we'll enjoy all your musings and planning about your trip. It's always fun to hear what's occupying everyone's mind in our group on a given day. Glad you got your car going, Lily. Have a great Sunday, all!

Good morning, everyone! TGIF! It was 37 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 48. The south wind is giving us a slow warmup. Ann, your dog toy story reminds me of a dog I used to have that was deathly afraid of rubber snake toys. My daughters would chase him with one for fun. This was not a small dog, and to escape them he would run at full speed and jump into my lap, hitting me so hard he would almost tip over me, chair, and all. Eric, if you're in the US at the end of August, you should stop by Wichita Falls for the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred. It's a little over six hours until my weekend starts. It's supposed to warm up a little more tomorrow, so if the rain holds off long enough, I may go fishing. Have a great Friday, all!

The shooting death rate per 100,000 people in Scotland = .6 The shooting death rage per 100,000 people in the USA = 15.2 25 times more people per 100,000 shot to death in this country than yours, Eric. It's no wonder that you and most other people in other countries don't understand the USA's love affair with guns. I have no explanation for it, myself, but it's deep rooted and unlikely to change any time soon.

It was 21 degrees again as I rode to work this morning, brisk for sure, and it definitely woke me up, Libby. Forecast high is 44. It sounds like it's cold everywhere this morning. Mike will have major shrinkage again. guddle: to grope for fish under stones, along a riverbank, etc. We call it noodling here, Eric. I used to know a couple of guys who did it regularly, to catch large catfish. I believe I'll stick to my crappie jigs. I track my weight at bikejournal.com, where I log my riding mileage. I'll have to make another adjustment this week; I've added another pound. I guess that happens to all of us in the winter. But I'm still just 5 pounds over my target weight, much better than last year, so if I can just stop this winter buildup now, I should be ok. Have a great day, all!

I'm so sorry, Nicole. Condolences to you and your family.

Good morning, everyone! It was 21 degrees as I rode to work this morning, a tad nipply to be sure, but at least the big wind and most of the icy spots on the roads are gone. Forecast high is 37. Rose spends time with the facebook games, but I never started playing them at all. I already seem to not have enough hours in the day....LOL. Lots of walking doesn't agree with my back either, Annette. Sometimes, the walking I do in the shop at work is too much. That's why my chosen exercise is riding. I remember you saying you had balance issues. Have you considered a recumbent trike? Lots of people in my rbent group really love them. Stephanie, I remember that my cisplatin and gemcitabine sessions took 6 hours. 4 hours is way too long for chemo, too. It makes it worse to keep seeing people show up, get their chemo, then leave, while you're still sitting there. Note to self: Never discuss politics with MI Judy. Stay warm, everyone, and have a great day!

Welcome, Cathyanne! Sorry you need to be here, though. This beginning time is the scariest. Best wishes for your father. Keep us updated on how he's doing. I'm a lot younger and had surgery, so I may not be much help when you're asking questions for him later, but there are always people here who've been through something similar who will be glad to help any way they can.

Good morning, everyone! It was 23 degrees with a 20 mph north wind when I got up this morning. I decided that was a bit much for bike riding and drove to work. Forecast high is 38. My riding mileage this week isn't going to be good. There are many Texan expressions that people find funny, even in other parts of this country. One is that we're never about to do something, we're fixing to do it. Eric, my crappie jigs are at: http://www.spinnerbaker.com/ . Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 29 degrees when I got up this morning. The roads at home were clear, but there was scattered freezing drizzle in the area, so I drove to work. Forecast high is 34 degrees, but the freezing precipitation is supposed to end this morning. It snowed hard for a while at home yesterday, but nothing stayed on the ground. In the northeast part of the DFW metroplex, though, they got 5 inches of snow. Yes, it was indeed Gerry Rafferty and Stealers Wheel who sang Stuck in the Middle with You, another great song of his. Eric, I make and sell crappie jigs, so when I say pouring jigs, I'm talking about melting the bismuth alloy and pouring it into a mold to make the jigs. Here's the scarecrows. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It's 38 degrees and pouring rain here. It's only supposed to get colder as the day goes, and the snow is only a few miles north of here. We're expecting snow on the ground by this evening. Then, in case the streets clear, there's supposed to be freezing drizzle during the night. It sounds like a good day for the great indoors. I think I'm going to pour some jigs, then settle in front of the tv. Have a great day, all!

Congrats on 8 years, Don!

Good evening, everyone! It was 34 degrees when I got up this morning, so I didn't get in any hurry to get on the water. It only got up to 53 this afternoon, but was sunny with a mild wind, so felt warmer. The minnows worked fine, but it was another day when the crappie bit jigs better. I had a blast and brought home a mess of crappie. They're calling for rain in the morning, changing to snow in the afternoon. I'm thinking I'll just be a tv zombie tomorrow. KW Judy, yes, Right Down the Line was a great song, too. It sounds like Rafferty was a tortured soul, never comfortable with being a star, and an alcoholic for many years. MI Judy, around here, nooner has a different meaning........LOL. But, I'm glad you got a good night's sleep to recover. I didn't realize your husband did a radio show. That's way cool. Bruce, your place really is beautiful this time of year. But, I'm thinking I just want to see it on a postcard, not live.......LOL. Annette, you need to show us your new do after you color. Have a great weekend, all!

Wow, very pretty! But it looks COLD!

I used to love to fly, but got tired of it when my last job had me doing quite a bit of it. I haven't flown since I changed jobs 8 years ago. KW Judy, I haven't listened to any music today, but I've had the song, Baker Street, stuck in my head ever since I read yesterday that Gerry Rafferty died.

Sure, Ned, use it if you want to. The train wreck was an icon from another forum. I found a lung image, clipped off the upper lobe, and used Microsoft's free Gif Animator and Paint Shop Pro to screen capture the individual images and build the new image. It was my very early days here, and I wasn't sure how ready people here were for my sense of humor........LOL. I might have had the guts to post it if it had been at a time when there wasn't so much bad going on. I pretty much forgot about it until I was looking around for a sample image for this thread. As I recall, I did use it in a cycling forum, along with a post that read something like, "Here's my latest CT scan. I'm thinking it looks pretty good. Don't you agree?" I don't think it even drew a response at all. Sometimes my sense of humor is just mine.......LOL.

Yes, you're wise to be getting it checked out. We're not a group that can afford to not stay on top of stuff like this. I'm hoping it's something even less than the diverticulitis.

I put that together a long time ago, planning for a funny post about my newest CT scan. But the day I was going to post it, there was just too much bad stuff going on here, and I couldn't bring myself to post a humorous train wreck lung scan. So here it is now.......LOL.

Good morning, everyone! TGIF! It was 40 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 68. Yes, Annette, I rode to work every day this week. I've been wanting to drive a day, to bring in a new tool box I bought last week, but with next week's dire forecasts, figured I'd better ride while I can. I often buy a dozen minnows when I go crappie fishing. I use jigs more, but on a tough day, minnows are hard to beat. I don't buy more than a dozen if I'm alone, and pretty much always use them all. But last Sunday at Benbrook was a slow day, plus they gave me a lot more than the dozen minnows I paid for, and when I was done fishing, I still had 13 minnows left. My garage is pretty cool this time of year, and I figured I'd be going fishing again this Saturday, so I filled up my boat's livewell, dumped the minnows in it, and took them home. After I got home, I got to thinking that it was probably bad karma, bringing minnows home and assuming I'd be able to use them the next weekend, that it would probably bring a blizzard. But they were all still alive this morning, and tomorrow's forecast looks bearable, so I think I'll take my domesticated minnows and go fishing. It's a little over six hours until my weekend begins. Have a great day, all!

Judy, I always just use the fourth option in photobucket, which copies everything, including the IMG tags. When you paste, it looks like below (I've changed the braces to parentheses so you can see the code): (IMG)http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Bud_Bent/Misc/lungscan.gif(/IMG) If you just paste that on a blank line, you get this:

Bruce, even your mild days are colder than I ever want to ride a bike in. Annette has it exactly right with the "lifestyle" versus "diet" thing. We consider diets temporary, so too often put weight back on after the diet's over. But, if we say something like, "From now on, I'm going to sweeten my tea with stevia rather than sugar", then we're aiming for a permanent change, a lifestyle change if you will. There's still no guarantee that we'll stick with the change from now on, but our attitude will be more directed toward that. I've had good success with just making a lot of small eating "lifestyle changes", one at a time. They're talking about mixed snow and rain here on Monday. Brrrrrrrrr....

Good morning, everyone! It was 34 degrees with a stiff north wind as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 64, as we get a shot warmup before this weekend's rain and next week's cold. I seem to be meeting myself coming and going at work today, but there's not much else going on here to report on, so I guess I'll drag myself out of this chair and get back to work. Have a great day, all!