Hooked for a Cure

Dylan and his 16# trout.

One of the things I really enjoy about my work is all the people I have met over the years.  My business Precision Inc, is an electronic transformer manufacturing company in Minneapolis and I have been there since 1976, my very first real full time job out of technical school.  Through the years we have become a substantial supplier in the industry and our membership into the TTA (The Transformer Association) has given me access to the real players in the industry.  Serving as the president of TTA I have a ton of good friends who manufacture the same things that we do.  One of those guys is Vitez Pablo Nayarady, owner of ECI World, a transformer manufacturer in Massachusetts.  Pablo and I have a number of things in common and maybe more that are opposite as I often kid him, I'm his favorite redneck! Pablo is Hungarian and the Vitez in front of his name is given as an honorary knighthood title, similar to the English title of Sir.  Pablo also owns a highly renowned winery in Napa Valley called Trifecta and I can attest to the quality of their wines.  Through his winery Pablo does a tremendous amount of Philanthropic work for a number of charities, many are very well know such as the Tug McGraw Foundation, a cause started by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (way out of my league).   Well, I was on his site a few weeks ago and something caught my eye, a charity called  Hooked for a Cure.  You know me and fishing, I had to open it.  The site is run by Pablo's nephew Dylan Wawruck, who reminds me of my younger years.  Dylan's grandmother is dealing with her second recurrence of breast cancer and he decided to do something about it.  Using his love for fishing he was just looking for support for each fish he would catch this year with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Koman Foundation.  At 13 years old this is quite ambitious and with my association with our own charity for cancer families, it was impossible to turn down.  His top category was the Whale Sponsorship, $100 for 100 fish caught, I couldn't resist.  It's hard not to be impressed with Dylan and when Pablo sent me this picture of his 16 pound brown trout caught on a fly rod it gave me the perfect subject for this week's post.  A quick check on Dylan's site shows 334 fish caught since starting his quest, that's an impressive number for anyone.  What's more impressive is the initiative he has shown to get up and do something rather than sit and play video games all day. Fantastic job Dylan on catching a great fish but more importantly on your quest.

Myself with Brother's Steve and Blake

Sunday found me in Alma, Wisconsin where I met my brothers Steve and Blake along with my nephew Danny and his girlfriend for what probably is the last motorcycle ride of the year.  All I can say was it was gorgeous as the leaves are finally showing their full color.  The roads in Buffalo and Trempealeau counties are made for motorcycling and we took full advantage.  Blake is a seasoned biker and has over 87,000 miles on his Harley while Steve and I are still working to pass the 10,000 mile mark.   Living in the area is suppose he takes these roads for granted as it was a chore to keep up with him while Steve and I are simply enjoying the beautiful routes.  We did stop at a few places, small and unique establishments basically in the middle of nowhere yet great destinations.  One was Hanson's Hideaway just south of Arcadia, Wisconsin on Highway 95, overlooking an expansive valley.....a fantastic location especially this time of year.  I had Danny take a picture of my brothers and I, a great reminder of our day together.  Brothers are interesting to say the least.  Steve and I are 18 months apart and used to fight like cats and dogs.  By the time we were seniors in high school, we settled down as our interests and values had come together.  In the meantime my other brothers Jon and Blake were younger, especially Blake (by 10 years) and by the time I was out of the house he was turning 10.  Not that I didn't like him but honestly my interests were far from developing a relationship with my younger siblings.  Of course as one grows older you do have more in common besides blood, as dad has passed away and mom is 79, I count on them to help her get through as it's difficult for me to be there all the time.  They really do a great job of helping mom and I am grateful for their concerns and friendship.  As stated this will probably be my last ride of the year as they are predicting snow for next Sunday. Who knows, maybe we will get a true Indian Summer, it just doesn't look like it.



A Haralson Harvest

My apple harvest is in full swing and I have to admit that it's pretty bountiful!  First to be picked were the McIntosh apples which yielded around 4 bushels full of what I would call U.S. Grade Extra Fancy, a way of saying they were large, had great color, and no worms.  McIntosh have a great flavor but get soft fairly quickly.  Next harvested was the Haralson's a tart apple that really crunches when you first bite into them.  With my neighbor Lory and Lyn on Saturday we picked the tree clean which I estimate was over 8 bushels.  There were all sizes however I was very surprised at the number of large apples we had and again few worms.  Apparently all of the work this spring and summer paid off as apples do take some care.  They need a good pruning before the blossoms emerge, after blossom drop they need to be chemically thinned as you would get zero large apples and all small ones.  Thinning also helps to lessen the stress on the trees and gives a more uniform crop each year as apposed to a great yield on year and nothing the next.   The apples need to be sprayed about every 6 weeks to minimize insect and cedar rust damage.  Along with fertilizing the trees it looks like this year the work really paid off. I still have 5 trees that need picking, my Honeygolds, Fireside, and Wolf River apples hoping to get it done this weekend and ready to start pressing cider.  I just wish time wasn't flying by so fast.  On Friday my friend from Alaska, Keith will grace the boat as we do some full moon walleye trolling on Mille Lacs.  The way the weather is looking, this could be the last trip of the year for the old Ranger as well, unless of course we really have a tough time keeping the fish off the lines.  Hopefully I'll have a great report next week as we head towards deer hunting.