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Sweet corn in great shape

Well, Google decided to change it's format and quite frankly teaching an old dog isn't exactly my idea of fun but I guess one cannot stop progress....if that's what they call it!  I guess after 12 years of using the old system it was time to shake up things a bit, and shake them up they did!!  So forgive me if this is late or looks a little odd, I am only human!  So as I struggle to even get this picture where it supposed to be, let me tell you it's been hot.  Along with timely rains, my corn is literally reaching for the sky. The first three rows were planted  right after the fishing opener with the next 3 rows a few weeks later on June 1st.  This is done so it all doesn't ripen at the same time which then brings a mad scramble to get it packed away.  When it is about a foot high each row gets a side dressing of 46-0-0 fertilizer which is 46% nitrogen per 100 pounds of fertilizer and nothing else.  Corn loves nitrogen and as you see in the picture it has done extremely well.  Probably 6 - 7 feet tall, the leaves are a beautiful dark green, and the ears are forming very nicely.  Of course it along with the cucumbers thrive in this weather.  Personally I could use it a little cooler but it is what it is!  A few past posts have explained my method of preserving the corn for all year, using my dad's recipe, boil the corn for 3 minutes, remove from the water to stop the cooking.  Using an electric knife, cut off the kernels,  adding nothing, simply put the corn in the vacuum sealer bags, seal and freeze.  The corn tastes just like the day one packed it, absolutely delicious.  Along with the corn, the cucumbers have really been keeping me busy.  The Zucchini has been growing like crazy as well as the peppers and tomatoes.  Foolish me, have been bragging that the potatoes were free of potato bugs but alas, it's a daily job to pick them off now.  Should have kept my mouth shut!

Nice smallie on Monday

So back to fishing.  A couple of things.  Last Sunday we went down to Lake City to celebrate my grand niece's birthday with he parents.  We had a fabulous lunch at the Lake House on Pepin.  In preparing the trip it was asked of me to bring down my boat and the 7 of us could go for a ride.  the winds were scheduled to be 20 mphout of the northwest, no the perfect scenario for calm day on the water, never the less the boat was in tow.  The lake didn't look too bad howevee once on the water a number of issues became apparent.  Even though the boat has a 250 hp motor, it is not propped for that load and we could never get on plane in the rough water, and when we attempted all the boat would do is porpoise.  Even under the best throttle/weight distribution combinations, it wasn't good as a lot of the passengers were uncomfortable.  Oh well, it wasn't my idea!  Last night (Monday) my good friend Mike Grant's son David called to see if I wanted to go out.  Well of course!  Brandon had just welded the guides onto the trailer, the winch was replaced with something heavier duty and with some modifications, should make winching the boat up the trailer much easier.  With the water level up about 18 inched we headed up river all the way to Elk River. There were some great looking places to fish but no luck.  Spending more time than planned we motored back down to our normal starting point and fished the shorelines.  Still nothing as I figured the higher water would have pushed the fish shallower.  After the "milk run" drift" it was time to start the motor and hesd down to a few holes and catfish.  Well the motor started, then stuttered before stopping completely.  It would not start again as it seemed to be out of gas.  The tank still had a couple of gallons but something didn't feel right.  Reading the manual it said if you run it out of gas, the fuel system needs to be purged.  No where in the manual does it say how to do this!!!  We were 3 miles from Blair's landing and with a 2.5 mph drift, we'd get there a little after sunset.  The disadvantage is the electric will not push against the current so if you are snagged you are out of luck.  We each lost a nice crankbait.  Like a couple of weeks ago we did find some fish just off shore including this nice 17 inch smallie that hit my new Rapala BX Big Brat square bill crankbait.  It casts like a dream and goes over the rocks very well.  Dave missed a few and we both caught each about an 8 inch northern pike.  Arriving at the landing both the welded on guides and the winch worked beautifully.  Dave headed home while I looked at the motor, added gas to the tank and discovered a valve stem device on the inputs to the intake manifold.  Pumping the bulb then pressing the valve, air and gas came out.  A quick press on the starter button and she popped right off.  There needs to be a little research to make sure it is the proper method as I'd hate to be downstream the next time it decides to do that!  One last thing, my Sirius Radio hasn't been working on the big boat.  It was updated prior to fishing opener however it was giving me grief then.  A quick review of the last update in May states....Fixes Sirius/Weather issues.   It's pretty easy to upgrade the software, pulled it out so the antenna had a clear view of the sky and now it works perfectly.  Dang computers!!!  It will probably take a few posts to get everything back to normal, or at least my normal.........which is probably questionable anyway.