UltimateBass Home Front Activities May 2024

[Donald Garner]

Good morning to everyone 

Can you believe it that its May already    I hope the new month brings good health and happiness to our UltimateBass Families. 

We're starting the day off with cloudy skies with the chance of rain later on this afternoon.  Our forecasted temps for across Central Texas today are 67-80dgrs with 90%humidity with an E wind at 9mphs.

We got some errands to take care of today.  Dwayne has a medical appointment this morning.  The afternoon will be spent getting the G3 packed back up and covered.  I spent yesterday afternoon checking my life jackets.  I had to replace the arming devices in the G3's jackets.  When I get the chance I'll have to reorder the rearming kits from BPS.  Other than that there is nothing else planned.  The yard needs mowing but the ground is too wet from all the previous rain we gotten.

I hope everyone has a really pleasant day today.  Y'all be safe in your travels is you have to be out and about.

[Donald Garner]

Greetings to everyone,

Whew, it started raining around 3pm yesterday and it finally stopped at 8am this morning     We had some really strong winds with heavy thunder and lighting move through the area all night last night.  The local area is under a flood watch for now.  Our forecasted temps for today are 68-81dgrs with 91%humidity with a NE wind @ 7mphs.  It's suppose to clear up some for the afternoon and for Friday.  Saturday and Sunday we got more rain moving into the area 

Nothing planned for today here.  I'll be attending one of Dwayne's Medical appointments with him this afternoon.  Other than that I'll be tinkering around on the computer and relaxing.

Yawl have a pleasant and relaxing day out there 

[SHC286]

Yeah it's raining here in Louisiana. Glad I got the boat under cover yesterday. I'd just gotten home, parked my work truck and was getting in my personal truck to take the risk of getting it stuck in the mud, and my neighbor rolled up on his tractor. Said "I saw your boat was stuck and figured I'd come help you out!" Aw heck yeah. Little light weight tractor with turf tires just rolled right over that soft ground without leaving a single track. The rest of those ruts though... I'm gonna have fun filling those in.

I figured since I was out there, and we'd had two solid days of sun and there was rain in the forecast today, I'd go ahead and mow. So I backed the three wheeler out of the small shed so I could get to the mower. Pulled it out and did the job. I really don't like scalping my yard, but it's only May and I'm already just stinking SICK of dealing with it. So I dropped the deck to the ground and took it slow. Maybe if I stunt it it will grow slower, I don't know but it's worth a shot.

Here's the fun part...
I put the mower up, fired up the three wheeler to pull it in behind the mower, and wouldn't ya know it, as soon as I got it lined up with the door the throttle got stuck wide open. I did not push it wide open, this is actually the reason there's a brand new carburetor and throttle cable in the storage box behind the seat. I had the presence of mind to turn off the key, but that was a moment after screaming profanities and riding the brakes. There's a big skid mark where the front wheel locked up, starting about ten feet outside the shed (that's where the front wheel came back to the ground), and ending about four feet in front of where the back of the mower used to be. That's right. I slid into the shed, hit the mower, and knocked it into the back wall of the shed. Great. I pulled everything out, inspected it all, and amazingly the only damage was the back wall of the shed being slightly bowed outward. I grabbed a hammer and tapped a nail back in and now you can't tell anything happened. Blew my mind. Good times.

[Bud Kennedy]

Busy day today.  Took the Mrs for her routine lab work and then we went for a nice breakfast in Murrells Inlet at the Blue Sky Restaurant.  Great family business and a great place for breakfast and lunch.  Mostly a locals place. 

After breakfast went home for a short while and then headed to the lanes to bowl a couple games.  The bowling center did not have much business today and probably only 6 of the 32 lanes were occupied.  Very unusual but it is kind of between the end of winter leagues and the start of summer leagues.

After returning home and having a late lunch went out and mowed the lawn.  Temps today  hit 89 with a bit of humidity making the lawn mowing a little unpleasant but I Got R Done.  Tomorrow morning if we have a heavy dew I plan of putting down some weed and feed so it can have at least 24 hours on the grass before the rain happens late Saturday into Sunday.

So, that is my day today.  Got a couple pot pies in the oven for a nice lite supper tonight.

[Donald Garner]

Howdy 

Rain and more rain...bring it on      It rained last night again I heard thunder and seen the lighting flashes late last night.  It's forecasted to rain again today and well into the weekend    We have some local flooding in the low lying areas here in town.  Belton Lake is on the raise which good.  Stillhouse lake still pretty low but if this rain continues it won't take long to get filled back up.  Our forecasted temps for today are 70-79dgrs with 88%humidity with a SE wind @ 7mphs.

Nothing really planned for today due to the weather situation.  The wife and I are attending the movies later on this afternoon.

Bud; Tks for stopping by and sharing the day with us.  Those pot pies sound good 

SHC; Glad to hear you were able to get the boat moved to dryer ground and under protective cover.  Yep all that rain yawl got we had first over here.  I don't know how much we got but it rained for about 8hrs. 

I'm glad to hear that you wasn't hurt or any serious damage was done to your equipment.  So when are you taking your boat out?  I hope you have really nice weather for the 1st trip out.

To everyone hope your day today is a pleasant and relaxing one.   

[caddyjoe77]

gotta love the VA.  Short story: 

medically forced out in 2012 for a medical condition.  Received disablity pay from AF.  Once again honorable, not my choice - they deemed me to need to get out for medical reasons but also didnt retire me. hence the severance

anyway, 1 feb 2012, i start getting my VA pay.  this continues until March 29th of this year, when i received my pay but nothing in May for April. 

i call the help line -- they say "ohh yea you cant get VA because you got disablity seperation pay"  -- not hte VA guys fualt, he is just reading off a cue card.  he cant answer any detailed questions. 

so basically, after 12.5 years, the VA has decided that until the monthly compensation equals the amount i got when i got out -- they are withholding my monthly disability compensation. 

happy friday and what a sham.  Contacted me senators already -- on the horn with a lawyer. 

 

[SHC286]

Don, I've just got stuff going on at the moment. Right now the missus and I are getting in the car to head to Coushatta for the weekend. What's there, you may ask? Well there's a lake, but what's NOT there are four kids, a grandkid, four dogs, coworkers, or managers. Not taking the boat because I haven't had a chance to get the paperwork done.

Next weekend... I'm thinking about taking the 17th off work. It's graduation day anyway, and then youngest gets to walk across the stage. So I may take part of that day to get the papers in order, but... my ex wife will be in town (eww) as well as dear old mom, granny, stepdad, stepmom, several cousins, just too many folks to visit with, so next weekend is likely out of the question too.

What's more, I need to get my work truck in for a recall, and I'm thinking about taking the boat to the local dealership and just yelling "HEY! SOMEBODY COME SHOW ME HOW TO RUN THIS THANG!" But again... papers.

Caddyjoe, sorry to hear about the troubles with the VA. I was pushed out at the end of my enlistment at the end of '06. Wasn't medically retired like you, just was considered ineligible for reenlistment due to racking up the injuries. Took me 14 years to get disability.

[caddyjoe77]

Thanks!! I wasnt medically retired -- medically discharged.  big difference. 

i believe I should have been a lawyer.  Found all kinds of holes in their story already.  Now I jsut need a lawyer to not only get me back on track with this but i also believe I have a case for the board of corrections of military records.  If anyone knows a hungry lawyer, I have already done a bunch of legwork for them 

Just need a hungry lawyer 

[SHC286]

Gents, Grand Bayou Resort. I am really wishing I'd already gotten all the paperwork and registrations done on the boat and trailer, take a look at some of the fish that come out of this lake!

[Donald Garner]

Good morning to everyone 

Gloomy day here once again....Cloudy with the chance of a thunderstorm later on this afternoon.  We had one move through the area last night.   There was thundering and lighting with some rain that lasted for about an hour or so.  No damage done to any of the property here.  Again there's some local flooding in the low lying areas   

Our forecast for today is 68-79dgrs with 88%humidity with a SE wind @ 9mphs.  There's rain in the forecast for this afternoon and into Sunday also 

There's nothing really planned for today I'm not very motivated to get things done right now.  I got the laundry going etc. I fixed breakfast omelets ham, cheese with tomato and sausage for breakfast this morning 

When this darn weather breaks I'm going to finish working on the G3 and start checking things out on the Stratos.  I just don't feel like being outside and it starts raining then I have to quit.

   Our grandkids are flying in from Anchorage, Alaska at the end of the month.  They'll be here for a 2 weeks.  We're all excited about that and the wife is starting to plan for activities for them.

SHC; Grand Bayou Resort is a beautiful place to just chill out and relax.  Oh its a great place to fish also.  My very first UltimateBass Club Shootout was at Grand Bayou.  We spent the weekend there and I got to meet all the families from TCTC Bass Club > Shreveport / Bossier City area.  Team Lock Jaw from down around Kenner / Lake Charles Area.  My wife and I had a great time and the food was just unbelievable.  Hope you and the wife have a relaxing visit there.

Running your boat?  What exactly are you wanting to know about running it?  Drop the questions here and we'll get you lined out.  I will tell you that "Seat Time" is where you're going to learn about operating it.  Even now I learn / relearn something when I take my Stratos out. 

Having a boat is fun but you have to be serious about operating it. I see young people and old people get out the water and they fully don't understand how to drive their boats.  You can't be running WOT > Full Throttle < and expect to stop on a dime...boats don't have brakes   

Joe; Sure sorry to hear about the issues you're having with the VA and your pay.  Good luck with getting things straighten out.


To everyone I hope yawls weekend is a very pleasant and safe one.  Be safe in your travels if you have to be out on the roadways. 

[SHC286]

Don, I'm mostly concerned about maintaining it properly. I mean, it's a two stroke... but I don't know where or how to add two stroke oil. Dump it in the gas tanks? Is there a separate oil reservoir where it self mixes? I'll need to learn how to operate these electronics. I don't intend to be out at night, too many hazards in my area and critters that'll eat me if I end up in the water at night, but I need to mess with the nav lights and make sure they work. I've done that before so I know it's plug and play. My dad's friend said something about changing the lower unit oil, I don't even know what the heck that is! I assume the "lower unit" is the part that goes in the water and has the prop, and the upper unit is the engine? That just makes sense to me, but I don't know. It has an onboard charger, but I need to see if it has different settings, tells me how much charge the batteries have (3 of them), and how long should it charge before taking a trip to the lake.

Quite literally, the only thing I do know how to do is crank it and drive it. I've taken boater's safety classes (required on Camp Lejeune to rent boats at the marina), and I intend to take another one as soon as I can even though I don't think it's required for me. Every boat I've driven has been owned and maintained by someone else.

Glad you suffered no damage in that storm! I hope you have a great time with the grandkids too. I hear Anchorage is nice, I've always wanted to visit Alaska and go far enough north to see the northern lights. I bet it's a bit of a shocker for them to come to the south.

[Bud Kennedy]

SHC, I would recommend strongly that you take the boat to a reputable bass boat shop and have all the systems checked out.  You should do this first before you get yourself into a lot of trouble that could get real expensive real quick.  Also there is a safety factor component of this check out process.

Secondly you need to find an experienced bass boat owner to show you the ropes of launching and driving your boat.  This is not a time to be penny wise and pound foolish.  Do these things correctly and give yourself some time to learn the ins and outs of the craft. 

[SHC286]

SHC, I would recommend strongly that you take the boat to a reputable bass boat shop and have all the systems checked out.  You should do this first before you get yourself into a lot of trouble that could get real expensive real quick.  Also there is a safety factor component of this check out process.

Secondly you need to find an experienced bass boat owner to show you the ropes of launching and driving your boat.  This is not a time to be penny wise and pound foolish.  Do these things correctly and give yourself some time to learn the ins and outs of the craft. 

That's what I'm looking to do. I'm willing to bet big money it'll check out good, my dad fished all the stinking time. He was on the lake the weekend before he passed, and was pretty upset he had to cancel the following weekend because of his back and he passed that Friday morning. He also had OCD and couldn't stand to let anything go unmaintained. But I have a reputable shop nearby. Actually, same company, same owner, has a shop at Lake Darbonne and on Highway 165 on the south side of Sterlington. Dad knew how to take care of a boat, had it checked out regularly at a shop in Memphis and his file on it is thick as a bible but I know nothing and it would just be stupid to not take advantage of getting it looked over when it would be so convenient. And their shop at Darbonne has its own ramp. I don't imagine it'd take much persuading to get someone to give me a little driver's ed.

[Donald Garner]

SHC; Bud has provided you with some great advice.  There are a lot of YouTube videos on How to Properly Maintain your boat etc. 

Good luck and have fun with your boat. 

[Donald Garner]

Good afternoon to all,

Forecasted temps for across Central Texas today are 69-80dgrs with 73% humidity with a SE wind @ 8mphs.  There's more rain for this evening and into Monday forecasted also.

Went to church this morning and took the wife out for lunch afterwards.  We stopped in at our favorite Chinese Restaurant Dynasty over in Temple     After changing clothes Dwayne and I moved the Stratos into the garage.  We're going to start working on it getting it water ready.  The grandkids are wanting to go fishing and boat riding once they get here. 

Other than that the rest of the afternoon will be spent relaxing     I hope everyone has a very pleasant and relaxing Sunday afternoon and evening ahead.

[caddyjoe77]

went out today for a few hours.  Found them pretty fast on docks and a jig bite. Love that thump!  also, wacky rig and speed worm were all in play today. Was hoping to get some topwater with the potential shad spawn but nothing doing on the plopper today. 

[caddyjoe77]

grand bayou looks awesome SHC!!  and some beauty fish to boot!! Good luck getting your boat in order!!

[Donald Garner]

Good afternoon to all,

Gloomy, cloudy with forecasted temps of 73-84dgrs with 72%humidity with a SE wind @ 16mphs.  There's rain in the forecast again for later on today and into the evening 

Busy morning here as Dwayne and I started working on the Stratos to get her water ready after sitting for a year and half in storage.  He fixed a tail light issue on the trailer.  Once he completed that task he drained the old lower unit oil and refilled the lower unit with fresh oil.  While he was doing that I got the new trolling motor and cranking batteries installed.

I was worried that the gas wasn't going to be any good and I was going to have to drain the tank.  Come to find out after the last run I didn't fill the tank up prior to storage     According to the gas gauge there was less than an 1/8 tank of gas in it. I did dump (2) whole bottle of Gas Treatment in it while it was parked in storage a couple times though. 

We hooked the dog ears up and turned on the water. The first try she wouldn't fire up.  We drove to the gas station and put in 10 gallons of new gas.  Got back home hooked up the dog ears again pumped the gas bulb and after a couple minutes The Ole Girl fired up smoking like a 2 stroke outboard does       I still have to break out the grease gun and hit a few fittings on the engine in the morning. 

After that we're off to the lake 

Joe; Tks for stopping by and sharing the day with us.  Glad to hear you were able to let that "Cat" run wild for a bit 

To everyone hope your day has been a pleasant one.  Yawl be safe in your travels if your out and about. 

[caddyjoe77]

the kitty ran real good too. Finished oil change and gear oil change w/dad Friday night.   She was huuungrryyy  .  Rides amazing.  Ran into several yacht wakes and  wakeboard boat wakes.  handled with ease!!

caught 4 spots all about this size.  13" or so -- spots are really getting prevalent in G

caught a couple of these just under 3

caught one of these a bit over 4

[Donald Garner]

Greetings to everyone,

Beautiful day here across Central Texas today.  The rains have stopped for the time being and now the flooding begins.  There are numerous communities around us that are dealing with floods.  Our forecasted temps for today are 73-88dgrs with 58%humidity with a SE wind @ 8mphs.  The rest of the week looks sunny with highs in the mid 80's.

Dwayne and I spent the morning greasing the Yamaha 150 VMax down.  We double checked some items and afterwards we headed over to Belton Lake.  The lake is at Flood Stage now due to all this rain we've gotten here lately.  We got the Stratos Launched and spent about an hour and half out running the boat. Everything worked just as it's suppose too and it felt GREAT being out on the water in my Stratos after being in storage for a year and half.


The maintenance crew at the Marina told us after they adjusted the floating dock the lake was fixing to be closed.  There was water over the parking lot entrance when we pulled in.  When we left the lake the water had came up quiet a bit and was covering the parking lot.  The boat ramp is now completely under water     Most of the water side camp grounds are all under water now also. 

I knew this was going to happen.  We had a drought in 2015 and it started raining in late March.  Boom the rains came and the lakes all flooded in Central Texas.  They were all mostly closed the entire Summer due to flood damage.  Belton lake is at flood stage now.  Stillhouse lake is still around 9ft below Summer Pool.  I expect it to raise up some this week also.

Joe; Tks for stopping by and congrats on the catching there buddy   Glad to hear that Cat ran great.

To everyone hope your day has been a good one.  Y'all enjoy the evening ahead and be safe in your travels.

[caddyjoe77]

Donald, great news on the Stratos running like a top!!  Truly, yes i love to go catch fish; but part of the greatness of being in the boat is the feeling of freedom.  The relaxation. 

sometimes I just like to make a long run just to make a long run -- resets the mind. 

Sorry to hear about the lake, that really sucks -- somehow mother nature oughta figure out how to spread  that water out instead of all at once. 

[Donald Garner]

Truly, yes I love to go catch fish; but part of the greatness of being in the boat is the feeling of freedom.  The relaxation. 

Sometimes I just like to make a long run just to make a long run -- resets the mind. 

Joe I concur 100% 

[Donald Garner]

Greetings to everyone

Beautiful day across Central Texas today.  It's that time of year here where we'll have these 'Pop Up' Storms.  The sun is out now but we're under a tornado warning watch till 10pm tonight.

Our forecasted temps for today are 75-89dgrs with 71%humidity with a S wind @ 13mphs.  The next 3 days are looking sunny warm.  There is the chance of rain moving in on Sun though 

Busy morning here as Dwayne and I made a run to Walmart for some quick shopping.  We stopped at our favorite gas station for some breakfast tacos      We got back home and fired up the mowers and got the yard work done. 

After taking a break we drove over to Stillhouse Lake to check on the flooding.  The lake is getting full now after all these storms we've had these past couple weeks.  They still have most of the boat ramps closed.  Belton Lake has flooded out now.  A lot of the camp grounds and picnic areas have been flooded

So now we have to wait till the flood waters recede and the maintenance crews get in and clean the place up

Nothing happening here this evening except relaxing    Yawl have a relaxing and pleasant evening ahead. 

[Bud Kennedy]

Hottest day of the year so far.  Temps this afternoon at 95.  Temps on the beach however were nice at about 83 with a nice breeze.  The beach people had a nice day thats for sure.  Big doings this week in Myrtle Beach.  The PGA tournament begins tomorrow.  Lots of folks in town for the beginnning of Harley weeks.  Some folks also here in preparation for the Darlington Nascar race so the crowds are quite diverse at this time. 

Took the dog to the vet today for her scheduled dental cleaning.  Costs more for the dogs cleaning than it does for us.  The dog is still a bit groggy but will be back to normal tomorrow.  Wife has her routine med check up tomorrow and with a little luck I will have some time to hit the lanes for a few games.  Gonna be hot again tomorrow with some possible severe storms moving in around 6pm.  It has just been a busy day that also included some groceries at Wally World.  Heck, I also forgot that I had the garage door serviced today.  Was making an awful squeeling noise that turned out to be a dry nylon bearing betweek the two big springs about the door header.  Overhead sent a very experienced tech on this call and he diagnosed the problem in seconds and then spent about an hour fixing the bearing and servicing the entire door system.  This door is very heavy and is hurricane rated.  Just wanted to make sure everything was taken care of.  My cost for this service was $108.00  I think that was very reasonable considering what he had to do and the time he spent.

[Donald Garner]

Good morning to all,

Cloudy with forecasted temps of 65-87dgrs with 91%humidity with a SE wind @ 7mphs.  There's a chance of a late afternoon Summer Storm with hail and high winds along with some more rain.

Going out and put the covers back on the G3 and Stratos here shortly.  I'm going to start going through my tackle and set up some rods.  All the lakes around me are now closed due to flooding so we'll have to wait for the water to go down.

Bud; Tks for stopping by.  You've been a busy man it seems.  Yes sir pet medical bills are more expensive than humans in some areas.  They're expensive here as we send the bills to our daughter.  She has health insurance on her pets.

I had to get our double garage door repaired here last year.  The tech told me I should be lubing the rollers and all moving parts at least every 3-4 months.  He told me the best stuff to lube the door with is "3 in 1 Garage Door Lube"  it comes in a spray can and can be purchased at Lowes / Walmart etc.  I have a life time warranty on my door and so far I've only had to call them once in 20 years.

To everyone hope your day is going well for.  Yawl be safe in your travels and be mindful of your surroundings.