The Political Season in the Shenandoah Valley...

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Motorist, commuters, tourists, truckers, and local Valley residents have become accustomed to seasonal changes while driving along VA Route 81 as well as the start of a new political season.

They have also grown accustomed to the yearly posting of Campaign signs for upcoming elections and the strong representation of Republican candidates both nationally and locally from the Shenandoah Valley…

The above barn along route 81 at the 241 mile marker has been a Valley icon of this campaign practice and this past week has added this Bob Goodlatte 2009 banner as viewed when traveling South on 81...

Cross posted over at Bloggers for Bob Goodlatte

"What is this Sailfish for?"... by Ernest Hemingway...

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Found this description of Sailfish by Hemingway in the book “Hemingway on Fishing” in “Out in the Stream: A Cuban Letter”….

"What use is the sailfish’s sail to that fish? Why should this fish which seems to be an unsuccessful model, an earlier and more fantastic model for the marlin, thin where the marlin is rounded, weak where the marlin is strong, provided with insufficient pectoral fins and too small a tail for its size, have survived?"

“There must be a good reason for the sail. What is it?"…

Energy Myths and the "Democratic" Congress...

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Investors Business Daily IBD provides some facts to counter the well rehearsed "Energy Myths" that have been coming out of the Democratic Party controlled Congress regarding the energy crunch we now face...

"This is especially true of Democrats. Many in Congress seem either disconnected from reality or intentionally disingenuous about our energy crunch. They have well-honed negative responses to common-sense ideas about solving our energy crisis, particularly drilling for more oil."

"We can't drill our way out of our energy crisis."

"Actually, we can. As we've noted before, conservative estimates put the total amount of recoverable oil in conventional deposits at about 39 billion barrels. Offshore, we have another 89 billion barrels or so. In ANWR, 10 billion barrels. In oil shale deposits, we have more than 1 trillion barrels of oil. In perspective, that's about four times the total reserves of Saudi Arabia. And if estimates of shale reserves as high as 2 trillion barrels prove true, we'll have about a 300-year supply of oil just from shale. This compares with current estimated total U.S. oil reserves of about 21 billion barrels."

"Even if drilling works, it'll take a decade or more for the oil to flow."

"This is quite an argument coming from the Democratic Party, which has made keeping oil off the market a linchpin of its energy policy for decades.If President Clinton hadn't vetoed the idea of drilling in ANWR back in 1995, we'd have that oil on the market today. Ditto if Congress had approved ANWR drilling in 2002, when President Bush requested it.
Even so, the larger point is false anyway. New oil will be flowing in some cases within three to four years, according to industry estimates. But the impact on prices will be immediate. Why? Because markets would suddenly have to discount future oil prices for the expected gain in oil supply. That would cause oil prices, especially in futures markets, to drop."

Great Read at IBD

Marlin Fishing as Described by Ernest Hemingway...

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Came along the following descriptions of Marlin fishing by Earnest Hemingway from the book "Hemingway on Fishing"... In "Marlin Off of Morro: A Cuban Letter" the famous author and fisherman describes the many different moods and "bites" that come from the marlin when fishing....


“The marlin hit a trolled bait in four different ways. First, with hunger, again with anger, then simply playfully, last with indifference. Anyone can hook a hungry fish who gives him enough line, doesn’t backlash and sets the hook hard enough. What happens then is something else. The main thing is to loosen your drag quickly enough when he starts to jump and make his run, and get the boat after him as he heads out to sea. The hungry marlin smashes at the bait with bill, shoulders, top fin and tail out. If he gets one bait he will turn and charge the other. If you pull the bait out of his mouth he will come for it again as long as there is any bait on the hook”…

“The indifferent fish will follow the boat for as many as three to four miles. Looking the baits over, sheering away, coming back to swim deep below them and follow, indifferent to the bait, yet curious. If such a fish swims with his pectoral fins tucked close to his sides he will not bite. He is cruising and you are on his course. That is all. The minute a marlin sees the bait, if he is going to strike, he raises his dorsal fin and spreads those wide, bright blue pectorals so that he looks like some great, under-sea bird in the water as he follows”…






“The angry fish puzzled us for a long time. He would come from below and hit the bait with a smash like a bomb exploding in the water. But as you slacked line to him he has dropped it. Screw down on the drag and race the bait in and he would slam it again without taking it. There is no way to hook a fish acting that way except to strike hard as he smashes. Put the drag on, speed up the boat and sock him as he crashes it. He slams the bait to kill it as long as it seems to believe”…

What Would Yo-Yo Ma Say?...

"Well that's No Way to Promote Unity within the Party"...

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The Staunton NewsLeader reports that the Augusta County Republican Committee will be selecting a new Chairman this week. It also reports that new Chairman will be selected by the new committee that was formed from a list of people who stayed after the original mass meeting and excludes many prior ACRC members.

"On Saturday, Shirley said that a new chairman will be elected based on a procedure outlined in the county committee's bylaws. When a chairman resigns, the bylaws require the group's executive committee to meet and establish a meeting date for the larger committee to elect a new chairman, he said."

"At Thursday's meeting, Shirley said nominations for the position will be taken from the floor. Only committee members will be eligible to vote and be nominated for the position, he said."

This procedure of selecting a new Chairman to the Augusta County Republican Committee in effect ignores and disregards the majority of the votes that were cast by those Republicans who attended the mass meeting back in April. The resulting argument was that the original mass meeting was closed abruptly and not by correct procedure, but this occured after the voters had made their clear choice for Chairman and they chose Dr. Roller over Kurt Michael by a vote of 141 to 103...

"However, when temporary Chairman Jim Bailey adjourned the meeting without a vote, Michael said the meeting was invalid and held another election. Though Michael won this second election easily, a majority of mass meeting voters had left the premises at the time of the second vote."

The present and "New" ACRC committee is made up of the people who stayed for the second meeting and excludes numerous prior members of the ACRC committee. The "New" executive committee was selected by members from the "Second" list and thus ignores approximately 3\4's of the original Augusta County Republican membership...

"Shirley said the committee's membership list includes the people who stayed for the second half of the April 10 mass meeting and some additional people who were added during a May meeting. Because Larry Roller is no longer a member of the committee, he cannot be nominated for the chairmanship, he said."

By selecting a new Chairman in this manner the new ACRC committee ignores and disregards the majority of the prior ACRC Republican membership that they claim they are reaching out to for "Party Unity". This entire episode has gone on for way to long and Republican members working towards a common goal would have and should have found a solution that included all members involved. The RPV Republican Party of Virginia should have called for another Augusta County Republican mass meeting that could have been conducted by a third party entity to ensure fairness to all involved and the voters could have elected a Chairman by the people's vote.

"After the state party ruled in favor of Michael in May, Roller said he might appeal to the legal system."

When asked about further legal action I replied that I do not feel this conflict belongs in the courts and should have not been presented to the court system in the past. The Republican Party of Virginia needs to bring both "extremes" together and provide a solution that includes the entire Republican membership of Augusta County. Otherwise having a select few, made up from a list that excluded the majority of the membership, calling for "Party Unity" carries little weight...

There is Something "Brewing".

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There is something brewing in Augusta County...

Stand by...

"SeaBoots" Fishing Report ~Florida Keys~

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I just received the monthly "Fishing Report" from Captain Jim Sharpe who runs his Sportfishing Charter boat "SeaBoots" in the Florida Keys and I had the opportunity to work with for six years. Above is a photo of a 50lb. Dolphin that was caught a few years back to use as a comparison to the "70 lb. Bull Dolphin" as noted in the following fishing report.

Fishing in May and June has been excellent. It seems that the migrations of fish particularly dolphin have been running about three weeks to a month late. Normally we see a lot of big dolphin in April. The big dolphin came in May. There were lots of very large dolphin, we lost a bull that looked to be about 70 or 80 pounds. Unfortunately we hooked the fish of a 20 pound spinning outfit. We were fighting two 30 to 35 pound cows on thirty pound test when the big bull showed up. he followed one of the cows right up to the back of the boat. We baited the bull about five feet off the stern with a whole ballyhoo on the spinner. After several long runs and a beautiful air show the line raped on the rod tip and we broke him off. Tip rapping is common after fighting several large dolphin. Each time the handle turns on the spinning reel if line is not gained the line twists. After a long fight all you have to do is bow the rod with no tension and the line will rap the rod tip. Then the fish runs and "broke line". The way to prevent this is to only wind when you are gaining line. No matter how careful you are the line still tends to spin. Maybe that’s where the name spinning reel came from? We prefer to use conventional rod and reels for trolling this eliminates the problem, casting to big dolphin with spin tackle is a lot of fun. Here in the lower keys there were a number of dolphin brought in over 50-pounds and a 67-pound bull was reported. Aprils big fish came in May and large numbers of small school dolphin showed up in June.

We have been blessed with a good number of bill fish; sail, blue and white marlin and spear fish in May and June. In one three day period we hooked eight bill fish landing only two sail fish. We have been consistently raising one to three bill fish each day. During the last two weeks the small school dolphin have showed up in great numbers. A few large dolphin have been showing up as well. One of our anglers eight years old caught an released 40 dolphin only one was of legal size 20 inch fork measurement. This week the big Dolphin and big Wahoo have made a good showing. On Tuesday we landed a 40 pound Wahoo and lost a 50 “pounder” right at the boat. We also had a nice catch of 30 pound dolphin and large “schoolie’s“. Water temperatures are warming up 83.6 degrees and the dolphin will be pushing father offshore later this month. But that is good because there are a lot of bill fish around including marlin. The tuna will show up later this month and be strong in July and August.

We have decided to rent our Cudjoe Key Ocean front property seasonally. Its a very large home located on a natural beach right on the ocean with magnificent sunsets. Boats up to 30 foot can be docked at the rear of the property with direct access to the ocean and gulf. Boat rentals are available. This property has been upgraded and should be ready for seasonal renting some time in July. For more information call 1-800-238-1746. Thank you for fishing with us, hope you are having a great summer. Remember we have my Dolphin Book, T-shirts and videos and DVD's For more information check our web site at http://www.seaboots.com/ E-mail us at seaboots5@aol.com. tight lines and good fishing Captain Jim Sharpe

St. Mary's Wilderness "Fire Effect" Recovery...

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Hiked up to Big Spy Mountain to check on the recovery of the area after the St. Mary's Wilderness Fire back on March 25th~30th...

It is obvious that there will be no leaves on the trees in this "fire effect" area and this results in more sunlight reaching the forest floor promoting the growth of new cover.

In prior posts about this area I referred to the results from this fire as "Damage" and since have received email from a biologist who suggested that this "damage" be viewed to as "Fire Effect" instead. It is obvious that the forest eco-system is already at work in repairing the effects of the fire...

The Table Mountain Pine Pinus pungens Lamb is found along the steep rocky slopes and ridges of both Big Spy and Little Spy mountain and is pretty much only found in this mountain range all the way down to and including North Carolina.