Hooked on Fun: Reel in the Joy of Fishing Even When the Fish Aren’t Biting!

Hey. So after our bout with sinus infections, me and Holly are finally feeling better. I would say we struggled with it all the way through Monday and Tuesday and a little bit on Wednesday. It really impacted workouts and just overall energy. I think we had to go to sleep early most every night and just overall feeling blah. It's amazing how antibiotics are supposed to make you feel better, but usually by the tail-end of it, we always feel a whole lot worse. But we had a quiet week at home.

Wednesday we were starting to feel quite a bit better, which was good because we'd already planned that weekend to go fishing with Holly's parents up in Helen, Georgia. I hadn't been to Helen in a long time, so I was looking forward to it as well. I'd hear about how great it is and some of the shopping and things like that, so we were looking forward to that.

On Friday we headed up, I guess it was about two hours or so. We rode up with Holly's parents, stayed at a cute little Airbnb on the river, which that was nice. Just step outside and there were a ton of people there, more folks there than I had remembered. Specifically, if you've ever been up in that part of town, there's a lot of people who will do the float down the river, and there used to be one big company, now there's two big companies. One gets out in one spot, one gets out in the other, but there's a lot of inner tube traffic on the river.

I can remember too, from when we used to do Float the Hooch or whatever, you'd get stuck on rocks and that sort of thing. It looks like the business came up with a great idea to add on a stick, so that's an extra thing you can buy, and it looked like about 90% of the people bought one of the sticks to help them float down the river. That's a great business add on is what I would say. Also, they sell those elastic things to bind the tubes together. I remember back in the day, we used to have to try to hold onto each other's tubes to stay together. Well, they don't have to do that anymore, now they can bind them together. We saw a couple of groups of four or five people.Now we were up there to fish. We got up early Saturday morning and drove out to one of Holly's dad's old fishing places where you could park and then walk down to either side of a bridge where there was water, and they had good luck in the past. We fished; we didn't have great luck. I was really good at catching some sticks on the bottom and then Holly's mom caught one small little fish. It was too small, so she threw it back and that was really it. We saw one or two people who caught a couple fish, but I guess where we were at it really felt like it had been over-fished and there were a lot of people there that morning even, and I feel like they'd been fished a lot. Later, we found out that they had stocked it about seven days ago, but I think it's been heavily fished in between now and then. We didn't have any luck.

After lunch we did go to a different place. There's a park down there on the lake and there was some fishing you could do there. They had some big, larger fish, about a foot long, a couple of those, but mostly just small little fish. I think Holly's mom did some fishing in there, but those fish were so overfed that they would bite it and then just spit out the food. They weren't really interested in anything. They were just sort of swimming along. I think they've been overfed with lots of bread and just what people throw near picnic areas. The fishing didn't do great. After the park, we drove back to our little Airbnb, and we walked down along the river next to where all the inner tube people were.

I did find out that the kind of fishing we were doing requires a lot of patience, and that is not my strongest virtue. I probably will not become an avid fisherman unless I can figure out a way to make it a little more fast-paced. But the land was beautiful. I loved seeing the rivers, and the woods with some of the older growth.

The Shriners were doing a parade up there that weekend, which may have been one of the reasons why it was so crowded, I'm not sure. Although, one of the storekeepers told us that it actually was light for that time of year, that a lot of weekends it's much more crowded than even it was when we were there. We caught a cool picture, one of their floats that looked like a pirate ship. We enjoyed the parade.

Then on Sunday we came back. We did stop at one or two small little roadside stores. Shirley got some boiled peanuts and Mike got some peach ice cream in honor of Georgia. I saw some homemade apple pies I really wanted to buy but decided to stick to my nutrition plan. Now we did go to several of the shops in Helen. I didn't particularly love those. I felt they were kind of touristy, which wasn't really what I was looking for. I'm not sure what I was looking for really. I'd heard a lot about it, but it seemed pretty touristy to me. I probably would not go do a lot of shopping. Did not get a chance to eat any German food there but if we go back or go to the surrounding area, we'll probably look out for that. Hope you had a good week and remember, if you are in pain, call Shane! 

Paw Offices of Teddy, Robin, & Kingston

First things first, let's talk about why summer has got me all worked up. It's not just the warmth of the sun on my fur or the gentle breeze ruffling through my whiskers (although those are definitely perks). No, it's the promise of salty sea air, sandy shores, and endless opportunities for relaxation. I've been dreaming about this since the last leaf fell off the tree!

Now, when it comes to summer travel, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. You see, us cats may have a reputation for being independent, but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy a good vacation now and then. In fact, I've been planning my beach getaway for months. I've got my suitcase packed with all the essentials – sunscreen (gotta protect that delicate fur), sunglasses (a cat's gotta look cool), and, of course, my favorite floaty toy for some beachside fun.

But what really gets me excited about summer travel is the prospect of sipping on a refreshing purr-garita by the shore. Oh yeah, you heard me right –  it's paw-sitively purr-fect for summer sipping! Nothing beats lounging under a palm tree, feeling the warmth of the sun on my fur, and savoring every sip of that delicious concoction. It's like paradise in a glass, my friends.

So, as the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, you can bet your bottom dollar that Kingston here will be living his best life on the beach. Whether I'm chasing seagulls, taking a dip in the ocean, or simply basking in the sun, you can bet I'll have a purr-garita in paw and a smile on my face. After all, summer only comes once a year, and this cat intends to make the most of it. So here's to sun, sand, and the sweet taste of freedom – cheers, my furry friends!

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