Something fishy here

Now here's something you don't see every day.

Sept. 7, 2008 05:33 PM
Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- It's a fishing tale that packs a wallop so strong it broke the jaw of a southeastern Arkansas teen and covered him in fish blood and guts. Seth Russell, 15, of Crossett, was cruising Lake Chicot on a large inner tube towed by a boat when a Silver Asian carp leaped from the water and smacked him in the face. Seth was knocked unconscious.
"He doesn't remember anything at all," the boy's mother, Linda Russell, said last week. "He was laughing, and the next thing he remembers, he is waking in a hospital."
The teen has had oral surgery to wire several teeth together and still experiences back pain that doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision, his mother said.
He's not the only one who's had a run-in with the "flying" Silver Asian carp."They do not fly, but they are quite good jumpers," said Carole Engle, director of aquaculture and the fisheries center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. "Over the past year, we have had some calls about fish jumping and causing injuries on Lake Chicot."Their jumping behavior is a problem, and their population appears to be growing there," Engle said. Silver Asian carp were first imported to the United States in the 1970s. Catfish farmers brought them here to remove algae and other suspended matter from their ponds. The Environmental Protection Agency started a program allowing cities to use them to help clean the water in sewer treatment plant ponds.

We use to grow catfish in the Arkansas Delta. A few years ago we transferred a few of the carp from there to the pond we have at home in an attempt to control the weeds and grass. (see photo)

While on the topic of fish, I have another sad loss to report. I looked in my 55 gallon fishtank this morning and my plecostomus was dead!! I don't remember exactly what year I bought him, but I know when I moved my tank eight years ago he was already a few years old. I'm guessing he was around ten. A mere inch or two in length when I brought him home, he'd grown to a good 8" or better. Too big to flush! Sadly, I dipped him out (with a large net) and bagged him up for the garbage. I have no pictures of him, but this Wikipedia entry will give you a good idea of what he looked like.

I'm not going to read that!

This has been a good summer for reading. If you’ve kept an eye on my Shelfari, you’ve seen a variety of books cross the shelf. Two from the past month are books that, for some reason, I originally had no intention of reading.

Jan Karon started the "Mitford" series in the mid-90s with At Home in Mitford. The series continued with eight additional novels and several “companion” books. I was hooked by the simplicity of life in the books… a welcome escape from the real world. As with any books where I’ve grown to love the characters, I hated to see the series end. Still, when it was announced that there would be a new, related series entitled the “Father Tim” books, I balked. I had no desire to go back in time to the childhood of the main character. This summer I noticed Home to Holly Springs lying on a table at my aunt’s house. With her encouragement I decided to give it a try. I can’t imagine now why I was so opposed to reading it! It was wonderful! Set in present day, it followed Father Tim’s journey to his hometown and, with the help of flashbacks, resolved many of the issues that plagued him from his childhood throughout the original series. I’m not sure where the new series will go from here, but I’m certainly willing to go along for the ride.

I first remember Sue Monk Kidd from Guideposts Magazine. I always enjoyed her writing style and didn’t hesitate to buy her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees. It was very good and I looked forward to more from her. When The Mermaid Chair was released in 2005 I must have read something in a review that made me decide I didn’t want to read it. That persisted until I ran across it on the bargain shelf at Barnes & Noble last month and was able to thumb through a copy. Different from her first novel, I thought it was quite good, despite the poor reviews it received at Amazon.

Just think of the pleasure I would have missed out on if I’d stuck with my belligerent ways!

Farewell Melissa and Tom

Those who followed my blog at 360 know I use to spend a lot of time at our pasture and frequently made entries about our goats. I've been less involved in the day to day activities during the past year or two. I don't even know exactly how many goats we have at this point, but I do try to keep tabs on some of the older goats... ones with names and distinct personalities. It saddens me to report that we lost Melissa and Tom this week.

Tom (along with Ma and Jolly) was one of the first goats we bought. They were purchased while we were still clearing our pasture in order to help with the brush. We think Ma and Tom were about a year old when we got them and never were sure of Jolly's relationship to them. As we added goats to our herd, Tom established his dominance and remained "top dog...er, goat" until the end. Despite a few run-ins with him (see my "Killer Goat" entry at 360), I was quite fond of Tom and will miss him. My husband saw that he was dead Wednesday morning , but couldn't get to his body because of all the water. Sadly, the buzzards had already started in by the time he was able to bury him yesterday and he wasn't able to verify the cause of death. We're assuming he drowned.

Melissa and DR were Shelley's first set of twins born in July of 2005. They were handled often as kids which made them more like pets than just livestock. DR was sold when they were about a year old. Melissa remained here and had several kids of her own. Melissa's body was discovered yesterday morning in one of the cows' watering holes and had obviously been chased there by dogs (dog tracks led up to the water). Goats do not like water as it is, and with the remnants of Gustav... well, there was a lot more water than normal.

I've taken many pictures of Tom over the years. The one I've used here is the most recent, taken two months ago. The photo of Melissa (at the top) is one of my favorites. It was taken in September of '05 when she was about 2 months old. I'll miss those goats.

What a week!

What a week it's been! Hard to believe just last Thursday my daughter and I were spending some "end of the summer" time relaxing in the pool. Well, relaxing until I realized there was a snake swimming with us! He might have been small, but he was fast! I finally managed to net him so we could swim in peace.

The rest of the weekend was spent packing and taking care of last minute things. Even though my daughter is in an on-campus apartment with a kitchen this year (and is a good cook in her own right), I prepared some of her favorites dishes as a farewell. I also baked bread and tried the blueberry muffin recipe using chocolate chips this time. Yum!

Sunday was spent driving and moving in, all the time keeping an eye on Gustav. Monday we drove to my sister's house for a fun visit. We went out for lunch with her, my niece and my two great-nephews. Always an entertaining crew!! By that time I knew if I wanted to get home before all the rain I had to get going. I dropped my daughter back at her college at 4:00 and arrived home at 9:00, only driving in the rain for about the last hour.

It still amazes me that a hurricane making landfall 300 miles away can cause so much damage! We ended up with 9" of rain at our house. My husband said it was the first time he had ever seen water going over the spillway of our pond in addition to the two pipes. As of yesterday, there were 90,000 Entergy customers without power in Arkansas and no telling how much flooding and wind damage. After getting 10" of rain on our bean crop a few weeks ago, we're still waiting to see what the wind did to our rice crop this week.

Every evening our inside dogs go out one last time before bed, always hoping there will be a bunny in the yard to chase. Of course it was Tuesday evening with the wind blowing and the rain falling that their wish came true. The chase was on the minute the door opened and no amount of hollering on my part could stop things. Unfortunately, the rabbit didn't manage to escape in time. So... there I was in my nightshirt and raincoat trying to corral dogs (by this time my outside dogs were trying to get involved on the other side of the fence) and dispose of the rabbit.

Yesterday, after taking the summer off from my craft group, I arrived at the church to find that our craft room had flooded! Our church serves as a Red Cross Shelter and some of the evacuees volunteered to help clean things up. What a blessing! I recognized some of the faces and realized many were folks who had stayed at our church during Katrina/Rita.

Hopefully things will now settle in to the usual busyness of fall, without the added drama. Here's a fun distraction to end with: Flying Use your mouse to steer.

Should You Vote for Obama or McCain?

Your Issue Profile: 16% Obama, 84% McCain

The results are in, and John McCain is definitely your choice. You're probably not surprised. It's possible you've had your eye on McCain for years. Popular or not, you will likely stick by McCain. For you, it's a matter of principle. And besides, there's something exciting about rooting for the underdog!

Should You Vote for Obama or McCain?

Patience & Wisdom

I received this in an e-mail today. It was sent as a joke, but there's a lot of truth in it!

One of the greatest secrets of life is having patience & wisdom...

What Pasta Dish Are You?

You Are Spaghetti Bolognese

Compared to most people, you are well grounded and down to earth. You have old fashioned values. Your taste tends to favor what's tried and true. You love comfort food. Familiar situations put you at ease. You think that the best cooking comes from your family's kitchen!

What Pasta Dish Are You?

A Beagle Birthday and more....

Today is Betty's 9th birthday!! Happy birthday, Betty!!! It's hard to believe so many years have passed since she and Veronica came to live with us. I made her a little party hat which she was NOT happy to wear. Poor Betty.

My son and his girlfriend gave me two jigsaw puzzles for Christmas last year. I completed the first one in January. I worked the one pictured here this past week. It's part of a series called "Angel Wishes" by Kathleen Francour and is entitled "Vintage Violet". The glittery wings made it fun to work!

Here's a little time waster for those of you with nothing better to do. Click on the ball and it will change color. "Ball Time Waster"

Family Time

Tonight was one of those rare occasions that I managed to get all my family in one place at the same time. Of course food was involved!

My older daughter has a busy life working as an RN and being the single mother of a first grader. My younger daughter and my son are both college students. One begins classes in a nearby town tomorrow, the other in a neighboring state next week. We all gathered at a local Chinese restaurant for dinner and photographs. The last photo I had of all three together was taken in 2006. It was time for an update! The cutie pictured here is my granddaughter.

It was great getting everyone together: my husband, both daughters, my son and his girlfriend and my granddaughter. Nothing like family!

Onion Ring Chicken

I got this recipe from a magazine years ago. As you can tell from the photo, I've changed it around some for my family. We prefer our vegetables separate from the chicken and rice. I've included both the original recipe and the changes I make.

Mrs. Schermerhorn's Famous Chicken & Rice

2/3 C. uncooked regular rice

1 can (2.8 oz.) Durkee French Fried Onions

1/2 tsp. Durkee Italian Seasoning

1-3/4 C. prepared chicken bouillon

4 chicken breast halves, skinned if desired

1/3 C. Italian salad dressing

1 bag (16 oz.) frozen vegetable combination

• Combine rice, 1/2 can French Fried Onions and Italian Seasoning in 9"x13" baking dish.
  
• Pour bouillon over rice mixture. Arrange chicken on top; pour salad dressing over chicken.


• Bake, covered, at 400F for 30 minutes.


• Place vegetables around chicken, covering rice.


• Top chicken with remaining onions; bake, uncovered, 1 to 3 min. or until onions are golden.

My changes: I use the larger can of French Fried Onions, reserving about 1/4 of the can for topping the chicken at the end. I don't measure the Italian Seasoning or the salad dressing and probably use 1/2 cup (or more) of the salad dressing. I leave off the frozen vegetables and just uncover the dish to bake the remaining 20 to 25 minutes. I use boneless chicken breasts or tenders, depending on which I have on hand.