Flyfishing in the Pitt River

Saturday, June 26th, 2010 took a jet boat to the headwaters of Pitt Lake. It is a wonderful, wild place less than two hours from Vancouver. The fishing consisted of sating a large fly - fish imitation, upstream and after mending the line letting it drift with the current until it had swung around. A slow retrieve was often when the fish would hit. I went with two other fishing companions and between the three of us we landed more than 20 Dolly Varden. A spoon on a spinning rod was the best ticket but I stuck to the fly. Spectacular scenery and well worthwhile. We fished with Matt, a guide from the Pacific Angler shop on Broadway.

War on Junk - Day 25

The junk war has slowed down a bit but no truse has been declared. Here is the day's haul:

1. An octagonal glass jar
2. A stainless steel water bottle sans lih
3. A small glass jar with a lid
4. A small plastic container with a lid
5. A plastic candy divider box
6. A package of anchors for a car
7. An accessory for a defunct dustbuster
8. Tears for Fears CD
9. HP DeskJet 5900 CD
10. A Rockin for Research music CD (we got 2)

War on Junk - Day 23 A Trip to the Dump

Huge junk invasion over the weekend. New TV and home theatre system resulted in a massive pile of cardboard boxes, styrofoam and other packing materials. It required the junk war nuclear option - a trip to the dump. The dump is no longer called a dump, it's called a transfer station. For the privelege of driving to the dump and unloading our garbage, we get to pay a fee. In addition, garbage goes to one location, paints and metals to another and recyclables to a third. They are all in proximity but it seems that the process could be streamlined. For example, to get rid of the paint, you can drive directly to the paint station from within the garbage facility. The collectors were there but wouldn't accept your paint cans until you drove out of the facility, back onto the steet and then turned back into the same facility ten yards down the road where you were met by the same collectors at the same station who would now accept your paint. Not quite sure why we had to do it that way but we did.

What we got rid of today:

1. A cardboard box from the TV
2. Styrofoam from the packing crate
3. Multiple boxes and cardboard inserts from the home theatre packing crate
4. ANother cardboard box
5. A lenght of copper pipe
6. A rotten 2x4
7. A small piece of plywood
8. A drawer from an old piece of furniture
9. A 5 gallon paint container
10. A large ceramic tile

War on Junk - Day 22

Now I'm getting in to the tool/hardware section of our junk cornucopia. Some of this stuff might be useful, but hasn't been used for 20 years, is redundant or has an unknown function. This will be a rich source of crap!

The list:

1. A Prestone lock De-Icer, never used but defunct
2. A vintage pair of pliers
3. A President's Choice jam jar in which I found a piece of lapis and rutilated quartz - bonus!
4. A brass pot
5. A clamp for a specific but unknown purpose
6. Another clamp - ditto
7. A package of toggle bolts 1/8 x 2 inches
8. A package of 2 brass tap seats
9. a plastic box for earplugs - no ear plugs
10. A dual clamp for something - never been used

War on Junk - Day 21 A New Year

It is now 2010. Who knows what this year will bring? My hope is for peace, prosperity, good health and good luck. I watched Dick Clark last night doing the countdown to the New Year. Dick, it's time to retire! He is is an ancient man with a plastic surgeon's deft touch all over his face. He doesn't look old but he sounds like he belongs in an assisted-living retirement home. I digress.

Today's haul:

1. A pair of Italian scissors - not used
2. A redundnat tape gun by 3M
3. A broken plug plate
4. A door stopper
5. A nylon thingamabob.
6. A washer
7. A plastic reservoir cover
8. A light bulb, plug converter
9. A plastic chair leg whatchamacallit
10. A plastic plug plugger

War on Junk - Day 20

Two hundred pieces of junk down! The holidays have been distracting - so many better things to do than look for junk, but I must remain vigilant because new pieces of junk creep in daily. It takes about a hundred items to fill the tote.

Today's list:

1. An American Eagle Sweater
2 and 3. A pair of Swazi candles made in Africa
4. A bundle of tubes
5. A defunct lighter
6. An Ikea attaching device
7. A fridge magnet
8. A Dustbuster attachment
9. A plastic vial
10. A paint brush

War on Junk - Day 19

After a Christmas hiatus, during which a lot of future junk made its way into our house and the war on junk was temporarily suspended, I'm back in the trenches. There are entire stores full of garbage that people foolishly flock to. They're called Dollar Stores and they sell exclusively stuff which will be in the garbage within two weeks of purchase. The only attraction they seem to have is price. However it's not restricted to the dollar stores - my mother-in-law, who is not mechanically inclined, purchased a flashlight this week. She brought it over and handed it to me, because she couldn't get it to work. Thats' not unusual, however this time, there was good reason for her difficulties - it was an unalloyed piece of junk - poorly made, poorly designed, instant garbage, all manufactured in China, blister packed, shipped overseas, stocked in the hardware store, purchased and then discarded. A total waste of resources, energy, time and money.

Today's Junk.

1. A Macanudo Cigar box
2. A cigar cutter - cheap and nasty
3. An aluminum cigar tube
4. A Macadamia Royals chocolate-covered nut tin
5. A lighter
6. A Cortland Fly Line Cleaner - never used and not needed
7. A blade from a sword-shaped letter opener
8. A plastice vial containing iron pyrite flakes
9. A glass jar
10. My Abu-matic reel, given to me by my dad on my 10th birthday. A few years back I disassembled it, then couldn't figure out how to put it back together. Not junk but no longer useful.