ForbesOnTech

Wild Things and butterfly 101 for Second Graders-- San Diego Style.

OK, so I love most things natural: from playful skunks and other mustids to the local colony of gangster hummingbirds that pick on juvenile hawks.But caterpillars in my garden? not so much.

Having made that confession, I hastily admit to planting milk weed and other wild butterfly attractors in my back yard, far away from my vegetables. I mean, is there anything more abhorrent to your average gardener than an ugly green tomato caterpillar munching on the yellow flowers that would otherwise have turned into delicious one keelo grum plump French heirloom beefsteak tomatoes?

But there is a buterfly culture here in northern San Diego County that puts second graders in front of monarchs, yellowtail swallow butterflies and even mundane painted lady and yucca moths. I think that's a very good thing.  Thr buterfly program is headquartered in the nearby town of Encinitas. In it's near 20 year history, this program has turned out multipe generations of nature lovers here.

What's not to love about butterflies or a butterfly house?"

Here they can pet the caterpillars and a lot of them are very soft," Marriott said. In addition, there are caterpillar races, where children choose a particular caterpillar that they drop through a hole in a special box made with narrow lanes.

"They give them names, and scream 'Common' Fred!,' " he said. "It's a lot of fun."

"If you go to other butterfly houses, all you see is butterflies and there isn't a docent to explain things," he said. "Our main goal is to educate people about their life cycle and how they fit into our ecosystem."

The children also can hold out a slice of watermelon and watch the butterflies drink.

Close encounters of a natural kind

The program opens its doors on certain weekdays from April through November for field trips and is generally open to the public Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons in the summer. Admission fees of $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $4 for children older than 3 go to underwrite nearly all of the costs of the program.

It's programs like this as well as the local White Sea Base nursery program that I vote for with my check book.

Besides the Encinitas Butterfly House has caterpillar races and those are almost as much fun as horse races. "Ride the wind, Fred. Show the world how fast a monarch butterfly caterpillar can go."-- Jim Forbes, 08/20/2008

A Winning Strategy for Riding Mower Blade Replacement-- Bloody Knuckle Technology

Ok, all you lawn tractor operators, it’s time to deal with the one task you’ve put off since the start of summer, get down to some serious sucking on bloody scraped knuckle sucking fun and change the blades on your deck.

But first let’s talk tools and false assumptions:

1.                  Because you bought an American branded lawn tractor at a store with a nationwide presence don’t assume it uses SAE standard bolts and nuts.

2.                  If you’re reusing blades from previous seasons, do not grind them razor sharp. Over heating blades weakens the steel making it susceptible to breaking or chipping if you run over objects such as rocks, metal sprinklers, or even metal water lines. The best way to sharpen old blades is to sharpen the cutting edge using a shoulder pattern—just like an ax blade.

3.                  You may be strong, but the two most important tools for replacing blades may be a container of fine penetrating oil and a three to four-foot length of one-half inch (inside diameter ) galvanized or iron pipe.

Required tools:

A selection of metric or SAE standard sockets

A 10 to 12-inch long breaker bar

Hammer

Ratchet wrench

Six, eight or ten-inch extension for ratchet wrench/breaker bar.

Container of penetrating oil such as Liquid wrench or gun oil. WD 40 will work in most cases and it comes with the vitally important ten-inch spray tube.

Cold beverage

Car ramp, ATV/motor cycle loading ramps or steps around outside of house or patio.

 

Drive lawn tractor up ramps or partway up steps. Lock brakes on mower and chock back wheels.

            Lower mowing deck to gain access to top of blade mounting bolt holes. Drench top of holes and face of mounting bolts with penetrating oil. Do this to both set of blades.  Let set five minutes. Now take stout hammer and tap both sides of the bladeset to help penetrating oil seep into threads. If possible, also tap the top and bottom of the blade-mounting bracket with the hammer.

Repeat process on other blade.

            While you’re down there, determine if the mounting bolts are either SAE standard or metric. Connect correct socket to the extension, mount it all on the. breaker bar and seat the socket squarely on the bolt’s face.

Now, wish on star, click heels together, take deep cleansing breath and gently apply pressure to the handle of the breaker bar in the right direction. Increase pressure on breaker bar, exhale, curse loudly when socket slips off the bolt face because it wasn’t mounted squarely and suck blood off your scraped knuckles. Repeat process on other blade.

            If the mounting bolt is still stuck, use more penetrating oil and gently wang mounting bar with hammer to get oil to penetrate into the thread grooves.

            Do not beat the living shit out of the blade mounting bar since you can easily damage the blade spindle in its housing. Strike it sharply several times on both sides of the blade and if possible on top of the mounting bar.

            Now go back and try to get the bold loose using the breaker bar. Again, gently apply more pressure until the bolt begins to turn or you realize its frozen in place. If bolt is frozen, go on to the next step.

            Slip one end of a three or foot of sturdy pipe over the end of the breaker bar, find something you can brace against and use the leverage of the lengthy piece of pipe to break the nut loose. Loosen all the nuts on both blades.  Take deep breath, drink the remainder of your refreshing beverage and use your ratchet wrench to remove bolts.

            Place cruddy looking bolts in significant other’s good crystal or Tupperware or small jar with lid and let them soak in WD 40 or penetrating oil.  Hide Tupperware or other sacred female domestic vessel where significant other is unlikely to detect your fragrant misuse of a special container.

            Take a hammer and firmly tap one end of blade until it falls off the mounting bar.  Now take a putty knife and clean the face of the mounting bar so the new blades will go on easily. While you’re down there and the blades are off, use the putty knife or other scraper to remove caked on grass sludge on the inside of the deck.

            Compare old blades to new blades, wondering aloud how you managed to cut anything. Gaze in wonderment at the old blades, which appear to be one-half inch shorter than the new blades.  I’ve seen blades with one-inch of wear on both ends..

            Clean threads on mounting bolts and attach new blades by running in and tightening the bolts with your ratchet wrench. Uncouple the extension and socket from the wrench and reattach it to the breaker bar.  Firmly tighten the bolt down but first make sure the socket is squarely on the face of the bolt.

            Admire work and then hide and clean significant other’s sacred special container taking great care to remove all evidence of rust, grease or yard crud.

            After you’ve changed the blades, take a moment to clean the contacts on your tractor’s battery connection.

            Save and sharpen old blades for future use, unless they’re missing one or two inches of metal on their ends.

            Put tools away, apply bandages to skinned knuckles, unchock rear wheels, release parking break and, with refreshing libation in cup holder of tractor, cut lawn.—Jim Forbes 07/13/2008

 

(the management of ForbesonTech does not endorse or suggest the consumption of alcoholic beverages while replacing mower blades or operating power equipment such as riding mowers or small wheeled or track layer tractors.)       

 

Ode to a Debris Box-- The Remodel is Officially Over

Oh green construction debris box

Mighty sides of steel

I happily overfilled you using loads of barrow wheel

You were one of three but the last

Now you’re gone, because the remodel has past

 

Packed with lumber, sheet rock and scraps

I ended up cleaning out the garage to rid it of crap

Your Portapotty cousin left too, last night

Now I’m free to garden with all my organic might..

The end.

 

Good friends don’t let their other friends remodel.

here's What Happens When you have Untamed Water Presssure

Woops ,I think I may have a tad too much water pressure on the circuit down among the fruit trees. the sprinkler on the left is gear driven and lated 20 minutes before it blew its top. the one on the right, which  cost half as much as the larger sprinkler lasted all of seven minutes before it too blew its head off.  thank God Home Depot is only 4 miles away. i replaced these sprinklers with a Rabid oscillating sprinkler and now only open up my faucet half way. Everything is working well. High water pressure can be a good thing in the fire season, but I definitely have to put a regulator on the circuit down the hill. 120 pounds of pressure is a bit much.--Farmer Forbes 

Putting Distant Remembered Things to Good Use-- Welding using What's On Hand.

Sometimes necessity brings back useful memories or lessons from long ago.

            Like yesterday when I discovered my favorite patio chair was broken. I thought I might be able to repair it with some sort of epoxy.. buty nooooooooooo! The epoxy joint lasted less than 5 minutes after curing for 24 hours. In case you don’t know this: Epoxy’s strength is to withstand tortional, not lateral forces.

            But as I cursed and stared at my broken chair, I was struggling to remember some quasi-important factoid that seemed to have been lost in my stroke, several years ago.

            Then walking around to my boat port to the unused flower pot where I store tie-downs, the fog lifted and I suddenly remembered being taught an emergency welding technique in high school and actually using it on a drive down Baja California, once.

{Author’s note, there was a time, several decades ago in Pre Prop 13 California, when high schools had classes in industrial arts. In addition to learning how to make roach clips, some students learned basic car repair, wood and metal working.}

            What keyed my memory was seeing one of the two humongous 12-volt batteries in my boat as I stuffed an unused tie down strap in the old planter. Simultaneously, I remembered I had some thin welding stock in my garage.

Off to the garage I went, pulling on my old leather lovess and searching for some welding rod sock I knew was somewhere on my bench top. I pulled my damaged chair over behind my boat and then hooked my jumper cables to the freshest battery in the boat. I then took my cordless Dremel, grinding a shiny spot in the metal of the chair about one foot away from the area I wanted to join (which I had previously sanded as well).

            I attached the clamp from the negative terminal of my battery to the cleaned contact point near the area I planned to join and then clamped the rod stock (which I had first ground a point on using my Dremel tool) and gingerly began sparking. Wearing my mirrored sunglasses I focused on starting an arc while maintaining the circuit.

            I knew that the battery lacked enough current to allow me to get enough heat to make a flowing joint so I just tacked both sides of the broken piece in place.

            In about five minutes I had repaired my chair, using something I think I learned in high school and have used only once before, when I had to repair my 68 VW bug 200 miles south of San Felipe, Baja, California at about 4 AM.

            I have no idea whatsoever what other memories I’ve lost track of because of that damn stroke. I do know that I’m often at a loss when I’m in former work setting and someone comes up to me and says, “Hi, Jim how are you?”

            I just stand there grinding mental gears thinking ‘I suppose I remember this person but who are they really?”

            Thank God for names on badges, sometimes it’s enough for me to make a connection, sometimes it’s not.”

            Regardless, I at least can smile, reply  “I’m doing great!” and sincerely mean it when I ask what they’ve “been up to recently?”

            Another day, another reason to smile and maybe even the inspiration I need to do some retail therapy at Harbor Freight, which has small welding set on sale this week. Oh boy, joining metal to metal with electric fire. Be still, my pounding heart.—Jim Forbes 06/16/2008

(Mandatory disclosure: the management of ForbesonTech does not recommend or endorse the use of unauthorized and potentially dangerous emergency welding techniques. Never ever arc weld without eye protection and leather gloves. The data in this post is provided for informational purposes only. Void where prohibited by law—jmf)

The Right Tool for a Backbreaking Job

Swinging a mattock (the Hand tool on left) to chop and prepare hard packed clay landscaped plots for planting is not a much of fun.

But,if you look around  hard enough you occasionally find the right tool for the job.

In my case it was my cordless drill and an 18 by 1.0-inch auger bit(in my cordless drill pictured to the right of the mattock). By drilling 6-inch deep holes in the clay spaced in 8-inch diamond patterns, I was able to use my Mantis tiller  to break up the soil and mix in potting medium in about six hours.

Thanks to a sidewalk sale at a local discount tool store I was able to get my planters ready very quickly.

Oh, I managed to avoid hitting any of the irrigation pipes in my landscape plots too. A Happy Fathers' Day Gardening tips--Jim Forbes 06/15/2008

Cutting That Big Unkempt Field-- Without Starting a Conflagration

Let’s talk lawn tractors and blazing (that’s really the wrong wored here) a path through your property. To be specific, let’s talk about tending that unsightly two or three acre patch of weeds you can see beyond the fence of you house’s lot, but which your grudgingly paying taxes on year after year.

            The technical term for that piece of land is “rough field” but it has some other names like: “Untended, festering rattle snake patch,” “fire hazard field” and “that damn field.”

            Admit it, with enough coffee on a weekend morning you’ve thought “today is the day I do something about that damn field.”

            But you discover your yard tractor is low on gas and there’s none in the cans in your barn, or you just don’t want to siphon unleaded regular from you boat’s fuel tank before 8 in the morning. If you’re a little concerned about cutting the field safely, put those fears aside for a moment, brothers and sisters, start “Smedly” the tractor, put it in third gear and motor up to the field.

Some basic thoughts on rough field mowing:

1.                  Stay hydrated. Find a way to carry one gallon of water or more on your tractor, even if that means you use bungee cords to hold the water container to the back of your tractor’s seat.

2.                  Slather on the sunscreen and wear a hat. If you suffer from allergies a bandanna makes a stylish mask. Dark glasses not only will protect your eyes from irritants, they also compliment the image of the “bandit gardener.”

3.                  Do take  your cell phone, in the unlikely event you have to call 911 to summon professional fire fighters to put out an accidental brush fire.

4.                  Check the oil level in your tractor and tire pressure. Top off your fuel.

5.                  Try to cut your field with blades that are still sharp.

6.                  Make sure the guide wheels on the front of your deck move freely

7.                  Clear the pulleys, belts and discharge port of all foreign material

8.                  Disconnect and remove the bagger and chute assembly

9.                   Start cutting in the morning before it gets hot. Do not cut a dry field in the middle of the day when it’s hot.

10.             Mow with a plan in mind

11.             Remember the fire triangle: air; fuel and heat.  Break any one of the legs on this triangle and you stop a fire before it spreads.

I start cutting big fields by making several; diagonal passes through the field. This gives me a chance to see the lay of the land, spotting rocky out croppings I want to avoid.  I cut with my blade set to one or two inches. Once I’ve made my diagonal passes, I begin cutting rows.  When I intersect one of my diagonals, I slow down, lower the deck until I see that I’m hitting dirt and I continue forward for six or seven feet, creating a patch of earth that’s devoid of all fuel.  I do this ever couple of rows, thus creating “safe spots” I can retreat to in case of an accidental fire.

As you mow, remember that your tractor most likely has a “dead man” switch. If you get off your tractor when it s running, the engine and the tractor stops. Generally, the longer your yard tractor’s engine has been running, the hotter its muffler (most often located underneath it engine above or in front of its front axle) will be. After about one hour of use the muffler will be red hot, producing more than enough heat to ignite tinder dry weeds. If you need to stop, pull into one of the safe spots you’ve created and shut the motor off.

Direct contact with a red-hot muffler is just one of several ways dry grass can be ignited. A much more common method of ignition is radiant heat from your muffler as it sits over combustible material. A fully fueled tractor parked over a blazing patch of grass isn’t a pretty site. Using a safe spot that’s been cleared to bare mineral earth to stop your tractor is a very safe strategy for mowing rough fields.

Over the years I’ve seen approximately five fields that burned while someone was cutting thee dry grass. Universally, the person mowing assumes the fire started by the blade sparking against a rock or a piece of metal that’s laying in the field.  But when you walk the burned field what you often find is a fire blackened rectangle—positive proof that the fire was started by direct contact of fuel and a red-hot muffler, or by radiant heating of tinder by a muffler.

If you mowing and accidentally start a fire act quickly.  Fire is stopped quickly by disrupting any one of it’s three primary requirements: heat, air and fuel. The quickest way to do  this is to  pour the water you’re carrying on your tractor on the center or spreading edge of the fire and then using your size 13EEE boots to stomp out the embers.  Or, since you’ve been drinking water or coffee all morning pee on the fire (but do remember what you’ve just read about the dangers of radiant heating).

I mow fields in third gear. It’s a slow enough speed setting that I can easily control the tractor and low enough so that most of my lawn tractor’s power is going to the blades, not the wheels. Also, until I’ve learned the topography of a field, I keep on hand resting on the blade height adjustment lever, in case I have to raise the blades to clear a patch of rocky ground.

It’s best to mow up and down hills. Try to avoid mowing steep fields in a concentric pattern. While most lawn tractors have low centers of gravity, you can tip them over. Because lawn tractors have low center of gravities they are f=safer for rough field cutting than zero turn, riding mowers based on brake steering, which have much higher centers of gravity and are prone to tip-over accidents when used to cut hilly fields.

Do take the time to cut under stands of trees. But remember that tree roots push rocks to the surface.  Before you cut under trees, park your lawn tractor in a safe spot, dismount and thrown blown down limbs out of your path.

Late spring –while there’s still residual water stored in weeds, is a good season to mo a rough field.  The middle of summer, when it’s hot and there’s not a decigram of moisture in the wild grasses or in the air is not a good time.

Cutting a one-acre rough field should take less than two hours and it’s time you can spend thinking how you can landscape your property or make it more fire safe, if you live in the back country. Either way, it’s task you shouldn’t be afraid to do yourself and as you do it you’ll come to understand the topography of your property and the benefits of a great power tool—your basic riding mower.

Random Thoughts on Improving the Overall Experience of Field Mowing:

            If members of your family suffer from allergies or asthma make sure you close all of the windows on the side of your house facing the field you’re cutting.  You can also cut down on the amount of particulate solids bowing into your house by running a soaker hose between the fields your cutting and your house. The fine water spray will cut down on grass seeds and other particulate solids carried into your house by winds and breezes.

            I also like to run a water hose from the nearest hose bib to a long length of coiled hose near the boundary of the field I’m cutting and my house lot. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

            As you mow, be aware of disturbing creatures like rattlesnakes, ugly ass spiders, and the like. I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit that I’ve minced a few buzztails and decapitated the occasional gopher cutting untended fields.

Aftere you’ve cut your field a couple of times, don’t be surprised if one or more neighbors with similar unkempt fields stop by and just happen to ask how much you’d charge for cutting their field. In my family my Dad, Boardie Forbes a dozer operator, called this source of income “runner money.” The current cost for cutting a two-acre field with a tractor and a brush hog ranges between $100 and $150. Besides, cutting a field can be fun and it beats watching the History Channel in the mid-morning on a Saturday.

            Finally, the need to regularly cut a big field is one of the best reasons I can think of for buying a lawn tractor with a 46-inch deck, a two cylinder V-Twin engine, a parasol sunshade and a built-in drink holder. Besides, cutting a field is a good way to work on your tan.

            Happy tractoring and do try to keep your machine’s wheels on the ground, the blades in contact with grass and the chaff flying away in the breeze.—Jim Forbes 05/10/2008.

Get Your Lawn Tractor Running, Head Out to the Fields-- Looking for Some Fresh Lawn

Let’s have a conversation about a very manly yard  toy:  lawn tractors (also known as riding mowers).  Love, hate or merely endure them, lawn tractors are fun. I’ve owned three but bought four (one was a gift to a buddy whose byproduct of mowing an unkempt field in the middle of the summer has been the nickname “Sparky—“given to him by the local fire department which has responded to blazes in his field twice).

            Sparky isn’t your typical urban refugee with a big yard. After spending a disastrous year living abroad in Provence, he returned to the US and quickly bought a multi-acre lot with a designed-by-a-retired-shop-teacher-custom\ house that also had a structure euphemistically called a “barn.”

            In France and while subsequently touring Italy -- before his triumphal return to the US-- Sparky was seriously bitten by the winemaking bug and the European concept of “Garagista” artisan wine making.

            A few more words about my best friend “Sparky.” He spent his formative years in and around London, returned to the US t o attend college and eventually ended up at UCLA’s film school. Meanwhile, as the years reel by, Sparky acquired an English wife who’s seriously into horticulture, had three children, a couple sheep dogs,  a fluctuating flock of chickens,  three miniature sheep.            Meanwhile, on his return to the US, Sparky realizes his then brood of two girls need clothes, so off to the local Sears they go.  On the way out the door, Sparky passes a display of riding mowers, when the flash of inspiration hits him: “Voila, I have acreage, but no mower!” So, Sears being Sears, happily delivers the mower to Sparky’s baronial estate.

            Sparky is now on his second riding mower and cruising in high gear towards his third

            So let’s talk about buying your first or second riding mower. Prices for riding mowers range from under $1,000 for a five-speed unit with a 42-inch two-blade deck to almost $4,000 for a high-end unit with a 46 or 52-inch swath, automatic multi-speed transmission and a parasol to protect you from the hot sun.  Most riding mowers come with a convenient cup holder for your favorite non-alcoholic beverage and use electric starters. The size of your lawn should be the gating factor in what you buy.

            To begin with, take a close look at the mower. Here’s what you’re looking for:

            An external oil filter—do not buy a riding tractor that uses “splash” oiling (where the end of the engine’s connecting rod caps dip into the oil pooled at the bottom of your engine).Most contemporary lawn tractors have oil pumps and external oil filters. Engines with integrated oil pumps last much longer than those that use “splash” oiling.  And if you lawn is hilly, splash oiling systems run the risk of running “dry” if our oil rushes to the down hill side of the engine case. A well lubricated connecting rod assembly and crank shaft is all part of happy, long lasting power plant.

            External lube fittings-- (called “Zirks” by mechanics and people who can make bolts and nuts fit together correctly even when it’s dark and their greasy knuckles are oozing blood after two hours of futilely trying to get nut “A” to accept “bolt B. I prefer mowers with spindles (the shaft that has a pulley on one end and which goes through your mower’s blade shroud and which provides rotational power for the blades) that can be lubed. The reason I prefer such systems is that I’ve had two replace several spindles and shaft bearings in various lawn tractors I’ve owned or worked on. The front and rear axles should also have Zirk nipples.

            Single or multiple cylinders—Every multi-cylinder riding mower I’ve ever had a long-term relationship with has lasted longer, much longer, than a single cylinder engine. Yes they cost more, but in the end, they offer a long life. My next lawn tractor will definitely have a two-cylinder engine.

            What size deck?--- I own a Deere 100 lawn tractor with a 42-inch wide cutting path. It takes me about 25 minutes to mow my one-acre front lawn, which includes a double row of stone fruit trees. If I had more lawn to cut, I’d consider a wider deck in my next lawn tractor. Or, if I needed to cut an au-naturale field regularly, I’d also want a wider deck.

            Zero turn or not?—If your lawn is an obstacle course a zero turn lawn tractor may be a consideration. They’re more expensive than conventional mowers, but the convenience can be worth it, particularly if your job involves regularly cutting the grass in a grove.

            What brand, Deere, Craftsman, Toro, MTD, Cub Cadet or Door Number 3? --- one of the secrets of the lawn tractor trade is that one or two companies make most of the machines sold by all of the branding entities. The one big advantage of buying a John Deere or a Craftsman lawn tractor is that both organizations offer national service. If you live in East Lizard Spit, Idaho, you may want to make sure you can get your trusty tractor fixed on-site if it breaks down. A quick test to see if the local selling agent really backs his product is to get him to show you a replacement blade and/or air filter from his inventory. If the sales person can’t supply either of those parts on the spot, from his on-hand inventory, walk away.

            Extended warranty or not?--- Go ahead and get the extended warranty with on-site service. You’ll sleep better at night and mow your estate with greater confidence. Yes, it’s expensive but you only live once.

            External water hose connector on the blade shroud?—Yes that’s right, you want a lawn tractor that has female or quick connect water hose coupling on the blade shroud.  Getting rid of the built up solidified lawn gunk that sticks to the inside of the lawn tractor’s shroud is a very good thing. And it eliminates the source of those worrisome noises as big ass chunks of dried lawn goo come roaring out you mower’s discharge port. Connecting your hose to that fitting with the water on and flowing turns your blade deck into a high pressure water system that generates as much as several hundred PSI; enough to thoroughly clean out your deck.

            Accessories: I’m not a fan of bags that collect lawn clippings. Beside, lawn clippings add nitrogen to your lawn, cutting down the need to feed the green monster in front of your house. Moreover, have you ever seen a golf course’s greens man use a tractor with a bagger? I haven’t.

            A small seed or fertilizer spreader comes in hand occasionally. And for some people, like owners of small vineyards, an electrically powered spray rig is a great accessory.

            So let’s have a conversation about lawn tractors as we cover important topics in the coming week like how to avoid starting conflagrations by mowing dry weeds, how to not kill yourself by bringing you lawn tractor to safe stop after rolling backwards,out of control for 400 feet, and the importance of keeping yourself well hydrated if you do have to cut a two-acre field of wild grasses and need to extinguish a fire using only those body fluids in your system and the only applicator that makes sense and comes to hand in such situations.

            And Sparky, Thanks for the inspiration, the overnight lodging, all the opportunities to make “Jim’s Special Burritos, and all the laughs. And most of all, your next book should be “ Sparky Moves to the Country and Neighbors Flee, Screaming.”—Jim Forbes 04/12/2008

Perfect River Conditions and Willing Trout--Best East Fork Trip Ever

The combination of warm early spring sun on top of some recent rain (which translated to snow on the slopes of Mount Baldy and Iron Mountain on the San Gabriel River’s East Fork made for one of the best fishing hikes I’ve ever made on the East Fork.

            Parking at the trailhead just up from the East Fork Ranger Station on Friday, I thought I might ry to make it up to the Bridge to No Where and Fish my way back down the canyon. Alas, walking up the East Fork, my plans were derailed after I noticed that pools up and down the watershed were filled with trout. I made my first cast into a pool about two-miles up from the ranger station. I zipped my barb less #16 wooly into the cold waters of the east fork and got a hit by a 16-inch rainbow that wanted to run, jink and jive among the not yet worn smooth of this classic East Fork trout pool.  My 4x lightweight tippet lasted a whole 10 minutes before it gave out as I tried to horse the fish to within range of my net. I tied on another fly and 4X tippet,  roll-casting the rig at the top end of a small rill where I thought there might be a few ‘bows waiting for tasty bugs to come wafting down on the icy clear current.  I guessed wisely and my fly hadn’t floated more than five feet down stream before a fat rainbow grabbed it, I set the line and stepped into the water, determined I would land the bow that began jumping within one minute of my hooking it.

            I lwt the fish perform his trout acrobatics for a couple of minutes, mindful not to put too much pressure on the line, but hopeful I could maneuver it close enough to my spot on the rocks that I’d be able to net it. There was enough fight in the fish to light up my hopes that it was a native wild East Fork rainbow. Bent over with my net in my right hand and my rid and reel tucked under my left arm, the fish made one last run just as I got it near to my net. Three minutes more and Mr. Rainbow was in my net. I looked at the fish closely and noted it blunt nose and dullish pink side. Oh well, “a feisty big stocker that’s porked out over the winter is more than “OK” I thought.

            I unhooked him, stepped into a deeper part of the river and let him swim away, to tease a fisherman another day. Although I could see more rainbows as dark torpedo shapes flashing their red or green sides in the reflected morning sunlight in the deepest sections of the pool I wanted to test my luck in waters further up the canyon where a lifetime of experience and countless stories over holiday dinners has led me to believe there is a much higher concentration of wild native fish. Beside, another guy my age and his seven-year-old fishing buddy were rigging up and wading out down stream from me.

            “Any luck?” they asked.

“Yup a couple of nice feisty rainbows and the pool looks really loaded,” I said as I took my disgustingly dirty t shirt off and used it as a screen to see what kind of bugs were hiding under boulders.”

The young fisherman earned a lot of points in my book by wandering over to see what insects were trapped in my shirt “Hellgrammites and nymphs” he said correctly. I slipped my short sleeve shirt back on, said “have fun” and hit the trail up the stream.

From down river, I heard words that made me smile “Hey gramps, looks like we should be casting nymphs, woolies and hellgrammite flies.”  The kid had it exactly right. It always warms my heart and makes me smile to see another generation of kids refine their knowledge of this world-class trout stream, only 42 miles from down town Los Angeles. Even if it means that I face more competition for trout, more informed fishermen is a very good thing for this stream and it’s future as a spot where avid fishermen using inexpensive gear trick a few trout up using basic flies.

After another hour of hiking I came to what is my second favorite spot on the East Fork, a large pond formed by an old hand made stone dam near an abandoned powder house made of cemented river stone. I took a minute to climb to a place on the trail where I could see down into the pond.  After seeing six or seven trout rise to snag bugs on a late morning hatch, I walked quietly down to the eastern edge of this majestic pond and cast an old dry Coachman pattern fly on a small barb less hook about 20- feet down stream.  I was intently staring at the fly as I worked it back upstream.  I saw two fish dart from the edges of the pool towards my fly but both fish interrupted their runs and seemed to loose interest as the fly neared my rod tip on the retrieve. Four casts later and I had a hook up. The trout pressured my line and bent my rod tip. I let him take a couple of pulls from my reel, hoping that the resistance of my floating line would tire him enough for me to see the fish before I could get it into position for my net. Only 30 seconds after I fed this fish some line, I was treated to a nice native 14-incher with crimson red sides imitating a Polaris sub-launched rocket twisting over the water in a fantastic jump.  Looking at the fish in mid-ai, I saw that my fly had fallen to the water. The trout turned and for a half second before he landed, I swear that old homegrown rainbow smiled at me. And, that’s hard for a trout to do. They have very stiff lips.

My problem was two-fold with that trout. I don’t think the hook on that fly has been sharpened in ages and I should have paid more attention to the retrieve.  Never mind: I had more flies and I knew there were definitely more fish where that one came from.

  I merely tied on a new barb less hook I knew was laser sharp and made two more casts under a midday sun so bright you could see all the way to the bottom of the pool where experience has taught me that really big natives hang out, waiting to teach me new tricks.

I fished for another 90 minutes, catching and releasing three more 11- to 13-inch trout with well-defined snouts and bright colored sides.

            In a life time of fishing the East Fork, broken only by serving overseas in Viet Nam and a two-year period living in Washington, this could well have been my best trip ever up the San Gabriel River’s East Fork. The river is clear, cold and swift. The trout are rested, hungry and eager to rise to a fly.

            So,if you’re a Southern California fisherman looking for a top-flight fishing experience, load up your gear, make sure you have a valid fishing license and Forest Service Outdoor Pass, and head up the East Fork.

            It’s spiritual fishing at its best and it doesn’t require an airplane reservation, or a $500 shopping trip to an Orvis outlet.

            Besides, any place where a trout throwing a fly as it jumps and smiling at me as it does so is my kind of fishing paradise.—Jim Forbes, an old Azusa boy on 03/08/2008.   

Scientists Discover Evidence of Bison-Sized Gopher-like Creature-- not in my Garden, Please God!

Clearing about 12 square feet down in my pioneer garden today I saw a quick gray brown shape dashin towards a patch of ground I planted last week with Yukon gold spuds. As I threw my trowell at the fleeeing vole I was instantly reminded of my never ending fear that somewhere on my place where I can’t get to it and eradicate the bastard, is a female with the size temperament and reproductive capabilities of the creature in the movie “Alien.”

Crawling across my freshly cultivated earth ,I remembered something I read last year.. It was an article in some natural science publication I read. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t save the article. It was just too frightening to think about.

The story was about two paleozooligists exploring in the Patagonia region of Argentina who had discovered part of the fossilized remains of a large burrowing rodent. The two scientists report made me cringe. The burrowing rodent-- believed to be extinct now-- weighed several hundred kilograms, and was the size of a small bison.

If I were out gardening and a gopher-like creature the size of a buffalo popped out of the ground anywhere near me, I ‘d just freak.

Can’t you see me stuttering “Ta ta tatonka” as I run up the hill to get my antique single shot .45/70 Government rifle? (rifles in this particular caliber were called “buffalo guns” two centuries ago.)

Good Lord, burrowing rodents the size of bison? It’s enough too make me up gardening and just surrender. Well, almost enough--Jim Forbes 03/02/2008/