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Ojai City Hall Show :

Ojai City Hall Show

Updated: Nov 17, 2009 4:32pm PST

Mike :

Mike

Updated: Oct 31, 2009 9:52am PST

Isaac's Bar Mitzvah :

Isaac's Bar Mitzvah

Updated: Sep 01, 2009 3:13pm PST

Passover in Berkeley :

Passover in Berkeley

Updated: Apr 22, 2009 5:18pm PST

Rock Rose :

Rock Rose

Updated: Apr 22, 2009 12:28pm PST

Irv's 82nd :

Irv's 82nd

Updated: Feb 27, 2009 5:44pm PST

Florida : In February, 2009 we went to Florida to visit Sandy and Nancy. Then a quick trip across the state to see our old friends, Vic and Kathy. Also caught up with the cousins in Del Rey.

Florida

In February, 2009 we went to Florida to visit Sandy and Nancy. Then a ...

Updated: Feb 24, 2009 10:59am PST

Kids Visit December, 2008 :

Kids Visit December, 2008

Updated: Jan 04, 2009 10:45am PST

Chrysler 2008 : Chrysler 2008 We spent Saturday night in New Orleans which, no matter what people tell you, is actually a really fun town. That image of New Orleans being filled with uptight people who don’t really know how to relax and have a good time is just nonsense. And that urban legend about beautiful women standing on balconies and showing their breasts to passers by just because someone asks them to? True. That’s a Chrysler kinda town. Our time in the city was brief. We were ready to roll as the rusty van with the broken windshield pulled up to the hotel. Beat-up vans have been a part of the Chrysler experience since the dog-killing days of pargo fishing outside of La Paz back in ’96 (’98?). And who can forget the van ride from Cabo hosted by Gary Bulla? Those were van rides, yes sir. Real rides in real vans. It was only about an hour so south, near the city of Barataria, where we met Captain Theophile Bourgeois (Toe Feel Booge Wah) owner of Bourgeois Fishing, husband of Eileen, who had done all the arranging with us over the phone, and who had come out to greet us so’s to put a face with a name, and we we’re really glad she did. We got in the boat, along with no fewer than seven coolers of food, ice, beer Styrofoam plates, Jack Daniel’s, cigars, two laptops, a bucket of shrimp and various assorted crapolla. About 30 minutes later, we were at the Chalet. We were the first people to visit the Chalet after hurricane Ike, the storm that devastated Galveston only a few weeks earlier. As we learned from Dave our driver, Ike was the most devastating storm to hit this area, ever, including Katrina. We saw mountains of debris and devastated buildings, camps, boats and other structures. Our van driver insisted on taking us to the local Piggly Wiggly to buy our supplies, rather than stopping in New Orleans, because the local economy needed the money more, and that’s saying something, because New Orleans – not necessarily the French Quarter, but most of the rest of the city – is still facing a huge challenge. More than once Dave got emotional telling us about the problems that have gripped southern Louisiana more and more over the years, due to the erosion of the wetlands and the increasing impacts of the severe weather. Every tree around the Cajun Chalet was gone. The lawn that you see surrounding the Chalet on the website is now covered with a foot or so of mud. Lots of repair had bee done but hundreds of bayou bugs (cockroaches) littered the carpet of the Chalet, and the barbeque had barely survived. We unpacked. We went fishing. We didn’t feel guilty, as I earlier thought we might. Our guide Pancho and our cook Mike were thrilled to have us. “We’re digging out from a killer hurricane, and you guys want to fish? Let’s go!” Curt caught a huge red (Red Drum - Sciaenops ocellatus - also known as Channel Bass, Redfish, Puppy Drum or just Red) on day one. We used mostly lead-head, black plastic jigs with chartreuse tails. Casting for reds is a little like fishing for over-sized bass, only these fish fight harder than largemouths of similar size and are more willing and more abundant. The “trout” (Cynoscion nebulosus) looked similar to brown trout (Salmo trutta) but are actually not very related at all. The first belongs to the Sciaenidae (drum) family, while the trout that we’re used to catching are members of the Salmonidae family. The former also has nasty teeth and the thickest slime of any fish I’ve ever caught. They were also much smaller than the reds, but even more abundant. A rundown of what we caught: • Redfish • Speckled Trout • An eel (which prompted a story about a female client of Pancho’s who was so thrilled upon catching an eel – something no self-respecting Coonass would ever consider eating – that he wondered what she was going to do with it. • One black bass (a.k.a., largemouth) • Croaker • Two kinds of catfish • Shiner • Black Drum • Somethin’ else I’m fergettin’, purty sure. At times the brackish water of this region of the Mississippi Delta (we were about 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico) are more salt than fresh, and at other times, the opposite is true. But perhaps this is true for all of the Delta. You see, I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. I was told however, that last summer Theophile caught a large jack crevalle (the same fish that Charlie won the woodie with in ’06) right around the Chalet., on a fly. I caught a few small trout, but no reds, on the fly. Saw gators, nutria, bald eagles, swamp dear, snakes, lots of herons and egrets, lots of bugs. Greg and I split the Chrylser. It was Greg’s real-time marketing of the event on his cell phone (“Chrysler ’08, off to a good start…”; “Local trout biting too...”) that caused it to be considered a Chrysler event in the first place. I won the other half; my nomination was based on winning at poker (shocking), drinking the most Jack Daniel’s Monday night (truly shocking; and without falling asleep) and one other reason I can’t remember. After nominating each other and recusing ourselves from the vote, Greg and I endured six rounds of deadlocked voting by Pete and Curt. In the end the driver said “Just share the damn thing. I’m really sick of this.” Greg Johnson, winner of his second Woody, scored with the only redfish over 30”. A huge fish, following on the heels of two only slightly smaller reds, the first caught by Curt, the second by the Ortegian. Chrysler 2010: there was a lot of talk about returning to the kayak fishing outside of La Paz (though Matt doesn’t like kayaks, which sucks), or perhaps to El Salto (near Mazatlan), the greatest bass fishing lake in the world, a trip to which could not be made without Matt. There was also talk centered around how, given our advancing age and the fact that Chryslerians seem to drop out once they reach 65 or so, that we probably only had 10 more Chryslers in us, given the biennial format. Based on this shocking revelation, going all of 2009 without a Chrysler event does not seem prudent.

Chrysler 2008

Chrysler 2008 We spent Saturday night in New Orleans which, no ma ...

Updated: Oct 08, 2008 8:39am PST

Kids Invade Ojai :

Kids Invade Ojai

Updated: Aug 31, 2008 12:28pm PST