Comin' up on Game Time

Things are looking up around the Neil Creek Estate.

Work for the quarter is rapidly coming to a close, and not a minute too soon - if we keep tyin' at the rate we been goin', either our fingers are gonna fly off or we'll be blind inside a month. Also, in case y'all don't live in the current iteration of paradise-on-earth known as SouthEast Alaska, spring has finally started springing 'round these parts, and we have been experiencing perturbations in the space-time continuum around some of the local flows. The pull is weak at the moment, but we are pretty sure that things will start happening with exponential speed here in about 128 hours, give or take a few minutes.

Recent spy-satellite imaging is showing a nice snowpack beginning to tatter at the edges, and the latest data from the gaugeheads show the telltale signs of spring...all signs point to fish before the week is out.



In related news, RoadTrip '11 V3 and V4 are set to commence in 24 and 42 days, respectively. V3 has us en Baja con la esposa, empapando para arriba el sol con una bebida a disposición y nuestros dedos del pie en la arena, and V4 is a continuation of Opening Day tradition, where we go to the Kapuqarwit on the Alarneret Kuigat and catch ungllik'ar with our narulkar.

Some of you probably don't speak Spanish or Yu'pik, so just try to follow the best you can, and we'll go slow when we get to the difficult parts.

The pull is getting stronger - the season of fish will soon be upon us.

'Bout time.

We would like to take this opportunity to tell y'all about a new addition to our little family here at the Neil Creek Estate.

After 4 tense months, we finally got the call - the new kid was coming home. At 4½ lbs, 40 inches (he don't take up much room), he's yellin' and laughin' like he owns the place already. He's a lot lighter blonde than his older brother, and he definitely has a different voice, but other than a few birthmarks and such they could be twins. We try to spend an equal amount of time with both of them, just to make sure that they don't get jealous of each other, but the new kid is a joy to play with, and we're pretty tickled to finally have him here.

A shot of the boys at rest- that's Woody on the right, and 'Hog on the left.


What, you thought we were talking about REAL kids?

No way. Too much snot and poo.

ANYWAYS, here's a few beauty shots of 'Hog. He is a Collings D1A, custom built for us - a first, as usually we are too damn cheap to buy anything new - with a few appointments that we felt we just couldn't live without.


We're preferential to the 1¾" neck, with the semi-v "almost vintage" feel, 'cause it is dang smooth and easy to hold on to. We opted for the ebony fretboard without all those foo-foo dots and snowflakes - leave the mother-of-toilet-seat inlays to the Nashville weenies. This is a pickin' guitar, not an ornament.


'Hog sports an Adirondack spruce top with some pretty cool bearclaw - we always liked bearclaw for the individuality it lends to an otherwise identical entity. Some folks say that the more clawed a piece of wood, the harder it is and the better instrument tops it makes. Us, we don't know. It sure does sound pretty, though.


The dalmatian pickguard goes nice with the light color of the top, don't it? We sure do like us some 'shell, and we though that this best represented that aesthetic without spendin' a mint and getting our new boy confiscated by some goofball with a CITES writ.


We're tickled to have the boys out on stands right next to the heater. They stay warm at night, and we get a chance to pick 'em up and take 'em for a whirl if the notion strikes us - lately, we seem to have that notion quite a bit.

We'll get our pickin' time in, but the season of fish is looming on the horizon. We did some stream-sniffin' and rock-lickin' the other day, and we're puttin first fin about 26-27 days out.

'Til then, we'll be home with the boys.