Another DAMN HIP

Just when you think things are getting better...Our God decides I need a little more time to get things right. After my first hip replacement on April 27, I was making great progress until I visited the Middleton home and suffered a dislocation on June 6. Never had anything hurt so bad! Had to be transported to Houston  for a relocation and then headed back to the Middleton ranch for a little R&R. July brought our reunion time and you can read about that on a previous blog.

Then on Tuesday, July 21, I was visiting my PT here in Port Isabel and had another dislocation. I spent twelve hellish hours in the ER at Valley Baptist before getting it relocated late that night. I contacted my Doctor in Houston and he advised me to come in. On Friday we traveled to Houston and it was decided that I needed NEW HARDWARE put in. We headed back to the Middleton home base and then reported to Texas Orthopedic Hospital on Monday. Had my new hardware put in and headed back to Halletsville for a couple days before returning to Port Isabel. 

It has now been four weeks of recuperating and I am really tired of sitting on my butt watching "Justification". I am ready to FISH, but know it's probably going to be at least another 4-5 weeks before I can hit the water. I know I will be better than I was prior to April 27, but this challenge has made me more aware of life and whats happening around me. I've been able to spend more time with my wife and my God. God is good...all the time.   

  

Reunion Time in Port Isabel

For the past ten years we have had our family reunion here at our home in Port Isabel. We are on the water and have easy access to the LLM. In past years we have had upwards of 20 to 25 attend for three to four days. We fish hard, play hard, and eat way to much. This year, due to the pandemic we only had 12 people show. The majority of those were "old" folks. The younger generation decided to stay home. Maybe next year!

We did fish for several days. One  day I pulled my boat up to the San Martin Lake ramp and we took off for the Brownsville ship basin. I was hoping to hang some mangroves, trout, and maybe a few snook. This is the same area that I took my Texas record snook which still stands at 40". The day was way too slow with us managing one mangrove snapper. Around noon we decided we had a day and headed back to the ramp. About a mile from our base I spun out the prop on my 140 Suzuki. We were only able to get around 2mph with the wind. Long hot trip, but we managed to get loaded and back to PI. With family there I really wanted to be able to fish the remainder of the week, so I took off looking for a prop. After spending several hours and visiting a number of marine shops including Bayside, Sportsman, and Cougar, I gave up and headed home. I remembered that I had given a prop to my brother in law some time back. I had taken it off of my old 115 Tohotsu. I googled information and found it would fit with a special thrust washer. I headed back to Bayside Marine and they were able to supply me with the correct washer. After a half day of chasing I was back in business and ready for a new day of fishing.

I will add that the Sportsman in Harlingen did have a prop that would have fit, but it was a four blade and was priced at nearly $600. NO!

I did look on Amazon and found a factory replacement three blade with the washer kit for $257 and free shipping. YES!

Our reunion ended with a success, great food, great friends, great fun and fish.

Looking forward to our 2021 time together when we will also welcome our new great granddaughter, Abigail.

Stay safe on the water and go with God!  

                                                   Jnet with one of our Friday morning bag!

Our crew from our 2019 reunion.

A few missed it this year!

Getting Old is HELL!

I have not posted for some time. My last two posts found me complaining about how my body seems to just want to fall apart. Well it hasn't stopped. This blog is supposed to be about fishing in the Lower Laguna Madre, but when you cannot get on the water, it's hard to write about it. I can always share all of my friends successes, but that only causes depression. I recently had my right hip replaced, thought I was doing great and even managed a trip out. I fished with my good bud, David Leman and we managed a good limit of trout in about three hours. That was about six weeks back. Then about a week ago, I was simply putting on my shoe, turned my foot wrong and dislocated the new hip. I experienced pain like nothing I have ever experienced. I was in Halletsville visiting my son at the time and had to be emergency transported to Houston for relocation surgery. At this writing I am recovering and hope to try to fish again in a couple weeks.

My brother in law, David Wood, whom I have mentioned many times in my blogs, is now a certified guide. His guide service, is called "Come and Fish It". He is specializing in one-on-one, top water fishing. He is also available for families who want to bait fish. He is one of those guys that causes me to be depressed. He posted daily pictures of all the great trout he is catching! I can smile and laugh about it, but it really does make me want to get out there.

I am having lots of time to clean, organize, and fix my equipment. Prior to having my dislocation, I spent a good part of a day working on some rewiring work on my boat. In that process I discovered that one of my GPS/Fishfinder units had stopped working. I have a Lowrance unit as my main electronic, but have always liked to have a second as a backup. I started searching and after much computer work, decided on trying one of the new Hummingbird Helix units. I have not installed it at this writing, as I will need to pull my boat out of the water, but I think I am going to really like this piece of equipment.

Well I am going to run, I meant walk as my love and caretaker is calling.

Take care and always remember to visit and worship our Lord on His day.    

Out of Commission Continued....

My last post was about me being "Out of Commission". I recovered nicely from the back surgery, but then began to have additional knee and hip problems. As of today I am not sure what my future holds as far as fishing and hunting. For the last 8 weeks or so , my boat has only been run a few times. Most of that time was in my slip. I have fished one time and that was a quick drift trip and that trip helped to bring me out of some depression. I am really tired of taking drugs that seem to have no effect and doctors doing injections that are also useless. I know I need a new hip and another knee replacement, but I'm being hard headed and not wanting to go there.
I look back on all the great fishing and hunting I have been able to experience, and I know God has blessed me in those endeavors. He allowed me to retire at age 55 and I have had nearly 20 years of the great outdoors.
I've got another doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I will be looking for new answers. I feel that a new hip is in order. Not really worried about the hip replacement, as much as I am about another knee.
I feel that I've still got another 10 years at least of chasing reds and trout and looking for another trophy buck!
Keep me in your prayers and always remember to thank HIM for everything you have...its really HIS and we're just minding it for HIM!
God Bless and be safe on the water.