Inuksuit: Inukshuk, Inuksuk, Inunnguaq (Pointing The Way)

Inukshuk

“The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means “in the likeness of a human” in the Inuit language.”

“The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found. Other similar stone structures were objects of veneration, signifying places of power or the abode of spirits. Although most inuksuit appear singly, sometimes they are arranged in sequences spanning great distances…”  INUKSHUK

Radon Gas & Lung Cancer (Second Only to Cigarettes) Radon Mitigation

“Radon is naturally occurring, odorless, and colorless gas produced by the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water. Because radon is a gas, it can enter buildings through openings or cracks in the foundation. The radon gas itself decays into radioactive solids, called radon daughters. The radon daughters attach to dust particles in the air, and can be inhaled. The inhalation of radon daughters has been linked to lung cancer.

Radon has been identified as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States (second only to smoking.) The Environmental Protection Agency reports that radon causes between 15,000 and 22,000 lung cancer deaths every year in the United States.”   Radon Gas

Radon Gas (U.S.http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign/controlling.html)

“The State of Oregon Tuesday asked residents to test their basements for a dangerous, sometimes fatal gas. It’s called radon. It comes from the ground. It’s a post-ice age bi-product of decaying uranium in the soil.

NE Portland is notorious for having the highest peak concentrations of radon in the state. Exposure to the odorless, invisible gas often occurs in basements. If radon exposure levels are too high for too long, it can cause lung cancer.
The State will soon update its 11-year-old, county-by-county data on radon testing. But you don’t have to wait for those results. You can test for radon yourself. “It’s never too late if you test -even later on in life- and fix the problem. You’re going to lower your risk of developing lung cancer,” said State Radon Coordinator Brett Sherry.

Inspired by their six-week-old daughter, The Cannon’s in NE Portland had experts install a system to vent radon out of their basement. “Babies are so delicate the environment they’re in can really affect them,” said Laura Cannon.
The Cannon’s had a radon reading in their basement twice as high as the federal recommended safety level.

It cost them about $1,600 to get rid of the problem. Radon detector kits are available at hardware stores everywhere, ranging in cost from about $15 to $40. Experts say it’s a cheap price to pay for peace of mind.” Portland, Oregon Radon

————————–

Radon Rising

“Most major health organizations (including The American Medical Association, National Cancer Institute, and American Lung Association) for years have known that radon increases lung cancer risk.  However, recent studies have confirmed that the risk is evident even at levels much lower than earlier studies suggested.  The good news is this: Radon testing is easy and inexpensive.  Homes with elevated radon levels (even at 2.7) can be fixed using current radon remediation technology.  Learn more at http://www.RadonMitigation.us“     Techno Radon Stuff

Fly tying: UV Heads (Excellent Tip From Bones on the Brain)

Bones On the Brain pointed out a well researched piece by bcarson4374 at Kiene’s Fly Shop Forum dated January 2008. A lot of well thought out considerations here re various epoxy like materials used to form clear, durable heads on saltwater patterns but relevent to fresh water patterns as well. Simon Graham has a suggestion as well.

UV Cure Products Test Study

Tiffany Johnson Benefit & Charity Tye-A-Thon (Are Yours Ready to Go?)

Tiffany Johnson Charity Tye-A-Thon Patterns (SwittersB)

Sending these patterns out tomorrow (+ donation): Copper Swan’s, Crazy Charlies, Lady Caroline’s, Jack Hagan’s Steelhead patterns (Pink Panther, Green Lantern, Train Wreck). Are you tying or selecting from the boxes? Send your patterns and/or financial assistance: Attention: Faye, TJBF Flies; Mountain River Fly Shop, 1200 West Main No. 7, Cotter AR. 72626. Benefit is January 23rd. The flies should get there soon.     Things are looking up for the benefit!

Fly Tying with Dubbing (Twist, Spin, Touch…Learn all about it here)

You will enjoy this comprehensive piece by Elmer Fishing on all things dubbing. For some reason, I have always found dubbing a thorax an enjoyable part of tying. It suggests life and buggy-ness.

DUBBING THE FLY

Steelhead Worship (Kneeling on the Gravel…Rain in the Face…Lovelorn)

“Talked to an old timer who said he’s been fishing the river since 1972. Of course there were alot more fish then but from the sounds of it he stills gets them every once in a while, at least enough to keep him coming back. And that’s just it I guess. The rivers keep us coming back despite all the adversity, shitty news, declining runs and blatant mismanagement. We come back for the river itself, the river which gives life not only to the salmon and trout but to us. The rivers we come to know and love flow through us, the fleeting mist of the february morning, the tumbling rush of the rapid, familiar smells that linger long after we’ve gone back to the mundane day to day lives. The river’s life flows through me, leaves me energized and curious wondering whether that little bucket I found yesterday will fish at higher water, or if we are living at the end of the line for steelhead angling. This is life for many of us.”  (Apocalypse Steelhead)

“….for us, this was and continues to be about the characters; the ones of our dirtball friends, the ones of the rivers we endeavor to understand and those genetically unique fish who ascend these rivers on their own terms. it’s a lifestyle you live in capacities, with a respect for timing’s necessity. a thing that’ll take a guy and drive him toward the most difficult means of pursuit, then one of foolish moral highground, then slap him silly, tell him to get over himself and drive him to gear just because he can’t help but knowing what’s down there. it’s about relationships with the river, friends and and society in general, trying to maintain a balance when you just wanna say fuck all and spin outta control into some mess that’ll only leave you wishing for something else. it’s about the pain of waiting through a perfectly good summer for the cold, wet, solitary misery of January, completely exiting society in march and april and then knowing what the end of May’s always gonna bring…” (Burned Up Bacon…the Best..Voluntary Beatdown)

SteelheadFab.com

One contemplates and gets by. The other burned his bacon and retreated to just be. This whole genre of crisp, sometimes arrogant or angry writing provides a purposely opaque vision of the smooth operators, but not of what they’ve glimpsed. The written word. Less visual, but what images they paint with their words. If you have been there in your life, you get it, if only in flashbacks. If you have never been there, you hopefully keep taking those tentative steps toward those verbal images. It’s all theoretical and borrowed until you have partaken.

Trout Aquaculture for New Zealand?

Federated Farmers backs restarting aquaculture (NZ)

“Strategically, aquaculture has major economic potential for New Zealand that needs to be harnessed in order to grow our economy.

“20 percent of the diet for some 2.6 billion people is made up of fish protein and over the next four decades, the world’s human population will expand by some 3.7 billion people. That’s a big reason to give our farmers the legislative means to realise the opportunity,” Mr Nicolson concluded.   NZ Aquafarming

Flying Fish (Where Fish & Fly mix)

‘Some flying fish have been clocked to fly for over 45 seconds, but most flights are relatively short. Like all fish, flying fish still breathe through gills, and must return to water before they run out of oxygen. Still, that quick flight is plenty of time to escape most predators. As far as most fish are concerned, if their prey leaves the water, it is out of reach.’

Cal’s Russian River (Rebuilding The Silver’s Requires Educating the Anglers)

I recall a certain family member, who went trout fishing on the Sandy River. He came home quite satisfied with his stringer of puny looking trout…steelhead smolts actually. Even by trout standards his pan sized stringer was pathetic. Such is the inculcated put and take mentality…meat at any cost, so one can fulfill the primitive harvesting urges. A lesson, of sorts, was dispensed that day and such a mistake never happened again. Such is the intent of the California Department of Fish and Game & Trout Unlimited.

“Coho salmon have returned to California’s Russian River to spawn. Unfortunately, the endangered fish are often mistaken for hatchery steelhead trout by anglers — both hatchery-released species are similar in size and have a clipped adipose fin — and are kept when pulled from the water.“  (LATimesBlog)

Zane Grey (Bonefish Pioneer at Duck Key~Florida Keys)

BONEFISHING AND ZANE GREY

Zane Grey was a pioneer when it came to fishing the flats of the nearby islands such as Duck Key for permit and bonefish. In his book Tales of Fishes, Grey describes his obsession with bonefishing,

If I spent another month bonefishing, I would become obsessed and lose my enthusiasm for other kinds of fish.Why? My reasons range from the exceedingly graceful graceful beauty of the bonefish to the fact that he is the wisest, shyest, wariest, strangest fish I have ever studied; and I am not excepting the great Xiphias gladius – the broadbill swordfish. As for the speed of the bonefish, I claim no salmon, no barracuda, no other fish celebrated for swiftness of motion, is in his class. As for the strength of the bonefish, I actually hesitate to give my impressions. As for his cunning, it is utterly baffling. As for his biting, it is almost imperceptible. As for his tactics, they are beyond conjecture.

In the story Bonefish Brigade, Zane Grey describes bonefishing as

. . . the fullest, the most difficult, the strangest and most thrilling, the lonesomest and most all-satisfying of all kinds of angling. … bonefishing has all the finesse, the delicacy, the skill, the incomprehensible vagaries, the test of endurance that salmon fishing has. And more! For in bonefishing there is more of a return to the boyish emotions than in salmon fishing. For the complete version go to Zane Grey’s “Bonefish Brigade.”

I recall watching Dick Powell (actor for the young ones) on the Zane Grey Theater. From that show evolved spinoffs of The Rifleman, The Texas Ranger, Wanted Dead or Alive and several more TV Westerns. The name Zane Grey seemed unique and for a young boy in the 1950′s that was a far as it went until the late 1970′s when the name popped up again when I was studying fly fishing for steelhead on Oregon’s Rogue and Umpqua rivers. There was that name again. And. I soon realized Zane Grey was one of those escapists like Hemingway. A pioneer he was in deed.