Saturday, May 23, 2015.8:29pm Hello again Brandon, @As you can tell it is Saturday night. I was emotionally exhausted and got up this morning but slept in my recliner until 2:30 this afternoon! I put the Sat. afternoon session of conference on 3 or 4 times but just repeated after the apostles their words in my head and fell asleep each time. I debated what might be causing my tiredness and came up with 2 answers. To fight it off and rejuvenate I decided to hike up Webb Hill with Molly and Fifi. @ I got my pump/ filter set up for my front pond. It has been cloudy for a couple of weeks. We’ll see if it clears up soon. @ As you know I love grocery sales! 99cents/lb for ham is one I take advantage of as well as 64oz of apple juice/ cider for 99cents. :” ) @ Beano doesn’t like me dropping in without notice. This week I called twice and left a message saying, here I come. She hasn’t responded. @ 5lbs of organic carrots were better price than regular carrots so I bought “organic” for my first time that I can remember. Louis’80 turned 35 on the 13th and has 2 kids. He only lives 2 miles away so I stopped by on my way home from the Bloomington Walmart. Yes, I called first! But she is at work so I don’t know what good it did. Can you tell I feel grumpy about that? I carried into Louis’ house a ham, 2 apple juice, 2 cucumbers, 5lbs carrots and when he greeted me I said, “I was able to get everything you ordered.” He hadn’t ordered anything. I was just being funny. When I take him stuff/ food from the grocery store, he is not quite sure how to respond. I love putting him off his guard! I really not planned on taking him anything. It was only as I was driving home that I decided to drop by. He accepted the ham, half the carrots, a cucumber and the 2 apple juices. Was I successful? Yes, even better than if I had planned it! Yippee! See what kind of fun I like to have. @ I treated the FHC with two sliced pineapples Monday. I was able to get them for 99cents too! @ I am on my last lesson for my BoM class. I have finished the BoM and now I am finishing the last lesson. They do something very special in the student lesson manual. They coordinate the chapters being studied with excerpts of general conference talks and they have a running dialog that makes you feel like you are listening to somebody. I have not purchased a Religion manual since BYU and man have they improved. If you want jewels and mysteries opened to your mind, there it is all in print! All you have to do is study and think. Of course I write all over mine. Tonight I noticed the different types of HOPE. The other night I noticed the different types of FAITH. As I prayed tonight I said “HF, I had never considered there were different types of faith and hope before. I thought there was only one generic kind. Thank you so much for helping me understand so much better.” As you know I consider myself a gospel scholar. I like to know everything about everything in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Plus, now I have a life full of experiences to call on to prove and show how these truths work! It is so cool to be able to understand better and better. @ JaniceD our most talented BoM teacher put her arm in mine Thursday night as we walked back to class after carrying a long table back to the gym. She said she was worried I had missed the last two weeks because she had taught false doctrine. Sweet huh? @ It was true that I had been sent for a loop by one of her statements and I did take exception to it. I decided to come home and study up on Satan’s techniques so I could resolve and issue I had. You may have noticed I have written you at some length about Satan and the sons of perdition and all that stuff the last two weeks. That is because it was on my mind and I was studying it. Also, because I knew you are interested in witchery etc. and I wanted to help satisfy your longing. Anyway, I sat down here at the computer and outlined all I know about his techniques. Good ol’ Scratch, or should I say Bad ol’ Scratch. In today’s world he is an imaginary figure! But so is God, so what’s new? : ) @ Here are my thoughts that I have written all out: Friday, May 01, 2015, 5:49pm @ I admire and honor JaniceD in serving as our bom, Thursday night teacher. She is truly amazing. @Last night she must have shared with us over a thousand insightful statements. And with one I had to say I felt uncomfortable. I don’t believe Satan tells us many truths just to deceive us with one lie. “He will tell us 9 truths and then one lie.” @First, what happens to the inside of you when you hear that? Does it make you afraid? Unsafe? @It did me. My deceitful, criminal parents used to say things like that. And they were active members of the church. So it is something I have had to dissect and consider and keep or throw out. I threw it out years ago. It did not make any sense to me. @[5/22, My siter Gayelinn’72 sees it as one of Satan’s ploys to keep us from recognizing revelation.] @ANow I have the opportunity to research it and see what the scriptures and prophets, seers and revelators say. I have copied 4 articles from lds.org after searching for: “Satan’s tactics” @Side light. I wrote down ~10 characteristics from Mormon 8 that would be present in the world when the bom came forth. Shortly into the writing Janice asked do we see these today? Were they here in JS’s day? @That was why I had to write them. If they were here in Joseph Smith’s day, man have they gotten worse! Her questions went right where I wanted to go. @Ok, back to topic. This is what I think about it:
-all good, all truth comes from God
-all evil, all temptations to wickedness come from Satan
-all deceptions come from Satan
-Satan does no good. No not one iota. Although he is always on the job!
-Cain has power over Satan because he has a body. As do all of Satan’s worshippers, followers throughout the ages.
-An angel deception from Satan can be identified by offering to shake his hand. He is compelled to shake. He must try and deceive. But you will feel nothing. No body.
-An angel from God will tell you he cannot shake because he has no body.
-Satan uses fear, big time. He tried to scare HCKimball from missionarying England.
-Bert says does it discomfit you to know he knows scripture? Me- no! What you do with the scripture is what counts! And wresting the scriptures is forbidden for mortals. Not to say we don’t do it sometimes. But the Holy Ghost doesn’t!
-Satan knows the gospel plan inside and out. He could give us lessons. But the gospel plan is selfless! And he wants power!
-Satan is and always will be miserable. : ( but his choice.
-He rebelled against God the Father and his love in His presence and took 1/3 of Father’s children with him.
-What goes around comes around. He sows no good, only evil.
-He can’t help us. He won’t help us. He wants our failure, our misery. He wants to show the Father how many more of His children he can capture! Then he will be a force to be reconned with. NOT.
-He doesn’t bother tempting us with things that don’t have an effect/that don’t work. If we have overcome something and proven it’s ineffectiveness he uses different tools, temptations. [This was the weirdest new fact/application I have learned in SS in this last year. I had never considered that might be the case, but Pete Nielson stood by it.]
-Scratch hates us.
-He concentrates his followers where there is the most need, the most righteousness. So by extrapolation it is fitting we have more sexual abuse and Satan worshipping here in Utah. And my parents were a part of it. And there are leaders in the church involved. Chilling! Deception.
-There is one final hope. He destroys his victims in the end. He cannot be counted on. He is not dependable. If you think you have made a deal with him it will only last as long as there is more pain and sorrow and misery than the destruction of your own life.
-Satan reveals his techniques and oaths and secret combinations, and murders if they are lost from a generation.
-He is the father of lies.
-He is the great imitator.
-He cannot bring you peace.
-He can bring you agitation, worry, paranoia, deception, misery, regret, blood lust, death mongering, destruction of tenderness and trust and love and loyalty and faith and hope and light and knowledge, and emotional numbness.
-He cannot take power over your body unless you give it to him.
-He cannot take power over your mind and spirit unless you give it to him.
-He may bind your tongue but not your thoughts. You can always cry out to God. Jesus Christ will intervene. @So all that being said; He has limits! He may work through evil men. And we may be killed by those evil men. But we need not give in to him nor heed him. He may be the God of this earth, and how sad that is, but he has no personal power. Only influence. But is an army influential? Yep. Are gold and silver influential? Yep. Is fear influential? “I will buy up Kings and Priests . . .” And reign with blood and horror upon the earth. @Blood and horror. Not truth and justice and mercy and peace and freedom and agency. @Rather compulsion. @6:40pm ~~~ @5/22/15,9:24pm So I expected this expose’ to be doubled after going and studying all I could about the Adversary. I printed off one Ensign article and 2 conference talks and read a studied them and made a copy for Janice. But I have learned little that is new. @Brandon you have received 2 letters with sizable portions reflecting my thoughts and understandings about Sons of Perdition, Satan, demons, 40 billion followers of the Adversary in the premortal existence and haunting/ tempting us now, where they concentrate their efforts and their techniques. You have been interested in witches. Of course I discourage any waste of time in that direction. @There is a special power in the Urim and Thummum that could be used to the destruction of the user. Joseph Smith was told to only investigate appropriate things. Our manual tells of Mohonri receiving them on the mountain along with the 16 clear stones touched by the Lord to give light. Perhaps they came to Mosiah with the big stone with writings on it. Nevertheless, the interpretation thereof was hid up, Urim n Thummim, with the 24 gold plates of Ether and eventually with the untranslated Book of Mormon plates. @@Seer stones were important to Joseph Smith but we hear little of them today. None of the prophets have had the gift of translating since Joseph that we know of. Has this been a time of testing to see if we would value and obey what we already have? When will that gift be returned to the Church? How much evil are the apostles and prophets aware of? Jim McArthur (and Denise,wife) was a member of the Satanic sect under cover of the Church here in Saint George. My sister Camille was given to him as a spiritual wife as a teenager and sexually abused by him both at Wilkinson’s house of lighting and at his home as she babysat his children. He was made the temple president of the Nauvoo temple last summer. She worries over the little children they will continue to abuse and sacrifice. Are his works hidden from the apostles? It only makes sense there are more devils working on the Saints than anywhere else. What direction do their efforts take? If you destroy a little child, you have destroyed a lifetime. I know Christ has the power to heal all wounds. But sometimes not in this life. @Today I was reading and thinking in the Book of Mormon study manual. One quarter to one half of the death certificates for Italian Indexing are children. Perhaps there will be a lot more in the Celestial Kingdom than I was thinking. There must have been many of HF’s children that proved themselves in the premortal existence. 9:53pm @ ~~~~ Well that sure helps fill up a letter/ postcard, doesn’t it! @ Tuesday, June 2, 2015 2:07am I refuse to call it Wednesday because the sun has not come up yet. In other words it is really early in the morning Wednesday. Hello Brandon. The paragraph starting with @@“Seer stones” would send my sister into flashbacks. I am debating posting it or not on my Blog. @ Anyway, here I am 10 days later. And man have they been eventful days and week. 1-I slept in the front seat, leaned back, of my car for the first time Monday night and then I did it again Thursday night and this Monday night. 3 times in one week, when I had never ever done it before. Why in the world. . . . ? @ I have a chevy Aveo that I bought from my middle daughter and it is good on gas. It is now my fishing mobile. I was scared to death but I bit the bullet and drove to Otter Creek Reservoir for my first time last Monday. Seems like I have written this before. I better go back and read what I have written. Pause. Nope not there. It must be in my journal. OK, anyway, I have anxiety issues and never having been there before and not knowing where to fish were driving me crazy. But I have heard about it for years and then BradL showed these pictures of what looked like salmon on different weeks and I just had to go and try it, since this year I have a fishing license and spring is the best time to fish. @ I didn’t get up my courage to leave until 9:15 Monday morning. One commitment I have made myself is to be willing to stay the whole dang day at my fishing place. That way I get in touch with nature while I am there. So I fished from noon until dark and averaged one fish every three hours. Is that patience? After the sun went down I decided to keep time by how many stars were out. It was partly cloudy but after pulling in fish #3 there were 3 brightest stars in the sky. I went to bed when there were 70 and I counted them lots of times in between. Lazy, relaxed, nature absorbing activity. It was so funny because the next night in my front yard laying in the hammock I looked at the sky and said, Hey, stars, I know you now. We are friends! @ I read that the water temperature at OC is 50 F so that is a good place to leave fish on a stringer to preserve them. It was a big half moon that night. And the wind blew and it rained but I was snug in my car, dry and protected. But one problem. There was no support for my arms. Have you ever tried sleeping with your arms crossed all night so they don’t fall off your narrow cot? I snore nowadays and my throat is sore when I wake up. I heard my cooler and chair banging around next to the car where I had placed them to make room behind my seat for it to go down. I doubted the wind was making the noise or it would have continued, but I wasn’t about to get out and see what animal it might have been. In fact there had been two raucous birds in the stubby narrow-leaf cottonwood I had chosen to park under for the shade, that had been disturbed out of their slumber when I opened my car door and the indoor light came on. I quickly turned it off. @ What do you do when you have to go #1 and it is windy and cold and raining outside your car in the night? I will leave that for your imagination but I had to do it numerous times. I parked uphill so when I reclined I could get my seat almost level. It was a very interesting night and I watched the moon progress across the sky. As soon as it hinted dawn, 5AM, I was up and went for a hike across the dam. When I got back it was light enough to check my poles. Sure enough, one had a fish! But my stringer was gone. Only one fish was left in the water where I left it and it must have fallen off the stringer when the animal stole the fish! What? 9 hours of work for 3 fish and now 2 are gone? Now I must admit they were great sized fish. About a pound a piece and they fought hard and leaped out of the water multiple times as rainbows often do. I was fishing near the dam because I figured that there is deep water nearby and that’s where the big fish stay. I almost fished until noon and then packed up and went to a lake on my way home. Panguitch Lake. The wind and the storm on the lake were intense. They were coming from the north and I was on the south shore. BradL had tried to describe where he was catching his nice big fat ones. I was so frustrated. Have you ever tried casting out against the wind? And here I was trying to get way far out there to the deeper water and big fish! Plus, have you ever tried to see if you are getting a bite with the wind and the waves pulling your line? The two trucks next to me left shortly after I arrived. They kept sneaking around and looking at me. I suspect they were hiding something. But I watched anyway as they took their stringer of fish out of the water. Woah, they were big and beautiful! Wow, if I could only catch some like that! @ I was committed to stay for the day, come rain or shine and came rain and storm! The last time I went to Panguitch I nearly froze with cold. I couldn’t feel my fingers for 20 minutes after getting back in the car after braving a storm. Not for me this time! When it started to rain I was back in the car resting. It was hard to see through the rain but with the passenger window down I could see a big whopper jumping out in the lake like it was in pain. That is often what they do when first hooked. But I was stuck in the car and just had to watch it for 20 minutes of intense storm. I reeled it in after the storm and I thought it was huge! I ended up catching another big one as well and I stopped at Harmon’s when I reached Saint George to weigh them. 2lbs 10 oz. YES! I HAD finally caught one/two of the big ones at Panguitch. But not at OCreek. @ I made friends with a retired smoker guy from Vegas when he came to fish by me. I openly shared what I had been told about catching the big ones. He took off for the storm but came back a couple of hours later. We shared some stories. When he went to leave he came over and asked my name and introduced himself. Patrick Duffey he said and I told him I went by Vincenzo. He shook my hand twice and thanked me for the sharing and fun. As I drove home I realized it may have been an opportunity fashioned by HF so I decided to write him a postcard and that may be where I already told you this story. Then internet is down write now or I would check. @There were 5 Pattrick Duffey’s living in Las Vegas and an actor by that name also starred in the TV series Dallas, so he may have been pulling my leg like I was pulling his! Who knows? I mailed it to the one who best matched his age. @ I came home and read about Kolob Reservoir and Otter Creek and Panguitch and started getting excited about trying Kolob. (to be continued, 3:10) ~~~ new topic Saturday,6/6/15 @[v-But inside I have always wanted to be spiritually strong and righteous. It was part of my self image. So even though failing, I kept up the appearance of good, of service, of reverence and I kept studying. My prayers were a bit repetitive but that is to be expected when you don't feel worthy with God. I hadn't learned that he loves us anyway. I had heard it and I knew it but I couldn't live it.
p-I'll be honest here. I don't see God as loving everyone so I don't know this, but I see him as loving only His bride (His people). When I read the Bible that is what I see. I'm happy to discuss this if you want to get theological :-) ] @The above conversation with my cousin Paul kept piquing my interest and thoughts last night. I decided to lay a foundation for a theological conversation. Here's how I responded. And it was consuming and fun to write him at midnight last night. Letter @ ~~~Friday, June 5, 2015 @For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. @Hello cousin Paul, @My internet is down, which you can relate to, so I cannot look up the above quote. @You mentioned that Christ loves his bride, the believers but not the rest of the world. And asked if I had discovered any different in the Bible. @WE have 13 Articles of Faith. We call ourselves Saints because the members of the Christ’s church in New Testament times were called saints. You probably have heard the name of the church as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” In fact some people familiar with the church say are you LDS? Are you a latter day saint. And we are comfortable with that. @One of the 13 AoFaith says, We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and principles of the gospel.(#3) @Another AofFaith says, We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. . . (#8) @ And a third one says, We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal and that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God (#9) @Those 3 will do the job but just for fun let me throw in #6, We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church vis; apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so forth. @The New Testament only uses atone or atonement once. The Book of Mormon uses it 39 times. We believe many plain and precious truths have been removed from the Bible. In fact Moses is the first prophet’s writings we find in the Bible. What about all those who went before him? So lots of writings are missing. Thank heavens for Moses! @Also have you ever noticed Christ never wrote of himself? Everything in the New Testament comes from other witnesses. @We believe the gospel of Jesus Christ needed to be restored by revelation and that the Book of Mormon is another witness for Christ, that he visited the Americas after his resurrection and that those that he visited had left Jerusalem in 600 BC. They had all the writings of the prophets up until then so they were expecting Christ’s birth. @So here comes the potent, rich, concentrated answer: From modern scripture we discover there is a Grand Plan. There was a premortal existence where we as spirits, spirit children of our Heavenly Father chose to follow a plan to become like him and have his joy. Christ empowered that plan by his atonement. A son of the morning, Satan, Lucifer rebelled and said he would save everyone, that it would not be dependent on agency, personal choice and agency. And he would take the glory. He was cast out and has power on this earth. But ultimately God’s power is the greatest and will win, but we are here to be tested. To see if we will obey and believe and have faith even with a veil of forgetfulness across our minds. We gain a body like the resurrected Savior has, and like our Father in Heaven already has. It brings us more sensations than we could have ever had otherwise. It is a gift. It came with our agreement to follow HF’s plan. Many of our spiritual brothers and sisters are waiting their turn to come to earth. All will be resurrected. Christ gives the resurrection, reuniting of body and spirit to all. He overcame death. But eternal life, life with Heavenly Father is optional, dependent on our proving ourselves by believing and obeying his commandments while we are here. We have to want him to return to him. He has provided a way through repentance and the ordinances of salvation to return to him. Baptism is the first ordinance of salvation. @So since we are all Heavenly Father’s children and Jesus Christ’s little brothers and sisters we are all loved. He sorrows over the 1/3 of the hosts of heaven that were lost to Lucifer. And there are 2/3rds that chose to follow him and his plan to have his joy and happiness. @Many have lived on the earth and now live on the earth who will not have a chance to hear and follow the true gospel of Jesus Christ. WE, saints, do work for the dead so if they choose in the spirit world (before the final judgment) to follow and accept Christ and his atonement the saving ordinances will have been performed for them by proxy. Heavenly Father is fair. Mormon temples are where the ordinances for the dead are performed. We keep track and I have even done baptisms for the dead. @OK. That was the whole ball of wax! Back when I was young I read, he that is righteous is favored of the Lord. I wanted to be favored so I tried to be good, righteous. I came home from my mission to Guatemala wanting to be a seminary teacher. I didn’t make it so I became a science teacher instead. I truly believe every single one of those people on this earth are loved children of our Heavenly Father, and that those that pray and turn to him receive his help. @Bigotry and prejudice have receded into the background for me. I believe they are tools of the devil. Hatred and envy and organized crime and individualized crime are patterns fostered by Satan. @So in conclusion, yes God loves all of his children. And we are saved through his son Jesus Christ. @The word atonement only appears once in the New Testament. It appears 39 times in the Book of Mormon. We believe many plan and precious truths have been removed from the bible. @ I read the bible again last year. It tells us how to live. It was so precious that many lost their lives to bring it forth to all people. The law of Moses was to prepare people for a higher law. The law of Jesus Christ superseded the law of Moses and man/ boy/ goodness, is it ever a higher law! Now we are even responsible for our thoughts, not just our actions. The Sermon on the Mount is way up there in living standards. And here we are on an earth where even the 10 commandment, the lower law, can’t even be agreed upon and lived! And all because of agency, the ability to choose and good from God and evil from Devil. @God- good Devil-evil Have you ever notice only one letter is different? @But the word plan, PLAN never appears in the Bible. Evil designing men, wanting control and power have removed it. They have wanted us to be good but follow their plans. They have not wanted to be trumped by God’s plan. How in the world could people live this better life of obedience to the commandments without even having an overview of his plan? I personally believe that man is intrinsically good. We chose right in the premortal life and we have inside us a desire to choose right here, in this life. Christ’s teachings have a power in and of themselves. Other inspired teachers have taught right and good as well. Goodness has a power. Mankind have wanted to be good and be able to trust others that were honest. Let’s follow Christ’s teachings, they will make us better. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This would make a great world! And those that honor the bible I honor. But the vision that comes with a greater understanding of God’s ultimate plan is wonderful. Now I know “why”. God speaking, “For this is my work and my glory -to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” @Thanks for our dialogs Paul. I love you, Vern @10:23 6/6/15 So Brandon, I found a letter I started to you in my cloud. (That is what they call on-line, internet memory: cloud) So this may be where those repeats are that I went looking for. Now you get to see if my story is true. Two editions of the same things. If I lied in one and forgot to lie in the other. . . Hopefully, it will mesh perfectly. >>Thursday, 5/28/15,10:46am Hello Brandon, How patient you must learn to be. To me it would be so frustrating to not be able to read the beginning of your letter because there was a stamp on the back and the guard cut off the whole thing! Argh! @ Oh well, congratulations on practicing patience! I can imagine that when you are out you will be a very laid back, unurgent person. If you were ever impulsive and hurried in you pre Purgatory life, I am sure it has been bored out of you in the last 4 years. @ Sometimes I will come to the FHC to get stuff done and EAMinardi will see me and smile and come right to me and start talking. Sometimes, I am not pressed for time and it is OK. In fact sometimes I seek him out so I can visit. But there is a Training room I will sometimes go and work in all alone and when he catches me in there it can be frustrating like it was yesterday evening. We discovered we have something besides reading and laughing and Italian Indexing in common: fishing. Oh crud, you know how long fishing stories can be? Well if not here comes! @ For some reason, even after having taught EQ on the spur of the moment Sunday on DTC, DFU's general conference talks, Varlo didn't show up again, and going hometeaching Sunday night, I was petrified of driving to Otter Creek R. on Monday morning. Brad Leany had showed me more pictures of these great big honkin' rainbows Sunday after class and the fishing will soon slow down for summer. It was so hard to get dressed and take off. Problems: 1-I had never been there before! 2-I didn't know the best places to fish from. 3-it is a long drive for me, 150 miles. 4-Should I stay overnight and fish both days or should I drive all the way home again on the same day. 5-Would I be able to sleep in my front seat of my Aveo? 6-what if it was cold and stormy? I got so wet and frozen at Panguitch last time. I looked up the altitude and it said it was at 6K ft just like Panguitch. 7-What was the best way to drive there? Would I be able to find highway 20east just before Beaver? 8-would it be worth all the time driving and gas? @ As you can see I had all kinds of concerns besides the regular one of what if I have and accident and die? Luckily, I have a dependable car right now that has not had any problems so at least that is not a concern. And you should see how acclimatized it has become for fishing! It is my mini fishing truck! @ It was Memorial Day monday but I headed to the library anyway, when I finally got myself off at 9:15. Do you know how late 9:15 is for a fishing trip? My dad used to wake us at 3 or 4 in the morning so we could get there for the sunrise fishing. Of course the library was closed. Portentous beginning? @ The drive up seemed to take forever and ever. I felt tired and I wanted to sleep. That is my normal response when I have anxiety to something. @ The roads were good. I found the Hwy 20 exit just before Beaver mountains. I came across the Sevier River on the other side, running north along Hwy 89. The final canyon is called Kingston Canyon and it was beautiful, a managed wildlife area with fly fisherman and everything. The stream coming out of Otter Creek(OC) is lovely. @ I figured that next to the dam would be deep water for the “big” ones. I purchased peach Powerbait and added weight to my line so I could really get out there. It was against the law to fish from the dam, so I got as close as I could on the North side. The OCR was not as cold nor surrounded by forest like Panguitch. It was more of a sage brush reservoir like Deer Creek and Strawberry. I watched my neighbor pull in a beauty of about a lb when I first got there so I set up and cast out. You can use 2 poles at a time this year. But I was dead tired. I was wearing pajamas under my pants so I could keep warm and sitting on the rocks next to my poles and cushioned from the rocks. I figured out a way to lay back and cover my face with my cowboy hat, with one eye that could peak out to check my poles. I fell asleep but when the pole got pulled over I was quick to wake and pull in my first OC fish! I fished all day and caught one more and then a third when there were only 3 stars visible in the sky. When 70 stars were visible, (I kept track,
the next night at home on my hammock I looked up at the stars and said, hello you guys, I know you a lot better now, I feel like you are my friends after last night at OC.) It was too dark to see a hook or my poles so I called it a night. I did not think I would need my sleeping bag to stay warm in my front seat for sleeping. I moved stuff around so I could lean my seat all the way back. I had a towel and a half and a sweat shirt I used as blankets. I had written in my journal under a nearby Fremont Cotton wood tree. My lawn chair was on one side and my car on the other. You would not have believed all the types of birds: pelican, merganser, seagull, swallow, robin, red winged black bird, yellow headed black bird, duck, dipper, and on and on. 12:06 I just went hunting for the specific names for a couple of the birds markings I memorized but I did not have any luck. : ( They are a lot more difficult to find than I would have thought with google and everything. I am disappointed. @ When I opened the door to get in the car the sleeping birds in the tree above me got all flustered. I quickly got in and closed the door so the light would go off. It started to rain. Lightning in the distance gradually became lightning and thunder over head. The tapping on the roof and the windshield made me so proud to be warm and dry. I had gotten sunburned and my neck felt sore, even with all my precautions. But my nose was safe. I had used spf80 sunscreen on it. That first trip to Enterprise R taught me that lesson. I heard the wind or an animal bumping my empty red and white cooler against the car. My doors were all locked so even people could not get in. I hadn't had a book to read and I had been bored out of my gourd some of the day. I can't tell you how many times I prayed and visited with HF, repeated the 13 AoF, sang “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” to try to be in touch with the divine and pass the time. I wondered if I would even be able to sleep that night. I kept myself from checking the clock except for once. It started to lighten at 4:50am. So I decided to go for a walk. I did check my poles. I had left them out all night. I also checked my fish but there was only one left! What? I fished all day yesterday and only caught 3 and my stringer and 2 of them were gone? Yep! I couldn't wait for light so I could check the tracks and see where they went! @ I hiked across the private property dam in those wee hours of the morning. There seemed to be pilon tops across the dam between 26 and 56 paces apart. There is an east west road South of OC and I could hear the trucks and cars from a long distance away. I tried to guess by the sound of the engine what it would be. They stopped in the night. @ It was light enough to reel in when I got back from my little hike. Sure enough I had a fish again. I caught two more in the next hour and then they quit. @ I read about OC online last night and it said slow fishing but big! I agree. I did not catch an of the huge ones but my one pounders were a blast to reel in. 4 and 5 jumps out of the water and fighting like crazy. @ So that was good enough on OC. I did not know a better place around the reservoir to fish and I was not about to stay another long slow day. @ I was not very decisive. One of the problems of being alone is you do not have to stick to your plan. I can change anything I want at a moments notice. I couldn't decide if I wanted to stop and New Castle or Panguitch on my way home. I had baited myself into going to OC by telling myself I could catch the biggest fish of my life! Since I had the proper bait perhaps I would try freezing, rainy, windy Panguitch again. I did and it was miserably windy the first 2 hours I was there. Then the storm hit. BradL had described carefull to me where he fished so at least I didn't have to wonder where around that whole lake he had caught his fat ones. I found the spot but the wind was blowing right into my face and the waves were huge! The waves pulled my pole up and down with every breaker. I caught some little ones. And I tried to cast out further and further for the big ones. Then the storm hit. Another 20 minutes in the car while sleet and rain obscured the landscape and the wind whipped around the car. Just before the biggest downpour started I had seen a honkin' fish jumping way out there like it was in pain! I hoped and hoped it would be on my line! I went to check my poles after the storm. Yep, It was still on my line! Yippee, I had my monster! I ended up catching another one and some littles. I was so satisfied and happy. There had been two trucks down off the point when I had arrived and when they pulled out within the first hour I saw these wonderful trout on their stringers as they pulled them out of the water to load in their trucks. They kept watching me, trying to hide their catches. I suspect they felt guilty. So was I by the time I decided to leave and drive home. @ I had made friends with a smoker 60+ year old, green trucked guy both before and after the storm, from Las Vegas. Before leaving that night he walked over to shake my hand and asked me my name. I told him I go by Vincenzo. He said, that's a good Irish name. Mine is Patrick Duffey. We shook hands twice and I said that if I saw him again next year I probably would not remember him. I had gone and asked if I could sit by him and visit when he had returned from the storm. I guess not very many fisherman do that and he appreciated the connecting. @ As I drove home I debated whether or not he had done what I had done as far as names. Given me an alias. Pattrick Duffey sounded too familiar. Was he pulling the wool over my eyes? He had said he had been to Panguitch 5 times the previous year. When he was young he liked Vegas but now that he was over 60 he preferred fishing. He had cooked up some bacon in his dutch oven that morning so it would be ready for trout that night. He had caught a big one before me and I was convinced I needed to move down his way. He left for the storm and I moved down. Sure enough 2 big ones later I was even more convinced! I ended up writing him a post card yesterday after looking up all the Patrick Duffey's in Las Vegas. I thought that if he was really that impressed with me that I might be a lever to eventually share with him the gospel. And with my experience with postcards because of you, why not send him one? @ I committed in my mind to stop at the first grocery store I saw to go measure my 2 monsters, : ). There were not any I passed by in Cedar City. So Harmons got a visit from me in Saint George. I was fishy and stinky and filthy but I went in the closest door to the produce department and dropped each of my fish in a plastic grocery store bag on a scale, the furthest from the produce worker. 2Lb9oz and 2lb10oz were the size of my two rainbows. Just over 2 ½ pounds, yes! It has been years and years. And now I think I have the fishing world by the tail! @ So I couldn't stop sleeping yesterday. I was sunburned and exhausted but so satisfied. I had cleaned my fish and baked the two big ones. I started Hhornblower again since I was out of library books. I had left my copy in the mailing plastic because I wanted it as a part of my heritage. I opened it and began. So fun! I read some more last night as I continued picking at those fish. Two nights and I have only finished one of them. Brad says the little ones taste better but mine tastes wonderful. @ EAMinardi was telling me that the mercury residues are left over from mining. That makes more sense to me because there are only 8 of the 300 water sources in Utah that are at cautious levels. I told him I can't count the number of NewCastle trout I have eaten in the 80's and 90's. Maybe I can trace my nerve and emotional problems to that. 1:18pm the end @
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