November 2001

November 2001

(Home in New Hampshire)
Dan writes:
It’s been a long time since our last journal posting, and a number of people have written in asking why. We haven’t been fishing, that’s why. We’re sort-of in between seasons right now, and between the new house, all that’s going on with the kids, and hunting season, we’ve kept busy with other things. Next week we start up again with the B.A.S.S. Open tournament on the St. John’s River in Florida, and at that time will begin our regular journal updates again. For now though, I’ll just give a quick rundown of what’s been going on since our last update.

In the last two months I’ve been out on the water only one time - in early October I took a guide party out on Lake Winnipesaukee. The lake was calm, the weather warm, the fall foliage beautiful, and we were absolutely the ONLY boat on the entire lake that day. The people I took were customers of my boat dealer in Connecticut - Boat Works. Now any of you folks looking for a new Ranger boat or Yamaha engine, don’t forget to check out Boat Works of South Windsor (www.ctboatworks.com) before making your next deal.

Around the new house this fall, we didn’t have to mow the lawn much, but we did have to rake a lot of leaves. And inside, Annie has kept extremely busy. There is the endless cleaning, laundry, and every day activities, as well as spending time with family and friends. She had to stop everything though and take time off when we discovered a lump in her breast. It is not the news you ever want to hear, but we were fortunate to be home, and not in the midst of a busy tournament season. She had surgery to have the lump removed. Everything went great, there was no cancer, and she has fully recovered.

Chris completed his first season of freshman high school football, and they finished with a record of 9-1. Beginning the very next day, he was at the ‘Y’ after school practicing for basketball.

Kate has been busy filling out college applications, and visiting campuses.

Jeff now had been working hard at the grocery store, until I made him quit so he could stay home and help me! We are converting the attic of the new house into living space. It was to be Jeff’s bedroom, but as the project has progressed it has evolved into a full blown recreation area/entertainment complex, complete with pool table, sofas and chairs, mood lighting and a mini-fridge, all of which has been "salvaged" by Jeff and all his friends from who-knows-where. Anyway the project has taken up a great deal of mine and Jeff’s time over the past few weeks, but is now 90 percent completed.

Another thing that has kept Jeff and I busy this fall has been hunting. This summer Jeff completed the hunter safety course and got his first hunting license. In October he and I went out a couple of times to walk the woods and to shoot some targets. For opening weekend of deer season in November, we invited Jeff to attend our annual hunting/shopping party weekend, held up at the lakehouse. At last year’s event, only two guys actually went hunting, while ten or twelve (guys and gals) stayed indoors or maybe ventured out to the outlet malls shopping. This year we actually had six guys in the woods. Now historically, in the six or so years we’ve hosted this event not once has anyone ever shot a deer, and only one time in those six years has anyone even shot AT a deer. This year though, all six of us SAW at least one deer, one of us got to SHOOT at one, and the shooter this year was none other than Jeff himself. Unfortunately, he did not end up putting any venison on the table for us, but it was a good start for him.

Another project that has been completed recently was the building of a mount into our Suburban for my Lowrance X16. I can now swap the unit out between boat and truck, thereby enabling me to employ GPS positioning and mapping both on land as well as on the water. We’ve run around town with it some and it works GREAT, and we can’t wait to get out on a real road trip now!

I did manage to sign two new sponsors on to my shirt recently - Yamaha Outboards and CMC jackplates. I have run Yamaha’s on two of my previous boats and been very pleased with both. In fact this last boat of mine, with a 225 Yamaha and a CMC hydraulic jackplate, was the fastest boat I have ever driven, and I am very excited to be working with both of these companies in the future.

Now speaking of boats, the 2001 purple Ranger that we’ve been running since February has been sold. The partner I had on Lake Erie back in September, Steve Hamilton, offered to buy it and the weekend after Thanksgiving he came out to New Hampshire to pick it up. As for next year’s boat, they’ve already started building my new one out there at the Ranger factory in Arkansas, and I hope to have it right around the first of the year. KeyesJrnlLogo

That’s it for now, but as I said before next week we’re headed to the B.A.S.S. Open tournament on the St. John’s River in Florida, so stay tuned for further updates!

Link to: December 2001