Bare Handed

So last Sunday as you might remember John Darrin and I went for a ride at the Beavers’ ranch. Toward the end of our ride we had a bit of an adventure that I would like to share with you.

 

Let me enlighten you a bit before we move on with this little narrative about two of my personality quirks. One- I have a ridiculously soft heart when it comes to animals. “But Michelle, you hunt. That doesn’t make any sense,” you might say. Well, you’re right- it doesn’t make any sense. But that is just the way how it is; I don’t really have an explanation for it. I love animals- little ones, big ones, fluffy ones. There are just some that I love the way that they taste more than the way that they look. And whenever I do see an animal whether it is a pet or wild, I really want to mess with it. Not in a mean poke-it-with-a-stick kind of way, but more of a love-it-and-pet-it-and-call-it-George kind of way. Two- I don’t like taking showers. It’s a pain. If I could take one a week I would be totally fine with that. I hate getting out of the shower and immediately getting goose bumps and being cold. So not worth it. That personality quirk doesn’t have too much to do with my story; I just thought you should know.

While John Darrin and I were headed back to the trailer we were crossing a shallow creek and I saw a catfish, and I really wanted to catch it! So I jumped off my horse, threw John Darrin the reigns, and went for it.

I was not successful. However, I did manage to touch it a few times which I was pretty proud of myself for. I have always wanted to go noodling (you know where they jump into rivers and catch catfish by letting them eat their arms or something) but am not quite that crazy so this was good enough for me. Here is a picture of me attempting to catch it:

Check out those superior catfish-stalking skills. After I got my fill of attempting to catch the catfish bare handed, I got back on my horse and we started to head home, again. But then I saw something shiny flailing in the grass along the bank of the creek. I walked Mr. Foreo over there to discover an even bigger catfish that had gotten stuck on the bank somehow and was trying desperately to get back in the water. So I jumped of my horse again and threw my husband the reigns and my camera and proceeded to catch the catfish bare handed! I was so excited!

Just ignore my hair and cheesy grin and focus on the biggest fish I have ever caught. And I caught it by hand! How cool is that! Not that I am some incredible fisherwoman. I mean it was beached and a five-year-old could have caught it, but still, I was excited. I then let it go in one of the deeper parts of the creek and hoped that it found its way to the lake.


JD and I decided that the fish must have come up the creek when it was there was more water running from all the rain we got the week before and didn’t get back to the lake in time. That’s best reason we could think of any way.


After we got back into the truck and were headed home I started to realize just how much I smelled like fish. My shirt, arms, hands, hair all smelled like my catfish friend. So when I got home I had to take a shower- my second one of the day. That is even rarer than my catching a fish bare handed!

Michelle