The end of summer

Well, this is the last week of summer for me. Where did it go? It seems like I just went on summer break a few days ago. What have I been doing? Well, probably what most would expect and definitely not what I would have expected. This summer has been very different than what I would have envisioned.

Just a few days after school let out for the summer, Raquel and I went to Kaiser for another ultra-sound and found out that we are expecting a baby boy this time. His name is going to be Noah Craig Tucker. Right after the appointment we went to Las Vegas to spend time with Mom and Mike. While in Vegas, Raquel and I celebrated our anniversary by spending a night on the strip at the Luxor. It was only the second night of Maya's life since coming home from the hospital that she did not spend the night with us, the first was last years anniversary which was also spent on the Las Vegas strip. As our stay in vegas was coming to an end, Raquel received a call from her Mom saying that she didnt feel well. Raquel had her brother taker her to the emergency room. It was discovered that she had a bad heart valve and that she also had a heart aneurysm. She went into surgery to have the valve repaired and have the aneurysm removed. Thankfully, the surgery was successful. The recovery time from such a surgery however is a few months which meant that Raquels mom would have to rest as much as possible and would not be able to watch Maya at all in the summer. In fact we feared that she might not be able to watch Maya for the rest of the year. Luckily, her recovery has been much better than expected and we are hopefull that she will be able to take care of Maya by the end of August when I am in school and when Raquel is working.

Towards the end of June, I made a trip out to Colorado to attend my brother Robby's wedding. On the day that I arrived, Robby had set up a game of golf at a really nice course. I had played golf only a couple of times before and that was many years ago. I was terrible. But I did improve quite a bit by the end of the 18 holes. It was a lot of fun, maybe I will start playing at some point. Unfortunately, this was the same day that Michael Jackson died. I was really shocked by the news. On Saturday the wedding took place. It was wonderful, could not have been better.

As far as fishing goes, I really didnt get to fish much, only three times all summer. I am used to fishing at least three days a week during the summer. With Raquel's mom recovering from surgery, taking care of Maya was my full time responsibility this summer. I miss fishing a great deal but Maya and I had a great time together.

In July, my Dad got married on the 4th in Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Queen ship. It was also a really nice wedding and we did get to view the great fireworks show from the ship after the ceremony.

Also in July, Robby, Oriana, Mom and Mike came to California to go on an Alaskan cruise from San Francisco. We were supposed to be on that cruise with them, along with Jamie and Shannon but the girls got themselves pregnant which canceled the plans. However, we were able to take our annual trip up to the Oregon coast to Lincoln city. We had a great time once again. I wish that I could live on the Oregon coast.

Photos from Oregon.

Robby's Wedding

Dad's Wedding





The few fishing photos of the summer

Truckee river 5-26

Headed up to the Truckee river right after school yesterday. Started fishing at about 5:15 with Tanner. Caught several nice fish.

Another Tucker!!!!!

Yes, that's right! We have another Tucker on the way. The due date is 11-4-2009.

Fishing the Little Truckee again

Tanner and I hit the Little Truckee river again. We began the morning with the temperature in the mid 20's and ended it in the mid 20's. It was so cold that our nets and shoe laces froze solid. Fishing was tough! That river is going to make fly fishing experts out of Tanner and I because you have to do just about everything right to catch fish their. It is definitely not a river for a beginner, or even an intermediate level fly fisher. That's why I like to call it the Little Truckee University. Fishing on that river is the grad school of fly fishing.

The day started off great for me. I hooked a fat wild rainbow, about 20 inches in the first minute. I fought him for about three minutes but he shook the hook before I could net him. About two minutes later, I hooked and landed a smaller 15 inch wild rainbow. After that, nothing the rest of the day. Tanner also had a rough day, nothing for the first five hours until he caught the beautiful 18 inch brown pictured above. Tanner hooked another 10 minutes later but lost it. Although it was a really tough day, we had a great time and hopefully we learned a little more in the process.

The Little Truckee produces again!

Well I headed up to the Little Truckee with Foxy a few days ago. Tanner could't make it so it was just Foxy and I. Started fishing at about 10:00 AM. Nothing, not even a bite for the fisrt two and a half hours. I tried many different small mayflies and midges, but I could not even get a bite. At about 12:30, out of frustration, I put on a small brown San Juan worm. First cast, fish on! For the next hour and a half the fishing was red hot. I ended up with five fish landed with two lost during the retrieve. Four rainbows and one brown. The biggest being about 21 inches and three pounds. They were all really beautiful wild fish. By 2:00, the bite had stopped and not even another hit for the rest of the day.
Most years I only fish from June to August. This year, I made it a goal to fish at least once a month all year long. So far my goal is still intact. These were the first fish that I have ever caught fly fishing in December. This was the first time that I have fly fished in December.

The Little Tanner River

Well, they are now going to have to re-name the Little Truckee river to the Little Tanner river after Tanner catching this big Brown. My Dad and I met up with Tanner and uncle Dennis over the Thanksgiving holiday up at the Truckee and Little Truckee rivers. The four of us started off on the main Truckee. My Dad and I did really well, both of us catching about 15. My Dad might have caught a few more than that. But Tanner was struggling quite a bit with around 5 to 7 fish. However, Tanner's luck changed once we hit the Little Truckee. He immediately caught this really nice Brown and then went on to have four or five more hook-ups. The rest of us could not even manage to get a bite. This was the best that I have ever seen Tanner fish. Man, was he on! I was really happy for him because he has been talking for months about catching a monster brown and he finally did it. Great job Tanner!

Been doing a lot of fishing and a lot of hiking lately

Well it's been a while since my last post. Not much has changed. Ive been hiking about once a week and fishing about once a week. The fishing has been good. Tanner and I are still catching lots of fish, nothing huge for a while though. The water on the Truckee river is getting low and we may have made our last trip of the year up their. The hiking has been great. About three weeks ago, we hiked up Thunder Mountain. The hike is located near Kirkwood and it is literally up a mountain. The view was awesome. Here are a few photos of the hike.

Tanner nearly falls off the mountain.

Enjoying lunch at the summit.

Maya loves to drink from the hydration pack.