Sorry about not posting lately. I had my appendix taken out the Tuesday after the Gunpowder tournament.

I was feeling queezy at about 2pm during a meeting at work on Tuesday. I thought it was the meeting that was nauseating me, but when I got home the pain set in in the middle of my stomach. The pain moved down to my lower right region by dinnertime. I went to lay down with a heat pad on my stomach, but that made it worse. Everytime I touched my lower right it hurt like hell. Cheryl did a search on appendicitis and learned that I wasn't supposed to put heat on it because it would cause it to burst! I really started to feel nauseous and diarrhea set in. I went to the emergency room by myself since I wasn't sure what I had. It wasn't worth waking up my kids for my wife to take me to the hospital. I was admitted at 9pm and at around midnight they confirmed it was my appendix. They did a Cat Scan to make sure at about 3am and I was in the operating room at 5am. I woke up at 6:30am in the recovery room and in my hospital room by 7am. What a crazy 12 hours!

I learned later on that Cheryl's aunt Patty had an emergency appendectomy at about the same time I was having mine; what a coincidence!

Anyway, I owe you what happened at the Gunpowder tourney on 10/17. Well, it rained... and it was cold. I could handle one or the other but this was a double whammy! The day before, I was stressing out about the forecast and went on a shopping spree. Thank god I did because it rained the whole time we were out. I probably could've stayed a whole 8 hour tnx but we all agreed to fish 5 hours. I didn't get a single bite... but at least I got to test my gear and what I bought. Most everything did pretty well considering. The neoprene gloves I got kinda sucked. Advertized as waterproof, but they were anything but! They kinda absorbed the rain and the water pooled in my fingers. Everytime I raised my hand it poured water in my sleeve.

This past tnx at Conowingo was tough. I was feeling pretty exhausted by all the yanking I did to unsnag lures. Again, it rained for about half the tourney, but at least it wasn't cold. I think I really need to invest in a good rainsuit, or at least get good pair of bibs. I've been using athletic warmup pants which happened to repel water. These don't do a good job when the material is stretched while kneeling and sitting. Anyway, a lot of people got skunked. I'm thinking getting the boat fixed and going to the power plant during the winter.