okay
have you ever uh organized a family reunion
uh no i never organized one but we're we have one uh we're going to have one on Memorial Day i guess they've had one the last two years
uh-huh
we go out to the my dad's farm and uh
and you know it is just a picnic and
spend the night
um-hum
go fishing and stuff like that
how many people usually show up
oh about ten
oh it is not that big
huh-uh
because
it
um
we've had sort of
weekends like that too but i never thought of it really as a reunion
um-hum
i sort of think of a reunion with my uh
all the extended family
everybody yeah
yeah that would be hard for us because most of the family is out in California and some is in New York and North Carolina and it gets
uh-huh
kind of hard to get everybody get everybody organized
uh is there someone do you all just sort of chip in and help out with stuff when you are there or
uh yes yeah my my uh dad has a house out there anyway and there is there is uh he keep us
uh food down there
year-round so
um-hum
so he doesn't live there though
uh no it's it's it's like a country country home
vacation home
um-hum
yeah it sounds nice
um are there kids that are there too or mostly adults
yeah the grandchildren
uh-huh
just a few it just depends uh
uh uh all my grandparents are dead so uh there is there are not you know none of them are there and and uh then an uncle is dead so
um-hum
the the big family is a lot smaller that it used to be
um-hum are you all located in Texas
uh yeah we're in we are all uh
like they live up in Sherman it is near Lake Texoma
um-hum but
and uh all of his children live in the Dallas area too so
yeah
do it that to me is you know
Dallas i know of Houston i know of and that is about it
uh-huh
in Texas the rest of it is sort of a big void to me
yeah
but uh
you know we have uh
well we all got together it was about two years ago for i was i'd graduated from college and um
i was going to live in France for a year and so my parents invited it wasn't just family it was friends too
but um we all got together for just a party
and that was kind of fun
uh-huh
nice to have everybody be together at once and things like that
French reunion
well
yeah
not quite French but uh
it was sort of a reunion before leaving it was fun it was on um
New Year's Day so it was almost a celebration of the new year too at the same time
um-hum
that was kind of fun
but um
who was it a friend of mine had a big family reunion a couple of years ago and you know everybody flew in from all over the place for the weekend and it really sounded like it was fun
but
i am not quite sure what i would do i think it'd be fun to like rent a big
mansion or house someplace
and have everybody meet someplace where they do not really know
um-hum
and have different areas to explore and things like that so that'd be kind of fun
yeah
meet in the middle
yep
um-hum
where nobody lives
right
but at least that way it is at nobody's house so nobody one no one person is responsible for everything
yeah and they don't have to clean up afterwards yeah
yep
that's for sure the cleaning up can be a mess
um-hum
but um do you have horses or anything at your dad's farm
i'm i'm sorry
does your does your dad have horses there
uh no he doesn't really have any any uh uh domestic livestock anyway
uh-huh
the he leased uh to his neighbor for the cattle to feed on
i see so it's so he really does use it as a vacation home it is not like a farm that he has somebody else run for him or something like that
yeah pretty much he has a garden and uh a lot of fruit trees and blueberry bushes and things
um-hum
well that sounds nice do people actually pick the fruit and things
um-hum and then there is wild blackberries there too
um-hum
so
he gets
yeah i used
we used to go pick wild blackberries at my friend's property but we never got enough i used to make jam but i never had enough to really make you know more than a jar or something
huh
so it wasn't so worth it
yeah it is kind of they're kind of off and on it seems like
um-hum
depends on the rain
that sounds is does he have a lot of land to go walking around and things there
um it is uh it is uh eighty acres
well that is pretty big
uh-huh
i do not know how they do scale down there you know here it would be a huge amount of land
yeah yeah
yeah because the person's house here that has a lot of space is three or four acres as opposed to
tens of acres
yeah and
and uh and most of it you know you just spend time on maybe ten acres of it
um-hum
and uh because that's where the ponds are and
where everybody fishes
um-hum
we kind of have a an infor mal contest
my uncle uh put some bass in uh his pond a few years ago well he put some crappie too but the bass we have not been able to catch any of the adult bass yet so
uh-huh
they're in there but
they're real spooky
yeah i think my dad put some we have a little pond at ours at his vacation ho me too
and yeah i mean really little and they were having problems with too many goldfish because we had put some goldfish in and there were too many little goldfish and so the big ones never got bigger
uh-huh
oh yeah
and uh somebody suggested to get a bass
um-hum
and so they went fishing and caught a bass near some place and put it in there and never saw it again
never saw the bass
no so we do not know if it is living or
oh
oh it is probably in there just burping goldfish
yep
yeah
we still have lots of little goldfish they propagate pretty well those little fish
yeah they really do
this
yeah because we started we have got hundreds in there now and we started with i think ten or twenty little feeder fish that i picked up for a dollar you know many no matter how many it was for a dollar
um-hum
and
and some of them are probably
eight inches long but he wants your really big ones you know the ones that get to be like a foot and a half long
oh yeah
and
they have there's a uh
it
you might put some like some yellow catfish in there i do not know if they'd live very well up in New York but
they get huge
and uh they routinely use them for bait for uh goldfish for bait for yellow catfish
oh okay
well we we'd want to put some small ones in so they do not eat the big guys the goldfish too but yeah we could see i do not know if yellow catfish live up this way but catfish do i think
um-hum
yeah they live in the Mississippi River all the way through Minnesota and up into Canada
um-hum
so that you mean well we could try it that is a good idea
um-hum
he's he was trying to catch them you know using little uh
i forget there's little uh nets you can use to catch fish to use as feeder fish and things like that minnow nets or something my father was taking those and trying to catch the goldfish and it was really funny because uh
um-hum
uh
one time he left the net in the pond and he like would put some tuna fish or things in the middle of it to attract the fish
uh-huh
and uh he left it in the middle of the pond and that night he came out and the trap was gone and it was a raccoon that had taken it
right
so it was really funny and you could see that you know you could see where the trap the trap was dragged and things like that
um-hum
and so
yeah that's what happens
but do you guys have fishing competitions while you are there
yeah and uh
we feed the catfish they feed the catfish like uh
uh
every couple of weeks
and uh and sometimes that's the best time to catch them
when they're feeding
yeah because they'll just they will just come after anything then
uh-huh
and you could catch a couple anyway during that time
what do you feed them
uh mixed Purina uh it is uh cat food uh catfish food
really
yeah but
i mean it's especially made for catfish
yeah well i do not know how much different it is from dog food but you know it's um it looks like Purina High Pro
uh-huh
that's funny
but they come up to the top and it is the best time to take pictures because they come up to the top and you can see their whiskers come through the water and
um-hum
and they're the catfish the big catfish just kind of vacuum the top of the water
uh-huh
i have never seen catfish you know except in
filleted filleted on a plate i think maybe i think i have seen once or twice in like the museum
um-hum
but i've never seen them just alive someplace that would be fun to see
well they are really funny fish when you catch them they make a kind of a a burping growling sound at you
um-hum
uh-huh
and they try to hit you with their tails
how big do they get
oh well the channel catfish get up to uh i think the world record is fifty something pounds
okay but how long in feet
um that that is only about three and a half feet long
do you know
that's pretty big though
yeah they get real fat
yeah
uh-huh
um
from the time they they stay slender until they get to be uh eighteen inches long and then they start to widen out
um-hum
uh my daughter we were up there one time and my daughter was fishing and i think that was when she was three and she caught a catfish by accident she was fishing for sunfish and she said here and she handed me her rod and reel
uh-huh
and and uh you know
it it was just pulling drag out
um-hum
and it swimmed wherever it wanted to
yeah that sounds amazing i'll have to see them sometime
but all righty
okay it was nice talking to you
nice talking to you too uh enjoy your uh weekend
okay bye-bye
yeah have a nice Memorial weekend
okay you too bye-bye
