Don Hettrick of Carson City “working” hard at fishing for Walleye at Rye Patch Reservoir last summer.Photo by Don Quilici

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Tomorrow, February 04, marks a special day in the life of yours truly.

It is my one-year anniversary writing about the Great Outdoors at Internet website  CarsonSports.com.

Let me begin by saying that time certainly flies when you are having fun, and it has been both an enjoyable and a memorable year of writing about all kinds of activities in the Great Outdoors, both near and far.

Best of all, by writing for an Internet website rather than a printed publication, there have been no restrictions on how many weekly articles you can write, no restrictions on the length of those articles, and no restrictions on how many photographs to run with the articles. Yahoo!

When previously writing for a printed publication (AKA a local newspaper), I was restricted to the length and number of articles that could be submitted and was also restricted to one photograph (not more than two photographs every once in the while) per week.

At  www.CarsonSports.com, the sky is the limit, and on just one week, last year, there were 35 photos to accompany a whole bunch of different articles.

At that printed publication, it would have taken more than six months to run those same 35 photos (one per week). That is a big, big difference.

I also have a strong intuitive feeling that at some point in the future, newspapers, as we know them today, will join hula hoops, tail fins on cars, slide rulers, manual typewriters, home visits by doctors, glass milk bottles, etc., as interesting things of the past. You can bet the ranch on that.

Thank God for being associated with a classy Internet website.

Plus at  www.CarsonSports.com, there is the personal pleasure of working with a small group of highly-dedicated “Five Star” individuals, who make it a fun-filled work environment, week in and week out.

I would be remiss if I did not name Carol Wooley, Phil Wooley, Charles Whisnand and Dave Price as those co-workers.

They are the best. The absolute best!

It is a talented, close-knit group of professionals, who are all trying to make that website bigger and better, all the time. And, they are succeeding!

During this past year, I wrote about a multitude of outdoor activities, and thought that it might be fun to select some of those weekly articles to demonstrate the wide-ranging areas that they covered.

So here goes with a hand-selected, month by month, recap of some of the Internet articles from the past year:

February – Welcome to www.CarsonSports.com

This paragraph is paraphrased from that very first article:

“I would like to welcome you to the Outdoors portion of Internet website  CarsonSports.com which is my specific area of responsibility.

If you are an Outdoors enthusiast, there will be detailed and timely coverage of outdoor activities, such as big game hunting, upland game hunting, migratory bird hunting, fresh water fishing, salt water fishing, hiking, backpacking, camping, boating, etc.”

And, I can truthfully say that mission has been accomplished and then some!

March – Picking on people:

When I announced to the world back on Dec. 30, 2008 that I had resigned as the Outdoor editor for that “Unnamed Publication,” there was a collective sigh of relief from just about everyone who had been tormented in my 22+ years of writing weekly columns.

During all those years, it was a ton of fun to write about their mishaps and misadventures, and you, the readers, had fun following their wild and zany antics in the Great Outdoors. Especially my fishing partner, Don Hettrick.

I gleefully continue to do so and here is just one, small example:

Don Hettrick accepted a part-time, welding job in California and took his wife Nancy to see where they would be staying in their motorhome.

He mistakenly took her to Grimes rather than to Gridley.

Oh well, at least both cities start with the letter “G.”

April – Having fun on AmTrak

Eight fun-loving people from this area spent Saturday and Sunday, April 04-05, 2009, traveling on AmTrak between Reno and Sacramento, Calif.

Those eight people were: Wanda Biggs, Mary Bottoms, Bob “Slick” and Lynda McCulloch, and Elaine and I, all of Carson City, plus Sal and Catali Quilici of Dayton.

The best part of that entire trip was the five-hour-long cocktail party (up, over and down Donner Summit) in the observation car. It was a blast!

The worst part of that entire trip was the rip-off prices at one of the restaurants in Old Sacramento: Eye-popping costs of $9-$13 for just dinner salads. Geez, for $13, I can make a lot of dinner salads for a lot of folks, and still make a tidy profit. That cost was ridiculous, and, unbelievably, that restaurant was jam-packed with diners.

May – Fishing for Mackinaw (Lake) Trout at Lake Tahoe

Elaine and I fished with longtime friend and sport fishing guide Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters of South Lake Tahoe on May 07, and Elaine hit the fisherman’s jackpot that day.

Her Mackinaw Trout weighed 20-pounds, 9-ounces, measured 39.50 inches in length and was caught at 9:45 a.m. Almost 21 pounds, and it was the largest trout that she has ever caught.

For the remainder of that short, memorable morning (we were limited out by 10:45 a.m.), I caught an 8-pound, 8-ounce Mack (29 inches), and Elaine nailed one that weighed 5-pounds, 8-ounces (24 inches), which gave each of us our limits of two Mackinaw trout. Not too shabby!

June – Fishing in the Ely area

On May 27 through May 29, four of us were on a fun-filled, outdoor adventure, way over in Eastern Nevada. The four were: Sal and Catali Quilici of Dayton, plus Elaine and I, and we went to the Ely area to fish some of the waters in that part of Nevada.

All four of us are entered in the Ormsby Sportsmen’s Association (OSA) annual fishing contest, and we were hoping to catch a large brown trout out of Cave Lake and a large Northern Pike out of Comins Lake.

We did not catch any browns or pike, but we did have one heck of a cocktail party on two consecutive days in the parking lot of our motel.

And, as a bonus, Sal caught a 8.5 inch Eastern Brook Trout from Steptoe Creek that took first place in the “All Other Trout” category in the Ormsby Sportsmen’s Association annual fishing contest. It was the only entry!

July – Having fun at the edge of the Black Rock Desert

Elaine and I, together with Sal and Catali Quilici of Dayton, plus Don and Norma Reasons of Carson City had an overnight adventure to the tiny town of Gerlach, which is located at the edge of the Black Rock Desert.

When our group decided to go to Gerlach, we had three goals in mind:

1. To drink cocktails and eat a world-famous ravoli dinner at Bruno’s Country Club and to stay overnight at his motel;

2. To fish for trout at Squaw Creek Reservoir;

3. To goof off, have fun, sightsee and photograph in that general area.

Two of the three goals were accomplished (we did not fish).

August – A wild game feed at Dayton

Seven of us gathered together in Dayton for a late summer, wild game dinner (AKA wild game feed). Those seven diners were Sal and Catali Quilici of Dayton and Don and Norma Reasons of Carson City, plus Elaine, her Mom (Mary) and I.

Here’s what we had to eat:

Appetizers: Proscuitto wrapped around small pieces of cantaloupe, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, Queen Anne green olives stuffed with Pimento, King Salmon dip, Wheat Thin crackers, rosemary/olive oil Triscuit crackers, cashews, almonds, chocolate peanut clusters and Bing cherries.

Main Dinner: Fried Quail, which had been drenched in seasoned flour and pan fried in a cast iron skillet by Don Reasons. Roast Chukar with roasted potatoes, Cardone (An Italian type of celery) and Kalamata olives, cooked by Sal and Catali.

Dessert: Home-made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and coffee.

September – The many, delightful visitors to our cabin

My son (Jim), daughter-in-law (Kathi), Elaine and I are four joint owners of the “Quilici Cabin,” which is located at an elevation of 6,000’ in the middle of a forest of pine trees, Quaking Aspen trees and brush on a steep mountainside between Portola and Davis Lake in Northern California.

With all due respect to everyone who has been at the cabin, our favorite visitors, by far, have been the Mule Deer.

Each year, they migrate into our area about mid-to-late April, stay the rest of spring, all summer and then disappear in late November.

Our all-time favorite is a buck, who at one time in the past, broke his left front leg and it re-healed crookedly. He can walk, run and jump with all of the other deer, and the crooked leg does not seem to bother him one bit. He has been a visitor for three straight years, and each year, we worry that he will make it through the winter, until we see him again, safe and sound.

October – Gathering the pine nuts of the Pinon Pine Trees

For those of you unfamiliar with pine nuts, they are the seeds of the Pinon Pine tree, which is the official tree of the State of Nevada.

The Pinon is a fairly short, bushy-looking, rather unattractive, full-of-pitch, tree and it is one of the main physical features of our Great Basin region.

The lazy man’s version (mine!) of gathering pine nuts is to wait for two things to happen: A hard frost to open up the pine cones and then a strong wind to shake the pine nuts onto the ground. Then all you have to do is pick up the pine nuts and put them in a container. It’s quick, easy and no fuss.

November – California fishing seasons to close on November 15

This was a reminder that many, nearby California fishing waters would be closing for the year on November 15. Those waters will not re-open until the last Saturday in April next year, and that is a long time to wait.

That reminder included a list of rivers, reservoirs and lakes to try to fish one last time for 2009.

It also told you where to fish and what to use to try to catch some nice sized fish including Brook, Brown, Cutthroat, Kamloop and Rainbow Trout.

By the way, Opening Day for those waters in 2010 is April 24.

December – The Annual Don Q Awards

Each year, as the last article written for that particular year, I present my Annual Don Q Awards for a variety of reasons, good and bad, serious and funny, outstanding and not so good, etc.

Those annual awards are presented to a number of different people or different things associated with the Great Outdoors.

It’s a fun way to end the year, plus it also gives you a chance to share in some of that year’s activities.

Here is a sampling of last year’s winners:

Best At Standing Tall:

My fishing experience at Davis Lake California. The water had receded, the shoreline was composed of wet, sticky clay and by the end of the day, I had gained about four inches in height from the clay on the bottom of my shoes.

Best “Class E” Ride:

The day Brent Hettrick, Don Hettrick and Jack Cooke brought out a heavy trailer load of firewood from the Marlette Lake area and Brent’s truck lost its brakes on the steep road coming back down the mountainside. Wheeeee!

World’s Worst Drivers:

All of those idiots in SUV’s who drive way over the speed limit, tail gate too close, cut in front of you, change lanes without signaling, talk on cell phones, etc. There ought to be a hunting season on them with no bag limit!

You Did What:

Don Hettrick accepted a part-time, welding job in California and took Nancy to see where they would be staying in their motorhome. He mistakenly took her to Grimes rather than Gridley. Oh well, they both start with a “G.”

Finally: There you have it.

A small sampling of things that happened in the Great Outdoors last year.

And, 2010 promises to be even better than 2009. Stay tuned!

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you where my best fishing success was in all of 2009.

If he grins, takes a deep breath and says, “Heck that’s easy. It was when Don took a float plane trip to Mitchell Lake in the Cariboo Provincial Park of British Columbia and caught and released countless Rainbow Trout,” he could have been one of my eight fishing partners.