Summer fishing and a family emergency: Two adventures with happy endings

This is going to be a bits and pieces column. A lot has happened in the last two weeks involving visits, fishing, memories and an emergency. Hopefully, I can make sense of it all.

My daughter Jourdan and her husband Ryan came to visit. They were saddened by the passing of Jourdan’s Aunt Lori, her mother’s sister. Still, we spent some enjoyable time together.

For old time's sake, Jourdan brought her bike to revisit the landscape from years ago. I baked a fresh peach pie. They did some guitar strumming and I sang. It was a good visit.

The week before, Brittany Contreraz came to visit. Jourdan, Brittany, and Brit’s twin sister Brianna went to Timber Ridge Church Camp, Spencer, Indiana. The 222-acre camp with a 12-acre lake must be marvelous because all three have related what good times they had.

The Teen Camp is July 18-25 and is for ages 15-17. Activities, I remember, are crafts, fireside fun, horseback riding, cave exploring, tubing, hiking, riding trail bikes, skiing and swimming. All loved the high dive, low dive, and barge rope (you swing out on). The kids stay in air-conditioned cabins.

I believe there are still some openings. The cost is quite reasonable at $250, I think. Timber Ridge also offers a Family Camp from July 25-August 1. Go to: www.indysdayouth.org. The folks there make a video of the week so participants can relive the memories for years to come.

Steve Jett and I tried to find redears in deep water at Geist a week ago. In 85-degree water, those fish were shallow and often just off the bank. Our biggest problem; the 22 we caught were smaller than we have caught in the past. And, they were shallow for a reason, the females were egg-laden.

There is an evening bass tournament each Tuesday at Geist. In four hours 19 tournament limits of five fish per boat were weighed. That is 95 bass. There were 43 participants with either one or two people per boat. Do the math. There were easily 150 bass caught.

At the dock was a guy using a cast net to harvest shad and small bluegill to use as catfish bait. Surprisingly, he has gathered zebra mussels in his net from a muddy bottom, but most are on rocks, docks, cement, rocks, and even attached to the catfish he catches.

Last Thursday, I drove to Fishers to give my son Brian’s mate Barb Kleeman a ride to the dentist's office. She was to be sedated for an extraction and Brian wasn’t feeling well.

When I arrived, Brian was not looking good. He was light-headed and when I strapped my fit-watch on his wrist it indicated a heart rate of 37 bpm.

Brian’s family physician agreed to see him as soon as we could get there. Barb had neighbor Susanne take her to the dentist.

As I was waiting for Brian in the car his doctor came out with him and instructed me to take my son to the ER at Ascension St. Vincent's Heart Hospital.

He was released once for about four hours and had to go back. It was decided that his heart could no longer work on its own. He needed a Pacemaker implant. After five days and a lot of prayers, Brian went home and seems to be doing well. Brian Bramwell is Brian Casey of the morning show on MAX Classic Rock 93.5 FM.

During all this turmoil I and my son Greg got in a couple of hours fishing at a local pond. I went back to basics and caught my fish on a four-inch Slider worm. Greg used a swimbait. We brought eight bass up to three pounds to the boat.

Life is an adventure and this time it had a happy ending.