Some interesting things that occurred during the year 2004

By Don Quilici

It's the middle of December, and this is also a good time to stop and reflect on what has happened during the year.

With that in mind, I thought you might like to read about some interesting things that have occurred so far in 2004.

So, without any further ado, here goes:

9. The day that traffic was stopped at the red light at Washington and Carson Streets, and waiting (as usual!) for that miserable light to finally turn green so we could continue on Washington St.

The light turned green, the driver in front of me carefully looked both ways on Carson St. and then began to drive west. He got into the middle of the intersection and BAM!

He was T-boned by some dummy running the red light on Carson Street.

As I looked on in amazement, I saw some red lights begin to flash, looked up, and lo and behold: It was a Carson City Sheriff's Deputy who had been waiting to proceed east on Washington St. and who had witnessed the accident.

Yahoo! There really is a God in Heaven!

8. Competing as one of the 17 contestants during the Rocky Mt. Elk Foundation Annual Elk Camp, Celebrity Elk Bugling Contest held in Reno.

I had practiced on my bull elk bugle for weeks and weeks, and had also conned Bob "Slick" McCulloch, Norm Budden and Elaine into helping me to try to win the contest.

When it was my turn, I blew on my bugle and Slick answered back from the crowd with a Chukar call.

I blew a second time and Norm answered from the other side of the crowd with a Duck call.

I blew a third time, Elaine rushed to the edge of the stage and threw three, brightly-colored bras at me.

We brought down the house (there were more than 1,000 in attendance!)!

But, alas, I ended up in second place behind a cute, little, seven-year-old girl.

7. Having Juan Guzman of Carson City and Archie Steele of Scotland appear on two different evenings on The Outdoor Recreation Show.

Both are longtime friends and both speak with a very distinctive accent.

I think that they were both speaking English but I wasn't really sure.

Cuz, if that was English, it was a version that I've never heard.

That's why I spent so much time on each show, pleasantly smiling, nodding my head and saying "Yes," when I didn't have the foggiest idea of what in the heck they were saying.

Gez, they might as well have been speaking in Latin!

6. The column I wrote about catching a monster-sized Mackinaw trout at Lake Tahoe, while Elaine and I were trolling in my little inflatable raft in front of the Cave Rock Landing.

I wrote that the Mackinaw was so large that I was afraid to bring it into the raft.

So, I turned the fish loose, even though it would have been a new record Mackinaw trout for Tahoe!

The column was actually an April Fool's Day spoof, published on April 1.

That tongue-in-cheek tale generated more feed-back than any of the other hundreds and hundreds of columns I have written through the years.

A classic "Got You" and it worked to perfection!

5. The fateful evening, while we were vacationing with Elaine's mom, Mary, in Greeley, Colorado.

I was busy doing something, and Elaine volunteered to check my Master Card account (via the telephone) to see if there were any new charges.

If there were, it meant I had drawn some hard-to-get Nevada big game tags for the 2004 hunting seasons.

Somehow, during the Spanish-speaking portion of that telephone recording, Elaine inadvertently hit a button on the telephone that reported my Master Card as lost or stolen, which instantly canceled my credit card.

I had to re-apply for a new one and also notify the computer company conducting the drawings.

Don Q was NOT a happy camper.

4. Spending a weekend at our "Getaway" cabin, which is high on a mountainside near Portola, Calif.

On that particular weekend, just at dark, a group of dogs at a nearby cabin kept barking and barking and barking.

Finally, in irritation, I walked out on our deck with my elk bugle and loudly blew the sounds of a rutting bull elk.

It instantly got deathly quiet and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

Those miserable dogs must have been cowering in fear, wondering what the heck kind of animal could make those awful noises in the dark.

God, it felt good to shut them up!

3. Longtime friend and fishing partner Don Hettrick on our fishing trip to Wildhorse Reservoir and his many problems:

The trailer's spare tire came loose and hung down, inches above the road, on our drive to Wildhorse.

The battery in the boat was not snugged down, bounced around, shorted out and "fried" the wires to the electronic fish locator.

The boat motor was very difficult to start due to dirty spark plugs. Don had left his spare plugs back home in the garage, safe and sound.

Steering the boat as he sat in his seat, facing the rear of the boat, and turning the steering wheel with his elbow. No kidding, with his elbow!

That miserable day was the longest ten years of my miserable life.

2. Don Hettrick, again!

On that same very fishing trip, he made one of many, many erratic turns, while I was trying to bring in a very nice, 16-inch rainbow trout.

In doing so, his line wrapped around mine and all of a sudden, I was fighting an unbeatable combination of the fierce wind, choppy waves, rain, my fish, Don's line, his lure and the "Warp Five" speed and the crazy directions of the boat.

I finally managed to bring the trout close enough to the boat, where Don could try to untangle the two lines, without losing my fish.

He reached out to take his lure off his line and proceeded to get the lure's treble hooks hopelessly buried in his wool glove (with his hand inside the glove!).

I said a lot of bad words!

1. Most interesting thing of the year: This one is for you to select.

Because I would be willing to bet that, by now, my selections have generated memories of things that have been interesting in your life, during the year.

So, pick one and make it No. 1. Enjoy!

• Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon he can't tell you what else happened on that ill-fated fishing trip with Hettrick.

If he grins and says, "Don Q was trying to re-thread his fishing line through the eyes of his 7.5 foot fishing pole, bent the pole over too far and broke off the top section," he could have been one of the group on that particular trip.