last night little j and the husband were at baseball and big j and i decided to give fishing a whirl. neither one of us gets too excited about baiting a hook, but we figured we could persuade a worm to hop on there without touching it very much. the one we ended up with was practically a snake, super long and fat and really gross. he was smart too. kept trying to twist his body around to touch us, knowing we would drop him and he could try to escape. he did this about 10 times before we double-teamed him. i had to tell big j that worms don't have nerves and can't feel the hook. i don't think he bought it but it made us both feel better. 


anyway, we drop the line in and are enjoying the great night when...uh-oh...the bobber goes under. 


i say "crap. we got a fish."


big j starts to reel it in. now we have a problem. i didn't expect to actually CATCH a fish. i just wanted to sit on the dock, eat seeds and feel like we were being productive.
pretty soon he drags up this ugly old catfish. i am not touching the catfish. big j is not touching the catfish. those whiskery tentacle things are disgusting. so we did what any normal fisherman would do. we left him on the line and just kind of walked him around in the water. finally, i found a big bucket and filled it with water and we lifted him into it...the hook and line still attached. 


we both wanted the hook out of his mouth (which was opening and shutting, opening shutting...don't make me look in there). i got some kitchen gloves and we put them on. we pet him for awhile in the bucket, and then i tried to get the hook out of his snout. no dice. i called the husband and told him we had a big catfish but could not get the hook out. he was all excited and asked me if he was big enough to fry. 


uh. right. big j was stroking his head and i was calling him sweetie to try to call him down. 


the neighbor across the lake yells over and tells me to cut the line and leave the hook. big j and i immediately decide this is a horrible idea. our friend Cattie doesn't need a hook in his head. 


we wait for the husband, who grabs him roughly out of the bucket, squeezes him much too hard and twists the hook out of his mouth, making him bleed. poor Cattie. he did pose with big j for just a minute before we let him go...as you can see, there still is no touching going on. Cattie didn't even get a kiss good-bye. 


i was happy to see him go free back in the water, but probably not as happy as Cattie was. maybe we'll see him again someday. just hopefully not on the end of our line (don't tell the husband i said that).