It’s Day 53 of the Underground Home Hostage Crisis, and our erstwhile contractor has yet to put in an appearance (or oy vey, call or write).

(Actually, I just learned it’s Day 63. Damn.)

Meanwhile, we’ve a couple painting contractors here who actually do get things done, so when the inevitable firing takes place, we won’t have our house back, but several uninhabitable parts of it will look shiny and new. (Let’s hear it for the painting professionals out there!)

The backdrop for all this home-based hilarity is cold, sleeting weather and the Underground’s tweaked back (yes, the Underground’s writing injured today – playing hurt so you can enjoy a dose of Fly Fishing Entertainment, unlike those sissy overpaid professional athletes who sit out games on account of hangnails).

With the L&T and Little M taking a tour of the Bay Area’s traffic jams (they arrived just in time to see the Bay Bridge closed in front of them), I’m making a run for the river this afternoon – though preferably a smooth, easily waded part of the river.

(The hell of it all isn’t getting old; it’s getting reminded you’re getting old by a back that hasn’t given you much trouble over the last decade.)

I’d love to dig deep into my bag of Upper Sac experience and provide you with a detailed forecast about exactly is going to happen when I’m fishing, but in truth, this is a time of year when any number of techniques may or may not work, and the best you can do is go out and flog things for a while and hope for a result.

I’m reasonably certain I could find a midday BWO hatch (it’s still a little overcast here), but a big Web site launch is hurtling my way with the speed and energy of a Siberian-bound asteroid, which makes a daytime raid a very bad idea.

Thus, the afternoon calls to me (provided I’m not busy lining up new contractors – a very real possibility).

See you on the phone (veins popping out of my neck), Tom Chandler.

p.s. – Fly Fishing Show biggie Chuck Furimsky just weighed in on the AFFTA/FFR/Outdoor Retailer trade show discussion (as have a couple of other industry folks). Don’t miss it.