Out of Commission

“You’re just a spoiled 73-year-old. You can go fishing any time you like. Donna never says anything to you about overdoing it,” various people have told me.

“It wasn’t always like that,” I counter. “When we first got married, she’d often ask ‘Are you going fishing again?’ Now when I’m in her way around the house, she asks ‘Why don’t you go fishing?’”

During a recent week, however, things did not work out well for me. The weather was nearly perfect for late-summer fishing. There was a rainy day that raised stream levels slightly, and several autumn-like days followed that would have cooled the...