Sunday Day Off! (Went Kayaking)

     Today, I had a day off, because it is Sunday. Sunday, is my day off every week, because people are not aloud to go Lobster Fishing on Sunday. I got up at about 6:30 AM. I was about to go back to sleep, but I thought that would just waste time sleeping, and we were going to Kayak up to the Keag store on our Kayaks. I watched some YouTube, and we left at about 8:00 AM to go to the Keag Store. We each got our life-jackets, and we started down. It took about 45 minutes to get there from Aunt Pennies house to the Keag store. 

Kayaking down to the Kaeg store!

Mini Rock island

     Once we got to the Keag store, we pulled our Kayaks out of the water, onto the grass, and walked across the street to the Keag store. I got some drinks, a Blueberry Muffin, and a really delicious ham and cheese sandwich with white bread, pickles, and mustard and mayo. I planned to eat that after I got home. We then walked across another street to stop at the library for a bathroom break, and that library has the fastest WiFi (Internet) in the town. 

     George Kittredge was the youngest naval submarine commander ever, and he invented the one person submarine. He used it to go up and down the Keag river. I got a picture in front of the Kittredge submarine. It looks pretty small and cramped for one person to fit inside.

George Kittredge Submarine!! (18,000$$)

     I looked up how much it would cost, and it was about 18,000 Dollars. I also looked up very expensive ones, and they were about 1 million, to 3 million, which is insane. I was also thinking about getting a Gyro-Copter for me. Its basically a little helicopter that fits one person, and you can fly it around, and it only requires 20 hours of training! I want to start saving up for it. There are a ton of prices between like 10,000 - 80,000 but I can save up for one.

     We got back in our Kayaks, and started to head back. The tide helped us back, and we got back a bit faster. I hauled my Kayak onto the shore when we got there, and walked back to the house. For the rest of the day, I just chilled, and had my snacks, and sandwich, and watched YouTube. It was a fun day! I will see what other cool things I could buy to fly around!

                                                 -7/31/2016                                          

                              (Also, I ordered some Hot Cheetos on Amazon to come to Aunt Pennies house, because I couldn't find any anywhere in Maine)

 

Very Short Day!

     Yesterday, I had a day off because Uncle Art was having his boat fixed. It had a place where it was leaking, but now it is all fixed so we went out today. I got up at 4 AM, and Uncle Art and Aunt Pennie went to say goodbye to Aunt Ruth Ann and Uncle Rich. I got ready to go. We left at 5 AM to go to the wharf. It was not foggy at all, which was good. We went out, and we were only hauling singles today.

     We had 8 bags of new Rock fish. We got 4 of them and put them in the bin so I could bait the irons. They were frozen so I had to pull them apart from eachother. We did not use any Herring today, only Rockfish. We got a lot of good lobsters today, some really big ones, 3 pounders. We ended up with 400 pounds. It was not bad but it wasn't that good, but the good thing is that we got done before 11 AM. Thats probably the earliest day I have ever had. Usually we are done at 12:30 or 1 PM. We flew through the single traps though.

     When I got home, Aunt Pennie was telling me how I could kayak down to the Kaeg store. It is on the river, so I could kayak from the house, in the water to the Kaeg store, instead of biking all the way down there. Tomorrow, me and Aunt Pennie are going to kayak down to the Kaeg store at 7 AM, because that's when the tide will be in. It was really sunny today, so I had to put a ton of sunscreen on so that I would not get sunburned.


      -7/30/2016

Long Day (Hauled Doubles)

     Today, it was going to be another long day. I got up at 4:30 AM. Uncle Art came into my room and said "Its time to get up." Then, I got up, and I grabbed a blanket to go downstairs to put on my Hauling clothes. When I was about to go down the stairs, I saw the lights were not on anywhere. Usually when I get up, Uncle Art is down in the kitchen and the lights are on, so I thought mabye I had imagined that he had woke me up. I didn't remember really, I just woke up at 4:30 AM. I was about to go back to bed, but he came in and said it was time to get up (again aparently)

     We were suppose to be back by 3 PM today. I made a sandwich like normal, and packed pretzels and 2 waters. I had gotten a new head-scarf from Aunt Pennie the day before, so I was going to try that out. It worked really well. We drove down to the Wharf. We fueled up the boat, then we were off. It was really foggy, we could hardly see the road in front of us. Today was the first day with a ton of fog.

     We thought that throughout the day, the fog would go away because of the wind and the sun, but it stayed around all day. It was kind of hard for us to find some of our buoys. We hauled 15 Double traps today, all of the other traps were singles. We had a lot of Rock fish, and 4 trays of Herring. We alternated every other trap for either Rock fish or Herring. It worked pretty well. There were a lot of small lobsters today, in the traps.

     It was a long day, we hauled a ton of singles first, then 15 Double traps, then a lot more single traps. It felt like there was always more, but we got done at about 3 PM. When we went into the Wharf, we found out that we had 560 LBs. Uncle Art was going to haul his boat out tonight, so I will have a day off Friday, and mabye Saturday if the work doesn't get done Friday.

    For dinner, we had Lobster again, and I had hotdogs again. They were yummy!

Uncle Art "painting" his corn with the Lobster

Our lobster dinner!

The really red lobsters

He is friendly!

     It was a pretty good day, I was glad it was over so that I could relax, and sleep in. I will probably wake up at about 5 AM, without an alarm, just out of habit, then go back to bed and get up at like 9 AM. On the boat, I try to keep my mind occupied so that I dont keep my mind on being on the boat for 9 Hours in a row. It helps to get through the day. 

         -7/28/2016

Sunny Day (Got 450 LBs)

     Today, was a pretty easy day. We were only hauling singles. It was really sunny, and no fog, and it was really nice! Since I have been here this year, there has not been a single day with any fog, like last year, which is really nice! I put more sunscreen on the back of my neck, and my face so I would not get sunburned. I took a sandwich, some pretzels, cherries and water on the boat like usual today. We were still using no Herring, only Rock fish, so it was easier to bait each trap.

    Uncle Art said he would be happy if we got 400 LBs today, because he didn't think we were going to get a lot. We got a decent amount though. We got finished at about 12:30 PM. We got 4 trays of herring for tomorrow to be ready. Uncle Art was going to have the boat worked on Friday, so I will have a day off on friday (I think). Then, we will work Saturday, then have a day off Sunday.

     Aunt Pennie made some Deviled Eggs for me. There was one egg that she found, and it was more of an oval, a bit longer, and we thought it had 2 yolks in it. She went to make Deviled Eggs with that one, and here is what it looked like before and after.

Before...

After!

     It was really good! For dinner, Me, Uncle Art, and Uncle Rich went to eat at a Tex-Mex kind of place. They had Mexican food. I got a Chimichanga! It was very good! I had to take it home because it was so big, and I couldn't finish it. Im going to try to go to bed a bit earlier so that I can be ready for the long day tomorrow, probably untill 3 PM. We will be hauling all singles, except 15 Double traps. Goodnight :)  

           -7/27/2016

Surprise Day Off!

     Last night, I went to bed at 9:30 PM, to get ready for the day this morning, but Uncle Art didn't wake me up at 4:30 AM. I woke up at 6:30 AM, and I was still in bed, and I looked outside, and the truck was still there, so I was confused. I just went back to bed. Sometime later, Aunt Pennie came into my room, and turned off my fan, and she was surprised I wasn't gone. I went back to sleep. When I woke up, Aunt Pennie said Uncle Art went out to set 10 new traps, and get bait for tomorrow, so I just had today off. We are going to haul the boat Friday now.

     2 Days ago when I went kayaking with Uncle Art, Aunt Ruth Ann took some pictures.

Kayaking with Uncle Art.

     Today, I will just hangout, until Tomorrow when we will go out again to Haul. The sunburn on the back of my neck is slowly going away, so I just need to keep putting on sunscreen, and I wont get burnt anymore.

           -7/26/2016

Sunny Day!(Found a Lifejacket)

     Yesterday, I had a day off, because it was Sunday, and I forgot to Blog. Yesterday, I just sat around, but I did go kayaking with Uncle Art on the lake next to the house. It was fun, they are really easy to push across the water. For dinner, yesterday, I had 2 hotdogs, then we played "Right Left Center" which is played with 3 dice. It was fun, we each got 3 quarters, and we would rool dice to see if we had to put the quarters we had to the left, right, center, or we got to keep it.

     Yesterday, Aunt Pennie got me a soft Pretzel for me to eat with my new mustard. It was very good! Here is a picture.

Yummy Pretzel

     Today, I didn't have a day off, I think Uncle Art will have the Boat get worked on Wednesday, so I can have a day off that day. Today, I got up at 4:30 AM, like usual. I made a sandwich, packed some pretzels, cherries, and 2 waters in my lunchbox. I also brought sunscreen because I have a huge sunburn on the back right of my neck. I didn't have breakfast, I wasn't that hungry. We drove down to the Wharf. We loaded 10 new traps onto the boat, then we were off.

     It was sunny the whole day, with no clouds, so I used a lot of sunscreen. It was SPF 70 so it was going to work good. We hauled about 100 traps today. It was all easy, single traps, close to the islands, not in the middle of no-where. We had no Herring, so we used all Rock Fish for bait. Herring is really expensive now, so we just used Rock Fish. 

     While we were hauling traps, Uncle Art found a Life Jacket that came up with one of the traps that we hauled. It was red, and not that bad of condition. Here is a picture.

Lifejacket

     We finished all of the traps at about 11:30 AM. It was pretty early. We had to wait in line to go park the boat and unload the lobster, but there was only one boat ahead of us. We were done and I went to wait in the truck. We drove home and I took a shower, and by the time I got out of the shower, it was 1 PM.

     Tonight, we might order Dominoes pizza to the Kaeg store.

             -7/25/2016

Long Haul Day!

     Last night, I went to bed at about 10:30 PM, like normal. Uncle Art woke me up at 4:30 AM, also as usual. Today was going to be a long day, Uncle Art told me. I got up, I made a breakfast sandwich, with sausage and cheese and eggs in-between an English muffin. It was good! I packed my lunch, I put some cherries, crackers, and I got slices of turkey, put jalapeno mustard on it, and rolled them up for a snack. I found my head scarf to keep my hair out of the way on the boat. We got in the car and drove down to the Wharf.

     When we were there, Uncle Art got his 5 new traps onto his boat, then we headed out. Usually we are pretty close to land, but usually once a week, we go out farther to the middle of nowhere in the water, and we haul traps, and some doubles. Double traps are basically 2 traps that are hauled with one buoy. Usually, there is one trap per buoy, but Doubles are 2 per. When we haul those, he slides one down to me, and he does one, so I get to take the lobsters out of the traps when we haul doubles.

     In the beginning of the day, I was feeling nauseous for about the first 2 hours of the work day. It was a bad feeling, because I couldn't do anything about it. I was burping a lot, because I just had breakfast, and the boat is always moving, and rocking so basically shaking me up. After 2 hours, I started to feel better, and I became filled with energy for the rest of the day basically. I was good after that.

     When we were hauling out in the middle of no where, we pulled up 2 of Uncle Arts traps that were from last year. They were significantly different looking since they had been on the bottom of the water since last year.

Old Traps. 

     We also found a really big lobster with a big claw in one of those traps. 

The Big Lobster!

     It was probably the longest time I have ever been out on the boat. I ate cherries, and the turkey mustard roll-ups whenever I had a break. We got back to the house around 3:30 PM, so I had been on the boat from about 5:30 AM, to 3 PM, which is about 9 hours. While we were on the boat, on one of the buoy's, there was a HUGE thing of seaweed attached to it, and I took a picture of it, to show how big it was!

HUGE PIECE OF SEAWEED!! It was on the buoy!

     We probably hauled about 150 Traps that day, and we ended up with a full box of lobsters, about 700 LBs, (actually 694 LBs) It was a pretty good day! I saved a tiny starfish I found, and a Lobster claw that one of the lobsters ripped off of another one.

Tiny Starfish!!

Lobster Claw!

     It was a long day, so I was happy to finally get home, where I could take a shower, and relax for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is Sunday, so we dont go out to haul, because its our normal day off every week. We might not go out Monday, so the boat can get more work done on it, but we will see! 

                 -7/23/2016

Day Off! (Boat Repair)

    Today, I had a day off, so Uncle Art took the boat up to get worked on. I was able to sleep in. I woke up at about 5 AM, with no alarm, and I realized I had fell asleep on the couch last night. I walked up to my bed, then I set an alarm for 8:30 AM, so I didnt sleep to late. I guess I turned it off at 8:30 AM, because I finally got up at 10 AM. It was nice to sleep in, but good I got up at 5 AM, with no alarm so I can get used to that sleep schedule.

     I had 2 pieces of pie, and some popcorn for breakfast because it was basically lunch time. I just hung out on the couch all day, watched Netflix, and at about 4 PM, I went downtown with Aunt Pennie, Uncle Rich, and Aunt Ruth Ann. We walked down by a lot of different cool shops that we went in and checked out. One had a lot of things from the beach and things made out of shells and stuff. It was neat!

     Aunt Ruth Anne showed me how to play Pokemon Go on her phone for the first time, and I caught some pokemon for her. It was pretty fun, but I probably wont play it anymore since you need WiFi anywhere to play it and since I dont have a phone, I cant play it. We drove back to the house, and we were going to get dinner at The Happy Clam, which has German food.

Eating at The Happy Clam

Lobster Trap Chair!

I like this show.

     Tomorrow, Uncle Art said it was going to be a long day, until about 3 PM, so we will hopefully get a lot of lobster. After tomorrow is Sunday, so I will have that day off, and Uncle Art said he is going to get the boat more fixed Monday, so I might have 2 days off in a road!


           -7/22/2016

First Day Back!

     Yesterday, I flew to Maine by myself. I had 2 flights, from GR to New York, then from New York to Maine. I was by myself and it was fun. I got to Maine perfectly fine, and I went to go get my checked luggage. I waited until I saw my Aunt Pennie, and then she drove me back to her house, about a 2 hour drive away. When I got there, Uncle Art took me to eat dinner at Taco bell/ KFC (they were 2 restaurants in one building. It was yummy, then we went to get icecream. I got a strawberry milkshake. When I got home, I just hungout untill about 10:30 when I went to bed.

     This morning, I woke up at 4:30 AM. I got my clothes on for the day, then I made myself a sandwich, and I got a bottle of water, and some cherries and put that all in my bag for lunch on the boat. We drove down to the Wharf, and took the row-boat to the Lobster Boat. I put on my new yellow seal suit, and my new gloves.

     It was slow at the beginning, and then, about 90 minutes later, the boat started to make weird noises. The Shaft of the boat was making weird noises, and it was over heating. The Shaft is the long pole that goes along the bottom of the boat to the back of the boat and make us go forward. It was overheating, and Uncle Art tried to add some grease to it, but it wouldn't work, so he decided to go back because he couldn't keep driving it like that or it would get worse. 

     He drove me home, thinking that we were done for today, and he went back to work on getting the Shaft fixed so it could turn and not overheat. I took a shower, then after that, Uncle Art came back saying he had fixed it, and I went to go out again, right after my shower. The whole time, Seagulls and a Seal were following us, hoping that they could get the rotten fish out of the bait bags I dumped off the side of the boat, and they did. It was a nice day, and it was hot, but not on the water because it had a cooling effect. We had our sandwiches, then continued. We got done at about 3 PM. It was a good day, we got about 540 LBs. We used up most of our bait. 

     I got home, took ANOTHER shower, and started to make Mac & Cheese for a snack. 

              -7/21/2016 

Flying to Maine Tomorrow...

     Tomorrow morning, I will be flying out to maine. I will be getting up at 4:00 AM so that I can leave the house at 4:30 AM. I will be taking 2 planes to Maine, and this time, I am flying alone. I dont think it will be that bad, because I have traveled so much, I know how to get around the Airports, and find my Gate and stuff. I am taking a back pack, and one Checked luggage. I think that I will be spending about 3 and a half weeks out in Maine this year, and I will try to take pictures, and Blog everyday so that I can post about what happens each day. I fly out tomorrow which is Wednesday, then I start to work on Thursday.