Saturday-Monday

Friday I had the day off, so I did some SAT, and just hung around, but I went back out to haul on Saturday. Uncle Art said it might be a longer day, and that we might be back around 2:00 PM, but it was earlier than that. I made a sandwich and packed 2 crackers in my bag along with some water. It was sunny all day, so I wore sunscreen. We hauled a lot of traps in the harbor Saturday, near McLoons, then some traps in the channel also. We got done around Noon, and ended up with 411 Lbs.

We found a huge lobster in our cage Saturday, but it was to big to keep. I got pictures of it though.




Saturday night, LuLu slept on my bed just like she does every night.

LuLu on my bed

Sunday I had my day off since we do not go out to haul on Sundays. I did some SAT Prep in the morning, and had a Banana for breakfast. Later I went to Walmart with Aunt Pennie and we got some more crackers for the boat, I got some Gatorades for the boat for Uncle Art and I. We got some other food and I got some snacks, then we came back here. For lunch, I got a spicy chicken wrap from Walmart and I ate that for Lunch.



For dinner, I had a burger, a salad, and a cob of sweet corn with butter on it. The corn was very delicious, and so was the salad. In my salad I had spinach, cucumbers, raspberries and onions. It was delicious.



Monday Uncle Art said we would be in around 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM. I made a sandwich and packed my lunch. I looked up the weather on my phone right before we left to see how it was going to be Monday. It was going to be sunny, and it was. It was sunny ALL day, not a cloud in sight, so I had to wear sunscreen. Im glad it was a nice day, not windy, and not cold. We were getting more consistent lobsters today than usual. We ended up with about 540 Lbs at the end of the day. Which is very good considering we have been getting 400 or less Lbs recently. I ate my 2 packets of crackers on the boat, but had my sandwich when I got home.


-July 29-31

Wednesday and Thursday (More Short Days!)

Wednesday was going to be a short day again, so I made a sandwich, but I knew that I was going to eat it at home. I made it and put it in my lunchbox just because I did not want to make it when I got home and wanted to eat it. I packed 2 packages of Austin Cheese Crackers because I love them. We got a 27 pack from Walmart, so I take 2 packages on the boat each day now.



It was really windy and wavy on Wednesday, and the boat was rocking a lot. We got done around 10:30 AM which was really early, the earliest since getting here this month. We ended up with 350 Lbs. which was great for the time that we spent. When I got home, I had my sandwich, but I added Hot Cheetos to it, and it tasted delicious!





For dinner Wednesday night, I went out to eat with Uncle Art and his sister at a restaurant called




Thursday was going to be a short day again. We have had so many short days because Uncle Art does not have as many traps out as he did last year, plus when we do not get a lot of lobsters, we can run through the traps quicker. I only took 2 cheese crackers and no sandwich. It was very wavy and rainy Thursday. It was raining most of the morning, which was annoying, and I wore a rain jacket most of the day. It stopped raining about 2 or 3 hours after we were out on the water. I still wore my rain jacket because it was keeping me warmer than just in a sweatshirt. We got done around 11:00 AM and ended up with 390 Lbs. of Lobster. We used up all of our Herring and most of our Red Fish. We did not bait up after we were dine hauling on Thursday because I had Friday off. We were going to go again Saturday, but then I had Sunday off again.

For dinner Thursday night, we had Tamales. They were very good, and we had sweet corn on the side!





-July 26-27, 2017

Monday and Tuesday (Short Days)

Monday, I was going back to haul, so I woke up at 4:30 AM again. I made a sandwich, and packed 2 Gatorades for the boat, also with some cherries and pretzels. It was suppose to rain later today. We drove down to McLoons and Uncle Art got the boat. We were not able to get any Herring today because they did not have any, so we had to get a lot of Red fish instead. Red fish look like this.

They are used as bait for lobster like Herring, but are mostly placed on the outside of the bait bag, but today we had to put some inside the bags because we had barely any Herring. It was cloudy all day, and I could never see the sun. I put sunscreen on in the morning just in case, but it never got sunny, so I never got sun burned. We got done around 1:00 PM, and got about 480 Lbs. Not bad for a normal day.


I did some SAT Prep and then for dinner, we had Angus burgers. I had 2 burgers, one with a bun, and one without a bun. They were very tasty! Aunt Pennie also made some sweet potato fries that had Cajun spices on them, they were very good also.




I went to bed around 10:00 PM, and LuLu was at the foot of my bed.




Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:45 AM as usual. Uncle Art said it would be a short day, and he also said it would be a short day Wednesday also. I made a sandwich and packed my lunch just as usual, and we drove down to the wharf. This time I went straight out with Uncle Art on the row boat. It was cloudy, and I could tell it would not be that sunny until later in the day.



We did not have to bring the boat into the wharf in the morning because we still had Red fish from yesterday that we had to use up before we got more bait. The Red fish were really rotting and we had to use them quick, so when we hauled a trap, I took the bait out of the trap and did not dump it, but just added some Red fish to the bag, and put it back on. We used up the rest of the Red fish in about 2 hours, then we were able to go back and get some nice fresh bait. We got a lot of Red fish heads, and Herring. The Herring and Red fish were frozen, so we had to break them apart and thaw them out. It was really nice bait though.

It was cloudy all morning, until the last couple hours that we were out on the boat. This is what it looked like most of the day, which is nice because you can see fine and all around you, but there is no sun, which is good for me since I did not want to get sun burned, and I get sun burned really easily.




After we got the new bait we were out for about 2 or 3 more hours, then we were done. We got done before Noon, which was a nice short day for me. We ended up with a little over 400 Lbs which was pretty good for an early day. I should add up how many lobsters I haul in total this month that I am here working.

Tomorrow we might even be done earlier than we were today!!

-July 24-25, 2017

Weekend off!!

     This weekend, I had Saturday and Sunday off. Saturday I got up at 7:30 AM and Aunt Pennie made me some Scrambled Eggs for breakfast. I put salt, pepper and hot sauce on them. They were really good! Then, later around 9:30 AM me and Aunt Pennie drove down to the post office and library. I walked over to the Keag store from the library to get some snacks, including 4 Gatorades for when me and Uncle Art were out on the boat. Then Aunt Pennie Dropped me off at home. 

For lunch on Saturday, I made a sandwich, just like the sandwiches I would have for lunch out on the boat.

For dinner Saturday night, we had chicken, and biscuits with butter. It was very delicious!!

Also, Aunt Pennie got some records so that we could try out her new record player she got.

Sunday, I got to just hang out at the house all day. I made a sandwich again for Lunch, did about 30 more pages in my SAT Prep book, and played on my Laptop. For Dinner, we had a pizza that Aunt

Pennie made, it had pepperoni, and sausage on it. I put Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper on my pizza, and it was very good!

Tomorrow, Uncle Art says it will be rainy, which is okay, because I would rather have rain then sun. 

-July 23, 2017

Day #3 - Short Day, Delicious Dinner!

Today, I was going to have a short day out hauling for Lobsters. I woke up at 4:27 AM without Uncle Art waking me up. He usually comes into my room right at 4:30 AM to tell me to wake up but he did not. I looked out the window and he drove away in his truck, so I went back to bed, and he woke me up later around 5:40 AM, so I got to sleep in! I made my sandwich and packed my lunch then we headed off with about 15 traps on the back of the truck that we were going to set today. Uncle Art brought the boat in, and we got new Herring, and we got the traps onto the boat. 

We set the 15 traps first, so I baited them all up with Herring and 3 Rock Fish on top of them. Then we started to haul traps. Uncle Art said we were not going to get a lot of lobsters today since we were hauling in the Channel which is about a 25 minute boat drive from the land into the sea. Today was the sunniest day that we have had, and I put on so much sunscreen, because I was already sunburned and I did not want them to worsen. 

We ended up getting done around 11:10 AM which is surprising because we started late today also. It was a very short day. We only got about 200 Lbs in the end but that was okay because I had extra free time! 

For dinner, we had steak with buttered baked potatoes and cheesy garlic bread. It was a very delicious meal. The steak was very good, and the buttered baked potatoes were amazing.

Also, Aunt Pennie bought a cool old record player from a man on buttermilk lane. It was very old-fashioned, it was one that you crank up then it spins. It was really cool, here's a picture of it.

Saturday and Sunday, I have the day off which is awesome!

-July 21, 2017

Day #2 - Very Sunny Day!!

   Today was my second day out. It was not as long as yesterday, we were out until about 1:30 PM. I wore my new pants I got from Walmart today. They were very comfortable. I made a sandwich for lunch again today, and I also packed a Gatorade that Uncle Art got for me from a shop. It was very nice of him. It was a bit foggy in the morning, but it went away quickly, and turned out to be a very sunny and hot day. Because of that, I had to wear a lot of sunscreen, because I had gotten burned yesterday, and it was even more sunny today so I wore a ton. 

Sunny Day!

I never ended up eating my Lunch because the crackers and cherries that I packed were enough for me to snack on. During the work day today, we saw some jellyfish, saw a seal following our boat for food, and also found a huge branch of a tree stuck in one of the ropes of our traps. It was so big it could have been a small tree. It was cut at the end, and Uncle Art thought that it came from a tree from a nearby island. Today we were filling the bags half full with Herring, then putting 4 rock fish on top of the bag. 

Bait box. 

These are the Rock Fish we used today. 

We ended up getting done around 1:30 PM, and I still had my sandwich. I decided to eat it when I got home. We got home around 2:00 PM, and I took a shower than had my Sandwich up by my laptop. Uncle Art said we have a shorter day tomorrow, maybe done by Noon or even before then, which is great! Then I get the whole weekend off. We hauled enough traps Wednesday through Friday that we don't have to haul again until Monday! 

-July 20, 2017

Day #1 - First Day on the Boat! (Long Day)

     Today is Wednesday and it was my first day going out on the Lobster boat to haul. Uncle Art said that it was going to be a long day yesterday. I got up and got my hauling clothes on, my sweatpants, a T-shirt and a new sweatshirt that I was going to use on the boat. I made a sandwich for the boat, and also packed some crackers and cherries for snacks. I got a bottle of Gatorade and water also to bring on the boat. We drove down to the water and got on the boat. We got some Herring because we did not have any, then we were off. It was very foggy when we went out and stayed foggy most of the morning. 

 

It stayed foggy most of the morning until about Noonish. It then got sunny for about 30 minutes, then went right back to being very foggy. I liked the fog since it blocked the sun, and I did not wear any sunscreen today. In the morning, we were not getting a lot of Lobster, but around 1:00 PM we started to get more Lobster. 

In one of the traps that we hauled, Uncle Art found a huge Mama Lobster. He held it up so that I could take a picture of it. It had a ton of eggs on its belly. We threw it back of-course. 

When we were by the small island where all the seals hang out, we saw one of those old fashion TV's floating around in the water. We wondered how and why somebody would throw an old TV into the water. 

We ran out of Herring around Noon, and had to go back to get 2 more trays. We then went back out and used the rest of that Herring to finish off the traps. It was a very long day, and we got done around 3 PM. So that means I worked from 5:00 AM to 3:00 PM 10 hours. We ended up with a little bit over 700 Lbs. It was a really good day we got a lot of Lobster. I went back home to take a shower, and Me and Uncle Art had Ribs for dinner. They were delicious!!

-July 19, 2017

Back in Maine for a Month!!!

      Today I flew to Maine from Grand Rapids to work for a Month as a Lobster-man. This will be my 3rd year being a stern-man on my Uncle Arts Boat. My Aunt Pennie and Uncle Art slept at my house in Grand Rapids last night, because this morning, we had to get up at 4:00 AM to go to the airport. Our flight was at 6:00 AM. My Mom drove us all to the airport at 4:30 AM. I had packed my checked bag with some new clothes that I could wear while I worked on the boat.

     My Mom left the airport as Me, Uncle Art and Aunt Pennie were going through security. We walked through, and went to our gate A5. I got an Asiago toasted Bagel with cream cheese from a bagel shop before we boarded the plane. I ate it on the airplane. The first flight was from Grand Rapids to LaGuardia in New York. It was about a 2 hour plane ride. Then our next flight was to Maine, which was also about 2 Hours. Once we got to Maine, we drove about 2 hours to my Aunt Pennies house. We ended up finally getting to her house around 1:30 PM. I unpacked my bag, and got everything set up. The first thing I realized when I got to her house was that she had a new garage built. It was enough to hold 2 cars, and it looked really modern and nice. 

        I went with Aunt Pennie to go to the Post Office, and then to the Keag Store. I got some chips, skittles, and a Gatorade from the Keag Store. Then we went back home. After that we decided to go to Walmart to get some things so that I could make sandwiches to eat on the boat, and to get me some sweatpants that I could wear on the boat also, because I only had 1 pair. We found a really nice cheap pair for like $7. We got bread, meat, and cheese to make sandwiches. We also got a WiFi repeater for Aunt Pennies house so that the WiFi could reach upstairs in her house, and I set it up and it works great! Now I can use my Laptop up in my room instead of sitting downstairs in the living room. Here is what the WiFi repeater looks like. 

We went out to eat around 6:00 PM to a place called Mussel Ridge Market. It was Taco Tuesday and I got pork tacos. They were very delicious!! Aunt Pennie got the Frito Pie which was beans and cheese and sour cream all on top of Fritos, I had some and it was delicious!!

What I got for Dinner, 3 Pork Tacos. 

This is the Frito Pie that Aunt Pennie got.

After Dinner, we came back home. I had my laptop set-up in my room, it was really cool.

Tomorrow will be my first day going out on the water. It will be foggy, and we will have a long day since Uncle Art or Aunt Pennie have not been home for a while. 

-July 19, 2017