Final Week in Maine!

Monday we were going to haul our pairs. We steamed out 25 minutes and we did 75 single traps first, then did 50 pairs (100 traps). We went through our pairs fairly quickly. We were done for the day by 1 PM and we had hauled 175 traps which is a lot for 1 day, and we ended up with 470 pounds, which is good but we did haul 175 so we were hoping for a bit more. 

Tuesday was a very weird day. It was foggy all day and it rained on and off. There was one point where it was raining really hard, so I went to grab my rain jacket on the boat then I turned around and there was no rain at all. I had to put on and take off my rain jacket about 3 times because of how weird the weather was. It did not rain the majority of the day, it was just crazy foggy. We got 362 pounds Tuesday. 

Wednesday was foggy again, but near the end of the day the sun tried to sneak through the fog. We hauled only about 110 traps and got 364 pounds which is a bit better than Tuesday, we probably hauled 130 traps on Tuesday. Wednesday I finally ordered the moped I'd been looking at for some time. After I drove Caleb's moped about a month ago I decided I wanted to get one to drive to school. I decided on the TaoTao ATM50-A1. I decided to buy a new one rather than a used one, this is what it looks like:



Now I will be able to drive around Grand Rapids to places such as the store, the downtown market, the grand river without having to get a drivers license which would take me many months anyways. Also, now my dad can sell his car that I was going to buy, but I dont even think I will need a car. If I go to college outside of the US or even in the US I probably will just be using public transport / walking. The TaoTao comes with the front wheel and handlebars off, so I already learned how to install them from watching some YouTube Videos. Should be a fun project.

Thursday we had a day off and I was able to practice some Piano at Catherine's house. I practiced for about 2 hours. For dinner we had some delicious burgers, and I made more guacamole to put on them. They were bacon, cheese, and guacamole burgers. They were tasty!



Friday was my 2nd last day hauling. We left the house around 5:45 AM, and there was no fog. It was a beautiful and sunny day out on the water. We started hauling traps quickly by having 2 or 3 on the rail at a time. Uncle Art thought it would be a 2PM day, but we actually finished around Noon time. We ended up with 375 pounds which is pretty good for a shorter day. 

Friday night it was the last night I would have dinner at the house so we had another lobster feast. Uncle Art got some from the wharf and we had them along with steak, some delicious corn Aunt Pennie made with some amazing sauce, and some biscuits. 



Saturday was my last day of working. We woke up very early so that we could get an earlier start to the day. We had 180 traps to haul, 80 singles and 50 pairs (100 traps). I woke up at 4:15 AM and had a quick breakfast sandwich, then we were off to the wharf. It was very dark and when we were on the boat we had to turn on lights to shine on the bait box so I could see. The sun rose eventually and it got brighter.  We started off with our pairs and hauled about 35 of them. In the morning it was very windy, and steaming out to the pairs was very wavy. It was raining also so it was not that fun for the first half of the day, probably the most wavy I have ever been on the boat. I got annoyed a lot because the boat was moving around a lot and it was hard to walk around sometimes. The second half of the day, it got a bit calmer, the rain stopped and it was a bit more bright. It was a very long day and we were not getting any lobsters in our pairs. Our singles saved us to say the most, we ended up with 304 pounds after 180 traps which is really bad, less than 2 pounds per trap. 

Saturday after we were done with work, we all went to Mike and Carol's 50th anniversary party. It was held in a really cool building that had a piano on the second floor, and a curved ceiling with very nice acoustics. I played the piano a bit, and for food they had lobster but I had only some potato salad and some meat. 

Sunday morning I woke up around 8 AM. It was Aunt Pennies Birthday!!! I wished her a happy birthday gave her some gifts.We had to leave around 10 AM in order to get to the airport on time. Aunt Pennie made pancakes for Uncle Art and I, they were very tasty. Aunt Pennie got me a really nice pair of gloves to wear whenever I ride my moped around which was awesome.  We left around 10 AM and it took us about 2 hours to get to the airport. I checked the one bag that I had and I said goodbye to Aunt Pennie. 


I took 2 flights and I was back in Grand Rapids at 6:20 PM. My Mom, my Dad, Levi, Caleb and Mira were waiting for me in the airport. It was good to see Caleb and Mira again. 

The next day I started school. 


- August 13-20, 2018 -

Campfire / Harjulas Ice Cream / 1 Week Left!

Monday August 6th we were back to hauling. In the morning it was not foggy at all which was a good sign. It was suppose to be sunny, and it was. It was bright the entire day with no clouds. It was warm on the boat for about 1 hour where the sun was hitting us right on, but other than that the water around us kept us fairly cool. We set some more pairs during the beginning of the day, then hauled single traps for the rest of the day. We probably hauled just over 100 traps. Once we finished our work day and went in to the wharf, it was very hot. The high was 87 degrees and we felt it once we got in. We ended up with 389 pounds, which is almost 4 pounds per trap which is not bad. 

Monday night we had a fire outside and roasted hotdogs. We got the kind that had cheese in the middle of them, Uncle Art and I each made two. Aunt Pennie had these pretzel buns that we put them in and were very good. I also made a salad:





After finishing my dinner I went back out to make some smores. I made 2. 

 

Tuesday was another sunny day. On land, it got up to 92 degrees or something crazy like that. I got up at 5:10 AM, made a sandwich and had some yogurt for breakfast. Uncle Art and I were going to haul pairs so we had to steam out about 25 minutes away from land. We had around 30 pairs out there. Pairs are where there are 2 lobster traps attached to 1 buoy instead of just 1 trap. I would tend to 1 trap and he would tend to one trap. I had a lobster measure so I could measure the ones from my trap and a bucket to put them in. We were finished around Noon and got home by 1 PM. 

Tuesday night, Aunt Pennie, Uncle Art, Catherine and I all went out to eat at a restaurant called Archer's on the Pier. I have been to it before in previous years with my mom and brother. It is a fairly big restaurant and it kind of sits over the water. I got a 5oz steak with mashed potatoes and coleslaw. It was delicious. 



In the middle of our dinner, it started to rain. We had seen flashes of lightning in the distance and it started to rain pretty hard, but it passed over us in about 10 minutes. Then, it went back to normal weather. On the drive home we saw two baby calves. 

 

Wednesday I had a day off. We were going to have that day off then haul for the rest of the week Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I slept in until about 6:30 AM. I worked on my EE a bit and did some SAT prep for reading. Aunt Pennie and I went to Walmart that day sometime in the afternoon, and I got some more snacks and we got some more stuff to make sandwiches. 

Thursday we were back to work. In the morning it wasn't that foggy but it was suppose to rain that day. We had some bait on the boat so we went straight out and used that bait up then came back into the wharf sometime later to get some more bait. In the morning it was rainy so we both had to wear our raincoats on the boat which wasn't fun because they are a bit annoying. The rain stopped after an hour so that was good. The whole day the sun never really reached us because it was so foggy all around us and very cloudy. It was the perfect temperature, and the breeze on the boat was abnormally warm compared to our other days. The tide did not help in the morning as it made some of our buoys remain unseen so we couldn't haul some of them which made for a shorter day. We were in around 12:30  and ended up with 372 pounds, we only hauled around 110 traps. 

Friday I woke up a bit later than normal, around 5:50 AM. I usually wake up around 4:45 AM or 5 AM. Uncle Art said that we would be in around 2-3 PM, we had a longer day. It was a good day to haul though, sunny and no fog whatsoever. I had to put a lot of sunscreen on the back of my neck to prevent it from getting burnt. We were steaming around a lot because the tide was keeping a lot of our buoys underwater so we were working against it. There were a lot of flys on the boat today which was weird because there was never any flies anytime before. We finished around 3:30 PM and the box was completely full. We ended up with 662 pounds which was better than most of our other days. We baited up after we unloaded the lobsters so that Saturday we could have an extra short day. We were going to wake up around 4:30 AM Saturday so we could be done even earlier. 

Saturday morning Uncle Art woke me up at 4:30 AM. I had a yogurt for breakfast and we were quickly on the truck on our way to the wharf. We did not have to come in for bait so we just took the dinghy out to the boat. We got a good start that early in the morning on our traps, and we were going through them very quickly. We weren't getting a lot of lobsters. We went so quick that we were finished by 9:30 AM! That is probably the quickest day I have ever had ever on the boat. We ended up with 262 pounds which I'd say is pretty good for about 4 hours. 

Saturday night for dinner, we had steak. 



We went to get some ice cream from Harjulas. It is a little ice cream place nearby and is made out of an old truck. I got toasted coconut.



Sunday I had my day off, and I slept in until about 7 AM. Aunt Pennie made Uncle Art and I pancakes again, they were delicious especially with maple syrup. We went to Ocean State Job Lot and Walmart a little while later. I got some Mountain Dew and Cheetos at Walmart and we got some more bread, cheese and stuff like that. I have exactly 1 week left so I will probably have 5 days left on the boat because we usually have 1 day off during the week because we have only about 620 traps out. 


August 6 - 12, 2018

Taco Tuesday, Sophie the dog!

Saturday night, Alex and Laura made dinner for all of us. Alex prepared a dish for us called Tajine. It is a Moroccan dish and he put shrimp, onions, many spices and mussels in it, it was very good. 



Sunday was my official day off. I went back to Catherine's house to practice piano for about 3 hours. Sunday night was the last night Alex and Laura were here so we had a lobster feast. Uncle Art cooked up some lobster that we had caught the day before. I only had about 1.5 lobsters that night, I wasn't as hungry as I was the night of our last lobster feast with Lillie and Ben.



Monday we were back to hauling. We had a longer day Monday, we were out until around 2:30 PM. We got a very good day with 688 pounds in the end. Tuesday was a shorter day and we were done around Noon.  We only hauled about 100 traps but got 504 pounds which is very good, about 5 pounds per trap. I went to practice piano for 2 hours at Catherine's house around 2 PM. It was Taco Tuesday so at around 4 PM, Aunt Pennie came to pick me up and we drove down by the library to get some tacos. We wanted to get there before the line got very long, luckily the line wasn't to long for us. 



Uncle Art and I each got 3 tacos, one chicken, one pork and one duck taco. They were very delicious just like last time. 

 Wednesday, we ended up getting 504 pounds again, the same amount that we got Tuesday. Thursday we had a day off and I didn't do much. Friday was a longer day. We hauled around 130 traps in the end and got about 480 pounds, so about 3.5 pounds per trap which isn't bad. Sophie the dog was going to be staying at the house over the weekend. She is 1 year old and very nice. 




Saturday, I woke up at 4:30 AM. We were starting the day off a bit earlier because Uncle Art was letting me come in around 10 AM so I could get some clothes that I wanted to buy specifically at 11 AM. It was a bit of a foggy day Saturday, but the sun came out and made it a bit better. While we were hauling, we found a large lobster, probably the largest one we have seen yet this year. 



Uncle Art drove me home around 10 AM and I was able to get a lot of stuff at 11 AM that I wanted. For lunch I had a sandwich with Cracker Barrel Cheese and black forest ham. It was very good! I went to practice piano for around 2 hours and 30 minutes around 2:30 PM. 

For dinner, Aunt Pennie made some potatoes that she got from her own garden, and some chicken pattys. I put them in-between pieces of bread as buns. They were very delicious, and the corn was good also. 

After dinner, Aunt Pennie and I tried to get the Wii to work with the balance board for wii fit. I tried a marching game, a bicycling game and many others. 


June 28 - August 4, 2018

Lillie and Ben come visit!

Tuesday the 24th was our second day out. It was a much better day than our first day. Uncle Art thought that we wouldn't get as much lobster as we did on Monday, but we actually got more. We ended up with 813 pounds, with only 160 traps hauled! Thats 5 pounds per trap which is very good. We got in around 3:30 PM. 

After we got home, all 3 of us went to get 20 more bales of hay. 

Wednesday was a shorter day, but still very foggy. We set 10 traps and hauled around 100. We weren't getting a lot of lobsters and ended up with around 300 pounds. We got in around 12:30 PM. I started to write my introduction for my Extended Essay when I got home.

That night I talked to Lillie who was with one of my best friends Ben and they were traveling with her parents through Maine. She said they were coming to Rockland tomorrow and Aunt Pennie said we could have them over for dinner. I said we could visit some other things in rockland also so we made a plan for Thursday to meet and then have a large lobster feast! Thursday I would have off of work since we hauled all of our traps we had out Monday - Wednesday. 

Thursday morning I was able to sleep in until 7 AM. I woke up and worked a bit more on my introduction for my EE, then Aunt Pennie and I went to Walmart. We got some more food, some cheese crackers, cheetos, bananas and stuff to make guacamole for Thursday nights feast with Lillie, her parents and Ben Gair.


Turns out that Lillie's dog's eyes were red and puffy so her dad had to stay at their cabin and it would just be Lillie, her mom and Ben coming. They got to the house around 3:30 PM. We showed them the house, yard and the chickens, and LuLu of course.



 It was a pretty nice day out, and we all got in the car and drove to Owls Head Lighthouse. It had closed at 4 PM but we still were able to walk around it. 

 


There was a small rocky beach that we went to right next to where we parked our car to visit the lighthouse. We made some cairns:



We next drove to Main street in Rockland to walk around. We walked up and down Main street and went in a few stores. We went in a candy store that I had been in many times before when I've been down to Main street. It was around 5:20 PM so we went back to our car so we would have enough time to walk the breakwater. 



Ben, Lillie and I walked all the way down it and back, it is 7/8ths of a mile long. It was very windy on the walk but it was fun. We thought we would be back to the house by 6:30 PM, but we got back to the car around 6:30 PM and got home around 6:45 to have our lobster feast! We were having the lobsters that Uncle Art and I had caught on Wednesday. Along with the lobster we had some salad and guacamole that I had made earlier. I never had liked lobster in the past but I ate it this time and it was very good, Ben and I had 3 lobsters each. Uncle Art taught them how to eat them.



Around 8:30 PM, after we had finished dinner and our dessert they started to drive back to their cabin because it was about 2.5 hours away by car. It was fun to have them up for a day off that I had. 

Friday, I had another day off and around 1 PM I went to Aunt Pennie's friend, Catherine's house to practice the piano. She had a grand piano and let me practice there for about 3 hours. I practiced the Arabesque, and I also began to try to relearn a piece I played a long time ago. It is also a Debussy piece called Reverie. Her piano was very nice. 

For Dinner that night Aunt Pennie's friends Alex and Laura had come from Georgia and we all went out to eat in Rockland. We ate at a place called Rock Harbor Pub and Brewery. They had a lot of good things on the menu that I wanted such as nachos, but I ended up choosing a chicken wrap. It was fried chicken inside a wrap with a really good sauce. It was very delicious and it came with these fries that were perfectly done, and perfectly salted also.



Saturday, Uncle Art and I were back to hauling. We had a not long day. In the morning it was bright and not a lot of fog. Most of the day on the water was perfect because it was bright and there was barely any fog, but near the end of the day the fog somehow came back and we could barely see around us. Luckily we finished around Noonish. We weren't catching many lobsters, we only got about 330 Lbs. 

July 24 - 28, 2018

Setting all the Traps / First hauling day!

Thursday and Friday Uncle Art and I continued to set traps. Both days we did a couple boat loads full of traps. We can fit about 40-50 traps on the back of the boat each time we go out to set them. Once we have enough room, we prepare 2 traps at a time so we can set them quicker. I've been able to sleep in until around 7 AM recently since we are only setting traps. 

Saturday the 21st, we only took one boat load of 48 traps out to set. It was a really nice day today, very sunny and no fog out on the water. Later in the day after I got back, Aunt Pennie and I went to Walmart. I wanted to see if I could have my pictures from my disposable camera developed there. They did develop them and all I had to do was write my name and address on an envelope and put my camera in there and into a box. It takes about a week for them to get developed.  

We got some more things to make sandwiches and just more food in general. Also, we got more bottles of water because I have been drinking all of it quickly. A bit after we returned from the store, all 3 of us went up to Aunt Pennies friends house to get some hay bales from her barn that she wanted to get rid of. We loaded them onto the back of Uncle Arts trailer that he uses to transport traps to the Wharf. We fit about 36 bales on the back of it then drove back to the house. We then transported the bales of hay over to an area where Aunt Pennie was making some places to compost. 



I also checked out her new greenhouse she had made in the past year. 



For dinner Saturday night, Uncle Art got some steaks for us to eat. They were gigantic!



With the steak we had some biscuits, small baked potatoes and peas!

Sunday I got up at around 6:30 and Aunt Pennie made pancakes for Uncle Art and I for breakfast. They were so delicious and had blueberries that she had picked also. I had 3 pancakes. Uncle Art and I were just setting another boatload of traps Sunday, and Monday is when we would start to haul the traps and start to get the lobster! Sunday was a bit of a cloudy day, and we wanted to beat the rain that was suppose to come later that day. This is what it looked like at the wharf. 

 Right after we finished our day and got back, it started to rain a little bit so we got back just in time. Later in the day Aunt Pennie and I went to ocean state job lot to go shopping. On the drive back home, we saw a turkey in the road:

You can barely see it in this picture in the bushes

For dinner that night I was not that hungry but I did have a slice of pizza.
Monday the 23rd was our first day of actually hauling traps. I woke up around 4:45 AM and Uncle Art and I headed down to the wharf. It was very foggy in the morning, and was basically foggy all day. 



It was suppose to rain, but it never did. Later in the day the sun managed to sneak through the fog so I had to wear some sunscreen, but the back of my neck still managed to get sunburned a bit. It was a bit of a bad day because we were not getting many lobsters, but we ended up with 514 pounds in the end. There were a lot of places where we just weren't catching any lobsters. We probably hauled around 150 traps. At least we got 514 pounds though. 

In the middle of the day we got halted for a bit when a medal part in the back of the boat started to come off. The rope from each trap that we set back was tearing it off slowly and Uncle Art realized it so we had to take it off so it didn't rip off from the back of the boat. It took us about 20 minutes to solve that problem. The rest of the day we were going through traps very quickly. We used up a lot of herring because of how many traps we hauled. We got back to the wharf around 2:30 PM. It was a bit of a longer day but it was a good beginning day. The fog had left by the time we got back. 

July 19 - 23, 2018