Union Fair! - Sunfish

August 16:

Today we hauled our pairs again. We had around 70 pairs to haul I think, we had 621 pounds at the end of the day which is pretty good.

August 17:

We were back to our single traps on Saturday. We were hauling inside in the harbor. We saw a fin out of the water and saw that it was a sunfish. We see them every so often when we are out on the boat, they are funny looking. Just seeing the fin looks like it could be a shark but the sunfish actually looks like this:

 

August 18:

Today I had a day off and I woke up around 11 AM since I stayed up late the night before. We decided to go to the Union fair which is an agricultural fair. I drove Uncle Art & Aunt Pennie there and it was about 15 miles away. Once we got there we were able to see a lot of different animals like pigs.



We also got to see a lot of birds such as chickens, hens and ducks. We saw some really big birds there. 



I had a corndog at the fair and Aunt Pennie & I also got root-beer floats. We went on the ferris wheel and went through the Moxie museum. 




The final thing we saw at the Union fair was an event where 12 kids between ages 7-8 were put in the same place where they let 10 pigs run around and the kids had to try to catch the pig in a bag and if they got the pig they could keep the pig or auction it off. It was very fun to watch, i'd never seen anything like it. 

Best Day Yet! - Hauling 200 Traps

August 4:

Today was Sunday so I had a day off. I went up with Aunt Pennie, Oma and Levi to Guilford Butler School to film a video of the inside of it. It got closed but we want to use the building as a library so I recorded the inside and i'm going to make a video of it so people can see how nice it looks inside and how it could make a good new library location. 

August 5:

We were back out on the boat today. It was going to be a longer day as we had to set a ton of traps in the morning. When we got to the wharf, we put about 36 traps on the back of the boat. It was a ton of traps but Uncle Art managed to fit all of them on there, it was fully packed. We set a few singles to start off then set about 30 of them as pairs. After that we had a lot of pairs to haul. We started out good and kept going. It was a really good day, we got a ton of traps with over 9 lobsters in them. Our best trap of the day had about 13 lobsters in it, and in a pair we got 18 lobsters! 

The first day we went out to haul in July, we got 500 pounds and we ended up with more than that today, 689 pounds! Almost 700 pounds, we were very excited and hopefully the lobsters continue to thrive out where our pairs are set. Im glad we got the pairs hauled because that means that the rest of the week will be a bit easier because we haul singles. Hauling pairs is always an increase in tempo as every time we haul a buoy there are 2 traps on the boat instead of one, so I have to get the lobsters out of my trap and bait it. We do go through traps faster though because its a 2 for 1 buoy deal. Its more rushed because I have to fill 2 bait bags in-between each pair when normally I just have to fill one bag since we have one trap per buoy. Tomorrow will probably be a shorter day than today, which was a 2 PM day. 

August 6:

Today we were back to hauling singles. It was another nice day and we did about 2 pounds per trap and ended up with 315 pounds which was worse than yesterday but we were expecting that.

August 7:

Today we did a bit worse. We were into the wharf by noon, it was a very foggy day. It was hard to see where we were. At one point the fog lifted for a bit but then it came right back. We ended up with about 210 pounds which is pretty bad. 

August 10:

I had August 9-10 as days off, but we went back out for a very long day today. We were hauling the same traps we did Monday which was all of our pairs. We ended up hauling 200 traps in total today which is the first time Uncle Art and I have ever hauled that many traps in a single day, and we got 581 pounds, which is a drop off from when we hauled like 150 traps and got 690 pounds but still not horrible.

Lobster Fest + Shortest Day on Saturday!

July 31:

Today I had a day off, and we went to the lobster festival in Rockland. It cost only $ 1 to get in. I had a sausage to eat and we walked around and saw the Maine stage and the tons of stands selling carnival food. Uncle Art got some ice cream and Levi and my Mom went on a turning ride.

August 1:

Today it was a nice day like it has been out on the boat. We were getting not a lot of lobster and had a lot of traps with no lobsters in them. We ended up with 230 pounds at the end of the day for a normal day which isn't the best. 

August 2:

Today we did better than we did yesterday, we had a normal day and got 327 pounds. Probably about 2 pounds to the trap which is about normal. For dinner, Levi and I roasted hot dogs over the fire we had outside. I made two, they were very good. 

August 3:

Today Uncle Art said it would be the shortest day we would have so far. He said that we would be in by Noon today. We had baited up the day before after we got into the wharf so we went right out on the boat after loading about 10 traps on the back of it. We hauled all singles today and we were doing better than we had been the past couple of days. We hauled probably 105 traps in less than 4 hours and we were in the wharf by 10 AM! It was a very short day, but we got about 3 pounds per trap which is very good compared to what we had been doing. The last 5 traps we hauled were in a very good place and we got about 36 lobsters out of just those 5! That's like 45 pounds for 5 traps which is insane. We ended up with 337 pounds with just over 100 traps hauled which is very good for us considering how short the day was and we only hauled 100 traps and some of them were only 4 nights set. Hopefully this trend continues so we can get more lobster. 

Day off + Nice Days!!

July 26th:

Today was Friday and I had a day off today. I was able to sleep in until about 8 AM which is funny since waking up at 8 AM for many people is considered early. It is nice when I have days off because for one, I can sleep in a few extra hours until like 8 or 9 AM, but then also its so early in the day that it doesn't feel like I ever waste the day because I have the morning then all of the afternoon. I spent the day hanging out with some friends on a discord call on my computer, making a Maine video and driving to Ocean State Job Lot with Aunt Pennie. 

First Maine Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShS1APB6eCQ&t=65s

July 27:

I was back to work on Saturday. I woke up at like 5:10 AM like usual and we went down to the boat. So far we have had consistent nice days, no fog to be seen yet. Always perfect, barely any clouds and sun most of the time and calm waters. We did okay today, we thought we would be done around like 3 PM because we had a lot of traps to haul but we ended up getting into the wharf right around Noon. We had 370 pounds which isn't bad for a shorter day. Also, the price per pound went up 15 cents from $ 4.20 to $ 4.35 so that's good. 


July 28:

Sunday was our day off as we don't haul Sunday's. I drove Aunt Pennie up to the Keag house to get it ready for my Mom, Oma and Levi. They are all coming late Monday night, arriving around 1 AM so I will see them Tuesday after work. 

July 29:

Today was a longer day, we were out on the boat for about 9 hours straight, from 6 AM to about 3 PM. We got 400 pounds which isn't the best but its not bad. Today was the first time I saw fog in the morning. It was pretty foggy driving down to the Wharf. Once we were on the boat it was still foggy but in a few hours after the sun came out the fog went away from the heat of the sun and it was a perfectly sunny day again. We were on the boat until about 3 PM which was pretty long and we must've hauled about 120 traps. Going to bed before 9 PM is good because I have enough energy for the next day on the boat and don't get tired. We had a lot of traps in the morning that had barely any lobsters in them. We did have our best trap so far of the year today though with 9 lobsters. We had some traps near the end of the day that had a good few lobsters in them (4-6) which saved the day for us. 

Tomorrow I am going to take my camera down to the wharf so I can take some videos of it after work.

Back in Maine 2019 - Good First Day

Yesterday, July 23rd, I flew into Maine from Grand Rapids. I had to wait about 40 minutes on the last plane when I got to Maine because there were no gates available but eventually I got off and got my luggage and drove home with Uncle Art. On the way to the house we stopped at McDonalds to get some food because we were hungry. 

July 24:

Today was my first day out hauling, and the weather was very nice. It was sunny the entire day and we ended up with 500 pounds which we were surprised about. It was a good start. Here are some pictures from the morning:

I saw the dogs when we got back to the wharf:

July 25th:

Today was Thursday and we were suppose to have a shorter day today. We took out about 35 traps in the morning and then went out into the water about 30 minutes where we set each trap with another trap. These traps are the double traps where there are two traps for one buoy. It took us a while to set these traps, then we had to go back to the wharf to get some more bait for the singles we had to haul. By that time it was about 11 AM, and we got done around 2 PM after hauling about 60 single traps. We got probably around 200 pounds today, not the best but we were setting traps most of the time so its not bad.

Once I got back home I drove with Aunt Pennie to the library and then to Walmart to buy some stuff. I got a lot of cheese, some cheetos, crackers and some ice tea. 

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