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

Last Day in Maine!

     Yesterday, I forgot to blog, but I had a good Dinner yesterday. Aunt Pennie made some steaks and they were really good! She also made rolls and those were really yummy with butter on them also. It was my last night in Maine this year Yesterday. Today, I got up, and I made a sandwich, packed a banana, and some potato chips I bought about 4 days ago. It was my last day, so we were going to try to catch a lot. I was suppose to be in by 2 PM, so I had a sandwich for lunch.


      I got my clothes on, and we went down to the wharf, and we went out straight from the mooring. There was barely any clouds in the sky today. I had to put on sunscreen once the sun came out. We were doing good for only single traps, we were getting consistent good lobsters. That was until a beeping started to go off. Uncle Art said it was the alarm if the Bilge was to full of water. The Bilge pumps were not working. We had to go in to the Wharf to try to fix them. Terri found out that it was because they were both connected to one battery in the front of the boat, and it was out of juice, so we connected it to the other one and charged the one that was empty.


     That took about 1 hour to do, so we had an hour cut out of our day, then we went out to haul some more. We finished out the bait, then we had about 20 more traps, so we had to go in to the Wharf to get 1 more tray of Herring. We finished those traps, and we were done at about 1:30 PM. My Mom, Levi, Oma and Aunt Pennie were waiting at the Wharf for me when I was done. They wanted to go out and get icecream for me for my last day, I said I just wanted to go home to shower. They dropped me of at Aunt Pennies house, and they went to go get Ice Cream.

     When they got home, I was showered, Packed, and ready to go. I put my Luggage and my backpack in the car, and we left soon after. We went to Portland, and we were staying in a Quality Inn. Tomorrow we are getting up to catch our flight at 7:30 AM.

     -8/16/2016

Short Day!

     Today, we were going to have a short day. Uncle Art said we would probably be done before 11 AM. I did not make a sandwich, I just took 2 mandarin oranges, and a banana and 2 waters. I also brought 3 dollars so we could go to the store after we were done Hauling Traps. We had enough bait so we went straight out. We were not doing good today, we Hauled our first trap, that had 6 lobsters in it, and we never again that day got a trap with more than 6 lobsters in it.


     I ate my Banana and an Orange during one of my snack breaks. We were not getting a lot of Lobster. By the time it was 10:50 AM, we were finished. We didn't catch a lot. We went in and we ended up with about 260 Lbs. After Uncle Art put the boat away, we went to a store and he got something, then we went to another store so that I could buy some Cheese and Onion potato chips. Uncle Art had them on the boat one time and I tried them, and I liked them so I got a bag of those and some Ranch flavored sunflower seeds.


     Then, we went home to Aunt Pennies house. My mom was coming to pick me up and she got here at 12:48. We are going to go to Rockland and have dinner at 6:30 at a Restaurant on Main street.

Brought Levi on the Boat!

     Today, I got up at 4:30 AM like usual. Today, Uncle Art was going to bring Levi on the boat with us. We would go out with our normal day until about 9:30 AM, where we would go back to the wharf and grab Levi for the last 2 hours of the day. I did not make a sandwich today, because we were going to be done by Noon, so I could just eat a sandwich when I got home.

     We went down to the wharf and went out straight from the mooring. I filled each bag with mostly herring and 2 red fish. We had no Double Traps today. We were going through the traps. We saved the best traps for last when Levi was on board. At about 9:30 AM, we went back into the Wharf to grab Levi. He had a bag with a sweater and some snacks. We then went to get the last of our traps. We got a lot of lobsters in the Traps that were close to the Rock Island. When I had time, I held the lobsters, and let Levi band some. Then at one point, He could hold it in his left hand and band them with his right hand. I also let him through some Lobster down the Shoot that went to the Lobster holding box.

     He loved it on the boat, and he would always chase away the seagulls if they got too close to the Boat. They love to eat the bait that I through off of the bait bag into the water. His job was to get the seagulls away. We got done by Noon, then we went in to the Wharf to put the Lobsters into the Trays. We ended up with 450 LBs. It was pretty good because we got done by Noon. Then we got 3 Trays of Herring and 4 Trays of Red fish.

     Then, Uncle Art drove us home to Aunt Pennies House.


              '8-12-2016

Ran out of Bait!

      Today, Uncle Art woke me up a little bit earlier than normal. At 4:09 AM. He went to bring in the boat, and then he came back to pick me up. I made a sandwich and packed some waters. Uncle Art picked me up and we drove down to the Wharf. He had the boat ready for us to go. We went out with 6 trays of red fish, and 4 trays of Herring. The Sunrise was very beautiful when I looked across the water.

The Sunrise!

        We were going to haul the double traps today. We had about 20-25 Pairs I think. We went through the day, hauling some pairs, then singles, then more pairs. We had some singles with a lot of lobster in them. Near the end of the day, we ran out of bait when we had only 15 more traps to haul.
We drove back to the Wharf and grabbed 1 tray of Herring and 1 tray of Red Fish. That was enough for us to finish up the 15 traps. We went in to the Wharf with a full lobster crate we filled. We put all the lobsters into their trays, and we ended up with over 650 LBs! It was my 2nd best day this year!




     I did not eat my sandwich on the boat when we had a Lunch break. I was not that hungry because I had some crackers before. I decided to save that sandwich until later. When I got home, I took a shower, and then I ate that sandwich and watched YouTube. At around 5:30 PM, Me, Levi, My Mom, and Uncle Art all went to The Happy Clam to eat dinner. I split an Angus Cheeseburger with Levi! We sat inside so we would not get bitten by the mosquitoes.

Inside The Happy Clam!

     After we were finished eating there, we went to Harjulas Ice Cream. It was an old truck that was turned into an Ice Cream store. It was really yummy! (I went there last year) It had an amazing view from the top of the hill it was sitting on. There was a little house but I was to tall to walk in it.

      After that, we finally went home where I could hangout for the rest of the night. Tomorrow, It was going to be a short day. Uncle Art said we would probably be done before 11 AM. That is good because I have to read 40 pages of The Alchemist. I might do some of that tonight even though it is really late.

                                -8-10-2016