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

July 16, Back to Maine!

Monday July 16, I flew from Dublin to JFK, then from JFK to Rockland, Maine. My Mom got me first class tickets from Dublin to JFK which was really awesome. I had a very nice meal.

I had a chicken dish for my main course but forgot to take a picture of it. I slept 1 hour on the 7 hour plane ride at the end. I watched a movie called American Made with Tom Cruise, it was really good. My Mom and I were on the same flight to JFK but once we got there we split up since she was going back to GR and I was going to Maine. I took my next flight which was about 1 hour to get to Maine, and Aunt Pennie had just arrived and was waiting for me. I got my checked bags very quickly, and then we began our drive home. We took a different route then normal, but we had no traffic so it was all good. 

Aunt Pennie had told me that Uncle Art was out on his boat when a plug came out of the bottom and started squirting water everywhere so he had to bring it ashore to try to fix it. Tuesday, he would have to bring it back into the water and then we would go out to set the traps he had. 

Tuesday morning, I got to sleep in until 7 AM. A little later Uncle Art came back and picked me up so we could go out and set 50 traps. He had loaded them on the boat earlier so we were all set to go out. From around 7:30-10:30 AM we set about 40 traps, the tide stopped us from setting the last 10. It was pretty foggy that day which was nice so I didn't have to wear any sunscreen.



I saw Terry's dogs when I walked up the stairs from the boat. They are very cute dogs:

For Lunch Aunt Pennie got some frozen pizza and I made it in the oven. It was very good, Uncle Art had a slice also. I actually ended up finishing the entire pizza which I thought wouldn't happen since I wasn't that hungry. I did some SAT prep on Khan Academy for the one I am taking in about 1 month. 

For Dinner, we drove down to near the library for Taco Tuesday at the Lion Shack. The Salty Owl which is a restaurant in the airport supplied tacos for the Lion Shack, and they were very delicious. I got a pulled pork taco and a chicken taco and some corn with butter. I also got a mexicane cola.



Wednesday morning, I woke up around 7 AM and Uncle art and I today were just going out to set more traps. We worked for about 3 hours until 11 AM. We were able to get 2 full boat loads of traps out and into the water which was I think about 80 traps. It was very sunny Wednesday so I had to wear sunscreen but it was a beautiful day on the water.






We got home around 11:30 AM, and I had a sandwich for Lunch. Around 1:30 PM Aunt Pennie and I made some guacamole. We used cilantro, onions, avocados and tomatoes with salt and lime juice. It turned out pretty good and Uncle Art and I could have some with our ribs for dinner.


July 16 - July 18, 2018

Pleasant Beach / Archers Restaurant / Levi on the Lobster Boat!!

Sunday, I had my usual day off, since we can not haul on Sunday. I asked Aunt Pennie if she needed help at the Library Sunday because it was Heritage Day. The Library used to be a schoolhouse, and it turned 200 Years old, so Herritage Day was celebrating Herritage of the schoolhouse. They were going to have a band play at a nearby park at 1:30 PM, and a lot of people would be there. She was also going to give a short speech before the band performance.

Aunt Pennie said she would like help, and she said we would leave at 11:30 AM to get to the Library. I played on my Laptop until 11:30 AM, then Levi and I went with Aunt Pennie to the Library. Once we got there, I helped Aunt Pennie and some other people set up a tent outside of the Library in the front. It was pretty easy to set up, and it looked cool after it was up. I walked LuLu around outside, then Levi and I walked up to the Keag house where my Mom was. We had a surprise gift for Aunt Pennie, which was a new Smart TV, so we took it to the house while Aunt Pennie was at the Library so I could set it up. I figured it all out, and it worked well. We took LuLu with us so Aunt Pennie did not have to watch her.

My Mom wanted to go to Pleasant Beach and walk around, it is a cool beach that has a lot of rocks you can climb while you walk around the beach. I got to drive the BMW from Aunt Pennies house to Pleasant Beach, which is only like a half a mile away. 

We got there, and got out, and got some pictures by the nearby beach. When we came to Maine in the past, I remember that we rented a house right next to this beach, because I remember swimming on this exact beach. 

Then we continued to walk around Pleasant Beach. It is all walking on rocks, not sand, so LuLu had to do a lot of work walking on all of the rocks, and sometimes I had to pick her up to rocks she could not jump to. We walked a really far way around on the rocks. We took a lot of cool pictures. 

Once we got to this split rock that you see Levi standing on below, we stopped and took a break. We walked around for a bit, then headed back, LuLu was really tired, but we got back to the car, and I got to drive the car home again.

Once we got home, I got LuLu a brand new bowl of water, because I could tell she was very thirsty. I think she appreciated the water. After that adventure, we waited until Aunt Pennie got home so we could surprise her with the brand new Smart TV. She eventually got home, and we showed her the new TV and she loved it. I showed her how to play YouTube videos on her TV from her iPad. 

For dinner Sunday night, my Mom had reservations for us at Archers, which is a restaurant in Rockland. We drove the BMW to the restaurant, and I decided to get the Archers Burger. We got these really good boneless chicken wings for a starter, and once my burger came, I could not finish it. Plus, it was way bigger than I thought it would be. 

It came with Onion strings on it which I thought was really cool. I only finished about half of it in the end. On the way home, we stopped at the Library to take down the tent that we set up earlier today. 

 

After that, I drove home from the Library. I was back to work Monday, and my last day was Wednesday so I only had 3 more days. Sunday night, we ordered my new MacBook Pro from the Apple Education website that I was going to use next year in Ireland, and probably for many years to come. I got the 15 inch MacBook Pro with 256 Gigs of Storage. I had done a ton of research before we chose to get that Laptop and I was happy that we chose that one. It will last a very long time. I went to bed after that around 10:00 PM. 

Monday morning, we planned to come in around 1:30 PM to pick up Levi so that he could come out on the boat and haul some traps with us for his last day. I packed a half of a sandwich since I thought it would be a bit of a later day than usual, and 2 crackers. It was not foggy at all, and once the sun had risen, it was very sunny. We were going through the traps fairly fast, we would get a lot in some, and none in the others, and we would just go through them. We ended up getting done before Noon, so when we got back into the Wharf, I tried to call my mom to tell her that Levi should come down to the boat now to go out. She did not pick up, so Uncle Art just put the boat back on the Wharf, and we went home.

They showed up eventually, then Levi got his clothes on, and we drove back down and went out on the boat to haul another 25 traps or so. Levi threw back a lot of the short lobsters that we could not keep. He also helped with dumping the old bait out over the side of the boat. We were hauling by the rocks, and we were getting a ton of lobsters. We were getting so many old shells also. We probably got 30 Lbs. of old shells in those 25 traps only. Levi helped to band the lobsters also, I made him hold the lobsters some of the time. We were so surprised by how many lobsters we were getting. After the 20 traps or so, we probably had 115 Lbs. which is very good. We went back into the Wharf and unloaded the lobsters. Then, while Uncle Art went back to park the boat, Levi and I went over to McLoons so that I could get a burger for lunch. It was delicious, just like the last time I went there. 

Aunt Pennie and my Mom were in the Wharf house when we went back over to the Wharf, and there were 2 cute puppies in the house. They were Terry's puppies, and they were very small, you could pick one up with one hand. We got a lot of pictures with them, they were incredibly cute. 

After we played with the puppies for a while, we drove back home. For dinner we are going to have Lobster and I am going to have Ribs! 

-August 13-14, 2017

Mom & Levi visiting!! (Thursday-Saturday)

Thursday, I had the day off, and my Mom and Levi arrived also. Their flight got into Maine at 11:00 AM, and they rented a car and drove from the Airport to the house, so they got here around 2:00 PM. For Dinner, my Mom, Levi, Uncle Art and I all went to McLoons Lobster Shack. My Mom drove us all there in the new car that they rented for the 5 days. It was a nice BMW convertible. Here is a picture of my Mom and Levi in the car. 

 McLoons Lobster Shack is right next to the Wharf that Uncle Art uses for his boat, where we go out every morning, so when we are done for the day, we always see a ton of people at McLoons Lobster Shack eating Lunch. 

This is a picture of McLoons Lobster Shack, it is right on the water. 

I ordered a cheeseburger with American cheese, and a Lemonade. Levi got the same thing, the burger was very good!

From McLoons, Uncle Art drove the car to Harjulas Ice Cream. It is an Ice Cream place right on a big hill next to a river, and they have their own farm across the road also. I got Moose Tracks, and Toasted Coconut, both of the flavors were delicious. Levi got Cookie Dough and Campfire Smores with rainbow sprinkles. 

After we were finished with our Ice Cream, my Mom drove us home. On the way home, she stopped on the side of a certain road, and I got to drive the rest of the way home. It was not that long, but it was still fun driving the BMW for a little bit. It was so smooth. 

Friday, I was back to work. Uncle Art woke me up around 5:50 AM which was way later than usual because I usually wake up around 4:40 AM, so I got to sleep in a bit. We had a later day today, we were going to be done around 2:00 PM. I made a sandwich and packed my lunch with crackers, a bottle of water and a Gatorade. It was very sunny Friday, and I wore a lot of sunscreen. 

In one of our traps, we caught a small Lumpfish, which are fish that can be found in the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific Ocean. They grow to be much bigger, and can be found in a variety of colors, but when they are small they are very cute! Uncle Art always kisses them on the lips for good luck. 

While we are on the boat, sometimes this one Seal will always follow our boat around, eating some of the leftover fish from the bait bags. Sometimes we see it and drop it a piece of Herring and it comes right up to the boat to take it, and it is so cool. They look like sea doggs! I was able to get a picture of one right after giving it a piece of Herring.

They look very pretty. Friday, we found a huge lobster, bigger than any we have found before, and Uncle Art got a picture of me holding it. It was way to big to keep. 

That day we ended up with 488 Lbs of Lobster. It was way more than we thought we would get, we thought we would maybe get 4 crates, but we got 5. Each crate we fill is 90 Lbs, so 4 crates would be 360 Lbs, but we got more than 5 crates, since 5x90 is 450 Lbs and we got more than that. It was a good day, we got done at 2:30 PM, but we did start later than normal, since I got up at around 6:00 AM.

Friday after I got home, I did some SAT prep so that my Mom and Levi could come and pick me up so that we could go to Walmart. We took the BMW of course. We walked inside the Walmart through the Home side, and the first thing that we saw on the right were some 'Maine' sweatshirts. There were some cool colors, and the green one was really bright, and they had a Medium, so I got one. It was very comfortable on the inside, so I wore it when I got home.

We walked through the store, we got some things for Mama and Levi at their house. My Mom got a Hairdryer for the house, and I also got a new hairbrush. I chose the biggest one that I could find, so that I can brush my hair the fastest by having a big brush. In the parking lot on the way out, my Mom spotted this cool car, and she wanted our picture by it, so here are the pictures. We met the guy who owned the car also. He was very nice. 

We dropped some things off at Keag House for my Mom and Levi on the way home. When we got home, we started getting ready for dinner. Uncle Art, Aunt Pennie, and My Mom were going to have fish, but Me and Levi were going to roast hot-dogs over the fire outside. I made a salad with my hot-dogs as usual. 

My Dinner, 2 hot-dogs and a Salad. 

This is the awesome Aunt Pennie salad bar she makes for people to make delicious salads. 

We made our hot-dogs over the fire, then had dinner with everybody inside. The hot-dogs were very good, along with the salad, sweet corn, and spicy sweet potato fries Aunt Pennie made that night. They were very tasty! Right after dinner, somehow, Levi found a frog somewhere outside and decided to bring it in to show us. It ended up jumping out of Levis hands at one point, and going behind the fridge, and I finally was able to catch it. I put it back out side immediately so it could go free. 

We played a few rounds of Left Right Center after dinner, then I went to bed because I had to work on Saturday. I went to bed around 9:30 PM. 

Saturday morning, I got up around 4:50 AM, and packed my lunch, but only with some crackers, because it was going to be a short day. We drove down to the Wharf, and went straight out to the boat, because we had enough bait. 

It was foggy in the morning, and showed no signs of getting sunny. It was foggy and cloudy while we started to work, so I did not have to wear sunscreen, then it started to rain so we put on our rain coats. It rained for a while then cleared up for about 20 minutes, then I had to wear a rain coat again, which was pretty annoying. Finally, it stopped for good, and got brighter. The seal was following our boat again today, and got a lot of our Herring. We were not doing to well today, we had a lot of traps with a ton of short lobsters that we were not allowed to keep, and some with just no lobsters at all in them. 

It never got sunny, it was always foggy and cloudy, and we got done around 11:35 AM. We ended up with around 300 Lbs today, not that good for what we have been hauling, but we cant always get 400 or 500 Lbs. 

My Mom dropped Levi off at Aunt Pennies house around 1:00 PM, and we went Kayaking. We went all the way out to the boat that I talked about in the previous blog post, and then came back. We were out kayaking for about 35-40 minutes. It was fun, not as many bugs as last time Aunt Pennie and I went. 

I did a lot more research Saturday night about what laptop that I wanted to get for school this year in Ireland. For dinner, Levi and I had burgers, which were very good, and potato fries Aunt Pennie made for us. I also made a salad with the Aunt Pennie salad setup that included all sorts of stuff including cucumbers, onions, shredded cheese, and Italian dressing. 

-August 10-12, 2017