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

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