My good friend, Everyone's Other Mother suggested I switch back to blogger. She dislikes Wordpress immensely. She's right as usual, I've had nothing but problems with Wordpress. Or I my may switch between the two depending on my mood that day. Must be the touch of bi-polar I enjoy.

Well the Good Captain is out on the big blue, It's his second trip under the new Sector regime that NOAA & NMFS have force down out throats. More paperwork, more calls, plus the "new and improved" VMS (vessel monitoring system) or black box as its commonly referred to. All in all it is very "Orwellian", big brother knows and sees all. It's sad that the fishermen are all considered crooks due to the bad behavior of a few, but that is usually the way the world works. Or at least our part of the world!

Hopefully the Good Captain has his muffler mess finally fixed. You may recall a while back that I reported a fire on the boat. His fist trip under the Sector program proved he still had problems with spontaneous combustion! Yes, you guessed it, the boat caught fire, again! Only this time he was 60 miles offshore. All I can say is it's a good thing he was a Junior Firefighter in a previous life! My son, the Good Captain's mate isn't very impressed with the whole boat catching fire scenario. Can't really say that I blame him, I mean geeze where do you go if you can't put it out? Um....overboard I would suspect. Sixty miles offshore with no other boats around could just be very hazardous to your health! Of course the Good Captain downplayed the fire in his usual laconic fashion. "Captain Soot", is now back in residence. It is EVERYWHERE! One benefit though is, he has no use for Grecian Formula for men, every-time he comes off the boat his hair is as dark as when we first started going out.

He has desperately been trying to get the lobster boat in order. Poor guy, there just aren't enough hours in the day. We have to get this lobster tours thing off the ground. Groundfishing is looking more and more like a hobby everyday! I wonder who will be the last fisherman standing?

Mother Nature still in a bad mood

Mother Nature is apparently still in a bad mood. It is blowing a gale this morning. The good Captain has gone to town for supplies for his vessel. Imagine that! The wind chimes are ringing madly. I wonder if we are going to have a repeated loss of power episode? Maybe I should draw off some water just in case. I guess March is coming in like a Lion. Does that mean if we survive another month of this the weather will finally smarten up? I certainly hope so, I can see why people become "Snowbirds". I'm thinking that it isn't such a bad idea after all. I would miss the seasons but we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

This morning when the Captain was droneing around on the computer, he was checking the marine report. He seems to think that I need an audio version and he reads it to me. Knots, gusts, wave height, how often, how long...Good Grief! I do my level best to tune him out, a skill I acquired years ago when my children were small. I know this stuff is important but I don't require the entire report read to me. Just give the gist of it and let me go on my merry way. Gusts to 60 knots is all the information I need. That tells he that he will be pacing and muttering to himself ALL DAY! I told him years ago that he had better not even think of retiring because he will drive me completely out of my mind. I would be forced to bury him out back, tell people that he went out for a pack of cigarettes and haven't seen him since. Only trouble with that story is the Captain doesn't smoke. Nor does the man do idle well...

The "Big Kahuna" just called. He is the Captain's father. He just informed me that Travis went out in this mess. I can never tell when he does this if he's complaining that the Captain should be out also or not. I tell him that Travis is nuts! He agrees for a change, I guess he just needed something to do, kind of like grousing about the weather for other folks. The "Big Kahuna" is at loose ends these days. His truck is broke down and it has thrown his daily routine off. Usually he drives around town at least twenty times a day nosing around. If you want the low down of what is happening in Port Clyde just ask the "Big Kahuna". If he doesn't have the information no one does and that's a fact! He will be 78 this year, I hope I'm still getting around like he does when I'm 78, if I live that long! I'm afraid the fishing business might do me in before then.

Ah, the fishing business. Now that's a story all by itself. I'm fond of saying, "That I know more about commercial fishing that anyone born in Cincinnati Ohio has a right to know!" But I am going to save THAT story for another day because I think I need to draw off that water I mentioned earlier.

Storm shuts down Port Clyde America

Early Friday morning I woke up in the middle of the night to do my middle of the night business. The computer beckoned me so I sat down to check out Facebook and tend my crops in Farmville. The good Captain hopes I'm as dedicated once we put our garden in this year! In any event, the lights went out shortly after that. The wind was howling in the wires and the rain was coming down in buckets. The calliope of sound created by the wind-chimes was simply amazing all by itself. I was engulfed in total darkness, the only light was from the back up battery of the computer. I schlepped into the living room to get an oil lamp. Lit it and sat it on the kitchen counter and loaded the wood stove. My idea of fun is not cold and dark, plus I didn't want any other poor soul trying to do middle of the night business to kill themselves in the inky black of a house with no lights.

The next morning the good Captain informs me that we have no power. I wonder just exactly who he thought lit the lamp and kept the stove going? We lose the power it's no big deal. I have lamps, candles, a stove to stay warm with, an old fashioned percolator for coffee and a gas stove for cooking. All I have to do is light it manually. Water can be a bit of a problem but once the lights flicker a time or two we spring into action filling jugs and the tub for flushing.

The Captain has made coffee that requires time and skill instead of pushing a button. He has my cup ready, man has learned through the years that if he insists on getting me up at an ungodly hour there had better be coffee waiting for me!

We sit and discuss our day, I hear rumblings from the other inhabitants of our happy household bemoaning the fact that there is no power. Horrors! A life with no TV! I think,"well kids you better go to plan B." My niece lumbers by making noises about not knowing what you have until it's gone. I smile, this is a great opportunity to read a book or write a much overdue letter. I write my sister and the New England Organ Bank about my son's liver recipient. I have no problem keeping myself entertained without power. I must admit though, I WAS having some computer withdrawal symptoms.

The good Captain comes back in from working on his boat and asks if I want to ride to town with him? I am out the door like a shot! We go to the big city of Rockland Maine and run his errands. I tell him he has to feed me and we go to lunch. I'm sure by the time we return the power will be restored. Not so dear reader. The Captain has more repairs to make to his vessel, so I decide a nap is in order and I'm sure by then the power will be back on...

Four o'clock I rise, it's getting gloomy in the house. I light three oil lamps and think about making dinner. No problem I assure myself. I read a while and think of what gourmet extravaganza I'm going to make for the hungry hoards. Obviously I wait too long to start and find myself cooking by flashlight. Not as easy a task as one might think. Dinner is finally finished and I wonder what am I going to do now. The Captain goes to bed with the chickens, not so me. How on earth am I going to kill the next few hours? I putty around doing small tasks as I'm able in the lamp light. I finally give up the pretense and take two melatonin. I'm off to bed by 9pm. I don't think I've been in bed this early since I was a child! Needless to say I flop and flip for what seems like hours, I swear no sooner than I get to sleep than the Captain is waking me with the news that the power is back on. We went a full 24 hours with no power. You know, you have to give it to the pioneers. Tough, plucky bunch that they were...

Port Clyde Lobster Tours

This blog has been created not only to promote Port Clyde Lobster Tours, a small venture located in Port Clyde Maine. Starting in the summer of 2010, Captain Gary Libby will be taking folks out on a working lobster boat in beautiful Penobscot Bay. Tending traps and observing a lobster man plying his trade on the water. Captain Libby's license allows the not so faint at heart to bait and haul lobster traps.

We also intend to educate the general public about what is going on in the commercial fishing industry in the Northeast. Mainly what some think of as a small boat fishery. Of course it depends on your definition of small. In our little piece of the world the boats in the harbor that are draggers average 60 feet in length. This may not seem small to most folks but I can assure you that when you are 60 miles off shore and there is no land in sight one finds out how insignificant they are in the grand scheme of things. Not only is this a place for political ramblings about commercial fishing but also a place to provide information about food sovereignty. I will be posting links about what is going on in both industries. The big food bogyman is Monsanto, be afraid be very afraid! Also we will be discussing the merits and advantages of becoming a member of either a CSA (community supported agriculture) or a CSF (community supported fishery) program.

Food on average travels 1800 miles to reach our plates. Becoming involved in CSA/CSF's is one way the conscientious consumer is able to vote with their wallet and their hearts. Good local food is available all over the country. We as a people need to move away from industrial farming and fishing. These practices are not good for either the environment or for people. Know your Farmer and Know your Fisherman if your lucky enough to live near the coast.

This is my first blog, but once I get warmed up there will certainly more to come!

Thank you for paying attention to my ramblings.