Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

I've been trying unsuccessfully for several days to do a blog post. I don't know what  the problem is, but for whatever reason the computer isn't cooperating at all. We'll see how this goes today. If I'm lucky I'll actually have some pictures to go with this post.  Yesterday  Brian and I went out to pick a halibut set that we had made the day before. On the way out we saw huge numbers of Bald Eagles on top of the breakwater. The cold storage must have been grinding some black cod and the pieces were floating on the water and washing up on the shore. I think I've mentioned before that black cod is a very oily fish, so it has a tendency to float on top, which of course the birds love.  About a week ago Jan came into the bedroom to wake me up and told me to hurry to look out back. My neighbor in back has recently taken to starting fires in a burn barrel and I assumed maybe the fence separating the property was on fire or some such thing. Fortunately it wasn...

This isn't an optical illusion or trick photography- this is a picture of a real shrimp or prawn I guess it would be called when it's this big. Something this large should have a regal name, so I'm calling it King Tom, after the person who caught it- me. This is from  a picture I took several years ago when I was out long lining in October for some halibut. I couldn't believe how large it was. If I'd had time and had known that I was going to do a blog about it, I might have made a little crown to put on it's head. As it was, I just cooked and ate it and I have to admit, it was tasty.  My son Brian is here this week helping me get the boat ready for the upcoming season. Last week when I started the engine and turned on the hydraulics, both hydraulic motors, which run the gurdies, started leaking oil. Lovely. Then when I tried to turn the steering wheel, I could barely budge it. Hallelujah! The season is starting off with a bang. I can hardly wait to see what e...

I probably shouldn't be writing a blog post right now. I've been tired and crabby all day. I'm sure it's at least partly my fault, but frankly, I didn't sleep well last night. A few weeks ago I reluctantly agreed to replace our freezer for  a new, modern one that is frost free. There was some money set aside just for that purpose so there wasn't much I could say. Of course the idea was that we would save money on electricity. Well, I found out today that the frost free models use 40% more power than the one we replaced. Lovely. To make matters worse, the freezer is located on the wall opposite of where my bed is, and it doesn't shut off- ever. When I go to bed it's running and this morning when I awoke at 4: 30 it was still running. Now, I don't know how it is that for the majority of the day I can' only hear half of what is spoken to me. Sometimes I'll be talking to someone and nod and smile when I think I should, without hearing exactly wh...