On The Anchor

    Last week I was fishing at Homeshore for cohos, along with a number of other boats. Fortunately it's a big area so it doesn't get too crowded, unless the fish are all being caught at one end or the other, in which case it's like throwing a single lifesaver on the floor in an old folks home and watching the elderly people scramble for it. On the night that I took these pictures, it was calm and relaxing. It's the kind of weather that you long for. This year has been uncommonly windy, with day after day of westerly winds blowing. Finally, as we approach the end of the season there's  been a stretch of calm weather, which is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I was lulled into believing the National Weather Service was going to be correct after they correctly predicted good weather for about a week. Several nights after these photos were taken I anchored in the same spot. I was a little surprised that no other boats were around me, but that was fine. I don't like to be hemmed in. After I had set the anchor and cleaned up the boat, I noticed that the wind seemed to be freshening. That happens sometimes when the tide changes. The forecast was for ten knots out of the east, good for anchoring where I was. As the evening wore on though, the wind picked up, as well as the wave height. Not only that, but the easterly that it was supposed to blowing was not easterly at all, but westerly, and the ten knots that was predicted turned out to be twenty, and the two foot or less seas were four feet and above.By then it was dark and too late to run for a protected place. I didn't want to take a chance on going out onto the deck to pull the anchor and falling overboard. I turned on a light and proceeded to do a crossword puzzle. I choose the easy ones, and even then I sometimes have to look in the back for the answers. I'm trying to keep by brain from atrophying from lack of use, but I don't want to get totally frustrated by not being able to answer any of the questions. While I was sitting there getting rolled and bounced by a never ending series of waves, my friend Doug called. At the time I was still hot from being baked all day by a scorching sun streaming through the windows and the diesel engine cranking out about 800 degrees through the exhaust which runs right through the cabin, so I had opened my windows and door. Unfortunately the unseasonably warm weather must have started a new strain of irritating little fly to hatch, and they were all over the place. Doug had called, as he often does, because he was having a less than stellar day, and he knows that however bad his day has been, mine will have been worse. He was certainly correct about that. While we were talking, I had another great idea. As you may know if you've followed my blog for any length of time, I have a chicken hat, and a turkey hat. They are of course just replica's of the animals they represent. What I think I should have, as I told Doug, is a bat hat. Unlike the chicken and turkey hats though, this would employ a live bat. It would have to have a line connected to the leg of the bat and the center of the hat. Probably some spring loaded retractable device which would allow the bat to venture out in search of the bugs that were tormenting you, and yet not get too far away to where he was eating insects that were at the outer limits while leaving you exposed to painful bites and aggravation. Of course a bat that eats it's weight in bugs every night is going to have to eliminate the waste. I'm not sure how that would work. I suppose a disposable plastic tray that was molded to fit the design of the hat could be used for collection. Even if  the bat had an accident inside, it would probably worth a little elbow grease to clean up after him to avoid the irritation of bugs. Anyone who has ever been in that twilight time right before you drop off the sleep only to hear the unmistakable whine of a mosquito enter your sleeping space will understand the need for the BAT HAT. Fishing season is almost over, so I should be having a little more time to research bats, hats and bugs. I should probably talk to the good folks at PetCo to see if they would be interested in supplying bats for the summer season. As Martha Stewart would say- it's a good thing.