July 11, 2004

PARADE

After coffee and tea we had our first meal of the day at nine.

Outside the sun struggled to shine through the broken clouds but the rays that did find their way through were quite welcome.

After breakfast Onie settled down with her book and I sat down to peck.  While we were thus occupied bluegrass played in the background.

While we were in New Brunswick we had left our bikes and the grill at Dan and Ann’s camper.  When I took a break from my writing I retrieved all of them. 

By the time the sun had reached its zenith it had driven the clouds from the sky and shone down in all its brightness.  It would be a wonderful day for a parade.

Some of the clothes we acquired recently required hand washing and Onie took care of those and then hung them on our clothes line.

Each year a parade that begins in Saulinerville and ends at St Ann’s University, is held to celebrate and commemorate Acadian history.  Today was the day for that parade.  Onie and I decided to go and to bike to the University to watch it.  Around one o’clock we set off on bikes with low air pressure in the tires.  That made the trip up and down the hills even more interesting than it would have ordinarily been but we persevered and got to the University.  Our timing was not the best and the parade had already started when we got there but we did get see a lot of it.  There were fire trucks, an ambulance, a wagon drawn by oxen, ATVs, motorcycles, floats pulled by pickups, collector cars, clowns, women dressed in Acadian garb, from years past, throwing candy to the crowd and of course folks on horseback.  Different organizations had sponsored some of the floats and were represented by the floats.  Other floats represented families of Acadie and held some of the members. 

All in all it was a gala affair.  When the parade ended there were booths and tables set up on the University parking lot where one could by souvenirs, snacks, cold drinks, and chances to win a homemade quilt, an ATV and many other items.  Onie and I bought some chances on a quilt from our friend Ann LeBlanc.  She was raising money for her quilting project.  Each month she delivers quilts to children in the hospital in Halifax.  Short term patients don’t get a quilt.  Only children with serious illnesses and facing long term stays are given a quilt.  The quilts are made by lady friends of Ann.  She has organized them to make the quilts and her fundraising helps buy the necessary materials for the quilts.  She promised to hand deliver the quilt if we won.

When the parade was over I looked for Onie, we had become separated, but couldn’t find her so I rode to the coach looking for her.  When I got there she wasn’t there so I turned around and rode back to the University.  I found her there.  While I took a breather she started for the coach and I caught up, later.

We had been invited to a birthday party, yesterday but hadn’t gone.  We had just wanted to rest, relax and unwind after a week of travel.  The party, for Myra, was at her house at the entrance to Belle Baie.  We stopped on the way back to the coach, parked our bikes near her deck and joined the small group that was singing along to the picking of Robert, her husband.  We stayed half an hour and then rode on to the coach.

A crowd had gathered at Danny’s trailer so we stopped there for a visit before finally gaining the coach.

Inside Onie fixed us hamburgers while I wrote. 

After supper Onie serenaded me playing her guitar and singing while I typed away on the laptop.

It had been another long day but we didn’t stretch it out too much.  Shortly after the concert ended we called it a day.

July 12, 2004

SHRINKING VIOLET

The sun shone bright on the old Nova Scotia home when we rose at eight thirty and had our breakfast of coffee, tea and sausage.

Onie sat down to review Tracy’s itinerary one more time and then left for the gym.

After a short bike ride I put the laptop on my laptop and settled down to write.  Al unsettled me when he came by and asked if I was ready to install the MaxxAir vent covers we bought in New Brunswick.  I was.

We went outside and got the vents from the basement and then laid out our work plan.  Al would be inside the coach and I would go up topside and do the work up there.  The vents aren’t hard to install but having two people certainly makes it easier.  The trim and screen on the interior have to be removed and on the roof, holes have to be drilled in the upright lip of the existing vents.  When the MaxxAir vent covers are in place the roof vents can be left open all the time without fear of rain coming in through the openings.  I carried my cordless drill, drills and an open end/box end wrench with me as I climbed the ladder to the top of the Marlin. 

Once I was up there Al handed me the vent covers and went inside.  While I measured and fitted the covers topside he was busy removing the trim and screens inside.  Upon opening the package of nuts and bolts that are used to fasten the MaxxAir to the existing vent I discovered that this was no job for adult males.  The pieces were obviously intended to be installed by elves or someone with equally small hands.  It occurred to me that this might be a job for Barbie’s friend, Ken, as the nuts and bolts were just the right size for his hands.  He wasn’t available so Al and I decided to try to complete the job ourselves. 

The overly small nuts were dropped numerous times but each time Al was able to find them and with a great deal of patience able to put them and the almost microscopic flat washers and lock washers in place.  On top I put the vent cover in its final resting place and tightened down the topside nuts and bolts while Al checked to be sure the vent cover opened properly and then replaced the screen and trim.  That was one.  We had two to install and moved on to the second and as expected it did progress somewhat smoother even though Al still had to contend with the itsy bitsy teensy weensy washers and nuts.  When all was done I gathered my tools and climbed down.

Al and I went to the side of the coach and looked at our handiwork, from ground level, and decide it looked as though professionals had done the job.

While we were still congratulating ourselves on our sheer genius and skill Onie got back from the gym.  I thanked Al for his work and went inside with Onie to find out the results of a month of exercise.   The results were good.  All along I had told Onie I could see her shrinking before my very eyes and now the official report was in, verified by the scale and tape measure.  I was living with a shrinking violet.  We were both well pleased by her progress.  While the progress continues at the same rate for the entire summer we will spend a lot of time buying smaller clothes for her.  I hope it works out.  She likes shopping for clothes and I like shopping for clothes for her. 

While we were still celebrating her gains in losing, did you follow that, Steven got home from work.  After saying hello to Yvonne he came over to put the stripping on the Subaru.

Onie, Yvonne and June got on their swim suits and went to the pool.

Steven and I got the stripes from the basement of the coach and started positioning one, moving it up and down, forward and back, turning it upside down and then right side up until we were satisfied with the lines and its compliment to the Marlin.  When all was ready Steven used some masking tape and attached the stripe to the toad.  I helped where I could but he did most of the work as the process was all new to me.  When one side was complete we did the other side, finishing just as the ladies returned from the pool.  They all agreed that the stripes really did look good and that the toad and coach now looked like a family.  Steve gets the credit for a job well done.

Supper time was upon us and we had salad and a soup made with chicken, tomatoes, green beans and turnips.  It was wonderful.  I had two bowls full.

We felt as though we had a full day behind us but we still had things to do.  We drove to Ann and Dan’s.  The wood that Dan and I had trimmed, loaded on the cart and taken to his house as well as the wood Onie and I had cut and loaded and taken to his house was waiting to be split and stacked, against the coming winter.  When we got to Ann and Dan’s Onie went in to visit with Ann. 

Dan and I went to where we had left the trailer and cart with the wood from the woodlot.  Dan had already connected the splitter to the PTO, power take off, on the tractor.  Now he put the tractor in place next to the wood to be split and started the engine but before doing so he reminded me how dangerous the open spinning shaft that operates off the PTO is.  I was well aware of the mangling that can befall the unwary or careless worker that comes in contact with it and assured him of that but thanked him none the less for the reminder.  Then Dan showed me how his splitter operates cautioning me that the ram extends far enough that it can come into contact with the stop that holds the wood.  If that happened the end cap on the hydraulic ram would blow off spilling oil all over.  I should avoid letting that happen.  With these good instructions given I donned my leather work gloves and we began.

With me lifting the short sections Onie and I had brought from the woods, placing them on the bed of the splitter, engaging the splitter until the log had split then stacking the split pieces, work progressed.  The ram was self retracting so that once the log split I could release the engaging lever, stack the split wood, get another log and place it on the bed and re-engage the ram before it ever got to its resting place.  The pace was rapid and warm in the cooling evening.  Soon sweat was dripping from my brow and drenching my tee shirt.  Mosquitoes searched for an area I had missed when I applied the bug spray.  Fortunately there were few.

In the meantime Dan was cutting the logs on the cart into short sections to be split.  The cut pieces were allowed to fall to the ground.  When pieces accumulated he would carry or roll the cut sections to the area next to the splitter.  We had split near a cord when I got carried away and allowed the ram to go a bit too far.  With a metallic bang the cap blew from the end of the hydraulic cylinder and oil gushed forth.  Dan was quick to respond, jumping into the cab of the tractor and disengaging the PTO.  He shut off the tractor engine and came back to survey the damage.  It looked bad but he assured me it was not mentioning that he himself had done the same thing maybe fifteen times.  The problem was that we were probably through for the day as he had no more hydraulic fluid.  He moved the tractor up to his shop and I continued stacking wood that had been split but not stacked. 

In a few minutes he was back with the tractor and splitter.  He was going to put it in place so we could begin work again when a pin holding the splitter hitch failed or was lost.  The splitter dropped down a couple of inches and hung at an awkward angle behind the tractor.  He dismounted the tractor and tried lifting the splitter back in place.  It was too heavy.  Even together we couldn’t budge it.  It was decided that a jack would have to be employed to lift the splitter enough to get the pieces to fit back together so a new pin could be put in place.  Eventually we jacked up one side and placed some blocks under the wheel, jacked up the other side and then lowered the hitch on the tractor.  With Dan pushing on one side and me stabilizing and lifting on the other side the two disconnected parts came together and I dropped a pin in place.  The jack was removed, the blocking material put away and we were back in business. 

Dan backed the rig into place and then came back and told me that we could continue.  His quick action had limited the amount of oil spilled and the splitter was fixed and working just fine.  Perhaps he knew I was feeling bad about the misstep on my part because he showed me marks in the metal made by a wrench to fix previous such events.  He even mentioned that his father, having wanted to help, on one occasion had blown the cap off on the first cycle of the ram.  With these reassurances we went back to work.

The splitting, stacking and cutting continued until the logs remaining on the cart were in such a position that to continue cutting them would be dangerous.  We stopped.  While Dan unloaded some of the logs with the front end loader I picked up the chain saw, fuel and oil and put them away.  When Dan had unloaded the logs that were presenting a problem he put the tractor away.  Together we looked at our handiwork and agreed we had made a start on his winter wood supply.

After I removed my work boots and gloves I joined Onie, Ann and Dan in the house to visit, a little.  We didn’t stay long as tomorrow was a work day for Dan.

Onie drove us home and when we got there at nine thirty we were glad.  Saw dust, dirt, grime, oil and bug spray clung to me.  While Onie heated me a bowl of soup I took a much needed shower.

When the soup was gone Onie brought out the strawberries and whipped cream.

While Onie cleaned the kitchen I made a few notes.

In bed at eleven Onie pushed the start button on the DVD movie she had cued up.  When it was over we fell to sleep.

July 13, 2004

SWITCHED GEARS

Onie rose in time to go to the gym at nine thirty with June while I lingered in bed.

When I rose I fixed the coffee and tea and finished reading a National Review tribute issue on Reagan. 

Talk about giving lilies when you’re gone; here was a whole issue of a magazine devoted to praising a public servant after he had been  unawares, according to current medical belief, for ten years and now dead.  Some of the writers had not been particularly kind to Reagan while he was in office, sentient and alive but now they heaped praise on him.  While this was true it was to a much less degree than within the rank and file of the media and a lot of liberal politicians.  It is too bad that when these people are saying wonderful things about the deceased that the media doesn’t show a clip or run a quote of the terrible things the same persons said while the deceased was alive.  Perhaps the media expect the public to remember the meanness but if that is the case they are over looking a large part of the population that wasn’t even alive at the time Reagan was in office.  It seems to me they are more interested in casting these ignominious liberals in a good light. 

While I read and drank tea I watched CNBC Morning Call and then switched to Fox News Live. With the magazine finished I sat down to write a little and wait for Onie to return from the gym.

Upon her return we switched gears for breakfast and had buckwheat pancakes, bacon, coffee and tea.

When noon came around Onie, Yvonne and June walked to the pool for a swim.

Refreshed by the hearty breakfast I sat about constructing the new flower beds.  This was done by carrying rocks from the beach to place around the pots we had bought earlier.  Soil came from a nearby exposed bank of earth.  When the rocks were all in place the flowers that Onie had bought were planted and watered.

Al had an air compressor and together we aired up the tires on Onie’s bike as well as mine.  We, Onie and I, had noticed that they seemed low on air the last time we had ridden and I had made a mental note to air them up soon.  Al had repeatedly offered the use of his truck should I need it and the question of availability for taking the bikes to a station for air had led to his getting out a small air compressor that plugs into the cigarette lighter.  It had worked admirably.

Now it was my turn to help Al.  He wanted to take his awning poles off the side of his camper and put them on the ground so he wouldn’t hit his head on them as he went on and off his deck.  We did that and then ran some long screws though the uprights to hold them to his deck.  The only thing left to do was to figure out a way to keep the fabric from flapping incessantly in the wind.  A strap over the top would do that but neither of us had such a strap.  I had some rope.  Al said that would work just fine and he had used rope for that purpose when he had his motor home as recently as last year.  Out of the basement the rope was fetched and then stretched across the awning, end to end, and then tied on the end supports.  It looked like it would do the job.  Time would tell.

While we were finishing up on the awning the girls returned from their swim and announced they were going clamming.

Al and I sat on his deck and visited a bit before I left to put up my tools and straighten up in the basement.

When the girls returned from clamming Steven came with them.  He had seen them leave and went to check on them and their efforts.  They had found some clams and Onie was holding her own at finding them but with Steven’s help they were able to fill the bucket quickly.

Stories needed Onie’s attention before they could be posted so she sat down to work on them.  I went to visit with the Boudreaus and Kevin.  Soon Louie showed up with more clams.  There would be plenty for everyone.

Before having steamers I went to the coach where Onie had stopped working on the stories and had prepared supper, soup and salad.

After supper I sat at the laptop while Onie showered before we went to the pit for steamers and to watch a game of cribbage.  We don’t know how to play but think we would like to learn.

By ten thirty we were home and Onie was getting ready for bed.  I was back at the laptop, pecking and then checking email.  Just before midnight a friend came on line and we chatted about horses, hunting and friends before I signed off and went to bed at one thirty.

July 14, 2004

OOPS!

This is not Camelot but sometimes the rain does fall during the night and stop before dawn.  After going to bed and to sleep last night I had been awakened by heavy rain.  When I rose at six thirty it was still coming down.  I went back to bed.  At eight the rain was over so we got up for coffee and tea before Onie headed off to the gym.

The laptop occupied me in Onie’s absence.

When she returned from the gym she told me she had taken our boots out of the back of the Subaru last evening, to air them.  They had gotten some fresh air as well as some fresh rain since she forgot to put them back in the car before going to bed.  OOPS!  When I went out to get the boots the overcast sky gave me an inkling that the basement might be the best place to dry the boots, today, for although the strong wind would carry away some moisture it might also bring more when it was least expected.  The boots went in the basement.

Now Onie took our wash and left for the washateria.  Usually she names and selects pictures for our website but she has been very busy so I volunteered to help her with the chore.  She showed me how to move the pictures to a folder for her.  When she left I went to the stories and selected places for pictures then went to our picture file and selected pictures for those places, named them and then moved them into a folder for Onie.  Since Onie had always done this in the past I didn’t know the project would take hours instead of minutes but it did.

We have a monitoring panel in the coach that tells us the state of our batteries, among other things.  Today it was telling me our batteries were not up to snuff.  I checked them and found the house batteries were getting low on water.  I made a mental note to get some and then went back to the laptop.

Onie likes to have a pedicure now and then and this afternoon she had an appointment to get one, the first since before we left Coldspring.

The laundry wasn’t quite finished so I took her place and read before it was time to start folding clothes.

When Onie returned we walked to Yvonne’s in the rain, for supper.  Al and June, Pierre and Elsie, we met them in ’02, me and Onie and Steven and Yvonne made up the dinner party.  Steven grilled moose steaks.  While the steaks were cooking he and I and Pierre visited about the bridge project that Pierre had worked on the last five years, in Greece.   When the steaks were ready Yvonne served a good salad as well as fresh beet greens and turnips to go with them.  Dessert was strawberry short cake.

During and after supper we talked about the tragic death of Raymond Boudreau.  The funeral was to be the next day.  A card had been purchased and signed for each member of the crew that Raymond had fished with the day before he died.  Yvonne was collecting money, a small amount from each of the fishers, to give to his widow with the card.  We were happy to put in our share.

  We had gone to dinner at six and at a quarter of nine we walked back home in the rain that was still falling.  Ordinarily we would leave early, on a work night, in consideration of our hosts who have to work the next day.  Tonight that was a consideration but we also had to leave so we could continue to prepare for Onie’s trip.

At home we finished putting away the wash and then Onie completed the work on the stories for the last two weeks and uploaded it to our website.  We were able to tuck her in at ten thirty.

With rain still falling I attended to some agency business on the laptop.  Bills take a while to catch up with us, like all mail, so I went online and paid some that had just arrived.  When the last bill was paid it was two o’clock. 

I signed off and went to bed.  It was still raining.

July 15, 2004

GONE

The skies were overcast but warm when we got up at seven thirty for our coffee and tea before Onie headed off to the gym.

While she was gone I cleaned the kitchen and put away a few things that had been left our.

On her return we had a breakfast of soft boiled eggs and sausage.

After breakfast we sat down to go over her week’s plans one more time and to be sure I had phone numbers where I could reach her each night if I needed to.  She was taking her cell phone for emergencies.  When we were sure we were on the same page regarding the trip she got up to clean the kitchen and pack.  I sat down to write.

Fog still hung over the bay at eleven and the temps were falling.

After lunch Yvonne came by to tell Onie goodbye.

Eggs were missing from our refrigerator so I drove into Comeauville to get some and to order some briskets and then went to Weymouth to get some distilled water at the pharmacy and fill the tank in the Forester.  While in Weymouth I also had some blank keys cut for the deadbolt lock on the Marlin.  We had gotten the blanks while at the National plant in January but they had been out of sight and so out of mind.  I came across them when Steve put the stripes on the toad.  With the new keys in my pocket, with no charge for cutting them, thank you, I headed home.  On the way I thought about how nice and helpful the folks in the Home Hardware, in Weymouth really are.  The store is quite small by Texas standards, no more than fifteen or sixteen hundred feet but there are at least six employees eager to help.  Some days in Texas one has to hunt for one employee in a store and sometimes they seem unhappy that they were disturbed from their chores to help a customer.  When that happens I like to remind them that without customers they wouldn’t have a job.  Rarely do they smile at my wisdom.

Back home Onie had been busy laying everything out before packing it.  When she felt it was all there she put it away in a suitcase and small briefcase.  When I got home she was ready to load the car.

We put her suitcase and the ice chest in the back.  Haley’s clothes went in the back seat and Onie’s snacks, water and some CDs went in the front with her along with her cell phone.  At four o’clock all was now ready for her departure.

Her plan was to leave at four thirty so we sat down to visit for a few minutes and then I watched as she took her leave, going up the little hill out of the pit and disappearing behind Ann and Dan’s trailer, she was gone.

The coach was very quiet now so I turned on Fox News and then switched to MSNBC to see what the market was doing all the while pecking away on the laptop.

Supper was simple, sausage and a salad Onie had made for me.  After supper I read until the lengthening shadows told me it was time to relax so I put down my magazine and headed for the pit where fresh clams were steaming.

After the usual greeting everyone asked about Onie and then inquired if I was lonely, yet.  Not yet was my reply and then we talked about separation and how different people handle it.  Some of the ladies complained that their husbands rarely call when they go off on a snowmobiling trip but they can always call Phyllis, as Paul calls every night, to find out where they are and what has been happening.  The ladies here find it interesting that I refer to Onie as my bride and call her sweetheart so they asked me how often I call when I go hunting.  My response was that I call when necessary, when we have agreed on a time, when I have something to report, when I miss her and its convenient for her to receive the call.  Sometimes I don’t call at all.  This of course refers to the times when I’m away from home and not at our deer lease for more and more she is with me there and that is very nice.

Around eleven I excused myself and went to the coach to work on agency stuff, email and chat online with a friend.  At three I went to bed.

July 16, 2004

Solitary

Back up at 8:15 I fixed tea and blackened haddock for breakfast.  After the kitchen was clean I got the smoker from Dan’s and put it in front of the coach, out of the wind.

The grass still grows in Nova Scotia so I got a mower and put it to good use mowing our yard and a few others before going back for the weed eater, just to neaten things up a little.  The wind helped somewhat to cool me under the partly sunny seventy degree skies but a good case of perspiration had formed before the job was completed.  A rest at our picnic table cooled me off before I borrowed Yvonne’s truck to go to the FreshMart to pickup the briskets I had ordered yesterday.

When I ordered them yesterday the butcher told me I could pick them up anytime after ten.  It was after one.  When I got there he was gone to lunch.  No one knew where he had gone or when he would be back.  There is a quaint idea, an indefinite lunch hour, leave when you want and come back whenever.  Miffed, I left.  I don’t like borrowing anything and I dislike borrowing vehicles most of all so knowing I would have to use Yvonne’s truck a second time to fetch the briskets was not a welcome thought.  I had arrived “anytime after ten” and couldn’t get the meat.  Yes, I was put out.

Back at the coach I had my lunch, a piece of cheese and some tomato and onion slices.  I wrote while I dined and after a while headed back to the store.

The butcher was in but not in the butcher shop.  A bit of hunting located him, eating his lunch, in the office.  It was after three.  He must be a really slow eater.  I apologized for interrupting his marathon lunch hour while explaining I had been there much earlier and he had been at lunch then, too.  He shook his head yes while munching a mouthful of sandwich.  He was kind enough to go to the cooler and retrieve the market trimmed briskets and I headed for the checkout.  At seven twenty five a kilo I hoped the reward would be good.  That figures out about three dollars a pound U.S.  The last brisket I bought at Brookshire Bros had been ninety nine cents a pound.

 On the way back from Comeauville I let the windows down and the fresh cool breeze carried away the small frustration of shopping so that by the time I was back at Belle Baie I was in high spirits and planning the brisket cook.

Ann and Dan invited me to dinner and I accepted.  Audrey and Louie were there as well.  Audrey told me she had been appointed by Sylvia to keep an eye on me while she was gone.  I had noticed her during the day, watching, as I went about my business.  With the other ladies watching out for me also I felt I would be well watched after.  The steaks Dan grilled were great and Ann prepared a big salad to go with it.  It was a meal Onie might have fixed.

At seven thirty we started preheating the smoker so it would be at three fifty when eight o’clock rolled around and we put the brisket on.  We had a small supply of oak that Yvonne had brought from the casket factory where she used to work and Dan had some mesquite chips and shavings he had bought and I had picked up twenty pounds of charcoal when I got the briskets.  I hoped that would be enough to get us through.

We visited at Dan’s while the pit heated and then went as a group to put the meat in the smoker.  Half an hour later I became concerned that we might have insufficient wood and charcoal to get through the night and into the afternoon of the morrow.  Dan had a supply of birch so I began chopping some of that into small pieces that would fit into the fire box.  Colin helped.  When we had a fair sized stack we pronounced the wood cutting at an end, stacked it under the smoker and went to the pit.

Through the evening we checked on the temp in the smoker, added fuel as needed and let passersby have a peek at what was cooking.  A cut of brisket and a smoker are oddities here and it seems that the billowing smoke and great smell generated a lot of interest.

Quiet hour descended on the camp at midnight so the crowd broke up and I went to the coach, stopping to check one more time on the brisket.

Inside I wrote a bit and played a little solitaire.

Before going to bed at one thirty I went out and checked the brisket one more time and then set my alarm for six.  Soon I was fast asleep.

July 17, 2004

LONG DAY

Nights seem to be getting shorter.  I was up at six to go dragging for mussels and diving for scallops with Daniel Sauliner, on his boat.   Several other people from the pit were going, also, Brian, Craig, Louie, Colin, Lisa, and her daughter.

I quickly dressed, checked on the brisket, put some charcoal and wood in the fire box, adjusted the air vent and damper and then went back inside to get my tea and a hamburger patty left over from the other day.  

Some say timing is everything and if that is right I was right on this morning for as I stepped out the door Daniel drove up.  Louie and I got in and we were off to Daniel’s house to pick up his diving gear.  He had spent the night in the park and didn’t have it with him.  Then it was on to Metehagan harbor and the boat.  Gear was loaded and many experienced hands helped Daniel cast off and get under way.  Brian and Craig both fish for lobsters and Louie spent most of his working life on a herring seiner so they are very familiar with boats and boat operation.

A short run out into the bay over the two foot swells brought us to where Daniel wanted to drag for mussels.  The drag, a large heavy metal rectangle with a heavy rope net on the back end, was readied and when Daniel gave the word it was flipped overboard.  The flooding tide made pulling the drag tricky as the tide rush had to be overcome enough to make headway but not enough to pull the drag too fast and make it float up off the bottom.  It works by bumping along the bottom, knocking the mussels loose and then scooping them into the net.  If the drag is pulled too slow no mussels are knocked loose and too fast it glides over the top and misses them.

The first drag produced one mussel and some rocks.  The drag was cleared, Daniel relocated the boat, and we tried again.  This time the chain harness on the front of the drag tangled and we got a little seaweed.  We moved a little way off and dropped the drag again.  We had moved just a little way when the boat slewed around hard on the tow rope.  It appeared the drag had hung on one of the large rocks that dot the bottom of St. Mary’s bay.  By working the engine and rudder Daniel was able to maneuver the boat until the drag rope was almost perpendicular and then he engaged the winch and tried lifting the drag.  It sprang free and came up along side.  We hadn’t been hung at all.  We had just made the best drag ever for mussels.  It took Daniel, Brian and Craig to swing the heavy load in board where it was lowered to the deck and then emptied.  We had mussels!  Brian and I began separating the mussels from the rock and seaweed that had come aboard with them.  The mussels went into a lug and the rock and seaweed went overboard.  When the lug was half full it was obvious we had way too many mussels for the pit so Daniel took a scoop and began shoveling the remaining ones over the side.  About that time another boat pulled along side.  They had been dragging also but without much success.  They passed over a lug and it was filled and passed back.  As they pulled away Daniel finished scooping the remaining mussels back into the bay.

I picked up the sea water hose to wash the broken shells and dirt off the deck.  Just as I swung the open end past Daniel a huge gush of water gave forth hitting him full frontal and wetting him from head to toe.  We all had a good laugh but unfortunately it was at Daniel’s expense.  He told me to be on my toes the rest of the day and perhaps not venture too close to the rail.

Louie took the helm and steered toward a scallop bed that Daniel had found earlier.  Daniel pulled on his new dry suit then donned his SCUBA gear and was ready to begin his dive.  He showed Brian how to send down the second basket when he signaled by “dunking” the dive balloon twice and then simply fell backwards off the rail into the fifty degree water.  He vanished in a swirl of foam and bubbles.

We followed his progress across the bottom by watching the balloon and the small stream of bubbles from his gear.   He seemed to swim in a large arc but it was hard to tell as we were drifting with the wind and tide.  When we got too far away Craig brought the boat back close to the balloon.  After a while the balloon bobbed twice and we pulled along side the dive balloon.  Brian grabbed the rope with the gaff and I attached the second net and balloon.  Brian checked it and then we sent the net down and the balloon over the side.

Those of us topside visited while Daniel swam below picking up scallops and placing them in his basket.  We had joked about his returning unscathed but I wondered how many of us, including him, were secretly thinking about Raymond Boudreau who may have been diving in or near here when he ran out of air.  Raymond had only been diving for a year and the consensus seems to be that the air valve stuck open and dumped his tank.  He was in sixty feet of water and must have panicked for a more experienced diver could probably have survived such an experience reaching the surface in less than a minute.  He may have suffered some effects from such a rapid ascent but would have lived to tell about it.  Daniel was very experienced so we rested easy even though he was in eighty feet of water.

Daniel holding scallops

Soon we saw the second diving balloon bobbing and knew he was coming to the surface.  Craig put the boat in motion and brought us alongside where Daniel bobbed in the water.  Gear was removed one item at a time and passed to waiting hands.  First he handed up his weight belt, then his face mask, then the tank and breathing gear before sending his swim fins up.  Then we helped him up the boarding ladder we had put over the side.  With him back safe on board the baskets were emptied and the scallops counted and measured.  Only one hundred could be harvested and those had to be at least two and seven eights of an inch across.  A few were shucked and eaten.  When everything was in readiness and Daniel had his street clothes back on we headed back to harbor.

Many times during our outing fog had enshrouded us but now that we were headed in the sun beamed across the water showing the way to the red buoy that marks the channel into port.

Again many experienced hands help secure the boat as we glided to a stop next to the dock.  We unloaded the boat.  Daniel moved it to its berth and then we started the drive back to Belle Baie.  Daniel went home to drop off his gear before joining us at the park.

Interest had been building concerning the brisket, in our absence.  Now we opened the lid to see the well smoked meat.  It had been in the smoker sixteen hours and was looking right prime.  We closed the lid and stoked the firebox before grabbing a bite of lunch.

The Annual Belle Baie Washer Tournament was about to begin.  Most on the boat this morning would be competing.  We met at Yvonne’s; she organized and was coordinating the fun, at one thirty we were to draw cards to see who would be partners.  Ladies would draw from one deck and men from another.  Matching cards would be partners.  When the drawing was over we had fourteen teams.  Each team would play the other thirteen teams.  The team with the most wins would have first place, the one with the second most the second and so on.  Ribbons would be given for the first three places.  Each participant had contributed two dollars to play and each participant voted to give the proceeds to the handicapped workshop at St Anne’s University.  Yvonne and Steven kept track of the cards drawn and matched up the teams.  My teammate was Norma, Kevin’s wife.

Play soon began amid much good natured joshing and ridicule.  Norma and I did pretty well considering neither of us had played in years.  The last time I played washers I must have been in my mid teens.  We were undefeated for quite a spell and then came up against the only husband/wife team playing.  To say they were good would be like saying an atomic bomb makes a little noise.  A couple of other teams were able to beat us too and we ended up in a tie for the third place white ribbon.  There would have to be a playoff.  A toss off if you will.  The team we were playing, Dave and Jim, had beaten us in the first round.  We felt it would only be fitting if we could even the score by beating them and winning third place.  The game was very close and hotly contested but in the end Norma and I wore the white ribbons.  

The brisket was nearing the end of its time in the smoker and when it was over we replaced it with a dozen chicken hind quarters.

Around seven the brisket and chicken were added to the salads, beans, slaw and condiments on the table.  Eating utensils appeared along with plates and soon everyone was eating.  The brisket and chicken got good reviews even though I had been unsure how long to cook the smaller briskets in the smaller smoker.  The flavor was good even if the meat was a little chewy.  When the meal was over I suggested to Yvonne that she put the leftovers in the oven for a while, in foil, and the result would be brisket tender as it should be.

Al headed home and got his guitar as did Joan.  Soon his bass and her tenor filled the evening air with beautiful song.  Before long Dan and Steve joined in and soon the whole pit was singing along.

Ten o’clock found me dozing in my chair while the playing and singing went on apace.  It was time to go home.  After saying goodnight I took the short stroll to the Marlin.

Inside I washed the few dishes from the day before retiring.  The revelry continued in the pit ‘til midnight but I didn’t hear it.  I was fast asleep.