Wednesday, August 16, 2006

MARTHA

We get to pick our friends and hopefully we do a good job.  Relatives are different.  God picks those for us except for the in-law variety which we get to pick, indirectly.  A word of warning to those contemplating matrimony, you not only marry your beloved you also marry his/her beloveds.  Long engagements permits you to size up your future loved ones (they better be if you hope to keep your beloved,) and make the necessary decisions.

God was very kind to me when he gave me varieties, relatives and in-laws.  My youngest sister, Martha, was a gift from God a few years ago today.  Just how few those years have been is a family secret, I think.

After Onie and I rose to the cloudy sixty two degree day, it had been forty nine at six, we had our coffee, tea and breakfast before she headed off to the fish grate.

I stayed behind in the Marlin to catch up on some book work for the agency.

While I worked with numbers for two hours Onie worked with hook, line and sinker.  In the same two hours she managed to string six fish, her limit for the day.

When I was finished with the numbers I took my turn on the grate.  It took me a little longer, five hours, to get five legal fish before I had to call it quits, for supper.

Shirley came bearing the news about supper.  She and Stu were eating with us and she was Onie’s messenger.  At the house Onie had a salad already on the table.  When the last bit of salad was gone she put the pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries and garlic rice in the middle of the table.   Stu amd I followed that with Rocky Road ice cream.  They stayed after supper and we visited until nineish when they went out for a walk.

Back on the fish grate there was nothing biting but the mosquitoes so the rod and reel were laid aside in favor of the skinning pliers and fillet knife.  When that chore was completed the product was placed in the refrigerator at ten thirty.  Outside it was nearing total darkness.

Onie watched a movie while I surfed the web and played a few games.

When the clock showed eleven thirty and the thermometer fifty four and my ears said it was raining we turned out the lights.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

BYE STU, BYE SHIRLEY

We were greeted with cloudy skies when we woke at eight.  Outside the temperature seemed to be stuck at fifty one.

Inside we drank our coffee and tea, read the paper and played computer games.

After breakfast Onie headed off to check on Stu and Shirley.  They were still working on getting their things in order to leave.  What they have to do does not require help so we left them to their own devices.  We did tell them we would put up their awning for them when it dries out, whenever that happens to be.

Back at the coach I worked on the agency books before we headed to the lodge to take a long shower.  Hot water really warms a chilled body you know.

Refreshed and warm in the coach we worked crosswords until our Alabama grandson, Kyle, called.

Technology can be a wonderful tool when it comes to keeping in touch with friends and family.  Today Kyle told us about his first few days as a middle schooler and his success as a go kart driver, he has won many races at his home track, Toney Speedway, and leads in the points standings.  If he continues he will win a nice trophy plus a nice cash prize.  How exciting, great and fearful it is to be able to watch ones grandchildren grow from babies to maturity and wonder what the future holds for them and their peers.

By two o’clock, when Onie went to check on Stu and Shirley’s progress, the sun had broken through the clouds.  They were at a point they could use some more help.  We turned to.  The sun had dried the awning so it was put up, after a small patch job, and secured. 

Their picnic table was picked up and put on their deck and a rug placed on top of it, to dry.  The last few items were placed in the back of the truck and the trailer they tow and then the battery was removed from a dually they leave here.  Shirley looked tired by four o’clock when they were finally ready to leave.

Fortunately they were only driving to Anchorage, today, where they will stay a few days before continuing on south.

We turned to one of our few friends, still here, the fishing grate, for some company.  We were entertained for the next three hours by our other friends, the reds, twelve of them in fact.  To show what kind of folks we are at the end of our visit we skinned and filleted the reds before taking them to the coach where Onie vacuum packed them.   They joined fish from yesterday in the refrigerator and we estimated that the total weight was seventy two pounds.

The lot was taken to Marv’s where we put it in his freezer.

Supper followed at nine.  The sun that had made its appearance in the afternoon was now setting over the trees to the west.  The temperature which had reached sixty five earlier was sinking with the sun. 

Eleven found us tucked in bed.  As we dozed off to sleep the rain began to fall.

Friday, August 18, 2006

LIVING IN A LAKE

The rain was still coming down, in fifty two degrees, at eight thirty when we were enjoying our coffee and tea and I made a few notes.

Note making at an end, blueberry pancakes, sausage, and more coffee and tea fed us.

While Onie washed rugs I took care of emptying the gray water and filling the fresh water tank, splashing around in our own private lake, the coach being surrounded by standing water.

Rugs washed and dried Onie headed off to Safeway, the post office and Trustworthy hardware.  I stayed and pecked at the laptop keyboard.

Upon Onie’s return and after the groceries were put away the Food Saver was brought out again and more fish vacuum packed.

There has been much discussion and debate here at the camp about the price of diesel, in Canada.  I got on the web and checked it out.  It looked like fuel cost will range from three eighty a gallon to just over three dollars.  An average may be three fifty, time will tell and not too much time at that.

There was no fishing today as we were occupied with other things and the constant rain and dropping temperature was somewhat discouraging.

At eight we sat down to supper, salad and a whole baked salmon. Yes it is repetitious but rain continued to fall as it got colder.

We added another blanket to our bed and crawled in.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

FISHING FOR A FRIEND

Falling rain and cool temps in the coach kept us in bed until nine.

Up and about we had our coffee and tea with a breakfast of eggs, salmon and tomato.  We each worked a crossword and traded out when we got stuck.

A visit, after breakfast, with Ardith brought us an update on Marv.  He is doing better and should be out of the hospital in a few days.  Unfortunately he may not be home in time to fish before the reds are gone.  We will fish for him, skin, fillet and cut the fish in one to one and a half pound portions then give them to Ardith.  She will vacuum pack and freeze them.

By noon it was sunny with a few clouds and had warmed to sixty degrees. 

A spell at the computer, writing, bought me some grate time so Onie and I headed off for a great time on the grate.  In five hours we managed to string four fish.  The grate time had been not so great when it came to catching.

We took our evening meal at nine, our movie at ten and our sleep at midnight.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

DECISION DAY

Rain returned sometime during the night.  That and the cool temp inside the Marlin kept us abed until nine.

Then we had eggs, bacon, biscuits, figs, coffee and tea and worked crosswords for three hours before returning to bed to watch a movie.

When the movie was over we discussed a date when we should begin our journey back to the lower forty eight and Coldspring.  The rain, the cold, lack of sun, full freezer here and at Lake Road and several other things have convinced us that we don’t need to stay here until September fifth, as originally planned.  A better date is August twenty eighth, a week from tomorrow.  Even though we know it is still very hot in Texas we will wend our way home soon.  The wending may take as long as three weeks but could be less depending on how strong the tug of home grows as we near it.

We sat down to supper at eight thirty, after having made a list of things we need to do before leaving here.

The movie for the evening was a favorite of mine, El Dorado starring John Wayne.  When the movie was over we agreed that we understood what it was about, unlike many of the recent movies we have seen.  In addition this one is memorable and we probably couldn’t tell you the name or content of what we watched last night.

When we turned out our night light at midnight it was forty nine and cloudy outside.

Monday, August 21, 2006

WHAT FOOD?

This morning after our eggs and salmon, coffee and tea we ate a small watermelon.  That seemed strange since we associate watermelon with hot weather and it was forty nine at nine.  Nonetheless the melon was very tasty and conjured up thoughts of my brother David and my Dad, Gunnar.  Onie remarked, as she had another bite of heart, how she always thinks of David whenever we eat watermelon because he loves it so.  It makes me think of Daddy too since, when we were kids, he would never buy a melon until the price went to three cents a pound cold or two and a half cents a pound hot.  Those cold melons were put in number three washtubs full of crushed ice and when we got one of those on a hot July day, usually after the fourth, it was sooo good.  The cold itself was a real treat since that was before the days we lived air conditioned lives.  Enjoying my half of the melon I wondered what food folks associate with me or if they even choose to play the association game.  They probably don’t play as that sort of thing doesn’t cross busy minds, only those occupied with fishing and filling pages.  One might wonder just what food image is conjured up when folks talk to you, salads, fudge, steak, etc.?

After breakfast Onie did the bi-weekly chore of filling the pill boxes.  While she was doing this, but before she was finished, I visited with son David and found out he could use a few more reds, sockeye.  We had stopped fishing as all our needs had been met.  When the boxes were full she ambled off to the fish grate.

Inside the laptop got my attention as agency work was done and then note making and writing filled my time until three o’clock when it was time to take a break and join Onie.

On the grate Onie was giving a demonstration on how to catch fish and frustrate all the tyros.  Most folks stood in awe as she hooked and landed fish after fish while they failed to catch even one.  The fact that most of the fish were pinks or foul hooked mattered not one whit to them though she found it aggravating.  When I began fishing there was a general lament that it was certain that between Onie and me no fish would escape to get to other lines.  We found it humorous but also accepted their plaudits as to our good luck rather than our extraordinary piscatorial skills.

Those skills and our patience were greatly tested over the next four hours as we caught innumerable pinks and threw them back as we worked our way toward our limit of six each.  At, seven o’clock, with fifty nines pounds of fish on the stringer, eight fish, we hung our hooks on line guides and headed for Custom via the Marlin.

Mail waited for us at the post office and we stopped at Safeway for tomatoes and more watermelons before heading to Buckets for burgers, liberty fries and fried onion rings.  Full and tired we headed back to the coach.

The movie started at ten o’clock followed by rain and sleeping at midnight.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

FIRECRACKERS

When we woke the rain was still falling, as it had all night.  We were back in the middle of a lake.  Even though clouds held in the heat (?) the temperature still fell to forty four by six this morning.  By ten it had managed to creep to forty six.  The locals tell us to expect flurries within two weeks.  The only flurries we know about are the snow variety so we are glad we have decided to head home, soon.  We have to get every thing, tables, chairs, rugs, window screens, etc., dried out so it can be stored before we start home.  We will be hoping for some sunshine though none is forecast for the next several days.

The coffee and tea did little to chase the chill from the coach but breakfast preparations did contribute some warmth.

A bowl of steaming rolled oats along with sausage and the rest of the coffee and tea, while we worked the crossword puzzles, helped get us moving.  On the top of the coach the steady drone of the rain drown out all other sounds.

We dressed, layering up, for the cold and rain then ventured out to the fish grate where we joined a group from Colorado.  The red run seemed to be coming to an end as each fish seemed to be more difficult to catch.  In two hours and after many pinks we had managed to string only two reds, one for Onie and one for me.

We took a break and headed for the coach, our rain gear wet on the outside and our bodies chilled on the inside.  Onie started some hot chocolate and a latte while I stayed outside and began filling our fresh water tank and emptying the gray water.  Half way through the jobs Onie called me in for the hot chocolate while she had her latte.  Warmed inside we went out to finish the jobs. 

Onie drove and pulled the blue boy.  I hadn’t taken off my wet rain gear having drank my cocoa standing  in the stairwell of the coach since it was still coming down hard and I knew I was going right back out into it.  With the blue boy hooked to the car I walked over and met Onie there where the blue boy was emptied.  We repeated as necessary.  At the coach the fresh water was turned off and the cap placed back on the holding tank and the rain came down.

Before returning to the river we both retied our leaders.  They were frayed.  There was no one on the grate when we returned, the rain and cold having finally conquered even the hardiest of them.  We each took our favorite places and began fishing.  Voila!  In thirty minutes we had strung three more reds and a nine plus pound silver.

As the fishing slows down local merchants shorten the hours they are open.  Custom that once stayed open twenty four hours is now open from eight in the morning to seven in the evening.  At a little after six the fish were placed in the cooler, the cooler in the car and the car driven to Custom where the fish were dropped off for processing.

Oft time success brings a feeling of sunshine and we felt that six fish, on this slow day, was a success.  The success did bring that feeling and in fact seemed to have actually brought out the sun, at seven o’clock.  Little warmth radiated from the rays that beat down, it did get up to fifty three for an hour, and brightened our day now as I once again joined Onie, fishing. She had fished while I was gone and had hooked and lost three reds.  We were optimistic about stringing more.  Twenty or thirty pinks later and no reds or silvers we decided we had endured all the fun we could stand for one day.  It was eight thirty.

We splashed through the standing water to the Marlin where we shed our still wet cold clothes. 

Cheese, crackers and cashews revitalized us enough we could don our robes and wade to the lodge where we took long steaming showers that warmed us to the bone.

The Marlin was comfortable and dry as Onie prepared a wonderful salad accompanied by an avocado and that by Firecrackers.  Firecrackers are spicy shrimp and vegetables rolled in small tortilla like material and cooked in the oven.

While we ate we heated the bedroom to seventy degrees so we would be warm while we watched the movie.  When the movie was over at one we went to sleep.  It wasn’t raining.