Thursday, April 24, 2008

Greetings from Delaware

Surprise. We usually don't get away from home until Thursday afternoon, but Steve's boss told him to take the day off--he's attached electronically to the office no matter where he is anyway--so we left yesterday afternoon. Having this extra day is great.

It's glorious here, the temperature is in the 70s, and the sun is shining. We're doing the usual "fun work," getting annuals into their pots; Steve's setting up a weather station that shows wind speeds, rain amounts, etc., that I got him for Christmas. The "official" reason for the weather station is it will give us an idea of what the weather is like when we want to take boat rides. The real reason is that it's a cool toy. It hooks up to your computer so you can keep running, historical tabs.

We have a few more chores to do and then we'll take the boat out. We hope we can get all the way out to Rehoboth Bay this time to give the boat engine a good workout, and also see what's new out there, if anything. Due to the current scarcity (near depletion, really) of blue crabs, Delaware for the first time is requiring a license to catch them. I'll be in line to get my license (and catch crabs responsibly, of course). And I have to get some bait.

The big meetings yesterday at Steve's office didn't really settle anything, and in a perverse way that could be good news for us. TSA has until June 25 to award the new contract; to meet that date there are several preliminary things they should be doing now, which they are not. If they drag their feet--this wouldn't be the first time--that merely adds time to the current contract, which means, of course, everybody's employed that much longer. We can deal with that.

Enjoy, dear friends!

8 comments:

Peewit said...

Sorry to be critical, Ralph, but your spelling has gone to pot with your early arrival in Delaware. The Excitement must be getting to you.

The main reason I'm commenting today though is that I finally got round to cooking your recipe for Meatloaf tonight. I subsitituted Marsala for Vermouth as I didn't have any and Oregano for Sage as I dropped my jar of Sage all over the floor yesterday. It was delicious and the kids loved it. Thanks for posting it way back when. Next one to try is the Raspberry dessert!

Ralph said...

Peewit, I need an editor, there's no question. The typeface on this computer is set so small I can barely see it. You should have seen waht I caught before I finihsed last time! I fixed all the additional typos I could find. Thanks.

Marsala and oregano with that meatloaf sounds interesting. I think I'll try it next time. And please let me know how the raspberry tart came out!

Anonymous said...

We used to use chicken necks to lure those blues into our nets. In one Saturday outing we had over a hundred crabs. My daughter got so proficient at it, she would catch em by putting her toe in the water. What great fun we had at Rehobeth Bay. Hope you get as lucky but I don't like the line that there is a scarcity. Wonder what's going on? Global Warming again or fishermen are taking the young ones too?

Ralph said...

Z&M, global warming, nutrient runoff, overharvesting especially of females...that's what the experts are saying. I actually gave up trying to catch any at the end of summer last year. They just weren't there.

As I kid I did just waht you did with your daughter--chicken necks on a string, pull it in real slow, imagine what a monster must be at the end of that line...what fun that was! We're next door to the local bait expert here--he owns a shop, has a radio call-in show, etc., and he recommends what they call "bunker" here--an oily, bony fish I knew of before as menhaden. Couple of bucks for about 5 lbs. frozen. They produce an oil slick as soon as they hit the water, fresh or frozen, and what crabs there are come running!

nan said...

Enjoy Delaware this weekend! I enjoyed Poetry Man by Phoebe over lunch. Very nice for today!

Anonymous said...

Your post had a certain rhythm to it that was most enjoyable. The rhythm of good feelings that come from finding a "day off" and leaving early for Delaware.

The rhythm of good weather - thoughts of crabbing and the boat. Loved the "toy" to determine weather!

The rhythm of good music - Cat Steven's LP (at the time) was a big favorite. Loved hearing Phoebe Snow - it just fit in perfectly.

The best rhythm - that of hope for Steve with his job situation.

Enjoy your weekend!

Linda
SE PA

Ralph said...

Hi, Linda. So far, so good today, as well....

Jenny said...

Ralph--there should be a way to increase the type size. Your blog posts do have a small font size compared to others that I read. Check the help files for your browser--I can do it from the toolbar in Safari, but I'm sure each browser is different.