Boys Will Be Boys

May your life be like toilet paper  …..  Long and Useful!!

Here comes the train!!

Sometimes it takes a lot of thinking power to write a blog. It kind of depends how much we’ve done that needs to be put in words. We seem to have had quite a few of those days recently. Matter of fact, we’ve had an awful lot of them.

Chairs are arranged for a bird's eye view

We’re still at the coast.  Well, we are as I’m writing this.  However, by the time it does get posted we will most certainly be long gone.  I’m sure you’ve figured out by now when we’re at the coast, we’re pretty busy people.  When we’re that busy it’s really hard to keep up a blog because by the time we turn in, we are zonked.  Saturday was absolutely no exception.  It just happened to be one of the busiest days ever.

How about this view of them putting their coins on the track?  (I must admit it's been "altered" a bit.)

The blog of a couple days ago showed the six monster crabs we caught.  This is just a continuation of that same day.  After devouring them, we sat outside and enjoyed the evening.  We had zoned out by then.  Duchess was even given her birthday cake treat.  Well, the birthday cake for her was a hamburger patty.  She much prefers hamburger over cakes.

Now they are comparing their treasurers .....

Remember the private train track sits right behind us. It’s the one that’s only used about twice a month.  Well, we remembered it about the time we heard the train coming.  It’s times like this that Janice and are reminded that we are really married to a couple of little boys.  Almost in unison Terry ran into his motorhome and Jerry into his.  They both started robbing the coin jars.  You know the ones.  It’s where the change is stored for the laundromat or the car wish.

Giving us a look at their coins

Most kids who put coins on the railroad tracks put one or two.  Isn’t that right?   Not these guys.  They put a handful on the track …. as you can tell.  Terry used quarters.  Jerry used pennies.

Terry sticking his tongue out

Janice and I got a lot of laughs at the boys acting like boys.  You can see the photos we got looking for their treasures and comparing their treasures.

I know this may not be funny to most but we laughed so hard probably because we were so tired.  Some days it just doesn’t take much to entertain us.

Monster Crabs and Happy Birthday, Tammi

Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless but because they are priceless.

There’s another birthday happening in our family today.  This time of year there’s just one of those right after another.  Today just happens to be the birthday of our youngest.  Now I’m not saying she’s young.  It’s just our youngest!   Happy Birthday, Tammi.

Happy Birthday to you.

Dungeness Crab

Guess what we did Saturday?  You’re right.  We went crabbing again.  It was another gorgeous day on the coast.  We had no choice.  We actually heard the crab calling to us.

The first plan of action was to get another 3-day crab license and bait.  Neither of those are sold at the park we are at.  We had to run down to Jetty Fishery again to do that.  We came back with fish heads and our licenses.  Thus, we were ready to go.

The difference between being on the water Saturday and earlier in the week when we had been in the area was that there were lot more boats and a lot more crab rings.  However, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and no huge swells like last time we made the trek in this direction.

We ended up with some nice sized crab this time.  There’s a lot of difference between crabbing off the dock and in a boat.  The ones off the dock were mainly female and small.  In the boat we got our share of small ones but we also saw some nice sized keepers.

Park crab cooker

Jerry learned to pull those crab pots up fast.  We sorted them on the bottom of the boat and tossed those back that weren’t legal.  Seagulls swarmed us for rejects.  We also had a couple Bald Eagles soaring over the trees.  It was definitely a nice day.

The park has a propane crab cooker.  We had it lit and waited and waited.  It was pretty slow in heating.  After about 45 minutes, it still wasn’t close to a boil.

Crabs are cooking!

Finally one of the other RV’ers parked next to the cooker set up his own crab cooker for us.  He has a nifty little burner for outside cooking and it heated up in no time.  If we were going to do much more of this, we’d certainly have our own little cooker.

The cleaning station

The park also has a fish and crab cleaning station down on the dock.  That was nice since it meant no mess at our site.

Our appetizer

We certainly had a mess of crab with enough left over for a crab salad the next day.

Clam for our neighbors

Our neighbors at the park brought over some samples of their day’s find.  We thought that was super nice.  First of all, we each had a large clam they had fixed for each of us,

They also brought seaweed they had collected and prepared Asian style.  I normally totally dislike seaweed.  I think I’ve had enough of that in my mouth over the years and not by choice.  The idea of eating it was never an option.  However, I felt compelled to be polite and try it.  Actually, I would have to admit that the way they had it fixed wasn’t bad at all.  At least I had a bite and tried it.  You realize, of course, that I still have no intention of having more in the future though.  It’s one of those mental things I guess.

Seaweed

This is how they dried the seaweed.  They hung it on their clothesline.  We’d never seen that before.  It was definitely interesting.


Events of Saturday, July 31st

We’re Fishing Instead of Crabbing

A half-baked idea is okay as long as it’s in the oven.

Off with the front windshield and back panel for a beautiful day on the water!

I thought this little tiny boat was just my speed.

Friday we did something different.  We didn’t go crabbing.  We went fishing. This was kind of like the semi-blind leading the blinder in this circumstance.  We didn’t catch a thing.  We didn’t have a bite.  We also think  half the time we had everything hooked up wrong.  But, then again, from what we understand no one else did any good either.  We’re going to blame it on the fact that the fish weren’t running yet.  They were all out in the ocean getting ready to come in.  That’s our story and we’re sticking with it.

Here's Jerry trying for the perfect setup on his pole.

The first thing you have to do to prepare yourself for this new adventure is to buy licenses.  Oregon seems to require a license for every type of fun you can think up.  We jumped in the boat and went down to the Wheeler Marina.  That place was absolutely packed with everyone else around trying to buy bait or licenses.  Once that was accomplished we were back out in the boat with high hopes of snagging that big one.

And, Janice is trying for a better rigging than Jerry.

The problem for us fishing here is we’ve not done a lot of trolling for salmon in years and years.  Thus, we didn’t actually know how to help.  Oh, we knew a little … just a little.  We know how to tie everything and connect it from point A to point B.  The problem was putting the actual plug bait on the hook and keeping it there without dragging the bottom. The current was swift, the depth not so deep and the seaweed plentiful.

A garage sale we just had to visit.

Either way I think we all had another great day doing something.  After being totally skunked, we headed into Wheeler in a vehicle instead of the boat.  The first thing that caught Jerry’s eye was a sign for a garage sale.  You can guess where we stopped ... the garage sale.  We don’t have too much too worry about at these places because most of the nooks and crannies in our motorhomes are already full of something else.

View from our table at the Pizza Garden.

Next, it was off for pizza …. again.  The day was still gorgeous and we sat out on the deck just above the river.

Another great day and we had taken advantage of all of it.  Now you know what we were up to on that Friday which was over a week ago from the time this blog will get posted.  With all this activity just maybe it's time to start posting a little more often again to get caught up again.

A Heron sitting in the tree and watching us eat.

Friday, July 30.

On the Dock of the Bay .. Again

Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life.  You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.

With the weekend came tons of folks to the beach.  Everywhere we went there were people and more people.  Parking lots were full and the roads had many more cars than during the week
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Hey ... look what I caught!

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We decided to spend one more day “on the dock of the bay”.  Since none of us had thought about sunburns, we were surprised that Michael got one.  The weather had been nice but cool.  We doctored him up with a little aloe vera and sunscreen.  He also played it a little safe and sought shelter when available.
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A perfect day to nap in between checking crab pots

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Justin and Michael, being the pro crabbers they had become, were the teachers for Janice and Jerry.  Before long everyone was tossing the nets and sorting the crabs.  Saturday was a beautiful day.

Eating was another thing that didn’t take much convincing.  As you can tell, Michael and Terry weren’t that interested in it.  The rest of us were pretty happy that we didn’t have to share with more than necessary.
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You catch them.  You eat them.

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Sunday was the day the boys needed to head back inland.  So, after fiddling with WOW for awhile we all headed towards Seaside with them.  That little town was more than packed. Kids and their parents were everywhere.  Finding parking spaces was extremely difficult.

We returned to Pudgy’s for some of their “killer” chowder.  Isn’t it amazing that the first time we taste something we seem to like it better than the second time?  It was good but not quite so memorable the second time around.  Oh well …….. still in search of the perfect chowder.

Clam chowder bread bowl at Pudgy's.

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The boys were off north and we headed south to spend another evening enjoying life on the road.

Crabbing Do-Overs with Michael

I’ve learned that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.  It kinda brings you back down to earth again.

By now you may think that we’ve done it all in this part of the northern Oregon Coast.  You also might think that we are through with do-overs.  Actually, we’re not.  We’ve had a lot of do-overs.  Crabbing and the Tillamook Cheese Factory are no exceptions.

WOW!  Look at all those crabs!

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With Michael being left behind by his mother when she headed back to the airport without him, Justin decided it was time he learned a little bit about living in the Pacific Northwest.  So, he loaded him up and headed back to the coast to give him a lesson or two in crabbing.  And, crabbing is exactly what we did on Friday.

How do I pick it up without getting pinched?

Since our boat was back in its storage spot at Lee’s house,  we opted to spend the day on the “dock of the bay” at Jetty Fishery.  Needless to say, Michael picked up on how to crab just like a pro.  At first the claws from the crabs were a little intimidating but once he got the hang of how to pick them up without being pinched, there was no problem.

A lesson on sex -- how to tell a male from a female crab.

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It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  We all enjoyed it immensely.  We got a ton of crabs.  The problem with it this time of year and so different from crabbing off a boat is that many of the crabs you pull in are either too small or females.  You can’t keep either of those.  However, it really is the experience that counts most.

We also had steamer clams.

After turning in our crabbing gear, we sat down at one of the picnic tables at Jetty Fishery and ate crabs and clams.  Well, Michael tried both the clams and crabs but wasn’t too fond of either.  Of course, that meant more for us.  He liked doing it but not eating it.  I only had to share with Justin.  You have to be fast if you’re sharing with Justin or he’ll get more to eat than you.  I wanted no part of that.

Late that afternoon we ended up with new neighbors at the RV park.  Now remember we have been at the far end of this park for nearly two weeks.  All the other people have been a good distance away.  We liked it like that.  Then, a big Alfa pulled in right in front of us!! 

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Thank goodness the other side isn't crowded! 

I guess we probably should admit that we know these folks especially since we spent most of last winter around them.  We couldn’t “hyde” from the Hyders!  We tried but they found us anyway.  Now they even want to go crabbing with us on Saturday.  This should be very interesting!!

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No.  They aren’t sun worshipping in the picture below.  They are checking out the antenna as it was automatically searching in the tree branches for a satellite signal.  Once they finally realized that trees don’t have signals, they moved their rig right on top of ours ---- picture above.  Without the tree in its way, the antenna was able to lock onto a satellite.  Funny how that works.

Is it gonna miss that tree?

Another Day of Crabbing on the Bay

If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you!

On Saturday we got a late start.  It wasn’t actually our fault it was because the fog was very low over the bay and it just wasn’t a nice morning weather-wise to take the boat out.  You have those days at the coast more often than you’d really like.

The fog finally lifted, the weather moved on and we were ready to go.  At least we thought we were ready to go until we had a little hiccup.  Or, maybe I should say two little hiccups.  We already were having trouble with the bigger motor idling down but the little 8 HP kept cutting out.  We figured it wouldn’t be a smart thing to get out in the bay with both motors having issues.  We didn’t.

 

Instead of fighting the motor we went down to Jetty Fishery and crabbed off the dock while we borrowed their mechanic to look at our motors.  We also bought some goop for our gas tank since we figured that might be one of our issues.  So, half an hour and $20 later we had both idles set and the motors purring.

It’s still fun to crab from the Jetty Fishery docks.  Their docks are in a great location and they have all the dead fish to feed the crabs we would ever need.  That’s what we did on Saturday.  The good thing is that they’ll even cook the crabs for you.  They did and we sat out on their picnic tables devouring them.  It was a great little appetizer.  Even though the shells appear to make it look like a lot of meat is under them, there isn’t and especially this time of year.  We could eat a lot.

The Jetty Fishery also has a small RV park right. You get a gorgeous view and you don’t have to drive to do any crabbing.

We were beat by the time we returned to the motorhome.  What started a little rough turned out especially nice but we were totally zonked and very smelly.  After a wonderful shower and a relaxing hot tub, we were ready to hit the sack.
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I mentioned a few days ago that there is a little railroad track right behind our motorhome.  Only once or twice a month does a train even use these tracks.  It’s for their dinner cruise.  We knew that before we pulled in or we probably wouldn’t have wanted to be quite this close to the tracks.  The park has some huge sites but they are up the hill.  Other than the site we are in, most of those on the bay are a pretty tight squeeze.  We were lucky to get the one snuggled in the corner.

Sunday was Jordan’s birthday and a party was brewing to celebrate her 16 years honoring us on this earth.  Terry gave up his TV, Justin gave up an opportunity to play WOW and Lee and Sabrina drove 100 miles from town just to spend it with her.

 

While I cleaned house, dabbled in making preparations for the big event, Justin, Jordan and Papa went out in the boat with Jordan taking her turn driving. She must have done okay because they all returned unharmed and even the boat was still afloat. Good job, Jordie.

What did I do?  Well,  I cooked two whole ribs for her …. just for her while the rest of us had chili burgers.  She certainly must have gotten the idea that we thought she was pretty special.  Actually, she did grant us permission to taste her barbecued ribs especially when she realized she wasn’t going to be able to eat all of them by herself.

After the boat, the food, the cake and the presents, it was time for the four of them to head back home.  Needless to say, our motorhome feels pretty empty tonight.  Even Duchess misses them.

It was such a pretty evening with another gorgeous sunset over the bay.  I think one of the nicest we’ve had since we’ve been at this park.  Tomorrow’s another day and another adventure.  For now, I’m really beat!!

Crabbing for Dungeness Crabs on the Oregon Coast

A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.

Justin at work setting up the crab pots.  He’s so good at this and just loves crabbing!

Okay, okay, I didn’t know how to title this one but I guess it really doesn’t matter.  I know we went crabbing and I know the crabs we caught are of the  Dungeness variety … thank goodness.  Well, I’m pretty fond of Alaska King Crabs too.

Jordie's idea of crabbing was texting.  She loves to eat the crabs but wasn't too fond of the idea of handling any of them.

Our crabbing started out a little rough but keep in mind two things.  One is we hadn’t used the boat since last year.  We hadn’t even gone crabbing with the equipment since then.  We had a few bugs to work out but we weren’t surprised.  We kind of figured Friday would be our trial and error day.  Believe me when I say it most definitely was.

Regardless of the activity around this little one, he wasn't going to let go of his new-found food!

Friday was a minus tide day and much of the bay is not under water during minus tides.  We decided to wait until the tide was coming in because getting stuck on a sand bar wasn’t something we wanted to do and there are quite a few sand bars out there.   However, the actual best time to throw our pots in is closer to low tide.  Oh well … we already knew that.  Not that it really mattered but we did know.

This was the first one to  find his new very temporary home in our boat's live well.

First of all, we knew we should be down by buoy 6 but we dwaddled (is that a word?) around buoy 20 and then around buoy 12 before we arrived where we first intended to be.  Buoy 6 is very close to the bar – aka where the bay meets the ocean.

This one was hiding from us but he didn’t hide for long!  Every crab pot you pull up has lots of crabs in it.  Jordan got pretty excited at times when the crabs were running around on the bottom of the boat.   Picking up live crabs isn't her thing.  She may like to go crabbing and watch others, but having them cooked and ready to eat is really her thing.  Just don't get too close to her with those pinchers.  Even though you might pull up a lot of crabs, you can only keep the large males.  We have a measure and we definitely don't cheat with that.  The fine is $300 per illegal crab.  It wouldn't take many to have a hefty fine. 

These are all the little ones that we throw back after taking the big keepers out!  I use gloves.  Justin just picks them up.  That was our job.

We also had a little trouble with idling down either of the motors but finally worked out a system around this when pulling in the pots.  However, by the time we had the issues worked out, Jordan was definitely needing to find a restroom.  That was it for the day.  We cooked our crab and got everything ready for the next day

Saturday we were going out again.  We had our gas tanks full, new bait and were ready to go.  This is absolutely so much fun!!

This is the deck at Brighton Marina … there’s a little store, a dock to crab from, and full hookup RV sites right at the water’s edge.  Similar deck chairs are at Jetty Fishery.  That's our favorite spot to get supplies, walk on the dock and just plain hang out.

Eventually, I'll be caught up with my blogs. They have been coming daily, fast and furious.  Daily blog titles are listed on the right side of the blog for the month they were posted in.  It's easy to track that way.