Stolen Crab, Stolen Seconds

Sorry I've been quiet. Christmas came up too quickly, and left too quickly. I think I came out of it with a cold or some other condition that makes me feel a bit like I've been keel-hauled. Rough.

I was a bit late getting gifts together. My mom got an Aquamarine show-stopper of a necklace. R's Mom is getting an opera length strand of onyx with matching bracelet and earrings (still working on the necklace and bracelet). R's Auntie S got a sterling bracelet. Gram, Auntie's D and C, and Cousin C each got a pearl (with random crystal) necklace, bracelet, and earring set--varying colors. Sister M got a necklace and earrings (I owe her a bracelet--I botched the one I was working on and launched it across the shop--then had to go dig for it, but it's going to have to get recycled.). Brother C's GF got a sterling bracelet. R received a special dispensation of boatbux for a project, yet to be determined, and I spliced him up the lower races of lifelines on 3/8" 3-strand twist, and the upper and lower boarding gates. My hands are RAW and aching. I sliced into one finger with a tape measure (when I saw it well up with blood I screamed, "REALLY?"), smashed another finger between two steel blocks while forging a bracelet and ended up with a big blood blister. And my errant right pinky is ever-more errant. I had an X-Ray a few weeks ago, but it showed nothing for all the pain and aggravation it's putting out.

Things are still in a hurry for work. Burning started early on one project. We're hoping to hear about a few other things soon. McBarge could use some projects. Although this current little one has given me fits.

The crab fleet seems to be doing ok. The weather had been far nicer (if colder than usual) for them for a few weeks, but now we're into a typical weather pattern. A few minor issues on some of the boats that R is still massaging out. Come end of January, beginning February there might be a solid project. The last few years we've been taking a night or two at the local Fort's campgrounds in a yurt come mid March, and I did ask him if I should sign up for it. He hesitated and then said yes.

The crab is reportedly not so plentiful as one might hope this year. I guess last winter was odd, this summer was odd, and this fall was odd, weather-wise. However, the price per pound is up, highest they've seen. If you can bring it in pre-chilled, the canneries pay even more because they can air-freight them live, but it means the added complexity of an RSW system. The price has meant that every last son of a gun with pots and a license has been out, much to the chagrin, I'd bet, of the Coasties on Cape D, watching over them. Little gillnetters and the like even. Makes me ill to think of, the water being what it is, this time of year most especially.

R has commented more and more in the past few weeks about stolen crab. Apparently there are unkind souls out there who pick others' pots. Which, when you're onto some crab, and you have two good 100 pot strings, and the string in between them comes up both empty of crab and empty of bait, you get around to suspecting you've been robbed. Since it's a small community that takes care of itself, I suspect that things might just a special way of sorting themselves out. From what I understand, there's also now a program for deckhands to testify in court on boats they saw picking pots not of their ownership. You have to identify the buoys and the boat, but that's no problem for a decent deckhand. And the reward is significant, some 5k per deckhand. (I told Russ he should be out there doodling in the Hans.) Seems like karma is an especially dangerous thing to screw with when you're dependant on the sea for both your living and your well-being, but there's always someone vying for a Darwin Award, isn't there?