Our annual birthday fishing trip... story to follow, after chores are done. LOVE!
Aha. Home sweet home again. I had to milk 12 animals by hand this morning since our milker is on thermal overload due to a wiring problem. We left our two interns in charge of the farm while we took off a few days to go fishing. They ended up having to hand milk the whole time we were gone.
We took 3 goats with us this trip, as they needed to be doctored... and that is one chore that I would never turn over to someone else. At our homestead, if I can't fix them myself, then then their stay with us is over. I take responsibility for their respectful death as well as their happy life.
I'm still in disbelief that we could actually take off and leave the farm like this.... and I'm so grateful that the intern concept works. These guys are solid gold, straight from the New Jersey shore. They did great.
The fishing wasn't super... just slow and steady with alot of mixed weather. We came home with 16 salmon from this trip, caught in maybe 4 hours of dipnetting. 80 pounds or so. Not a huge amount, considering our limit is 55 this year, but enough to make the trip worth it. Even just the stress release was worth the trip.
We fished according to the tide, so we were usually up til midnight and out of bed by 5 am. Our toddler adapted quickly and added her wonderment to it all. We had a blast.
At one point, I embraced technology and used my cell phone to call 911 for a stranded fisherman. He was in quicksand mud and almost up to his waist, starting to panic as the tide came in. Ben was able to help him get out, and its a good thing... the troopers were late to show up. Then Ben caught 7 fish in a row, while no one else was catching squat... karma I think.
Those are the highlights. No disasters and alot of good memories. I love these trips. Maybe we'll even get to make a second one this year. Wish us luck!