Tuesday, June 14, 2011

June 12: I love this crew

What a great crew! Jake and Chris are back from last year (Jeff will also be returning, in on Wednesday), and they recruited their bright and helpful friend, Hugh. Of course, Trevor has been here for a couple of days and he has been great to work with. He worked all day with me the day he got in - we put out the buoys for the inside site, and the running line that runs between the buoy and the anchor on the shore. And we walked all around where the outside sites are to figure out what's there and what's missing or otherwise lost. Then this morning, he worked with me to put out the net for the 9 am opener. He just started hauling on the little dingy holding the net and pulled it out.

He was planning to work with Harry and Hannah today to help them get the drift boat ready. He learned how to run the four-wheeler today so he could drive it into town so they would have it to run errands around the fish camp as they're working to get the boat ready to launch.

Yin went out with us to set the net too, but her feet are so small, she was swimming in the smallest wader boots we have and just got stuck in the mud and couldn't get out without help. So for a while anyway, she'll spend time out of the mud. That's OK too - it's great to have her here to help in the cabin and help with the cooking. When I was anticipating the crew's arrival, I was worried about not being able to keep up with them in cooking (though I don't expect to be doing all the cooking). So having her here to help is a real benefit for me. It's so nice to have a daughter! Oh! And Makenzie, Harry's other daughter is coming in tomorrow and she'll stay with us for the week - until Harry returns. That'll be pure delight for us.

Just about as soon as we got the nets out, we headed into town to drop Trevor off, him on the four-wheeler (ok, so maybe he got just a little bit lost - but the important part is that he found his way back), and to pick up five crew members who came in today. I've never met Roger, Evan, or Hugh. I think they had some rugged travel to get here but, like Jake and Chris whom I was thrilled to see again, they were cheerful and hardworking from the time we got into the truck. Here they are all geared up.

First stop, the fish processing plant to get their licenses (the net was fishing and waiting for us to get back to pick it). Roger and I got the propane truck loaded up with most of the supplies and followed Jake and the rest of them down the beach. We got the truck stuck in front of our neighbor's site. (The best possible circumstances for getting stuck: outgoing tide, near home, a truck handy that can pull us out.) Roger towed us and we made it.

Jake, Chris, Hugh, and Evan tackled the net (after Evan's side trip down the beach). Jake was worried - he couldn't find Evan! Then we saw someone walking up from the cannery. The first thing we heard once he was in earshot was, "I can explain." Of course, when people are new, they have no idea what's going on. The best crew just dive in and try. Evan got into his gear and looked around and couldn't see anyone. He figured they got started without him so he went out to look for them. He saw three people walking down the beach and thought that must be them, so he hurried to catch up. Then he realized it wasn't them, so he started heading back. Then he thought he saw them wave, so he headed that way again for a bit and finally decided that he had it wrong and came back. That's when we saw him. I think he might have felt like he'd done the wrong thing, but I thought it was a great sign. It showed problem-solving, initiative, courage, determination, energy - he was just missing some details that he really didn't have any way of knowing and he'll get those soon enough.

We had about 120 lbs of salmon, plus three small kings (that we ate! grilled! yum!) and three others that the seals got most of.

After finishing with the net, the guys changed out of their gear and went to work hauling the supplies up the cliff using the tram and the capstan winch. That's Roger and Chris in the picture. They all figured it out and brought it all back to the crew cabin.
Once that was done, some started helping clean the cabin and get the supplies stowed; some finished getting the boards off the cabin; some started opening the bunkhouse. They were tireless. They would have kept going, but I called it a night. We need to pick the net at about 5 in the morning.

Now, the next thing is all Harry's fault: He said that they can do it. I can sleep and they can do it. It feels wrong, and sleep sounds good. I'll sleep.

We had a lot of photos from today, but I won't get them inserted till tomorrow.

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