July 18: Accidental exile

Tonight I was grouchy. At first I thought it was because I was tired and sick and hungry and worried about not being able to find many of my nets. But I don't think that was it. I think it was because I inadvertently exiled myself today - and I've already been missing Josh, Jake, Evan, and Hugh because they've been on a fishing schedule, which has been very different from the ground crew's schedule. Today I made it worse and missed the whole crew, missed fishing, missed cooking, and missed writing. What was I thinking?

David has been the picture of drive and determination to get things cleaned up early to avoid having to rush around at the last minute (which is my style). It's giving us the time to do a great job of sorting through things we rarely sort through - it will make next year so much more spacious and self-explanatory (the rope shelves are labeled!) Last year, Bob asked his wife to send up some tiles to mend the floor of my cabin - the vinyl had developed holes in front of the door and the refrigerator. I added the task of installing those tiles to the end of season "to do" list and David just assigned tasks - install my tiles, sort out the mudroom of Lynnie's cabin, fix the door on Debby's cabin, get the garbage out, take the rangers into town that we won't be using this year; bring the ranger we have been using back to the sites (it was on the beach access road for some work).

Instead of driving the rangers into town, we decided to try to use the boom truck to both lift and transport both rangers. David, Chris, and I undertook this project. David is the crane operator; I'm the knot tier and worrier; Chris is the line-of-strain reasoner. It seemed like a bit of a miracle that we were able to do it without catastrophe. I don't think any of us had the occasion to say, "Oh, I don't think that hurt it, did it?"

The boom truck has some serious challenges, though. The shifter that puts the truck in 2 wd or 4 wd seems attached to nothing and there's a disconcerting squeak that seems related to the going around bits. So I wanted to be the one to drive it in with the rangers, being the most qualified to drive like an old lady. I got into town by a little past 4. (Roy diagnosed a u-joint that's going out, a torn rear motor mount, and a disconnection syndrome with the transfer case.) David and Chris were going to take the ranger we used this season and the red truck back to the cabins, and then come into town after me to take care of some of the town tasks. But they got caught up in cabin tasks and assured me that they would come soon. I decided I'd try to take a nap in town while I was waiting for them (a wrong number woke me up too early this morning), but it was too noisy in camp. So I tackled the net locker. It was sort of gratifying, but not exactly restful (and besides, what was that smell?)

The crew finally appeared at about 10 pm and I was in full grouch. After spending a few hours filleting fish with Chris and Hugh, my foul mood began to dissipate. But there was still work to be done - they needed to wait around for the fish to freeze.

David, consistently kind and patient with me, brought me home. I don't get to be with the crew, but at least I get to be on the beach after nine hours in town. They'll wrap up the freezer tasks. Tomorrow, I'll go in with Josh, Trevor, and Chris to pack up the home pack for several of the crew (uh oh - I think I need more details than that...) and get it up to the airport a bit ahead of when Josh and Trevor will be heading out.

It's always sad for me when the season ends, and it's especially sad when I need to say goodbye to such a great crew. It seems perverse to be grouchy with my crew because I like them so much and missed them. Go figure.

Now, I'll turn off the phone and get some sleep.