Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

Here it is. The end of the summer. I'll be making my annual Labor Day pilgrimage to the Shore for my traditional summer fare thee well to the beach. My pale legs will surely reflect the sun more spectacularly than the sand ever could. Once again, my summer goal of "a really good tan" went unfulfilled.

Summer has a way of getting away from us, doesn't it?

We have 3 scant months to have a summer in. Those of us who work conventional office jobs have weekends, plus a couple of weeks worth of vacation in which to get our fill. Life, however, often interferes with those perfect beach days. Groceries need to be bought, and houses need to be cleaned. Errands demand attention while laundry beckons. As much as we want to lounge on the beach, ice cold bottle of Corona beside us, sweating droplets of condensation down its side and into the sand while we absently read a book, we don't always get our way.

Such was my summer.

Not that I'm complaining. I did have a pretty good summer. I started if off on Memorial Day weekend with the most AMAZING concert ever~a private Eric Clapton concert in a 2500 seat venue. Awesome and awe inspiring. I doubled my pleasure by the end of that week with an Eagles concert in a private box at MSG. Both of these shows were gratis...although some bugger did scratch my car in the lot across from the Garden. No worries though...what's an SUV without a little battle scar from the big, bad city?

I had a couple of nice weekends at the Borgata in Atlantic City which, while not profitable, proved to be relaxing and refreshing.

I did some shopping, netting a hot pair of Michael Kors silver sandals for a song (have I mentioned my Michael Kors obsession?) I also got the most adorable Michael Kors top on sale...what can I say? Adore him! The Coach outlet was kind to me as well, and I actually put the Louis Vuitton away for a bit to use a new Coach...but you know I just can't live too long without Louis ;)

I saw a couple of movies, and went to dinners with friends. I watched too many hours of Olympic coverage and my friend accidentally squirt ketchup all over himself as we laughed until we cried.

Alaskan King Crab was the critter du jour as Deadliest Catch fascinated me, along with Captain Jonathan of the Time Bandit. TV's Mike Rowe, well, what can I say? He's TV's Mike Rowe and always will be. I watched less FNC and more Discovery Channel. I know How It's Made, how to be a Mythbuster, what goes into making The Deadliest Catch and who is responsible for all those Dirty Jobs.

I laughed and cried and fell in and out of love. I made life changing decisions and changed my mind, only to contemplate them once more.

All in all, a pretty good summer...even if I didn't get that really great tan.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go start planning the annual Christmas Display. You know how quickly the holidays creep up on us once Labor Day is over!

Oh Captains, My Captains...

So, my first full season of Deadliest Catch has come to a close.


WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


What the heck was I thinking by NOT watching this show?! It's not like I didn't know about it! Hell, RubyAnne has been trying to get me to watch it for ages now! But no...it took a holiday marathon over Christmas to make me sit up and say Whoah!!

This show has a little bit of everything! There's action, adventure, suspense and Jonathan Hillstrand.

Yes, I'm in lust with a , goateed, mullet wearing, tattoo'd crab fisherman.

Go figure.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few observations here about what happens out on The Vast Bering Sea...

~ Mike Rowe is probably the single best narrator in the business today. And not just because he's HOTT with his shirt off ;)

~ Of all the Captains~and I hold each one in the highest regard~I think that Sig is probably the most skilled captain.

~ Of all the deck hands, I find Edgar to be the most engaging. Perhaps it's only how the show is edited together, but Edgar has a sparkling personality and a wicked sense of humor that comes out.

~ I just don't like Captain Keith of the Wizard. No idea why. Just something about his personality. He seems to like to hire greenhorns, and then hates the jobs they do. Well, if you don't like having 2 greenhorns on your boat, don't hire them! Hire more experienced fishermen! I'm sure that there are men who have worked crab boats before who are looking for work up in Dutch Harbor. Hire one of them instead of some yutz who's never crabbed before.

~ While I didn't like Captain Sten Skaar of the North American at the start, I grew to appreciate his professionalism at the end. Sten had the daunting task of entering King Crab season 2 weeks behind schedule while still having to catch his quota. At first, with his fancy Norwegian sweaters and ski bands, I thought "Oh, another rich boy trying to be a tough guy", but Sten proved to be a formidable captain, even after his vessel was badly damaged in a storm. What I truly appreciated about Sten was, when he told his greenhorn he wouldn't be back next season, he put a positive spin on it, unlike when Keith let Moi go. Now, granted Moi wasn't exactly the greatest deckhand in the world, but I thought Keith could have handled the whole situation better, like Sten did. Sten handled it with class, telling his greenhorn to take the experience and build on it, because he'd fished the Bering Sea. Keith just wanted to yell and scream at Moi (and anyone else who happened to be in his path) and be the big bad captain. NOT classy, Keith. (see how much I dislike him? This was about Sten and I turned it into a rant about Keith LOL)

~ I was secretly overjoyed when the Wizard turned out to have a hole in one of it's tanks, allowing the crab to escape. Ha ha!! Wizard 1, Keith 0!

~ Time Bandit and the Hillstrand boys...'nuff said :)

~ Captain Phil and his offspring, "Ding" and "Dong". It was a hard, hard season for the Cornelia Marie and her crew. Her beloved captain having serious medical troubles, coughing up blood and forcing his young sons to maybe have to grow up and take responsibility before wanting to. His oldest boy Josh, seemed to take the situation the hardest. Worried, he spent much time trying to convince Phil to turn the ship around and head to the hospital for treatment. Eventually, Phil relented to both his son and his friend Murray and sailed to the hospital in St Paul where he learned that a bloodclot had passed thru his heart and into his lung. In the end, Phil had to sit out the remainder of opilio crab season while Murray took over the boat and his sons tried to concentrate on fishing. These events eventually led to Josh rethinking his vocation...

~ The Nothwestern is, to me, the prettiest boat in the fleet.

~ After the Catch...The Captains of the Vast Bering Sea, sitting in a bar, talking to Mike Rowe with beer all around. I just wish it was longer and less structured, because I'm sure there were some terribly funny moments we missed out on.

~ I really want a Time Bandit hoodie :D

~ I'll settle for a Dutch Harbor tshirt like the one Mike Rowe wears all the time :)

Boom De Yada...

Mike Rowe in his element, poo free....and the Captains...my Captains...out of their element, but giving it the old college try. Just look at my Captain Jonathan...

I have NO idea why I find Jonathan Hillstrand so amazingly sexy. He's nothing like any man I've ever found attractive before. Truth be told, he's the first man with a mullet I've found to be totally sponge~worthy.

Mike Rowe's sponge~worthiness goes without saying, though ;)