Trap Due Diligence

Mark Vona told me today that $90/ lobster trap, complete with rope and buoy is a good price. He says that he could get me some used commercial traps for $20, but I would have to add all of the gear, and they would be pretty beat up. Joanne is pretty enthusiastic about it. Looks like Hamilton Marine will be getting an order soon.
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Dancing Again

Once again, I bravely confront the critics of my manhood as I embrace another season of "Dancing With the Stars".
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Bring it on. I can take it.

Lobster Calc

Pulling the traps with Chris Crawford and Tyler Gill was really fun.  They had seven keeper lobsters in the seven traps we pulled, as well as a cod which I took home and filleted.  Naturally I was inspired to get my own traps, register for a recreational 10 trap permit and get my own lobster fishery next year.

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The cost of 10 traps, gloves, pants, line, buoys, claw pliers, etc. from Hamilton Marine Supply in Maine will run about $1,500 delivered.  If I averaged seven lobsters a week, for the 16 +/- weeks of the season, the cost per keeper lobster is running about $8 a crustacean.   But then again, the equipment will last longer than one year, so the amortized cost reasonably gets down to about $4.00 each.

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This doesn't include the cost of the boat and gas, but you figure that I would be using that recreationally anyway.

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Mike says that Mark Vona can get us a deal on used traps which would lower the cost as well.

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The justification can't be all financial.  Time on the water is magic time, and this is a great excuse to get out there more often.   I think I might give it a try.

No Pressure

Patriots v. Dolphins are playing on my 42" HDTV at 1:00PM today, but Crawford and Gill want me to help them pull their remaining lobster traps.
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I know that the Patriots are counting on me to watch the game, so the traps will have to be pulled this morning. I can't let those guys down as they strive to make their record 3-0.
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Plus Joanne just asked me to bake some bread... to go with the chicken soup and chili that she is making for gametime. More stress.
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Once again.... a lesser man might wilt under so much pressure, but I'll be getting it done in stride with time to spare. Plus, maybe we'll have a lobster or two to go with the gametime menu.

Fish Story

Brown was a no show, so were the fish. Even with Pat Piscatelli on the WhaleEye, we came up short. So we headed into the Boston Yacht Club to console ourselves over some Dark and Stormies.
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My "Friend Who Doesn't Want His Name Mentioned in the Blog" was on the porch with his wife Nancy, daughter Abby and Paul and Debbie Lynch. Pisc entered into some spirited conversation with Abby over the wisdom of Tuna Lips, and I was impressed with her praise of Sarah Palin. Abby always did have her head on straight.
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So even though we didn't catch fish... again... it was a great afternoon.
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I love to fish.

Fair Warning to Fish

The WhaleEye departs from Salem Harbor at 1:00 PM this afternoon. There will be no National Football League Defensive Pro Bowlers aboard, but we will have that "Mountain of a Man", Bobby Brown. Seems like an equal trade.
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By 4:00 PM, as we sit on the Boston Yacht Club porch sipping our Dark and Stormies, many a fine Bluefish will have met the sting of our treble hooks.

Patriots Defense

So Adalius and Vince must be talking smack, because now Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, and Ty Warren want Ryan to take them out to Stellwagen next Tues. Wilfork and Thomas seem to have fired them up.
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That's a lot of defensive firepower stacked up against a worthy pelagic opponent.
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I hope they don't think that you bag a Bluefin every time you go out, but with Ryan's luck, they probably will hook up.

Business Daze

Another great day for Nanepashemet Telecom. Pretty sure that we won a new guyed tower construction job with a Federal Agency and we're in the middle of a nice Coast Guard installation on the Cape. And we'll be going back to Maine again shortly.
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Plus plenty of site acquisition action in Metro West.
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But the best part of the wireless telecom industry is that it is immune to the present economic downturn. The last thing people let lapse is their cell phone bill.

Peeps of the Week - Week 37

Lots of attention given to the Vince and Adalius tuna photos. Why not??? It was a big freaking fish!!!!

Speaking of Big Fish......

ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 37th Week of 2008

Frank D'Orio
Bill Parcells
Ted Moore
Lauren Crawford
Mike Rockett
Stacy Butler

I'd like to take the time to fish at Stellwagen, but right now, Nanepashemet Telecom is hotter than Sarah Palin, and I have to stay concentrated during this run.

Excellent Tuna Record

Ryan had Adalius Thomas and Vince Wilfork of our New England Patriots out at Stellwagen Bank this week, and they treated this 150 Lb Bluefin Tuna like it was Brett Favre.
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Just no respect at all.
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Imagine if they treated it like the real Tuna, Bill Parcells!!
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So now the Pats are 2 and 0 against the NFL, and 1 and 0 against the Bluefin Tuna.
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Way to go, Guys. Now make sure that you beat the Dolphins this Sunday!

UFO Sightings

Joanne asked me if I believed in UFO's tonight. I generally do. And I believe in Bigfoot too. I guess proof positive will be when we have pictures of bodies in the news.
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Then again, there are people who don't believe that we landed on the moon, or that the Nazi's killed six million Jews and five million others in the Holocaust. If you can't believe these highly documented events, then I guess the UFO phenomona will forever be skeptical to you.

T-Shirts and Mugs

We bought some really cool Nanepashemet Telecom T-shirts to give to our customers. I think it's only fair...... I give them a T-shirt, they give me thousands of dollars in purchase orders. Good business.
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Seriously, I'm always amazed to see how sophisticated businessmen and professionals love to get shirts and mugs. It seems so insignificant, that few of my colleagues and competitors pay too much attention to it. But I've always gotten tremendous mileage from it.
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If they take a coffee mug or a shirt, they'll generally give you enough time to make a pitch for your services.
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Plus our shirts and mugs have our cool "Nanepashemet" Logo on them.

Gag me in the Morning

Joanne is telling me that I shouldn't torture myself by watching Good Morning America every morning. She's right. I hate it when that happens.
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GMA is so tainted towards the Democrats that it is silly. The only one I like on there is Sam Champion, the Weatherman.
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They are on a whistlestop train tour through heartland America to show us what the country is like through their filtered lenses. Excuse me while I gag.
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This morning, it was hard ball questions to John McCain about the economy, and soft lobs to Hillary Clinton about what Obama has to do about his "small lead".
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Does anybody else see this??? Or am I the solitary voice of reason and light??? Like you, I am a creature of habit, and reluctant to change. But I will be changing the channel.
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For now on, it is Meredith Vieira, Matt Laurer and Ann Curry on the Today Show. Good Bye, Good Morning.

Brendt's Trophy Wife :-) said...

That is why I watch Fox 25 News. Keeping it local!

No Retort

So I heard an argument today that if McCain is elected he will get us into a war. Fair enough.
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But my irrational fear in retort is that if Obama is elected, the war will take place in the Ted Williams Tunnel, or the Chelsea LNG Tanks.
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So if you are going with the politics of fear, I'm still pretty much with McCain.
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I know I shouldn't be talking politics so much, and that it is making some people uncomfortable.
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It always amazes me that some of my closest friends, family, and colleagues can be crazy-assed, commie liberals. It's not my place to convert them to the truth and the light. My sole obligation is to remain enlightened and correct in my superior judgment.

No Promises

So I'm up at the Gerry, and Tyler Gill tells me that the "All Sarah, All the Time" on this Blog is getting to be a bit much.
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Normally, I'd tell him that he can take his Democrat, Commie, Left-Winger attitude straight to Sun Don't Shine Ville. Didn't I take the time to craft an interesting post about my shed project? I don't think I mentioned Palin once in that entire shed post. So Tyler is obviously completely off base and probably worthy of a severe Blog lashing.
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But then again, Tyler is a friend, and better yet, his company is a Nanepashemet Telecom customer, and his beautiful daughter, Maddie, attends Sundance Pre-School. Naturally, I have shown the remarkable restraint and self control that I am noted for despite his blatant faux pas.
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Once again, I have been the bigger man and have taken the high road. Maybe I will give the Sarah Palin situation a rest for awhile. But .... I can't promise anything.

Tyler Gill said .....
I appreciate your mention of me and my daughter on your blog. I am however concerned of your classification of me as a "deomcrat, commie, left winger". The problems I have with it are
1. I am not a democrat
2. I am not a commie
3. I am defensemen not a winger, and I play on the right side.

please check www.lp.org
It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government. – Thomas Paine

Live Free or Die
Love
Tyler

Tuna Lips said...

Its the duty of ussins' to protext our hard earned cash from thems that would give some of it away and keep the rest of it for theyselves. Only change is some mealy eyed galoot got whats mine.
More fancy words. What is it with these folks you malingering with, quotificating and plagerizing, likes we somehow sposed to feel a stirrin at the bottom of our scrotums and the light will shines down and we are suddenly poor in the pocket but filled in the spirit. I played that honkey-tonk, there is plenty of unaccounted for cash and lonely housewives in it fer the man at the top. Called it the First Church of the Lost Redeemer. Just outside San Antone. Made a killin'. But I digress. Them fancy words is best saved for the lost souls searching for salvification. The plain talkin man gets my vote all the time.


And just so the folks at home ain't misunderstandin, Ise plenty capable of givin' my money out myself to thems in need. Just ask that web-footed harlot with the crossed eyes down at Strum's, tell her Tuna sent ya. Believe her name is Chloey.

King and his Cassell

Everybody is so concerned about the loss of Tom Brady as quarterback of the Patriots, and they are questioning the ability of Matt Cassell to fill the gaping hole. But Cassell has some great advantages.... namely throwing to the likes of Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and having Tom Brady on the sidelines giving you advice and encouragement.
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Plus the Patriots defense has to be super up to prove themselves in this situation.
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And no... I don't believe that Sarah Palin could quarterback the Pats. She obviously doesn't have the experience. But I do believe she could be a wide receiver. She would definitely burn Biden.
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At any rate, I will be out helping Tyler Gill and Chris Crawford to pull their lobster traps around 1:00 PM, then I'll probably head up to the Gerry Volunteer Firemen's Association around 4:00PM to catch the Patriots-Jets game.
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Dave Bruett told me that he and "My-Friend-Who-Doesn't-Want-His-Name-Mentioned-in -the- Blog" will be there, and I'm sure that Gill and the Crawford Boys have the appropriate permissions in place and will be in attendance for that cameraderie at the Gerry... and the cheap beers.

Palin Bashing Backlash

Watching the pathetically biased Good Morning America coverage of Sarah Palin this Sunday morning is downright laughable.
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These people just don't get it. They are really belittling themselves and exposing their pettiness. Obama is free to say what he would do as President. But they don't touch his lack of experience.
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Yet, they are trying so hard to discredit everything Palin says about what she has done in her experience as Chief Executive of the State of Alaska. What about asking her what she would do? There is none of that.... maybe it would make too much sense.
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To me, the more the GMA journalists try to damage the credibility of Palin, the more they damage their own. Don't they see this conundrum? .... Maybe they are not qualified to be journalists!
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It's obvious, insulting, and getting to be humorous. Somebody that they didn't anoint is tipping over their applecart. And now, through no effort of her own, Palin is making them look foolish.

Tuna Lips said...

The power of Christ compelicates me to say to those know it alls that the problem with your cogitations is simply that you put a dimes worth of fifty cent words into breaking my Sweet Potato Pie's balls and plain folk dont cotton to fifty cent words. Comes across likes you is trying to tells us that you is smarter than us round the way types. Miss Sarah dont make me feel that way. Ergo and thusly, get the f*ck off my stoop, you go and sell yer salvation elswhere. This here is the US of A, and you'd do right to think hard on that, stead of thinking on how much better than the rest of us you is. My Jimmy Deans is cookin, I gots to run, but get this straight, there is only half (and likely 1/3) a country that you think matters. That one third aint gonna get er done.

Backyard Shed Talk

Appreciate all your emails and concern. Yes, the shed is coming along fine. Thanks for asking.
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I have the roof consisting of 3/4 plywood with a blue tarp stapled and trimmed complete now so that the shed is technically functional from a waterproof standpoint. I trimmed it with an Azek knockoff of 1x5 white artificial wood that I bought from Home Depot for $11 per 8' board.
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A square of cedar shingles went for $167 which seemed expensive to me. I think I'll need at least one more square, then I'll continue shingling under the deck.
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The doors are being fabricated from the old pine countertop that was in the basement. Kevin Rockett ripped it out when he did the basement tiling, and it's been under the deck in all 18' of linear glory ever since.
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I like to reuse things like the countertop when I do new projects.... Not because of any environmental reason, but because seeing the material in a new use reminds me of some of the stuff that happened around it while it was a countertop in it's older use. That's why I loved using the cedar from my mother's hope chest in my Grandson Will's toy box.
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I cut the countertop into 4' lengths with my vintage Milwaukee worm drive circular saw and will stack these panels with cleats to form two hinged doors tomorrow.
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Then I'll add some hardware so that the doors can be locked, and we will be good to go - loading the shed shelves with the tool crates, hanging the garden hand tools and storing the lawnmower and powerwasher.
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It's not happening a minute too soon either, because Joanne is continually asking about the corner HDTV cabinet that I have cut the stock for in the garage, and Mike is working me over about finishing the basement. He even offered to help. We'll see how that transpires.
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I'll show some pictures of the Shed when it's done, so please don't think you can feel free to just drop by and see it. That includes you McMahon.!

Hurricane McCain-Palin

I know that his Blog has moved a bit away from boatbuilding and more into witnessing how the media elite would like to manipulate the Presidential election. And I'll have to admit that if McCain chose someone like Mitt Romney for his running mate, I'd be far less inclined to follow his campaign.
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But McCain showed some real insight in his choice of Palin, and when he says that he wants to shake up the system, he now has total credibility. Isn't that freaking refreshing???
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I was impressed that Obama secured the nomination as a minority, but in the back of my mind, he was a slick talking, Chicago machine pol with nothing of a policy nature that is remarkable in his short public resume. We now know quite a bit of what McCain and Palin did in their public careers - McCain with campaign reform and rooting out pork - Palin with energy policy and bureaucratic reform.
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Tell me one thing that Obama did.... My point exactly.
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Barach looks like a go along guy. Go along with Daly Chicago politics, go along with racist remarks at his church, go along with fat cats who want to give him real estate deals to ingratiate him.
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I've known guys like Obama all of my life. They see public office as a personal career, not as a vehicle to serve. They are get along guys who say what needs to be said, and align themselves with people on the basis of personal enrichment. Hang out with a Weatherman Terrorist one day, deny him the next. It is the politics of enrichment and convenience.
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I think that the media frequently likes this type of politician, because he/she will do their biding, and will pander to their media careers first before attending to the public needs. When I was a public official in Lynn, the most corrupt backroom pols could get the Boston Globe to say anything that they wanted. As a young liberal, I was astounded - but now as a thinking conservative, it makes sense.
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There is a place for this type of politician, but not the White House.
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I know that this Blog is supposed to be about building the Marblehead Gunning Dory, but I am hopelessly sidetracked while this refreshing wind of political reform is blowing by Hurricane McCain-Palin into the faces of the media elite.
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So the Dory is delayed again... But I will get back to it. Definitely by November.

Hurricane Ike

News reporters getting blown around and soaked with a microphone in their hand, purporting to report on a hurricane are stupid.
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You can tell me about a storm without standing outside in it. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Charlie Gibson out there.