You’ll be shocked to hear that Duhdee and Grampa went fishing again, I’m sure. They leave each morning at 5:30 or 6. Do you think it’s possible to get Duhdee out of bed that early for anything else? Here’s another question, do you think it’s possible to get me out of bed that early for…uh…anything? I might, might, consider getting up that early to get on a plane to some exotic location where I’d be pampered and have every whim catered to for a week month but to spend 5 or 6 hours on a boat driving in circles at 1.8 MPH ((the official trolling speed))? No way, José. And the fact that they do this day after day while on vacation is a bit nutty, no? And the fact is that they do this day after day while on vacation and don’t always catch anything legal to keep (and sometimes anything at all.) That seems a bit nuttier. But, hey, who am I to cast the nutty stone?
Today, I don’t know if they caught any keepers, small ones or if they were totally skunked. I neither asked nor listened if the topic arose. But, as I’ve heard my dad say before, the worst day on the lake is better than the best day at work…and even I would have to agree with that. So, I’m sure they had a great time. In fact, let’s just assume that. I don’t feel like asking now.
While they were out on the lake, Monkey was stubbornly refusing to do anything at all. I have been taking him to the dock so Grampa and Duhdee can pick him up for a couple hours on the lake but when I asked him yesterday he told me, “No, Mommy. Stay here, upstairs.” So, that’s pretty much what we did. He played with some of his toys for a while but mostly just wanted to hug on me. I can handle a few hours of that!
In the evening, after dinner ((which was a roast, cooked on the grill…who knew that was even possible?)), we decided we needed to go into town for ice cream since we had not been in for ice cream yet ((shh, do not tell anyone that Duhdee and I had already been earlier this week!!)). We took some, uh, bread…the ends that no one eats ((the word is totally escaping me at the moment))…for the ducks. There is a pond behind the ice cream shop with hundreds of ducks in it. Back when I was a kid, the shop sold bags of cracked corn for $.50 a bag so you could feed the ducks. Then the flock grew and grew leaving lots and lots of duck poop all over the lawn and polluting the waterline so they stopped doing that. People will still sometimes bring their own food so the flock never disappears but it’s nowhere near as large as it used to be and the back lawn is marginally cleaner.
I can’t recall off the top of my head if Monkey has ever been to feed ducks before. It’s pretty much banned everywhere these days because of the mess the ducks (and the inevitable Canada Geese) make. I get it. I hate parks covered in duck and goose poop and I know you don’t want to make wildlife dependent on humans either but it does seem like such an innocent childhood thing to do and it’s kind of sad that it’s not done, IMO. Regardless, we took our own bread ((HEELS!!)) and Monkey had a great time. He thought it was hilarious to watch the ducks scramble around trying to get a bite of bread. A few of the braver ones, including 2 ducklings from this year’s brood, came up on land and ate from our hands. The ducklings, in fact, were really aggressive bordering on threatening. I think they might have gone for our toes if we hadn’t coughed up the bread!
After we finished the ice cream and ran out of bread we beat a hasty retreat to “Grammy’s van” for an hour of moosin’. We had a nice ride and we saw 2 moose (also, a deer, as a bonus.) The best part of the trip though was when Monkey totally messed with Grampa, lol. “Grammy’s van” has a bunch of drop down doors to storage areas on the ceiling between the driver’s seat and the front passenger’s seat. Monkey kept saying, “Grampa, open!” and Grampa would open a door. Monkey would then reply, “Noooo!” in this “You’re so silly!” tone. Then he would try again, “Grampa, open!” Grampa tried every door, several times, and got the same reply each time. After a few minutes we were all laughing so hard it was hard for Grampa to talk. Monkey was very amused with himself.
Oh! Dinner last night was very good! I’ve discovered my new favorite summer cocktail, “Maine Blueberry Lemonade.” It’s Stoli Blueberi vodka, lemonade and a few squished blueberries in the bottom. Mmmm, yum! We had crab fondue for an appetizer, I had a sirloin and Duhdee had duck. Gosh, I hope it we weren’t out feeding the duck’s siblings today…
I may have, when I was younger, been the one in the boat with my father and my uncle (an avid fisherman), singing, “Fishing is so boring. You just sit here. In. A. Boat. Fishing.”