Routine or Not?

I don't think you could hardly consider three blog posts in a row, routine. But the fact is I am making the attempt to come back and get to the writing again. Of course, though, life sometimes gets in the way of that. My DSs 3, 4, and me are heading out to go scalloping this week.

For those of you who have no idea what that is...I am going to leave you with a recap post (with a few updates) from a couple of years ago:

OK, I've had a couple of people ask, "Just HOW do you scallop?" Sooooo...for anyone who is not from the Gulf Coast of Florida, here's how:

1. You must have the proper "equipment". This includes a snorkel, mask, fins, and mesh net or bag. You must also have a red "dive flag". Water shoes are helpful for the "ewwww" factor when you step into underwater grassbeds--if you don't wear fins. We like to use "noodles" to float on as well occasionally. I also use a small net for "scooping"...but the rest of my family just grabs them by hand (I'm getting ahead of myself.).


The photo on the left is my Dad and DS 3 showing off their "scalloping gear". DS 3 was four or five years old at the time. He's now 6'2" and almost 15! Aren't they a fine looking pair?

2. In the Gulf, you cannot start scalloping until July 1st. The season ends Sept. 10th, but let me just say the waters are CRAWLING with people scalloping during the first week of July. The picture to the right shows my DSs 1, 2, and 4 in 2000 going out to the Scallop grounds in Steinhatchee which is Northern Florida.


3. We go about a mile or two out into the Gulf where the seagrass beds are in about 4 - 8 feet of water. The trick to catching them is to FIND them! On sunny days, the sun seems to shine on their eyes which are all along the inside of their shells. Otherwise, they can blend in with the grass pretty well. Once you see one, you scoop it up and put it in your bag. The bag allows you to stay under water for quite a while so you can collect several.

4. When you catch them, you put them on ice so they will open up. Some are more"stubborn" than others and open very little if at all. The limit in Florida for whole scallops is 2 gallons per day per person---or 10 gallons per boat. The limit for shelled scallops is 1 pint of meat per day...think about that...2 gallons with the shells is roughly equal to two small "school size" milk cartons! The photo on the left shows DS 4 "dumping" our catch into the cooler when he was probably 2 or 3 years old.


5. Now the "FUN" part is CLEANING the darn things! DS 4 loved exploring them as a child.

6. You can open the scallop by sticking a spoon or a knife at the back part near the hinges. You kind of slide the knife around the opening carefully and it will "lift away" the shell. If you hold the dark side up, you won't ruin the meat inside.


7. The "innards" look like this:


This is the "tricky" part. If you take your knife and gently pull the "gross" stuff ...that's the dark brownish/yellowish "junk"... away from the muscle that's in the middle of the shell...it's possible to pull it off in one fell swoop (as Grandma would say). And speaking of Grandma, the photo just above is my Grandma and me scooping the GUTS out of the scallops while DS 4 looks on. Doesn't she look THRILLED??


8. When you get the "goop" out, there is a nice white muscle left. It looks like this:



You just scoop it out and you're ready to COOK them and EAT THEM!



It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too. If you want to skip steps 5 - 8, and just do the "eating", then you can pay for someone at a dock to do them for you. They are FAST and sometimes it's worth it.



So, if any of you are in or near the Gulf Coast of Florida from Homosassa up to Steinhatchee from July 1st though Sept. 10th, you can go "get yourself some supper"!



{Note: I borrowed the close-up scallop pictures from this website. I just thought I'd go ahead and paste them here to preserve my directions for years to come! Plus that, I thought I'd send my extended family into total shock that I would post this little "how-to" manual!}

Until I return...

Stop #1 on our tour...

Homosassa Florida!

Here are the pictures from scalloping. For a picture of Danielle and me, head over to her post, It's All About Relationships where she so graciously cropped our picture! My picture of us is on my stepmother's camera. I'll have it later when she uploads her photos.

Scalloping 101

OK, I've had a couple of people ask, "Just HOW do you scallop?" Sooooo...for anyone who is not from the Gulf Coast of Florida, here's how:

1. You must have the proper "equipment". This includes a snorkel, mask, fins, and mesh net or bag. You must also have a red "dive flag". Water shoes are helpful for the "ewwww" factor when you step into underwater grassbeds--if you don't wear fins. We like to use "noodles" to float on as well occasionally. I also use a small net for "scooping"...but the rest of my family just grabs them by hand (I'm getting ahead of myself.).

The photo on the left is my Dad and DS 3 showing off their "scalloping gear". Aren't they a fine looking pair?

2. In the Gulf, you cannot start scalloping until July 1st. The season ends Sept. 10th, but let me just say the waters are CRAWLING with people scalloping during the first week of July. The picture to the right shows my DSs 1, 2, and 4 in 2000 going out to the Scallop grounds in Steinhatchee which is Northern Florida.

3. We go about a mile or two out into the Gulf where the seagrass beds are in about 4 - 8 feet of water. The trick to catching them is to FIND them! On sunny days, the sun seems to shine on their eyes which are all along the inside of their shells. Otherwise, they can blend in with the grass pretty well. Once you see one, you scoop it up and put it in your bag. The bag allows you to stay under water for quite a while so you can collect several.

4. When you catch them, you put them on ice so they will open up. Some are more"stubborn" than others and open very little if at all. The limit in Florida for whole scallops is 2 gallons per day per person---or 10 gallons per boat. The limit for shelled scallops is 1 pint of meat per day...think about that...2 gallons with the shells is roughly equal to two small "school size" milk cartons! The photo on the left shows DS 4 "dumping" our catch into the cooler.

5. Now the "FUN" part is CLEANING the darn things!

6. You can open the scallop by sticking a spoon or a knife at the back part near the hinges. You kind of slide the knife around the opening carefully and it will "lift away" the shell. If you hold the dark side up, you won't ruin the meat inside.

7. The "innards" look like this:

This is the "tricky" part. If you take your knife and gently pull the "gross" stuff ...that's the dark brownish/yellowish "junk"... away from the muscle that's in the middle of the shell...it's possible to pull it off in one fell swoop (as Grandma would say). And speaking of Grandma, the photo just above is my Grandma and me scooping the GUTS out of the scallops while DS 4 looks on. Doesn't she look THRILLED??

8. When you get the "goop" out, there is a nice white muscle left. It looks like this:

You just scoop it out and you're ready to EAT THEM!

It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too. If you want to skip steps 5 - 8, and just do the "eating", then you can pay for someone at a dock to do them for you. They are FAST and sometimes it's worth it.

So, if any of you are in or near the Gulf Coast of Florida from Homosassa up to Steinhatchee from July 1st though Sept. 10th, you can go "get yourself some supper"!

{Note: I borrowed the close-up scallop pictures from this website. I just thought I'd go ahead and paste them here to preserve my directions for years to come! Plus that, I thought I'd send my extended family into total shock that I would post this little "how-to" manual!}

Wordless Wednesday--Water Fun

It's Saturday Morning 6:52am, Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

I thought my answer was YES! But this morning, I learned otherwise. You see, I was having a peaceful slumber...visiting dreamland when I heard a BANG! BANG! BANG!on my bedroom door. It was followed quickly by the burst of air as the door opened and DS 4 shouting excitedly, "MOM, I caught a FISH!"

Now, if you are not a regular blog reader of mine, you probably don't know that I am NOT an early riser. And I am not a "quick riser" either...I have to get my bearings...you know, kind of EASE into the day. Thank goodness, DH balances me out in this department. He does hop out of bed pretty quick in the mornings.

But, upon hearing the BANG and the announcement, neither of us moved too quick this morning. DH said, "Do you need help getting it off the line?" To which DS 4 replied, "Yes." And he was gone, back out to the pond.

It has taken me longer to type this than the exchange actually took. I
looked at the clock when he entered at 6:52am and it was still 6:52 when he was
back out the door and outside.

By 6:53am reality hit me and I thought, "SURELY he is NOT outside fishing at this hour?" But as DH went outside to help take the fish off the line, I knew it was true. This thought was followed by, "What horrible parents we are not knowing that our youngest son is outside the house!" DH came back inside and told me that DS 4 announced, "This is a REALLY good time to fish, Dad!"

Most reasonable families probably DID know where their children were at that hour on a Saturday morning. And I suspect, most 8-year-olds were IN BED where they belonged. I haven't even asked DS 4 what posessed him to get up and go fishing...but then I am not sure that's a question that you ask someone who really considers himself a "Fisherman". (By the way, I DID know where all THREE of my Teens were...and they WERE where they were supposed to be!!)

DS 4 has been fishing pretty much all morning. He's caught (and released) two fish as I type this. I'm glad he's figured out what time it's best to fish...because two years ago he figured out what time NOT to fish

To figure out the mystery of WHY someone would WANT to get out of a perfectly comfy bed and sit on the bank of a pond, I went to Google and looked up fishing quotes...here are two that I think pretty much sum up DS 4's fishing drive:

Good things come to those who bait. ~Author Unknown

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. ~John Buchan

And so I find myself now saying...

Hope on, son, hope on!!

There's Nothing FISHY Here...It's Just Brotherly Love!

Yesterday, I charged DS 2 with watching his youngest brother for me while I went to work. He agreed to make it kind of a special and fun day for him.

In the morning I called to see what was up and DS 3 answered. He told me everyone was gone and he didn't know where they went.

Later, I called DS 2 on his cell phone and found out that he and DS 4 had gone to pick up his schedule at the high school. I can only imagine this 7 yr. old boy going onto the high school campus with his big brother. He must have been beside himself!!

DS 2 continued to tell me the plan for the day. He and DS 3 were going to take their little brother fishing out to the beach. They borrowed salt water poles. Then they were going to go hit a bucket of balls at the driving range.

In the middle of the day, they stopped at their Grandparents and had some peach and blueberry pie! Thank goodness for Grandma's Kitchen and all the yummy stuff that is created there!!

When I got home last night, I was surprised to find out that DS 2 and 4 were going BACK out to fish some more. They left just after 6:30 and didn't get home until almost 11:00! They caught two fish. One they had to throw back and the other, they brought home. It was a small red snapper.

Now, I HAD to go to bed because today is my first "official" day back at work...so I had to get up early. I went to sleep to the sound and smells (yuck) of fish cleaning and cooking so they could "taste" the "fruit" of all their labor.

I woke up at midnight and checked on them and all was cleaned and put away. I am sure that DS 4 went to bed with visions of fishing poles dancing in his head. I am so thankful that they spent this special time together...

I can almost hear them in 20 or so years: DS 4 will say, "M, do you remember when you took me fishing at the beach and we caught that fish? And, do you remember that we came right home and cleaned and cooked it?"

And I am sure they will both smile as they look back! Have a GREAT day!!

It's Fishin Time!

I got a call from son #4 today. He is with his 2 Grandparents, 2 brothers, 1 Uncle, 2 Aunts, and 2 cousins at the "river". They are fishing and scalloping on this holiday weekend.

He dropped a line last night and caught a fish. He made sure to tell me that it was a catfish and his was 18" while his bigger brother's was only 14". He also made sure that I understood that he picked up the pole again at "2:27 today and there were no fish out at that time." But, he's hopeful that things will change around 4:00 and they'll come around again.

It's all in the details, you know?

I learned some things from him today.

• Size matters when you're six-years-old. (For that matter, it matters when you're 40!)
• Success one time doesn't mean you'll have success in subsequent attempts.
• We have to trust that things might be different at a later time and date and have the faith to try then.

And, I suppose the biggest lesson of all:

• NEVER fish at 2:27!

Have fun, son!!!