Saturday, November 29, 2008

Something new for us

One day while Jeff was on the pier he spotted a crab. As he talked about it with his golf buddies he found out that lots of people catch them and eat 'em. Let's try it. I love crab. He purchased a crab trap from the local tackle shop and on Wednesday evening he and Brad put the Thanksgiving turkey's neck in the the trap.
They went over to the house (in the dark) and lowered it into the water. Next morning we all went over to check on the trap. We only had one. We left it in the water and checked it again later that day -- 3 more. We were too full from Thanksgiving dinner so we decided to leave them in there until Friday. When Jeff and Brad pulled it up we had one more -- 4 blue crabs and one stone crab. I didn't know there were stone crabs this far north. Stone crab claws are the best.
We did some research on how to prepare them and decided to steam them outside on the grill.
After steaming them in beer, vinegar and Old Bay Seasoning they were ready to dump on a pile of newspapers. Now what?? You start by breaking the apron off and lift the top shell off. Remove the gills and break down the center. Now all the crab meat is exposed and you just start eating. No butter necessary. The stone crab was the best. You would have to have a lot more crabs if you were going to make this a meal but they sure were good.

More Than Fishing

The Eckmann family went fishing in the bay on Friday. Our guide Jason took us deep into the Choctawhatchee Bay. It was beautiful.
We had to catch our own bait -- well Jason caught the bait with a net as Captain Brooke drove the boat. She was in her glory. He took us down a narrow bayou that was very peaceful. As Jason was getting everybody's hook ready I was admiring the setting. Wait -- is that a nest in the tree?
Yep -- not just one nest but there were two nests. What is that sitting in that tree? I got the camera out and put on the BIG lens. Looks like an eagle. Jason said it could be an osprey. I looked in my camera case and I had binoculars.

Focus -- Focus Oh my gosh not one eagle but two eagles. As everybody fished I watched the eagles. What a sight. We or should I say the family was fishing for trout. Brooke caught the biggest. Wait what is that in the water? Two dolphins. Jason was not pleased because he said they eat the fish we are trying to catch. I didn't care -- they are incredible creatures.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bonus Bonus Bonus

I love penny slots. Sunday evening Jeff and I went to Horseshoe Casino in Indiana. I got my usual $200 from Jeff and headed to the penny slots. I know they don't pay but they are so much fun AND ADDICTING. My friend Pam suggested I go to her cascading shopping machine. I headed that way and of course somebody else was on it so I sat down beside her waiting for her to leave the machine. As I waited I put in $50 in the Great Wall machine. I have played it before but it never did anything for me but it wanted to play Sunday night -- bonus after bonus. Bonuses are the best part of slots. I was playing $.60 at a time -- that's 30 lines times 2. High roller. hahaha



That's $143.50 for a $.60 bet on one bonus. I cashed out since I more than doubled my money and put in a another $50. I got it up to $89 when it started to cool down -- time to move machines. It was a good night.