Monday, August 3, 2015

Fishing: Good, great and even better.

I got invited to go fishing on a rental boat last week. I had been meaning to go. For a couple months now, my 5 year-old has been asking to go. Her first (and second and third) time fishing. My 8 year-old had fun enough, but didn't really take to it.

So, when I got the invite, I asked if we could bring my 5 year-old along. We went out in some fairly rough inshore seas from a moon tide, and had a pretty dismal first hour with 1 sea robin caught.

After that, the seas subsided and the wind stopped gusting. Then, it was nearly lock and load fishing... for everyone but me. My daughter pulled up a bunch of black seabass and scup (aka, porgies). I managed a couple of keeper scup. I did manage to pull in 3 short fluke, but no keepers.

At the end of the day, we went home with 8 good sized scup and 3 black seabass. More importantly, I got a day on the water. Most importantly, my daughter got a day on the water.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Chickens go for a walk

Chickens grow fast. The typical supermarket bird is 8-12 weeks old. That means they go from palm-of-your-hand to a large roaster in a few months. The traditional breeds that we choose are a bit slower growing, but they still grow fast. In fact, they are quickly out-growing their plastic tub.

We decided to let them go outside today. I had some plastic chicken "wire" fencing. I used some sticks and stakes to form an enclosure out on the grass. They spent most of the day outside. They'll probably be outside permanently by the end of the week.