Sunday we took the boat out so our friend Roger could could snag some Spoonbill. I had no idea what snagging meant or even what a Spoonbill was. I was in for a crash course! After watching the guys try to install the fish finder most of the afternoon, they decided it was defecting and packed it up to return it to Bass Pro. They were convinced that they would need the device in order to find the Spoonbill. We girls had decided that we were going to go out on the lake whether they fished or not. The guys decided to take a shot in the dark and go where they had caught a Spoonbill before.

Now this snagging is a lot of work. Roger was the only one fishing because you have to have a special license to snag Spoonbill. My brother drove while Roger sat on the back seat of the boat. He pulled out a very long, thick fishing rod with line on it the size of clothes line wire. Maybe just a bit thinner but this is a fishing story after all. I asked him how long it took to snag one as if he could get one anytime he wanted. He told me that his quickest time was 2 hours. I could not believe anyone could continue doing that for a minimum of 2 hours but he assured me it was worth the wait.

As luck would have it, we didn’t have to wait very long. After only 25 minutes of snagging I watched the fishing rod bend as if it would break. Roger starting reeling in it and Sammy cut the engine. After a small battle, Roger had the Spoonbill on the deck of the boat. I now understood the meaning of ‘snagging’. The fish don’t actually bite the huge hook. In this case, he snagged it’s back. I’m new to fishing and I had never seen anything like this Spoonbill before. It was rubber feeling and very interesting looking. Of course by the time I got up the courage to touch it, the guys made some loud noise and it scared me so much that I screamed. “City girl” I believe is what they called me, but whatever. ewww! I also got a little freaked out when someone pointed out that I had a spot of fish blood on my leg. There was a lot more blood than I would expect.

Roger got out a rope and fed it through the fish’s mouth and out the gill for a make shift stringer. After tying one end to the boat, he dropped it back over the side so the fish would stay alive. We then had to call the Fishery and report the catch.

Apparently the Spoonbill eggs are a hot commodity. They are sold overseas for the going rate of $750 per pound! A person cannot keep the eggs to sell themselves, it is a felony if caught. They guys had a friend that had no prior record but got caught selling the eggs and went to prison for 3 years.

So we had to tag the fish, just like you would a dear. Roger fed a wire through the mouth of the fish with his tag attached. The Spoonbill eggs have such a demand that the fishery has research stations set up where you turn over your catch of the day, limit one per day, and they clean them, fillet them and shrink wrap them for you free of charge. The only catch, (no pun intended) they get to keep the eggs. Seems like a fair trade to me!

There were tables set up out front where the workers would clip the bottom lip of the fish in 3 places with wire cutters. They would then slide out a bone looking thing and discard it. They tagged each fish and then put them on a meat hook that took them inside a trailer. We asked permission for me to go inside so I could see the process. It was a small trailer with work stations. There were 6 guys working and each had a specific job. When the fish came in, one guy would make a slit down the center, the next guy would remove the gross intestinal stuff. The next guy would pull the eggs out. When I first saw this, I had no idea what was going on. It looked as if the fish had been packed with that dark gray styrofoam. I didn’t realize what it was until the a guy put them into a stainless steel bowl and brought them to a scale near me. I got an up-close view of Spoonbill caviar. The eggs looked like millions of little BB’s. This particular female fish weighed 56 lbs and had 12 lbs of eggs. I was in shock! This fish was worth $9,000!! After the eggs were extracted another guy cut the fillets. The fillets were then turned over to a guy who had something that looked like an electric potato peeler that took the skin off in a few seconds. They rinsed the huge fillets and then sealed them in a bag all the while keeping each label with each fish so you knew you were getting your actual fish. Spoonbill only have one small bone right down the center of their back. When they were done, there was a Spoonbill head and spine hanging from this meat hook. Again, just let me say, ewww! When they finished with our fish, I stepped outside and waited for them to deliver the fillets. One of the workers inside the trailer told me that the day before on Saturday, they had 16 workers and when they have a full house like that, it only takes 2.5 minutes from beginning to end. I was excited at the thought of seeing how many eggs our fish had. It was 25lbs with no eggs, it was male. Of course, the guys already knew this. The fish egg excavator guy told me that the males have little bumps on the back.

So we got our fillets, stopped at the store for some Bay seasoning and headed home to have supper. There were two huge fillets and each one would have fed maybe 6-8 people. In our case, one fillet fed 4 people and a Blue Healer. Sammy and Roger cut the fish into 4 pieces and placed each piece in foil, topped with butter, Bay’s Seasoning and red onion. In about 15 minutes the 1″ thick fish fillets were done and they were delicious.

Roger & the spoonbill

Like I said, I am new to fishing so to a lot of you, this is no big deal but it was awesome to see a fish caught at 4:55 and be eating it at 8. I probably won’t be snagging anytime soon but I can’t wait to go fishing and I think I may have found a new hobby.

I was so wrapped up in Bella and Edward that I found myself reading on my lunch hour, every night and anytime I could find. I like to read but I don’t love to read. Until now. I finished Twilight and New Moon in record time. I am now starting Eclipse.

The Edward Cullen character was so amazing! Such a sweet, thoughtful, protective vampire! My husband loves to watch me read because I really get into it. I didn’t notice that I would gasp or sigh when I read until I noticed him staring at me in amusement. I had to laugh out loud yesterday when I was reading at lunch when I gasped while putting my free hand to my mouth. I had an OMG moment when Edward asked Bella to marry him. I know my darling husband would have enjoyed seeing that.

We hesitated to buy these books for Brooke because I thought they were about blood sucking vampires doomed to live a life of damnation. I didn’t realize it was simply a love story.

I can’t wait to watch New Moon with Brooke. Twilight has been a bonding exercise for us both. When I finish the next two books, I’m going to read Stephanie Meyer’s book for adults, The Host.

I enjoyed watching Twilight with Brooke too. That Robert Pattinson is something else! So if you have a teen daughter you might think about reading the books. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them and it will make her friends think you are the coolest mom ever! : )

The scientists, from the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) in Brisbane identified the TCHH gene (trichohyalin) on chromosome one as the major gene controlling the curliness of hair. TCHH has been known for over twenty years to play a role in the development of hair follicles. It is expressed in the inner root sheath of developing hair follicles.

Leader of the team, Professor Nick Martin said that variations in the gene determine how straight or curly the hair is, but more work is needed to determine the exact variant that influences curliness. Professor Martin said a variation that causes a change in an amino acid is the most likely contender.

Hair morphology has been studied extensively in Asian populations, and research carried out in Japan last year determined the genetic basis for the straight, thick hair common in East Asian populations. The differences in the FGFR2 and EDAR genes found in Asia are thought to have originated after East Asian and European populations diverged. Much less is known about the genetic basis of straight and curly hair in Europeans.

The study analyzed data collected from a 30-year study of 5000 twins of European ancestry. The twins were asked whether their hair was curly, wavy or straight, and the researchers then tried to match the hair type against the data on the genomes of the twins.

The paper was published on November 5 in the online edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics. The research is likely to have applications in the cosmetics industry and in forensics, where the knowledge may help in identifications.

More information: Common Variants in the Trichohyalin Gene Are Associated with Straight Hair in Europeans, The American Journal of Human Genetics, 09 November 2009, doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2009.10.009

A woman came in to my place of employment last week and wanted to put up a flyer of her daughter that was an advertisement for a child beauty pageant which is ridiculous enough. I wouldn’t have let her post it but she was talking to a co-worker who was nicer than me. I wanted to strangle her as she was going on and on about how these pageants build “confidence” and “character”. I remember rolling my eyes and thinking, it builds the child’s confidence or yours? How could you parade your little girl around like a prized Pomeranian?

Very seldom does a day go buy that I don’t mumble under my breath “what a freaking idiot”. Is the world full of idiots or am I becoming intolerant? I am a very happy person but it seems that I have totally lost my patience for stupid people.

A girl came in today that wanted an application for “whatever position we had open”. She just moved to town and felt that she was qualified for anything we had, I assume. Keep in mind, I work in an office environment, not Burger King. She had a piercing in her face and a some tattoos. I immediately thought, “freaking idiot”. I had to step back and try to channel that nice person who didn’t judge people by their tattoos, or appearance in general. It was difficult but I think I found her, if only briefly.

I will try to be nicer but I can’t wait until that damn pageant is over and the Pomeranian flyer is taken down. Freaking Idiot.

Last night I saw an ant in the pantry, the little bitty ones. My husband and I gathered boxes and laundry baskets and cleaned all the food and small appliances out of our enormous pantry. I mixed up a solution of vinegar, borax, a little dish soap and water to clean the pantry shelves and floor. I had been meaning to do that for about a month now anyway. I did find lots of crumbs and some cereal on the back of shelves, my bad.

After I cleaned all the shelves and small appliances we put it all back and I was happy! As a precaution, I placed a paper towel soaked in the cleaning solution on each shelf and a small container of vinegar on a lower shelf.

This morning, I saw another ant and I went nuts! I cleared the pantry out again but before I put the food back, I got on line to see what kind of ‘ant cure’ I could find that was all natural and safe for the dogs. While searching, I even found people who LOVE ants and won’t even give advice on how to get rid of them. I didn’t ask but I looked around and was thinking about it when I saw a post that said ‘don’t even ask’. What a kook!

I saw an ant on the counter so I tested with cinnamon, I think he ate it. I tested with borax and he ran. So I trapped him in a 3″ diameter circle. He was running in circles for 10 minutes! If he went another 10 minutes, I was going to break out the video camera! Well, he finally crossed the line and died. I found another victim but he was stronger and kept crossing the line. So I made the borax barrier taller, didn’t help. I buried him in borax but he kept climbing out and running. I finally got him with my finger. lol I wish I had a magnifying glass.

I am getting obsessed and frustrated. I cannot find out where they are coming in and it is pissing me off. There aren’t a lot of them that I see at once, just 5 or 6. We had put banana peels and apple cores in the trash this morning so I put that in the garage and everything in the pantry is sealed so will they just go away if they can’t get to anything? Any suggestions would be appreciated!! Until then, the bottom of the pantry is sprinkled (heavily) with borax. Smells good though.

UPDATE!

I just read on wikihow that borax should be treated like a poison!!! I have just vacuumed the pantry and cleaned it again for the 3rd time in 12 hours. *heavy sigh*

He is supposed to be smoking them outside but tonight he was standing in the living room and lit one up while giving me that “I’m so sexy” look. I started laughing as usual. We were enjoying a hardy laugh when the smoke detector went off. The dumb ass was standing right under it. LOL

Movie Etiquette Guide

Shoes

If you’ve ever been told that your feet stink, if you suspect your feet may stink, if you’ve even smelled stinky feet, leave your damn shoes on! It is very offensive to those around you but we won’t bother to ask who stinks, because you wouldn’t fess up anyway.

Candy wrappers

Listen, I understand that you feel it is best to slowly, slowly tear the package open during loud parts of the movie but has it ever occurred to you that the wrapper is only inches from the person in front of you? PLEASE, go ahead and open it all at once. However, after you open your M&M’s DO NOT shove your fat fingers into the package to get out each and every piece of candy. Just pour out a few in your chubby hand and then shove them into your mouth. Each time you jam your fat fingers into the package, the person in front of you is distracted. I swear that some people just try to be as loud as possible.

Popcorn

There was a couple eating popcorn so loudly last week that I TRIED to eat popcorn with my mouth open and still couldn’t be as loud. I ended up moving to the other side of my husband instead of directly in front of them. All you have to do is chew with your mouth closed! Again, something mommy & daddy should have taught you.

Kids

Now that YOU are the mommy or daddy, teach your kids to STOP KICKING MY SEAT.

Talking

SHUT UP! Last night during the movie I found out from a couple 2 rows back that Randy’s girlfriend Jennifer was cheating on him with Mark while Randy was in Europe. Poor Randy was in Europe 4 days before Jennifer joined him and is still oblivious to her antics.

Also, if your friend, significant other or spouse really needs you to loudly explain the entire movie, maybe it is best that you wait for the DVD, is it really worth all that trouble? I am very guilty of leaning over to WHISPER something to my husband but I promise you, no one else around me can hear and I even hesitate to do that.

My Plea

I live by the golden rule, I have taught my children to live by the golden rule. Why can’t people be more aware of their surroundings and more considerate of others? How hard is it? I don’t want to give the impression that I have zero tolerance. Believe me, at least 2 of the above happens to us each time we go see a movie. I just can’t take it anymore! I want to have a good time and I want YOU to have a good time too but just think about the people around you and make an effort to be courteous.

The Solution?

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, what I am really looking for is a solution. In reality I would never address any one of these issues with the person. Well, that isn’t entirely true. I have been known to politely ‘shhh’ someone but how do you all handle it? Do you move? What if the theater is crowded? Do you tolerate it? Anything would be of help. Until then, see you on the back row!