Red Sox Win! (ALDS)

Yeah! What a game... What a series! Well, actually, I slept through the first two games. I was so frustrated with myself, and felt like such a bad fan, (but I did catch up on all the plays and scores on mlb the next morning). I just got sucked in by those wonderful bean-bag chairs while putting the kids to bed and the next thing I knew it was 3 am. I marathonned through the 5 1/2-hour 3rd game's loss, and kicked myself for NOT opting for the bean-bags that night. (Still a great game!)

Then tonight... TONIGHT! Tonight those Sox, they launched me on the requisite Red Sox Fan's roller coaster ride, right down to the finish. Way to go good old V-Tech with that key out on the suicide squeeze. How in the world does he get those duck legs going so fast? Way to go OTHER Jason with the big double and perfect slide home on Lowrie's base hit. Lester was dead on, Kotsay (sp) rocked, Pedroia, Youk... What a great game. It's so fun to be a Sox Fan. Can't wait for the Rays series. Oooooh it's gonna be good.

Little Neck Day

Yesterday, in Brewster, was the start of Little-Neck Week. (Small Quahogs or Hardshell Clams). It was cool and drizzly, but the usual crowd was out. The first photo was at the very beginning of the tide, as it went out futher, more people showed up. Eventually, there were probably about 100 people out there. The clams are good raw, in a garlic broth (thanks for the recipe, Keith!) or cooked on the grill in thier own juice. I got about 60 which made my week's limit of 5 quarts.

False Albacore Craziness

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In times of trouble, you can worry about how things are going to turn out or, try to avoid the thought of it all. One good way to avoid thinking about horrible things, like what's happening to your life's savings, is to spend it and go fishing. If you're fishing for hard-to-catch fish like the greyhound of the sea... the false albacore, then you have no time to think about anything but getting the fish ON the hook. Then, if and when you DO get one of these suckers to bite... all you can do is think about how to keep him on the line right to the edge of the boat. (More pics on my flickr site)

Keith Kreeger and I went out with Alan Hastbaka of "Got Stryper Charters" this past Tuesday in search of the speedy "False Albacore." Alan knew they would be off Nantucket, and didn't waste any time hauling right over there. Even though some of his guide-buddies were chiming in from the Monomoy Rips, Alan played his hunch and it payed off. We got into them within the first hour of arriving at our spot and the action heated up steadily until the tide turned. Then it became spotty and the fish got REALLY finicky.

Keith was using spinning gear and had 2 for 4. These were his first false albacores, so it was exciting for me to share in his initiation. I had a couple bumps on my fly rod early, but they didn't feel like albies. Finally, after changing to intermediate line on a tip from one of Alan's guide buddies, I hooked up and landed this beautiful 11+ pounder. (It may have been more, but Alan only weighed HIS fish!) Mine was about the same size, if not slightly bigger than his (which was 11.4 lbs), so that's why I'm guessing 11+.

Toward the end of the trip, as the action slowed, we watched some kind of jacks congregating below the boat. It was pretty cool to see jacks, if that's what they were, this far up the coast. Keith was fooling with them with his albie rig and managed to tease up a scup. (Photo at right: not quite the fight of an albie, but still a fish!)

All in all a great day.

15 Year Anniversary at Chillingsworth

Hey!
Married 15 years now... Amy and I just celebrated our 15th anniversary. Good time... most expensive french food in town, parents babysitting, pouring rain, hurricane on the way, power out during coffee, too dark to use the bathroom at the restaurant, used the beach instead... romantic? almost. Now putting the 1-month old to bed. sigh...

Cake 13 - Mixed Media - Butter Cream on Chocolate

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Max turned 8 a few days ago, but we celebrated his birthday today. Every year I make a cake for the kids on their birthday (Max 8 and Sophie 5). This was Cake no. 13. Sadly, it's the only art I do these days. Fortunately, it's fun! This year Max had no idea what theme he wanted. A dinosaur would have been a good way to go, but apparently I've done two for him in the past. I remember one. I can barely remember my street address let alone what cakes I've made over the past 8 years, so I didnt' argue.

So what to do? He loves baseball, and with the season coming to and end and an all but guaranteed slot in the playoffs, I went with Fenway Park. He (we) had gotten a pair of tickets from Amy's Dad as an early birthday present this year. We watched them beat Texas back in August for Max's first-watched-win at Fenway (poor kid, he's 1 for 4).

These are the pics of the cake. I have pics of the Mini Golf party up on Flickr. So those of you who care to view them, send me your account name so I can add you to my viewers list.

(click on images for a larger view)

Has a week really gone by?

My day started yesterday with a 7:00 am dentist appointment. Now its 39 1/2 hours later and I'm still up... somehow. Somewhere in there I had 4 hours of sleep in a row, I think between 1 am 5 am this morning. Will is now asleep too. He's snoozing next to me in his bouncy seat. He's stirring though and should be up any minute, so I've only got a few minutes...

Max turned 8 today, and he had fun opening presents and eating a "pudding cake." His REAL cake will come this weekend at his "Kid B-day" with all his friends.

Sophie loves "Mothering" with her new "living doll". She's so good with Will; changing him, holding him, giving him bottles. She's great, but now is acting out more often these days trying not to slip into middle-child-obscurity. I don't blame her.

Soccer draft was tonight. I'm coaching again, and I think we'll have a fun team this year. I've got 9 kids this time as opposed to 15 last year. Subbing will be much easier with 9. I was able to get a couple of Max's close friends on his team, and maybe he'll make some new ones too.

The days are getting shorter and nights are definately cooler. We still don't have any storm windows for the downstairs, nor do we have gutters, insulation in the cellar, nor tires for the Prius. Ugh.

The Last of the Summer Quahogs

Hanna came and went so quickly that if you were a heavy sleeper, you'd never know that the eye of a tropical storm passed over you. That huge mass of clouds shown in my previou spost passed to the west of us and the wind whipped up on the other. We'd be lucky if we got a full inch of rain out of it here in Brewster. The wind was weak too. Aside from a blanket of locust leaves on the lawn and a few dead ends off a pine tree, our neighborhood was left untouched. And, above us, a perfectly cloudless blue sky. The day remained breezy, but with the heat, it felt good.


I was itching to get down to the water to see if there was any damage to the coast, and checking the tide chart, I found low tide was at around noon. I figured I'd see if there were any leftover quahogs from the August stock while we were down there. Amy wanted the kids out of the house, so off we went. It was gorgeous down there. Some of the best weather we'd had all summer and only 4 or 5 families camped on the beach. The usual mob of clammers for a sunday noon low was sparse and quiet. We walked out, found 10 good stuffers and called it a day. The kids played on the flats and played in the warm September water. I've got to get out there one of these early mornings to see if the Stripers are hungry again and if the big blues are in close. Not many weeks left for fishing.

(Max found a clam with a message! Click image for full size)

Hanna's Knocking

All day we have been waiting for the arrival of T.S. Hanna. Hanna's not particularly a dangerous storm, but could bring some good rain and wind. Certainly, the beaches will have some erosion.

The outer bands of the storm have been passing over weakly since about 1:00 this morning, with occasional downpours, but nothing torrential yet. The center of rotation is still about 250 miles to the south east, but is moving at 28 mph toward us. It looks like we'll be in the top right quadrant (with the strongest winds) so it should be a good blow tonight. Most of the rain looks like its west of us. We'll see. It's always exciting to see what these storms bring.

End of Summer

So it's back to school for the kids, and alls going well so far. Labor Day weekend had it's ups and downs. The highlight was the Kreegers "End of Summer" aka "Jumpy Tent" aka "Margarita Machine" birthday party for Ale. The kids jumped for over 5 hours straight, and the Kreeger kids were bounding before and after I left. I'm guessing they might still be sleeping it off. As for the adults, well... some of them might still be sleeping it off too, considering the number of machine-fulls of margaritas that were drunk. Man were they good!


On the downside, I ended up working most of Saturday morning and Max was so sick on Labor Day that we didnt' get to go close the Wychmere Harbor Club like we do every year. It's the only day Amy lets us go play in the big pool and eat the great food and drink the expensive drinks... but I guess there's always next year...

Back to School and Tropical Weather

So tomorrow is back-to-school for the kids. It's always amazing how fast the summer goes, but we sure did a lot. The great thing about Cape Cod after Labor Day though is that the summer actually continues. And we locals can keep it to ourselves with more elbow room on the beach, less boats on the flats, and less cars on all my secret routes to work. The exotic fish are in (like Bonito and Albies), waves are up with the occasional passing tropical storm, and best of all.... Amy's home on Saturdays. It's back to a slower, more controlled pace, but still just as nice out... Ohhh but look what's looming. Its our first chance of a good tropical storm or even maybe a hurricane. I've always loved a good storm, just as long as it's not too severe. I don't think I'd like to deal with a major hurricane right now, especially since we just got our house finished... or close to finished, well, pretty much stalled, but mostly done... I'll probably never be done with it...

Will Comes Home

Will came home today. He's such an awesome little guy, so tiny, very alert and he's been sleeping all day... which means he'll be UP ALL NIGHT! Photos coming on Flickr, so if you haven't signed up yet, please do. Here he is with his big bro and sis!

Click Here to sign up, then email me your screen name and I'll get you set up as one of my contacts. Also, if you already have a yahoo account, just send me your yahoo email and I'll make you one of my contacts.

(click photo for a larger view)

Whirlwind Weekend and right into Wednesday

Wow...
So we never made it to Hammond Castle. The kids opted for the beach, and who could blame them, it was gorgeous out. The water was the typical August water in Rockport at about 65 degrees and slightly painful to get under. Once in though, it was pretty nice. After leaving the kids and heading home, I tried to catch up on some work, but ended up dozing off in front of the TV before I even started. Next thing I knew it was 8:00am and I was going to be late to work if I rode my bike... so I used that as my excuse to drive in. Work was crazy and I never looked up from my monitor until 5:30pm, when I just put everything down to pick up the mess the next day. But something went off track for that plan. A few hours after I got home, at 8:00, Amy's water broke (3 weeks before the due date) and we were off to the hospital. Now it's 46 hours later and we have our 3rd child. He's beautiful and doing great and so is Amy. More later... (click photo for a larger view)

Off to Rockport

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So we are off to Rockport for the weekend. It's a beautiful day and my much-neglected weekend chores are done. The big one was mowing the crabgrass, which I was using rockport as an excuse to avoid for just ONE MORE WEEKEND... But Amy said I had to do it. She was right as she always is and now the yard's green weeds are all the same height. Amy has to work this weekend, so it's just the kids and me who are going up. I'm hoping to get them over to Hammond Castle. I've always wanted to take them there... don't even know if it's still open... Chase, we'll look for your mom.


Maybe we'll get over to long beach. No surfing... but maybe some stream leaping, or a trip back to the whirlpool. We found a place for the kids to leap on Cape Cod. This stream runs into one of our Bay beaches. The kids had a blast.

My Favorite Beer

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This is Dogfish Head Brewery's "Raison D'Etre" mahogony ale. It's my favorite beer. They started in Delaware, but recently opened up a brewpub near DC. Rosemary and Jay (Sis and Bro-in-law) live just down the street from the new brewpub, and she got me this glass. I love it... it's sitting now on my "Dogfish" coaster, next to the mouse, full of glass number two for tonight. Their slogan, if you can't read the glass is, "Off-centered ales for off-centered people." I can't wait for my next visit to DC! Thank you Rosemania!

Happy Halloween!

Max grew some beautiful pumpkins in our back yard. Back in June, his class planted seeds in plastic cups. His grew, and we stuck it in the ground out back. Amy and I both are not very good gardeners at all, so we didn't have much hope that it would survive. But somehow, with a little luck from the weather, and maybe because they stayed hidden beneath the giant crab grass, these two beauties made it. The vines are completely dead as of last friday, so I think they're done growing. So... now, will they make it 'til Halloween?

Nausset Pizza Picnic

We went out to Nauset Beach for a "pizza picnic" earlier this evening. (It was only our second time out there this year) It's nice to get out there, even if it's only for a couple hours. It wasn't a real picnic... we picked up a pizza, some (not so) hot wings and a salad on the way. The pizza was good, but the wings were burnt and they had no kick to them whatsoever...

It was cold and breezy from the east, but the waves were way too tempting. We wore bathing suits (and sweatshirts) and faced off against the big waves during mid-tide shore break... You race down to the wave just before it breaks, then turn and run as fast as you can back up the hill before you get caught by the whitewater. (we all got caught... a bunch). We threw the ball a bit, looked for purple quahog shells and played some crazy camp games that may or may not have been real games.

(photo is from last week - click it for a larger view)

Another Amazing Morning on the Flats

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I got up early again to go fishing on Sunday at 3:30 am... then I turned off the alarm, fell back to sleep and woke up with a start way after first light at 4:30. I raced out of the house and got on the water by 5:00. The gulls and terns were up and making a racket on the haze-obscured horizon, and being a windless morning, I had an entourage of biting no-see-ums all the way out to the just visible bar (breaking through the surface as the tide passed the halfway point). Once they had all bitten me and I had killed them all, I had my peace.

My plan was to work the outside edge of the bar as the outging tide washed the acres of uprooted sand eels out into the wash. However, I found it extremely quiet for the vast amount of bait in the water. It may have been the lack of wind and the flat calm sea, or maybe the stripers were all full from a full night of gape-mouth feeding. Quiet yes, but the bite was still on. I found a school of somewhat hungry bass and took a few between 18 and 24 inches.


I found out quickly though, that the weather report had changed since the night before... or the 30% chance of a thunder showers that I had played the odds against, had beaten the odds and there was a BIG ONE rolling in from the South West. I figured I better hunker down... or do something to make my profile a little lower. There was no way I was going to make it back 3/4 of a mile over sand before the storm hit, so I pulled up on the sand bar to wait it out; ready to jump under my canoe if I had to. (I don't even know if that's safe or more attractive to lightning, to be under a dome of fiberglass with an aluminum strip down the sides.)

The storm built and built and built, and rumbled a few times, and it came right up to my heels. Then it went away, leaving just fog and a little bit of a breeze. It also cleared the flats of all the other fishermen out there. I had the place to myself except I only caught one more small fish. As the wind came up, and as more fish ignored my offerings, I called it a day and headed in. Still, it was a great day. I got some cool photos, caught a few fish, and saw some new things.

Trying to Make Time

At 3:40 am a saw-whet owl was hoo-ing outside of our window. It's the kind of a sound you'd think a ghost would make, a mournfull "hoooo" but with the roll of your toungue. (as if you were saying hoooo and purring at the same time) Just before that, I had ignored the alarm on my cell phone and switched it off. But now, with the owl calling through the VERY still air of the early morning, I was recalling the perfect weather report and perfect fishing tides that I was looking at last night. So, I got up and got to the beach.

I had prepped everything the night before so I got out of the house quickly and was on the water by 4:00. By 4:30 I had my first fish. I fished all morning at all my favorite locations on the flat. The bigger fish were very skittish and wouldn't take my fly. I sure got plenty of little ones though with this nice 24 incher for my biggest. He took it in about a foot of water, and I watched him come up on it and take it, practically standing on his head, then turning and racing out to sea away from me. He was very strong for a 24 inch fish and got well into my backing before turning.

After I got him, I headed in, checking a couple other spots on the way, then packed it in to try to get to work by 9:00.

Low Tide, Windy and Bunches O' Clams

Sunday was another perfect weather day... except for the wind. Since Sunday morning is the only time of the week that I can go fishing, I can almost guarantee it will be windy every Sunday through the end of the summer. Since my boat is a canoe, the wind really pushes it around and it's just an absolute pain to try to fish AND paddle at the same time. So, the wind keeps me shoreside, and I really miss the early mornings, alone with the sunrise and the gulls, far out on the bay, but it does give me just one more excuse to sleep in.

In lieu of fishing, there is always SHELLfishing. The flats are a short walk from the beach, there is less cleanup, the kids can get involved, and it only depends on the tide. In the town of Brewster, a resident family license only costs $15, and you can take 10 quarts of quahogs a week... but only on Sundays and Thursdays through August. I'm the only one who eats them though, so we don't take that many. It's a fun activity for the kids and they've gotten good at feeling the clams with their toes under the sand. I steam them or put them on the grill, eat a few and chop the rest up for stuffed clams.

Rainy Night

It's raining out. There is no wind and the crickets have come out singing, and will stay out, for the rest of the summer. It's one of those soft steady rains that would ruin any day, but at night from the cover of my farmer's porch, in total darkness, it's a treat.

The only light is from a window way up the street and from occasional firerflies that are negotiating the falling raindrops. I wonder what would happen if one got hit by a drop... I guess he would be knocked to the ground. I dont' think his butt-light would go out, and he'd probably survive the crash. I guess he'd have to go dry off somewhere. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, it's the males that do the flying and the females wait on the ground. He blinks... she blinks... he blinks... she blinks and eventually, they've found each other!

The rain started to come down harder and the wind picked up so now I'm back inside. I have more photos up on my flickr site. Go join. Flickr's a great site.

Cooking Marshmallows on the Deck

We got our deck pit going again the other day, then again last night. The firepit was a gift from Kristen and Peter. We've got a lot of dead pinewood around and it makes for a nice campground-smelling fire. The kids love it, making s'mores and just watching the fire. And, even though it's been unbearably humid during the day, it's been cool at night. If the bugs weren't so bad, I could fall asleep out there. Oh... and I found my first summer tree frog on Sunday. It was only about a half an inch long. I almost mowed it up in the lawnmower, but he hopped away just in time. He even got away from the kids... lucky frog.

See more photos at my flickr site.

Max Gets an Up-Close with Big Papi

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This past Saturday, it was 97 degrees at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The PawSox (the Red Sox AAA farm leaguers) were playing the Toledo Mudhens and we were there... and so was Big Papi! This was a stroke of luck since we were scheduled to go to the game with the Cape Cod Cub Scouts since back in May. And, since Big Papi, David Ortiz was back from rehab, he was making his 3rd rehab start with the PawSox. Through a strange set of circumstances, Max and 2 other friends from his Tiger Cub den ended up on the field with Pack 34 to help honor The Flag during opening ceremonies. Coincidentally, Big Papi wears #34.

It just so happened that Pack 34 ended up lining up at about shortsop position, which was just in front of where Big Papi was warming up. How could you not turn and look? Max was thrilled to say the least, and it certainly made the heat bearable. Meanwhile, Sophie, Amy and the rest of the families watched from the grassy berm in Left field. Luckily we had some nice billboards to shade us there.

Mimosa Tree in Full Bloom

We've had some absolutely amazing weather lately. The warm days and cool nights have not only sparked the crabgrass into high gear, but my little Mimosa Tree has exploded! This photo was taken two days ago. I cut down a huge branch from a scraggly choke cherry tree that was shading one side of it. I would have cut the whole thing out of there if Amy let me. Beach photos are up on my flickr site, so take a look. If you have an account and are one of my contacts, you'll see more photos, so sign up... it's free.

Squid Egg-Mops on the Brewster Flats

We had a great day on the flats this weekend. The kids and I walked way out with the low tide and came across some pretty cool things. The best thing we found was what's called an "egg mop." It's a pile of squid eggs that looks like a big jelly mop (sans handle). The one we found was about 3 feet across and a foot wide. You could actually see the tiny little squids inside the eggs flipping and wiggling around. They were transparent and had two tiny black eyes. Their bodies had the identical shape of the full grown ones, only maybe a bit squatter than the adults. I'll find a picture... I didn't have my camera out there with me.

We also found a giant quahog (which we couldn't bring home because you can only shelfish on Thursday's and Sundays.) We found big hermit crabs and some old, cranky horseshoe crabs. Max got pinched by a swimming crab and we found a whole bunch of moon snails, which the kids let crawl all around thier arms. We were looking for pipette fish, but never found any. Last year at this time they were everywhere.

My Mimosa Tree Finally Bloomed!

I got this Mimosa tree 3 years ago. It's about doubled in size in that time, and this year it's going to have a gazillion blooms. This is it's first bloom of the season! (Looks like a Dr. Seus Tree)

Flat Calm and Foggy on the Brewster Flats

On Sunday, I set out for my second day of fishing this year (sad.. I know). The first thing that happened, even before I left the house was that my left contact lens ripped. I didnt' have a spare so I had to wear my geeky glasses, that don't really fit. Next, although it was fairly clear at my house, the beach was socked in with fog. I paddled out anyway since I have a compass and can easily find my way back ... but when I took my compass out after racing a half-mile out to get away from the bugs, I found that my compass was broken... all the water drained out.

I was socked in by fog and there was no wind. All those land bugs that followed me out were hanging around too, but eventually after they all had their turns on me, I had killed them all... either that or they were all full on my blood so they went home.

The fog eventually cleard to the point where I could see land and I ended up catching a few fish. Max met me later and he got his first fish of the year. We also collected about a dozen quahogs (which turned out to be our only keepers for the day)

Click here to see photos of the trip.

A Gem from San Francisco

I found this at Lukes Liquors on Sunday. I've had the Original Anchor Steam and the Liberty Ale, but I've never seen the Summer Beer on Cape Cod before. I splurged and spent the $9.99 on the six pack.... Good stuff.

What to do on a Rainy 4th Weekend

The weather couldn't make up its mind this morning , but eventually settled on dense clouds and a cool north breeze. Andy and his girlfriend, Laura were down visiting for the day, and we took our chances with the weather. They wanted to go paddling around in the canoe, so we took them down to Paines Creek. It was just high tide and the kids had a blast playing in the fast-moving tidal creek

Happy Fourth of July!

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In the town of Dennis, on Cape Cod, they shoot thier fireworks off on the 3rd. It was a perfect night for it. The wind was up to cool things down and, even better, to keep the bugs away. We arrived early and squatted out a patch of low tide river-basin-bottom for our hangout, hoping it would stay dry until the fireworks were done. No one else seemed to think the sandy mud river bottom would last the turn of the tide, so we pretty much got the "beach" to ourselves. It turned out to be a fine spot, low enough to get some good fireworks shots and we just made it to the end of the show with only having to relocate once.


Across the tidal river is the Northside Marina. They had a big party going on with a bonfire and live cover band. Max and I skipped pieces of old broken tile on the water that littered the beach - he wone with 6 skips. I got one to go five, but Max only gave me 4. We both tried and tried for 7, but it never happened. Sophie moved from beach chair to beach chair, adjusting each and testing each one with a blanket or towel, falling out of two and finally settling on sitting in Mom's lap.


Now Chase... doesn't this look like a fine spot to launch a rubber raft?

Sophie Sweeps in Swim Competition

At camp last Wednesday, our little fish, Sophie, got 4 ribbons for swimming . First Place: Bubble Race, Noodle Race, Nothing Race (which is across the pool with no float support); Second Place: Kickboard Race. She was so excited and proud to show off the ribbons.

Brewster Flats Striper

Brewster Flats Striper

I caught this Striped Bass on Father's Day. So far, it has been the only day I could get out for one reason or another. I woke up to thunder at 3:30, and watched the wather to see if it was going to pass. It looked like only one more cell would be coming, so I went down to the beach. The last cell passed, but it continued to rain all day... I went out anyway and had a blast. I got a bunch of fish like this one on a sand eel pattern and a few on a red squid. This guy was not too big, but fun just the same. This one came up with a school right under the canoe.

Sophie's T-Ball Team

Sophie played on Brewster's T-Ball League this year. Click the image or click here to Download a Full-Size Photo for printing.
NOTE: The photo will look HUGE on your browser. Just right-click (mac ctrl click) on the image and save it to your computer. You can then edit the size as you need using your own photo editing software. It is currently about 11 x 8 inches). I have also uploaded it to shutterfly. You can order prints from there or take it to wherever you like to get your prints done. Shutterly is not bad if you wait for a free shipping coupon. An 8x10 is about $4. CVS is $8.

Cape Cod Ingenuity

Cape Cod Ingenuity

I love this!

I saw this car at CVS... Sure looks like something I would do, right down to drilling the hole in the wrong place...

Click the link to go to flickr and see the full size.

The Brewster Cubbies

Max played on the Town of Brewster Farm League this year. This is a coach-pitch league and we had K-2nd graders on the team. Everyone did really well and I could tell they all LOVED the game. Click the image or click here to Download a Full-Size Photo for printing. NOTE: The photo will look HUGE on your browser. Just right-click (mac ctrl click) on the image and save it to your computer. You can then edit the size as you need using your own photo editing software. It is currently about 11 x 8 inches). I have also uploaded it to shutterfly. You can order prints from there or take it to wherever you like to get your prints done. Shutterly is not bad if you wait for a free shipping coupon. An 8x10 is about $4. CVS is $8.