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The cousins attended Uncle Leo's funeral today in Minneapolis. He passed away on Wednesday after 98 years. This would be Lewie's brother-in-law. Denise and I stayed at camp with the kids. I decided that I wanted to catch 10 sunnies, fillet them, and then cook 'em for dinner (the noon meal). I started fishing around 10:30 and had enough good sized fish before noon. I probably caught over 20 but only kept the large ones. When I returned to camp, I dumped the water and fish out of the bucket and then put the wiggling fish back in the bucket. I figured if I waited a while before cleaning, the fish would be through objecting to the whole ordeal. Lewie cleans fish that are still flopping around on the table but I can't do this. They're hard enough to hang on to without moving on their own. After about 30 minutes, I get the tools and head for the fish house. I pour the fish on the table are find I have 11. I must have miscounted. Anyway, some of the fish are still moving around. Oh well, I start with the ones that aren't objecting. Another 30 minutes or so pass and I've scaled about 7 fish. The remaining are still moving around a little. I know from trout fishing that if you hit a fish in the head with a rock, you can stop the thrashing instantly. Well I don't have a rock. However, there is a scrub brush available so I try that. Limited success. I try again. After a few more tries, I finally succeed and finish scaling the sunnies. I've been in the fish house for an hour. I take a short break and find the restroom in the steak house across the street. OK, now to fillet those fish. It's not extremely difficult but takes me a long time as I don't have the skill level Lewie does. During the next hour or so, two other fishermen come and go, cleaning their fish from start to finish. I explain I'm new to this and both say it just takes practice. In looking at the way they butchered their fish, I think I'm doing pretty good. They had an electric fillet knife but I don't see where that's any help as it leaves your fish looking a lot like hamburger. Anyway, as I near the last few fish, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. When Lewie first saw my knife, he mentioned it was on the short side. Now I understand why he said that and am considering getting a different knife on the next trip to town. With the clean fish, I return to the camper and fry the fish. It was a good dinner but took me the better part of 4 hours from start to finish. It's a good thing that I don't have to do this everyday just to eat. Going to the store is much easier. The gang returned from Minneapolis sometime around 5:00 pm. We sat around camp enjoying cocktails and good conversation. On one trip to the trailer to refresh her drink, Denise fell down our steps. It was still very early in the evening and I don't think it was the result of excessive margaritas. It was more the result of trying to catch the screen door in the wind while balancing a margarita and navigate the steps. She figures she'll be sore tomorrow but is uninjured otherwise. As we're sitting around, all of the sudden I hear some screaming from the trailer. I thought maybe Denise had fallen down the steps again. But no, she was on the phone with Keith and came running out of the trailer screaming, "I'm gonna be a grandma!!! I'm gonna be a grandma!!!" Congratulations to Keith and Christine. And not too long after that, Lynn and Rose received a call from their daughter Laura. Laura just got engaged to her boyfriend Shawn. Congratulations to them as well. So another nice evening full of exciting news. |
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