Day 116, November 26th, 2009
Yesterday, Day 115, was a pretty quiet day. Overcast and drizzling. We didn't do much - went to the library in the morning and looked up the weather again. In the afternoon we went for a walk and I fished a bit but only caught a little tiny one to throw back. Now to continue with Day 116 :-
With a fresh batch of bait fish, I was fishing again by 7:30. Meanwhile, Millard was setting up his turkey frying operation. 4 small turkeys were lined up on the table and he set up the propane turkey fryer on the gravel beside the deck. In years passed, he told me, they would have 4 or 5 fryers going and would cook as many as 100 turkeys this way. The fish weren't biting so I moved over to watch the cooking. First the turkeys were washed, then covered in "Creole" spice, followed by a good shaking of salt, inside and out. The fryer was filled with oil, the lid secured along with the thermometer. The oil was heated to 350 degrees. Sue had bought a turkey for our thanksgiving dinner and Millard had offered to cook it. Ours was the first to get put in the pot. At 3 minutes per pound, it took 30 minutes and came out brown all over. As it was only 9:30, we wrapped it in foil, put it in a bag and wrapped it with a blanket to stay warm. The giblets were left on the deck. I retrieved most of ours to chop up and put in the dressing. The others were fed at intervals to the pelicans and seagulls causing great excitement.
Gradually more and more people showed up. Sue reckons that C Quarters is like Tim Hortons at home. The local hang out where everybody shows up to chew the fat and catch up on all the gossip. There's Jim, my fishing guru. Jim actually built the C Quarters building and all the decking. His hobby is deep sea fishing tournaments. He says he won $150,000.00 last year!
Then there's Kim and her husband Harold. Kim has her captain's ticket and delivers boats. She also works for Millard as Harbor Master when Millard isn't here. Unfortunately Harold is being deported back to Holland in 10 days or so, although he's lived here about 15 years. He never got his papers in order so now has to leave and they have to reapply from Holland. Another young fella is Robert, who works like a deck hand around the place. Millard was taking Robert and his wife home for Thanksgiving supper. Buddy comes by to say hi every day. Buddy owns the local septic tank cleaning business. Then there's the fisherman, Buz. He lives in Apalachicola but comes here when the weather is bad because its a shorter distance to get back out. Last but not least is Russell, (we call him Crocodile Dundee because he looks just like him). Russell is the local Tow Boat US captain and has a ferry service back and forth to Dog Island.
They are all friends and real characters. We reckon we understand about half of what they say since the accent is so thick, but they're all really friendly and have made us feel right at home. Lastly, there's little Red Rover, Kim's Pomeranian. He's a dear little chap, very friendly and loves lots of attention but he reckons its his job to chase all the seagulls and pelicans off the docks. He does a very good job. One day John and I laughed as he went chasing a pelican so fast down the dock that when he put the brakes on we were afraid he was going to slide right off the end. Kim says he's a pretty good swimmer!
Back to the dinner. Millard left us his table to use as a buffet, where we set up all the food. Sue brought the turkey, cranberry sauce. I brought the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Pat and Diane brought green beans and a salad, and Steve and Pam from Colorado brought pumpkin pies and dinner rolls. Oh yes, I mustn't forget Casey, a young fella from Chicago who is delivering a 32' Catalina to Miami. He looks about 24 and has his captain's papers too. This is his first delivery. He was all alone so we included him. He brought Rock Shrimp! We also fed Buz who was not going home today. It was a beautiful day with warm sunshine. We had a great meal and enjoyed it all. Washed down with beer and wine, we were done in by the time everybody had gone home and we'd cleaned up. Had to have a 2 hour nap!!!
Yesterday, Day 115, was a pretty quiet day. Overcast and drizzling. We didn't do much - went to the library in the morning and looked up the weather again. In the afternoon we went for a walk and I fished a bit but only caught a little tiny one to throw back. Now to continue with Day 116 :-
With a fresh batch of bait fish, I was fishing again by 7:30. Meanwhile, Millard was setting up his turkey frying operation. 4 small turkeys were lined up on the table and he set up the propane turkey fryer on the gravel beside the deck. In years passed, he told me, they would have 4 or 5 fryers going and would cook as many as 100 turkeys this way. The fish weren't biting so I moved over to watch the cooking. First the turkeys were washed, then covered in "Creole" spice, followed by a good shaking of salt, inside and out. The fryer was filled with oil, the lid secured along with the thermometer. The oil was heated to 350 degrees. Sue had bought a turkey for our thanksgiving dinner and Millard had offered to cook it. Ours was the first to get put in the pot. At 3 minutes per pound, it took 30 minutes and came out brown all over. As it was only 9:30, we wrapped it in foil, put it in a bag and wrapped it with a blanket to stay warm. The giblets were left on the deck. I retrieved most of ours to chop up and put in the dressing. The others were fed at intervals to the pelicans and seagulls causing great excitement.
Gradually more and more people showed up. Sue reckons that C Quarters is like Tim Hortons at home. The local hang out where everybody shows up to chew the fat and catch up on all the gossip. There's Jim, my fishing guru. Jim actually built the C Quarters building and all the decking. His hobby is deep sea fishing tournaments. He says he won $150,000.00 last year!
Then there's Kim and her husband Harold. Kim has her captain's ticket and delivers boats. She also works for Millard as Harbor Master when Millard isn't here. Unfortunately Harold is being deported back to Holland in 10 days or so, although he's lived here about 15 years. He never got his papers in order so now has to leave and they have to reapply from Holland. Another young fella is Robert, who works like a deck hand around the place. Millard was taking Robert and his wife home for Thanksgiving supper. Buddy comes by to say hi every day. Buddy owns the local septic tank cleaning business. Then there's the fisherman, Buz. He lives in Apalachicola but comes here when the weather is bad because its a shorter distance to get back out. Last but not least is Russell, (we call him Crocodile Dundee because he looks just like him). Russell is the local Tow Boat US captain and has a ferry service back and forth to Dog Island.
They are all friends and real characters. We reckon we understand about half of what they say since the accent is so thick, but they're all really friendly and have made us feel right at home. Lastly, there's little Red Rover, Kim's Pomeranian. He's a dear little chap, very friendly and loves lots of attention but he reckons its his job to chase all the seagulls and pelicans off the docks. He does a very good job. One day John and I laughed as he went chasing a pelican so fast down the dock that when he put the brakes on we were afraid he was going to slide right off the end. Kim says he's a pretty good swimmer!
Back to the dinner. Millard left us his table to use as a buffet, where we set up all the food. Sue brought the turkey, cranberry sauce. I brought the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Pat and Diane brought green beans and a salad, and Steve and Pam from Colorado brought pumpkin pies and dinner rolls. Oh yes, I mustn't forget Casey, a young fella from Chicago who is delivering a 32' Catalina to Miami. He looks about 24 and has his captain's papers too. This is his first delivery. He was all alone so we included him. He brought Rock Shrimp! We also fed Buz who was not going home today. It was a beautiful day with warm sunshine. We had a great meal and enjoyed it all. Washed down with beer and wine, we were done in by the time everybody had gone home and we'd cleaned up. Had to have a 2 hour nap!!!
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