Comments on: It’s a trap

By: Tamar

Tamar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:03:35 +0000

Beth — Yes, the commercial guy is offshore, and he swears by the double-parlor pots.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:52:42 +0000

Thanks – I read the double parlor bit, now I have a whole new headscratcher. Is your commercial contact an offshore guy? I’ve got to find me one a them huge pots! Sounds weird!

By: Tamar

Tamar — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:16:07 +0000

Beth — It’s not that we’re using half a pot, it’s that the guy we bought them from used double pots — one kitchen, two parlors. What we’re using looks exactly like what everyone else uses. It’s a full-size trap with a kitchen and a parlor.

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:20:42 +0000

I have never in my life seen or fished a half lobster pot. All the recreational folks on the lower cape use the same pots as the commercial fishermen. When I mentioned the cut down pot to another fisherman, he did the same thing I did when I read the post – scratched his head and said, “Huh?”
Am I missing something, besides the other part of your lobster pot?

By: lisa

lisa — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:13:10 +0000

Ha!

Knowing the subject was lobster, by the time I read the words “…a state of complete absorption” I already knew where this post was going.

The night I first met you (some twenty years ago) you ordered a lobster.

I don’t remember what I ate, or what anyone else ate, or even where we ate. But I’ve thought of your eerie lobster-induced trance numerous times since.

Until now, I’d assumed it was an isolated incident.

By: Tamar

Tamar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:12:00 +0000

Sternman and FSD — You’re supposed to be building up my confidence, here!

We’ve read the rules pretty carefully, and hope not to blunder too badly. I’ve been warned about staying away from the commercial guys, so we’ll be on the look-out for them.

Any eels that get between me and my lobsters will be barbecued.

By: FSD

FSD — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:28:05 +0000

Former Sternman is right, you can’t just drop your pots anywhere, you could get fined if they are are set wrong, maybe worse, you’ll just lose your gear.
I agree three or four culls (or bullets even) would be much tastier than one big bug.
The eels do get easier to handle once you get the hang of it. They might be good to eat? Worth a try!
The commercial guys are best left alone, many of them are packing fire arms, so be watchful.

By: Former stern "man"

Former stern "man" — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:01:38 +0000

Well Guys, You really can’t just drop your traps anywhere you know..lucky you are not thinking of setting gear up by Matinicus..at least you’ll be setting singles not trawls so you won’t have to worry about anyone setting over you or you over them which would entail cutting and tying and maybe having your bouys disappear..watch out for girls with berries and /or a notch in their tails.. and don’t expect much when the moon is full..I never liked those conger eels which just wrap around your arm..am not sure they inhabit warm cape water tho… and actually three chickens or eights would probably be tastier than a 3 pounder,,,anyway..good luck, bon appetit ,have fun .

By: Mimi

Mimi — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:43:23 +0000

Tamar, by reading your post I learned more about lobstering than I did in 22 years’ living on Cape Cod. Never knew about the rooms (a parlor, no less!), the concrete, or the outlay in time and money, though I had a suspicion about that last one. BUT I do know about eating them! I have never tackled a three-pounder, now there is a challenge. Linda makes the best ever crab salad/rolls on the Cape. If it swims, digs, or just moves from kitchen to parlor, Linda is the cook to know.

By: Goose

Goose — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:24:21 +0000

Lobster, Blueberries, Blues, Chickens . . .Pigs?

Try Starving Off a Float.

Life, Art and Chickens, Afloat in the Harbor

For the last two months artists have been floating around New York City on the Waterpod, a 3,000-square-foot experiment in community living and artistry. Founded by Mary Mattingly, whose medium is mainly photography, it was envisioned as a self-sustaining living space, an eco- and art-friendly sphere that could be recreated in the future, when land resources might be scarce. Preparing for the project, Ms. Mattingly thought about hardship and utopia. And so the Waterpod — at least that part of it that is not a commercial shipping barge, whose rental was backed by dozens of public and private groups — was built from donations and recyclables. Its systems run on solar power; its crew grows its own greens, collects its own rainwater. These things cared for each day, the notion was that the crew could work on more creative pursuits.

In practice, however, the Waterpod has turned out to be more an experiment in sociability and isolation, aesthetic vision and mass utility, organization and freedom, and, mostly, endurance.

see the rest at NY Times Art & Design, Thursday,
13 August 2009