Come From Away

I subscribe to the PEI government’s web site and I get far too many press releases from the government (Apparently, there is a “Thin Ice Warning Issued for O’Keefe Lake” ).

One of the many I received today was actually interesting and I thought I would pass it on. Unknown to most, there is more historic architecture than just the fictitious, made tourist trap, building that pretends to be the “real” Green Gables on PEI. There is now a web site that allows you to view some of these real PEI historic sites.

Press release follows:

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NEWS RELEASE
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February 22, 2010

HISTORIC ARCHITECTS NOW ONLINE

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI — The names, faces and legacies of the architects who created many familiar buildings in Prince Edward Island have emerged from the past and are now just a click away.

Available for viewing on the PEI Historic Places website are biographies of ten pioneer Island architects from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including John Plaw, Isaac Smith, Thomas Alley, David Stirling, William C. Harris, Charles B. Chappell, John M. Hunter, George Baker, Edward S. Blanchard and James E. Harris.
Across the Island, there are private homes, commercial buildings and churches which were designed by these creative minds. This legacy continues to add character and charm to many Island communities.
Tourism and Culture Minister Robert Vessey encourages the public and educators to visit the website. ìWe have compiled a wonderful resource which tells the story of many of the people whose work still contributes to the heritage of communities in our province. I am glad that many of these buildings have been listed on the PEI Register of Historic Places.î
Each biography is illustrated with original archival drawings, architectural plans, and photographs, some of which have never been seen before. The text will be available in both English and French.
The website was made possible with the support of the Historic Places Initiative, a federal-provincial-territorial collaboration. The objective of the initiative is to raise awareness of the importance of heritage places across Canada through public education, the establishment of online resources, and by listing places on provincial registers as well as the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
The Confederation Centre Art Gallery, the Institute of Island Architectural Studies, the Wyatt Heritage Centre and the PEI Public Archives and Records Office contributed to the research component of the project.
Since being launched at Province House in February 2008, the online register of PEIís historic places has been growing. Historic places can be nominated for inclusion in the register. Application forms are available on the site.
For more information visit the ìresourcesî section at www.peihistoricplaces.ca

Poor little PEI just can’t compete with this sort of thing… We would have to move the whole island way out to sea!

China begins work on world’s longest cross-sea bridge

When completed by 2016, officials say it will be the world’s “longest sea-crossing bridge” – spanning nearly 50km (30 miles)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8416141.stm

Wow!

I spent the day yesterday scallop fishing with a friend. I hopped out of bed at 4am, so that I could get to the dock by 4:45am. The boat left at 5am…

We “drove” for an hour until we were where we wanted to drag. There are conservation laws in place that say you are only allowed to fish scallops between 6:00am and 6:00pm. At 6:06am, we were where we wanted to be. I noticed Danny referencing and updating a notepad that looked like it had two columns of scribbled numbers on it. I assume they were longitudes and latitudes that were telling him where he was at yesterday. Once “we” started, “we” did not stop until just after 6.00 PM (the drag was in the water until 5:59:54pm :0). I say “we” in quotes as I was more of a tourist/hinderance than a help. I also took breaks and even had a nap on a folding deck chair. Yes, on deck!

This is the process:

1. The drag is lowered into the water and dragged behind the boat for about 10-12 minutes.
2. It is then hoisted up and dumped on a long table of sorts attached to the back of the boat (it’s actually longer than the boat is wide.
3. You then have to sort through all the rocks, old shells, crabs, starfish, fish, mussels, hermit crabs, empty pop bottles, etc. for the scallops that are large enough to be harvested.
4. They are all collected up into a bucket and dumped into a tray that is in a little cabin that has been built onto the door of the actual cabin of the boat.
5. They are shucked right there on the boat. They legally have to be as the shells have the roe attached to them.
6. Go back to step one.

Here are some pictures of the procedure:

Robert waiting for the drag. He grabs it with a boat hook and guides it onto the sorting table.

Here it comes.

Once it get’s up above the table he pulls it forward so that and Danny drops it onto the table

This is it crashing down onto the table

Then he hooks a hook from a second winch onto the bottom of the drag

This pulls the drag up upside down to dump it

Being dumped

Robert gives it a good shake as Danny drops it back onto the table (trying to free a rock that is stuck in the basket)

Most of the way through the sorting process

Shucking

Under the yucky snot-like creature is the scallop muscle that you want to eat
You may have noticed the lighting changing in the photos above. This is not because the pictures were taken at different times of the day, but because as Danny is playing with controlling two winches to dump the drag, he is also making notes about where we are and turning the boat around to do a pass back in the opposite direction.

(Click to Play Movie)

Bucket of shucked scallops

This is where the scallops are shucked.

A pile of discarded shells and guts forms on the outside of the little window above.

Some times the window gets missed and some guts end up behind your bucket… Oh well, we’ll clean that up later.

Sunrise

Other boats that were out on the water also

Critters we caught that we tossed back into the water

Of course, when you are discarding fishy body parts, the gulls come around looking for a free meal

Sorting table, winches and Danny driving and working the winch controls

Sunset

By the time I got home at 8:00pm, I was happy to sit by the fire and warm up. It wasn’t a particularly cold day, but I don’t have a pair of hip waders and therefore got a little damp. I was also happy to not be going back out today!

Late last night around 11:00pm I’m startled from my important web surfing by “B” saying, “Mousie?”

Apparently, the “Barn Cats” were swatting around a cute little mouse. We quickly jumped up and saved it. I mean, we had to. It was the obvious thing to do. We couldn’t possibly let the sappy, spoiled (house) cats that we got to kill rodents in the barn kill a rodent in the house!

This year we decided to get the wood all blocked and split. There have been 12 cords in three large mountains in the drive for months. I now have to get motivated to stacking it all in the basement.
I tossed a load down, but am finding it hard to go down into the basement and walk for hours down there.

Well, it was bound to happen… The kids brought home lice for us…

It’s not fun scrubbing 4 heads with the most awful, oily yuck, then picking and combing for hours… Then you have to wash absolutely everything that has been near their heads. Coats, bedding, stuff toys, couch cover…

They have been to see the public heath nurse and were immediately cleared to go back to school.

Every time I think about it, my head starts to itch.

Well, it’s time for another trip to visit my bro. I’m sitting on the ferry waiting for it to leave and typing this entry on my phone. It’s incredible how picturesque everything is here. The view from the window of the water is beautiful. I’m not sure if you can see them in the tiny picture, but there are a bunch of herrons wading and fishing together. Usually, you only see a single bird on its own, so this must be a good spot.

I can’t take credit for finding this, but is it ever funny!

“A 16-year-old boy from Prince County in P.E.I. has been charged with several offences following a low-speed chase involving a stolen farm tractor over the weekend, police say.”

See the full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/07/06/pei-stolen-tractor.html

I went to Halifax to visit my brother. We hung out, fixed up his computer, went to a movie and ate at a few good restaurants.

Here are some pictures of my crossing.

Now for the funny story… We were talking the night before I was leaving about when we had to leave his place to be able to make the ferry that was at 11:45 AM. He was driving me there and I was walking on. K would be picking me up on the other side. After some discussion, we thought it best to leave his place by 9:30 AM. This would give us plenty of time…

The following morning, we get up on time. Get ready, etc. and then proceed to putter around his place… He then looks at the computer screen and says, “Is that the right time?!” as it was reading 10:00AM…

I pack (toss my crap into my bag) as fast as possible and we hop in his car. ZOOOooooom…

We fly along the highway to the ferry. Arrive at the terminal at 11:45. The boat is still there! Hurray!

He pulls up to the passenger drop off and I hop out, grab my bag, don’t even close the trunk and start running across the road where the cars and trucks line up before boarding.

The nice man at the gate gives me the universal hand signal for slow down, it’s OK. So I slow to a brisk walk.

When I arrive at the gate, the boat is about 10 feet out and coming into the dock… Strange there are no cars waiting to get on, so I say to the guy, “What’s up is the ferry late?”

“No, he says. I called it back for you. I saw you coming and I radioed them. They said they would come back for you.”

OMG! Only on the East coast!

This stupid thing flopping around in front of me all the time. It’s driving me crazy and I am going to cut it off!

Well, this is how I was feeling last Sunday, so I took some metal sheers and cut 5 inches off!

My belt fits soooo much better now!