So I must start out with some Non-Hatchery business… as most you probably don’t know, this past weekend was the Drum Corps International finals in Indiana. My drum corps, Phantom Regiment, has an amazing show this year (so I’ve heard) so there were high expectations. They went into Quarterfinals performing in the 4th place position, but after scores, rose up to 3rd. Semifinals the next night, they got 2nd place. Well, Satuday was finals… AND THEY WON! By 0.025 points!! It was an amazing night for the corps and all the vets who have marched in that corps. When I heard, I had the most amazing feeling come over me and I couldn’t help but tear up with pride. So, I say SUTA to you, the 2008 DCI WORLD CHAMPIONS, THE PHANTOM REGIMENT!
Back to hatchery business... There is probably a week more of chum spawning. Last weekend, they even set a new daily egg take record of 9.6 million eggs! We average somewhere around 7 million to 8 million eggs a day though. A lot of King salmon are starting to come up the ladder, though, which means they are ready to go. However, we do them after chum so…. “YOU GUYS ARE TOO EARLY!”
OK so I wrote that the other day… due to the amount of king salmon coming up, we decided to start spawning them and continue doing the chum at the same time. King spawning usually only takes a few days so we’ll be done with them fairly soon. Chum however… they aren’t cooperating very much. We just started Takatz incubator #5 out of 19 and it almost seems like we are going to run out of fish like… SOON! So that could be a very big issue in the coming days.
Friday we had a few visitors that came to the hatchery… maybe you have heard of them. Umm…
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC!
It isn’t as exciting as it sounds really... There was a camera crew that set up at the weir that taped the salmon jumping up in the water coming out of the weir. We thought they were pretty lame actually. They didn’t even come to check out the spawning or anything… come on, that’s the coolest part! We talked to Angie a little later, who talked with the camera guys. Apparently, our salmon are going to be world famous! There is a movie that is going to be coming out, in theaters even, called Oceans in like 2010. So somehow, the footage of our fish is going to be in there. That’s pretty cool I guess but it would have made a cooler story to tell you guys if I was going to be in the National Geographic magazine or something!
Back to hatchery business... There is probably a week more of chum spawning. Last weekend, they even set a new daily egg take record of 9.6 million eggs! We average somewhere around 7 million to 8 million eggs a day though. A lot of King salmon are starting to come up the ladder, though, which means they are ready to go. However, we do them after chum so…. “YOU GUYS ARE TOO EARLY!”
OK so I wrote that the other day… due to the amount of king salmon coming up, we decided to start spawning them and continue doing the chum at the same time. King spawning usually only takes a few days so we’ll be done with them fairly soon. Chum however… they aren’t cooperating very much. We just started Takatz incubator #5 out of 19 and it almost seems like we are going to run out of fish like… SOON! So that could be a very big issue in the coming days.
Friday we had a few visitors that came to the hatchery… maybe you have heard of them. Umm…
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC!
It isn’t as exciting as it sounds really... There was a camera crew that set up at the weir that taped the salmon jumping up in the water coming out of the weir. We thought they were pretty lame actually. They didn’t even come to check out the spawning or anything… come on, that’s the coolest part! We talked to Angie a little later, who talked with the camera guys. Apparently, our salmon are going to be world famous! There is a movie that is going to be coming out, in theaters even, called Oceans in like 2010. So somehow, the footage of our fish is going to be in there. That’s pretty cool I guess but it would have made a cooler story to tell you guys if I was going to be in the National Geographic magazine or something!
Those are the camera guys being boring...
Friday we also had a funny bear experience. The other day, the boys had to go over to the creek across the lagoon and try to catch the fish that had made it over there past the lagoon barrier net. Well they got some and they were using this little boat, which is now tied up near the fish ladder. Well Friday morning, I was walking to work when I noticed a bear over near that boat. There must have been some delicious fish eggs in it because the bear climbed halfway into the boat and was licking it out. He kept looking up and around for people, but never saw us. We were far away though. Finally he ran away when Adam and Clay started to throw some rocks at it. Crazy bears!
The bears have been staying away lately, since there have been some fish over in that creek. I guess being in the creek is just farther away so they probably feel safer. Probably easier to catch over there too. So there hasn’t been much bear action lately, besides boat bear. Adam spotted some bears way across the cove today, a sow and 2 cubs, and he said they looked tiny. Using binoculars, we did see them and they were REALLY REALLY TINY! I hope they come around here so I can see them better. They looked puppy sized. They are definitely this year’s cubs and one’s we haven’t seen before. I thought the 2 cubs that we see around here all the time were this year’s because they are small too, but they must be last year’s.
Friday we also had a funny bear experience. The other day, the boys had to go over to the creek across the lagoon and try to catch the fish that had made it over there past the lagoon barrier net. Well they got some and they were using this little boat, which is now tied up near the fish ladder. Well Friday morning, I was walking to work when I noticed a bear over near that boat. There must have been some delicious fish eggs in it because the bear climbed halfway into the boat and was licking it out. He kept looking up and around for people, but never saw us. We were far away though. Finally he ran away when Adam and Clay started to throw some rocks at it. Crazy bears!
The bears have been staying away lately, since there have been some fish over in that creek. I guess being in the creek is just farther away so they probably feel safer. Probably easier to catch over there too. So there hasn’t been much bear action lately, besides boat bear. Adam spotted some bears way across the cove today, a sow and 2 cubs, and he said they looked tiny. Using binoculars, we did see them and they were REALLY REALLY TINY! I hope they come around here so I can see them better. They looked puppy sized. They are definitely this year’s cubs and one’s we haven’t seen before. I thought the 2 cubs that we see around here all the time were this year’s because they are small too, but they must be last year’s.
Bear tracks at the beach... I thought they were pretty cool.
And they were fairly big. Actually this probably wasn't even a very big bear... My foot is big sooo.... This bear has the Moser feet!
OK this is a really random picture but I thought I'd show you what chum meat looks like right now. Good salmon meat is a really dark orangey "salmon" color. This is really light and pale. Adam was using this as bait.
Alright, due to the fact that I started writing all THAT up there a few days ago (except that spawning update I just wrote) and now it’s two days later, I’m not sure what else to write… Considering you probably won’t read this until TOMORROW or the next day…
This weekend is the spawning party, which should be fun. I’m going to make potato salad and my salmon cookies. OK before you get grossed out… they are just sugar cookies made with my brand new salmon shaped cookie cutters. I have bears too… not sure if I’ll use them this time. Adam is going to make his delightful smoked salmon dip. He went diving Sunday for some sea cucumbers so we could eat them at the party. We eat them as little strips of meat deep fried and they are pretty good. So he spent forever cleaning about 70 of those slimy buggers. I think we are also going to try to get another animal to roast… like a pig. Last year we had a lamb. Oh and Sunday is Adam’s birthday so I’m going to try my first attempt at making a cheesecake… a chocolate cheesecake.
Well, that’s all for now!
SHOUT OUT OF THE YEAR – This couldn’t go out to anyone else right now but the Phantom Regiment for making so many people around the world the proudest people IN THE WORLD! What you guys did this year was something for the record books! SUTA!
Oh and By the way, don’t bother asking what SUTA means… it’s a Phantom Regiment thing and I won’t tell. ;-)
Alright, due to the fact that I started writing all THAT up there a few days ago (except that spawning update I just wrote) and now it’s two days later, I’m not sure what else to write… Considering you probably won’t read this until TOMORROW or the next day…
This weekend is the spawning party, which should be fun. I’m going to make potato salad and my salmon cookies. OK before you get grossed out… they are just sugar cookies made with my brand new salmon shaped cookie cutters. I have bears too… not sure if I’ll use them this time. Adam is going to make his delightful smoked salmon dip. He went diving Sunday for some sea cucumbers so we could eat them at the party. We eat them as little strips of meat deep fried and they are pretty good. So he spent forever cleaning about 70 of those slimy buggers. I think we are also going to try to get another animal to roast… like a pig. Last year we had a lamb. Oh and Sunday is Adam’s birthday so I’m going to try my first attempt at making a cheesecake… a chocolate cheesecake.
Well, that’s all for now!
SHOUT OUT OF THE YEAR – This couldn’t go out to anyone else right now but the Phantom Regiment for making so many people around the world the proudest people IN THE WORLD! What you guys did this year was something for the record books! SUTA!
Oh and By the way, don’t bother asking what SUTA means… it’s a Phantom Regiment thing and I won’t tell. ;-)
1 comment:
Well hell! You missed another chance to have 15 minutes of fame. You should have streaked the NatGeo guys or baited their camera so that a bear would investigate them or something!
Cool results for the Phantom Regiment. Too bad you had to age out. But, it seems their luck changed for the better AFTER you were in it for a year.
Say Happy Birthday to Adam. Sure would like to share a beer with him in celebration! Guess that means I'll just have to drink alone again--- and twice as much. Maybe I will invite Zeke to party with me.
Love, DAD
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