TGIT

Thursday is the new Friday. Well, at least part of the time. Normally I work a 4X10 schedule, but recently I've started working for a client who requires that I work every other Friday. Not a big deal, the change, but I do miss having every Friday off. Especially when the fish are running.

The commute last evening as well as this morning was nothing short of standard. No interesting people. No big challenges to overcome. Just a good commute all the way around. So, I'll talk about fishing a bit here instead.

Dipnetting, to be precise. The plan is to take this weekend as a wash on working on the house and head up to the Copper River to see if we can't fill the freezer for the winter.

This presents a number of challenges, though. First - we have one of our two freezers currently full with fish that we need to jar for the coming year. Second - who knows if I'll be able to find all our gear. I know where the nets are and where the rope is, but I have no idea where the life vests are, where the fillet knife is, where the bonker is, where the stringers are. Third - time is short. We won't get to get out of Palmer until late afternoon or early evening on Friday, at the earliest. It is then a three or more hour drive to Copper. Ideally we will get our limit and head out by late Saturday night so that we have Sunday to recuperate and pack the fish away before I have to go back to work on Monday. Then there's the fact that the house is in disarray still.

About the house... So, we bought it as a repo and as far as repos go, it was in decent shape. However, there are lots of little things that we want or need to do to make it livable for our family, not the least of which being putting down new floors in the upstairs. We've decided that we want to go with a nice light-colored hickory 3/4 inch hardwood. This is a spendy proposition. Couple that with the other work we need to do, such as painting walls and trim, and other sundry tasks and it is a recipe for the house being in disarray for some time. Which will continue to lead to long days and short nights even as the seasons start to turn.

I'm okay with that, though. That's what I signed up for when I decided to purchase this house. It'll be a slow process, but it'll ultimately be a fun one.