deep breath
The Backstory:
Skiffman works for his skipper. The skipper is The Boss, and a commercial fishing job, especially with a highliner, can be lost as quickly as that of a skipper’s temper. So when skipper told skiffman that he needed to quit his off season job because he was needed for labor I didn’t say anything.
The skipper bought one of his kids a boat. Why this impacted skiffman I didn’t comprehend at the time, and I kept my mouth shut. When a month went by with no renumeration I made some noise and we began to receive irregularly sized checks at irregular intervals. This, too, is part of the life of a commercial fisherman family.
However, by putting all that time into the skipper’s kid’s boat it put the skiffman and skipper way back on getting the skipper’s boat back in the water. Because it was in dry dock, as the skipper had contracted a guy from Homer to lengthen the stern deck in early spring. Since the skipper was working on his kid’s boat the guy from Homer took on another boat job here in Kodiak, and it ran two weeks behind. Halibut season opened March 8th, with prices at $5.00 a pound or better. Skipper and skiffman got the boat in the water Sunday, skipper left Monday on a bear charter (which we make no money from). Depending on when/if the client gets his bear, the boat won’t be available to fish halibut for another week to ten days. Because the skipper will want to take a few days after the bear hunt to relax, and then skiffman, another of the skipper’s kids, and the skipper’s brother-in-law need to get the boat outfitted for halibut and get the gear work done, groceries bought and loaded, etc. that’s another few days/week. Generally skiffman does it alone or with just the skipper. For 13%. So if they even go out for halibut before salmon, the price is down to $2.00 a pound. This bear says grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
So, it’s been an utterly craptastic week. I did not get tickets for Elton John, in large because Ticketmaster still sucks, and many, many tickets were bought by people with no intention of attending the concert. The concert sold out in 58 minutes, in less than five minutes tickets were available on craigslist and ebay beginning at a thousand or better for the $58.00 seats. Same day, The Son refused to get up, something that has been a problem since he began school, so he got an unexcused absence and an in school suspension…the only time he has been in trouble for the last two years, but still…then Daughter #2 made a point of sending me an email from work to tell me that I needed to be available to talk to her while she was driving home and bored. (Huge problem for me is that my kids insist on calling me (and others) while they are driving.) So I make myself available, and the conversation went downhill fast, and I was the bad mom, blah blah blah. Um, we were just talking about how you sounded tired to me, and that I thought you ought to cook a piece of chicken to go along with your salad, you know, 'cause of your hypoglycemia? I tried not to take offense, but my heart bled a bit. Yesterday I had to drag myself down to the high school because I have been having catfits over my daughter’s F in Comp & Lit class. Between my final catfit and the scheduling of the appointment, which had to be rescheduled due to my flu from hell, and the actual meeting yesterday the girl has brought her grade up from an F to a C. Whatev, I wanted to be rained on.
Today is the first anniversary that skiffman and I were married. (16 years) He mentioned that he “thought about getting me a card”. :rolleyes: So moving on, I need to get a corner of the room ready, as Tara is due to whelp pretty much anytime, and I need his help because 1) all that stuff is either too heavy for me or 2) inaccessible to my gimpy self or 3) I am aching with this stupid weather and I just need a fricken hand. He, of course, doesn’t want to be involved with anything resembling housework. He went into his pissy attitude, which was bad enough. Another bit of backstory: when he gets pissy at me for “making” him help with housework, something of mine gets broken. Every. Single. Time. This time he dumped my basket of japanese glass fishing floats, breaking at least one. I have gone into my cubby, and for the time being I am not blowing up over it, but I’m not shrugging it off, either. I won’t stay mad forever, but for right now? Umm, pretty pissed off.
Feel free to jump in, **rigs[/B, or anyone else. I am not ready to toss him back yet, but he’s helped make just one more day this week rotten.
And it’s raining.
sigh
