Search Lobsterland

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Trashboat Regatta 2013













I had to sit this one out, my cardiologist's advice went from 'take it easy on the bike' to 'stay off the bike' after my stress test. I go in tomorrow for a cardiac catheter, I'm hoping they can just prop some stuff open with stents and I'll be right as rain, but anyway...





One of the organizers of the Regatta was sitting it out even more than me, broke her water and was stuck in hospital waiting to be induced for a slightly premature delivery. Thorval Stonecrusher's Daddy still made the regatta, though.



I didn't get to float down the river but, thanks to that, I did get to bring my Nikon along. Any notion I could bring my incredibly expensive dSLR on this float trip was dispelled when Jacqui lost her fanny-pack that held her wallet, ID, debit card, iPhone in a zip-lock, etc as her boat capsized. She found the bag against all odds but that iPhone is probably a paper weight at this point.

Note to self: waterproofing is good, but floatation makes waterproofing worthwhile. I've waterproofed electronics for this event before but never thought about how the stuff could sink. Which is like a rock it turns out. I'll be putting some styrofoam in my zip locks next year.





The boats were really create, Joel had his garden gnomes, Jacqui and the Art Institute Contingent had their Missouri River Gator, despite Meetzorp's absence we had a half dozen boats on the river.



At the pull out point, Glow in the Dark Park, some guys came off the river in a boat that wouldn't qualify for the regatta, but they had a plethora of catfish.





They were looking to give away a couple of pretty big catfish because they'd kept two 10-15 poundish ones and then caught a solid 40 pounder.

Personally, I don't eat catfish so much, but while I was trying to waive it off, I realized Corinna does like catfish and when I asked her, she was like, 'hell yeah, I'll take two enormous free catfish.'

Dr. Greg was along in his kayak, which doesn't qualify as a true trash boat so we designate him as medical staff. He says I'll be fine going in for my cath tomorrow, probably a quickie stent or a couple other things I couldn't really decipher.



As far as the free catfish go, I'm not sure they're safe to eat but Corinna isn't afraid of them. I guess I wouldn't be if I thought catfish were edible in broad, general terms. They're almost okay when dredged in corn meal and fried, but I think what I like about that is the frying, not the fish.



They reminded me of an old joke about how you can tell a politican (or laywer, or Primerica rep, take your pick) from a catfish. One is a bottom feeder who lurks in the shadows and eats anything slow or dumb enough to catch, and the other one is a fish.







No comments: