5/2/98

As you may have noticed, spring is doing it's thing here in the northern
hemisphere, and along with the birds and the bees there's the fishies in
the sea going ape shit bonkers.

The crazier the fish the get the less time I spend at home and the more
time I spend at the factory.  And they are just going to keep getting
crazier and crazier from here on out now....building slowly and steadily
till the end of june when the calm before the onslaught hits....some
days.,,,maybe even a week or two, of mellow or no work, waiting for the
salmon to do their thing....in ways it's worse than the onslaught.
You're pumped for it, fresh, strong, ready for battle and the victories
it offers, it's almost impossible for the new people to deal with, they
stay close to the factory, seeking the spoils of war.  Once you make it
through a few times though, you know those are going to be your last
days of  freedom for the next couple of months.

When salmon hits I pretty much live at the factory,  and near the end of
the summer months, just when the fishies are finishing up there thing
and you think the end is near, the bulk of our troops return to there
reality world lives.

Depleted, spent, and worn, what was once a piddly amount of fish to
process has suddenly  become a mighty foe that will take all of our
skill and cunning to overcome.

Then, when the last of the vanquished has been blasted and glazed and
stashed or shipped  south, when the crisp winter air covers the northern
realms in a blanket of sleep, LIFE returns to the survivors of the fish
house wars....
 

In other words, my free time is going to be getting shorter and shorter
as time goes on for the next while comrades.   DO keep sending me
addresses and letters and stuff, I will be here, sorta. *laughs* but my
responses may be slow in coming at times, or not at all as I am
notorious for spacing out on that kind of thing *eyes the unmailed
birthday gifts that had to arrive on April 1st and the other April 30th
and winces*  But I'm here and I'm not going anywhere.