Nancy was able to teach Ally how to use the spinning wheel and even how to knit. I worked with her on swinging a golf club and exploring the beach. I have no idea as to what is "normal" for a seven-year-old, but Ally impresses me as being particularly bright and fast to pick up manual skills. Nancy says that Ally is one of the quickest students she has ever worked with for her age.
The one "adult toy" that she spent the most time with was the golf ball retriever. A golf ball retriever is a telescoping pole that contracts down to about three feet and expands to twelve feet with a small cup on the end - the size of a golf ball. It is normally used to retrieve errant golf balls from water, thick brush or other snares. She would deliberately throw golf balls over the fence on to the sand beach and then try to pull them back. This was a game that she was content to play by the hours.
Wednesday, friends Luke and Kathy came from California. Kathy, one of Nancy's spinning friends, had been to the conference in Tacoma. Luke joined Kathy and they traveled up the Olympic Peninsula, saw Victoria and Vancouver before they stopped at Camano Island. Luke and Kathy are big fans of crab; so first thing in the morning on Wednesday we set the crab pots. Betting on having enough crab for dinner with only 10-12 hours of soak time is a bit risky.
Ally, Luke and Kathy were there when the pots were pulled and they all got to participate in the sorting process. The bad news was that the yield was only one harvestable crab on Wednesday. Fortunately, Nancy had some crab in the freezer. We had a crab dinner of sorts with Luke and Kathy splitting the day's catch.
Ally's parents returned from their trip on Wednesday night and showed up after dinner and packed Ally away. Ally was happy to see her parents, and quite frankly we found the quiet after Ally very relaxing. We now better understand the grandparent lament - their two favorite times are when the grandchildren arrive and when they leave.
Luke and Kathy stayed an extra day and we put the crab pots went back in. Our neighbor, Olstein, put his pots in the morning about the same time as us and had the same result - one crab. We both reset our pots. I had proposed that crabs were nocturnal and feed mostly at night.
Late Thursday morning we pulled the pots again and there were only four crabs with only one being harvestable. Olstein, on the other hand, hit the lottery. He had more than they could use. So we had a great crab feed for a slightly late lunch.
The difference in yield between Olstein's pot and ours brings up the issue of crab pot design. Olstein has two pots of different designs (both different from ours.) The one pot always has a higher yield than the others (ours included). We have concluded that the low yield pots have their doors at the bottom of the trap and if the bottom is muddy, the mud will hold the doors closed. Olstein?s "good" trap has wire ramps off the bottom with elevated doors. I will do some experimenting with the traps and see if this will increase our crab selections.
Nancy was a huge success. There were about 30 kids in camp and Nancy was able to work with each one of them individually and they all were able to spin some yarn. Several of the staff members tried to get in line - why should the kids have all the fun. The kids all took the samples home.
Lake Riley is only about 45 minutes from the house on Camano. Once we finish with the kids we were able to go home and catch up on the chores that had been waiting for the two weeks Nancy was gone or had company.