Cappy's Corner

MY BIRTHDAY

I guess the best thing to say is, "It ended well".
I always plan on getting out of the country for my birthday. A ritual that I have done for years, with the belief that, if I am not here, I will not get older. It doesn't really work, but it is a lot of fun thinking it does. My favorite thing to do is go out on the boat. I can always go out far enough, so that I am no longer in the U.S. and can be in International waters.
Fishing was on the agenda for my big day, any excuse will do. I took the day off work, along with my team, Monica, Jason, Jeff, Kevin, and Buck. Had an early day on Monday, so I thought I would begin getting the boat ready, with an early start in mind. What do they say about finely laid plans, and Murphy's Law? Well, Murphy and his friends were in attendance. I had the boat loaded and checked all the systems, good to go! So, you would think, yet as I was pulling the boat out of the yard, I heard a loud bang! I stopped the truck and looked under the boat to see what the noise was all about. I bent down and noticed that the springs that hold the axle on, were broken. Here it is 7PM, not going to find a store open. I notified the crew and Jason came over to help me locate the parts. Murphy reared his ugly face and made it impossible for us to find the right size in stock anywhere. I was giving up hope, called my boat mechanic, Bob, and he had some ideas, but they would take another day. That would mean that the trip was going to be delayed. My son, Jason, wasn't about to let that happen, nor was the rest of the gang. Monica and Jeff did some brainstorming.
The next morning, Jeff and Monica made the calls to find the parts, again Murphy, you bastard! I called Bob and he said we could get the parts, yet we would have to pick them up and that would be in North Miami. Jason jumped in his car and headed to pick up parts, in the meanwhile Jeff and Monica were on duty taking the old parts off. By the time Jason got back with the parts, it looked like we had a pit crew on site. The team took a short time and we were on the road toward the dock.
One o'clock and we are out the channel, heading toward the beautiful blue ocean. We tried trolling and the winds and moon were not indigenous to dolphin fishing. We, resorted to bottom-fishing. The weather was getting rougher, storm clouds moving in, although we landed quite a few small fish and three nice sharks before the lightning made us move. The tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew, the boat would be lost! Just kidding, we headed in, the sun had already set and it wasn't raining too bad, yet the waves were making smooth running, rough. Surrounded by lighting and thunder heads, we proceeded toward home. Then, a surprise, we saw sailfish jumping, that got us going again and the lines were back in the water. We seemed to just ignore the impeding weather conditions. We get a hit on the line, the sailfish, but it shook the hook loose. We continued and brought up a couple of nice mackerel, just when we thought Murphy had gotten the best of us. We arrived home after 10PM, cleaned the boat and fish, what a wonderful day. I can't believe how the crew perceived to make my birthday happen for me. I must be the luckiest person on earth. It makes getting older a pleasure.

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