The assembly required thread got me thinking... I'm not gonna bash the Holidays but I'm really glad that its behind us. Each year the same ol gets, well, older... Christmas at Castle Deep Keys for me is hardly a holiday most years. The place doesn't get a lot of use and just like on a boat disuse brings with it stuff that just doesn't want to work. Out comes the wd40, rustoleum, screwdrivers and pliers.

Then here comes all the loved ones. Love them I do but... My status as the household fishing captain brings with it, "Uncle Paul will show you how- take you out- rig your lines- bait your hooks- etc..." That turns into tying fresh rigs non stop for a few days as they donate ungodly amounts of tackle to the local rocks, snags, trees and mangroves... You would think that after several decades of me doing it that they might pick up on how to tie a hook on, spool a reel or even clean a fish... real world says nope...

With my dental implants still in temp stage, eating is a chore. Mom tries her best but Minnesota farm raised people tend to like their food, well,... well done...

Nephews and Mini have nothing to do. Yeah theres a game room but full of ten year old kids and they're all in their late teens.

We open presents... Some packaged in that bulletproof blisterpacking that require oxy-acetylene and C-4 to open. Some nice and some... "at least they tried".

All families have some friction. Ours is no different. For example. Mini's high school football team just won state championship and they were airing it on TV. She wants to watch but my Mom's boyfriend has the remote and wants to watch the St. Olaf choir sing Norwegian hymns... (Which by the way he had recorded on TIVO) ... Not the end of the world but thoughtless and basically abrasive...
I get to play traffic cop on stuff like that... Ran some cable quick, fired up an old set from the closet, she got to watch, then I gave her the green light to jump in her new car and escape back home while I made an excuse that she had to work. Lucky kid...

The dock fishing goes around the clock. Sharks being the target at night and all kinds of bottom species by day. We borrow a boat because all of mine are currently in Palm Beach. One wants sails, one wants sharks, one wants bonefish... I can't focus on one. I have to grind it out to get em all. Isn't this what I do for a living?

Wife bitches that I'm wearing fishing clothes or my shoes are dirty... (Ummm I'm fishing...)

Time to go and out come the cameras for family portraits... Good God! There were like a dozen of us all with digital cameras and each one wants their own sets. Why not snap one and email it around. My face hurts from faking so many smiles.

Strange as it may sound, the idea of rushing home to do a haul out and a few days of boat yard rock and roll sounds pretty good to me now.