Chore day...

After a weekend of playing, and some of you know how my truck and boat gets...

Had to pour on the brakes and do some cleaning and organizing.  Going in and out of the saltwater, I have noticed some rust beginning to form on my boat trailer especially - so I did some scrubbing on the wheels and rims, and got most of the grime off.  Laundry too.

It's been blue sky and high pressure for about a week, and that brings on the wind.  The ocean and bay has been choppy in the afternoons, which is something that I typically avoid.  Today, I was going to fish halibut with Andrew and his mother, who is here from the lower 48 to visit, but we are supposed to have 6 foot seas this afternoon, so we are going to wait till later in the week to get after them.

This morning Maria has a full house.  Her cleaning lady is on vacation to Montana for a couple of weeks - so there is extra work.  She will cook for all the guests as that is her specialty.  Most of the B&B owners leave a light duty breakfast in the rooms - maybe coffee and bagels with a little fruit, or something on that order.  Maria always cooks a full-blown breakfast of alaskan pancakes, bacon, eggs, fresh muffins, fruit, french toast, raspberry or rhubarb sauce, etc.  People love it and keep coming back because she goes the extra mile.  After feeding everybody, Maria will have to clean a couple of the rooms and do laundry for folks that are vacating rooms and new guest that will be arriving tonight.  In-between there, she will teach two Zumba dance classes today, and try to get her phone replaced - since she decided to wear it in her wader pocket while she went dip-netting last weekend.

Me?  I'm helping a little with what I can do this am, and working on our never ending cycle of brining salmon, drying it, and smoking it.  We've got a bunch of big red salmon in the mix right now, and I'm on my way to get more.  Andrew says lots of fish were being caught yesterday up on the Kenai, and more fish have moved up the past couple of days since we were there - so I'm going to see if I can get a limit today, stay overnight, and get another limit tomorrow am before coming back.  Some time alone in the wilderness will be nice.

I'm reading a book by Gerald May called Addiction and Grace - which is very interesting and a book that I highly recommend (I picked it up at the wellness retreat across the bay last week - where Maria was teaching zumba classes).  It especially goes well with my line of work at Minnesota Teen Challenge, but there's a message in there for all of us.  His theory is that it's human nature to get attached to things, and a person can get addicted to just about anything - not just drugs and alcohol.  My attachments tend to be fishing, hunting, and food in general - but mainly sugar.  These "impostors" are the things that keep us from our true desire - which is deep relationship with God.  May goes through the psychology, biology, and spirituality of addictive behavior - so it's right up my alley.  The main message is that we require GRACE - a free gift from God, to be able to remain in relationship with Him despite our addictions, and be able to live in increasingly higher levels of freedom throughout life (it's a process) without feeling guilt or shame.  Now that I think about it, I remember May being quoted in many of the John Eldredge books that I read and enjoyed so much years ago (The Journey of Desire, Wild at Heart, The Masculine Journey, Captivating, etc).   I sure love the message...