Excitement!

I am not so excited about the fact that I have a 6am flight tomorrow morning, but it is taking me back to Vermont. This is exciting for several reasons. . . first and foremost that this business trip just happens to coincide with my engagement ring being complete (June 5!) so I can pick it up while I'm there :) (Yes, after all that shopping, I just ordered it from the store in Vermont!) I haven't been back to Vermont since last August, so I'm really excited to see my friends again. The icing on the cake is we got Jake a frequent flier ticket to come up on Thursday and spend the weekend, since he hasn't been back to Vermont since we've moved South. There are several of my favorite shops I'm going to hit looking for wedding dresses, as well as a shop that specializes in 'real' vintage gowns, and I have an appointment on Saturday there with a few of my girlfriends. It should be fun! I'm taking Maude with me, and in an ideal world that would be enough time to finish it, but I'm not sure I'll really have that much time to knit other than when I'm in flight. I expect I won't be blogging while I'm gone. . . not that that will be much of a change since I haven't been the most prolific of bloggers recently!

I mentioned in my last post that we got a treat delivered from one of Jake's friends in Alaska, so here it is!

My friends, that is 40 lbs. of freshly processed Alaskan Snow Crab ('opies' if you watch Deadliest Catch). Jake's friend Damien moved to Alaska about the same time we came to Virginia to go work a crab boat. It worked out well for him, since Jake's sister lives in Anchorage he had a place to stay, though he isn't there often. Apparently, unlike what they show on TV, most of the guys that work the boats have to work nearly year 'round to hold their spots on the boat. Last summer Damien spent fishing salmon so he'd be assured a spot for King Crab season, which is apparently the most lucrative. Not that he's doing badly, apparently, he made more money last year than Jake did! Not bad for a kid who didn't finish his Associates Degree! He's a hard worker and loves to hunt and fish and stuff, though, so really this is right up his alley!

Anyway, when they come off the boat, they can buy crab for just $2/lb at the processing plant, so he sent this as a gift to us via UPS overnight (I imagine the shipping must cost as much as the darn crab did!). Now, our UPS man delivers around 3-3:30pm. We figured the crab would be dry ice packed, but as I watched the poor UPS man come out of the back of the truck with liquid coming down his leg, I was nervous I was getting bad crab! The poor guy, the plant actually packs with REGULAR ice! So most of the ice was melted, (though the crab was still frozen) and dripping from the cardboard box. I would have taken a picture of him, but he was not the happiest of campers of having cold water and (surely) crab juices on his legs and shorts!

The box was VERY wet, so while I tried to make room in the freezer for all the crab (no small feat - especially with the amount of poking those darn legs can do!) the pooches were enjoying licking everything from the floor that was seeping from the box. We've made a small dent in the crab, having a few legs for dinner Thursday and then again with some grilled steaks and a friend on Saturday. It is DELISH! :)