Greg -

Jack and I hosted the first potluck of the summer last night.   Bruce Eagle brought four coolers of crab, paper tablecloths and six huge cleaning pots.     He gave the crowd lessons on how to "schuck" or "shake" crab, that is, how to clean it.  It involves cracking apart the body one section at a time, and shaking it until the meat shakes from the shell.   It was an incredibly messy event, especially with a group of twenty novices being cheered on by the locals.   We did our best to clean up after it was all over - bears love crab.

There was a huge group of people - the largest crowd that we've seen at these dinners.  It was great to see everyone again and to meet many first timers.   I always invite campers I meet to attend and last night, two couples from California who were camping nearby stopped by later in the evening - they had never cleaned crab before.   Both couples were empty-nesters who were fascinated by the fact that Jack was here working for the summer.   Jack talked with them most of the night - it's fun to watch him socialize at these dinners.

It all ended about ten o'clock with the dusk of sunlight still clearly visible in the sky.   Sunset is officially scheduled at 8:50 and sunrise at 3:09am - although it never gets completely dark.  Jack and I stayed sat out by the fire until almost midnight when a guy stopped at our site to tell us that he'd been camped down the road about a mile and was awakened by a bear in his site.  It was walking around the perimeter of of his site and he couldn't get it to leave, so he did - leaving his gear until the morning.

We managed to get to the swimming pool twice this week.  Jack lap swims while I run.   I'm hoping to run the half marathon at Bearfest later in the summer and Jack is keeping in shape for next season with the Hurricanes.  We also get a shower whether we need it or not.

Jack was manning the camera yesterday - here is some of his handiwork.

Jack was manning the camera yesterday - here is some of his handiwork.