.

.
Borrego Springs, CA

Monday, October 1, 2012

50 pounds of shrimp?

Not in my wildest dreams would I think of buying 50 pounds of shrimp.  Yes, at the present time I’m living on the Atlantic coast where shrimping is the way many people make their living, but I sure wouldn’t buy that much shrimp at one time.  Of course I live full time in my motorhome, and that would pretty much fill up my entire freezer in the fridge. 

IMG_0758

This is what 50 pounds of fresh large shrimp look like (after they’ve been beheaded).  My fellow volunteers here at the compound did buy that much shrimp.  They’ll be leaving here around the same time I am, and they wanted to have a winter’s supply of shrimp to take home to their house, with three freezers, in the North Carolina mountains.  I found George and Peggy both decked out in rubber gloves last Friday evening, sitting outside with two large coolers.  In one was the shrimp with the heads on, and this cooler contained the results of their cleaning the ‘catch’.

IMG_0759

All of the shrimp were large, but this was the biggest.  You don’t need very many that size to make a nice meal.  I sure wish I had known they were going to town to barter for shrimp because I would have asked them to pick up several (2-5) pounds for me.  They were able to get a price of only $4/lb. because of the quantity they were buying.  You sure can’t beat that price.  They say they may be doing this again before they leave, so I hope they remember to let me know.  After drooling over all that luscious shrimp, they did gift me with a very nice portion that I had for dinner last night.  Smile

IMG_0760

Today was my day to restock the pamphlet boxes, and I started out at the end of Buffalo City Road.  This is where the refuge’s Sandy Ridge hiking trail is located.

IMG_0763

It’s a nice 1 mile round trip hike through the hardwood forest located along a river and Milltail Creek.  I walked a little ways down the trail, but the mosquitoes were of such intensity to make me turn around pretty darn quickly.

IMG_0761

The Sandy Ridge trail begins at the spot where all the canoe and kayak tours put in the water.  They head under the bridge and out into the river.

IMG_0762

The last time I volunteered here, this is where the canoe tours I led began.  We paddled the river, the canals that were used when Buffalo City was in the lumber and moonshine business, and reached Sawyer Lake before turning around and making our way back.  I really enjoyed those canoe trips, and just regret that my hip has prevented me from doing the same this year.

69  Pea Island & Alligator River NWRs  201222

The business of filling the pamphlet boxes was pretty uneventful today.  When I got back to the rig, a male Pearly Crescentspot butterfly was flitting about my ankles.  These little dudes are only about an inch across, but they sure are colorful.  Tomorrow I’m off to man the Pea Island VC once again, and then I’ve got three days off.  I don’t have any places left on my list that I want to visit before I move on, but perhaps I can think of some kind of adventure to go on.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

22 comments:

  1. Wowsa that's some big shrimp. You'd need a lot of shrimp cocktail sauce for those babies!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great looking shrimp!! Hope you get to buy some. When are the mosquitos not a bother on the trail?? Only in January??

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looked more like a lobster! We eat shrimp quite often. I buy it frozen in two or three pound bags. So sorry your hip is limiting your activities. Any additional plans in the works for replacement?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now, every time I see a pamphlet box, I think of you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder what 50 pounds of shrimp weigh after they are cleaned? That jumbo looked particularly nice... I visualize it wrapped in bacon with a chunk of jalepeno and then grilled ;-) Hope you get a few pounds before you head out. Sorry your hip is giving you fits... hope that gets better.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh how I love shrimp! I would find some way of taking that load with me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I saw the title for today's blog I thought "Hang on, I'm coming for dinner just as soon as I can get there!"

    ReplyDelete
  8. 50 pounds of shrimp? That would make a cocktail to remember!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh what I wouldn't do for fresh shrimp. They are huge,unlike the frozen ones we can get in the north!!! Enjoy to bounty of the land er I mean water!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. All that shrimp reminds me of when I was invited to go out on a shrimp boat in Galveston,TX a long time ago. Sadly, in those days I did not even enjoy shrimp and gave my share away:) At least I was popular for awhile!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just one good meal for a shrimp nut like me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My last pound of shrimp from MS are in the fridge defrosting for a gumbo on Friday. I need a refill!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. That was a beautiful shrimp! I could go for 50#!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Now that's a lota goooood looking shrimp.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AH! I had already asked Len to make a pot of sausage and shrimp gumbo for tonight's dinner. Sure wish it was with those jumbo fellows instead of the puny frozen ones we got at WalMart.

    Note: I DO NOT cook Cajun. I figure if he wants it, he will cook it. Once I learn how to make gumbo, jambalya, etc. it becomes my job. In our 24 years together, its worked for me!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your friends must really like shrimp to have bought 50lbs. They sure looked big. Nice photos.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Those mosquitos will make you work quickly!!

    We are looking forward to some good seafood when we get down to South Texas as Laguna Atascosa. But we prefer the shrimp already breaded and fried!!

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sure will be nice to be somewhere close to fresh seafood after a summer/fall in ND and Kansas! The river and canals look fun. Hope the mosquitoes aren't too bad.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love your blog...makes me happy to
    read it...how do you cook those
    shrimp?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Can you tell me how long shrimp last in a freezer? They
    were selling golf shrimp in Bloomigton today but we
    weren't sure how long it would last.
    Love the photos!

    ReplyDelete