One of the challenges we seek to take on before departing is catching our own lobster. Why, you ask, would a person want to do that when they are available down the road, with drawn butter, and corn, and pitchers of beer, for a reasonable price - a price that, compared to the time and energy you'd put into catching your own, is very, very small? I'll tell you why. Because we have the time. We like to take small boats out to islands because they are just close enough to reach. We like to swim in the very cold waters of the Atlantic, where there are dead seals, when there is a nice pool and hot tub minutes away, because it is there, in front of us. Because we are in Maine. And because we have the time to dedicate serious thought to these projects.

A while ago we were all downtown when Rogue and Max decided it might be a good idea to go into the hardware store to get some tools. You know, lobster-catching tools. Max had earlier discovered a washed up lobster trap on the nearby beach and dragged it over to our backyard.

They got some thick, strong rope, and even looked at buoys, before deciding that they were too expensive. We decided we could just as easily use this old piece of washed-up styrofoam we'd seen down on the rocks by the water as a buoy. We'd attached the trap to the styrofoam piece using the strong rope, and surely, we'd catch ourselves a nice dinner.

Needless to say this hasn't happened yet. Not even close. What distracted us? Probably the same things that distracted us from the other goals we haven't even come close to finishing. The 30-packs of Budweiser. The television. The ping pong table. The internet.

Today at the pool though, lying in the afternoon sun, I heard Bryan and Max discussing something very seriously. "That lobster thing," I heard. I asked them what they were talking about, if maybe the plan was back on, and felt happy that even during a carefree jaunt to the pool, we still had our minds on the business at hand, and that when we get home we might be able to say that we did some serious shit up here while on vacation - "It wasn't just lying in the sun and all. We caught ourselves dinner. That's right, how about a little respect."