The Project Was Shelved!

Occasionally, things do not turn out the way we plan them but sometimes that is not a bad thing! Take, for example, the work project that Mark started yesterday.  He has been quite busy this week making me a bunch of new crab pots.  I am elated about this as I love catching crabs!  (Almost as much as I love eating crabs!)  Anyway..yesterday I sort of cajoled him into making me a soft-shell box.  This is a neat little box that has a wire top and bottom with wooden sides.  Tied to one of the pier posts, it will float in the water.  The wire will allow the water to flow through the box.  A blue crab will be placed inside the box and will be plied with as much food as it can possibly eat.  All of this nice feasting will soon make the crab fat!  A fat crab cannot just go to the store and buy new clothes so it does the next best thing.  It sheds off its old shell and a new one will form.  Hence..a soft-shell crab!  While it is in this stage, the crab will be cleaned by removing any undesirable body parts to become ready for cooking.  A soft-shell crab cannot move so this cleaning is quite easily done.  Since Mark loves soft-shell crab poboys, it behooved me to gather as many as I can to be put in the freezer. 

Like I said, I convinced Mark to make this box along with the number of crab traps.  As I canned a mess of green beans, I could hear the saw and hammer being used.  I knew he was hard at work but I could not leave the pressure canner to see the box in progress.  Once I turned off the canner, I sneaked a peak!  Oh, my goodness!  Shelves!  All I could see were the neatest little whatnot shelves I could imagine.  (And you know that imagination of mine!)  I bustled outside and complimented him on these nice little shelves!  He stared at me a moment before informing me that these were not shelves but the soft-shell boxes.  No, no, no!  These were shelves and I loved them!  He looked a bit bewildered...do you really want these as shelves?  YES!!!  He then went on to tell me that he had not even measured things correctly nor had he been careful about the placement of the dividers.  "They are perfect!", I exclaimed! I could see the potential of the little roughly-made shelves!  "No, they are far from perfect." he replied.  I guess I might have looked a bit dejected because at this point he just handed me my "shelves".  Again, I was elated!!!  As I carried my treasures inside, Mark stood shaking his head.  I heard him mutter something on the order of  "Back to the woodpile."  Hee hee!  Poor fellow!

A bit later, he called to me, "Come see your soft-shell box!"  I happily went out to inspect the new box.  It was exactly what I wanted!  Most women dream of jewelry, I dream of crab boxes!  (Not really, that just sounded good at this point!)  Seriously, though, the box was perfect for what it was intended!  He asked if I wanted to go put it in the water.  With the box floating, we are now ready to start our farming of soft-shells.  If this works, more boxes can be added but right now the one with three compartments will provide us with plenty of meals!  What more can a lady ask?  I now have two adorable little whatnot shelves to paint, a soft-shell harvesting box and the promise of future meals!  Thank you, Mark!!!