An infectious smile.
Posted on 09/16/2021 7:12:22 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
When Virginia Oliver started trapping lobster off Maine’s rocky coast, World War II was more than a decade in the future, the electronic traffic signal was a recent invention and few women were harvesting lobsters.
Nearly a century later, at age 101, she’s still doing it. The oldest lobster fisher in the state and possibly the oldest one in the world, Oliver still faithfully tends to her traps off Rockland, Maine, with her 78-year-old son Max.
She’s still loading pogeys — lobster-speak for menhaden, a small fish — into traps to lure the crustaceans in. And she’s still getting up long before dawn to get on the boat and do it.
“I like doing it, I like being along the water,” she said. “And so I’m going to keep on doing it just as long as I can. ”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
She doesn't look a day past 72 either.
Yep. They’re out there. Lived in an age where bacon, eggs and sausage were as regular breakfast diet and they are still Kickin’.
Society is full of tofu eatin’ wimps nowadays.
My 70 plus friend just met the mother of his 75 year old girlfriend
I’m always pleasantly surprised when I talk to someone who turns out to be a WW II veteran. The youngest ones must now be in their early 90s. But as you noted, they’re still out there.
Just as I suspected, goes by the name of Ginny.
Virginia “Ginny” Oliver *is* Yankee Ingenuity
It’s not any work at all if it is love.
Who couldn’t love her darling mop of curls?
Go Ginny Go!
Much better article here:
101-Year-Old Woman Who Began Trapping Lobster Before The Great Depression Has No Plans To Retire
By Marco Margaritoff | Checked By John Kuroski
Published September 13, 2021
https://allthatsinteresting.com/virginia-oliver
The story calls up some fond memories of my one and only visit to Maine, visiting a friend’s relatives in Portland. I don’t know how old his grandfather was but he was a real character like Mrs. Oliver. He had a friend, a lobster fisher who sold us a large bucket of lobster for a ridiculously low price.
The family prepared a lobster dinner for us, complete with bibs, butter and corn on the cob. The old fellow showed us how to “paralyze” a lobster by standing it on its head. We were instructed to drop the lobsters head first into the boiling water (no pain, instant death).
You could tell grandpa really loved eating lobster—there was a flurry of activity cracking the shell, sucking the meat fro the claws, devouring the tail and even that green stuff in the thorax. There was nothing left but the shell.
eggs and sausage were as regular breakfast diet and they are still Kickin’.
Doing physical work like this lady.
Eggs and sausages not so good if you are punching buttons all day...
Does it always come down to that? Really? Maybe she did. I hope she did. I did. No clots here.
“always pleasantly surprised when I talk to someone who turns out to be a WW II veteran”
Living in north Fla provides the opportunity to see space shots occasionally.
In 2009 one of our neighbors 91 y/o dad was visiting from Ohio and they walked over so we could all watch the liftoff.
Him being born around 1918 I thought about all the things he has seen in his lifetime.
The advancement of technology alone would be amazing...cars, planes etc.
What a trip.
Faith in Humanity restored! :)
What a beautiful face...:)
—” lobstering - is it a daily job? Seasonal? Are you putting down and pulling up pots in the middle of January”
A very good question.
Found a few...
A lobsterman (and most women prefer to be called lobstermen) is a man or woman who actually holds a commercial license and fishes for (or harvests) lobster. Inshore lobstermen set and haul traps or trawls (two or more traps attached to each other with rope). Lobstermen must be able to safely navigate a boat, moving from buoy to buoy to haul traps. They must be able to lift traps, which can weigh 40 pounds or more. They must also have accounting skills to keep track of expenses and income, and must be able to interpret the federal and state rules and regulations that are part of lobster management directives. Other duties include maintaining their lobster boat, keeping traps in good repair, obtaining bait and stuffing bait bags, and negotiating the sale of their lobsters.
https://umaine.edu/lobsterinstitute/educational-resources/job-descriptions/
Lobster fishermen work long hours, often in severe weather conditions. In New England, the lobster season runs from the first week of May to the first week of December. During the season, fishermen wake up early in the morning and fish until late in the afternoon. They are at a high risk of work-related injuries. Every year, lobstermen drown when they become entangled in trap lines and are pulled overboard.
https://work.chron.com/job-requirements-lobster-fisherman-21205.html
Deckhand needed on 30 foot novi lobster boat. Fish 800 traps 2-6 days a week depending on the fishing and the weather so you must be flexible with scheduling. Leave at 4-5 am most days so must be able to get up early and actually enjoy being on the water. Most days are long and hard. Pay is a percentage off the top (before expenses). Need someone that can stay on until the end of the year. Go out of a mooring in Yarmouth until mid October then go out of Portland. Need drivers license good attitude and sober
https://jobstinger.com/Maine/maine/lab/vacancy-4726657.html
My dad’s uncle had a newspaper article done on him for having been a lobsterman for 50+ years but he ain’t got nothing on this lady.
It’s better than Cocoa Puffs and non fat pasteurized milk.
Great story.
Years ago my mother visited a St. Petersburg restaurant and saw an old old woman with her walker standing at the bar flirting with a guy one stool over... She said, ‘this is the place to retire to...’
—”My 70 plus friend just met the mother of his 75 year old girlfriend”
Long ago a friend never wanted to get “involved” with a girlfriend until he had met her mother.
Thinking, the apples fall near the tree.
An infectious smile.
At “101”, what’s old is new again.
With her sweet face and smile and bouncy curls, she could be the model for a little girl’s doll, the treasured kind that girls keep forever and then pass along to their own daughters.
So to all of those self-righteous “America-deniers” out there, Ginny just handed your asses to you.
—”Cocoa Puffs”
I have heard it’s made from styrofoam bits with a brown glop sugar coating.
That is why I stay with Cap’n Crunch.
An almost organic health food.
The Cap’n rips the top of your mouth to shreds...
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