Hello again from the land of whales, Wallys & wetness!

I haven’t had a week this interesting in a very long time.

First, HP6 (that’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince – book number
6 – by the way) was finally released and I recieved my pre-ordered copy
in the mail. Joy! Fred finally had to drag me off to bed at 3:00am that
evening as my eyes were firmly glued to the page. I am pleased to
report that #6 was every bit as good (and more) as I hoped it would be!

Second, we had our annual local festival “Ukee Days” which I did not
get to enjoy as I was working my tail off at McFishing. Well, that’s
not entirely true – I did get to participate in part of it. It is a
tradition that during Ukee days a car drives around with speakers and a
megaphone to wake everyone up for the festivities. This year the driver
was a co-worker of mine, and the Prez and I had the pleasure (?) of
being woken up from a long overdue sleep-in by the Beach Boys blasting
‘Surfin’ USA‘ and Anton belting out “WAKE UP KRISTENE, IT’S
UUUUUUKKKEEEEE DAAAAAAAYS!!!!!” from the megaphone. (Note to self:
remove Anton from Xmas list)

Third, my sister and family came for a visit. The weather was gorg and
the fishing was stupid (Translation: It was sunny and calm out and we
had very good fishing). Even my, water-phobic nephew, Scott, had fun
and caught a salmon. My sister and her husband both had perma-grins for
most of the trip.

But here’s the event of the week that I really want to talk about and it involves sharks… and Harry Potter:

One of my jobs at McFishing is to go down to the dock and take photos
of the ‘big’ fish that come in. It’s pretty fun watching people
grinning next to their salmon and halibut. I grit my teeth when the big
Ling Cod are brought in because their numbers are pathetically low but
I console myself with the knowledge that the fish will be eaten. Last
Wednesday, however, I rounded the corner to see a 6 foot Blue shark
hanging off the scale and felt my stomach plummet. I do not support or
particpate in the killing of sharks.

Why? You may ask. I mean isn’t  the only good shark a dead shark?
Love them or hate them, the world shark population is in serious
jeopardy from commercial fishing. About 1 million sharks are killed
each year – by 2017 we could see the extinction of nearly 20 shark
species! And just in case you’re wondering, there were 7 human fatalies
from shark attacks in 2004 – hmmmm 7 vs. 1 million, I think we’re
the dangerous predator. Our toothy friends are a vital part of the
marine ecosystem and without them many, many more marine species will
suffer.

Oh ya, and I don’t believe in killing anything just for the sake of killing it and putting it on a wall.

So here I am on the dock, out of sight of the shark killers and
gawkers, trying to figure out how to handle this tactfully – it is,
after all, my job to take the photos and make everyone happy. Should I
just leave and feign an illness? Should I go against my principles and
take the darn picture? I mean, it’s not like it’s an everyday
occurence; it probably won’t ever happen again so why rock the dock?

Then I thought of Harry Potter…yes you read that correctly.

You see, one of the traits I find so admirable and appealling about the
character of Harry, one of the reasons I think the book is a must-read
for children, is that he often finds himself in situations where
sticking to what he believes in will make his life difficult and turn
everyone against him and yet he does not compromise. Harry knows the
truth and cannot pretend otherwise – and if that is a quality that I
admire then that is a quality I should aspire to.

I decided to stick to my guns but to remain low key so as not to upset
the guests. I handed the camera off to a puzzled dockhand with
instructions to take the photo. He asked me why and I, discreetly, told
him. He took the photo but he also broadcast, very loudly, to the
entire dock what an idiot I was. While I waited for the shark to go
away so that I could take the other photos, I listened to my coworkers
and realized that I had instantly  become unpopular.  But I
was smiling – thanks Harry.

If you’d like some more info on sharks, here are just a few websites to check out:
Bite-Back
Guy Harvey Research Institute
Shark Trust

Until next week, I hope this finds you healthy, happy & lovin’ life!

The Princess