Deadliest Catch...

I love watching TV shows about crab fishing in the Bering Sea. I know Alaskan King Crab bring in the bucks. They are HUGE. It's the fall season of crab fishing. Opilio (Opi) are smaller, spidery-looking crab, caught during the winter months when the fishermen have to break from dropping pots to knock ice off the boats so that they don't sink in rough seas. It's harsh. And I love it.

This year starts the sixth season of Deadliest Catch. I'm a Northwestern girl, but anyone who knows anything at all about these guys knows that this season all eyes are on the Cornelia Marie. The guy in the picture above is Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie. A couple of seasons ago, Captain Phil had a blood clot travel from his leg through his heart and land in his lung. By all accounts it should have killed him; few people survive a pulmonary embolism. But it didn't get Captain Phil that time. Throughout season 5 of the show, Captain Phil and his sons, Josh and Jake, struggled with his condition. He ended up back on the boat and actually did well.

But this year, things went very wrong again. During an offload at St. Paul, Captain Phil suffered a massive stroke. He ended up in a hospital in Anchorage, where he underwent intense surgery and stayed in a medically-induced coma for a few days. Then he started waking up. For several days he rallied. Everyone was hopeful. Then he took a turn for the worse, and on February 9, Captain Phil died. That makes me very, very sad.

It will be a strange season. No one knows right now the long-term fate of the Cornelia Marie. Jake is 24 and Josh is 26. They are awfully young to take over the family business. My prayers go out to them.