Stay Safe, With love from the UK
Ceri Fitzgerald xx

We’re Just Fishermen
A few years ago I watched a show.
It’s one I’m sure that a lot of you know.
It’s called Deadliest Catch, but between you and me,

We like to call it DC.
So what’s it about, I hear you ask?
To tell you, well, it’s no easy task.
It tells the stories of some very brave men,

But they say “We’re just fishermen”
They fish for crabs, King’s & Snow,
How they do it, I’ll never know.
In a place that is brutal, harsh and free.

It’s name is The Bering Sea.
They make us laugh, they make us cry.
Sometimes I often wonder why?
It’s a bunch of men I’ve never met,

I live in hope I may do yet.
The pranks they pull, the jokes they tell,
Is it true, that crab farts smell?!
We feel the pain of every man,

You’re in the hearts of every fan.
We hope that you stay safe and sound,
Until you make it back to solid ground.
For your grief and sorrow, we share with you.

Even though you never asked us to.
When I thought of all the jobs out there,
I was so naïve, I didn’t care,
Fishing is hard, and hard as hell,

But it’s shocking to know people die as well.
So next time you eat crab, remember them,
A bunch of Sea hardy Fishermen.
For while we enjoy the stories they tell,

Only they will truly know the Bering Sea Hell.

By Ceri Fitzgerald (A UK Fan)
© June 2011

Sandy & Patty - Lake of the Torches Event

Sandy & Patty a couple of Northwestern Fans had such an awesome experience last August being able to Chat and Drink with Sig and closing out the Lounge at Lake of the Torches Casino, they sent in their new plan for another meet and greet for 2011. If you have a garage and extra stuff this post is for you.

We’ve had some creative methods for meeting Sig and some not so legal methods for trying to meet him. We’ve also done our fair share of Northwestern Charity events raising money over the years for Ronald McDonald House, Make a Wish Foundation and friends of the northwestern charity events for medical issues and local school issues.

However, this is the first time we’ve seen someone do an event to raise money to see Sig Hansen. It strikes a chord as “wow that’s odd” at first. Then you think wow they are on to something here. So I got to thinking why not have a “Friends of the Northwestern Garage Sale Post” if you have a garage sale to benefit you raising money  to see Sig at an event or even the Captain’s Tour then will we post your Garage Sale information as well as Dates and Times. So long you send a photo of your setup with your “A Northwestern’s Deadliest Garage Sale” banner or signage. Heck for the effort I may even mail you some Northwestern Gear but that depends on your creativeness.

So who started this grand idea? We’ll they are right here Sandy & Partty and their story. I am hoping they put together a “How to have a Deadliest Garage Sale” handbook.

We are such fans of the NORTHWESTERN, the crew, the show and of course our beloved SIG! After our wonderful time (we still do not know how it all happened) we spent with Capt. Sig
on his last visit to this casino we learned first hand what a TOP NOTCH person Sig is. He treated us like friends, and we will never forget it. We actually stood in line for 3 hours in 89 degree heat (a few cold beers DID help) so we could get our picture taken with him. Only to find out, by the time we got up there…there was no time left to get a picture with him. Only a quick HOWDY DO and you were told to get out of the way! WE WERE DEVESTATED!!! WE traveled far and waited so long to get a picture with him. We were close to tears. But understood that there were SO many people waiting to meet him they had no choice in the matter. BUT……

We got LUCKY…and I mean REALLY LUCKY and not CASINO lucky! At the end of the night and all our gambling money was gone we decided to pop in the lounge for a coke to take to the room and there he was!!! WE WERE IN AWE!
We got to tell him how we spent so much time in a line waiting to meet him and get a picture and then were told we could NOT get one. He could not believe it! He was MORE THAN THRILLED to let us take a picture with him and spend some time chatting with us one on one!

WE NEVER forgot this moment in time…where we got to talk face to face with our “buddy”. We even use THOSE pictures he let us take as our profile picture on Facebook. We were also now CELEBS in our own right after we got home and showed our pictures of our new found BUDDY to all our friends. It could not have worked out more perfectly!!

SO THEN….we hear that SIG is returning to the Lake of the Torches AGAIN this August with the Hillstrand brothers in tow! Well, we flipped! We had to figure out a way to get back there to see him again and hope that we could once again spend a little time talking to our friend.
Well, you seen the results of that! We got involved in our community wide Garage Sale so we could raise the money needed for such an expensive trip. AND WE DID, well maybe not all of it, but we are darn close!

We both know he most likely will not remember who we are…but you can bet, we know who HE is and remember how kind-hearted, gracious and down to earth he was to us girls. He treated us like we were friends our whole lives and gave us a memory we talk about to this day. WE LOVE SIG and are thrilled to have made enough money in our garage sale to take the 3 hour drive to try and see him again. We know we might not be able to get as “LUCKY” as we did last year at the casino…but we sure are praying to the NORTHWESTERN GOD that it WILL HAPPEN AGAIN!

Thanks to all of you for recognizing that fans are pretty awesome too! We are thrilled you picked us to be on your FRONT PAGE of the Northerstern Web site. IN fact…we are pretty much GIDDY!

We wish you ALL the best and lots of CRAB FILLED POTS!!!

Sincerely and most thankful,

Sandy Monville and Patty Ollila

 

Latest New story link: http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/2011/quadriplegic-to-alaska-via-motorcycle

My name is Danny Miller and I’m a quadriplegic, but I’m not the typical person you think of when you see a chair. I’m filming a documentary on my trip to Alaska to help raise awareness for handicapped people. I will be driving a special modified adaptive motorcycle from my home in Murrieta CA all the way to Kodiak Alaska. This will be over 6 thousand miles on a bike and to my knowledge, the first time a quadriplegic has ever attempted such a trip. I’ll be bringing a camera crew along to video the entire journey and I’m asking for any form of support or sponsorship for this very costly project. A night in a hotel or lodge, fuel card, activity cash or anything you could provide would help. An activity or adventure would be the most help so that we can show that everything is possible. I’m paying for this project entirely myself and could really use any support you can provide. I’m in a manual chair and do not require anything special. I can do anything as normal, just a little slower. If you operate a lodge, hotel, business, Tour Company, or any sort of activity you could gain exposure by people seeing your location & event in magazines and film. In return, I will promote your company in the movie, magazines, news articles, Facebook and your company logo on the bikes. We are doing a press photo shoot on June 19. I will also provide you a copy of the finished movie. This movie will be shown as an independent film being viewed at theaters, hospitals and online. We just received an offer the preview the movie in New York at the film festival. I will be also sending hospitals that deal with spinal cord injury a free copy of the movie so that others could see that if I can do this, they also can live a normal and fun life. We’re in the process of negotiating a possible showing on a major network. I’m also contacting all news media and the governors of the states that I’ll be passing thru. My goal is to show this movie around the country to show people that even if you’re in a wheel chair that there is still life out there. I’m leaving Murrieta on this June 20th and plan on taking 6 weeks to complete the journey. There will be 3 motorcycles and a support vehicle traveling, 8 people total. If someone you know has suffered a spinal cord injury and might need a little motivation or inspiration I would be happy to assist in any way. So many people helped me to make my life better this is my way of giving back and hopefully help someone else. If you’re not able to help, please pass this on to others. I’m enclosing a copy of my story.

Thank you in advance and God Bless.

If you have any questions, or would like any information on how to help. Any donations can be sent to:

Danny Miller
41802 Hutchison Ct
Murrieta, CA 92562
gunnymt@aol.com
Facebook: Danny North to Alaska

Most people have a time in their lives they remember as a life changing experience. For some it might be getting married, or having a child born. Mine took place on September 20, 2004. On this day seven of my friends and I were involved in a car accident that had the vehicle we were in roll over across the freeway and down a 280 foot embankment. Most everyone walked away from it with cuts and bruises. I did not walk away and was told that I would never walk again; I was a quadriplegic. I do not recall the event of the accident, and after about a week of being in a coma from a head injury that caused my brain to bleed and swell, I had learned what happened and was told that I would never be able to regain functions from my neck down. I also had a crushed right hand, a broken right scapula, and bruised lungs that were taking on liquid and causing me to drown. While in the hospital, I was surviving with a respirator and stomach tube. Unable to talk, eat, drink, or move; like many I assume in a similar situation, I was saddened and discouraged that someone would have to look after me for the rest of my life. I felt that my life was over. This disheartening news would later be a fact that I would ignore as well as prove wrong to the doctors and myself. My name is Danny Miller and this is my story of how I fought against all odds, and showed that nothing is for certain.

At the time of the accident I had just turned twenty-four years old, still a young man by standards with my whole life ahead of me. As a healthy young man, I was arrogant and proud, active in all types of thrills and adventures. I enjoyed anything that challenged, and scared me. I partook in such things as paintball, dirt bike riding, snowboarding, wake boarding, scuba diving, and rock climbing. As well as staying busy with adventures, I also worked full time at the family Paintball Park, and was attending college full time in order to earn my degree in criminal justice. My boy hood dream was to be a FBI agent. I wanted to be the man you read about or see in movies that ended some political regimes plan to take over the world, or stop some cataclysmic event that would kill hundreds of people. I knew that what I saw in movies was fiction, but a boy could dream.

Many might say that I lived my life as if there was no tomorrow, and maybe I did, but I made each day count, and as I was told by my father a combat wounded US Marine Gunnery Sergeant “that life is measured by the risks you take and the strides you make.” As I look back, perhaps my arrogant and proud attitude was my down fall, and my injuries was a hard sit down about life, however, I believe that my arrogant, and proud attitude were the reasons for the next events to take place. As an active young man, I was at a low point in my life when the doctors told me that I would not be able to live my life as I did and that I would need someone to care for me. They told me that I would never move anything from the neck down. I would be a twenty-four year old infant. As I saw it, my life was over. However, my family and friends did not see it that way and believed that I had the strength and fortitude to stand up to this challenge and beat it back, just as I did when I was challenged or scared by an adventure. With much debate and tears, I finally agreed with them and fought to be a man again, perhaps even the man I was. We found this place, called Project Walk, which is a spinal cord recovery center. Their knowledge, and positive attitude helped me to get better, and see that there is hope. It took some time and a lot of hard work, but after about a year after the accident I regained movement in my arms and left hand as well as being able to stand and take some assisted steps with a walker. Since then I continue to work out at Project Walk. Although it is challenge and a struggle to continue living life as I did, I still hold fast to my sense of adventure and continue to partake in many of my old activities, just with some adaptations to them.

Throughout the years, I have met other people in wheelchairs. Many with my same level of injury, and some had no movement from the shoulders down. They listened to what the doctor had told them, and gave up on life. It is sad fact that in today’s age of technological advances and breakthroughs, that someone is told that they will never be able to walk again, and that person’s dreams and ambitions are destroyed in an instance.

I want to show others that are disabled in anyway, that there is life after, perhaps an even better one. I want to prove to the doctors and therapist that there is hope and recovery, and anyone can get better if they work at it. In June, I will embark on journey where I will ride an adapted motorcycle from southern California to Alaska. The adventure will be documented to show that even if someone lives their life in a wheelchair, they can still live a full life, and that there is no such thing as handi-capped, but there is handi-capable.

Being physically disabled, I have learned a lot. I have learned to be patient; I have learned failure and success, taking the first step, and how to better view people. My life is challenged everyday now even with the once simple tasks of tying my shoes, but I hold fast to my strength, and I am ambitious to see what the future has in store for me. I see myself as a stronger person, a man at the age of twenty-nine that views life at a different height, and will roll through life with a stronger concept of family, friends, compassion, and the persistence to improve my life, as well as others each step of the way.

I’ve been watching the Deadliest Catch marathon most of the day today. I’m always on my FB page doing one thing or another and decided to look up Captain John. Then I looked up your page and posted a comment…then I saw you had an email address posted, so here I am! Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy the show and have been a fan since season one. I was so sad when Captain Phil passed away ~ I’m in the medical field, (rehab) and I know all too well how devastating strokes can be. I so enjoyed watching Phil and the crusty but loving relationship he had with Josh and Jake. I know they will miss him forever and that makes me sad. I know you loved him too and believe it or not, many fans grieve his passing too. The show isn’t the same without him so I can imagine how different it must be for you and all the guys. You, Phil, and John have always been my favorite captains to watch on the show. I think you’re an amazing fisherman….maybe it’s the creative editing of the show, but you always seem to get tons of crab (and I love crab)! The Northwestern is an impressive boat to be sure. I used to go Halibut fishing a lot when I lived in Los Angeles and I miss it. It was always fun to be on the sea, but I wouldn’t last two hours on a crab boat (sissy for sure). I hope you and the Northwestern are around for many more seasons and if you ever do a meet-and-greet in Northern California, I’d love to say hi in person. – Dorinda

I saw this on the web:

I fish a place like no other place on Earth you will ever find.

A place where the hard work, danger and nature should reflect a man’s worth.

I fish a place where the hours are long and sleep is the rarest of all.

A place where even the strong stumble and fall.

I fish countless hours, pulling countless pots.

A place where the memories of her back home bring on countless thoughts.

I fish a place where the weather can turn in the blink of an eye.

A place where some will get hurt and some will die.

I love this place and the pride given me.

You see, very few people on the face of this Earth can say they have fished the Bering Sea.

Stay safe Skipper,

Dorinda

-Rachel McKirdy

Source: http://otakudensdram.livejournal.com/153475.html

My friend Mary and I love to compare the stories of our day. I work at Downtown Disney, she works at the Magic Kingdom, so she usually wins. Not this day!

This day, I’m working in my gift shop with the wonderfully funny, and native Floridian, Pat. She’s in her sixties and has not just the accent, but the attitude of a true Southerner.

Pat sees a man enter the shop wearing a blue plaid vest. We all know that means he is a Guest Relations tour guide. They are hired to help smooth the way for celebrities, their families, or anybody willing to pay for this service. He is followed by two fellows not in costume. Obviously the guests he is escorting.

Pat immediately notices the GR host, sidles up to me and gives me the usual pop on the butt to get my attention… That pop never fails. “Somebody important is here.” I look up and see the GR host and the other two men. I don’t recognize any of them. I’m not a big television watcher so honestly? I don’t know who a lot of celebrities are! Pat, on the other hand is one of those folks who is star struck. (Those of you who know other stories of the day will remember the time that Billy Bob Thornton and Laura Dern came into the shop! Well that was something to see!) She doesn’t recognize the men either and asks me “who are they?” I tell her that I just don’t know.

We greet them all, ask how they are doing. They are fine, except for one of them missing his flight. I expect he probably had too much fun the night before at Pleasure Island.

The GR host comes up and asks if we have memory cards for digital cameras. Yes we do, but what he really needs is to download the images from a memory card onto a disc. We can do that… depending on the memory card. The little gadget we have for transferring is kind of old, and doesn’t recognize all cards or any card larger than one gig. I ask the GR host what kind of card he’s needing downloaded. He didn’t seem to know and so looked at one of his guests, who then proceeded to tell me that he needed to transfer the photos and videos from his card onto a disc. Got it.

I ask him what kind of memory card he has and he tells me, with a perfectly straight face “it is a memory card from a digital camera.” I ask “what kind?” He tells me again “it’s a memory card from a digital camera.” Hmm, maybe he went to Pleasure Island last night too? I then ask if I can maybe see the card?

He brings out his camera and takes out the memory card. I can tell from the shape that it is an SD card. I say, “it’s an SD, that’s good.” He turns it around so I can read the label and I say “it’s a 2 gig, that’s bad.” I know that our little gadget machine isn’t going to be able to read all that memory, but I try anyway. No go.

Meanwhile, the GR host notices my name tag and asks “Oklahoma City? Is that for real?” I look at his name tag, Jarred from Midwest City. That’s a suburb of Oklahoma City. I tell him that “Yes, I really did grow up in Oklahoma City.” We look at each other, realize (at least I did) that there is such an age gap between us that playing the “who do you know” game would be useless. Plus Midwest City is close to OKC, but it’s not OKC. We then stop talking, and look back to the VIP.

Well now.   The guest looks at each of us and introduces us. “Jarred… DeborahSue. DeborahSue… Jarred”. I think this is kind of funny since we are the ones wearing the name tags. The guest then tells us to shake hands, and being the ever obedient types we are, we shake.

Pat, who has been watching everything all along cannot stand it any longer and asks the guest relations host, in her sweetest Southern drawl, “Jarred, who are these gentlemen?” Jarred looks at the gentlemen who give him a shrug and a smile as if to say “go ahead, try.” Jarred looks at Pat and tells her that “these gentlemen are… fishermen.” Humph! Took the wind right out of her sails. That didn’t tell her a thing. So she goes right back to hovering.

The guest then tells me that he has been to OKC and has met Toby Keith. He had even been onstage with him. I’ve never met the Toby mine own self (but at least I know who he is) so I ask “Is he as big as he looks?” The guest tells me that yes he is. 

Okay, back to the issue with his memory card. I can’t transfer or download it for him, so he decides to buy a new one and send the used one to somebody. (Patrick?) The guest tells me he wants to buy a new card. Okie dokey, finally something I can do for these guys! I ask “Do you want a one, two or four gigabyte?” His eyes get all big and shiny and he says “you’ve got a four gigabyte? That’s huge!” I manage to not tell him that the four is reserved for Texans and agree that yes, a four is big. (sarcasm can pop up at the most inappropriate times!) I’m suspecting that this fellow may have a wicked sense of humor, but if I’m wrong… Best not to risk it.

He wants the four. Of course he does, he’s a guy, right? And a fisherman to boot!

I get him the four, open it up with my very own box knife and hand it over. I’ve rung it up and he is inserting it into his camera. And I wait. Some of these VIP guests who hire our Guest Relations tour guides have arranged a charge account with Disney, so that the guest never has to actually pay us directly. The GR host will just give us a card for a master account that will charge the VIP one lump sum.

I look at Jarred and he looks at me, and then at the guest, who is happily playing with his camera. (Boys and their toys!)

Finally, the VIP guest realizes that I would actually like to have some sort of payment. Now the magic moment for Pat… He hands me a credit card!!! As in something that will have his name on it! I can just feel her needing to snatch that credit card out of my hands, but she restrains herself. (I am soo proud of her!)

Don’t you know that card had a business name on it? Hansen Management, Inc. And don’t you know that he has a celebrity autograph that cannot be read? But his wallet is open and I see that he has a Washington state driver’s license. So okay, thank-you very much, have a magical day. Y’ all come back now, he-ah?

Um, no… He wants a photo of Jarred and me to make sure the memory card works. Jarred moves behind my counter, asks Pat to join us and then VIP guy snaps the photo. Jarred moves back out from the counter and VIP guy is checking his camera. He then says “DeborahSue, we are taking you with us.” I say “Where are we going?” He replies “Norway.”

Well unh, uh, no way am I going to Norway. It’s bleeping cold in Norway and I tell him so. He then says my image. Oh, well, that’s okay. I don’t believe that an image of me is the same as me, so go right on ahead and take my image wherever you want. And if it’s only the Norway pavilion in EPCOT? That’s fine too.

Finally they leave. And don’t you know that before the door closed behind them that Pat was attached to me like a fly on flypaper (you thought I was fixing to say something about rice, didn’t you?) wanting to know what his name was. I gave her the disappointing (to her) news that the credit card was in a business name, and the signature was illegible. She knows me. She loves me. She tells me “go look him up on the computer.”

I know these things:

• They are fishermen
• Washington driver’s licence
• Norway

Guess what! They are fishermen! Not like my daddy fishing out of Port Orford, Oregon. Not like my nephew fishing on Lake Conroe, TX. These guys go out to Alaska, in the absolute worst weather and catch crab. As in tons of crab. “Oh, look Sig, the ships hold is full.” “That’s okay Edgar, let’s just keep piling it on deck!” Dangerous! Oh, and they are on a television show called the “Deadliest Catch.” On the Discovery Channel.

I tell this story later to my husband, who is an avid television watcher, and he knows the show! I tell my friend Mary and low and behold, she and her husband watch it too!

I tell my mom, and she’s never heard of it, but calls me one day saying that she and her husband are watching it and which one is “my guy and which boat is his.” I tell her it’s the Northwestern and he is not my guy, but that the guy I met is Sig, and probably the guy who missed his flight is Edgar. (I am a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe, and Edgar Cayce, so his name is easy for me to remember.)

Mary watched an episode and she tells me that Sig is cute! Pat told me earlier that he was “hot.” Jack and I watched also and Jack thinks I should stop complaining about the price of crab cakes. (I love Jack!)

I haven’t heard back from Mom yet, but I’m gonna guess that she will think that he is cute as well. As for me? He is Mr. Charisma, he seems like the kind of guy who makes friends every where he goes. Edgar is just quietly amused by it all. Oh, and if I was married to either one of them? I’d never ever watch that show. Too many risks, I’d be a basket case! So, to the women who had the courage to marry them… Stay sane and warm sweethearts!

And Sig, and Edgar?  Thanks for giving me my “guest story of the day.”

DeborahSue

Catching up with The Deadliest Catch Posted by Kevin Donahue on July 10, 2008 Capt Sig of the Northwestern Originally uploaded by kevindonahue.Merrin and I went to Epcot tonight to meet the captain and crew of the Northwestern from the Discovery Channel’s “The Deadliest Catch”. Captain Sig Hansen, Norman Hansen, and Edgar Hansen were totally cool. They were down to Earth and seemed sincerely glad to meet the fans. We also got to have dinner with Rob, which was cool. I hope we can meet up with Patricia and him again soon!