Pineapple Shrimp Ceviche and Pineapple Gazpacho

First off, a follow-up from yesterday’s post. Behold, our lovely repast! It was as much fun to eat as it was to prepare, plus we have plenty of leftovers for today.

Dan’s New Drone in a Box

What should I blog about now? Oh, I know what I can drone on about now, Dan’s new drone. Bought secondhand, he saved so much money on it that I can only guess at its cost. Here it is in its rather rugged, but also snazzy looking carrying case. Dan and Britt hope to eventually use it to get movie making gigs. They recently streamed a new movie that had lots of drone footage in it and ever since then, any new show that they watch they see even more such work. In addition to this purchase they are both taking an online Zoom class to help get FAA certified. You can fly a drone for free, but if you want to make money off of one, then you need to be certified. His may sound a little like a harebrained get rich quick scheme, but Dan knows someone who is already making his living doing this kind of drone work and knowing him, Dan figures that he could do it too. It beats just sitting around day-after-day.

As soon as word got out about his drone plans, everybody, including his brother, sent him an article about an incident involving a Bald eagle and a drone. It didn’t end well for the drone. Dubbed EGLE, for Michigan’s Environment, Great Lakes and Energy department, this state owned drone was supposedly attacked midflight. The case against the eagle is only circumstantial, no one saw an attack and an eagle just happened to be in the area when the drone crashed into Lake Michigan. Its wreckage was never recovered. Attorneys for the eagle would only comment that their client is federally protected, immune from prosecution and that includes from likes of state officials and their pesky drones.

Eagles aside, I think that a much graver danger to Dan’s new drone is some kite eating tree. Although getting taken out by a bird would make for a much better story. I got to believe that the flight envelope in and around Brooklyn is kind of narrow, but he could always drive out-of-town someplace to practice. When he eventually lands a gig, I imagine that permitting will be a big part of the job.

If the drone ever makes it to the cabin, then the whole eagle gambit may have some play. There is a Bald eagle’s nest on the point, at the far end of the beach. This summer, I even saw one of this nesting pair zoom down the beach, just above the waves. It was being chased by a flock of seagulls, probably because it had tried to eat one of them. In years past I saw an eagle successfully hunt a gull. It was floating in the water on a calm day. Coming from behind, the eagle thumped the gull on the head, circled and thumped it again, before on the third pass, snatching the stunned bird and flying away with it.

The EGLE drone was white and about the size of a seagull. I’m not saying it did, but if the eagle had attacked their drone, it might have seen it as a seagull. Dan’s drone is bigger and darker, about eagle size and is unlikely to be mistaken for a seagull. Maybe another eagle though? How territorial are eagles anyway?