DEAR ABBY: While you're on the subject of pantyhose, this story may win the blue ribbon.
Fifteen years ago, we rented a sailing yawl with several friends to see the sights of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. When we arrived in Friday Harbor, my cousin Dave, an ingenious chemical engineer, bought several pair of cheap pantyhose at the local drugstore. When we asked why, he said mysteriously, "You'll see."
A few days later, we were moored in a shallow harbor off one of the islands. David had been fishing earlier that week and had saved some fish guts and heads. He stuffed them into the toes of the pantyhose, tied the waist to a rope, and lowered the rope into the calm waters until the pantyhose and bait hit the bottom. Fifteen minutes later, he pulled the rope up -- and there were several crabs dangling from the pantyhose. Apparently the claws of the crab caught in the mesh of the hosiery and they couldn't free themselves! We grabbed a colander and scooped crabs onto the deck every 15 minutes until we had reached our limit. After checking for correct size and gender, we kept the legal ones, boiled and cleaned them, and had a Crab Louie feast for dinner. Leave it to an engineer to figure out the most compact crab trap for seafood lovers. -- ELAINE JACOBS, TACOMA, WASH.
DEAR ELAINE: That was ingenious! And if you also have an appetite for catfish, read on:
DEAR ABBY: The letter from the lady who was on the road in an RV in Arizona prompts my own. They had a broken fan belt on their engine and a truck driver repaired it temporarily with a pair of pantyhose. The story reminded me of an experience we had years ago on a family camping and fishing trip.
When we got to the river, we discovered the men had forgotten to bring their net to catch minnows for bait. Well, sometimes a person has to get inventive. I went into the camper and came out with a pair of pantyhose. My son snapped a branch from a tree and attached the pantyhose to it. It made a first-class minnow net. Our fishermen got a pantyhose full of minnows, which attracted lots of delicious catfish. -- MARY THOMPSON, WATHENA, KAN.
DEAR MARY: Now that's one heck of a fish story if I ever heard one.