Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is almost here…the kids carved pumpkins with Patrick. Nora LOVED rolling up her sleeves and pulling out all the seeds. When she finished with her pumpkin, she wanted to do mine. Stuey wanted nothing to do with the slimy mess and preferred using a spoon. Seed extraction is a hard endeavor with even the sharpest of spoons!

Some recent kid quotes:
-"I hope you have a nice day at your work and you don't get fired."Nora said to Patrick as she kissed him good-bye in the morning.

-When playing Monopoly, Stuey to Patrick "You might win this game, dad. Just believe in yourself." (He didn't win. Nora made a comeback after having just 3 dollars left and all of her properties mortgaged.)

Zoya

Hard Frosts

Nora tells me I should have looked for a 4-leaf-clover covered with crystals - the clover have millions of small cone-shaped crystals on them

Here on Kodiak we've been waking up every morning to some pretty hard frosts.  The lawn and cars covered with a layer of ice crystals.  Later it warms up into the mid 40's and is warm in the sunshine.  But I've noticed that the low-angled sunlight has not been melting the frost in the shaded areas, and that the lakes and ponds are beginning to freeze up.  Funnily enough the lettuce, parsley and kale from the garden are still doing great.  I even ate a salad yesterday and was surprised by its mild flavor.  The frosts have made the kale sweet.  Patrick

Crystals on a cottonwood leaf are flatter than those on the clover

Stuey and Mount Monashka

Yesterday, while Zoya and Nora were at a Girlscout activity, Stuey and I climbed Mount Monashka.  At first Stuey was disapointed in our choice of mountains because Mount Monashka is not as high as Pyramid.  I explained to Stuey that each mountain is its own climb and that they should not be compared.  I pointed out that I like climbing Mount Monashka because it is close to the ocean, has old growth spruce forest to hike through, and has stunning vistas.  The mountain is quite sheer and everything seems set out directly below.

Then for a while Stuey kept on asking when it would 'get steep'.  He should have been more careful about what he wished for!  And, yes, he learned that Mount Monashka is steeper than Pyramid.

It was a glorious day for a hike with no wind and the low slanting sunlight of late fall.  Warm enough that we did not need coats and yet cool enough to be comfortable on a steep climb.  Sheba and Tank ran here and there and were quite exhausted by the time we got back to the car.  Patrick

Benny Benson & the City Cemetery

Brownie Troop #118 learning about Alaska history (including our flag!) together with the "Alaska Try It" badge today. 

We walked from the library to the city cemetery by the hospital and learned a little bit more about the people who came before us here in Kodiak. The girls each had a flower to leave on grave of their choice. We found Benny Benson's grave and spent time reading the plaque on his grave. Several of the girls left their flowers on his grave. 

I'm thankful for an afternoon full of thoughtful questions and thoughts from the Brownies, and their families which came along on this outing.

Brownie "selfie" :)

Zoya

Pumpkins, Horses and Organs

HALLOWEEN

The Halloween spirit is strong at the Coast Guard Base Clinic. Today when I walked into the Physical Therapy room, it had been spiderweb-ized and there was Mr. O'lantern warming up on the bike. Thank you to Krystyna M. for decorating. :)

HORSE TIME
Fall weather remains epically sunny and gorgeous. Yesterday Stuey rode in the round pen outside and worked more on his trotting. Stuey was on the silly side, so wasn't able to cantor but after the round pen work, we went for a short walk around the outside of the arena.

Stuey riding Pony the Fjord

Stuey saying "what the?"...a habit I'm trying to break

BIRTH CLASS

I'm nearing the end of teaching an 8 week childbirth class series and then I will take 8 weeks off before starting up again in January. My favorite parts are seeing the women gain confidence in their bodies. To realize that they are MADE to have babies.  And by the end of the series, the partners confidently answer questions...shooting their hands up in the air when I ask what the name of hormone is that causes the uterus to contract. And how can we facilitate the flow of that hormone? (btw...the answer is oxytocin and we can facilitate her by minimizing interruptions, keeping her labor room dark, quiet, massage and calm presence)

Many moms and partners come to first class nervous. Understandably so. There is quite a bit of mental reprogramming to be done about their bodies' ability to give birth.  (ie...yes-they CAN do it. And Yes, their body knows exactly what to do if we just let it.) 

After 8 weeks they leave excited to have the big day come. 

(oh, and for those interested in stuffed, plush organs...you can purchase all organs from iheartguts.com)

Meet my stuffed organ props for Childbirth class. The Brain and Uterus. 

Zoya

7,000 Years At Midway Bay

Tonight at the Alutiiq Museum I presenting a powerpoint lecture on the Alutiiq Museum's excavations last summer in Old Harbor.  The airport runway is getting extended and the museum was hired to excavate all the archaeological sites that would have been impacted.  We excavated at three different sites and found stuff dating as far back as 7200 years ago right up to the present. If you're interested the lecture is free and is at 7PM in the Alutiiq Museum gallery.

Here are a few of the slides to whet your appetite.

Hiking to Snow with Stuey

Still no snow down low

Last weekend Stuey and I climbed Pyramid.  Before the elk hunt I'd promised we'd climb the mountain when I got back from Afognak.  So Saturday afternoon after we finished cutting up all the elk harvested on the hunt Stuey and I headed up the mountain.

The kids have been dying for it to finally snow at our house.  Last week it barely snowed in town, but up on Pyramid enough fell that some hardy souls got in the first skiing of the year.  This was the same storm that caught us packing out an elk on Afognak.  So driving out for the climb Stuey was very excited to hear we'd be climbing up to the snow that we could see on the tops of the mountains all around us.

And when we got up there he was surprised at the snow depth.  He kept asking how many inches or feet of snow there was on top.  We even found old ski tracks in the snow.  He can't wait to go skiing! He took lots of pictures and on Monday took the camera to school so he could show 'Mr. Brian' the snow on the mountain.
Patrick

Deep snow up high - Stuey tested one drift that was waist deep

Snow!  And Stuey loved it when I pointed out Afognak in the distance

Life Afloat

Nothing beats a 50 foot seiner as a mobile base camp.  No matter how nasty the weather the boat is ALWAYS warm and dry.  Best of all, once on shore we are not limited to any one area of the coastline - Jim in the FV Columbia could pick us up anywhere.  We often go to shore in one bay and get picked up in a completely different and far distant bay.

The boat is also where we stored our kegs of beer.  On the last elk-meat ferry down to the sea my mantra was 'beer on the boat'.  Such thoughts keep the pain at bay and are a good incentive to get back to the boat.

Finally the boat is a great fishing platform.  Afterall, the FV Columbia is, first and foremost, a FISHING boat - the 'F' in 'FV'. On this hunt we tried subsistence tanner crab fishing, and failed miserably.  We only caught sea stars, whelks and a couple of octopuses.  But it sure was exciting when the pot broke the sea surface.  What interesting sea creatures would we find inside?  We also had some halibut hand-lines and Justin managed to catch one to take back to his freezer in Fairbanks (along with some cod).

Adelia's husband Philip edited a video of the hunt and posted it to Vimeo.   

http://vimeo.com/109401605


An Afognak Limerick by Ray R.

There once was a gal from Uganik,

Chased the Waterfall Herd to a panic,

The herd bull went down,

‘twas the talk of the town,

The great Huntress made Patrick more manic!

Patrick

Life on Shore

During the hunt much of our time on shore was spent either carrying meat or hanging out by the woodstove in the teepee.  A woodstove on a lighweight camping trip might seem extravagant but our teepee and stove together weigh around 5 pounds and are very compact.  They are made by a company called Titanium Goat (click here for more), and are actually FAR lighter per person than individual tents.  Also there is nothing quite like the camaraderie of warming up by a woodstove while waiting for dinner to cook.

This year we also brought along a lightweight propane 'Lucy' lantern.  It provided light, and, when hung from the ceiling of the tent, it did a great job drying out socks.  We were very comfortable in our teepee.  On both nights we had to scrape away snow before setting up the tent and on both nights the stove dried out the ground inside the tent surprisingly quickly.

Of course for the one time we packed out an elk in a snow/rain storm it sure was nice to have a dry boat to retreat onto - but more about life on the boat in another post.  Patrick

Elk Hunt Scenics

The one regret from this year's elk hunt is that we did not get to camp and hike around the island as much as usual. But I'm not complaining! If we do a lot of hiking it means we had a difficult time finding elk.  And we still did get to see some beautiful country.

This year we experienced a pretty decent snow event and for the rest of the hunt the high country was covered with snow.  It actually made elk difficult to spot because they look similar to dots of white snow.

Patrick

Successful Elk Hunt

Yesterday evening we returned from a very successful elk hunt.  In 3 days of hunting we found 2 different elk herds and harvested 2 bull elk.  That's a lot of meat and a lot of luck!  I think Adelia's elk weighed on the order of 1100 pounds.  Some years it takes a lot more work just to find one elk herd.  And then there are the years we return with no elk.  Thank you elk hunt gods!

We also had some great hiking and camping, ate delicious food, and saw some wonderful sights.  All to be described in future elk hunt posts.

But the elk hunt is not over yet.  We still have to process and package all the meat.  That is what we will be doing all day today.  I just hope we finish today!  Patrick

Elk! And Waiting.

The Elk Crew got 2 Elk!

For some odd reason, I am superstitious about blog posting on Elk successes (or failures) until the hunt is all over. Even after Patrick shot the first, one I told close friends and family but didn't want to write about it on the blog until they had reached their goal, or were returning home.

Patrick shot an Elk  last Sunday.  The winds were blowing 25-45 mph and it was Kodiak's first real snowfall accumulation of the year. His phone call arrived in the early evening, shortly after they had arrived safe and sound to the seiner with the elk in hand.

Sunday night I lay in bed until midnight listening to the howling winds outside, hoping that the boat was safe in its Anchorage. I was restless, tossing and turning. The wind pelted the snow and slush aggressively against the window. I couldn't imagine the dampness and coldness of hiking through the wet and bone chilling conditions to bring the elk back to the boat. I thought about how hard sleeping is on boats. And my father, on his boat, how he wouldn't sleep well in winds. Listening for the anchor and making sure the anchor isn't dragging.


And now I await for the crew to return.

Yesterday I didn't hear a peep from Ray or Patrick. I assumed this to mean there was no second elk. Then my phone rang this morning, when I was at St. Mary's prepping a handwriting  assignment for Nora and Stuey's class.

Adelia shot an Elk yesterday-a HUGE one.

"I think its the biggest Elk we've ever shot on one of these hunts. The antlers are taller than Adelia!" Patrick exclaimed.  Because of its size, the crew did not finish processing the elk for haul until sunset, and they set up camp in the dark. Bear fence around the meat.  Nonetheless, he sounded jazzed and elated.

And now I wait some more for word on the time of their return.

This evening, the kids and I made welcome home signs, I did some dishes, replaced some lightbulbs that were out in the living room, and obsessively texted partners of the elk party to see if they had heard anything about return time.

Not a peep. Perhaps they'll roll in at midnight. Sometimes they do that. Perhaps tomorrow mid day. Either way, I'm excited to celebrate their successful hunt! Cheers to savoring Elk meat in this next year to come.

Zoya

Moments captured on the SAT phone

When Patrick is away on hunts, we communicate via Satellite phone. Its a large bulky, phone (looks like a cell phone from the 80's) which is kept in a hardshell waterproof case. Next to the phone is a folded up piece of worn paper describing how to turn it on and dial, in the event that someone not familiar with it needs to place a call. To dial out, one must stand outside and usually it catches the satellites overhead pretty well. If not, the call is lost and a retry is necessary. There is often a long gap in conversation, as if calling another country.


For the past 10ish years that we've had the Satellite phone, it has brought me much peace of mind.

In our early days of our Satellite phone ownership, I was practicing with the feature where I could e-mail a short message to the phone. There is a maximum character limit on these messages, approx 2-3 sentences. Patrick was in the field I sent several spunky, fun text messsages to the phone. Patrick never received the messages.

I called up the SAT phone company.

"I wrote several messages on the phone and they didn't go through. Can you check on it?" I asked. The SAT phone lady checked the address I was using and re-assured me that it was correct.  She suggested I just keep retrying.

So I did.

"Miss you lots, Tiger. Love, Zoya " ended  one of the messages.

A few days later I got a call from the SAT phone company. A tug boat operator in the NYC area had been receiving my text messages. The address the company had given me was in fact the wrong one.  We chuckled upon hearing this and figured I must have made his day with the spontaneous messages, as he was trying to figure out who his admirer was.

                                                           ~

Over the years, lots of history and moments in the messages...just a sample of the messages from my "sent" folder to the Sat phone. In the earlier days, I wouldn't put spaces between the words, to save character capacity for more words.

2006
HiPatrick.NoRatYet.NoraWentDownForAGoodMorningNap.BigBoatIsWayInsideMillBayNow.PrettyExciting.StayClearOfThoseBears!Love,ZoyaNoraRoxyDog

2006
HiPatrick.WeFinallyMadeItHome.9PMWedNight.CrossingWasFairlySmooth.NoSeaSickness.NoraDidWell.TeethAren'tBotheringHer.ThankHeavens.IWorkTodayAndTomorrowAtTheClinic.LoveYouSoMuch.Can'tWaittoHaveYouHome!Love,Zoya

2008
WeatherIsGoodHere.DoggiesAreAliveAndWell.ErinHcameOverLastNightAfterKidsWereinBedforDinnerAndDrinks.GoodTimesCatchingUpWithHer.TownisStillAbuzzWithPalinNews!!HappyHunting!LoveZoyaohboya

2010
Oh and today we went to the pool. Nora is able to jump off the diving board and swim back to the side all by herself with her little life vest on. Pretty cool! I can just sit on the side and she swims right over. She was quite proud of herself! Love, Zoya

2013
we had frost today! kids were so excited. Nora wore her winter jacket. Cool breeze now. Stuey kept asking when will it snow. Missing you lots. Love, hunny bunny

On this elk trip (2014), these are two of my recent messages:

Two Canadian hunters were driving through the country to go bear hunting. They came upon a fork in the road where a sign read "BEAR LEFT" so they went home. Zoya

One Elk down? Get outta town! Thats so fast! What a blast. Happy meat humping, over hills and peaks. We're so  impressed-thats quite a feat. Especially with a crew of 4-holy smokes fried muscles galore! From Zoya


Knowing how fun it is for him to get messages in his SAT phone inbox  field makes sending them that much more fun. 

Zoya

Happy Trails Hunters!

Coffees were topped off, cinnamon waffles consumed, welcome hugs given and there was chatter amongst everyone in the kitchen as people got acquainted with each other.  The composition of the hunt crew changes every year.

Then we headed outside for ritual departure ritual-group photo.

"Oh, wheres the other hunter?" I mistakingly said as the crew was poised for me to take their picture. Justin, Ray, Patrick, Adelia and Brooks were all staged against the red shed, with Nora and Stuey in front. My eyes were scanning for 5 males, and I had forgotten that Adelia was one of the hunters! This is the first year of an elk hunt with a female on the crew.

Adelia is a born and raised Kodiakian and someone I've known my whole life. Our parents were friends even before we were born. And we are both twins. As well as several other commonalities between the two of us.

Adelia runs a fish net site in Uganik Bay for the summers, is savvy with boats, the outdoors and hunting. As I always say about Adelia, "She is amazing and HARD CORE." If I were to be stuck in the wilderness with only 1 other female, Adelia would be  one of the few I'd want  to be trapped with. She has a calm cool collected demeanor, is graceful and incredibly hard working.

I look forward to the hunt updates from Patrick's occasional SAT phone calls. The weather forecast is good and the seas are calm today for their passage up North.

Zoya

Elk Hunt '14

Food supplies ready to be packed

And so it begins... preparations for Elk hunt 2014. T minus 17 (ish) hours till the crew departs....

Patrick and Stuey are at the airport picking up the first of the out of town hunters~Justin from Fairbanks.  Ray from Anchorage arrives later tonight and Brooks from Juneau tomorrow AM.

This afternoon Patrick stuffed his new grey hunting pack with the necessary gear and tried it on. Its a new pack, lighter. I liked imagining him hiking on Afognak in search of the Elk herds with it on. He looked at me and smiled, pleased with how much lighter it feels compared to his old pack.

Food. A biggie for such an adventure. Feeding 5 hungry hunters with enough calories for 7-10 days. Several of the guys made frozen meals to eat on the boat and Patrick packed along many meals for their nights camping on Afognak.  When Patrick comes home after the hunt, his metabolism will be revved for several days after-constantly ravenous. His body will still be thinking he is chasing after the elusive elk.

 This afternoon, a call went out to Skipper Jim on ETD tomorrow. The time is dictated by the tides in Whale Pass  and weather.  Tomorrow the plan is for a 10ish departure and 6-8 hours later, they'll be at their destination at Afognak. Ready to start hunting on Sunday.

There is an Elk hunt energy at our home. 11 or 12 years now into the annual hunt, I sense this excitement and relish in it. Tomorrow morning I'll make some waffles and eggs for breakfast. A hearty breakfast for a hearty crew.

Zoya