The Saltonstalls -Patrick, Zoya, Nora, Stuart, Roxy Dog & Jake

Snow Totals

2012-02-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

I know it seems sort of petty, but Nora and I have been keeping track of snow totals in Anchorage vs Kodiak. Every morning when I check the weather Nora asks if Kodiak has more snow than Anchorage. Often she runs in and yells, 'how much snow does Anchorage have?''. And until today I always had to disappoint her with my answer - 'no, Anchorage still has more snow'. But Today we finally did surpass Anchorage in the snow total. According to the official airport tallies Kodiak stands at 97 inches of snow total for the season while Anchorage is at 94 inches.

Kodiak usually gets a lot of snow - a couple of years ago we got 150 inches of snow total for the winter. However, we also usually get a lot of rain and warmth too to knock back the snowpack depth in town. Up high this means we usually have obscene amounts of snow, but down low at sea level it is generally brown and snowless. But not this year! Right now we have 32 inches of snow on the ground at sea level (that's almost 3 feet of snow) - Anchorage is at 26 inches.

So yes, Nora, we do now have more snow than Anchorage.

Life is good, Patrick

"What The?"

2012-02-01T22:28:00.004-08:00

The past week there was a funny moment when I volunteered in Nora's class.

I was helping a student with a math sheet and I told him an answer needed correcting. He responded to me, "What the?!", then paused and said, "Awkward!". It was a response which took me by surprise! Needless to say, I'm glad Nora hasn't responded with such words and I hope she never does. Especially at the young age of kindergarten.

On my recent trip to Anchorage, I got Nora Little House on the Prairie paper dolls, which she loves. Stuey proceeded to build himself a craft stick house at preschool and make paper dolls out of paper for his house. It was fun to watch him mimic Nora's toy.

Zoya

Great Blue

2012-01-31T17:39:00.001-08:00

Kodiak continues to have GREAT snow and cross country skiing. Right now we have 28 inches on the ground at the airport, and it is supposed to snow again tonight. We are up to 85 inches of snow total for the season. That is a lot.

Snow on the ground makes Kodiak seem like a much brighter place. The snow reflects the light and even at night it seems lighter. Exercise helps the mood too - and when there is snow on the ground I get to ski. Some winters we have no snow and while usually warmer it is so much more depressing - grey brown and no light. YUCK! But not this year - this year we got it great. I feel like snow and cold and exercise is good for my mood - Patrick's mental medication. It must be said - I am in a very good mood this winter. Patrick

Photos: I took these photos today while on my daily afternoon ski. The bottom 2 were taken at the parking lot at the outlet to Buskin Lake. I did not need to go skiing to take those pictures. The top photo is of a great blue heron that I surprised on some open water on the creeks that feed into Buskin Lake.

Pia's Classic~Learning about Who Pia was

2012-01-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

When in Anchorage for the Pia's Classic Ski race, Patrick and I learned about the legacy of the Pia's Classic race name.
AMH, a wonderful local ski supply store in Anchorage, sponsors the race every year. We are frequent customers of the store and learned that the owners daughter was named Pia and was killed in a climbing accident when she was 15. On the Pias Classic website, there is a link to "Learning about who Pia was". I cut and paste it below:

Pia-Margrethe Denkewalter was born April 9, 1981, and died in a climbing accident on Byron Glacier August 4, 1996 at age 15.
Pia was she was an avid outdoor sports enthusiast and a student at West High. She excelled in many sports, participating in cross country skiing and track at West High, and she participated in training groups and camps in those sports. She was also a soccer player with Team Alaska. She had just discovered mountain biking when she died. Pia was a fierce competitor who was always eager to try something new.

Her family, Paul and Mary Kaye Denkewalter, and sisters, Ingrid and Grethe, remember this about her:

Pia loved reading, particularly history. Her flare for fashion was one of her trademarks. She also was a movie buff, memorizing lines, scenes and musical scores from dozens of movies – Monty Python was her favorite. A musician for many years, she played the violin.

Pia was a perfectionist who refused to do anything halfway - she was proud of being a 4.0 student at West High School. Always a lady, she had no qualms about speaking out for what she believed. Pia set goals for herself and worked tirelessly to achieve them.

Her friends, who treasured her enthusiasm and her sense of humor, will miss the way Pia could always make them laugh. Her wit and outlook on life frequently took center stage whenever friends and family were gathered. She was a loyal and steady friend. She will always be remembered by her family and many friends who loved her.

Her father, Paul, is a kind and familiar face at AMH when Patrick and I have gone there over the years. Patrick asks him questions about wax, trail conditions, gear, etc. During my 5K race, the course took us past Pia's overlook, where there is a bench overlooking Cook Inlet and a sign that reads, "Pias Overlook". This year there was a wreath hanging on the bench. As I skiied past it, I thought of Pia, and her family and a fear tears welled in my eyes.

As a mother, I was filled with thoughts of love for Pia's family, her sudden loss and reminded of how precious time with our kids are. Patrick said that before the start of the race, the announcers talked about Pia and how the race was named after her. AMH donated high quality Arteryx hats to all the participants as well as a lot of ski-gear door prizes after the race.

What a wonderful way of honoring the memory of Pia and giving those who never knew her a chance to celebrate her spirit.

Zoya

Pics:

Patrick shortly after the finish. Quite tired!
The start of the womens 15K. Julie is...#220. Third from the right in front.
Julie before the start of the race. Cool face mask! Lots of people were wearing air filter devices and face covers, as the temperature was -3. (I frost-nipped my ears!!).
A tree covered in Frost.

An Anchorage Ski Race Weekend

2012-01-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend Patrick and I went to Anchorage for a ski race and to visit friends and family. We skiied in the Pias Classic Cross Country Ski race. I did the 5K and Patrick did the 30K. Our friend Julie did the 15K. The race was today-weather was a balmy -3 degrees...brrr. We all survived the cold and had fun racing. Patrick and Julie were much more serious about their races, than I was. My mom came and met us at the finish, which was fun as well! Its always fun to have someone cheering when you cross the finish line. She and I cheered Patrick on as he crossed the finish line.

Patrick did the 30K in 1:54 (he achieved his goal of doing it under 2 hours!). I did the 5K in 26 minutes and placed 29th out of 47 racers.

The night before the race we went out to dinner with Ray and Julie. We ended up being at the restaurant for 3 hours as we ate, talked and laughed. Today after the race we went to their house and took a hot tub outside, which felt SO good after being in the cold. Muscles needed it!

While we have said less-than-nice things about Anchorage in the past, it must be said there are lots of good things about Anchorage. Good friends, family, restaurants, ski races...and hot tubs after races!! What a fun weekend it was.

Zoya

Snow Candy & Pajama Day gone Bad

2012-01-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE EXPERIMENT
Recently when reading Little House on the Prairie to the kids, there was a section on the Ingalls' girls making snow candy. Nora immediately asked if we could try it, and Patrick was enthusiastic about it, so they did it! We googled the recipe on-line and it ended up being quite simple and yummy. Mixed together maple syrup and butter till it boiled for several minutes then poured it over a tray of snow. It immediately hardended into a delicious Toffee like candy.

PAJAMA DAY GONE BAD
Earlier this week, I was under the impression it was Pajama Day at Nora's school. In the news letter it said, "Pajama Day" Tuesday, but didn't give the date. So I figured it was this week. I sent Nora to school in Purple Flannel Polka dot pajamas. Patrick returned with a crying Nora about 15 minutes later. Evidently it was NEXT Tuesday.

Nora was quite distraught from the moment she got to school and looked around to see all the other kids in their uniforms. She was the only one in her pajamas. She was so embarrassed she wanted to exit the school through a side door to leave the building. Patrick took her home and got her changed into her uniform. Evidently 2 other kids in the school came in their pajamas that day, so that made Nora feel better.

Patrick made Nora feel better when he told her the story about how he went to school and forgot to put on his pants. He was wearing a really long shirt and somehow left the house without his pants on! That made her laugh lots.

Zoya

Slow Race?

2012-01-26T19:58:00.001-08:00

This weekend Zoya and I are off to Anchorage to race in the Pia's Classic cross country ski race. It'll be fun to try our hand against the Anchoragua skiiers. We both see it as a tune up for the Tour of Anchorage ski race that occurs in early March. In the past the Tour of Anchorage has been our only race of the year. And once that race starts I have often felt panic - the first half of the race has always been about settling down. Wouldn't it be better to practice racing beforehand? And so with that in mind we decided to do 2 races this year - the Tour of Anchorage AND the Pia's Classic.

Since it is a practice race I have decided to try and have fun and go slow. The funny thing is that everyone I have talked to doubts that I will be able to do the race 'slow'. My reasoning is that in the past when I panic my ski technique has gone to hell. I actually believe that if I go 'slow' and keep my technique together I might actually go faster than if I go all out (and flail about). In any case, it would be good to find this out before the big race. So with that in mind I intend to do a 'slow' race. I still hope to finish in under 2 hours for the 30K race. That is my goal.

Patrick

Photo is from the 2008 Tour of Anchorage - my last 'classic' technique cross country ski race. I did 25K in around one hour and twenty five minutes. But I was younger then, and the Pia's Classic course is much more up and down. I'll be happy with any time under 2 hours. In 2001 I came in 9th with a time of 1:41 (I just looked it up), but that sort time 'aint going to happen again for me - EVER.

Twin Ski

2012-01-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today my sister, E., and I took our first cross country ski together this winter. We went on Lake Gertrude in Ft. Abercrombie. The evening light was gorgeous, there was a set track and we had the lake to ourselves.

Felt so good to ski in the company of my sister and enjoy the outdoors. E. and I haven't done any winter outdoor activities together since her return to Kodiak last year. Skiing with her brought me back to the time when we did the Tour of Anchorage ski race together in 2001. E. was living in Anchorage, me in Kodiak. She was a much better skiier than me, as she would go on the groomed ski trails after work. Bless her heart, she stuck with me for the majority of the race, although I'm sure she wanted to leave me in the dust.

Today it was fun to just ski for the heck of it- for some good exercise and enjoy the outdoors together.

Can you tell who's who in the picture?

(and Kodiak just broke its January Snowfall record!)

Zoya

(and at her request, I have to call my sister E. She doesn't like her name on our blog....)

Pushin' the Furniture Aside

2012-01-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Last night was a fun impromptu dance party with girlfriends. Patrick and I had a few friends over for dinner and around 9 the kids all went to bed. Marie talked about wanting to dance, so I turned the music up in the living room, we pushed the furniture aside and had a blast dancing for more than 2 hours. It was just Marie, Dawn and myself and we had fun teaching each other new dance moves~so good for the soul! I've got to do that more often.

Patrick, Aaron and Hannah stayed in the kitchen and watched hunting and family videos. They were quite content to not have to dance! But they could hear the howls of fun coming from the living room! And the kids didn't wake up once to the music-yeah!

Zoya

Photos:
Dawn and I dancing
Marie, Dawn and myself

Group picture:
From Left, Aaron, Dawn, Tchabo, Hannah, Marie

A Gals Ski! (plus two trailblazer guys)

2012-01-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

Today Lisa H., Adelia M. and myself enjoyed a ski in the upper buskin...(and joining us was 2 male trailblazers by the name of Patrick and Philip). Our group had fun trekking along and Lisa's little puppy, Lily, joined us.

I fell a lot in the snow today...partially because I was using skinny racing skis. Everyone else had much fatter skis. So I had to ski fast to warm back up!

The large amount of snow this year is unusual...and we are fully taking advantage of the chance to go on longer ski trips into the woods and up frozen rivers.

Zoya

Thanks to awesome trailblazer Philip T for sharing his photos!
The two group pictures are at the VERY END of the buskin river at a waterfall. Can't go up the river any farther than that!!

Amak Radiocarbon Dates

2012-01-21T09:10:00.001-08:00

Last week I finally got back the radiocarbon dates for last summer's excavation at the Amak Site. Now we know the age of everything we excavated. By the end of the summer we already had a pretty good understanding of the site's stratigraphy, and I had some pretty educated guesses about the age of the various layers we had excavated. See 'Amak Stratigraphy' post -

http://saltonstall.blogspot.com/2011/08/amak-stratigraphy.html

Still they were only 'educated' guesses and I have been horribly wrong before. Once I thought a house we excavated would be around 6000 years old and it ended up 3500 years old instead. That bad guess forced me to re evaluate what I thought I knew about that particular site, and I ended up with a more refined understanding of the site's stratigraphy. I knew why I had made a bad guess. Nonetheless, I don't like being wrong. And so I was very happy when all the dates from last summer's dig came back pretty much as expected.

Radiocarbon dating is a method whereby we send off a piece of charcoal from the layer we want to date to a lab in Miami, Florida and they put it into a fancy machine. The machine determines the ratio in the sample between the radioactive carbon 14 and the stable carbon 12. Carbon 14 is unstable and slowly but surely reverts to the stable carbon 12 with time after an organism like a tree dies. Half of the carbon 14 will have reverted carbon 12 after 5600 years. They calibrated this curve by dating really old bristlecone pine trees where they knew the age of the wood exactly. So if you know the ratio then you know how long the carbon has been dead. Anyway it is complicated and I have probably confused you with my ramblings.

All that really matters is that I sent off charcoal samples to Florida and a couple of weeks later they told me the age of the various samples. They told me that the site was abandoned shortly after 3800 years ago and that the earliest occupation at the site was around 7100 years ago. The main occupation at the site, the time period when they were making all the pretty slate hunting lances, dates to about 5500 years ago (which means that that charcoal sample had about half of its radioactive carbon remaining).

As I said above, the dates came back pretty much as I expected. The only real surprise is that I think the youngest date pretty much dates a massive volcanic ash fall. The ash was churned at the site and the structure we dated looks like it might have been standing when the ash fell (on far left in the profiles). I had hopes that the oldest date would be older - I really want to get a date older than 7500 years (the oldest date so far on Kodiak) - but 7100 is about what I expected for the date of the thin black occupation layer at the bottom of the site. Finally, the 5500 year old layer contains tools typical of the 'Ocean Bay II' era on Kodiak, but it is an early Ocean Bay II occupation. Good dates all! Patrick

Photos: Top photo is an aerial photo taken by a friend of ours Keller W and it shows the site landform and our excavation pretty well. When people lived at the site the bottom third of the photo would have been water while there would have been a lagoon and stream behind the site. Today the ocean is almost a mile away - I actually wonder if that 3800 year old ash fall might have filled up the bay and created a new beach much further down valley. This would have forced the abandonment of the site.

The other 2 images show the same profile from our excavation - the north wall of the main unit. The top white layer represent the latest volcanic ash fall from the 1912 Katmai eruption. The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century deposited many feet of ash onto the city of Kodiak almost 100 miles away. It dwarfs the Mount St Helens eruption.

Yet another cross country ski post

2012-01-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

Another seriously fun afternoon on the Buskin River with Patrick. He got a crisp drink of water from the river at the waterfall and nearly fell in! Fortunately he only got a little wet.

Zoya

Buskin Ski Video

2012-01-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Just a quick 50 second video that shows what the skate skiing was like last weekend up above Buskin Lake. Since then it has snowed a foot of dry powder. Now the skate skiing is terrible but the classic skiing is GREAT. Through today Kodiak has received almost 80 inches total of snow this winter and at the airport there is 21 inches of snow on the ground. Anchorage is setting all sorts of snow records and they 'only' have 25 inches on the ground and have received 89 inches total thus far. I was shocked to discover how close Kodiak is to Anchorage in snow total, and in the next few days we might even pass them! We are supposed to get more snow while they are in the midst of a cold, dry deep freeze. Patrick

Here is the website where I get my snow totals from:
http://lowbandwidth.arh.noaa.gov/wmofcst.php?wmo=CDAK48PAFC&type=public

Convenient Skiing

2012-01-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

Today Zoya came by work with takeout lunches from a local restaurant. We ate quick and then went for a quick cross country ski. We did not have a lot of time because she had a meeting scheduled with a doula client and I had to pick the kids up from school/daycare. So we went to a nearby lake, rather than a more exotic location.

Last night we got around 6 inches of dry, fluffy powder and it had covered all the trees and made their branches droop. No wind with the temperatures in the 20's, the occasional snow squall, and the sun peeking through the thunderheads - it all made for a glorious ski.

The ironic thing is that according to most 'skiiers' Kodiak is supposed to be a terrible place for cross country skiing. I hear it again and again - even from people who live on Kodiak. They ask me, 'where do you go skiing?' And yet I never seem to have a problem finding convenient snow. I'd say that what Zoya and I did today would beat anything you could find in Los Anchorage. And better yet we did not have to deal with crowds or single digit temperatures. My drive time today to get from I work to where we went skiing was around 7 minutes. That is very convenient.

It is true that Kodiak does not have a lot of groomed cross country skiing opportunities (but the USCG is grooming the golf course this year). And sometimes I think 'skiiers' equate groomed trails with places to go cross country skiing. I say it just is not so. Patrick

Little House Time

2012-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Recently I started reading the Little House on the Prairie Books to Nora. What a difference it has made in her behavior-we needed more time together and now we have it. Whenever we have at least 20 minutes or 1/2 hour, we sit down and I read chapters to her. It mellows Nora out and I love it. The stories are interesting and the writing is so descriptive. Its like traveling to another time period for a few minutes.

Stuey has had some funny quotes lately...I've been jotting them down on the calender as he says them.

-Tonight Stuey put his headphones on to listen to music to go to sleep. The music blared through them. He said, "That was really loud. It burned my face off."

-The other day Stuey requested, "I need a drink of water-inside of me is crusted."

Zoya

More Buskin Ski Pics

2012-01-15T17:18:00.001-08:00

This morning Zoya, Paul and I went skate skiing again across Buskin Lake and up the river to the canyon. Zoya was surprised at how much more energy she had after a full night's sleep. We headed across the lake just after sunrise and all the mountains on high were painted pink by the morning light. For the most part our ski was all in shadow and the dark trees made some pretty cool shapes silhouetted against the lit up mountains. Another GREAT ski on Kodiak. Who needs groomed ski trails? Patrick

Visiting Friend From Australia

2012-01-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last night we had dinner with a longtime friend, Mike L. He is here visiting from Australia. He and his wife Alisa lived here for many years before they bought a sailboat, had a son and sailed to Australia from Kodiak. They left in 2007 and since then, Mike published a book, they have another son and a different sailboat. And they sailed there to Australia once again this year from California on their new boat.

Alisa is with the boys in Florida and Mike was here presenting a research paper.
I really missed seeing Alisa. Here in Kodiak, she and I would go blueberry picking in the fall, enjoy tea and walks together and enjoyed sharing in the experience of having little ones together when Stuey and Elias were both small. They took their dream of sailing to Australia and have made it a reality not only once, but twice. Admittedly, I have moments where things are hard with the kids and I have thought about Alisa and Mike and thought, "well, at least I"m not on a sailboat. At least I can escape for a few minutes."

After talking with Mike last night, I realized that he thinks, "At least we're not stuck in a house in America." We got some good laughs out of that. As dinner was served, I joked with Mike that we were going to do "American Plug in Parenting" and have our kids watch a video on our bed so we could enjoy dinner without the kids. Mike took a picture and he is going to put it on his blog. He has kept a blog since the start of their sailing adventure, so it has been easy to keep up with their happenings in Australia.

Makes me realize how the same water doesn't float every boat; Patrick and I are thrilled with being in a house in one spot, raising kids. And they are happy sailing the world and living in the smaller confines with their boys.

Last night I was thrilled to receive a copy of the book Mike recently had published on his first crossing to Australia. I've started reading it and am hooked. (And I'm in the first chapter! So fun to see my name in print!!) Its a fun read because I remember the teas Alisa and I would have as they were preparing to leave...her talking about repairs and sewing sails, seat covers, etc. It helps fill in the gaps of my questions about their experience to read about the details.

This spring I plan on going to Australia to visit them in Hobart. I've been looking forward to it for years and the time is right this April. Can't wait to see their boat, meet their youngest son and see Australia. And to see my friend Alisa once again!!!

Zoya

Photos:
-Toasting with G&T's made by Mike. It was at Mike and Alisas house that I was first introduced to this drink. And he seems to have the perfect recipe for them!
-Friends over last night for a meal of deer roast, Mashed potatoes, Fresh Shrimp from the Gulf of Alaska (brought by Dan U) and roasted broccoli.
-Mike and I with his recently published book.

-Archived Photos:
-Mike, Alisa and Elias before they left.
-A going away dinner when Mike and Alisa and Elias left for Australia.

Buskin Speed Ski

2012-01-14T16:17:00.001-08:00

Today Paul Z, Zoya and I went for a skate ski across Buskin Lake and up the Upper Buskin River to the canyon. There is a lot of snow and the recent rain created a nice crust - perfect for skate skiing. You can cruise the crust anywhere you want to go - sort of like ice skating without boundaries. I felt like a rocket ship flying through the trees.

The best part is that it was all upwind and slightly uphill as we headed up the river. So when we turned around it was all downhill to the car. You did not have to work at all and you just flew. Just glorious.

I was really impressed that Zoya came along because she was up all night at the hospital as a doula helping a lady give birth. She figured the exercise might energize her - and I think it did! Patrick

Food Bank Crisis

2012-01-12T20:59:00.001-08:00

Stock Photo Above=Lets make our food bank shelves look like that!!

Recently the local food bank has had major food shortages. For residents of Kodiak, its time to amp up donations to the food bank.

I learned of the recent shortages from my friend, Winona, who has been volunteering there. She learned how at times there are 90 families on the list for boxes of food and at times they have to prioritize on the list who can get a box every week. I normally don't do "call to arms" blog posts, but felt this was a critical one.

I learned also that the food bank delivers boxes to the several remote villages-and they have to pack canned fruit and other non-perishables in those boxes as opposed to having any fresh produce. There is such a large geographic area of need that the food bank supplies. They also donate food to senior center as well.

If you live in Kodiak, consider dropping off cans (or cases) of soups, canned fruits, tuna fish, canned chicken, etc. to the food bank. It is located on the Baptist Mission Property....3rd building on the left. Lets all pitch in to an important organization and make sure no one goes hungry here in Kodiak.

Here are some donation suggestions...
Stews, soups, tuna, ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, beefaroni, peanut butter, etc.
Grains: Cereal, rice, pasta, dried beans
Fruits: Fruit/fruit cups, dried fruit (raisins, plums, cranberries),
applesauce, 100% juice and juice boxes
Canned Vegetables Kid-friendly items: Fat-free, sugar free pudding cups, granola
bars, popcorn, graham and/or animal crackers
Baby Products: Diapers, wipes, formula, infant cereal
Hygiene Items: Feminine products, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, soap, shaving items, etc.
Paper Products: Toilet tissue, paper towels, etc.

And a Huge Thanks to Alex and the Bapstist Mission Food Bank for providing this vital service to the community.

Zoya

More Kids On Snow Pics

2012-01-12T08:42:00.001-08:00

Since I took these pictures we got a whole bunch more snow and then it rained. But now it is 15 degrees outside again and it is supposed to stay cold. All of our powder has turned into a 'solid base'. Hopefully we'll get a little dusting on top and the kids will be back on snow skiing. No matter what the sledding will be GREAT! Or, at least, VERY, VERY fast anyway.
Pictures are of the kids skiing here around the house and at Ft. Abercrombie.
Patrick

The Weight of Snow

2012-01-09T17:43:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I discovered there is something about being immersed in cold, blustery nature which helps soften a down mood.

Patrick and I skiied with long time friends, Adelia and Philip, through Swampy Acres; exploring. There were side trails taken, slopes descended and ascended and many branches pushed aside.

Patrick and Philip did most of the trail-breaking through many inches of snow. Snow weighted tree branches down as the noon- sun shone through the tress.

To break trail our skis sank way down and we had to lift it back up with with the weight of snow on it. The going was slow, but powerful. I broke trail for only a few minutes at the end and was in better appreciation of what work it took for Patrick and Philip up ahead.

Adelia, a lifelong Kodiak friend, and myself skiied along in conversation as well as in quiet, listening to the guys talk ahead and to the wind through the forest.

Today my muscles remind me how much work it was to trek through the woods and across Lake Genevieve. And my spirit reminds me how good skiing is for my soul.

Zoya

Pictures:
All taken by Philip Tschersich.
Top:
-Zoya, Patrick and Adelia heading back along Lake Genevieve.
-Adelia (right) and myself.
-Patrick forging the way.
-Adelia and I myself go across a small hillside.
-Patrick, myself and Adelia almost to the finish...
-Wind Gust on Lake Genevieve with Barometer behind us.

Almost Full

2012-01-09T08:27:00.001-08:00

I took a bunch of photos of the moon last night as it was rising up out of the ocean. I don't think I quite captured the vivid yellow color. Next time I'll shorten the exposure time. The first picture comes the closest to capturing the true color, but at the time it seemed too dark. I'm also bummed that the moon seems slightly out of focus. After taking the photos the hardest part was deciding which photo I liked the best. I picked these three, but Zoya liked other ones.

Anyway, last night the moon was not quite full. Tonight's the night to celebrate the full moon. Hopefully, it will not be obscured by clouds and I can try and capture its picture again. Patrick

Family Ski Outing~ Ski poles as Weapons

2012-01-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Patrick and I went to Lake Gertrude for a great ski on lots of fresh snow (see bottom photos). In the afternoon we took the kids out to try out the trail we carved out (see top photos).

A few notable moments:
-Earlier on in the ski I asked Patrick, "I'm amazed there aren't more parents with young kids out here." By the end of the trip, I better understood the answer.
-The kids skiied 1/2 way around the perimeter of the lake on the trail Patrick and I carved out from earlier in the day. Their determination surprised us.
-I had a "woo-hoo!!" parenting moment as we started across the lake and the kids didn't need any help from us. And we were all having a fun time. This was a moment I've been excited to have happen since we had the kids...as Patrick and I both love skiing.
-The kids discovered Ski poles make great self-defense tools. During several moments, the kids would turn into a pile of hitting skis and poles on the ground. Patrick and I were at a loss. Sibling love. Nora was pretty aggressive with her skis...We would have to step in break the cat fights up.
-Stuey can't handle being last. Ever. If one of us inched in front of him, he freaks out. He has some very competitive genes at play...Patrick and I disagree as to whose side of the family it comes from.
-At the end of the day, Patrick and I agreed the ski was a success by all measures. A few cat fights, some good distance on the snow....by the end Nora had ditched the poles and was kicking and gliding her way back to the car.

Zoya

Photos:
Nora on the lake.
Stuey and Nora fighting.
Yeah! Kids are able to ski around the lake!
Patrick and I earlier in the day carving out the trail on the lake.

A Local-Vore Meal (Octopus!!) with Local Friends

2012-01-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

Last night we had some friends over for dinner for what ended up being a local-vore meal.

Our friend Nick, who is a paleotologist, was home visiting from the East Coast. He is from a local fishing family and fishes every summer so he always has some good seafood in his freezer. This time, he had some octopus in the freezer from last summer that he thawed out and prepared. He cut the large tentacles into small bite size pieces, breaded them in lightly spiced crumbs and fried them up in the deep cast iron skillet. The flavor was so good and they weren't all that tough! (for those of you who haven't ever eaten octopus, it has a reputation for being tough at times...) For those of you who like calamari, the flavor and texture is very similar to calamari.

Nick also prepared a large serving of Angel Wing mushrooms, which were picked last fall from the sides of fallen trees in the forest and they had been frozen as well. This was his first time experimenting with eating them after freezing. Sauteed with some butter and garlic, they were yummy! I think we were all amazed by how well they froze. Patrick and I decided we are going to do lots more Angel Wing-mushroom-hunting next fall and freeze them for winter.

Patrick prepared some roasted potatoes from his garden as well as his deer ceviche recipe with a deer shoulder roast. It was fun to look at the food and appreciate that it was all harvested from Kodiak! And we are enjoying it in January!

Our friends Sven and Balika came over as well. Nick, Balika and I were in the same high school class here in Kodiak. We don't tend to reminisce about high school days as much as one would think. Partly because we were all affiliated with different friend groups and hobbies in high school. But more because the conversation goes more interesting places; to local food, dinosaurs, travel, happiness, careers, etc.

The commonality of high school is one that definitely connects people, however. I feel fortunate to live in my home town for this reason. There is a longer history and understanding of people you went to high school with. Every once in a while I will cringe as someone will say, "Zoya, I remember when you....". Thats when I like to change the conversation....

I think the kids wondered what we were feeding them. They picked at their plates and I noticed Stuey asked for large portions of dried fruit before bedtime. I think he was hungry...

Zoya

Group picture.
Nick preparing the mushrooms and octopus. Deer Ceviche on the counter. Roasted potatoes were still crisping in the oven.

N & S moments

2012-01-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

Stuey turns 5 in a month and he is having moments where I look at him and realize he is growing quickly out of his little boy phase, as he asks questions about the world and pushes himself harder with tasks.

Lately he has asked "when we will die?". Not sure how this came about, as we haven't been particularly talking about death. Am thinking at preschool they talk about the death of jesus christ, perhaps? In any case, it is on his mind. I tell him, "in a long, long time". I don't remember Nora ever asking much about death, seems to be more his thing lately.

"BAD YOU"
Sometimes when Stuey gets upset with his he puts on the meanest face he can and says, "Bad You". This happens if I've put one of his toys in time out or taken a sticker off his sticker chart. The other day when visiting his grandma in Homer, she had to take something out of his hand and she promised that once he was nice again she would give it back to him. She left the room and Stuey put on his mean face and he said, "Bad Grandma". I said, "stuey, thats not nice" but was holding back laughter. Sometimes when he says, "Bad You" it's so funny, that it's hard to not laugh.

When he gets pouty I tell him, "stuey, I don't want to see anyone smiling or having a good time." Then he puts on an adorable smile and I say, "What? Are you smiling? Are you having a good time?". That seems to help break his bad mood.

NORA
Evenings have been riddled with hard moments for Nora. The hardest time of day is bathtime-she is so tired from school and often just yells at me. Things like, "Mom-I don't want to go to bed. I don't want to take a bath right now!". Frankly, its exhausting to be the recepient of such tired, negative energy. Often I have to take a moment and walk away, and listen to her cries for me. Other times my visceral response is to raise my voice back, which doesn't do any good.

Last night, she apologized for her outburst, which was somewhat of a first. After bath, Patrick was reading to the kids and Nora said, "Sorry mommmy for getting mad". I replied, "thank you, Nora for telling me that. It is hard for me when you yell at me for no reason.". She has always been more challenging for me than Stuey in this regard-having verbal outbursts or crying that I have absolutely no control or understanding of. There is a lot of deep breath taking on my part when this happens. Last night I was talking with a girlfriend who remarked that her daughter (who is 6 months older than Nora) has recently outgrown her outbursts of a similar nature. This was re-assuring to hear.

There are moments where Nora is so mature and thoughtful, considerate of the feelings of others....and I have to give her lots of praises in the positive moments. If there is one thing I"ve learned over the years in my marriage and as a parent, it is to give lots of positives-to help counteract negative feedback. (I learned a few years ago that the ratio should be 10:1 for kids and 7:1 for adults...for every negative criticism, there should be 10 positives sprinkled throughout the day for kids and 7 for adults). The tough part is that when someone is being the most difficult, it is often when they need the most attention or praise, which can be very hard to do at times.

Zoya

Photos: Stuey and Nora in the window of our cabin as the ferry docks in Kodiak (those are the lights of Kodiak outside). Home at last! Dawn on the drive through the mountains while on the way back to Homer from Anchorage. The roads were pretty bad and there were some white knuckle moments - but the light on the mountains and snow on the trees was beautiful. Needless to say, but we did not want to do this drive at night! Another kids in Anchorage ski moment - kid down was a frequent occurence - next is 'pick the kid up again'.

A bear for the New Year

2012-01-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Zoya and I went cross country skiing on Lake Genevieve and it was glorious - no wind and plenty of sun. And there were even some fresh bear tracks to enjoy. It looked like he/she was a small bear. Maybe a 3 year-old getting ready to spend their first winter away from momma. The bear walked almost all the way around the lake, and judging by how fresh the tracks are he/she probably finished the circuit of the lake early this morning. I bet the bear is just finishing up with the last of the spawning silver salmon in the nearby streams and will be in bed soon. Patrick

Bribing with M&M's

2012-01-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

While in Anchorage, we took Nora to AMH (the local ski store) to get new cross country ski boots and the guy there who helped us was fabulous with Nora. The last pair of boots we got her was without her there (and at REI horror of horrors); a grave mistake we discovered. The boots were way too small. (fortunately her little brother can use them!)

The gentleman at AMH spent around 20 minutes getting Nora's foot size, finding the correct boot, then at the end he helped show HER how to unlace them. I sat and watched in amazement as he insisted she unlace the boots on her own. (That, I really liked.)

I asked him, "So do you have kids? You're so patient and helpful with Nora."

He replied with laughter, "Oh no. I don't have kids. I taught ski school for nearly 10 years and that was great birth control. I would have pockets full of M&M's to get the kids to do what we needed. The parents would come back after the lessons and wonder how it was that I got them to do all the activities so well. I would just smile and send the hyper kids off on their way with their parents at the end of the day. Here, I"m patient with kids because I'm paid to be."
He had a great sense of humor and I could tell that his patience was more than just being paid. He had a true knack in working with the wee ones.

The conversation brought a smile to my face, thinking about him with mobs of whiny kids in ski school....bribing them with M&Ms. He asked if we had Nora enrolled in a "ski program" here in Kodiak and I explained how there aren't even groomed trails here-no ski programs. I like that Nora and Stuey want to go skiing and ask to go skiing without any prompting from us. And when we are out, they work hard to keep up with us.

After a week on the mainland, we took the Kennicott Ferry home on an overnight trip back to Kodiak. The seas were predicted to be 8-10 feet, but it was virtually calm. Thank heavens! We all slept like babies and woke up at 8AM to arriving in Kodiak. The kids went into playing hard with all the toys and I went right into unpack and clean mode. Theres no place like home!

Zoya

The (sometimes) reality of skiing with kids

2011-12-31T18:09:00.001-08:00

The light was so good the other evening when we went skiing on Potter's Marsh that I just had to add a few more photos from that trip. We did go again today but the light was not so good.

It is HARD to take the kids cross country skiing. They fall down all the time and need to be picked up and their hands get cold (esp on days like today when it is 5 degrees out). Gear on, gear off - It seems to takes FOREVER for just a few moments actually skiing. But hey, they WANT to go skiing. So it is all worth it. I will put up with whining and cold hands and a sore back from picking them up as long as they want to go skiing. I desperately want my kids to enjoy skiing. And right now they do seem to enjoy skiing. Whoo Hoooo.

Our Anchorage experience has been lots of skiing, IHOP breakfasts and good meals at our cousin's Will and Beth's house (where we have been staying). Everyday, Zoya and I plan out our workouts so that one takes care of kiddos while the other goes skiing or does Powerflex weight training. I have been skiing mostly classic style and doing the Spencer loop as often as I can. This is the part of the Tour of Anchorage race course that always beats me up badly - so I have been trying to learn the loop as well as I can. Yesterday I did it twice!

Patrick and Zoya

Skiing Potters Marsh

2011-12-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today we took the kids skiing at Potters Marsh-just a 3 minute drive from where we are staying with family. The conditions couldn't were spectacular-sun was setting over Turnagain arm, a train was stalled on the railroad, the air was crisp and cold, and there was a nice trail through the marsh. Just beautiful light - hard to take a bad photo.

We have enjoyed meals at Spenard Roadhouse-the kids love the kids menu which has popcorn on it. Today Stuey enjoyed popcorn as an appetizer AND dessert. Who wouldn't want popcorn before and after dinner?

Patrick and Zoya

Trip to The Mainland

2011-12-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we left on the M/V Tustemena for Homer. The trip was overall smooth; Nora didn't get seasick, which she normally does even with dramamine. Stuey reacted quite sensitively to the dramamine- he was sleeping sitting up during dinner. Fortunately he was able to stay awake enough to chow down a grilled cheese and fries!

Evidently the seas were quite large, as the ferry took an alternate route along Shelikof Strait, as opposed to going towards Homer exposed to the gulf of alaska. This took about 2 hours longer, but the kids slept until arrival!

Here in Homer Nora and Stuey had a blast playing with all of their cousins. Ages range from 5-21! Quite the mix of fun silly energy. Patrick, Mike, Bern, Todd and myself all went skiing in the thick snow.

Pictures:
Patrick and myself after skiing.
Todd and Mike on the trail skiing today.
My nephew Kellen with the quilt I made him for his first year at college.
Bonnie graciously and patiently cut Stuey's hair. He was WAY overdue for a haircut! Stuey liked all the paparazzi attention that was involved...
Dining room shot on the ferry.

A Hearty Christmas Day

2011-12-26T10:33:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a cold, crisp day. Patrick and I went skiing by ourselves in shifts on Lake Genevieve in the mid day.
Some Christmas Day fun surprises:
-As I drove to go skiing, I went by two runners going at a good clip alongside the road. They both wore Santa Hats!
-We got an unexpected Christmas phone call from Patricks stepbrother who is visiting Africa. I spoke with him briefly before the connection was lost. We haven't spoken with him for a long time.
-In the morning, I got a text at 7:00 AM from my sister Anne~ her 10 year old daughter, Sonya, opened the quilt that I had made for her. Anne texted that "Sonya loved it and wanted to bring it with her when she goes to college". This was the perfect way to start the day-with thoughts of Sonya enjoying her new quilt.

We enjoyed dinner with a group of friends who all brought dishes to share. There was enough protein to go around; elk roast, prime rib AND turkey. It was an Atkins Holiday.

Today we clean and pack and leave for Homer on the ferry this evening for a 1 week trip to the Mainland. Looking forward to seeing family, friends and a road trip to Anchorage!

Zoya

Photos: Dinner last night...group photo and serving up the meal. Kids table.
My sister Anne (right) and my niece, Sonya , with the quilt I made. Anne sent the photo yesterday after Sonya opened it.

Some Thanksgiving on Christmas

2011-12-24T22:55:00.001-08:00

The past several days I put our Thanksgiving video footage and pictures into imovie to make a short movie of our family trip to Arizona. This serves as the on-time part of my "Merry Christmas" gift to Emmy and Polly...my wonderful in-laws!! They are out East in Maine for Christmas.
Patrick's sister, Polly, is the one with whom we spent thanksgiving with. It is always fun to make a movie, as watching the footage brings back so many great memories.

Zoya

Day before Christmas

2011-12-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

This morning we awoke to cold temps in the 20s. Perfect weather for skiing and a bit of sledding. After a little last minute "santa" shopping, Patrick and I drove to Lake Genevieve, near coast guard housing. In the car, I contemplated not going (suddenly felt cold) and said, "Its so cold out. I could just take a nap in the car and you go skiing." In no time flat, Patrick had me persuaded to go out for a quick ski. The conditions were better than I imagined they would be. A minimal amount of snow stuck on the ice.

As we skiied along the snow covered ice, Patrick showed me the worn path under old snow where possibly a family of otters was walking along the ice. It looked like something had been drug on it. Thats the part of skiing with Patrick that I appreciate here-noticing these nuances in nature. It was lovely to have the quiet of the lake to ourselves. A few white rabbits scampered along the side of the lake as well.

Over the years, I have learned to enjoy the "unperfect" ski conditions. As my balance has improved on skis I"m less frusturated by windblown ice areas which we must navigate across to get to the snow. Its the challenge of the snow conditions which makes it that much more rewarding. When we nagivate our way up and down ungroomed hills or have to remove our skis several times to get on trails, it makes the flat-aways that much more rewarding. If I go with notions or expectations of what the experience will be like, then there is room for disappointment...as opposed to working with whatever conditions are presented to us and enjoying the time together.

Zoya

Photos:
Our neighbor, Matt, pushing the kids down the mini sled hill in our yard.
SLedding!
Skiing on Lake Genevieve. Mt. Barometer in background.

Ice, Ice, Baby

2011-12-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

Today I went up the mountain with Andy S. Beautiful light and snow draped landscapes, but the skiing was pretty awful. If I had wanted great skiing I would have stuck to the skate skiing for which the conditions are perfect right now. But occasionally I do like to head up the hill and try my luck on the slopes. And if you don't go downhill here and there throughout the season - then you are not practiced and physically ready for the times later in the season when the conditions are perfect. Basically you have to pay the piper and ski on ice in order to truly enjoy a sublime ski later in deep powder or on spring corn snow.

Today I paid the price. Still, I did enjoy the spectacular views and good conversation with Andy on the way up. I'd do the same again in a heartbeat . Today, only the skiing was bad - everything else was GREAT.

Patrick

Celebrating the Return of the Sun

2011-12-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to host a Winter Solstice Party. The day couldn't have been more perfect for it. It was sunny, clear and a crisp 30 Degrees outside.

In the late afternoon, Patrick fired up the fire pit and the wood stove inside the house. Mark, our visiting friend, fired up the Banya and I put together a playlist of tunes and got things ready for people coming over.

Around 50 people came and it was so much fun to visit with everyone. The kids did great-running around playing with other kids. Stuey occasionally streaked through the kitchen. At the end of the evening the kids ended up getting into the dress-up bin, so we'd see flashes of kids in alligator costumes and such running by. I was in heaven because from 5:30-9:30, Nora and Stuey were in totally happy either outside by the fire pit, or playing and running around with the other kids in attendance.

At 10:00pm after everyone had gone and the kitchen was cleaned up, I went and enjoyed a quiet banya by myself. Even without adding water to the rocks, the temperature was 150 deg. The heat permeating from the rocks and wood benches fed my soul on such a cold, crisp winter solstice night.

It was a great way to celebrate the return of the sun; in the company of my family and fabulous friends.

Zoya

Truth and White Lies

2011-12-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Truth:
1. Conformity to fact or actuality.
2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true.
3. Sincerity; integrity.
4. Fidelity to an original or standard

Truth vs. white lies; its a complex topic. What harm is there in a little white lie once in a while? This subject that came up recently with a discussion with a friend about having to tell white lies to her in-laws about her husbands whereabouts. It brought on a whole new thread of thought and discussion.

Why do people lie? Its because they are afraid of the response or consequence of the information. There are definitely moments with kids where it would be so easy to say a little white lie, but then one leads to another, which leads to another.

If you know that the people around you will accept you for who you, no matter what information you have to share, the world will be a safer feeling place.
A big part of truth is accepting the truth. I believe this is the more challenging component of truth; accepting it without judgement or harm. The truth isn't always what you want to hear. As quotes from characters in movies say, "You can't handle the truth".

If you always tell the truth then your words carry more integrity with others.

Over my time with Patrick, I have learned the importance of telling the 100% truth. When I first started dating Patrick, I believe I told more occasional white lies, but gradually over time I stopped. I appreciated that Patrick would tell me the truth and have learned how to handle the truth, as well as him with me. When it comes to feedback on clothing, politics, interpersonal topics, I have learned to fully accept his truth (as much as it sometimes hurts).

Tonight we discussed this with our houseguests, Mark and Amy at length. It seems that there is diplomacy vs. Truth. There are times when you can't speak fully outright in a public situation how you really feel, but this is diplomacy. An example would be if you are on a committee that has several split sides to it; you can't always come out and say how you feel about the other "side".

We agreed that in a family unit or husband/wife partnership there has to be full honesty so the unit can be strong as a "pack". We have to trust each other and trust that our responses to each other with information will be healthy. I want the kids to know that if they do something wrong, that they can tell me about it and it will be ok. For instance, if Stuey hit a ball through the neighbors window, I want him to trust that when he tells me I will handle the information with as much love and concern rather than outright anger.

I googled "When is it Ok to tell white lies to children" and there were MANY pages on the subject. Pages which covered all aspects of raising kids and the importance of truth telling.

It seems that we can teach kids to have good manners and be diplomatic and they won't ever have the need to tell white lies. Patrick and I were in strong agreement that white lies aren't good. In many ways Santa Claus and Easter bunny are white lies, but this is also in the arena of fantasy, which is an important part of kids development. To Patrick, lying about Santa Claus and Easter bunny gives him a moral dilemma.

The top picture was was taken in the first year of my relationship with Patrick. I was 24, he was 34. We broke up after he told me the hard truth that he didn't ever want to have kids. It killed me to hear this, as we really had a great relationship, but I knew I wanted kids. So we broke up for 2 months...and he ended up changing his mind on the matter with time. And I'm so glad he did!

Zoya

The bottom photo was taken in Barcelona Spain in October of 2010.

An Annual Tradition~Grinding the Meats

2011-12-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

Burger Grinding-in Moments

The meat starts off slightly frozen and is cubed up for processing. Some batches have store bought fat added to them, some don't. Mike measured out spices in large quantities to add to the sausage; coriander, fennel, caraway seeds, hot pepper flakes, pepper, salt, sugar and water....The spice coffee grinder was put to good use. The same tried and true recipe is used annually for the proportions.

The meat is pushed through the industrial grinder into large bins. All types of meat are ground; elk, deer, sheep. Scoops of meat are put on saran wrap, then paper wrapped.

For the first time this year, Nora and Stuey helped write the packages. In years past, Lisa McCormick does exotic animal pictures and this year the kids did their renditions of animals. Nora wrote out the words "elk burger". We all really enjoyed having the kids finally being able to help. Gregg always brings fresh home made bread for us to enjoy and Lisa brings a killer dish of halibut enchiladas. Burger grinding is a wonderful annual winter tradition in our family.

Zoya

Sleep

2011-12-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

As of late, Nora and Stuey each have their own little challenges with sleep.

Stuey goes to sleep right away in his own room, but then comes into our room at 1 or 2 AM and climbs into our bed. I had been going along with this for many, many months until I realized that it was making me tired.

So I made up a little bed at the foot of our bed, so when he comes in, we have him go to sleep there. Sometimes he cries and says, "Mommy-I want to sleep next to mommy"...which of course tugs at my heart strings and I let him sleep on the side of me. So then I'm sandwiched between streched out Stuey and warm-blooded Patrick...I end up being squished and over heated (and we always keep the thermostat on OFF in our bedroom and most of the house at night!).
All of a sudden I'm realizing that he is nearly 5-and doesn't necessarily HAVE to be coming to our room or our bed. I suppose I"m a softie.

With Nora, she has a hard time getting to sleep. She is a night owl and it takes her a good 1+ hour to wind down. We do the bath, reading routine and I give her books on tape to listen to but she still requires serious down time to fall asleep. For several months, I got frusturated with her difficulty going to sleep. This is mainly because I was thinking she was trying to work the system and stay up. Plus, the hour or two after the kids are in bed are so precious to Patrick and I; a few hours to do our reading, writing, etc without kids interrupting. Then I came to the realization that she doesn't enjoy being up and is frusturated by not sleeping.
A few weeks ago, I changed the approach. I told her to not feel rushed to go to sleep at all and take her time. Since she sleeps in later than Stuey, I expect that she will go to sleep way later than Stuey. This has made a difference, as well as me laying with her for a few minutes. I lay in her bed and she tells me what her favorite parts of her day are. As I lay there and brush the hair off her face in a calming sweeping motion, she starts yawning, rubbing her eyes and getting more tired.

I thought that once Nora and Stuey weren't babies or toddlers, that the sleep difficulties would disappear. Its so much better than it used to be; our friend Mark who is here reminds us of the days when Nora would cry for a solid hour at bed time...despite me trying everything under the sun to get her to sleep....

Zoya

Counting Birds

2011-12-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today Mark, Matt and I participated in the Audubon Christmas bird count. We were one of the Kodiak ptarmigan SWAT teams, and it was our job to find a ptarmigan or bust. Ptarmigan are an alpine species and for the Xmas bird count teams need to climb up the mountains to find them and so add them onto the total species count. The Kodiak count generally totals around 80 species of birds total and the ptarmigan is an important addition.

We decided that we would use guns and collect the ptarmigan in hand sample so that we could see if they were rock or willow ptarmigan - for species identification purposes. Actually to be totally honest we wanted ptarmigan for dinner. And so, soon after dawn we headed up the mountain. It was brutal - a total blizzard.

We reached the alpine in a whiteout and right away saw 2 ptarmigan. I waited until the 2 were lined up so I could get 2 with one shot and then promptly shot low. They flew away unharmed and we did not see another ptarmigan. We wandered around in a total whiteout and got blown down by severe gusts. I am sure that all the ptarmigan had burrowed down into the snow to avoid the storm.

Three hours later, back at the car it was raining and we were totally soaked. Once home I took a half hour hot shower - ahhhhhh. But we did get the ptarmigan for the count. Our total was 12 Pine Grosbeaks and 2 Rock Ptarmigan and not another bird seen at all. Patrick

Jesus's Birthday Party

2011-12-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our family had two end of school Christmas parties to attend at the same time. So Zoya went to Nora's party at Saint Mary's while I attended Stuey's party at the Kodiak Baptist Mission. When I arrived from work Santa Claus was there and he gave each child a present (second and bottom photos). All the parents arrived and watched as the children lit Jesus's Birthday cake and sang the Happy Birthday song to Jesus (listen and watch on linked video bottom). The children joined their parents to eat the cake and various other foods like jello, fruit and cupcakes (this is Stuey's kind of food). Then came my favorite part - all the parents remained seated while the children cleaned up. We need to get this lesson transferred to the home front!

Once the tables were cleared the parents all sat and stood in a semi circle at the back while the kids put on their Christmas show - amazingly well choreographed Christmas Carols (see video linked below). The kids all seemed quite excited to perform, and it made my day. I returned to work full of Christmas spirit. Patrick

Saint Mary's Winter Production

2011-12-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

Last night was Nora's first St. Mary's Christmas Production. I was looking forward to it; to sitting in the gym with other parents, to seeing Nora sing with her friends. It was tough to fully appreciate the show, as I had to help rein Stuey in from a very tired evening.

The play ran around 45 minutes and by the end, Stuey and I stood up on the side with the other parents who had misbehaving kids. I did something I never do-gave him my iphone to play the 1 game I have on it. I just didn't want to have to walk out with Stuey.

I was impressed by how the kindergarteners stood for 45 minutes in one spot with minimal fidgeting and no misbehaving-I think weekly catholic church mass has them well trained. We're really liking having Nora at St. Mary's. (And it will be good for Stuey to be there next year to learn the art of standing patiently for 45 minutes as well!!)

Zoya

Deer Ceviche

2011-12-16T08:46:00.001-08:00

Deer Ceviche

One of our local restaurants serves up an appetizer that I really like that they call ‘beef tartar’. It is strips of seared but basically raw meat ‘cooked’ by the acid in lemon juice and is served with onions and slices of kiwi. For a Christmas dinner party we attended I thought I’d try something new and attempted to ‘back engineer’ their recipe. It came out GREAT and was completely gobbled up. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients needed (I do not measure things per se, but just add pinches and splashes – so be aware that all of the amounts specified are my best guess). You may need to adjust accordingly to suit your own taste!

1 Deer backstrap or tenderloin (I used tenderloin and I do think that the meat chosen should be a tender cut)
3 large pinches of kosher salt (maybe a tablespoon or 2 – enough to coat the meat used)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon grated ginger divided
1 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of nori komi furikake rice seasoning (I was looking for the Aki Nori seasoning I’ve used in the past for seaweed salad but all I could find was some stuff I’d bought for seasoning sushi rice – it contains sesame seeds, salt, sugar and seaweed)
1 teaspoon of sesame seeds.
1 small onion VERY thinly sliced
1 peeled kiwi (optional) (I did not have a kiwi to use but I think I’ll add some as garnish at the end the next time I make this)

Steps:
1) Coat the deer meat in salt and sear in the sesame oil in a cast iron skillet that is almost smoking hot. I added some grated ginger to the pan just before I added the meat. I seared the meat very quickly – just long enough to create a brown crust. Maybe 30 seconds a side.
2) Remove meat and set aside on plate to cool. At this point I coated the meat with rice seasoning (nori komi furikake).
3) In a bowl mix up the lemon juice, soy sauce and sugar. I also added extra grated ginger and sesame seeds.
4) Slice onion as thinly as possible and add to marinade in bowl.
5) By this time the meat has cooled and I sliced it as thinly as I could and added it to the marinade (I tried to keep it all together as a piece of meat for appearances sake later). Make sure the marinade covers onions and meat completely. You may need to add extra lemon juice or rice vinegar.
6) Cover and leave in the fridge so that the meat and onions can ‘cook’ in the acidic marinade. I left it in there for 8 hours.
7) Plate the dish and add kiwis if you want. Since I had kept the meat all together it was easy to put all the strips onto the plate in their original order.
8) Enjoy! Some of the people at the party ate the meat and onions on crackers but I just wrapped the meat around a few onions at a time and ate them.

Patrick

PS This is Zoya now...I can vouch for the DELICIOUS-NESS of this recipe. It was amazing. Couldn't believe how good it turned out!!

Dinner with friends and our wedding officiant

2011-12-15T08:12:00.001-08:00

Last week we were lucky to enjoy a meal with Matt J.~the man who married Patrick and I 8 years ago here in Kodiak.
He also married my dad and step mom in the 80's as well as our local friends Matt and Katie. Matt J. and his wife, Chris, moved to Seattle about 2 years ago from Kodiak, so we see him less frequently now. It is always good to see him, as he is always full of good spirit and cooks incredible food as well.

Matt J. prepared a phenomenal meal of seafood risotto complete with shrimp and scallops for the group. The best part was he had the kids help! He had them pluck the stems from mushrooms and other such tasks.

The kids played for 3+ hours with little screaming, which was fun.

Zoya

Photos courteousy of Matt S.J.

Mark's Killer Banya's

2011-12-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

In the past 2 1/2 years, since we've owned and rented out the house next door, we've been taking lots of banya's. A Banya is a steam room, similar to a sauna. It is a small enclosure with a woodstove and rocks piled on the woodstove. Once the rocks are heated up and the room is to temperature, you splash (or sprinkle) water on the rocks which creates steam. This causes a surge of warm air to the room.

Our friend, Mark, makes the most killer banyas.

Mark R. is a nearly permanent fixture here at the Saltonstall household. He typically spends anywhere from 1-2 months a year here in Kodiak, doing archaeology work (and hunting!) with Patrick. He comes up from California and has been coming to Kodiak since 1993 and staying at our house since 2001.
Mark makes banyas HOT. He doesn't mess around. He typically fires it up after dinner, and it takes 1+ hours to get it heated. Then we have the ladies go in first and men after us for the banya. And in typical banya fashion, nude. Swimsuits feel icky and sticky.

When I first started taking the banya's 130 deg or 140 would feel hot. Now, that is cool to me. Mark has toughened up my banya taking abilities. Now I prefer short bursts of heat in the 160-170 degree range-I know its warm enough when we're inching into the "red" zone on the banya thermometer. This means you stay in for a few minutes, step outside to cool off, then go back in. And repeat over and over again. This is supposed to be the way to really cleanse your system--several cycles of hot, then cold.

Winter is my favorite time for Banyas; the cold air is such a great contrast with the strong heat. There are occasionally days in the Alaksan winter when no matter what I do to warm up (tea, warm socks, etc...), it just isn't quite enough. And thats where the banya comes in.

Mark is here for 2 weeks and is firing up the banya tonight. Looking forward to sweating out some toxins in the heat!

Zoya

You know you're getting old when. .. .

2011-12-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

You know you're getting old when you have a hard time buying the same old disposable razor cartridge that you've always used. This is true.

A childhood memory that sticks out is being in my grandfather's bathroom and checking out his old razor. He had a little bowl and brush and a razor that looked the one pictured in the patent diagram above. At the time I remember thinking, 'Wow! my grandfather must be old because that thing looks ancient'. And now I find I am in the same boat as my grandfather. My good old razor has become obsolete.

I looked up my grandfather's razor and I think it is the one pictured above. I gather it was the first safety razor and was developed by Gillette for the US troops in Europe during WWI. My grandfather was born in the 19th century and did serve during WWI so it makes sense that this might have been the razor he chose. I was born in the 1960s and first starting shaving in the 1980s, and the razor in vogue at that time was the one pictured on the left.

I remember that I used 'bic' disposable razors for a while and then opted for the razor on the left which was rather cheap as part of a package deal. I gather the razor blade companies sell the handle cheap to draw you in and then make their money selling you new razor cartridges. Anyway, I bought new blades for the thing for over 20 years - no problem. And then suddenly no more blades made by Gillette. Just the generic ones pictured above.

And then the moment that makes me feel old. Last time I went looking for cartridges I could not find any. Gulp, my razor has become obsolete! So I picked out the fancy dancy five bladed thing pictured on the upper right. But sadly enough - while slick looking - it actually does not work as well as my old razor. The 5 blades make it so fat that I have a hard time shaving my upper lip close to my nose. So I plan on going back to Safeway and looking really hard for the generic twin blades. Then I am going to seriously stock up. I wonder if my grandfather ever had to do this?

I also wonder if people (no grand kids yet) have been looking at my old razor and thinking, 'man that thing looks ancient'.

Patrick

Archaeology in the old days

2011-12-10T08:42:00.001-08:00

This morning I was bored and decided to look through my old photos. I ended up in my old pictures from Baffin Island where I did archaeology for 3 summers between 1991 and 1993. Wow! I'd forgotten how hard core it is in the Canadian East Arctic. Sea ice, polar bears, and amazing archaeology right there on the surface.

We were located in outer Frobisher Bay on the southeast corner of Baffin Island, and in the summer the bay often did not thaw out. One summer the nearby community of Iqaluit had to call an icebreaker in to break a path into their harbor. But even that did not work as all the leads closed up after the icebreaker had passed. A warm day was when the temperature broke 40 degrees fahrenheit. And by the time we left in late August the sea would be freezing back up, and every morning we had to break ice a couple of inches thick off of our water bucket.

The archaeology was amazing. You could see the old tent rings and houses right on the surface. I've shown 2 views of the same 600 or 700 year old Dorset house - one how it looked on the surface and the other after we had completed excavation. This is one of the youngest Dorset houses ever excavated. Soon after the Dorset people either went extinct, or assimilated with the Thule peoples who were migrating into the East Arctic at that time - archaeologists are still undecided on the answer to that question.

Another cool aspect of the archaeology in the East Arctic was the wood and bone preservation and the very finely made tools. Our boss is holding up a hafted tool in the top photo. Usually archaeologists only find the stone parts of tools when they excavate, or, if they are lucky, the bone tools. Everything else has usually rotted away. But on Baffin Island the cool and damp temperatures and frozen ground meant that everything was preserved. I once even found what I thought was musk ox hair in a site - years later I found out that it might have been wool traded or raided from the Vikings!

And finally, there was the polar bears. Polar bears make the bears in Alaska seem very tame. In fact, for archaeological surveys on Kodiak we forego the guns and just carry pepper spray. But on Baffin the polar bears actually sought you out and guns were a very necessary piece of gear. I had a polar bear try to get into my tent twice. Once I was in it and managed to pepper spray the bear in the face, and he ran off. The other time I was not in there to defend it and he destroyed my tent. That bear went on a tirade through camp demolishing 3 tents and we ended up having to shoot him (bottom photo). This sort of stuff does not happen on Kodiak. Needless to say, but it was years before I was comfortable sleeping in a tent alone.

Still, I'd give my eye teeth to get back to the East Arctic for some archaeology. I miss it. Patrick

Power Outage Walkabout

2011-12-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

Today the power went out while I was at work. Marnie and I were identifying various wood artifacts from the Karluk One collection when all of a sudden it went dark. Marnie said an expletive and mourned the loss of all the work we had already completed. She had not saved the updated excel file. Oh well.

With the power out it was dark in the museum but outside it was a spectacular day. Marnie and I decided to go for a walk to the harbor with our cameras while we waited for the power to come back on. It felt like one of those photo classes where everyone is trying to take photos of the same things. Marnie and I would both focus in on the same images. We both thought the 'photography class' analogy was pretty funny. At one point we both beelined onto some buoys on the back of a fishing boat. I opted for the reflection photo (fourth photo down) while I do believe Marnie went for the ultra-color-full above water close up.

Anyway, these are the photos I came up with. Top three are of boats in the harbor. One is a close up panoramic while the other is a far away pan. In the top photo I tried to make Barometer Mountain loom over the fishing boats by using max zoom. Then there is the reflection of the buoys photo. And finally, the bottom photo is of a seagull that I took with my camera on 'speed' priority with the 'paparazzi' click, click, click feature on my camera.

Patrick

Christmas Tree & Stuey-Photo-Hog

2011-12-07T08:28:00.001-08:00

Several days ago we put up our Christmas tree. Patrick cut one off the cliff on ocean side of house. The kids did most of putting on the ornaments. Stuey has developed this horrible habit of being a photo hog...He plants himself in every photo and gets angry if he isn't front and center. It has made picture taking less fun lately. There ends up being several photos where his face is pink with frusturation and he is pushing Nora aside. We remind ourselves that this "photo Hog" stage shall pass.

With the Christmast ornaments, my favorites always to put on are the ones I made in the first few years Patrick and I were together. For 3 or 4 years in the beginning of our relationship, I went to the painting ceramic shop and would make 1 ornament for the tree which would have wording on it of things that occured during that year in our life. In the photo I'm holding up one that says,
2003 Don Mark Ayakulik (Don Clark and Mark Rusk and Ayakulik Archaeology Trip)
Welcome Roxy (we got Roxy Dog as a puppy that year)
Wedding August 30th Z & P

Sometime after our wedding (or maybe after kids) I discontinued making the ornaments...primarily because I knew that we would have years and years of ornaments for the kids on the tree. It will be fun to someday explain the ceramic ones to the kids when they are old enough to have interest in them.

Zoya

1st Cesarean Recovery Class

2011-12-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I hosted the first Cesarean Recovery class through A Balanced Approach. 6 moms were in attendance, all of whom had undergone a cesarean birth in the past year. I decided to start offering this class when I heard story after story of women who were at a loss on how to help their scar from surgery heal, how to help get their abdominals back into shape, etc. Also, I believe it is important to get women together who had been through a similar birth experience and let them converse with one another-to reflect and process.

I work a lot with women 1:1 after cesarean birth in physical therapy and through doula work. This was the first time of doing health outreach for post-partum cesarean care in a group setting. Going into tonight's session, I hoped that I had enough information for an 1.5 hour class. This ended up not being a problem. There was lots of great questions and I was able to look at almost everyone's scars to see how well they were moving/healing. After surgery, women are often afraid to touch their scar at all, which can impact how well it heals. Scar work can help promote nerve growth, capillary growth and keep it from getting painful or adhered with time.

There was lots of camaraderie and laughter amongst the ladies, which was an important part. It is important for them to hear each others stories, to learn and listen. At the end, everyone gave feedback that the evening of information was helpful and I should do it again on a more regular basis. After seeing the positive feedback, I think I will start hosting it every 2 or 3 months. My passion is womens health, and its great to see a need in the community and help fill it.

For "payment" for the class tonight, I asked the participants to bring a donation for the Womens Resource Crisis Center, so this week I"ll bring the basket of clothes, money and diapers to the center. Looking forward to making that holiday donation to a very important local center.

Zoya

Picture:
Class tonight. The class was held at the finished "satellite" studio of A Balanced Approach (refurbished garage). Where the wall and window are used to be a garage door....
Leona painted the tree last weekend...loving the energy the mural brings to the space.

Businesss Changes

2011-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

At A Balanced Approach, I"m undergoing a huge business change. I"ve decided to have clients submit their own bills to insurance for re-imbursement, as opposed to Winona (my office manager), submit all claims to insurance.

Lots of small physical therapy clinics are shifting to this model of care; having clients submit their own claims to carriers. Insurance companies take anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months to re-imburse a provider, but will send a check to clients (from what I've heard) in several weeks. Insurance Carriers want to keep their customers happy and cut checks faster to them and with less hassle than to providers.

OLD WAY: Client gives me their insurance card. I submit their bill to insurance for re-imbursement. It takes anywhere from 3 weeks to 1 year to get money back from insurance. I submit the remaining balance to the client for payment.

NEW WAY: I give the client a Super Bill that has my Physical therapy provider identification Number, and the services provided. The clients pay me directly for the physical therapy. They send in their Super Bill to Insurance. The insurance company sends the client reimbursement for physical therapy services directly.

I started seriously thinking about making this change last fall. I took a womens health class in Seattle last fall from a lady who owns a very successful PT clinic in Massachusetts and this is the re-imbursement model she uses. She guides people on how to find out about physical therapy coverage for their policy, then gives them the sheet of paper they need to send in to their insurance company for re-imbursement. A friend in Anchorage also runs her clinic this way, and has been successful with it for years. And she says people have no problems submitting the "Super Bill" to insurance for re-imbursement.

A Balanced Approach will be the first PT clinic in town shifting to this model. Part of me is nervous about the change, only because I hope that I still get business. I think/hope I will. I'm typically a 3 week wait for new clients, and hopefully this won't deter people from coming to A Balanced Approach. I"m excited to have my office manager Winona free from spending hours calling on various claims...1-800 #'s, on hold, finding out that more information is needed for processing.

I believe for small PT clinics, this is the current shift and trend in health care. We'll see how it goes. I"ll still be billing Tricare (the coast guard government insurance) and Medicaid, as with those insurances people will not be able to submit their own claims for re-imbursement.

Today was my first day. I have to remember that my clinic has always run a bit differently than others. I"m the only physical therapy provider, there is lots of 1:1 attention and this billing system will be also unique to my clinic. I also emphasize on my intro paperwork that I am willing to work with people on payment plans that work for them and provide pro bono care as necessary.

I'll post more with how the transition goes in the months to come.

Zoya

...and tomorrow evening I"m excited to host the first "Cesarean Recovery Class" for 10 women who have undergone cesarean birth in the past year. They are going to learn all about how to help heal best from cesarean surgery. I"ll go over abdominal health, scar healing and care, back health, etc. Excited to finally offer it in Kodiak! More to come after the class runs.

Mainland Skiing

2011-12-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a great trip to the Mainland without kids. We landed in Anchorage and met cross country ski instructor, Lili at Kincaid park for a classic ski lesson. She worked with me on continued form pointers and gave Patrick lots of helpful advice with his form as well. Patrick was amazed by how much he learned from her during the 1/2 hour! It was fun to watch him ski after and see the changes to his form. The biggest tip she gave him was helping him refine his arm movements, and to decrease arm "flailing". For myself, Lili worked on continued weight shifting, and double poling technique which helped a lot. I'm realizing this is the winter to practice lots of double poling to help improve my efficiency.

Skiing in Girdwood the following day was equally fun. There are groomed trails there with hardly anyone on them. To find the trails is a bit of a wild goose chase; we were told the trail started behind the Catholic Church which was near Aleyska resort. After several wrong turns, we finally found it, and this catholic church had the most incredible view ever-overlooking mountains and the valley!

One thing that Patrick and I noticed was the dramatic difference in light between Anchorage and Kodiak. On the mainland, the sun rises at 10 AM and sets at 3:30ish. Here in Kodiak, it is closer to 9:30 and 4:30. It is about an hour of difference and seemed significantly darker. When we drove home from the airport tonight in Kodiak, it was 4:00 and still light out. We remarked how in Anchorage it would have been dark.

Returning home to the kids and Leona was so smooth. Leona said the kids were good during the weekend, which made me so happy. Leona did a lot of baking, snowflake making, airplane making with them....Nora said, "Leona made that fast paper airplane from directions on You Tube". Too fun! As Leona boarded the plane we arrived on to return to Fairbanks, I told her heartedly how it meant the world to me that she took such great care of the kids. Its nice to return home to a clean house and happy kids...

Zoya

Pictures
-Patrick with the Catholic Church and Ski trailhead behind him. Amazing view from the church, eh?!
-Skiing in Girdwood
-Patrick and Lili
-10 AM in Girdwood with lights of Aleyska in back ground

Getaway to Mainland

2011-12-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend Patrick and I head over to Anchorage/Girdwood for a weekend getaway. Last spring we left for Anchorage one night sans kiddos and decided then to do it more often. Now our kids are old enough to leave without much emotional hardship. Our friend and mommy helper, Leona, is here from Fairbanks to be with the kids. She also painted a mural of a tree in the birth class space next door (picture to come next week.)
She is quite the artist and I've always appreciated the art projects she engages the kids in.

Nora and Stuey are quite excited for a Leona weekend! And we're excited for cross country skiing in Kincaid Park and downhill skiing in Girdwood. We'll have lots of ski tubes...bringing all of our skis from home so we'll be heavy with carry on luggage.

Zoya

Some Pictures I Missed

2011-11-30T08:01:00.001-08:00

Now that we are back in Kodiak I've been going through the vacation photos and found a few that escaped posting. We seem to have taken A LOT of good photos and I don't want any to get away. (We tend to never again look at the photos we don't post on the blog).

It's good to see all the warmth and sun - I do miss it. Here on Kodiak it is now dreary, wet and warm. Funnily enough, I checked the weather for Wickenburg and for the next few days it is supposed to colder there than here! Arizona without the heat - Egads! We did leave just in time.

Photos: Top - Nora and Stuey on top of a rock - Stuey has become a photo ham/hog and once he saw I was taking a photo of Nora he runs over to get into the picture. Second - sunset view from the porch. Third - Polly and John and family enjoying the sunset on the porch. Fourth - Zoya enjoying the sun. Fifth - Nora and an etchy sketchy drawing she made on the way home - clearly influenced by the desert views of Arizona. Note the cactii, mountain and even palm tree on the upper right. Bottom - a family photo while on a hike down a wash taken by John. Patrick

As expected it snowed while we were away

2011-11-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

Back before we left for Arizona I posted that I expected the weather to be great while I was away (lots of snow and cold). This always happens - when I leave it snows and when I get back it rains. And guess what? I was right.

While we were away Kodiak had temperatures in the single digits and it snowed A LOT. With this morning's snow we are now up to almost 30 inches total for the season, and when we left I think we were up to less than a foot. To put this in perspective Anchorage is setting snow records for this early in the season, and they are only up to 31 inches so far. So we are only an inch behind a snowy 'Los Anchorage'!

Unfortunately, the other side of the coin is that it is about to rain. On wednesday it is supposed to get up to around 40 degrees and RAIN. But hey, at least I got back in time to enjoy some of the snow. AND even if it rains here in town it will snow up high.

Patrick

Photo is of the Upper Buskin River just below the canyon where I went cross country skiing this afternoon.

Wintery Sunday

2011-11-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up with lots of snow so Patrick and I got a sitter for the kids and went to Abercrombie Lake to ski. The kids were so excited about a sitter all morning. I think because they haven't had a babysitter for so long, and after being with us more or less 24/7 for the past week, they were looking forward to a break from the 'rents'.

Patrick and I skiied for an hour and 15 minutes and the time flew by. We went at the perfect time, as by the end of it, the weather turned to rain. Since taking 2 cross country ski lessons in Anchorage last year, I"ve been trying to work on making my form a bit more efficient, so days like today were perfect. Especially for skiing around the lake over and over again.

At one of my ski lessons last year, I videoed my instructor, Lili going over all the cues I needed to work on. Today I watched that video, wrote down the pointers and said them to myself on the lake. It really helped to watch the video as a reminder of what I was working on last winter, as its been 8 months since I've been working on ski form.

And then this afternoon, I had another wintery holiday moment by going to Isle Bells Holiday concert. It was so beautifu and perfectl. I was in awe. What a phenomenal group of women producing wonderful music together. I was so happy for Ella up there directing--what a gift. Stuey and Nora loved the concert as well...Stuey is a VERY enthusiastic clapper, I've discovered!

Zoya

Pictures:
Ella and Stuey
Me on Lake Gertrude at Ft. Abercrombie

Isle Bells Concert

2011-11-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the Winter Holiday Concert for Isle Bells, Kodiaks first Community Handbell Choir.

It was beautiful! The auditorium was packed-350 people in attendance! Ella started the choir last summer with the help of many amazing women and what a gorgeous group they are. They played holiday music and other beautiful pieces for 1 hour. The concert was at 3:30 in the afternoon and lots of families were in attendance. What a great way to start the holiday season!!

In this clip, they play Little Drummer Boy.
Enjoy~

Congratulations to Ella and Isle Bells!!

Zoya

A bit of History

2011-11-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

On our last day In Wickenburg, we all signed the 50 year old guest book. The house was bought by Patrick's grandparents in 1958 and the guest book started in 1960. It is quite a relic. There are entries from Patrick's aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, family friends. The book is almost filled up, with only a couple of pages left. It was fun for me to read back to the 4 prior times I"ve been there, to see what we did and who else was there.

Just a few more pictures from our last desert hike before leaving--where Patrick led us to an old Indian site and petroglyphs. Our nephew, Sam, was fascinated by looking for artifacts as well as hearing about Patrick's hunting stories throughout the week. He was quite disappointed to not be able to take any arrowheads home. Its always fun to go history-hunting with Patrick....

Zoya

Bye Bye Sun~ Hello Holiday Travel and Rude Passengers

2011-11-26T10:40:00.001-08:00

In the Seattle airport for a 2 hr layover. Just got off a flight from Phoenix to Anchorage. I sat with Nora and Stuey on the airplane and they watched a movie.

At the very start of the flight, Nora lightly touched the seat of the lady in front of her. She promptly turned around and said in an uptight voice, "Hi kids what are your names? I don't want you touching my seat. It really bothers me." this took me by surprise, as they had barely touched her seat. Nonetheless, the flight proceeded with only a few arguments amongst the kids. And the kids were really good about not touching her seat. On a scale of 1-10 of flying misbehavior (10 being worst possible), I'd say they were a 3-4.( And we've seen a 10...when Nora cried for 5 hours straight from Seattle to Boston...It was horrible.) Not too bad considering they got up at 3 am.

Then the good part comes. We go to a coffee shop at the Seattle food court waiting for our coffee. And there next to us is the lady on the airplane. She looks at us and promptly said, "Your children were awful". I was speechless. Patrick replied, "You thought that was bad? oh they usually are much worse." I asked her "do you have kids?". She hesitated and said Yes, although something about her reply made me not believe her. I said, "Wow. Way to spread the love." I was in total disbelief. If I had been quicker on my feet, I may have replied, "Happy Holidays to you, too!".

Flying with kids makes Patrick and I keep our sense of humor. Fortunately, as she walked off, Patrick and I were already starting to laugh about how horribly rude it was to say anything like that. Flying with kids is the pits. Really truly.

Zoya

Pictures are some Arizona ones that make me miss the sun.....

Missing the sunshine in Arizona...but excited to get home to Ski!!

Zoya

Archaeology in the Desert

2011-11-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we all hiked up a nearby wash to look at some ancient petroglyphs. Somehow, despite almost 40 years of exploring and visiting the area AND another 25 years or so as a professional archaeologist, I had never visited or seen the petroglyphs. They lived up to their billing - VERY cool.

The glyphs (top 2 photos and bottom) are only lightly pecked into the weathered granite. No where near as deeply pecked as the ones I am used to examining in Alaska. In the wash directly in front of the glyphs animals had dug out a hole in the sand down to water, and I wonder if the glyphs were there to mark the water? Or perhaps to act as magic to keep the water flowing?

It was fun to visit the glyphs with my cousins and kids - I don't usually get to play 'the archaeologist' with family around. And I remembered that I had found an ancient campsite near the glyphs. So we went looking for it. It was a little disconcerting to realize how little I know about archaeology in the desert. Totally different place and archaeology than what I am used to experiencing by the sea in Alaska.

It took a while to find the old campsite, and we even found the little piles of artifacts that I had left in place 20 years earlier. I don't think many people know about the site because all the scrapers and chipped stone points are all still there on the surface (I strongly suspect that not even the State archaeologists know about the site). No one has picked any of the artifacts up, and I must admit, it was a little difficult to convince the kids NOT to keep the beautiful tools that they found (see stuey with his first artifact and Zoya with a notched chipped point).

We left all the artifacts in place, and I think I convinced them that removing artifacts destroys the site's integrity. Everyone agreed that it was cool to see the mano still in the metate (the mano ground mesquite beans or something in the metate hole)(fourth photo). We even found old tent rings with all the chipped stone flakes lying all around dropped just where the prehistoric inhabitant had left them.

Everyone kept asking what we had found - how old was the campsite? And I kept thinking that if we were on Kodiak I'd know everything. But in the desert of Arizona I really do not know the local culture history. Still, I noted that we did not find any pottery so that it must be a pretty old site. And the mano and metates indicated that people seemed to have stayed there a while and that it was probably not a temporary hunting camp. But I'll have to read some books about Arizona archaeology to get some more insight!

Patrick

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we enjoyed thanksgiving here in Arizona with Polly, John, Jack and Sam. Patrick de-boned the turkey, where he takes most of the bones out, lays the meat flat, then puts the stuffing in it and wraps it up. This was his first time doing it by himself and he used the internet descriptions for assist. His prior knowledge with carving up animals in the field helped a lot,,,as he had an idea where muscles and tendons went.

The dinner was yummy and fun-asparagus, stuffing, turkey and apple crisp for dessert. Polly made apple crisp with apples from Maine and it was delicious!

Good times in Arizona for thanksgiving!

Today is our last day of vacation and we will begin packing up for the return trip home tomorrow. We’ll be returning to cold, snowy Kodiak! Back to skiing!

Zoya

Pictures: The one of Nora on the floor was after dinner. She was exhausted; it was only 6:00! She was closing her eyes to go to sleep and went to bed shortly after the photo was taken!!

Walks and Swimming

2011-11-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

Two days ago we all took a great walk down the driveway on the road a ways. There are so many incredible hikes into the desert on various trails that Patrick and Polly know about from 30+ years of coming here since childhood.

The kids loved scampering up the big rocks, and Stuey got himself stuck several times on big rocks. He would cry but not want anyone to help him. He is a very determined, stubborn little guy at times. Along the way Jack found an old small snakeskin-see photo!

Polly showed us where the horse graveyard was. There are about 4-5 horses in the horse graveyard, with gravestones from the 70’s and 80’s. Patrick and Polly both remember way back when there were horses here on the property and they even remembered all of the horses. The last of the horses on the property died in 1986. By the end of the walk Stuey was beet red and very warm. Fortunately Polly brought water for him to drink and when we returned to the house, everyone went to the pool and played for a long time.

In the pool, Stuey is learning how to doggie paddle. He has had semi-deflated orange arm inflatables on, but they don’t provide much support as he jumps in and swims along the side of the pool. We watch him like a hawk. He is learning the art of blowing out his air underwater and struggles to not hold his breath. It is such hard, good work for him. He has been very tired and extra grumpy in the evenings from it.

Zoya

Pictures: Outdoor shower which has warm water. Love taking showers in it after swimming!
Stuey and his water "wings"
Horse Graveyard
Hiking in the desert
Nora and I playing cards. We play lots of rounds of Crazy 8's! She loves her card games.

Aunts and Uncles and Cousins

2011-11-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

Aunts and Uncles and Cousin Love

This past week has been so great for cousin time together. It warms my heart to see the older cousins playing with the younger cousins. On our walk today, I noticed Sam (9) holding Stuey’s (4) hand for a long part of the walk- warmed my heart. I can tell Nora and Stuey admire Sam and Jack. In the morning, they are excited for Jack and Sam to get up.

My twin sister and I were the youngest of 30+cousins growing up; Our older cousins were the cool cats-we always wanted to be like them and do like them. During the summers they were the ones who would put lip gloss on us, take us water skiing, talk about boys, etc. Since Ella and I didn’t have older siblings, our cousins filled that role when we were with them. I see the same happening here. Except that Nora occasionally says to me “Mom, it seems like there are only boy cousins”… which is largely true.

It has also been fun to see the Aunt/Uncle relationships form, especially with Nora and her Aunt Polly. During dinner preparations the other night, Polly encouraged Nora helping her make apple crisp. She gave Nora lots of fun kitchen tasks and Nora soaked up every minute cooking with Aunt Polly.

Zoya

Vulture Peak

2011-11-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

Ever since my first trip to Wickenburg in 2002, I’ve heard about and seen Vulture Peak. It is a uniquely shaped mountain that I had heard was fun to hike and I never had the chance to do it. Today Polly, John and my two nephews Jack (11), and Sam (9) hiked up Vulture Peak. It was a blast. It was a 3 hour roundtrip trek- 4 miles.

The weather was the perfect temperature (high 60’s/low 70’s), the views were incredible and it was fun to catch up with Polly and John and my nephews. I was most impressed with my nephews…they didn’t complain or say “are we there yet” at all. Jack got a blister on his foot, but made very little deal out of it. We had lots of good laughs and conversations on the way up and down.

When we got home, the kids were playing by the pool. When we were gone Patrick took them to the local Wickenberg museum which evidently was a blast! The evening was filled with all of us cooking together in the kitchen, music playing, Nora helping Polly cook apple crisp, Sam helping Stuey make paper airplanes….
Very good family times.

Zoya

Pictures:
-Group picture on Vulture Peak
-View from the Top
-My sister-law-Polly and I at the start of the hike. Vulture Peak is behind us.
-My nephews, Jack and Sam and I taking a break. They were awesome hikers!
-Hanson-Saltonstall family pic!
Evening scene on the front deck.

Fun Chaos

2011-11-22T08:44:00.001-08:00

The whole crew is now at Smokeview. Polly, John, Jack, Sam, Zoya, Patrick, Nora, Stuey and 4 random dogs. The countdown to Thanksgiving has begun. Needless to say, but it is pretty noisy around here. There is a great deal of energy here now.

Yesterday, when I went for a walk in the hills behind the house I could here dogs barking, loud conversation and kids screeching over a mile away from the house. This is not a bad thing. Stuey and Nora are in Heaven. Sam and Jack helped Stuey with his sand fort and there is always someone for them to play with. The energy of the kids playing together is so fun….older cousins with younger cousins. Patrick

Relaxing

2011-11-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

Relaxing

This morning we awoke with Patrick’s sister, Polly, and her family having arrived here last night! We are looking forward to spending the week and thanksgiving with them.

Yesterday after swimming, we took the kids out for ice cream. We went to a small ice cream shop that just happened to have a gentleman playing guitar. It was very quiet for a Sunday afternoon and he took requests from everyone in the shop. Once he heard we were from Alaska, he played North to Alaska as well as another Alaska song. The kids took their time eating ice cream as we listened to music. It was a fun Sunday afternoon surprise.

Stuey and Nora have spent lots of time playing in the sand with dump trucks, as well as drawing, and painting. After our (very short) walk in the desert yesterday, they came home and drew pictures of cactus’, mountains and family. Fun to see them draw it all out and learn how to draw new things like cactus’!

There is a Dunkin’ Donuts down the road that has WIFI, so this morning we had breakfast there and Patrick checked all of his sports scores. Dunkin’ Donuts is one of my more favorite establishments and there isn’t one in Alaska. It was a fun treat to enjoy an iced coffee there.

Things are slow, relaxed and warm… a perfect getaway.

Zoya

Pictures:
the picture of the bee was taken by Patrick underwater looking up at the sky.

Day 2 of Vacation

2011-11-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

Day 2

Everyone slept well and moods with the kids are even better today. Yesterday Stuey had a rough day…between being exhausted, getting stung by a bee at the pool, then taking a 2 hour nap which left him feeling crummy in the evening. This morning the kids are back to regular programming with playing dump trucks in the dirt outside, drawing /painting and playing Crazy 8’s.

This morning we went on a short-ish walk through a “wash” in the desert…where water runs when it rains. We checked out lots of different cacti, Stuey cried and we walked back to the car.

Its been nice not having WIFI where we’re staying. To post on the blog, we park in front of a friend’s house to download our blog post. Patrick chomps at the bit wondering how his sports teams are doing…..

Kid quotes

“This is Stuey , this is mommy, this is daddy, this is Nora and this is the bringer-out-food person. And this is the pilot.”- Stuey explaining who is in the windows on the paper airplane he made. The “bringer-out-food person translates to flight attendant.

“This water makes us sick?” -Stuey after drinking tap water. He was thinking back to Barcelona when several of had digestive difficulties from the water.

Wickenburg

2011-11-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

After an overnight flight from Anchorage to Phoenix we safely arrived to the gentle warmth of of the South West. Stuey had a low moment in the aiport waiting to board and another small one on the airplane, but then quickly fell asleep.

Nora and Stuey were fascinated by freeways, cactus’ and said “are we there yet” about 100 times during the 1 hr drive from the airport to WIcknberg where we are staying. Our kids are very obviously from an island where a “long” drive is 20 minutes.

The house we are staying at is Patrick’s grandparent’s old house-it became part of his family in the 50’s. Its wild to think it has been in his family for 60 years! Its been 5 years since we were here last and I realized how I’ve missed it. The inside décor has a “frozen in time” feeling, with 50’s furnishings and linens. It is very quiet and far away from any main roads. Patrick and I look forward to taking the kids on some desert walks tomorrow on the trails around here. Such different hiking terrain than Alaska!

Zoya

Hard to Leave Snow

2011-11-18T17:46:00.001-08:00

Now that we are off to Arizona for Thanksgiving, Kodiak is guaranteed a week of good weather. This always seems to happen. I leave Kodiak and while I am gone it is cold and snowy. In a perfect world I'd leave and it would be warm and rainy, or just unseasonably warm.

At least this time we got some cold and snow before we left. We have had snow for a week now, and for the last few days the highs have been in the 20's. Awesome weather! Hopefully it will still be awesome when we get back.

And never fear, I will enjoy temperatures in the 70's too. I am not a total killjoy. But I must admit the thing I am looking forward to the most is the well-stocked vegetable aisles in lower 48 supermarkets. That and wandering around aimlessly in the desert.

Photos: The harbor at dawn one day on my way to work (Stuey looked at the photo and thought the boat in the foreground was on fire), and Zoya cross country skiing today on the Upper Buskin (my favorite place to ski).

Holiday Travel

2011-11-18T10:48:00.001-08:00

Late tonight we head out for Thanksgiving break to go to Arizona for the holiday. We'll be meeting up with Patrick's sister and her husband and two boys. This is the first out of state trip we've taken with the kids since we went to France last year with the Haakansons. Its hard to believe we took a then 3 years old, Stuey to France last year...and had a good time! A year of maturity will make such a difference for travel in general. Nora and Stuey are quite excited about a "big" airplane ride. I"m thrilled with our flight plan, as we are on a direct Anchorage-Phoenix flight-a 5 hour overnighter.

In Arizona we always stay at the same house; its an hour northwest of Phoenix in Wickenberg. This will be Stuey's first time there and Nora hasn't been there since she was a baby so she doesn't really remember it. Looking forward to hiking, sunshine and time with our long distance family.

Zoya

Photos are from prior trips to Arizona over the years.

Doula Bits

2011-11-16T19:01:00.001-08:00

In the past several weeks I have had doula meetings with several new clients due in early 2012. My first meetings are very relaxed, just a chance for me to get to know the couple, and them me. Often the dads have questions about exactly what does a doula do? And it gives me a chance to learn about them and their lives together.

-A couple had returned from a trip where they had taken a "pets and pacifiers" class~how to safely introduce baby to your pet and make your home a safe atmosphere for the baby and dog. They bought a CD of a baby crying that they play during the day occasionally to help get the dog used to the noise! Evidently the dog starts sniffing around the speakers, looking for the baby! Pretty cool what modern inventions there are for helping ease the transition for our four legged friends...

-I always remind couples what an honor it is to be with a couple at birth. I don't want them to ever think that its just "another day on the job" for me. They always look relieved when I remind them that it is such an honor to be part of the preparation and birth process. I am emotionally invested into their experience and I want them to know this. I consider it an invite of the highest honor: to be invited to the birth of someones child!

-Sometimes my doula clients are often my physical therapy clients as well. This is great, as we have lots of time to talk about labor and birth (if they want) as I am working on their backs/neck pain (most commonly).
Recently I had a physical therapy client who met with me about hiring me as her doula; she said she felt so calm and relaxed at physical therapy when talking about labor and birth with me. She felt like this calmness about birth would transfer well to the labor and delivery room. Her husband was in full support of a doula presence because of this. I was really honored to hear her articulate this-as I definitely try to give women positive, helpful information about labor and birth during physcial therapy. It can be such a great time for trust building and learning about eachother.

-Several weeks ago Winona and I were at a birth together and we just recently received this invite from the new parents. As I read it, I got goosebumps on my arm. I've never been to such a christening ceremony using a coast guard ships bell! (The SPAR is a Coast Guard Ship).
I am sad to miss it but will get the details from Winona as she'll be going.

Zoya, Winona,

You are cordially invited to a Christening Ceremony for (name) on Wednesday, November XX at 1030 onboard USCGC SPAR. We will be doing a traditional christening ceremony using the ship's bell and hosting a reception on-board afterwards.

ODU's or civilian clothing can be worn

Very cool!

Zoya

Venturing out Independently

2011-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Before I had kids, I had the certain moments in my head about what it would be like. My picture-perfect idea of how to kids would behave, do at certain ages, etc. One of them was playing outside in the snow. I always had visions of kids getting in their snowsuits (without help) and running out the door to play endlessly in the snow.
6+ years later, that moment has finally arrived at the Saltonstalls. Little to no help is needed for the kids to get themselves dressed to go play in the snow.

Yesterday morning as I cooked pancakes for breakfast, the kids got geared up and did some pre-breakfast sledding on our hill. I was in heaven and looked at Patrick and said, "Isn't this lovely?". We had 20 minutes of quiet in which I could enjoy my coffee and cook and Patrick could catch up on sports news on-line. Parenting has lots of "more challenging" moments, so the moments where the kids are independent and happy, playing outside AND they initiated it all? Priceless!

Yesterday after school Nora and Stuey asked to go cross country skiing. Patrick was thrilled with this request and responded with an immediate YES and helped gear them up! (He secretly dreams of Nora and Stuey being on the first Kodiak Cross Country ski team....who will beat the kids from Los Anchorage!!)
The kids do a big ski loop around our lawn and are getting more adept at going up and down the little hills, too.

Zoya

Changing Seasons

2011-11-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

Nora is right on the cusp of reading. She has been breaking apart words that we say, sounding out the beginning and ends. Her speech therapist has also noticed it, that she is hooked on breaking apart the sounds of words.

Tonight after I put Nora to bed, she came straggling out with her eyes half closed and declared to us, "Mom, reading is the important-est thing in my life". She really wants to read. The other day she said, "It would be so nice if I could read because then I could just read books to go to sleep." She is very ready and I think she may be reading easy word books by christmas with her current motivation!

Stuey's speech impediment as of late is to say "gills" for "girls". Its quite funny. One day he told me he was "Scared of the gills at preschool". There is a HUGE batch of girls there!!

Today we took the kids to the golf course for a quick sled. We were the only ones out there on the thin layer of snow, but Patrick and the kids got several fun runs in.

Zoya

Pictures: Today at the golf course.
Note the day-old skate skiing tracks~ those are Patrick's! It made me smile to see them.

Various Definitons of "First Snow"

2011-11-11T17:07:00.001-08:00

Today we woke up to snow on the ground. It got us thinking about 'first snow' and what it means to each of us in the family. For Zoya, the "first snow" was stepping in a patch of it on the top of pyramid. For Patrick, the first snow really counts when he can walk in it. For the kids, it means there has to be enough snow here at sea level to play in it.

-Kids first snow: This morning there was enough snow falling before school that the kids put on their snowsuits and went sledding before they went off to school -in the dark.

-Zoya's first snow: At the end of October we hiked up Pyramid to go ptarmigan hunting. We did not find any ptarmigan, but Zoya did get to hike in the snow.

-Patrick's first time on snow was during the Goat hunt (3 weeks ago). It started to snow and while wandering around in the whiteout they ran into a sow and cubs. The bottom photo is of one of the bears footprints taken after they were charged by the bear.

Today Patrick went for his first ski of the new season. He skate skiied for 45 minutes around the golf course, and was amazed at how tired he got. Snow season is here! yeah!

Zoya and Patrick

Saltonstall Uncle Dinner

2011-11-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

A recent turn in family dynamics precipitated Patrick's younger brother, Andrew's visit to Kodiak this past week. Prior to this visit, Andrew had only been to Kodiak 1 time and it was during our wedding 8 years ago. Bless Andrew's heart for coming all the way from DC for an unspecified amount of time to help in Kodiak. It has been fun to see the 3 brothers all together enjoying eachother's company!

Tonight we enjoyed a dinner of sheep roast, roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes. The kids all played on our bed, more or less ransacked the house and had a good time. I was thrilled to enjoy a dinner in the company of 3 brothers who have time to reconnect in Kodiak of all places.

Zoya

My Workout View

2011-11-10T17:10:00.001-08:00

Here on Kodiak there is still not enough snow to ski - so for my daily workout I've continued to do my climb of the North Sister. It's a quick workout and has a GREAT view. Today as I turned around to head back to the car I thought how lucky I am to have this view while I get in my workout. I know it beats the view from every single gym in the world. That's the city of Kodiak spread out in the distance, and the Gulf of Alaska all around. Patrick

Four Paws Off the Ice

2011-11-09T08:23:00.001-08:00

We finally got ice! Now we need some snow to cover it so we can start cross country skiing. Only the smallest and shallowest ponds have ice that is thick enough for skating, but pretty soon all the lakes will have ice. Winter is here.

It is always good to check ice before the snow falls on it because once covered the dangerous areas are hard to see. I have a few ponds where I like to ski and I get to know them very well. Even when the ice is really thick in the middle of winter some areas always stay open due to springs, running water etc. It is important to remember that no ice is ever totally safe. That said - I LOVE my ice!

Photos: Brother out skim batting on the new ice.

Anchorage

2011-11-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I returned from Anchorage for a short trip for to take Powerflex classes, go shopping, to see my older sister and to get a haircut. For the haircut, I decided to go significantly shorter at the last minute. I think I got 4 inches or so cut off, which felt great. Now when people ask how to tell my twin sister and I apart, I can confidently say "My hair is shorter". Until now, when people ask I stagger and say, "I"m not really sure...". That's not terribly helpful.

The most important reason for my Anchorage trip was to attend powerflex classes, which I attended 2 of. The first one was with an instructor (Dena) who was a hoot! She had her hair in side pony tails, sang along to lyrics and had her eyes closed singing along lots of the time. Lots of fun and made us laugh. The second class was with Becky, who was excellent with form. There were over 30 focused people in that group and she was big on giving various cues on how to hold our bodies during the moves. After both classes, I took tons of notes in the car and am ready on Monday with some new moves in my Kodiak powerflex class!!

Zoya

Looking up old Schoolmates

2011-11-06T08:50:00.001-08:00

When I was in 8th grade I used to borrow a friend's 10 speed bike; she is the middle one in the photo above. I borrowed it so frequently that when I got her to sign her yearbook page she left me a note to the effect that I was always welcome to borrow her bike. She graduated and I remember that she went on into the movie business. But after a few years I totally forgot about her. Until the other night when I was bored and roaming around on the internet.

I think we've all done it - who can we look up that we went to school with? I found Alexandra - and she was on 'Baywatch'! What bums me out just a bit is that I did not know this when the show was still on the air. I would have had a valid excuse to watch the show. Patrick

Re-kindling the Butter Boat Love

2011-11-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

From the day I met Patrick, he has always been a good cook; for this I have been so blessed. On our our second date he invited me over for deer stew-and it was delicious...slow cooked in a dutch oven. One of other new recipes he introduced me to 12 years ago was a recipe we started to call butter boats.

To make butter boats, you bake potatoes in the oven until they are super crispy, no aluminum foil. Once done, you cut them in half and carve the inside potatoe out into a pile on your plate. Then to each half of the potato and the pile of potato, you add a big dallop of butter and salt. The "boats" are the potato halves which have a pool of butter in them. They squish down for fun hands-on eating!

Tonight we re-discovered the butter boat, as it has been at least 4 or 5 years since we have made these. So along with our Grilled Elk flank steak and sauteed peppers, Patrick made butter boats. We formally introduced them to the kids and they loved them as well. It was fun to re-visit a recipe and time before we had kids. Butter boats always made me laugh-they were such a new concept to me, interactive and a fun spin on your basic potato. Welcome back, Butter boats!!

Zoya

Small Game Stew Recipe

2011-11-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

With deer season at an end (with the rut near they are NOT good table fare these days), I've been doing a lot of small game hunting lately. My 'hunting' consists of taking along a 20 guage shotgun when I go for my hike up a mountain after work. On Monday I got a rabbit (bottom photo), on Tuesday I got 2 ptarmigan, and yesterday while I saw plenty of ptarmigan (willow ptarmigan actually) I harvested none. Rabbits (arctic hare) and ptarmigan are really good to eat too. To cook up my bounty I used a recipe Mike P wrote down for me. I think it is a old family recipe from Nebraska. I cooked up both the ptarmigan and rabbit in the same pot. Later Zoya and I decided that while both ptarmigan and rabbit are VERY tasty - Rabbit is REALLY tasty and that I need to get more of those this winter.

So here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup of Shortening
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp dried basil (I used more)
1 clove garlic (I used a squirt of garlic from a tube)
1/4 cup of olives
1 cup of water
1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 cup of white wine
1 lb of sliced mushrooms (I like them sliced but Mike prefers blended in food processor)
Rabbit and/or ptarmigan (whatever you got - I'm sure it'd work fine with nutra and bobwhite or whatever too)

Steps

1) Coat ptarmigan/rabbit in flour, salt, paprika, pepper and basil. I put all them all in a big ziplock bag and tossed until the meat was well coated.
2) Brown meat in the shortening. Make sure the pan is hot when you add the meat so that it browns adequately.
3) Add garlic, olives, water, worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms and simmer for 45 minutes.
4) Turn meat and stir mixture, add white wine and simmer another 45 minutes.
5) Add more water for broth if needed and serve over rice.

I did not have an hour and a half to spare cooking dinner so I used our pressure cooker and used less water and wine and it came out great! I simmered until the mushrooms were shrunk and then added the wine and pressure cooked for 45 minutes at 10 psi. I bet this would also be a good meal to cook in a crock pot. So adjust recipe accordingly! Patrick

A little bit of this, A little bit of that....

2011-11-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

The thing about labor support work is that mother nature can call at anytime day or night. Today was a day where I did a bit of everything ....from labor support, to Physical therapy, to fitness to family.

I've recently been helping train my office manager, Winona, in doula work and we decided to share responsibilities with her first client. And provide back up for eachother. Yeah! Back-up! A necessity for long labors. Ones that go 24+hrs.

Winona's doula client went into labor a couple of nights ago and last night at 9 PM I went in to the hospital to provide some relief time for Winona and the laboring moms' husband to take naps. I was at the hospital from 9pm-2am, came home and slept until 6 AM. Texted Winona at 6, and realized the mom was still in labor, went back to the hospital for 1 hour so Winona could take her boys to school.

Then off to the clinic I went to see physical therapy clients from 8:30-1pm. Took dogs for a walk, picked up kids and taught Powerflex Strength Training class from 4-5. At the end of the dinner tonight (Patrick made roasted potatoes and veggies...bless his heart...yummy) I laid on the couch and said, "wow. I'm tired!". All day I was going, going, going and it hit me what an action packed day it was!

Its always wild to shift gears between helping a woman in labor, to seeing physical therapy clients, to being with the kids, to teaching Powerflex classes. They are all such different interactions with different groups of people.
Doula-A lot of listening. Thinking. Offering body work/massage. Giving breathing help as needed.
Physical Therapy-Again a lot of Listening. Hands on manual therapy work. Thinking about next step needed for progress...offering home program.
Teaching Powerflex-Energizing! Have to be on it with energy for class. Tonight I had 8 participants and felt like I really pushed the group. Have to keep smiles coming to folks and give positive feedback on form.
Being with Kids: fun. Being silly. Tickling Stuey. Drawing.

Zoya

Stuey sorting his halloween candy. His favorite recent pastime.

Goat hunt Video

2011-11-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

Another fruitless goat hunt. But we did get to do some camping, got charged by an irate sow, and saw some awesome country. And while we not get a real goat we did harvest 'Spike' the faux goat.
Enjoy!
Patrick

Cliffside Trick Or Treaters

2011-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today Kodiak was blessed with beautiful, perfect halloween weather.

After dinner we took the kids down the street for a treating hour. Every year Patrick and I enjoy halloween, as its a nice time to say hi to neighbors. In Kodiak there is a big "downtown" trick or treating, which is great (lots of candy, high volume for kids at businesses) but the element of connecting with neighbors is completely lost when doing that. The downtown trick or treating began more than 7 or 8 years ago, because its supposedly more "safe" than kids wandering around in the dark, but I would argue that taking some time every year to know your neighbors makes your neighbor hood more safe. With neighborhood trick or treating, our kids have a chance to meet neighbors face to face and get to know them more with Patrick and I there.

Today on our trip down Cliffside, we met new neighbors who moved into the house "5 minutes ago". I first met "her" in Powerflex Class last week and they both just recently moved here and their things were just dropped off today. We talked with them for a few minutes, and I was most impressed how they had a pumpkin in their window and a huge bag of candy for the kdis to chose from. Most houses were prepared with candy, which made me so happy. The kids took turning running to houses and ringing doorbells.

Last year we were on an overseas trip with friends for halloween, so there wasn't any trick or treating. I think it took a while for Stuey to get the hang of what to do!

Thanks to all the great smiles and candy from our neighbors on Cliffside Drive!

Zoya

Archaeology in the Rain

2011-10-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

And yet another video! This one is of the Alutiiq Museum's Karluk River archaeological survey from last May. Four of us flew out and did a 2 week survey of the Karluk River. We looked for prehistoric fish camps and villages and then mapped and tested them (dug test pits to see what was there). We lost Molly to pushki burns about halfway through the project and with our good luck charm gone it began to rain.. .. .. and rain. .. .. and rain. Pushki is a plant whose juice bonds with the skin and then reacts to sunlight - creates a rash much like really bad poison ivy. Very Nasty. Anyway, this video is my attempt at showing what it was like on the Karluk River last May. Also Zoya did all the music and final editing for this one. Patrick

Sheep Hunt Video

2011-10-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend Zoya and I worked on home movies. I do the raw editing in imovie and Zoya does the final editing and adds in the music. Music selection is Zoya's forte. Anyway, we finally created the video for Gregg and I's Brooks Range sheep hunt. And tomorrow we will be adding more movies - one about our recent goat hunt and the other about an archaeological survey down the Karluk River in the rain. I do have to add that Zoya was not totally happy with the second song in the Sheep Hunt video. So that one is my fault. Anyway - enjoy the movie! Patrick

Kid-isms and SNOW!

2011-10-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

KID-iSM's

-The other day, Nora was playing pretend restaurant and as she brought me food, she would say, "Banana Tea" as she brought us food. I couldn't figure out why she was saying and kept asking, "banana tea". Then she said, "you know, what they say in France with food." Patrick and I got it-she was trying to say, "Bon Appetit"! So we taught her and Stuey to say it correctly and when they served us food, they would cheer "Bon appetit!".

-The other night Stuey crawled into our bed at 4 am, and he was saying something under his breath. I couldn't make it out and asked him to repeat it. He said, "Porcupine starts with P. P is for Porcupine." I told his preschool teachers the next day and they were thrilled to hear that information was about letters was sinking in...even if was sub consciously at night! We all got a good laugh out of it.

PYRAMID SNOW

This afternoon Patrick and I got a sitter and went up Pyramid together. There have been some good rain storms and cold weather lately, which has resulted in a good amount of snow on top of the mountain. Patrick brought his shotgun for Ptarmigan in case we saw any, but we didn't see even one. Just a day old Ptarmigan track and that was it. The weather was brisk and windy and absolutely gorgeous the whole way up.

Patrick says that with another good storm, there will be enough snow to start skiing down a part of the mountain. It is fun to see the beginnings of ski season arrive! This is Patrick's favorite time of year.

I always enjoy outdoor dates with Patrick. Ever since we started dating, they are my favorite, as we get out and explore together. I love seeing the world through his eyes as he shows me beautiful places in Kodiak.

HALLOWEEN
Last night friends had a kids halloween party and everyone had a great time. There were fun games, gift bags and food involved. Stuey was spiderman and Nora was Snow White. Very simple costumes for them to party down in.

Emulating Mom and Dad in Art

2011-10-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in the morning, Stuey gets a hankering for drawing and he'll say, "Draw with me Mommy..." So we'll sit there at our counter with crayons coloring. Last week I noticed that as I drew my house, tree and sun, he did his version after. I would add a tree, he would add a tree. I added leaves, he added leaves. Our drawings ended up being quite similar!

And later in the week, the same happened with Patrick and Nora. He drew an elk, and Nora proceeded to copy it and draw her own version of it!

Its fun to see the kids get their own styles with art. Lately Stuey is big in drawing either Patrick or I in the picture and there is ALWAYS a sun in the picture. (very similar to my drawings...where I always draw a sun).

Zoya

Pictures:
Top: Stuey version of tree, house, sun
My version of tree, house, sun
Nora version of Elk.
Patrick version of Elk.
Stuey picture. (monster in middle, Stuey off to left. And a sunshine off in far left corner)
Nora Picture-she said it is of me dancing. :)

Final 3 Day weekend Hike Photos

2011-10-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

Final photos from our three day weekend goat hunt. The top photo is of Gregg and John looking over a deep valley for goats. The sow and cub encounters kept us from getting to the other side of this valley and all those white dots at the bottom are flying ptarmigan. There were flocks of ptarmigan flying everywhere. Second photo is of me hiking out of a snow tunnel near camp. Shortly after we took this picture John saw a 'fox' that turned out to be 'Spike the goat'. We shot him at the last possible moment - it rained for the rest of the trip. Third photo is of our last camp - we were a little worried about high winds and John built a stone wall to shelter the tent. Fourth photo is a landscape with the ocean in the distance - that small figure is John. Still no goats! Finally the last photo is of Gregg and John in the fog. We wandered all around in the whiteout and things like bears and mountains would suddenly loom out of the fog. Patrick

Bushwhacking

2011-10-27T08:27:00.001-07:00

While on our goat hunt we did some bushwhacking. To get home we had to cross a deep valley, and the plan had been to cross it way back in the mountains where there would be less brush due to the higher elevation. However, running into the bears denning up changed all that. Once we got 'charged' in a whiteout up on top twice in 2 hours, we decided to turn around and cross the valley lower down than we had wished. So we camped just above the brush line, and spent the night dreading the dawn - and the bushwhack from Hell.

And it was REALLY, REALLY bad. It was super steep with cliffs and choked with salmonberry, alder and devilsclub (the second photo show what we climbed down through). Going down we were not even sure if we could make it to the bottom, and we were super worried about running into an unscalable cliff and having to climb back up. Once down we had to bushwhack for another mile and a half to get up and around a ravine and across the valley. All and all, it took us almost 3 hours.

What's funny is that I used to get stuck in the brush all the time, but over the years I have learned to avoid it. As a consequence, I think I had forgotten just how bad it can get. Under normal circumstances I would have never chosen the route we tried. Now my memory is refreshed, and I think that next time I might just brave the bears to avoid the brush. Patrick

Photos: Top 2 show our bushwhack while the bottom is the view from the top. The other 2 are of the valley where we camped on our last night.

Everything but the Goat

2011-10-26T08:22:00.001-07:00

I went on a mountain goat hunt over the weekend with Gregg R and John S. We got dropped off in a boat at the head of a bay near where I had a permit for a mountain goat (you need a permit to hunt a goat and they are only good for certain areas). And from there we hunted for goats and walked the 20 or so miles back to town. We got back on Monday after hiking all day in the rain, but I never got to post on it due to a HUGE storm that knocked out Kodiak's internet on Monday night. Good thing we got home on Monday before it got REALLY bad.

Anyway, we looked all over for goats and only saw what looked like 2 huge, gnarly old billies. Huge, gnarly old billies are practically inedible, and so we came home goatless. When we had given up on the real goats we did shoot a spike deer and we called him our goat. Spike the Mountain Goat. And so we came home somewhat successful - we plan on turning the deer into 'goat' sausage.

As regards the goats, usually the area we were in is crawling with goats but not now. We covered almost half of the permit area and did not find the herd. We think that they have moved out of their summer range and down into the ravines where they spend the winter. And this makes sense because it is getting pretty nasty up high. Lots of snow and cold.

While we were up there we saw a lot of sows and cubs getting ready to hibernate for the winter. They go where the snow gets deep early in the winter so that there is enough snow to dig a den into. We noted that they were digging up lupine roots to eat before their long winter nap. We ran into 2 sow and cub groups at close range in the whiteout and fog. And both times the sow ran over to check us out. The first one charged us when she got close (protective momma) and we had a really hairy moment. I thought I was going to take one for the team and was prepping myself for a world of hurt, but she came to a screeching half at 12 yards with dirt and snow flying and then ran away. After that we were all a little bearanoid and every big rock became a bear ready to charge.

Anyway, more to come on our 'goat' hunt in a later post.

Photos: Note the Xtra Tuffs in all the photos - boot of choice for all of us. I even have a pair of crampons that fit my Xtra Tuffs. Top - Hiking up in the new snow at around 3000 feet elevation. The sun did come out for a brief spectacular moment and revealed bear and not goat tracks everywhere. Second - John at the top of some cliffs that impeded our progress. Eventually we made it down to the creek you can barely see at the bottom, but that's a story for another post. Third - Gregg and John checking out a big bowl for goats. Hundreds of ptarmigan which sometimes look huge and a lot like goats, but no real goats. Fourth, Hiking up the ridge and away from the bay on the first day. Fifth, a snow tunnel under last year's snow.

Patrick

Pain of Childbirth Vs. Hunting

2011-10-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Over the years Patrick and I have had good discussions about the pain of childbirth vs. elk hunting. I think the conversations began when he would talk about how hard a hunt was, and I would say, "well, its nothing compared to childbirth". ( I gave birth 2X without any pain medications). Patrick would get defensive about elk or goat hunting and how physically tough it is. Just recently, we finally met half way on this topic. It happened when I told him I didn't think I had the brute strength to ever do an elk hunt. And he said he wasn't sure he could go through childbirth.

There are several similarities between the two that we came up with in our most recent discussions....

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHILDBIRTH AND HARD CORE HUNT WHERE YOU HAVE TO PACK OUT LARGE AMOUNTS OF MEAT (such as elk or sheep or goat...this is intense hunting with carrying 3/4 of bodyweight on your back for over miles and thousands of feet in elevation/descent)

-You can't focus on the future, or what is to come, or you will feel beaten down. Patrick says that during a hunt when he is humping 100+ pounds of meat over several mountains, he can't think about the miles that lie ahead. He has to just think about each step he is taking forward. With childbirth, you have to focus on the now as well-thinking about relaxing during the contractions and taking it one contraction at a time.
-Hunting and Natural Childbirth are both can be very hard, painful experiences (but not always) and mother nature helps us forget the pain of them so we will do it again. This will help ensure that hunters keep hunting and babies continue to be born...It is long-term grinding pain, with no end in sight.
-There is a remote possibility of death with both.
-You need support from other people to help encourage you forward. A woman supported by other people (preferably including other women) has better success rate than if she is by herself. A hunter with other people helps it not seem as painful. Misery loves company.
-Both have chance for physical harm to the participant. For hunting, this would include broken teeth, torn muscles, hurt back, etc. For women, there is also a chance of physical harm and possible long term pain. (I recently learned that women who give birth vaginally have 10% chronic pain and after cesarean 18% have chronic pain...which is pain lasting for 6+ months)
-There are no time outs. With hunting, stopping and getting up makes it more difficult because muscles start tightening. You only stop if you physically are unable to move forward. With childbirth, the contractions keep coming...there's no stopping the process. Women say, "I want this to end" but theres no "END NOW" button you can press. You have to endure.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHILDBIRTH AND HUNTING

-In childbirth, the rewards are greater.
-In childbirth the real prize comes at the end. With hunting, after the animal is shot, you have the adrenaline and euphoria helping you get through the pain. You are already successful because you have meat on your back.
-Childbirth is part of a womans sexuality~all the same hormonal tracks (love hormone oxytocin) are in play during an unmedicated childbirth. A woman is in the PRIMAL part of her brain, as opposed to the thinking part of your brain ('new' part, or neocortex). Patrick wasn't totally sure if a man is ever in the Primal part of his brain during hunting....we'll have to research that one.
-In hunting, every man in the group is in pain, whereas in childbirth, the "group" supporting the woman isn't in pain.
-Medications for pain are available during childbirth; this is not an option during hunting. You wouldn't be able to walk or find the trail. (and I would argue that the medications during labor are not without potential negative side effects to mom and/or baby)
-With childbirth, the real art in getting through it is relaxing and releasing; with hunting it is more about physical strength and physical endurance. In labor, the more relaxed mom is, the more efficient her body is in giving birth. If a mom is stressed, tensed or concerned, it can slow down her labor. Some women equate labor with an athletic event, which is true in terms of needing endurance and staying power. But the difference is that the more effectively a woman gives into the contractions and lets them do the job, the more efficient her body will be. Also, if a mom has high levels of adrenaline during labor, that can slow labor down, as her body is in react/protect mode, instead of release/relax mode. (Adrenaline usually kicks into action during labor when it is time for the mom to push the baby out) Whereas during hunting, adrenaline is a useful hormone all through the day.

I also want to emphasize that not every childbirth involves pain. Some women don't use the term "pain" to describe the sensation of contractions. They use terms such as "pressure" or "cramps". The sensations and descriptions of these sensations of childbirth are a very subjective thing.

Zoya

Photos:
Me in labor with Stuey...supported by girlfriends!! In the one I"m standing up in, I gave birth to Stuey about 15 minutes later! I was not a happy camper at that point in time....
In the goat packing photos, Patrick was carrying 5/6 of his body weight.

Mother Nature's Stair Climber

2011-10-20T07:55:00.001-07:00

Usually at this time of the year I am out of shape and champing at the bit to get back on snow and back in shape. Normally I stay fit by going skiing a lot, and the late summer early fall with the lack of skiing opportunities is my fitness nadir. But this year at the end of ski season I decided to change my normal routine and keep on climbing all summer and fall. I made climbing the North Sister a daily routine (when possible). And it has made a HUGE difference - I am way fitter than usual for this time of the year. I am physically ready for ski season to begin.

Basically I follow the red dotted route in the photo - starting across the road at the pull out and climbing through the old gravel pit and up the trail to the tippy top. It's a super convenient workout. It's only an 8 minute drive from my house to the trailhead. If I really hit it I can climb the mountain and be home just over an hour later. It is an 1800 foot climb and I have little mental markers at the 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 points of the climb. I find it illuminating and challenging to pace my climbs.

What's amazing is that back in July I virtually killed myself to achieve a time that is 5 minutes slower than an easy paced time today. And my fastest time is a full 12 minutes faster than my fastest in July. I also get the arm workout because I use ski poles, and I generally climb down slowly using the ski poles to save my knees. My time down is usually about the same as my time up.

Zoya calls my hill climbing 'mother nature's stair climber'. She knows I am not the type of person who likes to go to an indoor gym. People go to gyms for the convenience, but I'm finding that a local hill is just as convenient. I would not be saving any time going to a gym, and I think the hill climb is probably a better workout. I KNOW the views are better!

Patrick

Harvest Home

2011-10-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I harvested the last of the potatoes and carrots from our garden. I filled up half of a 5 gallon bucket with carrots and another 6 buckets with potatoes. In the photo I am sorting about half of the potatoes that we harvested in the final harvest. I harvested about a 1/3 of the potatoes in August and September and then the last 2/3 last week. Somewhere around 200 pounds worth of potatoes total. This is way better than I usually do.

And it seems that I am just in time. Last night it dropped down into the lower 20's. Winter is definitely on its way. Last year I left it too late and over half of my potatoes ended up frozen into the ground. But not this year!

And as you can see from the bottom photo there is still plenty of lettuce and the snow peas are still producing. However, the snow peas are having a hard time producing pods and some of the lettuce is getting a bit bitter. I noted that after the frost the snow pea flowers and leaves are still unwilted and fine but that some of the pods seemed frosted.

Anyone want some lettuce?

I should also mention that Stuey was WAY into digging potatoes. I'd turn the dirt with the shovel and he'd grab the spuds and put them in the buckets. Then we washed and sorted the potatoes. I removed all the ones with green on them, or ones that had been damaged by the shovel. The rejects were later cleaned up and the bad parts trimmed off and then either eaten or given away. The rest are stored in game bags. The same type of bags I pack out animal meat with when hunting. I have never done this before, but I figure they will breath and also keep the light off the potatoes (light makes potatoes turn green and eating the green makes you sick - been there done that).

Patrick

My Couch Fiasco

2011-10-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

There are moments in life where you think something is such a great idea, then come to realize, it may not have been. Today was one of those moments. Last week I went couch shopping with my sister for the place she was moving to. We went to the funiture store that is closing down and there was a great sale going on. I was thinking about how our couch of 10+ years would be moved to the birth class location for more seating....and we could get something different. I spied the red leather couch, sat on it-and decided to get it for our living room.

Little did I know what a beast it is. It had two recliner sections to it, which I didn't know when purchasing it. THis makes the couch much heavier and challenging to move....as Patrick and I discovered tonight. Not sure I would've purchased it had I known about the reclining features...

I was sweating bullets as we were measuring every door in the house and realized it wouldn't really fit through any of them. How the heck can furniture places sell couches that can't fit through standard doors!? At one point we had the couch half in/half out of the house and it was totally stuck. I was worried about having to saw it in half and Patrick started making comments about wanting to throw the whole thing off the cliff (sort of joking....). I was quite pleased with how he kept his sense of humor through the whole thing.

Eventually (1 hour later) we had to take apart parts of our sliding glass door, as well as the bottom of the couch frame to barely squeeze it through. And we took off the end recliner to get it in the door.

And the kicker is that our old couch is outside in this cold night-tomorrow I have to take the frame off of that one to get it in the birth class location.....it didn't fit through that door. Argh.

Guess I learned my lesson about buying any different furniture....

Zoya

Elk Hunt 2011 Video

2011-10-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

The past several nights Patrick and I have been working on the 2011 Elk hunt video. In the past few years, I have really enjoyed editing videos together with Patrick. Its fun to cut the footage down to the "essentials", pick music, add titles and laugh as we put it all together. I learn so much about the imovie program in the process. My favorite recent video project with him was doing the Penguk video from an archaeology dig 2 summers ago...you really get the essence of a trip from looking at all the footage.

Enjoy! And this video is not for the faint of heart or any vegans~there are pictures of a dead elk and elk meat. Just wanted to give everyone advance warning. It is serious Kodiak subsistence living at its best.

Zoya

Sharatin Clean Up

2011-10-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I helped out with the Sharatin Mountain clean-up. A few years ago a communications company tried to put a cell tower on top of the mountain, and while they were constructing it a storm blew in and blew most of their camp away. Then after construction the tower iced up REALLY REALLY badly. Over 12 feet of rime ice built up on the tower and made it inoperable. One big chunk of ice fell off of the tower and crushed the wood cabin they had built. More stuff blew away in storms. In the end the tower was removed but all the trash remained.

So last Saturday Tom W of Maritime Helicopters flew a bunch of volunteers from the local search and rescue group (KISAR) and Island Trails Network (ITN) to clean up the trash. We cleaned up an amazing amount of junk. Whole weather ports had blown over a 1/2 mile from the summit. Huge metal barrels, dungaree jackets, cups and paper plates, old totes, you name it - we found it. We made huge piles on top of nets and then the helicopter would come and take them away.

I think my favorite part was the helicopter rides. Tom flew us all to the top of the mountain and then at the end of the day back home. It's easy for me to volunteer for something if helicopters are involved! Unfortunately I did not take many pictures - I was too busy picking up trash. I wish I'd taken some photos with the helicopter in them. The only group photo I took had only the male volunteers in it-the group was often split up picking up debris. Nice to know the top of Sheratin Mt. is a bit cleaner now! Patrick

Wheelhouse View

2011-10-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

A last few pictures from our elk hunt. Jim the skipper of the boat gave me the pictures from his camera. I loved his 'wheelhouse' view. He really is an amazing skipper and it is quite incredible how he can nose the big boat up to the shore so that we can clamber on up over the bow and on to the boat. Even more amazing that he has the wherewithal to take some pictures while he is doing it!

But one day the Alaska State Troopers saved him the job. They went in and picked up the party for us. Of course they also checked hunting licenses, permits, elk meat etc. No one got arrested and the troopers were kind enough to bring them back to the boat. According to the troopers we were the only hunters in the area opening week. Patrick

New Perspectives

2011-10-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks we've been looking at things with new perspective; with photography and life in general. We recently got a new lense for the SLR camera. Its a portrait lense and Patrick has been trying it out. We've had lots of great playtime with nephews, so fun to put it to use with kid action shots!

Zoya

Evening Bike Rides

2011-10-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

A fall ritual for our family is to walk down the road towards the park in the evening. The kids ride their bikes while the dogs, Zoya and I use our paws and feet. Last night Zoya remarked about how she loves Fall. She remembered how the kids loved to do this last year too. She also noted how Fall seems to be passing pretty quickly. Pretty soon we'll lose 'daylight savings' and it'll be dark in the evenings. Or rather the evening will begin at 3:30 PM. But hey, at least Winter is on the way!

I can't wait for the snow and ice to arrive. In Kodiak with our maritime climate and the warming influence of the ocean it seems to take forever for the land to cool off and for winter to arrive. But while I wait I'll savor the delights of Fall. Patrick

More Xtra Tuff

2011-10-13T17:49:00.001-07:00

While looking through old photos I found one more of me in Xtra Tuffs that I just had to add to my Xtra Tuff post. It is a picture of the crew - Gregg, Me, Nancy and Franz - on the outskirts of the town of False Pass at the start of our hike to Shishaldin Volcano. Our packs are massive with enough food and fuel in them to last us 2 weeks, and we had to walk many miles up a river bed to get to the snow. We had to cross the river numerous times and the rest of the crew had to take their boots off and wade barefooted at each crossing - But not me! I'd much rather wear Xtra Tuffs than hiking boots - I can't think of a situation (except maybe glare ice where crampons are required) that Xtra Tuffs are at a disadvantage. Patrick