Thanksgiving Times, Gregg with a 'Stash', and entries from Patrick's Journal

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and tonight Patrick and I had fun looking at old Thanksgiving photos. The best one is Gregg with a mustache--his "old days" look!

Since meeting Patrick in 1999 we have spent many Thanksgivings here on the island with friends and several off island with family--down in Arizona, South Africa or out East (last year). Patrick and I really prefer to not travel during the holidays-too many hiccups with holiday travel as well as family expectations. Plus, we always find that dinner with good friends here is a great joy. Full of good food and laughter.

The photo on the top is in 2000-my first Thanksgiving with Patrick. Gregg was awesome with cooking the turkey and I really don't remember too much more about that dinner or who came over.

But A-ha!! When all else fails, go to the journal. Patrick has kept a daily journal since 1975. Watch out what you say or do in Da Saltonstall house-it could be permanently documented...

Excerpt from November 23rd, 2000 Thanksgiving journal entry
"....Eric, Kim and Rebecca came over to my place. Lots of booze and cheese. The turkey came out perfect. Gregg showed with pies and helped with the gravey. Steve and Sharon. Huge meal. I had way too much to drink. Rick and Melia came back here and we looked at old books....I finally trapsied over to Zoya's house at 2:00 AM...."

So with a little prompting from the journal-the details from prior Thanksgivings come back. Heres more:

2001 Thanksgiving
Excerpt from Patrick's journal....(Ella was in town visiting from Anchorage and we had Eric W. and friends from Larsen Bay in town for dinner.)

"....Then Ella and Zoya went off to Termination point on a hike with Hans T. I stayed behind to bake the turkey and watch football. Drink beers. Eric and co. arrived early and dug into the wine. Talked big bucks with the Larsen Bay crowd. We were all hammmered by the time Zoya and Ella got back. I thought the turkey was excellent and very moist but others found it "RAW". Fairly drunken affair, but fun for all. Eric, Kim and I finished up cigars and listened to CD's. I then inhaled the cigar. Bad idea. Ella passed out."

Patrick and I laughed as we read these entries and realized how little we remembered from these nights. Patrick says, "I was a pig in the old days...with how I acted." At times we think our lives haven't changed much since having kids, but after reading these journal entries, I realize how much our lives HAVE changed.

Zoya

Photos:
Gregg and I in 2000...me "stalking" the turkey skin after it came out of the oven.
2001-Eric Waltenbaugh, Scooby and the Larsen Bay gang. Ella in background.
2006 Alisa Abookire with the wine stash.
2006 Melissa, Patty, Mike and Katie.
(Melissa, Patty, John, Fisher, Mike and Alisa are all gone from the island now. We miss them.)

Pyramid Snow Report

I have not been up Pyramid for a while - too busy cross country skiing down low - so Today when I skinned up I was pleasantly surprised by how much snow we now have on the mountain. It's getting deep up there. And the skiing conditions are excellent. 3 to 4 inches of powder on top of a hard (but not icy) base.

Driving past 'Deadman's' curve I looked out over Chiniak Bay and noticed how hard the wind was blowing. I got a little worried I'd be blown off of the mountain. But no - it seems with the wind out of the West Northwest (like today) that the climb up from the parking lot is in a wind shadow. It was quite pleasant and warm in the sun. The powder in the 'snowboarder bowl' was not windpacked. Great skiing!

Photos: Karen and Jeremy head up for a snowshoe on the mountain. They were impressed by how warm and sunny it was on the mountain. Bottom 2 - scenics of the powder in the 'snowboarder bowl'. Patrick

November Light in Kodiak

Here are some pictures that I could not resist posting. The light changes so quickly in November. The top photo is of our front lawn after we took our family Christmas card photos. Lots of tracks in the snow. I guess we took our Christmas card photo pretty early in the morning! The sun is coming up over the horizon at around 10 AM these days, but it is light out far earlier. I think we took our family Christmas card photos about a half hour before the sun came up (around 9:30 AM). I took the bottom photo after Zoya and I had taken the Christmas card photos and left the kiddos in the capable hands of Lucy the babysitter. We went XC skiing on the lake in the foreground. This photo was taken around 10:15 AM just after the sun had come up. And yes I know - we did skedaddle after the Christmas photos and got to the lake pretty darn quick. But hey, bringing up kids and staying sane is all about time management. Patrick

Snowtime

Winter is in full force, Patrick is in snow heaven and the kids are at an age where they can truly enjoy the snow. When Stuey was younger (last winter), he was at a harder age to do outdoor things with. Barely mobile and not an age to have many outdoor adventures. Now at almost 2 he loves the snow.

Patrick and I have been scheming of starting a little toddler ski group-next winter perhaps. It would be for kids 4 and over--we could have people with small kids get some used skis at Play it Again Sports in Anchorage. On the weekends we could meet at various cross country ski spots. After seeing Nora on skis, we realized how fun it will be to get a little group of kid cross country skiiers together. Patrick has hopes of forming Kodiak's first Cross Country Ski team by the time Nora is in high school.
We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that Nora even enjoys cross country skiing! :)

Zoya

'Extra Blue' Ski Conditions

'Extra Blue' is a type of kicker wax for cross country skiis. It's the wax I use when there is powder on the ground and the temperature is in the 20's. Basically when the skiing is perfect. Not too cold and not too warm or mushy either - and no ice! 'Extra Blue' is slang for ideal conditions amongst the cross country ski cognoscenti.

Today in Kodiak we woke up to 'extra blue' conditions. Overnight it snowed 3-4 inches (we now have almost a foot on the ground), cleared off, and stayed cold. Gregg, Zoya and I went out to Lake Catherine and went for a cross country ski. After a few laps of the lake we struck off into the woods on the old military roads. All the spruce boughs bent over the trail with their load of snow. Great Skiing.

Photos: Top - Gregg and Zoya on Lake Catherine. Bottom - another view of the same canyon and mountain bowl that I took yesterday (I also took and posted the same photo 2 years ago). Different day - different light; always beautiful. Patrick

Tracks in the Snow

Today during my cross country ski I saw lots of tracks but very few animals. I saw where a land otter had slithered along, sliding on the downhills and bounding where the trail sloped up. I saw where deer had used my ski trail from yesterday as a deer highway. Snowshoe hare seemed concentrated in certain areas and they had created well used paths across the trail. Fox tracks criss-crossed here there and everywhere looking for food. I saw chickadee, magpie, raven and even eagle tracks. I saw my ski tracks from yesterday, and right on top of them I saw bear tracks. But the only animals I saw were some sad, spawned out silver salmon in the outlet to Lake Catherine, ravens, eagles waiting for the bears to free up some fish scraps out on the lake ice, and one snow shoe hare hightailing it away through the alders. Still and silent with not a breath of wind, and lots of stories to read in the snow. Patrick

Abercrombie Snow

Walking the dogs in the park - note Jake in the distance, Roxy is looking right at him. The snow contrasts nicely with the spruce trees and salmonberry bushes. Yesterday we got about 5 inches of new snow out at the airport and today I went for a classic cross country ski with my wooden Bonnas out at Swampy Acres - beautiful. Extra Blue for wax - with the wooden skiis, a truly classic day.

I thought I was following someone's snowed in snowshoe tracks until it became clear that it was actually the tracks of a bear tromping through the snow. Claw marks in the snow and a proclivity for spawned out salmon are a sure give away. How cool is that? Today a bear broke trail for me!

Then I took the doggies for a walk in Abercrombie. Not much snow made it through the trees, but the light was beautiful. Sun setting on the tree tops, dark tree trunks, green boughs, and white snow down below. I love this time of year. Patrick

Kodiak 1869

These watercolors of Kodiak were painted by Vincent Colyer who visited in 1869 while working for the equivalent of today's BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). The United States had just purchased Alaska and was trying to determine just what it had purchased. Vincent Colyer was part of one the early government inventory expeditions exploring Alaska at that time. While working for the government he also visited and painted Apache Indian reservations in Arizona. The originals of the watercolors posted here are at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Vincent Colyer went on to become a curator of art at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

Pictured here: top a view of town from Blisky (near) Island; middle a view from near where the high school is today out towards Barometer and Old Womens Mountains - no airport or Coast Guard Base out there back then (also note census numbers giving the population of various native villages on Kodiak scribbled on right); bottom Kodiak's Russian Orthodox church - this building was in the same spot as today's church. Over the years the church at that spot has been rebuilt a number of times. The most recent building dates to around 1944 after the prior building burnt down in 1943. Patrick

A "Wow" moment in Safeway

Tonight I had the most interesting experience at Safeway.

As I strolled through the aisles, I walked by a couple who had a little boy on the dads shoulder. Several times we passed each other and finally in the dairy section, the boy said, "Hi" and I said hi back. He looked like Stuey's age, so I asked the parents how old he was.

The mom replied, "21 months".

I said, "Oh, wow! Thats how old my son is! When was your son born?"

She said, "February 9th."

I said, "Oh, wow! Mine was born February 8th."

We talked for a few more seconds about our little guys then she said, "Wait, Was your son the one who had to be sent to Anchorage? I saw him when he was in the nursery."

I said "Yes, he was."

She asked, "Is he oK? did everything turn out ok? I remember the weather was bad and your flight had to turn back."

I reassured her that, yes, Stuey was just fine and he was as big and healthy as her son. She had such a look of relief on her face as I told her. She told me that she thought about him a lot since that time and wondered how he was.

It makes me realize how everyones experiences in this world are so connected. Its not like my experience with Stuey the hours and days after he was born was just him, our family and our friends. It was more far reaching than that. And so many experiences in life are like that.

And who ever would've guessed that tonight in Safeway I would have met a complete stranger who had thought about Stuey for almost two years?

So cool.

Zoya

Toys and Other Pieces of Plastic Junk

Lately I've been feeling like my family's house is one of those beaches where they do the marine debris clean ups every year only to have it loaded up again with trash the next year. I think I spend over a 1/2 hour every day just cleaning up plastic toys and putting them back into bins. Then the kiddos dump the bins and scatter the toys all about and I clean them up again - I'm a modern day Sisyphus. I don't think I'd mind if they actually played with the toys, but all they seem to do is scatter them and move on. They do have a few favorites - Stuey likes his cars and I try to keep these out - but for the most part they just throw them about, and I step on them in the middle of the night.

It has me hating plastic toys - and all you friends and relatives out there reading this - DO NOT send our kids plastic toys for Christmas (especially those toys with multiple plastic parts that immediately get separated from each other). I actually think my kids prefer playing with real pots and pans, rolling pins, cell phones than toys, and really, do we need cheap plastic toys? Where do they all end up? I have this horror that they all end up in that great spinning mass of plastic in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that supposedly is twice the size of North America (see Isiik's post from around a month ago - I don't know how to do those hot links but here's a try http://isiik.blogspot.com/2008/09/great-pacific-garbage-patch.html). Either that or in our landfill. Can we really afford to have them end up in either place?

Not sure if this is exactly related, but the other thing that depresses me is discarded toys. Did you ever read the 'Velveteen Rabbit'? I hate it when Nora or Stu tire of a toy and stop playing with it. It makes me very sad. I think of the toy as a discarded pet. So to see all these toys that were never really loved in the first place, and almost immediately discarded .. ... .. Well you get my point. But it has me thinking of the Puppy Farms that supply vet stores.

Personally - I think we should ban plastic toys or at least tax the hell out of them. It might actually clean up the floor of our house, and I don't think our kids would ever miss them. Patrick

Post script: Friends and Relatives - send us your old cell phones for Christmas! They love real phones!

Sleepless nights for Nora

As I write this, the house is quiet--the bedroom to the kids door is open and I am so glad that Nora was able to go to sleep easily the second night in a row. For about a week she has suffered from a bit of insomnia and I believe a large part of it was because she was scared of her room.

She and Stuey share a room, and there was one night light in there--but still too many shadows and dark corners for Nora's liking. We'd put Stuey to bed at the standard 7:30 PM time but Nora would remain awake until 9:30 or 10:00. Sometimes saying "mommy. mommy." Sometimes walking around her room. Sometimes just laying in her bed moving her arms. As she cried out "mommy-mommy" I asked her what was wrong and she said, "scared room." She pointed to a few dark corners she was scared of--which prompted me to make a trip for nightlights.

3 nightlights later, the room is illuminated to her liking. And a white noise machine which is on loan from a friend plays cricket/night time noises. Reminds me of the sounds I'd hear when I'd visit my grandmother during the summers in New Rochelle, NY. Kinda cool!!

I guess I didn't think it was possible to be afraid of the dark with Stuey in the room, but considering how hard Stuey sleeps, he probably isn't much help to her in her moments of fear. With her speech delay, I know very little about the true depth of what she is scared about. And perhaps thats the best. No sense on needing to know more details or having her spend lots of time rehashing it. Its time to light up her room and move on.

The insomnia was bothersome because it was really affecting her behavior and mood. Her attention was short and she was just not real pleasant to be around. Very trying, to say the least.
Today, after a full nights sleep, she was FUN to be around. We had lots of laughing moments and she had fun at Cecilia and Mikes house playing with Cece. It was a good day. Now the moon shines brightly in the sky and Nora sleeps soundly.

Zoya

Pictures

Roxann reading to Stuey, Nora and Cece.
Nora being silly-poking his face after their walk together this afternoon. I'm amazed Patrick can still carry her on his back!!
Nora looking out of the plastic playhouse outside last week one cold evening.

First Family Ski

Today we all went for what I believe is our first family ski. Actually, we did not bring the dogs so it was not the complete family, but at least all the humans were present and accounted for. Nora did some skiing, Stuey walked about on the lake in his snowmobile suit, Zoya got to do a lap of the lake on her skate skiis, and Daddy chased Nora around on his XC skiis. Stuey reminded me of my grandfather who used to wear a snowmobile suit all winter in Maine. Gregg, Lisa and Karen also joined us - a good time was had by all.

Of course two different good Samaritans came down to tell us that the ice was not safe. At first this made me angry, but then I realized that they had our best interests at heart. Of course I had checked the ice and knew it was safe before I took my family out there.

I think it is important to teach kids about ice at an early age so that later in life they do not do something stupid on the ice when I am not around. Too often parents are terrified of ice and their kids never get to learn about it. The only way for children to learn about ice is to explore it with a parent. Hopefully, they will learn not to go near the outlets to lakes, avoid areas where streams come in, watch out for springs, and to be very careful near shore where the ice is often the thinnest. And never ever walk on ice covered rivers which are never safe and have currents that can sweep you under the ice. These are things kids need to learn (because I doubt I'll always be there when they do go out onto frozen lakes), and today Stuey and Nora started to learn about them.
Patrick

Canned Deer Meat

An Ode to canning. Our kids love canned deer meat, and best of all canning allows you to use the shanks and other tendon 'rich' parts of the deer without a lot of extra work. Canning is a bit of a misnomer because it actually involves putting meat meat into glass jars and not into tin cans. But like a can of tuna fish a jar of deer meat will keep indefinitely on the pantry shelf. We'll open a Jar and the kids will just dig in and eat it - what a great source of protein. I'm also convinced that the 'melted' tendons (collagen?) just has to be great for one's joints. Last night Mike Pfeffer and I canned up 33 pint jars of deer meat. And given that a 'pints a pound the world around' that translates into at least 33 pounds of product.

Anyhow - here is my recipe.

Things needed:
Pressure cooker (a big pressure cooker will hold 17 or 18 pint jars)
Cast iron skillet
Canning Jars and lids/rings
Deer shanks (calfs and other tendon rich cuts)
Thyme, Rosemary, Pepper and Salt (optional)
Carrots and Shallots optional
Vegetable or canola oil (I find olive oil and butter 'burn' and that peanut oil has too much taste)
Good Stock (I make my own chicken/turkey/vegetable stock) (@4 pints or 32 oz for 17 pint jars of meat)
Good sherry (This is key, I usually use either Maderia or Harvey Bristol Cream in the blue bottle) (@1/2 bottle for 17 pint jars of meat)

Process:
1) In a sauce pan I heat my stock - If i made my own stock with added garlic, beach lovage etc I just heat it up, but if I use store bought stuff I throw an onion, some carrots, garlic cloves, celery (or the free beach lovage that grows near the sea around here), and whatever else is handy and going bad in the fridge (even apples and oranges - all make for better stock).
2) Cut up all the meat into about 1' square cubes and brown them in a very hot cast iron skillet. Make sure the oil is very hot before adding any meat and do not add too much meat at a time. The point of browning is to sear the outside of the meat with a tasty crust and to not actually cook the meat. Add some thyme, fresh ground pepper and rosemary with every other batch. I add a good amount of oil and brown two batches of meat for each addition of oil. After the second batch I deglaze the pan with a LOT of sherry and then re oil the pan. After each batch is done I put it into a deep bowl - the deglazed sherry and other juices build up on the bottom of this bowl.
3) Put all the jars out onto the counter and evenly distribute the meat between the jars - leave about at least an inch free to each jar rim. Then spoon the 'good stuff' from the bottom of the bowl evenly between all the jars. This sherry and deglazed meat juices flavor is KEY and you want every jar to have some in it. (optional - on occasion if I do not have enough meat to fill all my jars I will add browned shallots, carrots and even garlic cloves to the jars - browning them in the same skillet you browned the meat helps with their eventual taste).
4) Add stock evenly between all the jars - try and get the stock level with just below the top of the meat. (Some people also add a tea spoon or so of salt to each jar, but i don't).
5) Wipe all the rims with a damp paper towel and put on the lids and rings (you should also read you canning/pressure cooker instructions at this point). The lids should have been boiled in another pot of water.
6) Load up the pressure cooker according to the instructions (check out out the Ball "canning blue bible") and once you hit 10 pounds of pressure wait for 1 hour and fifteen minutes before turning off the heat.
7) Once the pressure has dropped to zero carefully empty the pressure cooker and make sure that every pint jar is bubbling away merrily - if one isn't set it aside.
8) The next morning tap all the jar lids with a pen or anything else that is handy and check that the 'ting' is the same with each. The ones that were not bubbling merrily will probably make a 'thunk'. All jars that do not make a 'ting' should be set aside. Eat or refrigerate in the next couple of days all the jars you set aside . You generally get one or two a batch - but you want one to test for flavor anyhow - so why not test one with a bad seal?
9) Store and Enjoy! You got food for the winter.

As you can see my recipe is not exact - I believe that experimentation leads to better results. Try different spices when browning the meat, make your own stock with the deer bones, add different vegetables to the jars with the meat, try Marsala instead of Sherry. Variety is the spice of life. Patrick

Lake Catherine

I'm not sure if the Lake where I ski is actually Lake Catherine or Lake Genivieve. According to the map Boy Scout Lake is Lake Genivieve and where I like to go skiing is Lake Catherine, but I'm pretty sure the USGS got them mixed up. In any case, the XC skiing is great! Another funny thing about the names of lakes around Kodiak is that they all have female names - Rose Tead, Genivieve, Catherine, Loiuse, Gertrude, Cicely, Aurel, Caroline etc. I gather that they were all named after USO entertainers during WWII. I'd have loved to have met Rose Tead - I wonder if she is still alive?

Photo: Gregg took this photo of me this afternoon on Lake Catherine (Genivieve). Fast conditions. Patrick

Life is Good

Not much to say - just some snow 'eye candy'. These are some photos I took on my ski/hike up from the golf course to near the top of Pyramid. Mountain goats on the top of the mountain. I noted that Buskin Lake has even frozen over. Tomorrow I plan on skate skiing on Lake Catherine. I checked it today and the ice is good with about a 1/4 inch of snow frozen onto the surface. It ought to be perfect. It is winter - Life is Good. Patrick

Most boring blog post ever

Photos:
Nora with her binky. Yes, Patrick and I disagree on it. I think she shouldn't have it, Patrick still gives it to her.

Stuey and Roxy in the snow last week. Winter arrived fast this year. Early and fast.

Roxann reading to the kids during burger grinding party last week. Roxann is Stuey and Nora's favorite person. Stuey insists on being held by her when she is over. And when I talk to Roxann on the phone, Nora says, "Roxann come over. Roxann come over." so sweet!

Stuey and I in the kitchen last week.

Sunday Evening Pool Time

On Sunday evening, I took the kids to the pool. They had a GREAT time but thankfully Roxann and Katie were there with Natalie and Cece. I needed serious help. Stuey is a 100% water guy and was quite fearless running every which way and even trying to go under water a few times. So that left Roxann and Katie to keep their eyes on Nora--bless their hearts.

The pool was maxed out with people-kids splashing every which way. Quite a wild atmosphere. I definitely want to go back, but not without an extra set of hands. Getting a 1 year old and 3 year old ready in the locker room, as well as myself was a bit too much.

We'll figure out a routine with it all. The good part is that Nora and Stuey really enjoyed the pool, as did I. We'll be back.

Zoya

The 'No Snow in Town' Effect

Yesterday it rained in town and we lost all our snow down low - so today, of course, I had a few people feeling sorry for me, 'too bad about the snow huh?' I call this the 'no snow in town effect'. It seems most people think when the snow is gone in town - it's gone everywhere. These are the same people who call me for the first time in weeks, just after we get 2 inches of new snow in town, and want to know if I want to join them for a ski on Pyramid. I got news for everyone - most of the time when there is snow in town the skiing is bad on Pyramid. If we have snow in town it means it was cold and probably all blew off up high. Probably wind blown ice in the mountains. Those are the days when I go cross country skiing. Now when it rains in town - really dumps - but the temps don't get much above 40 degrees. ... Now that's the time to go downhill skiing.

Today is case in point. We lost all our snow down low, but we finally got some good snow up high. We got 1 to 2 FEET of new snow on Pyramid, and I enjoyed some pretty good powder skiing. Ski that when you smacked it with your ski tip blew up into the air - light, fluffy stuff on top of a soft base. You no longer have to use your rock skiis on Pyramid. Patrick

The downside to an Obama Presidency?

Remember back in 2004 after Bush won the election and people with a liberal bent all wanted to move to New Zealand or Canada? Guess where ‘conservatives’ want to move after Obama’s recent win? You guessed it – Alaska! So consider the comments I selected from two threads on an Alaskan hunting forum, and get ready for your new neighbors!

The first thread was all about a guy from New Hampshire (internet alias ‘Loggah’ as in logger) who wants to move to Alaska and is wondering about the best locations to move to in regards to hunting and fishing opportunities (I gather Juneau and Anchorage are out as they are known to be hotbeds of ‘socialists’).

Moving to AK thread – all the posts selected are by ‘Loggah’

My wife and i are thinking of moving to your great state, sick of these liberal democrats down here. Both of us are in our late 50's ,basically retired , both were self employed she owned a small printing business and i have been in the logging and excavation business for most of my life. Both into hunting and fishing,my wife has been to Alaska before but i have never been we live in the white mountains of New Hampshire,and i 'm used to wallowing around in the snow and cold, just wondering what you guys think, other than not wanting any more people up there and i couldn't blame you!! Don


My wife would love it on the ocean, I can get seasick on a dock!! i like river ,brook fishing ,but mostly hunting. If i was to move up there i would probably have to sell most of my gun collection!! i dont see how i could get them there unless they could go by boat from Washington state across Canada is definitely out. Don


Well just got in from some dozer work ,mud and brush. Pretty depressing about the election at least you got your governor back. I probably would have to sell some of my 350+ guns and 1/2 ton of antique ammo !! Thanks to all of you for your info, we probably would take time to drive around a bit and see most of these places, when my wife was there last year she really didn't want to come home. I told her the winters were long , we'll see, I hate the way this country has turned socialist ,everyone has their hands out, you people at least still believe in being self sufficient. Thanks again. Don

Comment needed here – I am not against guns (I own 12 or so), but I wonder if this is the type of guy who does not buy a range key, but instead drives to end of any handy road, dumps out his old refrigerator, a couple of propane cans and then proceeds to shoot the hell out of them. And then leaves them there of course.

The second thread is all about Sarah Palin coming home to Alaska and how she got such a raw deal. I include it with this post because I think it highlights the mindset of the people who will soon be flocking to our great land.

Palin Thread (various posters represented)

I am happy she's coming home. Even though the Iron curtain is descending on America now. I'm glad Don Young is going back to Washington. Now I just hope Ted wins. I would love to hear the talking heads screech over that one.

One thing for sure about our Sarah, the lesser 48 does not deserve her.


I'll admit I was pretty stunned when she got picked for VP candidate- tho it was, I think, a good move on McCain's part. A desperation move? Likely - and it darned near worked.

Politics is a learning curve, and she was pretty far down for the national level. She's a fast learner tho., and came through well with a couple minor stumbles- got mouse trapped by Gibson and Couric both, for example- but it's hard to dodge that chit when you open yourself up to a hostile media on relatively limited political experience.

Give her another term or so as Gov, and look out! The Saracudda will be hunting red meat.

If Uncle Ted goes down and we get a do-over, maybe she'll get a shot at Senator. Wouldn't that be something- two women Senators from Alaska. Poor bastids would never see it coming.....


In times as bad as they are going to get, I really want her to stay right here. We need her now more than ever. Just to fight off the Obama hoards. Now will be the time when every politician that is not a democratic will soon be under a Federal indictment.

I feel that McCain's whole problem started with Bush, failing to clean out the Attorney Generals office, of all the democratic lawyers. Ted Stevens is a prime example.


Alaska deserves to have people like Sarah & Todd. I believe she will be a factor in Alaska politics for years to come, probably as a senator. Our liberal lower 48 press has demonized her so much I doubt she could obtain a national elected position. Only time will tell how the country reacts to Socialism. May God bless the Palins.


Enough said. Enjoy your new neighbors. Patrick

Lots and Lots of Bears

Check it out - It's an early Thanksgiving feast for the bears on the south end of Kodiak.

I first saw the top photo in late August when two geologists visited the museum on their way back from a trip to Chirikof Island. They showed me pictures of the conditions out on Chirikof and then blew my mind with photos of bears eating a whale that had washed up on the South end of Kodiak. They took the photos from an airplane on their way back. In the posted photo (top) I count 47 bears, but they told me that there were at least as many more sitting on the hillside. In another photo that I do not have they said they counted 90 bears.

A few days later my boss, Sven Haakanson flew by the same carcass and took more pictures (bottom). By the time Sven flew by there were fewer bears, but the tide was out and he got better pictures of the whale. Can you imagine the smell!

Anyhow, the photos have taken on a life of their own. The Kodiak Daily Mirror published one of Sven's photos and I've found the photos taken by the geologists posted on internet hunting forums. No one on the internet really seems to know the whole story, and it seems the pictures are well on their way to becoming 'internet legends'.

I've seen washed up whales before with bears eating them, but never the number of bears seen here. Funnily enough, according to the bear biologist the only area on the island where the bear population is DOWN is the same place where this photo was taken. I bet there are so many bears on this carcass because of poor berry crops and salmon runs in that area. The whale may well be the only good source of food for the bears in that area.

Photo Credits: Top - John Sandru, seismologist. Bottom - Sven Haakanson, Jr., Museum Director.

Nora Phrase of the Month-- "Stuey's boo-boo all gone mommy. Stuey Happy."

Ever since Stuey got the needle out of his leg, Nora talks a lot about Stuey's boo-boo being all gone. When I pick her up from her day care program, often the first words out of her mouth are "Stuey's boo-boo all gone, mommy. Stuey happy." Its interesting because she'll even say it when Stuey isn't in the car. Sometimes she'll follow it with "My boo-boo all gone too." She had a little scratch on her knee that she watched go away with time.

I think she has heard me talk to people about the needle-especially around the weeks right after it came out. Maybe she still thinks about it. Funny, cause I think at this point she thinks about it more than me. I only think about it when people bring it up, or when a bill rolls in from the hospital....Arghhh....

As of late she has also become good at kissing boo-boos, only if she is in a good mood-of course. I dish out lots of kisses for boo-boos as well. Its funny how giving kids a kiss on their boo-boo really does seem to make it feel better to them. Smiles instantly come across their face.

I think as humans we need that little healing touch-its more powerful than the best dose of tylenol, perhaps.

Zoya

Obama

Tonight I snuck off to Sid and Fritz's house for the Obama party. Sid enthusiastically answered the door with a red, white and blue tassel-pom-pom- headband . It set the perfect mood for the group!
Drinks were enjoyed and the TV was on-awaiting the results from final states and the acceptance speech for Barack Obama. McCain gave his speech-everyone listened intently and several more minutes passed until Barack came on stage. The room was flooded with cheers of delight and tears as Barack spoke. Everyone there was so ready for change and hearing Barack gave us hope that change is possible.
Hearing Barack--and seeing his face on the TV---and seeing the enthusiasm in the Chicago crowd was a moment I'll never forget. Since we don't have TV I've relied more on the radio and You Tube repeat videos with seeing footage of Barack Obama. It was pure joy to be in a room with enthusiastic people and see Barack's acceptance speech live.
When I got home, Patrick reminded me that in many countries of the world, people do not give concession speechs as McCain did-and what a good concession speech he gave. This was a good reminder for me, as it is easy to get wrapped up in the "him-as-the-bad-guy" mentality.
What an amazing night.
(Oh, and we're having a "Bush's Last Day" party on 01-20-09. If you're in Kodiak-come by!!)

Zoya

America Is Great

I must admit I cried tonight. Not because Obama won or McCain lost, but because both of them gave such great speeches at the end. I loved McCain and I loved Obama. Both are great Americans. After their speeches I realized how vital American democracy remains. I must admit I had been a little worried (after 8 years of Karl Rove), but John McCain eased my worries. He conceded the election in a fashion that only happens in America.

At one one time I lived and worked in South Africa (photo is of Cullinan where I lived and worked) and I learned about the politics of polarization. Recently I read about how Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe refused to step down despite the election results in that country. How refreshing that our country has had a smooth transition - what a tradition. Let's keep it up. McCain is a great man. (Note - South Africa also had a smooth democratic transfer of power when Nelson Mandela took over as President).

Patrick

A better way to take advantage of daylight

Every year with the beginning of Daylight Savings I think about how it does not go far enough. I think Alaska should switch to Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) for the winter. As it is, by the end of this month most people will be going to work in the dark AND coming home in the dark. Daylight is too precious to waste it working - we need it for playing!

If we switched to EDT we'd all get up four hours earlier and still go to work in the dark but we'd also get about 3 hours of daylight after work. I bet we'd get used to the extreme time change in just a few days. And think of the benefits. People who work in the financial business would be able to better coordinate with Wall Street. Our vote would actually mean something in national elections. But best of all everyone would get a chance to spend some quality time outside in the daylight. I bet this would help with the 'winter blues' and people would certainly reap the benefits of more exercise. People would not go home with nothing better to do than watch TV, drink a beer and kill time in the dark until bedtime. Right now that is exactly what far too many people do. I bet if Alaska did go on EDT for the winter that the state would see immediate health benefits. Far more benefits than the state reaps with all the expensive programs they try now to get people to exercise and eat better. And simply changing the time would would cost nothing.

Photo: Ayakulik River at dawn, a familiar time of day to Alaskans on their way to work. Patrick

Cocoon Time

Today it will get dark a whole hour earlier and I love it. It's the cozy time of year. Things slow down and life gets less hectic; there is time to catch up with all the little projects that got forgotten in the summertime/hunting season hustle and bustle. It's time to hangout with the family in the cocoon - dark and cold outside; warm and light on the inside. No problems getting the kids to go to sleep at night (but they still seem to wake up pretty darn early. ... ). Time to plan great meals and enjoy all that food you harvested over the Summer/Fall. Time even to pick up a new hobby. It's cocoon time.

Photo: Nora and Stu on Halloween Eve - we did not take them trick or treating. Nora was a doggie while Stu was Stu. Rather than trick or treating they watched a 'Tickle me Elmo' potty video (how much do they pay those actors anyway? I hope it is a lot).
Patrick

Snow, Skiis, Ptarmigan

I wanted to title this post something like 'The End of Hunting Season' or 'Ski Season Begins', and then talk about how it is officially ski season and how I am completely done with hunting. And I am - yet even though I went for my first ski of the seasonI also still went ptarmigan hunting. So maybe not the end of hunting - just the end of hunting large game like deer, goat and elk. Rabbits and ptarmigan on skiis are fair game and very tasty - I'll include them with ski season.

Gregg and I climbed up Pyramid to ski. I did not bother with climbing skins for my skiis and was surprised at how deep the snow is up on top. I postholed my way up while Gregg glided along on his skins. We found some ptarmigan and then skiied back down. It feels good to get back onto the snow!

Photos: Me with our harvest of ptarmigan - I cooked them up with some of Isiik's cranberry jelly, garlic and white wine. Bottom - Gregg negotiates the rocks. Needless to say, but the base is still a little thin. Patrick

Kodiak Halloween

Halloween night was a blast. Dicky got us into the costume spirit BIG time this year with his presence here in Kodiak. We decided to be the Peter Pan-Captain Hook-Tinker Bell Trio....with a modern twist. I was Goth Tinker Bell, Patrick was Peter Pan and Dicky was Captain Hooker. Dicky crafted my wings, wand, sprayed Patrick's shoes gold---he was king of finishing touches. Once the babysitter showed up at 8, we hopped in the cab to Tina and Paul Shaw's party. There were several Sara Palin look alikes there as well as a pregnant Bristol Palin in Levi's Wasilla Hockey jersey.
Patrick, Dicky and I won the "Best Group" costume award-so fun!

Dicky is headed back to Maine today after a fun visit. Hunting with his brother, Halloween party and good times just hangin' out. I told Dicky last night as we got ready-- "halloween will never be the same without him here to make costumes with!" He has such an artistic eye for costumes.

Zoya

Photos:
Kim Philips, Linda Lance and I as the "goth" people at the party.
Lisa Polito as Sara Palin. She has the wink down.
Peter Pan, Goth Tinker Bell and Captain Hooker