Ray's Deer

Friday evening Mike P motored Ray and I off of the 'Road System' to camp and hunt deer. He left us at an isolated beach and we said goodbye and then hiked from there up into the trees to camp (top photo). I was excited to try my new tent - a Kifaru Paratipi that came with a tiny woodstove. Tent and stove weigh less than 6 pounds and we were excited to discover it is also very roomy. I think that 4 people could share it quite easily. We set up camp and lit the woodstove (second photo). Good lord how did I ever survive camping without a wood stove?

Saturday morning we woke up in the dark and lit the woodstove. Rather than a glum breakfast in the dark we enjoyed a cheerful meal by the glow of the woodstove. Ray even heated his cup of coffee water on the stove. Plenty of heavy whipping cream for the coffee set us up for the long hike in the dark to the alpine. We arrived up in the alpine tundra at dawn, and immediately saw does and fawns everywhere. We caught a small buck watching us from a short distance away and he ran into the alders. I took chase and caught him through a hole in the alders. Now we knew we were not going to go home without at least some meat! (third photo).

By the time we had finished cleaning up and packing our first deer into our packs it was mid morning and all the deer had bedded down. It did not look good for getting Ray his deer. I was glassing the high steep slopes that looked devoid of anything when I noticed a deer head sticking up above the rocks. I put the scope on him and a big 4X3 buck with eyeguards jumped into view. He was bedded down and chewing his cud. Later I took a 'sasquatch like' photo of him from almost a kilometer away through the spotting scope with my little point and shoot camera (fourth photo). Ray and I scanned the slope and made a plan to go and get him. A little looking revealed an entire bachelor group of bucks was up there on the slope with him. The bucks were all far too high up the slope to approach them from below.

Ray took off to climb the mountain up behind them and to, hopefully, get a good shot down at them from above. I sat with the spotting scope and watched the deer. Two hours later I had really gotten to know the deer. I hate to admit it, but I had even begun to root a bit for the big 4X3 buck. All this time Ray was high above having some death defying adventures while trying to get to a good spot for a shot. He finally did find such a spot, but could only see the other deer. He shot a big boy (bottom photo), but the big 4X3 lives on. Judging by where we were hunting, I bet he dies of old age.

After Ray shot the deer the real work began. We cut him up on top of a big flat 'alter-like' rock, and then headed for home with very full packs. They got even fuller after we packed up our camp on the way to the beach. Three and a half hours later we reached the beach and Mike P was there to pick us up. Thank You Mike! Ray made it back to Kodiak in time to catch the evening ferry back to Seward. What a hunt! Patrick

Horsey rides, blow up Dora and Kodiak veggies

Yesterday Hailee and I took the kids to the Kodiak Rodeo and Fair. (In years past, I"ve gone without an extra set of hands, which has been a big mistake.) The main attraction was the toddler horsey rides which the 4H group sponsored. Nora was a little more tenative about the whole thing and wanted to watch Stuey go first. Stuey had a smile on his face and was chuckling as we went around the cones. Good thing I had a solid hand on him the entire time, because at the very end, the horse shook a flea off of himself--and the power involved with it was enough to potentially shake Stuey right off the horse. That pretty much ended the exursion for Stuey, as he turned down the final lap and went right to my arms. (He wants to go again today, so I"m thinking he doesn't remember the horse shaking part!!)

The other fun attraction for me was seeing the veggies that people submitted for the fair. Cool to see what people grow here in Kodiak! There was a huge cauliflower there. Some pretty big carrots, too!

The Alaska state fair was in Palmer last week and I must say, I"m completely happy with our Kodiak Rodeo and fair. Almost no lines, lots of kids, animals, friends and things to see! Just perfect. A little less is a lot more!

Zoya

"Good Bye Salmonberries"

This evening the kids and I took a walk down the road after dinner. Stuey and Nora eagerly got their yogurt containers to hold gathered berries and we went out the door with Stuey chiming "booberries, mamma". I just love the kids enthusiasm for berries-for something so simple and natural which brings so much joy. The berry season has REALLY winded down. Almost all the berries Stuey gathered caused him to do a serious pucker. There were a few edible ones-mainly strawberries which we find along the bottom edge of cliffside road at the end.

Nora really understood today how there are few berries left. I told her that winter is coming. And with it brings snow. She got excited about sledding and going down a hill "really fast." As we walked some more, I could hear her saying, "good bye salmon berries. I will miss summer." I think she thought that winter will be tomorrow, as when I talked about going to bed, she replied, "Ok Mamma. So its really dark, we'll go to bed and when we wake up there'll be snow outside?" I chuckled to myself and explained that it will probably be a while before snow.

The house is quiet as I write this--Patrick and Ray are on a hunt and will be back tomorrow. The moon is bright and full tonight and I am ready for bed. The week began with me helping a mom in labor and ended with giving a presentation on ergonomics at KANA today. Lots of great times with friends in between as well as work! Time for some zzzzz'ssss.

Zoya

Butcher Boys

For every deer carried out of the mountains there is also the time spent cutting him up. This past Monday it was so nice that we did this outside on the deck. Nothing like homegrown and butchered meat. Patrick

Friends Visiting

NORAS FIRST DAY AT PRESCHOOL
Nora had her first day of preschool on Tuesday and it went really well. Dropping her off was a little hard on me--she insisted on wanting to use my old lunchbox-which I was COMPLETELY flattered and thrilled by. But the fact of the matter is that it made it harder to say good bye to her. She was walking off in a little line of kids towards a different building, holding onto her snoopy lunchbox. I got serious tears in my eyes and a little choked up as I got back into my car.
On the evening of the first day, she was a mess. VERY tired and cranky. I think its a lot for such a little person to process-new expectations, new teachers, students...everything about it is new!! Last night she was asking to not go back, said she is scared. Patrick and I re-assured her that sometimes doing new things is a little scary and it takes a while to get used to new experiences. She seemed to be somewhat re-assured by this. We'll see what happens when it comes time to drop her off this morning... She goes 2 days a week.

FRIENDS VISITING
This past week we've enjoyed the company of Ray, Julie, Lars and Ilsa-in town from Seward. I first met Julie 5 years ago when she was doing traveling medical work--filling in at one of the local clinics. I was recently married at that time and she was single. We would go on walks, skis, cook dinner and have such a great time. Now we both have two kids and she is in Seward...her husband Ray enjoys hunting with Patrick and going fishing here in Kodiak so we see them at least once a year! Their kids are almost 3 and 18 months, so close in age to Stuey and Nora. All four of the kids are showing the beginnings of playing together, which is SO fun! We talk about how in a few years it'll just be easier and easier because the kids will be off playing and probably won't want us to interfere at all!

The other day we all went to Mill Bay beach with kiddies. Ilsa was such a trooper as the first thing she did when she got there was sit down in a stream for a while, then proceeded to walk into a minil-wave in the ocean and get wet. She didn't mind being soaked one bit!

Lars, Stuey and Nora enjoyed rock climbing up a little crevice. They did it several times-I could tell from the look in their eyes that they felt like they were on a little expedition. Fun times.

Zoya

6 Years ago...

6 Years ago Patrick and I were married at the Golden Anchor here in Kodiak. My how time flies! We went to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary, something which doesn't happen every year due to hunting schedules, etc. It was nice to take a moment out and celebrate the passage of time. (We ate at a restaurant where "The only thing they overlooked was the food...". I'm just glad I didn't get food poisoning from the evening. We'll try that restaurant again in 1-2 years.)

I feel so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man. And having kids has allowed me to see a side of him I never otherwise would've seen. He is a fabulous husband and father.

Zoya

All beat up

This morning I feel as though someone worked me over with a metal pipe. Every piece of my body is sore, and my forearms are striped with red welts from wading through salmonberry and devils club thickets. I voluntarily did this to myself in pursuit of deer! Good thing we were successful, or this morning I'd be all beat up AND discouraged. Deer meat hanging in the shed is better than any aspirin.

Yesterday I went up into the mountains with Ray and Gregg. Ray is visiting Kodiak with his wife Julie and 2 kids. This is his annual 'fill up the freezer' visit to Kodiak. So we needed to find him some deer. And around about 11 AM yesterday things were looking pretty bleak. We'd seen about 30 does and fawns and no bucks. That's when Gregg, the true statistician, said - 'we're due for a buck; the next deer we see will be a buck'. And he was right - we spotted 2 big boys on the next mountain over. Unfortunately, to get to them we had to cross a HUGE ravine and do some serious bushwhacking. And then after we got one of the deer - we had to bushwhack and climb back out of the valley to get home. All in the pursuit of deer. Patrick

Anchorage Times

Yesterday I returned from a 3 day trip to Anchorage to see family! Ella and Dicky were in Anchorage for 3 days so we got time in with them.

It was a fun trip, although traveling with a 2 and a half year old and a 4 year old sure keeps it exciting!

Here are some of the memorable moments....

FRED MEYER TANTRUM
Stuey experienced his worst temper tantrum to date in the check out line at Fred Meyer. The checker lady was moving as fast asa he could and my over-tired 2 year old started screaming and flailing his arms. Not quite sure what he was mad about, but he was MAD. I was doing all I could to not let him scratch/claw at my face...trying to contain his arms so he wouldn't hurt me or anyone else. Nora stood and watched the whole thing. I finally was able to get him buckled into the front seat of the cart (with the checkers kind assist) and we got out of there fast.
It took him a good 10 minutes to calm down once we were in the car. Poor guy. He as SO tired.
The funny part is that as I was driving away, I thought, "I'm so glad that happened in Anchorage and not Kodiak, because I don't know people in the Fred Meyer in Anchorage."
WRONG. On Facebook, a high school friend commented, "Hi Zoya-I thought I saw either you or your sister in Fred Meyer today but you looked "occupied" with your son, so I didn't go over to say hi." Too funny! So there was someone I knew there!

WASPS STING NORA
My brother-in-law, Todd, took the kids for a walk around the property one evening when I was out to dinner with Ella nad Dicky. They came upon a wasp nest and Nora got stung several times. As Todd recalled the story to me, he said that the stings didn't bother Nora nearly as much as the fact that she lost her heart headband somewhere in the bushes during the time of the wasp attack. He said they got back to the house and he put some ice on the stings. She cried and cried over the fact that she didn't have her head band, so poor Todd had to go back out and retrieve it! Bless his heart. One ice cream cone later, she was as good as new and hasn't even brought up the wasp incident since!

FAMILY TIME
We got lots of time with family, and the kids got good Cousin Kellen, Cousin Ben, Auntie Bonnie, Auntie Ella, Uncle Dicky, Uncle Todd, Grandma and Grandpa time in. They warmed up to Todd VERY quickly--he was a bit hit when he put Stuey's new underwear on his head and danced around. The kids thought that was a HOOT!! THe kids didn't get confused with Ella and I...I think maybe once Stuey walked over to Ella thinking it was me, but they even made jokes about Ella not being mommy. Stuey would point to Ella and say, "mommy?? Noooo...." and have a big smile on his face.

Pictures are of Ella, Stuey and Nora at the Anchorage zoo. I was amazed by the size of that place! They have lots of exhibits! Pretty impressive. I'm glad theres not an elephant there anymore, however.... :) Bottom photos is of Todd and Nora sporting Stuey's under-roos!

Zoya

Public Lecture Thursday Night

Zoya and the kids are up in Anchorage until tomorrow, and I'm here on Kodiak, sitting at the computer, putting together a powerpoint lecture. On Thursday night (7 PM) at the Alutiiq Museum I'll be presenting the results of our recent archaeological surveys of Kodiak's interior.

Since 2002 the Alutiiq Museum has been surveying Kodiak's biggest lakes and rivers. We've surveyed the Ayakulik/Red river system, Olga Lakes, Uganik River, and Karluk Lake. In the process we've learned a lot about the history of Alutiiq fishing practices and about how the Alutiiq used Kodiak's interior landscapes through time. For the last two years we've been dodging bears and surveying on Karluk Lake. Come to the museum on Thursday night and I'll tell you all about it. Patrick

Don's Deer

Yesterday I shot my first proxy deer of the season. A proxy deer is one that I harvest for someone else - someone over the age of 65 or who is too infirm to hunt for themselves. Once I harvest a proxy deer I also process it for them. So it is a lot of work. For this reason, every year I say I'll do less proxy hunting, but every year I end up doing just as many proxies. The families I hunt for REALLY appreciate the meat, and I just can't get enough of camping and hunting in Kodiak's backcountry. So this past weekend Gregg and I harvested Don's deer.

At the start of our hunt on Friday evening, about 20 minutes from the truck, we spotted a small buck. We passed on him and kept on climbing towards our camping spot for the night. But I couldn't help dwelling a bit on how I might have just passed up on the 'bird in the hand'. I wondered if I had cursed our chances of harvesting anything on the trip.

On saturday we woke up before sunrise and were glassing for deer to harvest as the sun rose. We saw nothing but does. Legally, we can only harvest bucks on the road system near Kodiak. I was beginning to believe we had cursed ourselves when another small buck suddenly showed up 230 yards away. Gregg opined that I might want to wait and check out one more bowl to see if we could find a nice '4 point'. But not me - I had my bird in hand, and realized how lucky I was to get a second chance. Now Don's family will get some sweet August Sitka Blacktail deer.

Photos: Gregg lounges while we wait for dinner to cook under our tarp tent. Me in front of our tarp tent Friday evening. Gregg skylit at dawn Saturday morning. The morning light on the mountain side soon after dawn. Final photo is of Gregg and I with our hard earned deer. Patrick

Nora's 4!

Last night we had a birthday BBQ for Nora-she is 4! Roxann and Mike brought Dora ballons, people brought food...kids ran around inside and out-good times were had. Nora had a Dora The Explorer cake. Nora's birthday tends to signify the beginning of school season, and the beginning of fall. All day yesterday, Nora said, "I'm excited for the party. My best friends will come over!"

This morning there is a fall crispness to the air-I welcome the change of seasons, as does Patrick. Means skiing will be coming in 2 months! I never used to say that, but after being with Patrick for so many years, his enthusiasm for winter has rubbed off on me!

Zoya

The dig ends

We started to backfill the archaeological excavation Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon, 2 full days of back-breaking labor later, we finished. The dig is over!

Backfilling is not fun, but it is a very important part of archaeology. Backfilling protects sites from erosion and site vandals. It also shows an appreciation for the place that you excavated. No one likes to see an ugly unfilled hole. I always try and leave an archaeological site looking just like I found it. I bet that next year a visitor to the site will not be able to tell that we excavated the site this year. We even contoured the old house depression to match what we originally found

Anyhow - here are some photos of the final product. I also made a time-lapse movie of the whole process that you can watch on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1caavSHcII
Enjoy! Patrick

Matt & Melissa's wedding

Last weekend I went to LA for a good friend, Melissa Dover's wedding. She married a wonderful person-Matt Gandal. The wedding ceremony took place on the beach in Ventura, just north of Los Angeles. The weather was gorgeous and it was fun to meet Melissa and Matt's friends and family from all over. Traveling alone on an airplane is SO simple as compared to traveling with kids. I read a whole book, took naps, rented a digi-player....stared into space. Things that would NEVER happen with toddlers on an airplane!

There were many of us from Kodiak at the ceremony and it was fun to all be together--Balika H., Erin H., Jess R., Sara B. & Anne O. I laughed with Balika and Erin about how it takes an out of state wedding for me to really have a chance to catch up with both of them! Too funny. Our lives have all been so busy this summer.....

Zoya

All done - but for the backfilling

Yesterday we finished our excavation and then it started to rain. I did not mind - I was just happy the rain held off until I was done with mapping the house. Today we'll finish with the backfilling. It might be a long day... ... . Patrick

180 Year-Old House Uncovered

Yesterday at Miktsqaaq Angayuk we finished uncovering the 180 year-old house. It appears to have had two siderooms - one attached to the main room and the other with an outside entrance. Both had been used for banya and had had sod roofs. The unattached sideroom also had had a bench along the wall it shared with the main room. The main room of the house had had a roof of thatch and a wooden door to the outside. We found a large posthole in each corner and 3 (of what I suspect were 4) additional postholes forming a square in the middle of the room. The outside posts would have supported a square outer ring from which beams would have sloped up to the inner square. In the photos we marked the old post holes with alder logs for clarity sake.

Mark and I are wondering if the house was a specialized hunting camp used mostly by men. We have found a great deal of hunting related artifacts but very little of what we would associate with women. Yesterday we even found a metal crucible that would have melted the lead poured into molds or water to create bullets and bird shot.

Out in the midden Leslie continues to bottom out in the midden. Yesterday she found the pictured netsinker and ulu right above the sterile beach gravels at the bottom of the midden. The ulu has a well-drilled hole that would have been used to help haft on a wooden handle. This style of ulu is not typically found in older Kachemak (3-4000 years old) deposits and I am beginning to suspect that our midden represents the remains of a later Kachemak occupation (circa 2000 years ago). We will eventually know what the date of the prehistoric component at the site when we radiocarbon date charcoal samples we found in the midden. We'll know the exact age of Leslie's ulu. Patrick

Digging Like Badgers. ...

We continue to dig like badgers at the Mitksqaaq Angayuk site as we race towards the finish. I went to the University of Wisconsin - so 'digging like a badger' is the highest compliment while 'digging like a wolverine' is not so good. This is our last week of excavation - we plan on backfilling the site on Friday (we'll need help with this - so if you are interested show up at the back door of the museum bright and early at 8:15 on Friday morning).

Lately, we have had spectacular digging weather. A healthy change from the first 2 1/2 weeks of the excavation! We have managed to move a lot of dirt. Leslie, practically single-handedly, bottomed out in the midden. It turned out to be amazingly deep and for a while there I wondered if we would ever find the bottom. At the bottom she found the 3800 year-old beach.

In the house we have almost removed all of the roof sods from the side rooms. The sideroom attached by a tunnel to the main room had REALLY thick roof sods. In each sideroom we found preserved wood roof beams and it looks like the rooms were still partially upright in 1912 when they were blanketed and partially filled with ash from the Katmai volcanic eruption. As we excavate in the house we continue to point provenience each and every artifact that we find. Exciting discoveries include: old glass bottle tops reworked into hide scrapers, a gunflint, a telescope eye-piece, lots of lead bird shot, buttons, and many pieces of ceramic.

One of the coolest things we found was the preserved front door (top photo). Karen found the door handle still attached. It looks like the door fell into the house after it collapsed. The base of the door seems to mark where the inside of the house begins - it looks like the house had a tunnel or room about 6 feet long leading to the outside. The other photos depict the crew at various other activities: Laura point proveniencing an artifact on the house floor. Amy taking notes while Mark removes roof sods in the sideroom. Amy shooting in an elevation with the transit while Marks holds the stadia rod and Laura and Miriam dig in the foreground. Patrick

Burning the midnight oil...

Its 10:45, the house is quiet-all are fast asleep. There has been a lot going on here this past week between evening meetings, work, sunny outdoor activities and the archaeology dig.

PHOTOS AND FART MACHINES
Today the hustle-bustle was fun/chaotic. I dropped the kids off at 9:00 at the "Ram Site" beach with a wonderful kids photographer, Amy Johnson. [Getting there was a feat in itself-trying to find a shirt for Nora where the sleeves weren't too small and there wasn't a stain on it took some serious digging in her closet. Makes me realize how her whole wardrobe is a wee bit too small for her!!] After arriving, I realized that Stuey still had pink nail polish on from a babysitter activity several days ago. So I had to race home and get nail polish remover ASAP.

Once Amy started taking photos, I was LAUGHING so hard!! Amy had a "fart machine" which was remote control activated-it made the best variety of fart noises and she got wonderful smiles out of both kids. VERY funny. Then Amy sang the ABC's to Nora and kept messing up on purpose, which Nora once again thought was quite funny. All the fun tricks of kid photography! Ahh..the patience it must take to work with kids. I'm in awe of Amy! Shes amazing.

BANYA RITUALS WITH NORA
Tonight Mark fired up the banya and Nora and I took a banya before bed. Amy M. (the archaeologist) came in as well. Nora really likes the banya-tonight was her second time in. She loves the water routine of pouring water on us and she drinks lots of water while we are in there. We don't stay in very long but just long enough for her to see the little rituals that are done, including taking outside breaks to cool off. When I suggest it is time to leave, she is insistent on wanting to stay, but I have to strongly persuade her to leave, as I know she wouldn't know when she gets too hot.

BIRTH NETWORK MEETING
Tonight was the 4th birth network meeting, held at a birth network members home. About 10 people came in attendance and the cool part was that there were MANY new faces at tonights meeting. I see that the birth network is picking up energy, enthusiasm and members very quickly-quicker than I had ever anticipated! There is a mix of people in attendance--aspiring doulas, aspiring midwives, health professionals and moms who have had a whole variety of birth experiences. These meetings have been advertised only by e-mail and word of mouth and the attendance seems to grow at each meeting, with such a large variety of people there.


It is finally dark-time for bed. Tomorrow is the Coast Gaurd Newcomers Fair and I"m going to have a table set up for A Balanced Approach. This will be my first time having a booth at an event, which I'm excited about. It'll be fun to meet lots of new people and help spread the word about my business.

Zoya