Resurrecting The Annual Halloween Party

Patrick and I used to host an annual halloween party.  Last night we realized it had been 5 years since we hosted the last one (and so we're going to do one this year)! We started looking through photos last night and got a hoot out of looking at pictures from various parties over the years! What fun it is to dress up in costume and see what friends come up with!

Our first halloween party (2001)....good witch and bad witch.

Ella and I...

Rosemary and baby Nora!

Matt and Katie

Patrick and Katie Dog (RIP Katie dog!!)

Patrick and I...

Buck and Alexis (Paul Bunyan and  Blue Ox)

The last year we hosted....Stuey was 8 months old!

Adelia and Lydia...

Patrick and MJ....

Unknown person in white....we can't remember who this was?!

Heather, Pete and their girls

Marias and Anne O. ....

Adelia and Philip....

Marit, Hans and Becky.... (Marita was the black eyed peas!)

Sharon and Patrick....

Museum group photo one year...

Halloween 2012....Here we come!!

Zoya

Fall Five

It seems that every year about this time I get to feeling a little flabby - my annual 'fall 5'.  I'm usually in peak condition at the end of ski season in early summer.  And then comes August, and beer, and cookouts, and no more skiing.  I become a weekend warrior.  I  hunt for exercise on weekends, and just get by during the week walking the dogs for an hour or so in Abercrombie Park.  Hunting on the weekends and walking the dogs is not enough to keep the flab at bay - certainly not enough if you like to eat like I do. And so every year at this time I annoy Zoya with complaints about getting fat.

But the end is in sight - winter is on its way.  Winter is when I get back into shape.  Today I actually started to train on 'mother nature's stair-climber' for the upcoming ski season.  Like last year - I have started to climb the North Sister every day or so for exercise.  The photos are the view from the top when I climbed up today.  As you can see, it's already getting to be fall colors.  Patrick

Alutiiq Fishing through the Ages

Tonight at 7 PM at the Alutiiq Museum I am giving a presentation on Alutiiq fishing titled 'Alutiiq Fishing through the Ages'.  Here is the title slide and one other to whet your appetite.  I learned a lot while researching the talk, and hopefully I can pass some of this on to you.  I know one thing for sure - the Alutiiq certainly like their fish!  Patrick

Hoarding Tendencies and Our Household Daisy

Our little Stuey has hoarding tendencies. 

According to dictionaryreference.com, 

Hoarding is defined as 

noun: a supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefullyguarded for preservation, future use, etc.: a vast hoard of silver.

verb (used with object)

 to accumulate for preservation, future use, etc., in ahidden or carefully guarded place: to hoard food during a shortage.

 Patrick and I noticed the hoarding tendencies beginning over a  year ago. Stuey loves to save EVERYTHING. If a package comes in the mail, he wants to save the box. And the packaging that goes along with the item in the box. He puts things in his bedroom, and in his corner in the living room. The picture above is a cleaned up version. It was MUCH worse until I 'kindly' demanded that he tidy it up and downscale it. (and a sidenote....After he took away 3 small tables of stuff, he said, "see mom...I cleaned it up. Isn't it beautiful?" I had to smile to myself. Beautiful isn't quite the word to describe the corner, but in his mind it was!)
Stuey often keeps his junk tables  nicely lined up and organized.  Sometimes when he is sleeping I do a clean sweep and throw garbage away and clean it up. Stuey doesn't mind and he even thanks me for cleaning the corner up. It is like a growth in our living room, where it could take over our living room if we didn't clean it up periodically. I think Stuey gets that concept and therefore doesn't get mad at me.

On another note, we have a Girl Scout in the house! Nora is officially a Daisy. Complete with smock and a sewed on daisy. It'll be a whole new experience for both of us, as I never did girl scouts as a kid. Nora is excited  that several of her girlfriends her age who don't go to the same school as her will be in her Daisy Troop.

Zoya

Deer with Adelia & Philip

Yesterday I went hunting with Philip and Adelia.  We started climbing up the mountain in the dark and got to the alpine just as the sun lit up the surrounding peaks.  It was extraordinarily windy, and we did not hold out much hope for a deer.  Deer tend to hunker down when it is windy.  But even if we did not get a deer, we knew that at least we would get in a good hike.

I think Philip was hoping we would not get a deer.  He likes to hike and as he put it, 'once you shoot a deer the good hiking is over'.  Between those two, Adelia is the hunter.  She REALLY wanted a deer, and she's the one who carries the rifle.

Anyway, we found a bowl slightly protected from the wind and there were the deer.  To his credit it was Philip who spotted the deer. I snuck down into the brush and shot the deer while Adelia waited in case a deer ran in their direction.  It was so brushy down in the bowl that we really did not hold out much hope of getting close enough to shoot.  I was thinking that Adelia had the better odds getting one of the deer running away from me as I busted into their cover.  But in the end I did get close enough to shoot this little forked horn.  He'll be good eating this winter.

Patrick

Below Philip and Adelia take a breather with packs full of meat just before we left the alpine and entered the brush zone on the way home.

Time to go home

When it's time to go home I always think of that scene in 'Mary Poppins' when they are floating by the ceiling drinking tea and they can't get down to the floor until they have an unhappy thought.  Someone mentions it's time to go home and they all slowly sink down to the floor.  Going home is always sad.

Our last day on Afognak was a stormy day that just got worse and worse all day.  But we did not mind.  We were all warm and cozy in the big tent.  Matt set out a longline and later we went for a walk about Old Afognak Village.

And then, very quickly it was time to go home.  Rolan of Seahawk flew overhead and mentioned on the VHF radio that he could pick us early.  He also pointed out that he would need us to skiff up the bay to Litnik where the water was calmer for pick up.  And so all of a sudden it was a rush to pack up and go home.  Matt took everyone up the bay in the skiff while Rachel and I broke camp down.  Matt pulled the longline on his way back and by the time he got back to camp Rachel and I had all of the gear on the beach.  It was time to leave for home.

And boy was it a ROUGH ride - serious whitecaps and blown spray.  By the time we got to Anton Larsen Bay and the car we were soaked and battered. I had so much water up my sinuses it felt like I had been using a 'neti pot'.  Once home we found that Zoya had lit the banya.  It made Rachel's evening.  We were home. Patrick

Camp Activities

There was a lot for the kids to do out on Afognak.  Matt set up a buoy swing with the float he painted and gave Nora for her birthday - we brought that one back at the end of the trip - Lisa went snorkling, and if you look carefully in the photo below you can see that Stuey learned to saw wood.  But most of the activities centered around camp life - splitting wood, tending the fire, stacking wood in the teepee, cooking hot dogs on the fire, toting water, cleaning dishes etc.  Stuey loved stacking wood in the teepee.  Patrick

Teepee Time

The 12 person cook teepee got lots of use in Afognak. We are all fans of sitting around the warm woodstove and stocking the fire (especially Stuey!!). 

Below, Lisa prepared an appetizer of smoked salmon she had made atop crackers and cream cheese. The smoked salmon was  sweet and soft. 

Stuey was particularly attached to two small rocks, which he used as a plate. He would put his small piece of sausages on it and savor every morsel.

On a rainy Sunday morning, Rachel brought out a card game called  "Tell Tale". It was composed of lots of pictures on round cards and each of us would take a turn telling a story with the pictures.

One shuffle later, it would be the next persons turn. It was quite funny to see what stories transpired from the interpertations of the cards! Nora especially got into it and told probably 5 stories with the cards. Stuey watched.

On the trip we learned that Rachel is a Golden Scout (Female version of eagle scout!). She shared one of her girl scout songs, "the Beaver song" (with cool hand movements to go along). We had a hoot singing it throughout the weekend.

On that same blustery Sunday morning, Patrick and Gregg cooked up a breakfast of hash browns and corned beef has as well as many rounds of coffee and tea. There was a small mishap with the Coleman stove before everyone arose; a gas leak which lead to large uncontrollable flames coming from the small cook stove. Luckily the game bags were nearby, which Patrick threw on the flames to smother it. Quick thinking on his part. (I, on the otherhand, was outside slightly panicking and about to wake the entire camp to help.) Alls well that ends well. And I'm hoping that coleman stove is retired soon.

Rachel and Nora curled up on the floor of the tent. Good times on 'Fognak!

Zoya

Family Subsistence Hunt

While out on Afognak we hiked up the mountain one day and shot a deer.  On the other day we set a longline and caught some fish.  I REALLY hope this is the start a new annual family tradition - the Afognak subsistence hunt.  As Nora put it when I came back to camp with part of a deer on my back, 'Daddy this is the first time we go hunting with you'.  It turns out that everyone in camp even heard the shot that killed the deer (pretty unbelievable considering we were 3 miles away).  I can see the day when Nora and Stuey climb up the mountain with us to go deer hunting.  I hope they also learn how to pick a net for salmon and catch halibut and cod on a longline.

It was really windy up on top and most of the deer were down in the trees to avoid the wind.  We were happy just to find a legal deer to harvest.  Below we start the hike for home with packs full of deer.

Nora greets us as we get back to the beach by camp.  They had a fire going and were cooking hotdogs for lunch.

We hung the deer meat in a tree to cool it off and keep it away from prowling bears.

Unfortunately there are no fishing pictures - it was a really nasty day. But I'm sure we'll have 'Fognak fishing pictures in the future.  Patrick

Afognak

This Labor day weekend we went out to Afognak Island for 2 nights. We went with our friends, Matt and Rachel and Lisa and Gregg.  Matt and Patrick took a skiff out to Afognak (many thanks to our friend John S. for loaning it to Matt!) and the rest of us took a float plane out. 

 The moon was full our first night there and it was so  beautiful on the water.

 Each time we go to Afognak, I fall more and more and more in love with it. I love washing the dishes in the ocean and sand. I love the sounds the sea otters and loons make on the ocean. I love the sound of the wind going through the trees on the point. I love how the kids are at an age where they can run and explore on the beach and play on their own.  

Each time we go, I think we each learn something new, and something about ourselves. The kids become a little more self-reliant, as do I at camp life. And we have such a fun time together as a family, exploring, cooking, etc.

The camp site. The cook tent is the white one on the left, red tent is for Patrick and I and the ones on the right are the kids. 

Arriving on Afognak.

View from the beach up into Litnik Bay. With Gregg sitting on a log doing a crossword puzzle.

Stuey helps Rachel with the fire.

Matt cuts up a watermelon.

We enjoyed a lovely fire on the beach on which we cooked hot dogs!

Stuey is the FIRE guy. He sat by the fire all the time and loved putting logs in. It was hard to peel him away from the fire he enjoyed it so much!

Zoya

Kindergarten Adjustment

Today Stuey cried his first tears when I dropped him off at kindergarten.

Since school started, I walk him out to the recess on the playground and he stands to the side watching all the kids.  He asks me to stay with him ("don't leave mommy") and I walk him up to his class line when the bell rings. He is the last one to join his kindergarten  line (5 students!).  Fortunately the teachers are ok with me walking in the building with him and off I go, sneaking out to my car.

Today I was walking down the steps outside the school when someone said, "Zoya, your son is coming behind you". Stuey had raced after me and was crying. He didn't want me to go.

Two teachers were close behind him.  Stuey asked, "When will you come back?".
I told him, "at 3 o'clock. After PE". This helped him a little bit, but not really. The tears continued. He said, "Mom, I want to give you a hug and a kiss." I gave him a hug and kiss and then he said, "Mom, I want to watch you leave."

At home we have a routine where when I leave, Stuey says, "I give you hug and kiss and I'll watch you leave." This involves a hug and kiss and then he goes outside to watch me get in my car and drive away. He is VERY routine about it, almost always doing it.

I explained to him that today I would watch him leave, and he wouldn't be able to watch me leave because he had to go into school.  Eventually we got him calmed down enough and he went inside with his teacher.

Fortunately I didn't have a client for the first few minutes at work, as I felt a bit frazzled inside. Not because I was worried about him, but because when I saw his tears on his cheeks, I thought, "My little Stuey. He is often such a brave little guy. He is somehow scared in his new setting."He was trying to take his routines with me into his school setting.

I got through work just fine, but was eager to pick him up. I looked at the teacher and raised my eye brows in a question type of look, asking "how'd it go?". Mrs. N said she had Stuey sit in the office with the office manager for the prayer routine that the kids do in the gym and then he joined his class after. The other teacher, Ms. S, said that Stuey doesn't yet play with other kids on the playground during morning recess. To this Stuey shrugged his shoulders several time and said, "I'm just shy." We all smiled.


Tonight was parent night at St. Marys. When I came home, Nora said, "Mom, Stuey is asleep on the couch!!"

I carried him to bed and laid with him until he fell back asleep. Then as I was crawling out, Stuey awoke and said, "Thank you for laying with me mommy".

Zoya

Processing

This past month there has been quite a bit of meat processing going on at the Saltonstalls. Between deer and a goat, many white packages of meat have been put away in freezers. 

This week Lisa and Gregg came over to process the goat from last weekends hunt. 

Here Lisa and Patrick are cutting apart goat ribs with hedge trimmers. That goat had some serious bones! Them people have some serious muscles!

 The kids, especially Nora, have really gotten into helping with writing on the packages. Below, is a drawing that Lisa did last winter of the sheep meat.

 ...and below,  Nora's version!

This week Nora got even more extravagant in her drawing. She drew Lisa, the deer, sun and mountain (and even Lisa shooting the deer. How cool is it that Nora has a cool Kodiak female hunting "Auntie"?!)

Zoya