Some Final Halloween Pics

Timmy with flame-thrower

A few more photos from our Saturday Halloween party.  Sven H took these and somehow he even managed to include himself in a few of them.  I do believe this might be the most photographed party we've ever had at our house.  They'll be fun to look back through in a few years time.  Patrick

2 scary skeletons

Sven and Balika - he 'speaks for the trees'

Katie & Toby as Zombies

Katie, Marnie and Ella

A final one of Miss Muffet with all her spiders

Frost and Test Pits

Yesterday Jill and I went on an archaeological 'recon' survey up Salonie Creek.  The frost crystals were spectacular.  We noticed that when the light was just clearing the Heitman Mountain ridge that the frost crystals lit up with blue and other colors.  I tried to capture this in the photo above but it only captured the colored lights on the bottom half of the photo.  We decided that the mountain was diffracting (bending) the rays of light that were just clearing the mountain and so creating rainbows.  When the light was not diffracted the crystals had white light flares only.  Does this sound like a good explanation?

Ironically after digging lots and lots of test pits last week and finding very little - yesterday we found a 4 to 6 thousand year-old site with our first test pit.  BINGO.  In the photo above Jill is holding an extended 2 meter tape down into the hole.  Our 50 by 50 cm test pit was 140 CM deep before we had to quit without reaching the bottom.  Below Jill also has the tape extended in a more normal test pit.  The latter test pit is typical of what we found all last week.  The stratigraphy in the new site we found yesterday looks very much like what we uncovered at the Amak Site last summer.

Below is a view of the sun clearing the Heitman Ridge.  Patrick

Halloween Firepit

Patrick had the firepit going on outside. The people who didn't dance escaped the music and huddled around the warmth of the fire. 

Our friends Lisa and Gregg as the Goat people!

Genevieve was an astronaut, complete with a fake butt! She was 'Bud Tox the astronaut'.

Party Scene

Dawn and Aaron were the bartenders. They made Highball Eyeballs as well as Black Lagoon Cocktails. 

A myriad of halloween themed treats!

And in true Saltonstall party tradition....at 8:30 the couches were pushed aside for DANCING!

Our friend, Marcus D - 'Mr sun - mister shining sun - please shine down on me!'

Some Costumes

Our friends Jill and Joe rocked the goth look!

Our friends Heather and Bob dressed up as Joann and Don from the TV series Mad Men.

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky! Bill didn't take off his hat the entire night. No body really knows who he was!

I bet you can't even guess who these two really are in day to day life.

Bree and Mark as the Kodiak Wind Turbines! (we have 6 on our island).

Halloween 2012

Last night we resurrected the Halloween party tradition and had a shin-dig here at the house. There were so many great costumed people in attendance! I always love seeing what people come up with!

Our family, Little Miss Muffet and a spider, clown and fairy.

The kids at the pre-party!

Little Miss Muffet and "Barbara Ella" from the 70's movie, Barbara Ella.

Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Dumpster Diver

It looks like a really big dog tried to get into our neighborhood dumpster.  I could see that he pushed it a few times and there were paw prints on the other side too.  I showed the prints to the kids and they just stared and got quiet. They understood that the prints were a bit more than a big dog would leave behind.

I really like how the second photo sort of creates a Jackson Pollack like abstract image.

Patrick

Winter Survey

For the last week I have been on an archaeological survey near town.  Usually I am done with field work by this time of year. I must admit that 2 weeks ago I was worried that the ground would be frozen, and that we would not be able to dig test pits.  But all went well and we actually even had good weather for the survey.  Field work certainly beats going in the office and spending the morning in front of a computer.  Perhaps in the future I should plan more field work for the fall?  Patrick

Lots of bushwhacking along the river!

Easy walking around the lake.

We dug lots and lots of test pits to see if we could find buried archaeological sites.

Answering the Tough Questions

When driving Nora to dance class this evening, she asked me in one breath- "Mom, what are drugs? And where do babies come from?" Wow. To try to answer those questions in a matter of a few minutes....I did my best. 

My response to drugs was something along lines of "things that people do or take that make them feel good but its really not good for them." I said, "Does that clear it up?" She thought and replied, "No". Time for me to google "how to talk to your kid about drugs..."

Zoya


Patrick has been doing archaeology field work this week and took this picture of Barometer. 

Today he also gave a talk today at the American Fisheries Society Meeting. It was to 250 people on Alutiiq fishing through the ages.....he is glad to not have to practice for it anymore. 

Projects

The past few weeks have been filled with projects. Good, hearty projects. The quilt, seen below, is one project which I finished late last night. It will be auctioned off for the Isle Bells Handbell concert in early December. The name of it is "Forest Green". The pattern was a new one, and I really enjoyed it. I'm thinking I'll use it again in the future! It is a fun way to really display batik style fabrics. 

And the other project is at work; the new space! Brent W. has been burning the midnight oil working on my new business space, building walls, putting in lights, electrical, etc. The progress is outstanding! Every time I go in there is something new to ooooh and aaah over! Its time to really start thinking about paint colors so today I went to Sutliffs and got some samples to start mulling over different color options.

I"m truly in heaven. As I walk through the space, I am so excited about having it filled with enthusiastic clients and people coming in from out of the winter rain and darkness to work out! And get physical Therapy!

Zoya

On the Beach

Yesterday I took the kids and dogs to the beach.  Nora and Stuey looked for sea glass, the dogs chased sticks and looked for dead fish to eat, and I took pictures.  I took along a fixed 100 mm lens that is best for taking portraits.  I love the shallow depth of field and how everything behind the kids and dogs blurred out.  In fact the depth of field was so shallow that many of my photos did not have the subject in focus.

Anyway, in the end both Stuey and Nora joined the dogs in the surf and got water down their boots.  We went home when their feet started to get cold.  Patrick

More Hiking Pictures

Just a few last scenics from our hike on Afognak.  The fog down low really was beautiful.  Just after someone took the photo above we called Jim on the boat and he reported thick fog and dismal grey down below.

After I got back I turned in my elk permit report and got the low down and where the elk had been when we were looking for them.  It turns out that for the first few days, even if it had been clear, we would not have seen the elk.  Hunting pressure had pushed the whole herd off of the peninsula we were hunting - and into an entirely different area.

Above you can see the mountains on the Alaska Peninsula rising out of the fog on the other side of Shelikof Strait.  The pointy mountain on the right is Devil's Desk - John S who likes to climb tall scary things like Mount Denali or the Moose's Tooth often looked longingly at Devil's Desk on the horizon.

We camped at the head of this valley.  It turns out that if we had turned left instead of right on reaching this valley that we would have found the elk herd.  Such is fate.

That's me glassing with Mount Douglas in the distance.

Some final group photos - I can't wait until next year!  Patrick

Coming Soon!

Today starts the renovations at the new A Balanced Approach location! Walls will be put in, signs made, its going to be fun to see it all come together.

One benefit of the new spot is the outside sign where I can put various sayings, phrases...
I'm already thinking of fun ones that will capture peoples attention and bring smiles to faces.

Zoya