Some more pictures from Uyak Bay

View down the Shelikof Strait from Bear Island

Uyak Bay is a beautiful place and while I was there on survey I took a lot of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.  A special thanks to the Fields and Dodges for their hospitality and for showing me around the bay.  Patrick

View up Uyak Bay from the top of Harvester Island

Red Chert cliffs on Harvester Island

Uyak Bay fox - we saw a lot of these guys catching small fish spawning on the beaches

At the mouth of a gold mine adit

The gold mine has a number of shafts and adits and even had an ore crushing machine

Woes of the patchy type

Learning outdoor skills together with troop #118

Going into this prior school year as a novice girl scout leader, I knew there would be serious learning curves-the art of running a troop, the girl scout rituals and patches. The prospect of ordering and handing out patches was the thing that I was most  concerned about-because some of the other leaders are very passionate about the patches and doing activities  for the chances to earn cool  patches. I could intellectually understand the importance of the patches in girl scout tradition, but sensed perhaps an overemphasis on the patches.   Experiences are experiences. Its the time together, the conversations shared, the knowledge of the world gained…not always the $1.50 sent patch that gets sewn onto the vest.

With Brownie troop #118 this past year, I did the best I could with patches. But it was by no means the focus of my troop or meetings.  We had time together  identifying birds, navigating trails, compass use, fire starting, tent skills, etc. I ordered a couple batches of patches and my co-leader ordered some as well. The girls weren't patch-neglected which I felt proud of and I called it good.

Until the phone call.

Several nights ago I returned a phone call from the regional girl scout council leader, Susan*, who checks in periodically with the local leaders in her region. This phone call was an end of the year phone call to help wrap the year up. The conversation was going along as expected until she brought up a concern several of the parents in my group had about the patches. Evidentally 2 of the parents had "complained" that I didn't give out enough patches this year. I was aghast and in shock that grown adults would "file" such  a complaint about a first time scout leader with 22 girls in her troop!

A wave of great sadness and disappointed washed over me after I heard about the patch complaints. I said to Susan, "Maybe I'm not cut out to be a girl scout leader if patches are the only thing parents care about." Tears welled in my eyes.  When leading such a group, you never want to feel like anyone is disappointed. But then, as Susan and I talked, I realized that with a group of 22 girls, there is ALWAYS going to be something that 1 or 2 people aren't happy with.

Susan emphasized that with girl scouts there is no requirement for patches or uniforms. She informed me that a girl can be a girl scout without a uniform or a single patch. It was reassuring to my soul that I hadn't broken any girl scout laws, at least! ;-) By the end of the conversation, Susan and I were laughing together and I was not feeling as let down by the patch complaints.

This next year, I"m limiting my troop to 12 girls which will help make the mechanics of my troop much smoother. And parents have offered their help, which I'm taking folks up on. A friend of mine will be the "patch" mom and in charge of ordering the patches. I"m also considering having patch ceremonies where the process of handing out the patches is really honored and time is spent on it as opposed to handing them out when they arrive in the mail.

I"m leading the troop again because I love all the fun things I can do with the troop-especially outdoor adventures. This next year there is going to be 2 local brownie troops, which will ensure my troop is smaller and make the big adventures like camping more do-able. And I'm looking forward to getting to know the girls better with the smaller numbers.

My goal is to keep the "outing" in scouting and the rest is just details…..

Zoya

*Susan is not her real name...

My Uyak Bay Survey

Harry and Brigid showed me around the bay

Yesterday I got back from an archaeological survey of Uyak Bay. The bay was already surveyed in the summer of 1985 during the Bryn Mawr Archaeology Project which surveyed the Karluk, Sturgeon and Uyak areas, and so going out I was not expecting to find many new sites.  I even had visions of re-surveying the entire bay.  Boy was I wrong.

For the first part of the survey I stayed with Harry and Brigid of Kodiak Treks near the head of the bay, and they took me around in their skiff to look for sites.  It seems every time I touched shore I discovered a previously unknown archaeological site. And every time I found a site I had to document it in my notebook with a sketch map and description along with photographs and video.  I was finding so many sites I started to dread going to shore.

Prehistorically it seems Uyak Bay was a VERY popular place.  No where else on the archipelago have I seen such a dense concentration of archaeological sites.  And most of them are pretty substantial sites with housepits and thick shell middens. Needless to say, but I did not have the time to re survey the entire bay.

In 6 days I found 31 new archaeological sites and re-visited another 20 already recorded sites which I also sketch mapped and documented. That's a lot of sites!  I figured out that while on actual survey I was finding a new site every hour and that's including travel time between sites and the time to document both old and new sites.  My fingers hurt from writing so much in the notebook.  To put the number of new sites in perspective, together with the Sturgeon Survey I found 50 new sites in under 2 weeks.  That's around 5% of the total known sites from the archipelago! 5 of the already known sites I examined were found subsequent to the 1985 survey so I was finding better than 2 sites for every one found on the 1985 survey. Also I did not do any subsurface testing and only found sites by examining eroding exposures or finding old house depressions.  So I did not find the less obvious and deeply buried sites with no surface features.

Ironically, back in 1985 I was a part of the Bryn Mawr Archaeological Project and remember wanting very badly to join the survey team in Uyak Bay.  But I was needed to excavate at the Karluk One site, and never got to go on survey.  Well, it seems after 29 years I finally got to eat my cake - it tastes good!  Patrick

Harvester and Bear Island and the Alaska Peninsula in the distance - I stayed with the Fields for the second part of the survey

Shooting Star

Anemone and Purple Orchis

Lupin

The coolest site I found was on top of a 30 foot cliff on the outer coast - a place to wait and watch for favorable weather to cross the Shelikof Strait?

Chipped stone point and intended destination in the background

The house in the foreground is where I stayed the last time I did any archaeology in Uyak Bay - an excavation at the Uyak Site in 1988

Still Skiing!

Looking down from the top of the run

Yesterday while flying back from an archaeological survey in Uyak Bay Rolan, the pilot, made a slight diversion to check the snow on the back of Pyramid.  As he put it, 'I figured you'd be interested'.  He knows me well.  And as we flew past I saw that the North bowl of Pyramid still has snow, and, most importantly, that you can ski from top to bottom without crossing grass.  The middle still has not melted out.

And so today after work I went skiing.  I got to ski Pyramid in June afterall.  And I must say I am impressed with how the snow is holding out.  Back in early May it looked really bleak, and now it still looks bleak but it's a month later!  Patrick

Looking down from the bottom of the run

Still some snow connecting the top (upper right) with the bottom!

Horsemanship

Horsemanship (noun); The art or practice of riding on horseback. 

The lesson began with a seemingly simple instruction of walking Smokey up and down the arena-from one end to the other with him listening to my stops and starts. WIth the long purple lead rope in hand, i gave a little tug, clucked with my tongue against my cheek and started walking forward-hesistantly. He wasn't budging. My sweet Smokey wasn't buyin' it. I turn towards Smokey, perplexed.  Becka, my teacher, reminded me how Smokey can tell who is in charge. "You can't turn your whole body to him. That shows weakness.  You need to stand up taller and walk forward more confidently for him to take you seriously." What? Isn't he supposed to take all humans seriously no matter what?  

"In charge," I think. "In Charge. In charge of a thousand pound horse." My posture straightens and I stride off ahead like I have an important meeting to go to.  With nose slightly up charging ahead, its a very "non-Zoya" way of walking.  Smokey takes me seriously and he follows alongside. 

I'm a body language junkie, so this is right up my alley.  I love analyzing handshakes, eye contact, personal space, arm position in humans. As a PT, I work with lots of new people and am into reading into what their body language is telling me what they want/need from me. So bringing it to back to horses- yes, the trotting, posting is exciting, too but I never imagined I'd be so fascinated with learning how to read Smokey and how well Smokey can read my intentions. This is the part of taking lessons which I didn't expect to enjoy.  

When I told my sister Ella I was taking lessons, she had a slightly feigned, yet curious excitement. This happens on occasion, where i"m super excited about something and shes not. I think at times we expect each other to be excited, because we are twins after all!  

A few minutes after I told her about the lessons, she texted back and replied, "Oh I just got really excited for you about your lessons. I was thinking about you doing jumps in your fun horseback boots and gear." I chuckled to myself because jumps were seriously the farthest thing from my mind and I wasn't intending to buy an ounce of extra gear. But I liked her little spark of enthusiasm for my lessons. In lieu of jumps, trotting, cantering being the "exciting" part of lessons, I'm plesantly surprised by how fun it is to build a connection with Smokey. 

Yesterday was my second horseback lesson-since childhood, that is. I don't remember a whole lot from my childhood lessons aside from spending the bulk of the time grooming the horse. And never being good enough to jump. Funny how those moments stay strong in ones mind.  

As I squeezed my calfs against Smokey's  barrel of a chest, Becka encouraged me to "bring my energy forward, as if I'm going to take off running" to help bring Smokey to a trot. I squeeze more, and more. Slight weight shift forward, 'shoulders back' becka guides and then I finally feel Smokey respond. It takes the right cues all together-in unison.  Smokey starts to pick up his pace and a second later he is trotting.  The trot is effortless and coordinated and feels beautiful. 

Zoya

Buckin' the Salmon at Crab Fest

Here on a glorious Memorial Day Weekend, Kodiak kids spent time on bucking' salmon, bucking' bulls and other seriously fun, inflatable  times. 

Alas-for the first Crab Fest in god knows how long, there weren't carnival rides. The community first got wind of this news sometime last fall and we were all in shock wondering how it would affect attendance and the energy at our annual Crab Festival. As crab fest got underway, we didn't hear the shrill screams from the assortment of upside down/inside out mechanical rides and I wondered how Crab Fest would weather this loss. 

A "Tons of Fun" group in Anchorage saved the day with bringing over lots of blow up fun of all varieties. They truly saved the day in Kodiak. The bucking' bronco ride was a favorite of mine to watch; as Stuey mounted and attempted to do rodeo moves as he has seen-he didn't last long. Nora's approach involved holding on for dear life…hugging the bronco to death. It worked-as she stayed on the bronco for a wicked long time. I appreciated her tenacity. 

Kids of all ages were jumping, bucking', sliding, climbing away this weekend and the weather was a balmy 65+ degrees which really helped matters. I tried to picture the weekend with 40 mph winds and rain, and had a hard time imagining it being as much fun. If that had been the case, I would've titled this post "Slip Slidin' Away…".

Stuey vs. the salmon!

My little Russian Babushkas' (even though Babushka means grandmother in Russian! That can't be right…I always thought Babushkas meant kids. Thanks to the Baranof Museum for this fun booth at crab fest!)

Cowboy future?! Yikes!;)

Nora CLINGS onto the bull!

The kid "monster" truck rides. So fun for them! I see four wheeling in Stuey's future.  He was a natural. 

Zoya

Last ski of the season?

Looking back up at the North Bowl and the Hot, Hot sun

Today I went for what may well be my last ski of the season.  There is still plenty of snow - the run in the North Bowl is still 1000 feet vertical.  And ironically the skiing right now is still better than it was all winter until March when we finally got some snow.  But the sun is hot and melting the snow fast and I am off on another archaeological survey.  And when I get back we are all off to Afognak Island for a family vacation.  So by the time I get another chance to ski the snow might be all gone in the North Bowl.  If so, this will be the first time 1996 that I did not go skiing on Pyramid in June.  Still I'm thinking I'm not going to let that happen!  So expect at least one more ski out of me.  Patrick

Top of the run into the North Bowl today looking down into the Green, Green world down below

Some Pictures From the Sturgeon River

Grass lands along the upper portion of the river

Matt, Paul and I had a spectacular trip and the Sturgeon River has some of Kodiak's prettiest country.  Here are some photo from the trip.  Patrick

Dawn after a hard frost - we had some frost every night of the trip

Alder and willow along the river and if you look closely you can Karluk Head in the far distance

Lower river scenic - spectacular weather for the trip with only one very brief sprinkle

We did all of our cooking on the woodstove (the stove is unusually hot in this picture) 

The water level was VERY low and we had to drag the boats a lot

Floating the canyon on the lower part of the river - I had to walked the bluff tops looking for old housepits

Matt and an awesomely big and pretty Willow Tree

Growth

For months Stuey has been saying, "I'm hungry!".  All the time. This led to moments of mild annoyance from Patrick and I, as it seemed we couldn't get enough food in him.  Just as we are cleaning up, or eating ourselves he says he is hungry once again.  He has recently learned to say, "Can I have an appetizer"  which he has found gets more sympathetic, productive results from me.

A few weeks ago Nora asked if I would measure her growth on the wall in the closet where we track her growth, even though we just measured them 2 months ago.

Somewhat reluctantly, I measured them, re-measured Nora and Stuey  and was so flabbergasted. Since March they had both grown considerably-over an inch. I was humbled. Here they've been sprouting up right before my very eyes but I didn't know. Stuey's growth spurt seemed to coincide with a period where he was particularly challenging...and in retrospect I wonder if he was tired and could almost feel this growth. Friends the past month have been commenting on how much the kids have grown and now I know why!

The other night I did a book shelf clear out where I cleared out big chunks of picture books to make way for chapter books.A big basket of unread picture books sits ready for the thrift store.Titles such as "Are you my Mother" and the Berenstain Bear books which I've loved since childhood stay. And they will probably always stay. At least for a long while.   Nora was in agreement.


Zoya

Back from the Sturgeon River

Yesterday I got back from an archaeological survey of the Sturgeon River and Lagoon.  Because the river does not flow out of a lake we dropped our rafts and gear at the headwaters of the river and then landed on the Karluk River and hiked 11 miles overland to our gear.  And so began our float trip.

Matt VD and Paul C accompanied me on the survey.  Paul guides in the area and knows it really well while Matt is helping with a land management plan for the area and needs to know where the archaeological sites are located and their current condition so that they can be better protected.

Since there is not a lake at the head of the river I did not expect to find many prehistoric sites.  But we did!  And unlike the bigger systems with lakes, most of the sites we found upriver dated to about 1000 years ago.  Even at the lagoon we found very few late prehistoric site (250 to 700 years old).  It looks like the Sturgeon River and Lagoon was a hot spot 1000 years ago.

REALLY low water levels in the river meant had to do a lot of dragging to get to the lagoon.  But I'll leave that part of the story to another blog post.  Patrick

Sunny Days at Home

Saturday was a spectacular day.  Practically no wind and it got up to 77 degrees which broke the old record by almost 10 degrees.  I wouldn't be surprised if we broke the record high for the month of May.   It was a good day to hang out in the neighborhood.  Every photo in this blogpost was taken within 100 yards of the house.  Even the last one of Stuey in the kayak was taken directly in front of the house.

Stuey and Nora set up a lemonade stand in the yard and for a while there it was like a lawn party.  Neighbors dropped by for cookies and lemonade and stayed to talk. I made some chocolate chip cookies, which usually help sales significantly!

N and S with our friend Heather. 

Pouring the lemonade....

Meanwhile, two doors down from us we had a rare experience of seeing  a Raven who is from an Anchorage Bird rescue center. The Raven's handler was staying just two doors down from us-they were in town to do a presentation at the wildlife refuge.   The Raven is 10 years old and had an injured wing when she was just a few months old.

Mill Bay Beach...Patrick loading up Nora. Stuey stood on the cliff and took lots of pictures!

Then, it was his turn in the boat! :)

Zoya

These are better (not glory) days

For the last couple of days I've been pondering whether or not I was disappointed not to make it back to my 30th high school reunion.  Would it have been worth the long trip to see people I once knew very well but had not seen in 30 years?

This morning I saw pictures from the first night of the reunion and it reminded me of the Bruce Springsteen song 'Glory Days'.  Not many of my old classmates look like they 'could throw that speedball by you' or 'turn all the boy's heads'.  It really does look like Springsteen was right when he said:

Glory days well they'll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye

Looking at the pictures I also realized that I probably do not have a lot in common with the people I went to High School with.  It looks like most of them are bankers and lawyers.  Very successful people who would not be all that impressed that I'm an archaeologist and feed my family with deer I chase down and butcher, or that I get to ski a lot. I'm not sure they'd really get the whole Kodiak lifestyle.

So already this morning I was thinking it might not have been such a bad thing that I didn't go to the reunion.  Then I went skiing and was struck by the gorgeous day - bright sunny skies, kids playing on the beach as I drove by Mill Bay, and ocean all the way to the horizon with a blue, blue sky.  I got up on the snow and realized that I'd much rather be up in the mountains on a sunny day skiing than listening to stories about 'Glory Days'.  And then on the way home I listened to another song by Bruce Springsteen - 'Better Days'.

These are better days baby
Yeah there's better days shining through
These are better days baby
Better days with a girl like you

It might sound corny but it is true - these are better days.  I know I can't go up the mountain quite as fast as I used to do it but that does not mean I am any less happy.  These are better days - it's true.  Patrick

My tracks on the mountain this morning - already above 70 degrees!