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

Winter Camping on the Ayakulik

Well maybe not true winter camping, but one night the temperature did get down into the single digits. Far colder than we had expected. We'd put our teepee up over an old tent platform, and the cold got under the platform. It was like sleeping on a slab of ice. Everything froze. Even the river.

Good thing we had a wood stove and plenty of willow. Not the greatest fire fuel, but adequate. It was a good thing we brought about 50 pounds of good firewood from home. We sure needed that wood stove! Everyone asked me how the Alutiiq could have possibly survived winter with such poor local firewood. I reminded them that elderberry used to be far more common before it was overgrazed by deer. I also pointed out the black birch and alder groves on the hillsides, and how much better a fuel willow can be if properly dried.

Photos: Top two - Ayakulik flats scenics. Middle - ice in the river. Bottom two - life in the teepee. My brother Dicky took the scenic second from the top and the one of me in the tent. Patrick

Deer Meat for the Freezer

Tonight we are cutting up deer meat for the freezer so it seemed appropriate to include some hunting photos. The bottom photo is of me and my second buck. The other photo is of my brother carrying out most of his deer. There are some big deer down there! And as much work as it was to field-butcher the deer and carry them out to our camp, the hard work is going on tonight - here in our kitchen. It takes forever to cut up and package 5 deer. I am now glad we did not harvest more deer. But the pay-off is a freezer full of tasty meat.

We were lucky to harvest our deer before the bucks went into rut. Deer in rut do not taste good. I will not be harvesting any more bucks this year. We could tell that the bucks were just beginning to hang out with the does, and their scent glands were beginning to smell. By next week they would have been inedible. Patrick

Back from the Ayakulik

Today Dicky, Ray, Paul and I got back from our hunting trip on the Ayakulik. Lots of stories to tell and pictures to post. Too much for one post, and I'm too tired to write a lot anyway. So I thought I'd whet your appetite with just a few photos that seem to sum up the trip pretty well. Bears, Floatplanes, and Glorious Hiking. The views while hiking were glorious and we had superb weather. Lots of deer too, but no reindeer.

Photos: Dicky shows off some big bear tracks in the trail. Bear tracks were pretty much ubiquitous, and bears everywhere. We saw maybe 10 bears a day. The middle photo is of Dicky examining the landscape while we scanned for deer from a mountain ridge. Great ridge walking and very little brush to contend with down on the south end. Bottom photo is of Rolan coming in to pick up deer meat halfway through our hunt. We had too much deer to take it all back with us on one trip. Patrick