From the Archives - Baffin Island 1993

This is the paw of the polar bear that partially destroyed my Moss tent and gave me cause for alarm. It actually did destroy several of our tents and another member of the crew and I were stuck in a tent holding the bear off with a can of pepper spray and jammed shotgun when another member of the team came to our rescue and shot the bear. The bear is larger than most Kodiak brown bears. (PGS)

From the Archives - Baffin Island 1993

Back in the day I used to spend every summer digging in outer Frobisher Bay. Sea ice, fog and constant damp with temperatures never getting above 40 degrees.

Here I am holding up a walrus skull that was laying around on the surface of an old village site. These sites were litterred with walrus skulls - the walrus haul up on the ice flows just offshore. Once we watched a polar bear and cub eat a walrus on such a flow way offshore. (PGS)

Winter Sunrise

It's definetly winter time here on Kodiak. Garden is totally dead with the onions and carrots frozen solid and unaccessible. Some of the collard greens still look edible, maybe I'll try them in a ramen stir fry. Zoya is a little scared of them however.

The last couple of days have been warmer with mixed rain and snow in town. We should now have a good base on the mountains for downhill skiing. About a foot of snow on the golf course for cross country skiing.

This is a picture taken at the ski chalet on Sunday looking back towards Pyramid and Barometer mountains. Unfortunetly we did not take our skiis on the expedition and spent the next 5 hours postholing. (PGS)

Patrick Preparing the Gravy

The drippings of the turkey soak up the flour as Patrick soaks up attention from the ladies watching him! (ZAS)

Turkey Day at 4002 Cliffside Road

This year thanksgiving was quite an event at 4002 Cliffside Road. We had 11 guests over to help us eat 2 turkeys.

Here Mike and Patrick remove the turkey from the oven. Mike had a very scientific thermometer that allowed us to check the temperature of the bird without opening the oven door. Mike's turkeys ended up perfect! And Patrick made the gravy with the drippings. (PGS)

Mmmm Turkey!

Fisher is certainly enjoying his turkey. In the background his mom, Melissa, enjoys her meal in a bit more civilized fashion.

The meal consisted of 2 wonderfully moist, brined turkeys (brought by Mike P. and Roxann), mashed potatoes and stuffing (startch patrol by Patrick and myself), A berry squash dish and Cranberry relish (by Mike L. and Alisa), sweet potato dish (by Katie St. John) finished off by delicious pies-apple, cherry and pumpkin (made by Patty M.). Mary Jane and Melissa kept the party well hydrated (or dehydrated, rather???) with drinks. :)

Natalie & Katie

Katie shows off a well-dressed Natalie. We like the tiny shoes. Natalie is four months old.

Fisher, Nora & Patrick

Fisher, Nora and Patrick relaxing after the big feed. Nora is wearing her new holiday sweater dress. Note that with Fisher about, Nora is trying to impress by shunning the binky. (PGS)

Sausage Kodiak Style

We got the mountain goat for sausage last weekend. A HUGE improvement over last year when I spent multiple weekends chasing goats before finally bringing home the meat. Zoya and Nora were quite excited. Zoya actually had the gall to wish me 'have fun goat viewing' the morning we headed out. She was quite skeptical about our chances of bringing home the bacon.

Here we are cutting up the goat. Zoya was at work - so I watched Nora and cut goat at the same time. This way Nora will learn to be a hunter. Nora was fascinated and there was not a peep out of her the whole time. We freeze the meat and then partially thaw it before grinding it up (we'll do this next week). Partially thawed meat cuts cleaner in the grinder. We always like to add a pork shoulder for flavor. Our goat sausage is the best there is - absolutely amazing on pizza! (PGS)

From the Archives 1985-ELLA OR ZOYA??

Take your guess and test out the "comments" feature on our blog. The answer will be revealed in a day or two. Ella, you can sit this one out....:)

Summertime Flashback

With digital cameras and instant gratification we forget how it used to be back in the days of film. I finally got back all the slides I took this summer. I quite enjoying revisiting summer. Slide film is so much more colorful! Also the delay in looking at the pictures allows one to savor them a bit more. Something to look forward to. But digital is just too conveniant. Nothing like looking at the picture you just took.

This is a picture of Nora on my mom's lawn in Rockport. Zoya and I were in Maine for Dicky and Ella's wedding. Nora was a lot more chubby back then.

Community Archaeology

Hard to believe how green it was in August. For me, the community archaeology dig is always the most hectic time of the year. Every day I have to make sure everything runs smoothly. We took this photo after the final day of backfilling the site back up with all the dirt we had excavated. Needless to say, but very few people showed up for the hard work - Just the hard core crew. We moved a huge pile of dirt!

Babycakes, Banana and Zoya

Bananas are amongst Nora's favorite foods....others include cheese sticks, canned deer meat, and Annies "Cheddar Bunnies". We even developed a sign language sign for them.

I was in trouble today when I went to the store and put a box of Cheddar Bunnies in my cart. Nora started sqealing, wanting one (it was her snack time) so I had to be "one of those moms" who fed her child in the grocery store. Sigh.

On Nora....(Some Thoughts on Motherhood by Zoya)

Nora is becoming her own little person. Walking is becoming easier and easier, and she takes up to 15 steps or so now. She'll go for longer distances if she is going to mom or dads arms! Her favorite pasttime lately is to cruise around the house with a little walker that she has and put little objects in the front section. She'll go to various rooms, pick things up off the floor and take them with her.

She also LOVES watching Patrick toss the balls outside for the dogs. That gets SQUEALS of delight. Especially when they jump up high to retrieve the ball and rough house with eachother.

I'm enjoying every one-on-one moment with Nora, my "babycakes", because soon there will be a new little one in our family. When Nora puts her arms around my neck in a tight hug, it makes my heart melt. Feel the love..... :) (Zoya)

From the Archives - Uganik Passage Early 1980s

Zoya & Ella on the Anna D in the early 1980s. During the summer Zoya and Ella's dad Dave 'tendered' (picked up fish) for the setnetters (setnetters use fix nets from shore to catch fish) on Kodiak's west coast. They would motor from fish camp to fish camp picking up everybody's fish and then take them into town for processing. What a way to spend the summer cruising about the archipelago!

In 2004 I ran an archaeological excavation at a setnet site on Uganik Island and achieved instant 'cred' with the local setnetters when I mentioned that my wife is Zoya, Dave Herrnsteen's daughter. Everybody remembered the 'twins' and Dave visiting their sites and all had lots of stories to tell. (PGS)

From the Archives - Karluk 1985

My first ride! Back in those days 3 wheelers were the norm in the villages. But they had issues with rolling over and injuring people. These days everybody rides on HUGE quads or rips about on little 4 wheeled screamers built for speed and maximum damage to the trails and wetlands. My summer in Karluk in 1985 was my first in Alaska. I was a part of a Bryn Mawr College archaeological team excavating the Karluk One site. (PGS)

Weekend Goat Hunt

Ski season has begun - but hunting season 'aint quite over yet. Still time to try and get a mountain goat with a bow and arrow. Mountain goats make the best italian sausage.

Today I went up with my friend John Barklow today to try and get a goat. We failed, but did have a lot of excitement trying! You have to get within 30 yards of the goat to have a decent shot with a bow. And they like to hang out on cliffs.

Here John walks over the top of a small knoll before stalking down the ridge after a couple of billies (male goats) we'd seen. Billies have thick horn bases that are wider than their eyes while nannies (females) have horns that curve back over their head and are much thinner. (PGS)

Patrick in his "goat camo"

Here I am in my goat hunting suit. It's pretty amazing how one simply disappears in the snow after donning an old painter's suit. I could barely see John against the white background as he crept about the slope. We'd drop the packs and zip up tight and simply disappear. I felt like a Russian freedom freedom fighter on skiis in one of those old WWII documentories about the 'winter war'. Note the tele ski boots on my feet. I decided not to wear my usual extra tuff boots because my crampons do not fit on them. (PGS)

Putting on the crampons

John Barklow ties on his crampons prior to going down the cliff after a mountain goat. Crampons are needed when you have to negotiate steep ice. The slope (looked like a cliff) where the goats where hanging out was very steep - over 50 degrees. You know it's serious when you have to put on crampons!

Ski Season!

It's ski season! All the lakes have been frozen for about a week, but now we got the necessary snow for skiing on them. Patty Mahoney took this picture of me yesterday skate skiing on Potato Patch lake behind their house. The storm rolled off into the Gulf during the night and today is bright and sunny, if a little bit too warm (mid 30's). Today I think I'll try the skiing out at lake Caroline and Aurel in Bell's Flats.