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

Off to Chase Reindeer

Today my brother Dicky and I are off to my old stomping grounds on Kodiak's South end to hunt reindeer and sitka blacktail deer. Friends Ray and Paul are joining us. I am looking forward to going back to the area I surveyed for archaeological sites over the course of 4 years. I know the area by the river pretty darn well! But when I am doing archaeological surveys I never seem to get away and explore all that much - I have to find sites and map them, and the sites are not up on the mountain tops. On this trip I'll get to leave the river and explore.

Another aspect of visiting the area this late in the year is that I should get an appreciation of what it was like for the Alutiiq people who lived there in the late fall and early winter. Too often archaeologists rely on what is in books to say how people used a certain landscape. They really have no idea what it is actually like to live in that landscape at a certain time of the year. And since most archaeologists teach at 'Far Away' Universities they rarely, if ever, get to visit where they work in the field during the fall, winter and spring. Archaeologists go in the field in the summer when school is out.

I'm lucky - I'll be checking out the conditions on the Ayakulik River in late Fall. I'll probably learn why the Alutiiq built such nice warm houses! I also might learn about some resources that were available to the Alutiiq that I never thought of or read about in books. For instance, 'oh so that's why there was such a huge village here - the silver salmon pool up and spawn right in front of the site!'.

It should be fun! Patrick

First Snow and Hands on Learning

SNOW. WINTER.
"Hip Hip Hooray" Nora exclaimed in the car today as I drove her to daycare and she looked at the snow on the trees. "Daddy Happy" she said several times.
Winter has arrived, and yes-Nora---Daddy is happy. As am I. Just not quite as ready for snow as Patrick. The chill is VERY much in the air and the valleys in the mountaintops are quickly filling in.

Dicky arrived today from Maine-ready to go Reindeer hunting with Patrick, Paul Z. and Ray R (from Seward). Paul and Ray are both doctors and they don't have any idea of what they're in for, going hunting with Dicky. Dicky is KING of hypochondriac thoughts--Ray and Paul will have an intimate knowledge of Dicky's whole medical history by the time this reindeer hunt is over. It will make for good conversation around the campfire, I suppose. (oh and Dicky approves this message....he got a laugh out of it when he read the draft post last night)

They have been busy coordinating food and gear. Patrick reassured me that they will bring plenty of warm gloves, jackets, etc... He had an almost-hypothermic-moment on the last elk hunt where they were wet from rain and then it got really cold. Patrick told of how he started doing a full body shake. (This is coming from Patrick, whom I've NEVER seen get cold like that.) So they're preparing for the coldest type of weather.


HANDS ON LEARNING
Last Monday I returned from a 3 day manual therapy class in Boston that was fabulous.
The class was on cranial techniques and advanced extremities and spine techniques. With only 9 students in the class, plus the instructor, it was a perfect 3 days of lots of practice on eachother and feeling the results of our work.

A lot of the cranial spots have to do with clearing sinuses/nasal pressure, relieving tension in face/neck, alleviating headaches...so after a class like that, I"m feeling great! I had a cold when I got to the class but a full day of serious head/face work cleared it right up!

The more I learn about the body, the more I realize how much more there is to learn. Its so humbling. I become more and more fascinated and amazed by the human body, its capacity to heal and the ability for therapists to improve its healing capacity.
My new clinic is up and going and I"m loving it. I"m so excited about my job and profession and the potential my little clinic has to make people in Kodiak feel and function better!

Zoya

Photos:

Stuey and I.
Patrick taking Nora sledding this afternoon.

Things Stu Like to Wear

Stuey's latest fascination has been with shoes and hats. Its wild-he loves wearing hats. Most kids dislike hats but he puts them on and off his head all day. In fact, he'll even put 2 hats on at once. In the photo he is wearing a hat that our friend, Mike Yarborough, knit for him. He also puts our shoes on and walks around the house in them. This display of fashion gets lots of smiles and laughs from Patrick and I!

Zoya

Closure on the needle saga

Last Thursday I saw the needle that was removed from Stuey's leg. The risk management ladies in Anchorage met with me and had the needle there as well as sample immunization needles handy. I was able to closely look at the needle and see that it wasn't hollow,it was too long to be an immunization needle AND it wasn't flexible enough to be an immunization needle. I bent it and bent the immunization needles and there was a whole different feel.
We'll never know how the needle got inside him. It will forever be a mystery. But my investment of time and energy into finding out is done. I am glad the needle is out, I am glad that Providence Risk Management was so helpful with the whole situation. I am glad that I got the chance to take a closer look at the needle and know for myself that it wasn't used in his immunizations. It will be one of lifes wild mysteries--the needle in Stuey's leg. I asked if I could take the needle home---they said they had to keep it there at Providence. For years-I believe. They offered to take a picture of it for the baby book (which really doesn't exist for Stuey) but I declined. The x-ray is exciting enough.

Zoya

Snow's coming down the mountain

Today after work I took the doggies and did a quick climb up Pyramid. Pretty soon we will be skiing up there. There was new snow above 1500 feet and in places it was quite deep. And looking back into Kodiak's interior I can see that we already have enough new snow back there for skiing. Up on Center Mountain the new snow is probably over a foot deep. So the snow is 'on the move' and coming down the mountains. Soon it will be in town. I can't wait.

Hard to believe, but I was skiing every day on Pyramid just 2 1/2 months ago. Just a little more snow and I'll be skiing Pyramid for 9 months of the year! Patrick

2 or 3?

Sometimes hunting elk is like having more kids - more of them means more work. A LOT more work. One of the dilemmas on our hunt was how many elk we wanted to harvest. We had numerous chances to harvest a third elk, but in the end we opted for just two, and boy am I glad we did! I think it is important to realize how much work it is to harvest and butcher an elk. They are hell to carry out to the beach and they take forever to process at home. But then there is always the meat. ... So good!

In the photo Mike is doing the 'heavy load' lean on his poles as he rests on his feet and contemplates the 'trail' out with a heavy load of elk on his back. He is not happy. I believe we should remember the pain every year before we hunt elk. It keeps us smart. Patrick

Afognak Elk Hunt

More elk hunt. Today we cut up and packaged elk meat for 8 hours. And we have another 2 quarters to do tomorrow. Yesterday we packaged about 180 pounds of halibut. So it was a true subsistence hunt. About the only failure was our attempt at catching shrimp in pots. We baited them with cat food and all we caught were starfish (see bottom photo of Mike with the fruits of our labor).

The hunt itself was pretty hard. We climbed up into the high country carrying camping gear in the rain, hoping it would clear off. And it did - by evening it was snowing, and then it cleared off, dropped into the 20's, and started to blow. A full on gale. With all our wet gear on we were pretty cold. But not as bad off as another group nearby that shot an elk and got stuck on the beach without adequate gear for 2 days. They almost lost a skiff trying to get off of the beach.

As it was Jim, our skipper, could not pick us up (anchor and weather problems) and we had to hike up back into the bay to get to where he could pick us up in the skiff. That's when we found the herd of elk :-) So we got our elk in the late afternoon, cut them up, and then hunkered down for the night for another night in the field - an electric fence around our elk meat to protect it from the bears. Good thing we brought food for 2 days!

The next day was spent humping out all the meat. By the end of the day we were very happy we decided to shoot just 2 elk rather than 3. It snowed off and on, and by the end of the day after two trips up and back to fetch meat we were very happy to be back on the boat drinking beer. The next two days were spent recovering and catching halibut - with some beer imbibing on the side. All and all, a most successful hunt!

Patrick

Afognak Orcas

One of the best things about boat hunting for elk around Afognak Island is the opportunity to view wildlife. Sea otters, whales, loons, bears, you name it we saw it. The wildlife viewing highlight on this trip was a pod of orcas. I was calling Zoya on the SAT phone and leaving a message on the answering machine when I first saw them - the message must have seemed staged. But it did happen that way - 'oh wow, there's a killer whale'. The orcas were pretty difficult to photograph as they appeared and disappeared at will. A whale would surface and I'd just have to point the camera and shoot quick before he went back under the water. Sort of like filming submarine races.

Oddly enough there were sea otters all about and neither the otters nor the orcas seemed particularly interested in each other. I thought orcas around Kodiak fed on sea mammals and half expected some sort of feeding frenzy. It never happened. What's up with that? But our skipper Jim did tell us that the last time he filmed a pod of orcas feeding on a sea lion the boat sank and he lost his camera. So perhaps it's better we did not get the 'feeding frenzy' photos. Patrick