Let the light shine in

While it has been warm and gloomy of late here on Kodiak there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We still have not reached the winter solstice. We are bound to have some cold weather again before too long.

Also, it's worth mentioning that this is a weird pineapple express. Instead of the normal south to north orientation pumping up warm air from Hawaii to Alaska - this pineapple is slanted backwards at almost a 45 degree SE to NW angle. So the interior of Alaska is staying cold while Dutch Harbor and the Priblofs are getting hammered. Patrick

Rainy Weekend

Its been a windy, rainy weekend here in Kodiak. Perfect chance to clean, put up holiday decorations and rest. Yesterday we took the kiddies to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the Baranof museum. Stuey sat very willingly on Santa's (Mr.Holm) lap and he smiled the entire time. Mr. Holm even said, "Wow-you're a really smiley guy." I think it surprised Santa how Stuey didn't mind sitting with him at all.

Nora, on the otherhand, wanted nothing to do with the scene, which was fine. Lots of kids there were afraid of Santa, even though Santa was the most friendliest looking Santa I've ever seen. Later on, Nora had me write a little letter to Santa Claus. Patrick and I decided that theres no harm in talking up Santa a little bit.

Today we'll put up some lights, a small Charlie-Brown style of tree and put some holiday music on. The holidays begin!

Zoya

Photos: Nora and Stuey dance around the house and kitchen. Nora likes to teach Stuey what she has learned in Ballet class. Bottom - Stuey sits on Santa's lap.

Pineapple on its way

I just checked the weather satellite photo and it looks like a shot of hot air is heading for Kodiak. By tomorrow it is supposed to be 40 degrees and raining. And just when the ice and snow finally got good and established at sea level. I had planned on taking everybody ice skating over the weekend. Oh well - let's just keep our fingers crossed that it is a short thaw. Photo is of the windblown snow on the top of Pyramid the day before Thanksgiving. Patrick

Holiday Beginnings

TRAVEL WITH YOUNG ONES
For the past couple of years, traveling with the kids was something we did because we had to get to our friends and family. It had LOTS of rough patches but was worth it for the end result of seeing people. Now the kids are at an age where they can go without naps and do OK several days in a row. Plus, for them, the journey is JUST as exciting as the destination. Patrick has really taught me that with travel. When I first went on trips with him how he would remain so positive even in airport delays, etc and really make the most of it. On this mainland trip, we flew to Anchorage, drove to Homer and took the ferry back to Kodiak, so the kids got to experience all types of travel.

On the ferry ride, Nora once again got very sea sick. Poor thing. Stuey was perfectly fine in the 10-15 foot seas. I always got very sea sick on my dads fishing boat, so I can empathize. Sea sickness is the PITS. As we pulled into Kodiak, I asked Nora, "Do you want to ever ride the ferry again?" and she said, "yeah, Momma!" with a big smile. I gave them one dose of dramamine early in the trip but Nora declined a second dose because of how it tasted. I need to find some candy flavored ones....

THE CAR
We got Patrick a car to take over for his Chevy. (His Chevy has been an absolute LEMON. We got it new six years ago and the past several years we've had to put $2-3,000 in it every year. We think it was made on a friday...where the employees were thinking a bit too much about the weekend.) I absolutely love driving the hyundai, but couldn't envision having it as my own because it meant that Patrick would be in my purple Subaru with my bumper sticker collection. The stickers read "Mountain Princess", "Adventure Girl", "Its funny till someone gets hurt, then its HILARIOUS"-among several others. Last night he and I talked about this. I said, "hon, do you want me to have the stickers removed?". He said, "No, Zoya! It gives the subaru character. A sign of true confidence is being able to drive a car with mountain princess sticker!"

Zoya

Los Anchorage

Last Friday our arrival in Anchorage coincided with a snowstorm. The perfect opportunity to test how our new Hyundai handles ice and snow. It tested out so well that I fear it is now Zoya's new car. I'll be inheriting her old purple subaru - the 'latte mobile'. We call it the 'latte mobile' because Zoya likes to leave the remains of her coffee shop visits in the cup holders. Zoya has even come up with a new nickname for our new car - it's a black car and Zoya wants to call it 'nightrider'.

While in Anchorage we stayed with Bonnie and Todd. Bonnie made a killer turkey noodle soup, and the kids worked on puzzles while we all caught up. The new snow in Anchorage also marked the start of their cross country ski season. And Todd and I skiied at Hillside every day. I do not get the opportunity to ski on groomed trails all that much so I was in heaven.

The highlight of the trip for the kids was 'Bouncing Bear'. We had heard about this place from Mike and Roxanne. It's an amusement park for kids where they get to bounce around in inflated structures. They loved it and we 'had' to go twice. Nora and Stu would run off in different directions and it was all Zoya and I could do to keep up with them. I noticed that the limit for kids was 250 pounds - so on occasion I felt free to follow them through the maze of inflated tubes and slides. This was necessary because on occasion they'd get run down by older kids and we'd hear caterwauling from inside. Nora and Stu loved it when the 'big kid' daddy arrived to save them. Patrick

Thanksgiving

No posts for a few days because the day after Thanksgiving we all left for Anchorage to pick up our new family car and visit family. Zoya and the kids will return on the ferry with the new car on Wednesday. I had to return early to get back to work. Anyway, we did have a great Thanksgivng Feast before we left. I'll leave it to Zoya to supply the text once she returns. Meanwhile, I'll post the the photos. Patrick

Pilgrims and Indians

Nora came home yesterday from preschool with a happy thanksgiving card-complete with a turkey on the front and a list of things she is thankful for inside. SO fun! The list included mommy, daddy, friends, paper, going to school, toys and grocery store. Who knew trips to the store are so exciting?! Maybe we need to get Nora out and about more....:)

She also came home from preschool with a pilgrim hat. My first thought was "Wow-I didn't know schools still did the whole pilgrims-indian thing." When Patrick picked up Nora, Balika was picking up Bella, who was going home with a handmade Indian hat. Balika and Patrick got a chuckle out of this, as Bella is native Alaskan.

This thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things. I'll do my thankful list, like Nora did-

-Our family-here in Kodiak and extended family
-our friend Ryan who is recovering in Seattle.
-our friends Aileen and Josh who have returned home with their new little one
-open minded, wonderful friends
-living in Kodiak.
-my husband who makes every day a fun adventure.

Love Zoya

Locavores

I just found this awesome article about hunting and eating deer in the New York Times. I gather urban yuppies are taking classes about how to hunt and process your own food. They even have a name for them. Cool! That's what we do here in Kodiak. Does that make us cutting edge? Wait a second - we never stopped hunting our own food.

Check out the article below - I think you have to cut and past it into your own web browser because we can't seem to link a hot post.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/dining/25hunt.html?_r=1&hp

Photo: John and Gregg cutting up a deer in Kodiak's backcuntry.

Vaccines and Snow Angels

HOLIDAY 2009
The holidays are upon us and I am less stressed feeling than in years before.

In years past, November would arrive, the crazy holiday season would ensue, then in January I would wonder, "What the heck just happened? And where did the holidays go? And why didn't I drink more egg nog".
Now I ask myself, "Why is it so different this year? Why do I not have that stressed, crazed feeling to me?".

I think a large part of it may be owning my own business. When I worked for the hospital, November and December would prove to be a very busy time of year. This was due to therapists taking holiday breaks (so we'd have to work a little more to cover the client load), and increased hospital admissions and outpatient cases from winter-related conditions. Things such as ankle & hip fractures, back pain, pneumonia all seem to peak during the winter months. My workload would generally increase in November and December, making the holidays feel like something I "got through". Thats not to say I didn't enjoy the holidays-I did. It was just less relaxing than I would've liked.

Another factor may be that we don't have any babies around the house this holiday. And the kids are actually old enough to get excited about things like lights on trees, delivering holiday cookies to the neighbors, etc.

Now I have holiday shopping pretty much done (all local and home-made-yeah!!!), holiday cards largely addressed and written and am ready to start making cookies and enjoying the egg nog!


SWINE FLU VACCINE
I believe our family may be the only people in Kodiak who did not get the Swine Flu vaccine. And as I've discovered this fall, it is a topic which which people are very passionate about. (sort of like co-sleeping, breastfeeding, pacifiers, potty training age, etc...)

Patrick and I did a lot of thinking and reading on the subject of flu vaccines. For us the take home message? Not enough evidence to support the use of a FLU vaccine-and still too many unknowns about the implications of all these extra vaccines. The kicker for me was reading an Atlantic Monthly article about vaccines which reported how in 2 different years in the past 2 decades there was episode where the flu vaccine was botched-it was the wrong combo for that years flu. Guess what? In those years, the morbidity and mortality rates of the elderly and kid populations didn't budge a bit.

The flu is an ever evolving, mutating and changing virus - a very different scenario than with a virus like Polio. We're all for getting our kids vaccinnated for the big standard diseases. But the flu vaccine doesn't have real strong credible science behind it. There has never been a placebo study where they took a group of healthy people, gave 1/2 the flu vaccine and 1/2 placebo to see what happens. In some ways, science is going on "faith" that it works and has worked.

When I worked at the hospital, there is incredible pressure to get flu vaccinated every year. I remember that the dept. with the most vaccinated employees would win a pizza party and I always brought my dept. down by not getting one. In some ways, I didn't like that pressure put upon us. It is a personal health choice.

So we didn't get the vaccine. And we haven't gotten H1N1-yet. I may eat my words and 1 week from now, praying to the porcelain gods-wishing we had chosen to vaccinate. But so far so good!

I say to each his own, and make an informed decision. I'm all for digging a little deeper with health care and learning a little more about the pros and cons of choices. It was a good discussion for Patrick and I to have, and I was glad he was as curious about the vaccine as me! It was good to have the many discussions about it with him.

Zoya

Deja Vu Stu

Today I scanned some photographs that a family babysitter took of me way back in 1966 & 1967. She found me on the internet and passed on the photographs. How great is that! I also scanned the handwriting on the backs of each photo for context.

Anyway, as I scanned them I was struck by a strong sense of deja vu with these 2 pictures. In the old photos I am acting exactly like Stuie does today.

In the top photo I am obviously sneaking out of my bedroom after bedtime. This is exactly what Stuie does every night. He stands there outside his room and waits for us to notice. I showed this picture to Nora and she actually thought it was Stuie.

Much to my annoyance, Stuie also loves to splash water and scatter stuff around the kitchen. Judging by the bottom photo I used to do this too. Wow! I guess the apple does not fall too far from the tree afterall. Patrick

Bucks in Rut

Bucks in rut taste terrible. And don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise because the ‘steaks’ can be quite ‘high’. There are a lot of hunters out there who are in denial on this one. It took me a few years to come to terms with it myself. But after enough ruined meals and the danger that my family would forever forego eating deer meat, I stopped harvesting bucks in rut. These days come November I only shoot does.

I think hunters are in denial on this one because when bucks are in rut they are stupid. A big buck hopped up on sex hormones and chasing does is not really concerned with hunters, and is quite easy to harvest. Bucks go into rut in November and it really is the only time of year that you do not have to climb mountains to find one. They come out of the woodwork to chase does. For this reason, quite a few hunters convince themselves that bucks in rut are fine eating – what other excuse is there for shooting a big deer?

In the old days, just about every year, I would go hunting for deer in November and see a big buck. A big rack of antlers is a powerful draw. I would not resist, and inevitably I’d get the strong wiff of ‘buck in rut’ before I even found the animal. They smell that bad – and taste that bad too.

I have actually done blind taste tests on this one. I proxy hunt and a couple of times I have packaged up rutty deer for them and not told them about it. Every time I got complaints. In fact, one proxy family will no longer accept November deer meat.

I have noticed that people who think deer taste ‘gamy’ generally hunt late in the season. I also know a few hunters who tell me bucks in rut are fine eating, but tell me with a straight face that their family does not eat deer. What a waste! Bucks harvested in August, September and most of October are quite mild and have good flavor. But don’t take my word on this – ask my family and the people for whom I proxy hunt.

So if you think deer are gamy – try eating one that was harvested in August. I bet you’ll be surprised. Patrick

The photos are from my recent doe hunt with Bruce. NO bucks were harvested!

Grrrrr. ... ..

Sometimes if Stuey is frusturated because he is trying to talk and he can't my attention, he does a funny move where he tightens the muscles in his face and clenches his fists.

It makes me laugh! Its been a recent occurence and tonight I was able to get him to do it on cue. He does it while laughing at the same time!

Zoya

Writing

Patrick has a long time habit of writing in his journal-daily. He has kept a journal steadily since 1975 (with a 5 year break in there). When I met Patrick, I was amazed by his diligence to his journal and the details he wrote about. When I wrote in a journal growing up, all I wrote about was boys, boys, boys. I haven't written consistently in a journal since I got married-I don't have the desire to anymore. I found my boy!

Patrick writes about what he eats for dinner, what he hunts, how many days he skis and more factual type of information. Sometimes he has to "catch up" several days and think back to days or weeks prior. He'll be in the kitchen and ask me, "Zoya, what did we eat for dinner last Wednesday?" Its quite a good memory game to think back several days and try to remember what actually happened!! Patrick's journal is more like an activity-food-log book. Oh-and weather, of course. He is able to look back and say, "Oh, last year at this time, we were ice skating already....".

Recently Nora got a little Hello Kitty Journal as a "Sticker Chart" Grand Prize. She came home, promptly sat down at the counter, asked me for a pen. As she opened up her book and was thinking about what to write, she asked, "Mom, what did we eat for dinner last night?" Like father, like daughter.

Now when Patrick sits down to write in his journal every morning, Nora was to be part of the fun and she insists on writing in her Hello Kitty Journal. Its a great little morning routine for Nora and Patrick to do together.

Zoya

Radiocarbon results

Last week we got back the radiocarbon dating results from last summer's archaeological survey on Karluk Lake. We sent off the charcoal we collected from the prehistoric hearths to a lab in Florida and they tell us how long ago the charcoal was part of a living plant. I'm all excited because the dates came back perfect - just what I wanted/expected. I found out that the new sites I found on the pea gravel beaches are about 1600 years old. We also found a 5000 year old house, and even a 3000 year old village.

If you reread my post from last May

http://saltonstall.blogspot.com/2009/05/karluk-survey-archaeology.html

you will see that I predicted that the villages on the pea gravel beaches would be 1500 years old. Whoo hoooo I love being right. Too often when I get radiocarbon results back I am crushed by the cold light of reality. If the dates had been different all that I wrote last May could have been wrong.

Anyhow - here are some pictures of Karluk Lake for you to enjoy. These are where those 1600 year-old villages are located. Patrick

It's winter & deer hunting is over!

The bucks are in rut and it's cold out there - time to quit hunting. This past weekend I went with Bruce for one last hunt. We targeted does so as to not end up with any 'rutty' tasting meat. But nothing we could do about the cold. Not sure if I understand why people go winter camping for fun.

Anyway, we kayaked off the road system, camped, and brought back 2 does. It was freezing. I think the most epic part of the trip was during the kayak trip home when the wind picked up. Whitecaps and freezing spray. As Bruce put it, 'this is not recreational kayaking'. At one point, I looked back to check on Bruce and saw a whale spouting just behind him. I shouted whale, and he thought I was pointing out the waves. Which to him seemed obvious - but when I kept shouting he did turn around and saw the whale on the surface about 100 yards away. It went under and then came up again about 40 yards away. We think it was a fin whale - it was huge. It just went on and on as it came out of the water. With the whale and waves it just got a little surreal for a while there. Our decks and coats got coated with ice and we were very happy to get back to the truck.

I tried to post photos but I kept getting upload errors, but I made a little video of the trip and posted it to Youtube. Check it out below:

Patrick's Home Safe and Sound

Over the weekend our friend Bruce was in town for an off-road system deer hunt. On Saturday, the guys were on weather hold due to high winds and fortunately the winds let up enough yesterday to allow them to venture off in their kayaks. The temperatures were in the low 20's/high teens with lots of snow cover on the ground. In the evening, I got a phone call from Patrick with good news-they got 2 deer and were hunkering down by the woodstove to warm up. The wind was so cold last night-I didn't know how the guys could possibly stay warm enough!

Patrick reported that the kayak ride back to town was quite exhilarating. The winds picked up and they were followed by a fin whale about 40 yards away. On my end of things, I couldn't wait for Patrick to call saying he had made it back to land. The last part of the trip into "the bay" was ice breaking and proved to be more challenging than they anticipated. I"m just so thrilled they made it home. Phew.

Zoya

Nora doing her "interpretive dance" in her tutu...which she does frequently around the house recently. We put on the radio and she goes around the house doing little ballerina poses. Very cute. I can tell she is practicing her dance class moves.

First Snow

While the rest of the united states has had several snowfalls this winter, we've been delayed with the arrival of winter. This fall season has been mild thus far. But yesterday, winter hit with a BANG! Lots of snow fell and the winds blew.

Nora asked me yesterday, "mom, what is your favorite part about snow?" I replied, "I like how it is light and fluffy. How about you?" She stuck out her tounge and said, "I like catching snowflakes on my tongue."

The snow enthusiasm is high around our house-in a few minutes we're headed out to do the first cross country ski of the year! Yeah!

Patrick and Bruce are on wind-weather-hold for their kayak-hunting trip. Too windy. They're going to give it a try tomorrow morning.

Photos are from a walk down the road yesterday-a few snow angels along the way!
Bottom ones are sledding today in our yard.

Zoya

Zoya In Motion

Yesterday Zoya got the pictures back from the triathlon...the ones that photographers on the course took. She didn't want to post any on the blog, since there were several photos already posted. I told her I wanted to post them, because I"m so proud of her doing the race. Look at her go!

Patrick

Slow time

The hectic time of Summer archaeology and Fall hunting seasons is pretty much over. We have entered the slow time of winter. Well that's not totally true - we still have the Holiday season ahead of us. But it does seem like things are finally slowing down - Less stress and hectic schedules to combat. More time in the evening and mornings with nothing to do.

Lately, I've been walking with the dogs and kids to the beach at Abercrombie State Park. Actually, I take the kids in the stroller so they only walk the last bit. I know, I know an almost 3 and a 4 year-old in the stroller looks bad. But I have found that if we try to walk all the way there we never make it, and they seem to dig the stroller ride. I also get a killer glute workout pushing the stroller up the hills. Yesterday, on the way back, we even found some blueberries still hanging on the bushes. I fed the kids like little birdie chicks - dropping berries into open mouths. That way they did not have to remove their gloves and get cold hands. Patrick

Triathlon Trip Photos

Tonight I made it home from California safe and sound-no significant delays, thank heavens!

Just thought I'd share some more photos from the trip. It was such a fun time and I can't wait to do another triathlon here in Kodiak or somewhere nearby this spring!

Zoya

Photos-

Anne and I waiting for the race to start for our wave.

Anne helping Dylan (our brother in law) get his wetsuit funtioning. Dylan borrowed a bike which only had one speed for the race, then forgot his running shoes-so Ella loaned him hers! He did great even with the equipment complications.

Getting ready for the bike portion in the transition area.

The night of the race-Ella, Anne and I went out to dinner with Melissa Dover. Melissa showed us a great Sushi restaurant!