Fresh Snow

This morning we woke up to our first decent snow at sea level.  The kids could not wait to get home from school and go sledding and skiing.  On getting back from school they REALLY wanted to go cross country skiing.  Stuey even told Zoya that he could make tracks on his skiis for everyone to follow.  But there really is not enough snow at the house for cross country skiing so the kids are outside as I write this sledding.  They've already been sledding for a solid hour (with one hot cocoa break).  Heaven.

After work I also went skiing.  I went up into the big kid mountains and went downhill skiing.  The skiing was actually not all that great but the views were spectacular.  On my way to the mountain I noticed that the golf course has 3 inches or so of on snow on it, and tomorrow we plan on taking the kids cross country skiing.  Unfortunately I have to be at a meeting all day tomorrow, but Zoya plans on being the 'we' and taking the kids to go skiing.  I want to go skiing too!

New Camera

A picture with the new camera of Gregg and I cutting up deer.

I got a new waterproof, point-and-shoot camera yesterday.  I had had my old Pentax Optio WP 80 for 3 years and it just would not die, but it did not take very good pictures either.  I came to this realization after the elk hunt when my hunt photos were a poor second best to John S's iphone photos.  That's pretty bad when a phone takes better quality pictures than your camera.  It most definitely was time for an upgrade.

Since early 2006 I have had 3 different 'Optio' waterproof cameras and looking back at the photos I realized that the picture quality actually degraded with each new camera.  So this time I decided to try a new brand and bought an Olympus Stylus TG1.  It seems a little big, and is significantly larger than my old Optio, but it seems to take pretty good pictures - especially in low light where my old camera had real problems.  It also has really easy and intuitive controls - I can make adjustments quickly before I take a picture.  This is really important, and was one of the reasons I kept on using the Optio instead of switching to Zoya's Panasonic waterproof camera (which has difficult controls).

Ironically I bought my first point and shoot 21 years ago and it was an Olympus Stylus!  That was back in the days of film and I went through 2 of them before I went digital in 2006.  I remember back in 1992 how excited I was to have a small portable camera that took GREAT pictures.  And last night I went and found my old battered Stylus from 1992.  I was amazed to find that it is slightly bigger than my new camera (but does weigh a lot less).  So I guess by 1992 standards my new camera is tiny!
 
These days it seems that smart phones really do take amazing photos and video.  It almost makes me want to get a smart phone for myself!  It definitely makes me realize that the days of designated point-and-shoot cameras is numbered.  Who wants to buy a camera when their phone can do the same thing? But phones aren't yet quite as durable or waterproof as the waterproof point-and-shoots.  My new camera can drop from 6 feet and go over 30 feet underwater without damage.  It also takes GREAT pictures.  Dare I say it takes better pictures than John's iphone?

Patrick

One last Hunt

Leaving the beach soon after dawn - there was a hard frost the night before.

Since we failed to bring home the meat on the elk hunt our freezer was looking a little low on meat.  I had been counting on the elk hunt to fill our own freezer.  This summer and fall I have done a lot of hunting and I have brought home a good number of deer and a goat.  But most of the meat has been shared with the other hunters and with the families that I proxy hunt for.  It was time for a late season deer hunt.

So yesterday Gregg and I motored off of the road system to go deer hunting.  We intended to shoot ONLY does because by this time of year the bucks are in the rut and taste awful.  My big fear was that we would run into a huge buck, and unable to resist the temptation - shoot it.  And end up with a pile of rutty meat.

Anyway we hiked up into the alpine and it was a glorious day.  We saw lots of deer and even a buck with a big rack and HUGE neck.  But we resisted and just shot the does.  It has been a while since I hunted so late in the season.  I think I last went hunting in November back in 2009.  It has been even longer since Gregg and I went on a late season doe hunt.

The late season is a totally different experience than my normal deer hunts in August and September.  Dead and frosty grass instead of tall green grass and leaves.  White mountain tops and slating low light instead of GREEN all around.  Patrick

Gregg with half a deer.

Snow on the mountains.

Gregg with a whole deer on his back.

Homeward bound with meat.

Sunday Hike with Dogs

Today was a gorgeous day on Kodiak - especially so since it followed 3 days of solid rain and fog.  To make the most of the sunshine we decided to go on a family hike.  Before we left there was a bit of a debate about whether we should go to Abercrombie, Mill Bay Beach, or out to Spruce Cape.  But in the end we decided to go someplace we never seem to go - out to the far end of Near Island.  I used to go there a lot, but I must admit it's been years since I last went, and the kids have never been there.

And boy am I glad we did go.  First Zoya takes the kids bowling, and now we go hiking to a new place.  It had us wondering what other new things we should be trying on Kodiak.  It's nice to break out of the rut on occasion.

At that end of Near Island you really don't need leashes for the dogs, but the kids insisted.  They each wanted to walk their own dog.  So Stuey walked Roxie while Nora got Jake.  Luckily Zoya had already taken the dogs for a walk earlier in the day so they were less hyper and took to their leashes with surprising patience.  Patrick

Training and more

Last weekend I attended a 3 day course in Columbus, Ohio on the evaluation and treatment of female pelvic floor conditions. It was HANDS DOWN the best course I've taken since graduating from college. The two instructors were so engaging and funny, and I learned so much new, useful information over the course of the weekend. I am excited to put it to use in helping women. There were 40 other womens health physical therapists in attendance and we all learned so much. 

This upcoming Friday I am doing an inservice for local health care providers on female Pelvic floor health and dysfunctions and next weekend I'm doing a less medical "girlfriends" version. Very excited about both!

My Cousin, Tina, and I in Columbus Ohio.

Certificate of proficiency from my course.

In other news, pictured below is one of the fitness rooms in my new rental space. The flooring and trim have all been put in. My hopes is to have fitness classes over there sometime thanksgiving week. Can't wait to gradually move in!

New Digs! Moving in soon!

Today I took the kids bowling for the first time. We had a BLAST. We went with friends of ours (pictured below) and we all had fun. The local alley is very kid friendly, well maintained, bright and fun. I'm definitely taking the kids back.

We played 2 games and Nora and Stuey could've kept on going. They LOVE bowling. I enjoyed how enthusiastic and congratulatory Nora would get when I did well. She would give me high 5's, which was cute. I did the same for her. She was a bit of a natural at it!
 Stuey was so eager for his turn to come that it was hard for him to think about anything else.

Bowling today!

In Love with bowling...


Zoya

Time to Make a Movie

The Kodiak Outdoor Film Festival is not until next spring, but the time to make a movie for submission is NOW.  The film festival is put on by the Island Trail Network and doubles as a membership event.  Philip Tschersich made a trailer for the event (see below) and I know that it has me excited.  Now to go out and make a movie. .. ..  Patrick

2013 Island Trails Network KOFF Trailer from Philip Tschersich on Vimeo.


http://vimeo.com/52905754

Dear Santa Letters

When I was in Ohio for my class, it looks like the kids were inspired to write letters to Santa. 

Never too early in the holiday season, I suppose! Especially with mail delivery  taking as long as it does here in Kodiak. 

Stuey's is on top. He writes,

"I want pogo stick and a camera and quilting fabric and some goodies  STUEY and a sticker book and a train set.

In the bottom letter, Nora wrote, 

"Dear Santa I want a pogo stick and a camera and a present from mom and dad and some goodies and some jewelry and a butterfly lamp and I hope you'll have a good time bringing presents to children Love Nora.

The letters have been 'faxed' off to Santa - now it is a waiting game.

Zoya

First Tracks

My first tracks - I started skiing at the top center of the picture

These may not be the first ski tracks on Pyramid for the new snow year, but they do represent my first tracks.  It seems like ages since I went skiing but I added it up and it was only 3 months ago.  I was skiing in July and only missed August, September and October.  In the old days I used to go skiing every month of the year and once managed to do that for 9 years straight.  But these days I am more seasonal in my pursuits.  I hunt when there is hunting, do archaeology when the ground is thawed, and ski when there is snow close to town.  It seems that there is now snow close to town - whoo hoooooo.

 Patrick

Self portrait - what's with my teeth?

After the Storm

A big storm just rolled through Kodiak.  This morning we had 60 mph winds and the ocean in front of our house got pretty roiled up.  An indication of the severity is that after the storm our windows are completely covered in wind blown salt, and we are situated 70 feet above the ocean!  We never get storms like this in the summer.  This is our first real winter storm.

What I love about Kodiak is that storms like this solicit no real big reaction.  We never name our storms.  Not to belittle 'frankenstorm' Sandy but we get comparable storms all the time.  They most definitely do not create as much havoc here because for some reason we are better equipped to handle them.  Why is this?  Is it because these sorts of storms are more frequent and so we build our houses and infrastructure accordingly?  Or is it because we do not have the population and there really is no infrastructure to damage?

And this last one was not really a big storm at all.  I've seen storms where dumpsters were blowing about downtown Kodiak like soda pop cans.  Our storms, no matter how big, never make national news.  Our weather only makes it on shows like the 'Deadliest Catch' - certainly not the national news.

Anyway, this afternoon it cleared off and the winds calmed down.  But the waves were still big at Mill Bay beach.  I also created a short 1 minute video that shows a clip of the beach at noon and then another clip after it cleared around 2:30 PM.  It was certainly not a good day to be out on a boat!

This is the view of the beach from our house

The kids had 'early release' from school so I took them to the beach to see the waves

Here's a satellite image of our storm from 1PM - note that this image would cover the lower 48.  That's a big storm.

Trick Or Treat

Zoya left yesterday for Columbus, Ohio and PT training, but before she left we took the kids down Cliffside Road for some trick-or-treating.  Katie joined us with Natalie and Sawyer.  Our road does not get a lot of trick-or-treat traffic, but I get the feeling that most of the houses had bought candy in expectation of our arrival.  I also think that some of them would have been crushed if we had not showed up and they had bought all that candy for nothing.  I know that in the old days I bought Halloween candy knowing that only the our next-door neighbor's kids were likely to drop by.

Nora, Stuey, Natalie and Sawyer on the prowl for candy

Physical Therapy Class in Columbus

Yesterday evening after trick or treating I hopped on a plane for Columbus Ohio. I'm here for a 3 day physical therapy class which starts tomorrow. A lady at a local store recommended an Indian restaurant, Aab, for dinner so I went and it was delicious! I"m finding myself attracted to Indian Restaurants when I travel. I love their chicken, chickpea, yogurt ingredients and incredible sauces and curries. 

Headed to bed soon with an early class start tomorrow of 7:30. The course has 30+ other PT's in it, no others from Alaska. It'll be an exciting 3 days of  learning with other likeminded physical therapists.

Zoya

Dinner at Aab Restaurant. 

Pumpkin Seeds

Removing the pulp and seeds from the pumpkins

Last night when we carved our pumpkins Nora carefully picked out all the seeds.  We then spread out the seeds on a cookie sheet, sprinkled on some kosher salt and peanut oil, and then roasted them in the oven for a half hour or so.  They ended up crunchy and delicious.  The kids even took some to school for a snack.

Stuey has been very enthusiastic about lighting the candles that we put inside of them.  He has become quite enamored with fire.  On Sunday morning after the Halloween party the bonfire was still smoldering away so I burned the pizza boxes and other party thrash on it.  Stuey enthusiastically helped out and then added more wood and kept the fire going ALL day.  He kept on coming inside to ask what else we had to burn.  Patrick

Nora with her creation

Stuey with his creation

Nora, Stuey and Daddy show off their finished Jack-o-lanterns.

Some Final Halloween Pics

Timmy with flame-thrower

A few more photos from our Saturday Halloween party.  Sven H took these and somehow he even managed to include himself in a few of them.  I do believe this might be the most photographed party we've ever had at our house.  They'll be fun to look back through in a few years time.  Patrick

2 scary skeletons

Sven and Balika - he 'speaks for the trees'

Katie & Toby as Zombies

Katie, Marnie and Ella

A final one of Miss Muffet with all her spiders

Frost and Test Pits

Yesterday Jill and I went on an archaeological 'recon' survey up Salonie Creek.  The frost crystals were spectacular.  We noticed that when the light was just clearing the Heitman Mountain ridge that the frost crystals lit up with blue and other colors.  I tried to capture this in the photo above but it only captured the colored lights on the bottom half of the photo.  We decided that the mountain was diffracting (bending) the rays of light that were just clearing the mountain and so creating rainbows.  When the light was not diffracted the crystals had white light flares only.  Does this sound like a good explanation?

Ironically after digging lots and lots of test pits last week and finding very little - yesterday we found a 4 to 6 thousand year-old site with our first test pit.  BINGO.  In the photo above Jill is holding an extended 2 meter tape down into the hole.  Our 50 by 50 cm test pit was 140 CM deep before we had to quit without reaching the bottom.  Below Jill also has the tape extended in a more normal test pit.  The latter test pit is typical of what we found all last week.  The stratigraphy in the new site we found yesterday looks very much like what we uncovered at the Amak Site last summer.

Below is a view of the sun clearing the Heitman Ridge.  Patrick

Halloween Firepit

Patrick had the firepit going on outside. The people who didn't dance escaped the music and huddled around the warmth of the fire. 

Our friends Lisa and Gregg as the Goat people!

Genevieve was an astronaut, complete with a fake butt! She was 'Bud Tox the astronaut'.