Mountain Zamboni

For the past few days it has been sunny and crisp during the day with light rains at night.  While it rains in town it has been snowing up high on the mountain.  Each day when I go skiing after work I've found my tracks cleaned up by the nightly snow fall.  It's like one of those Zamboni machines that cleans and smooths the ice at ice rinks - or the snowcat they use at ski areas.

Admittedly, the snow is still desperately thin, but it has been glorious in the sunshine.  And last night it rained in town. .. ..

Patrick

A photo safari to the beach with Stuey

Saturday afternoon Stuey and I took the dogs and went on a photo safari to the beach in Fort Abercrombie Park.  Stuey timed our trip with his stopwatch and it took us 25 minutes to hike there and 23 minutes to hike back.

At the beach the waves were breaking violently on the rocks and I tried to 'freeze frame' the spray with fast shutter speeds.  This did not work very well, and next time I think I'll go the opposite route and try a neutral density filter (my camera has it as a setting) with a tripod so I can use a really slow shutter speed.  This ought to make all the waves look 'creamy' and blurred but everything else sharp.

Patrick

Stuey on safari

I used the neutral density filter setting for this photo but I don't think it did anything

I took the wax off my skiis just before we left so I could go skiing later after the hike and Stuey captured it as part of the photo safari

This is Stuey's photo of the rocks on the beach - I took a photo of Stuey just after he took this photo (see above)

Snow for Halloween

Enough snow for dog tracks in the driveway!

On Halloween we finally got some snow on the ground in our yard.  Barely enough to sled on and it was gone by evening, but hey it's the first snow.

After work as the snow turned to rain I took the dogs for a walk to the park.  In the park the snow could not get through the spruce canopy so it was snow free on the ground except where there was a hole.  Looking up you could see snow on the trees and then here and there bright white areas of snow cover in the clearings. It created a dramatic effect that I don't think I quite captured in the photos below.

And then the day after Halloween I got to go for the first ski of the year on Pyramid.  There already was some snow on the mountain (the first intrepid skiier got in a run on October 12th), so there is a little bit of a base.  Admittedly, it was not great skiing, but it was skiing.

Last night we got another inch of snow on the mountain and today it was even a little bit better.  The photos below are from my ski today.

The start of my 400 foot vertical ski run

Halloween

The dog costume was made by my mom and I wore it as a kid. Cozy, comfortable costume.  Dog hood with big, black floppy ears. Little Red Riding Hood wears my costume from 9 years ago. The dress hung slightly big on her, but she so enjoyed wearing the red cape. 

Tonto and The Lone Ranger…Winners of Best Couple Costume

Marcus rockin' the 6 pack and Kate rockin' the Goddess look 

Spookiest contacts ever!

Bless Dan U's heart…masks are SO hard to wear at parties! Always good to have an alien in the mix. 

Ostrich Rider…Philip won for funniest costume. 

Can you believe she is the one who shot an elk a month ago? :)

Epic costume. Carol made a camera which actually functioned. Months of work. Unbelievable! A walking photo booth!

Megan won for best face painting

Our neighbors, Leslie and Duncan on the left

Top Gun fun! Maverick and Charlie

Lip synching "contest"…Stevie Nicks' Wild Heart. I practiced for over a week, when in my car, kids in bed at night.


Zoya

Liver and Onions for Mike

One of the highlights of Mike and Kathy's recent visit was cooking up liver and onions for Mike.  Mike   had harvested the deer while on a hunting trip to Afognak.  I cooked up the liver and served it with home grown potatoes and kale, caramelized onions and lots and lots of BACON.  It had been a while since Mike had had well-cooked liver and it was clear that he appreciated it.  There is nothing quite as fine as well-cooked deer liver - especially when you harvested the deer yourself!  Patrick

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is almost here…the kids carved pumpkins with Patrick. Nora LOVED rolling up her sleeves and pulling out all the seeds. When she finished with her pumpkin, she wanted to do mine. Stuey wanted nothing to do with the slimy mess and preferred using a spoon. Seed extraction is a hard endeavor with even the sharpest of spoons!

Some recent kid quotes:
-"I hope you have a nice day at your work and you don't get fired."Nora said to Patrick as she kissed him good-bye in the morning.

-When playing Monopoly, Stuey to Patrick "You might win this game, dad. Just believe in yourself." (He didn't win. Nora made a comeback after having just 3 dollars left and all of her properties mortgaged.)

Zoya

Hard Frosts

Nora tells me I should have looked for a 4-leaf-clover covered with crystals - the clover have millions of small cone-shaped crystals on them

Here on Kodiak we've been waking up every morning to some pretty hard frosts.  The lawn and cars covered with a layer of ice crystals.  Later it warms up into the mid 40's and is warm in the sunshine.  But I've noticed that the low-angled sunlight has not been melting the frost in the shaded areas, and that the lakes and ponds are beginning to freeze up.  Funnily enough the lettuce, parsley and kale from the garden are still doing great.  I even ate a salad yesterday and was surprised by its mild flavor.  The frosts have made the kale sweet.  Patrick

Crystals on a cottonwood leaf are flatter than those on the clover

Stuey and Mount Monashka

Yesterday, while Zoya and Nora were at a Girlscout activity, Stuey and I climbed Mount Monashka.  At first Stuey was disapointed in our choice of mountains because Mount Monashka is not as high as Pyramid.  I explained to Stuey that each mountain is its own climb and that they should not be compared.  I pointed out that I like climbing Mount Monashka because it is close to the ocean, has old growth spruce forest to hike through, and has stunning vistas.  The mountain is quite sheer and everything seems set out directly below.

Then for a while Stuey kept on asking when it would 'get steep'.  He should have been more careful about what he wished for!  And, yes, he learned that Mount Monashka is steeper than Pyramid.

It was a glorious day for a hike with no wind and the low slanting sunlight of late fall.  Warm enough that we did not need coats and yet cool enough to be comfortable on a steep climb.  Sheba and Tank ran here and there and were quite exhausted by the time we got back to the car.  Patrick