Snow and Sun

Not only did we finally get some snow here on Kodiak, but it has stuck around too (at least for a day anyway).  I woke up last night to rain on the roof and feared we'd lost our snow.  But the golf course is far enough inland that it stayed a little cooler there than it did here on the coast. The golf course actually gained some snow.  And now it is supposed to stay cold and sunny for the week.  I got my fingers crossed - Finally on snow!

Also today was a ski milestone of sorts with the kids.  We went to the golf course with 2 other kids, got them all set up, and then Zoya and I got in our workouts while the kids all played unsupervised. Stuey opted to ski the whole time while the others switched back and forth between sleds and skiis.  We stayed at the golf course for almost 2 hours!  Wow -  Skiing with kids is getting better and better!
Patrick

Snow! Finally.

Amen. 

It finally snowed.

First family ski of the season! The golf course conditions were just right. 

The enthusiasm on the snow was contagious. Man it felt good to get out together again. Each year skiing with the kids gets more and more fun. 

Zoya

The Black Hole

In our house the 'black hole' is where toys go to die.  It is the unreachable space behind the stove, and once something falls down in there it is in there forever.  It is in the 'black hole'.

Zoya and I use the black hole as a threat.  As in, 'if you continue to use that toy in the kitchen it is going in the black hole'.  Very rarely does something actually end up down in there.  I recall a light saber going down there, a couple of paper airplanes, and even a nerf gun, but usually the threat is sufficient to end bad behavior.

In the above photo if you look closely you can see the Rubic's Cube from Christmas down in the black hole.  I actually did not intend it to fall down into the hole and only threw it up there as a sort of 'toy timeout', but it ended up sucked into the black hole.  This is the 'black hole' behind the stove.  There are also 2 holes on either side of the stove where they abut the cabinets.  The latter holes are where most of the toys end up.

Someday we might get a new stove and it'll be funny to see what ended up down in the black hole(s).  Meanwhile I think I am going to get Stuey a new Rubic's Cube.  I felt bad about that one.  The light saber?  Nah that one stays down there.  Patrick

Exploring

As a family we've recently discovered the area between Boy Scout Lake and the ocean.  In the old days I did explore the whole area and analytically I knew that it is a big area with lots of old roads to follow, but I'd sort of forgotten.  When we went hiking in that area it was just to get to the beach to look for beach glass.

But lately we've been doing some exploring through the woods.  It is a HUGE area with lots of trails and loops.  Back in the day there was a lot of WWII clean up work and soil remediation going on and the roads were all torn up.  These days it is all healed and mossy.  I love going for a hike and not knowing exactly what path I'll be taking.  We are exploring trails to see where they end up.  The best sort of hiking.

Patrick

Christmas pictures

Socks, socks and more socks! Everyone in the family knows what Patrick likes.

vest from Grandma Coco and Grandpa George

lighting candles and placesettings

My stuffing this year turned into stuffing soup :( A byproduct of using old frozen bread and cooking it all day.

Cheers!

Roxann made Baked Alaska for dessert--so yummy! But she wasn't there to enjoy it, as her daughter Sophie was sick and they stayed home. 

Christmas Hike

On Christmas morning I hiked Pillar ridge with our friends Heather and Bob and their son Shane. They are in town for 2 weeks and staying next door to us.

 The sun was fresh out of the ocean horizon.   The light cast on the mountains was breathtaking. It is so unusual to be able to hike on Pillar in the end of December! Typically the mountain is covered in ice and snow and its not easy to drive to the top of the mountain.


Shane and Stuey raced ahead, in an unspoken race. Taking turns dashing in front of eachother and breathless at times. Icy at times, with crisp air, the hike woke up all our senses on Christmas morning.

Zoya

Kincaid with the kids

After Christmas we left the dogs on Kodiak and went for a quick trip to Anchorage.  We stayed at a hotel with a pool and I was amazed at the number of families also at the hotel.  It seems Anchorage is a popular spot for 'bush Alaskans' to visit post Christmas.  All us rural folk visiting the big city to shop and visit.  I'll leave all the shopping, visiting, theatre going, and eating for another post, and talk about the highlight of my trip - the visit to Kincaid Park with Nora and Stuey.

While we were in Anchorage I went for a cross-country ski every morning.  I was loving the time on snow.  And every morning I saw all the other families out skiing on the trails. I kept on thinking, 'uh oh, am I a 'bad dad'? And 'If I don't get them skiing they might never like skiing.' To our credit we tried to get Nora and Stuey into some ski classes but they were all full.

So I on the last day I decided I'd go it alone and took them to Kincaid Park.  I had visions of tears and high speed wipeouts on the hills.  But their time on skiis on Kodiak lakes and at the Bear Valley Golf Course translated VERY well to the groomed ski trails of Kincaid. I was impressed with their confidence.  We went for a 45 minute tour and they did not want to quit at the end.  What was I worried about?

Ironically, I forgot my ski boots and during our tour I had to run along after the kids in my shoes.  In Anchorage the ski crowd does NOT like pedestrians, dogs and bikers trespassing onto the ski only trails and I was a little worried I'd get busted.  To my credit I did stick to the edges, and did not post hole at all.  And we mostly skiied ungroomed trails.  But for a while there I was 'one of those people' - the ones that bring a collective eye roll to the Anchorage ski community.

But it was worth the eye rolls because Nora and Stuey had a great time.  Cross country skiing on groomed trails is something we will be doing a lot more of during future visits to Anchorage.  That and signing up for Hillside downhill ski lessons BEFORE we leave Kodiak.

Patrick

Snowbow

It snowed a little on the mountains overnight so today I actually carried my skiis up the mountain and went skiing during 'my after-work ski'. The conditions were pretty desperate, but I did get in a 400 vertical foot run, and I did not hit any rocks.  So good enough.

The low sun and snow squalls made for some dramatic scenics.  Patrick

Grey Skies

This is what it looked like from near the top of my hike yesterday.  We've been seeing a lot of grey lately here on Kodiak.  But it does seem to be getting a bit colder and the weather report is even calling for a chance of snow.  I got my fingers crossed.

Even with no snow it's funny but Zoya and I still refer to my daily hikes as my 'ski after work'. Yesterday when I she got home she asked, 'how was your ski?'.  We both know I did not going skiing, but that's what we still call it.

Patrick

Solstice moments

Yesterday was an extra special winter solstice.

As the sun was rising at 10:20 ish, I drove out the road with my girlfriend Elise to walk Kalsin Beach. We stopped for coffees at Java F. and drove on for about 1/2 hour, catching up on life. The tide was high, and frost coated all the grass alongside the beach. The light of the sky and ocean was even more appreciated since it has been rainy and dark with almost no snow this winter.

                                                          ~

Later in the evening our family went to dinner at Erica V's house and her kids and our kids played together as Erica and I attempted making a loaf of Stollen. (In the end it didn't turn out, but we sure gave it our best try!) Erica made a Shepards pie with Goat meat for dinner...perfect winter solstice soul food!

Erica and I trying to decipher the recipe...did they mean 2 eggs or 10 eggs? :)

 Erica requested that we bring 10-20 pictures from 2014 to share in a slideshow fashion, and after dinner we all looked at the family pictures together on their TV from the Computer. The kids picked out some photos as well and it was fun to see which photos they got excited about. I liked the slideshow format--makes me want to do more slideshows with friends to learn about their trips, adventures, life moments.

                                                        ~

When we got home and putting kids to bed, my friend Heather texted, who is visiting from Wyoming. She heard there was Northern Lights and wondered if I'd be up for going out the road to check them out. I definitely was up for it! We drove out to the base of North Sister and saw a glow int he sky, as well as a few vertical bars of light. The sky was so clear and it was wonderful to see the stars and galaxies so crisply.

Heres to the return of the light....and hopfeully snow, too! :)

Zoya

Solstice Sunset with Stuey

Yesterday afternoon I climbed Pyramid with Stuey and the dogs and caught the sunset sunshine on the shortest day of the year.  The low light made for some spectacular photos.  There had been an ice storm so up high the ice coated bushes and grass sparkled.

The snow near the top had a bullet proof crust and Stuey was sliding all over the place.  I had to break trail for him because he was too light to break through the crust and would end up sliding backwards.  We found a low angled hill and did some 'sit down' sledding on our butts.  Patrick

Confused Yarrow

This morning I noticed a yarrow plant blooming in the yard.  I checked around and clover is growing in the garden beds and the hanging baskets still have flowers.  It's been so warm this fall that all the plants are confused and think it's a light deprived spring.  I must admit I'm confused too - what is going on?  When will it finally get cold and snow?

On the clover if you look closely you can even see some slug damage.  That's super bad - it means if we don't get some cold temperatures to freeze off the slugs there will be a plague of nasty garden slimers next summer.

I hope I'm not mowing the lawn in january.

Anyway, I did take the dogs up the mountain this afternoon, and I was heartened that there was even some new snow up there -  baby steps forwards to winter.  Patrick

What made my pack so heavy?

Recently on a day trip goat hunt/hike (read about hunt here) I brought along a tent, sleeping bag, and woodstove.  I figured you never know what will happen and the days are so short and nights so long.  Maybe I'd shoot a goat and he'd fall in a ravine and we'd have to spend the night.  So I brought along emergency gear, and the tent, while small, has slept three in the past (click here to see that hunt).  That morning when I picked up Philip and Adelia I felt a little insecure about my huge pack, and I almost, but not quite, decided to dump gear.

Anyway, it was a long day and on the last climb, as Philip and Adelia flitted on up the hill in front of me, my pack felt REALLY heavy .  Philip had carried my pack for a bit while I was stalking the goats and commented that he was surprised at how light it was considering how bulky it looked.  This got me a bit insecure and I pondered if I was just old and out of shape.  How heavy was my pack?

So when I got home I weighed the pack on my digital scale and it came in at 38 pounds.  That's pretty heavy for a day hunt pack.  I immediately wondered about the weight-cost of my emergency gear and weighed the tent, sleeping bag, bivy and woodstove all together.  I was shocked to find they only weighed 6 pounds!

So what had made my pack so heavy?  I weighed out the different parts and was surprised to discover that the bow, game bags, satellite phone and case, ice axe and crampons weighed 16 pounds!  That's what weighed the pack down!  I was particularly shocked at how much the game bags weighed.  Anyway, what made the whole exercise interesting was that the emergency gear really did not add all that much weight.  Maybe it's time to get some light game bags and dump the SAT phone case.

Seek Outside Evolution Pack empty = 4 pounds
Bow and arrows = 8.5 pounds
10 degree down sleeping bag, bivy bag, tent for 3 and woodstove = 6 pounds
3 Game bags, SAT phone and case, crampons, and ice axe = 8 pounds
Bone/wood saw, puff jacket, rain pants and jacket, food, knives, range finder and binos, water bottle and misc stuff = 11.5 pounds
Total = 38 pounds

Patrick