Fun In The Sun (and cold)

Mary's B-day from the Sue's - the fun never stops!

I especially like the shirt

Ginger getting ready for the Community Band Concert
"A Patriotic Christmas"

Life has been busy, what with winter here and all. I have not had to shovel snow in a few days as we have had more rain than snow. My driveway at this moment is just a big slab of ice - anyone got skates. :-)

The full moon the last two days has been breath taking in the clear skies over Seward. Lights the place up. It is so cool in the darkness (like now) to be able to see the white mountains from the moon light.

I ran/walked in the Jingle Bell 5K for Arthritis last weekend. I knew the run was on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail (beautiful location) but it never occurred to me with winter (34 degrees) all around that we would be running on snow. Imagine my surprise when I hit the trail. :-) - 46:53 didn't seem like a bad time in the snow - which is a lot like running on the beach in San Diego.

Sunset in Seward 12-11-08 approx 3:40pm. This is the campground on the bay (Resurrection Bay). It was so cold yesterday afternoon that Bruno played outside for about 2 minutes and then jumped back in the car until I was finished taking pictures.

Sunset across to bay

This one is for my good friend Cayleff - As i drove up a Raven landed on the snow hill right in from of me. When that happens, I think Cayleff is with me. :-)

Thanksgiving Weekend

Pecan/Chocolate Pie (Emeril) - Crust broke during transport :-(

Appetizers - after we attacked them...deviled eggs (Mom's recipe, and I got to use my new "filling gun"), crab stuffed mushrooms (Paula Deen), and prosciutto wrapped figs, stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with honey hot out of the oven. (Sandra Lee)

BTW - note my new "white platter" - I have been looking for a white platter for quite some time, found this perfect dish at a silent action! - Late in the day the turkey was served on this dish. :-)

Rock Band! Drums are harder than they look...


WII Bowling - Go Mary

Note the form, the style... :-)

We hope that you all had an excellent weekend and an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. Mary and I spent the day with friends in Anchorage. The company and food were both excellent. While we missed family and friends across the "lower 48," we had a happy day.

We did see two movies this weekend - Twilight (Mary and I both read the book), movie is good, true to the story but I thought it left out key details in the story telling due to time constraints. We also saw - Bolt...destined to be a classic...ok, maybe not, but it was cute! The hamster was too funny.

We hope you all know this...but it always is worth repeating - Mary and I are truly thankful for the wonderful people (family and friends) across the country who enrich our lives on a daily basis! Our lives would be very different without each of you.

Enjoy the pictures. Take care - and Happy Holidays!

Three weeks until we are in San Diego!

"The Boys"

Mary seems to be sitting in Nikan's "spot." He is waiting for her to move...

This was Mko's bed - I was going to get rid of it, but "the boys" claimed it before I could. Finding a best home for it has been the issue - but this location seems to be working for all of us.
They can often be found sleeping together on the bed when Mary and Nikan are home. Bruno usually tucks into the bed each morning as I leave for work.

3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer

Congratulations to Connie for completing the 3-Day Walk this weekend. We wish we could have been there as she came across the finish line. What a great accomplishement - 60 miles in 3 days - we are so proud!

BooBoo and Mary

Winter Wonderland

At 6:30am a light snow was just beginning to fall as I let the dogs out for their morning business. Of course at that hour on a Saturday morning - it was then back to bed for all. Currently it is a nice 19 degress with a light snow falling at 9:40am.

The big task of the day is finding Pet Safe Ice Melt in Seward and at some point getting the deck and a section of the yard shoveled for the boys. Also seems like a perfect day to see how many flys I can tie. I know Mary will be making Stainglass Humming Birds, as she recently sold a bunch and has some costume orders to get done. What a life!

Hope all is well! Ginger

Things to be thankful for today!

California Supreme Court has agreed to hear 3 lawsuits regarding the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8, Senator Ted Stevens was defeated in his bid for reelection and a long weekend is quickly approaching.

The big decision of the week - does Mary come to Seward or do I go to Anchorage for the weekend...oh the horror of it all!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Ginger

I am now sure of it...WINTER has arrived - we woke up to a few inches of snow this morning...and it is snowing again. We will have to watch for the breaks in snow today as Mary is heading back to Anchorage...

Walking around the neighborhood today - We got a dumping of snow on Thursday. The last two days have been beautful - sunny and crisp.

Resurrection Bay
First Lake - a couple of blocks from our house. We didn't spend anytime on this trail during the summer and fall due to black and brown bear sightings. The lake is not quite frozen.

Mary and the boys

Self-portrait? My arms are not quite long enough. :-)

Daylight

Total daylight hours - 7 hours, 49 minutes, 35 seconds
Loss of daylight today - 5 minutes, 17 seconds

Sunrise 8:48am

Sunset 4:37pm

Fly tying is my new winter hobby - It is the coolest! Enjoy the pictures

Comets - Fresh Water Salmon

Royal Coachman - Freshwater Salmon, Trout
Shrimp - Saltwater Salmon

View from my office this morning at 9am :-)

Elections

I am excited about our President-elect Obama! It is about time for a change. I am sad over the passing of Prop 8 in California. I don't understand people's fears and the need to override the constitutional rights of a minority of people. It is a sad and disappointing day for California and those of us who "legally" married or want to marry.

On another note, Governor Palin has to return to Alaska and state politics. I wonder if her ego will allow her to stay put or if she will look to national politics in a few years. The media is all a buzz but who knows what will happen? She certainly has challenges to face in Alaska as her popularity rating has declined though not enough for AK to go Blue in this election. Darn it.

Have a great day and keep positive about the future! Mary

HOPE

Watching the election returns, I am overcome with a new sense of HOPE for our country. I am a realist - change takes time and our country did not get into the current economic situation over night...but I have a feeling that we may find a road to recovery under new leadership (although it will be long and hard)

Still waiting the hear about Proposition 8 in California and the Senatoral race in Alaska (Beigch vs. Stevens)

Happy Halloween

Mary, at work, in her halloween costume...and yes that is lipstick and makeup!

Daylight Saving Time this Weekend...

October 30, 2008

Total Daylight Today: 8 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds

Daylight loss today: 5 minutes, 31 seconds

Sunrise: 9:23am

Sunset: 6:01pm

The Seward Principals

David (the king) - Seward Elementary

Trevan (the Tall guy) - Seward Middle

Ginger (asking - Where am I?) - Seward High

Wayne (Knight) - Spring Creek Correctional Center (Maximum Securty Prison) and Moose Pass School

Just to give you the true effect!

Trevan is 6' 8'' (reminder - I am 4' 10'')

Life is good!

Winter has arrived and the bears are still awake!

The boys waiting for Mary to wake up...

Colder temperatures have settled in along with some nasty winds this week (that returned today). We got a sprinkling of snow yesterday but skies seems to have cleared this morning. We will see for how long? Winter darkness has also slowly creeped in - I noticed daylight arriving at roughly 8:30am - as I was going out to the store for eggs and items for making chicken/vegetable soup (tonight's dinner - yum). I don't mind the darkness too much, it just makes it hard to know when to get up without an alarm. This is the reverse problem of summer when one of my friends sets an alarm for 9pm so that with all the daylight she knows when to go to bed.

The big news of the week is the on-going saga of the bears. They have not had enough to eat this summer and therefore are still out "looking for food" before turning in for the winter. So here is what I know - there are at least three bears in town. (we are down one - keep reading)

Two weeks ago our neighbor's new puppy refused to go outside for her last busy doing of the night. Gary being a smart Alaskan - went into the garage and got in his car to go check things out. When pulling out of the garage, into the driveway - his lights found a large black bear between his fence and his garage having dinner from his garbage cans. (We have bear proof cans - one of which we am currently loaning to Gary and MaryAlice). Needless to say - Gary drove back into the garage and scrambled into the house for the night. The bear did finally move on.

On Tuesday of this week - bears were wondering just a couple of blocks from the house, as reported by friends out walking. Apparently this didn't set well with one "dude" who decided to go bow hunting in town for the bears. (Yes - it is legal to use your bow in town to kill animals - but most sane people do this to protect life and property. Not this rebel - he was "hunting" in town). He did shoot and hit a bear a couple of blocks from our house (mid-day), because it was not a kill shot (which ticks me off) the bear ran three blocks (now around the corner from our house) and ran up a tree in a yard. I am thinking this bear was probably pretty pissed off at this point. The "hunter" tracked the bear to the yard, fired one or two more arrows finally getting a kill shot, dropping the bear from the tree. (I tell you if it had been my yard, that bear would have been mine, because I would have been so mad that I would not have let him trespass onto our property. And I have friends who would have taken the bear for me) - So we are down one bear in town and I am thankful that no humans were hit by stray arrows

Moving through the week - Wednesday morning found "the big bear" going through a locked door a few blocks away into a house, in the early morning hours. I hear it walked around for a few minutes and left. The people in the house were alseep. That same morning a bear, could be the same one, tried to get into the AvTech Culinary Dorms (across the street from our house). And that same morning about 5am - a smaller black bear wandered into the Holiday Inn Express at the harbor. Seems he was checking out the trash can when the automatic doors opened - this one was kind enough to pee in the hotel before leaving.

Needless to say - we are doing a "yard check" before letting the dogs out to do their thing. I sure don't want our boys coming nose to nose with one of these hungry guys. I am not sure either one of them has the good sense to run away.

Fun up north

Mary's work is having an office decorating contest for Holloween. I got the tour of office's today. Check it out! (click here)

Election News

I have worked hard not to include political commentary on the bog but I can no longer hold back...I was a strong Hillary supporter and had a very difficult time getting behind Obama (even though he would be getting my vote) However, after watching the third and final presidential debate of this election season I was won over by Obama. I finally felt that he provided a vision for the future (short and long term) that will impact the majority of the inhabitants on this planet (regardless of political affiliation).

I think Colin Powell stated it nicely on Meet the Press this morning when he endorsed Obama.

So when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career. We’ve got
two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the
president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the
nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of
his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because
he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical
abilities – and we have to take that into account – as well as his substance. He
has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful
president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational
figure. He is a new generation coming in to the world, on to the world stage, on
to the American stage. And for that reason, I’ll be voting for Senator Barack
Obama.

Time passes so quickly

It has been a busy two weeks...

Mary and I are doing well, settling into "winter" mode. We have had some snow already this month (more in Anchorage than Seward) but a few days of sun has helped to lift our moods. Mary is busy with extra curricular fun in Anchorage such as decorating her office for holloween, (her and her office mate having really gotten into it), taking a pastel drawing class and working with Nikan in obedience training. I on the other hand am busy with work, getting and staying well and learning to tie flies for next summer's fishing season.

I am currently in Anchorage for the state principal's conference - enjoyng the time with Mary and both dogs.

Lazy Saturday Morning

Today finds us hanging out on a cool, wet winter day. (Of course it is 10am, Mary is still alseep - awake late into the morning reading I am sure). The clouds are covering the mountian tops, gently covering them with another layer of snow.

Mt. Marathon recieved an ever so light dusting of snow yesterday afternoon which seems to signal the official beginning of winter in Seward. This week brought clear weather but colder tempeatures. (low 30's in the morning) I actually had frost on my windows one morning - had to go in the house to grab the ice scrapper.

We have yet to put the studded tires on the cars, although this is not to far off - but I did take the boat to its winter home last night. Our friends Trevan and Shelly (he is the middle school principal, she teaches for me) are storing the boat and motor for the winter as they have a huge yard and a heated garage (means I don't have to winterize the motor).

Hey Mary is up!

A small funny to the boat delivery - I took Nikan and Bruno with on the outting - my mistake came in thinking it was a "quick trip" and not crating them. As I was backing the boat into place Trevan arrived home. I got out of the car, leaving it running to verify where to put the boat...When we went to get back in the car...to boys had locked the doors - Did I mention the car and the boat were still in the road! Called Mary for the extra key while Trevan unhooked the boat and pushed it into place. As long as we were at the Walkers, Moose steaks, twice baked potatoes...and some guitar hero rounded out the night.

Today's pictures are my first attempt at flytying. One of our current Friday afternoon enrichment classes is Beginning Flytying. Until we get archery equipment - I am free to explore...of course provided other "duties" don't call me in another direction. So yesterday I went to the class for a lesson. I plan to try my hand at a few more flies this weekend - practice, practice, practice.

A catapilar (or Wooly Bugger)

A Leech

An Egg Sucking Leech (not my best)

A Fine (dry) Fall Day...

After days (and weeks) of rain, we find ourselves with a fine fall weekend. The weather is crisp and cool - with clear sunny skies. (The high in the state today was in Cooper Landing - 40 minutes away...62 degrees). The past week or so brought with it "Termination Dust" which is the dusting of snow on the mountain tops. That snow is moving down the mountains and we know winter is not too far off. In the mean time we are enjoying the dry weekend...

The slide show (click here) is pictures from Ralph and Ron's visit to Alaska. After a cruise of the Inside Passage, R & R spent a week with us in both Anchorage and Seward. We had a wonderful visit and look forward to their return. We hear they will be back as they were so, so struck with the beauty of this great land.

Immediately below you will find - pictures from Ronn Hemstock's plane. For those who have not heard Hemstock's name before, he is my shop/cooking teacher. I was afraid that after he took me up with Heidi and I "threw up" for 55 minutes until touching ground, that he would never take me up again...but not so - we need a new picture of the high school now that the "old building" has been torn down. So here are a couple of shots from the air - also a shot of our house a few blocks aways.

View of all three school. The high school is top center above football field), moving across/down to the right is the middle school and further down on the right is the elementary school. (Follow the road). By the way - the road does not connect all three schools - there is a gate between the middle and high school. I actually have to go out to the main road to drive to these school. But I often walk to the middle school as it is just 50 short yards aways.

Seward High School

Seward High School (different angle)

This is our house (the yellow one)

Our House (different view)

Bear Pictures

As promised here are a few pictures from the bear skinning lesson a couple of weeks ago in our Outdoor Education class.



Coming tomorrow: pictures from our visit with Ralph and Ron - what a great time!



Bear Pictures (click here)

Only in Alaska

I came back to work today after spending 24+ hours with the Student Council at a meeting in Homer to this email from yesterday.

The Police Department just called. They will be setting off seal bombs west of Seward Elementary…basically behind the building where the big playground is. There are two moose that apparently have some students trapped. Please don’t go outside with your students today. And, alert your kids so that when they go for lunch, they aren’t in an unsafe area.

Not a happy request (to stay indoors) after days and days of rain - it was a dry day yesterday...I also understand that these same two moose were engaging in "foreplay" at the high school on the grass areas around the flag pole (outside my window). Came just short of a "biology lesson."

Hope everyone is doing fine!

And...

I think that big bright thing just coming over the mountians is...the sun!

Finally...

after 16 straight days of rain in Seward, I woke to (almost) cloudless skies. The fall colors are here and as anticipated are spectacular! Ralph and Ron are visiting this week, my hope is that the next bout of rain holds off for a couple of days so that they may see the true beauty of Seward. (They are still in Anchorage with Mary, coming to Seward tomorrow night)

Late Night Adventures

Lots of things have happened since my last post- where does the time go...

The Outdoor Ed group (part of Friday advisory) learned how to skin a bear last Friday. (Pictures to follow but will put in slide show in case you don't want to view)

Seems that I may have broken my right thumb on Saturday. Let's just say I "feel" - down a group of boulders. I am very thankful it was only my thumb because the potential for greater injury was huge! Including coming to a stop in 28 degree water in Resurrection Bay. We will know more on Monday when they take another xray - for now the splint is a minor inconvience.

The week is a blur - and here I sit on a Friday night - at school - at 11:20pm...As the Student Government Advisor I am responsible for the chaperoning set-up/clean-up of the Homecoming Dance. The Student Government puts on the first dance of the year (Homecoming). The good news - my group is only required dance of the year...(Sophmores = Winter Formal, Juniors = Prom, and they have their own group of advisorys). However, last year the Stu Gov did begin a tradition by doing a benefit dance - donating the proceeds to a group/person. (that makes two dances a year - uhm)

We are so late tonight in our decorating because most of the kids are on the cross country team and we had a big home meet today. It included - elementary, middle and high school teams. Lots of fun...but it ran until 8pm. Afterwards - I got pizzas and the work began...stopping at midnight - finish tomorrow. For the record, I never would have done this with middle school kiddos! High School kids need only minimual directions. We have a great group of kids this year, who are finding support and help from our newly formed "Spirit Club"

Big homecoming weekend! Go Seahawks!

Still trying to figure out how I am going to renew my CPR certification on Sunday with this thumb...but much to do before that problems presents itself. :-)

Finally - it has been raining for 12 straight days...no real end in sight. Today the dogs doaned their yellow rain slickers and we went for a walk in the rain. FALL HAS ARRIVED!

Later -

Truth be told!

Gov. Palin is a cutie, that's for sure...but her politics are so far "right" of mine we may not really be in the same time zone! My vote will not be for McCain...even with Palin on the ticket.

on a side note - she is doing some good things as the Governor...but...

Labor Day Camping/Fishing Trip

The long weekend brought the opportunity to take the motorhome and boat on an outing. Acting on the recommendation of a fellow principal we camped at Hidden Lake over the long weekend. Hoping to reel in some nice Lake Trout. Saturday brought one of the best days of summer to the Kenai Peninsula.

Our friends Karen and Joey joined us for the weekend in their new trailer - what fun. We took the boat out on Hidden Lake (check out the pictures) all day Saturday. What a day! The weather could not have been better - no wind and lots of sun! Unfortunately the weather turned on Sunday making fishing and boating less than desirable. After a brief stint (very brief) on Skilak Lake we headed for camp and an afternoon filled with games (and Guitar Hero).

We hope that you all had an enjoyable holiday weekend. Enjoy the pictures!

Walking a very large animal

Ok, I had to tell you about this. The other day after work, several of us went to the Park Strip near downtown Anchorage to play soccer. I played goalie so I didn't have to run around too much. Anyway I was leaving and noticed across the park what looked like a very large animal being walked on a leash. Thinking it was too large for a dog, I strained harder to catch a closer look. Antlers! Ok, someone was walking a reindeer in the park. Later I found out it is a locally known pet reindeer name Star. (there have been several Stars over the years) These folks keep it in their yard near downtown, don't know what that was all about but it is the strangest thing I've seen yet out and about in urban Anchorage. Only in Alaska... And for those of you who don't know this bit of trivia, reindeer (at least in AK) are domesticated caribou. Actually, a reading I did on Alaska History talked about bringing reindeer to Alaska to domesticate them for the Native populations to raise, eat, whatever and they wandered off, mixed in with the caribou and got friendly and now you have their descendents.
Looking forward to our camping weekend, boating, fishing and playing games. Hope you all have a good one too! Mary

Total daylight today - 14 hours, 33 minutes, 28 seconds
Today's daylight loss - 5 minutes, 38 seconds (do the math that is more than 35 minutes a week)

Sunrise 6:42am
Sunset 9:16pm

Getting dark about 10:30pm

Of course we had a lot of rain this summer so it seems to have been a perpetual fall like summer...

Going camping for the Labor Day weekend - Hidden Lake...taking the boat out for some trout fishing. YEA!

Vist again for pictures after the weekend.

Top of the World - Barrow, Alaska

Home now - first day of school has come and gone...

This narrative is from Saturday night 08-16-08

Today finds me in Barrow, Alaska (with our football team). Some of you may know that when I began looking for a job in Alaska that Barrow was the first place I applied. However, Mary made it abundantly clear that we would not than, now or ever live in Barrow (or any bush school for that matter). So the opportunity to travel with the team came up again this year I decided to make the journey.

What a journey - The school bus carrying our team and coaches left Seward at 7am on Friday morning for an 11am flight to Fairbanks. It is significant to note the the flight to Fairbanks is less than an hour. This put us to our layover destination at around noon - for a 5:50pm connecting flight to Barrow (arriving at 7:20pm).

...from time to time life doesn't go as planned and the journey north was an adventure. We boarded to the plane for Barrow Friday night as planned and we were have way to Barrow (1hr 20min flight) when the pilot announced that we were having a problem with a sensor on a wing flap requiring that we go back to Fairbanks for maintenance.

We arrived back in Fairbanks, disembarked and waited...about an 1 hour later the sensor was fixed and we boarded the plane only to wait 1/2hr while the thunder and lighting rain storm that began just after we finished loading passed over us. Finally we were cleared for take-off - the engines were fired up...2 minutes later they were powered down and the pilot announced that our flight had been canceled! (and no one seems to know why).

So...along with everyone else on the "full" plane - 3 coaches, 17 high school football players and I headed downstairs to claim our luggage, rebook our fight for the morning and get hotel reservations (and transportation) for the airlines. The good news is that the airline got a bigger plane for the morning to accommodate us all and gave us enough hotels rooms to give everyone there out bed. The not so good is that we had been in the airport since noon and need to feed very hungry teenage boys and get them to bed. Thank you for Pizza Hut and a very nice lady from the place who offered to help me - she took me to Pizza Hut to get 10 pizza's (and a salad for me) and took me to my hotel before she went home so she could also get up for the morning flight to Barrow. It was 12:30am when I closed my eyes...5:30am came sooo quickly.

The problem is that Barrow has two flights out of Fairbanks - 9:30am and 5:50pm...we had to be on the morning flight in order to play football that afternoon. I would like to say that we arrived at the airport and got on our flight at the scheduled time...but no such luck. We arrived at the airport only to discover that our flight had been delayed because we could not land in DeadHorse due to fog - you see the morning flight is not a direct flight to Barrow....so at 9:30am when we finally we cleared for take-off...we arrived in Barrow at 11:30am...game at 3:30pm - big loss 54-8 - go figure after the last 24 hours.

I did hear that we missed an 11 foot Polar Bear at the end of town last night. Hoping to see one tonight while out and about with a teacher from Barrow.

We head home tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed. (By the way - we were delayed two hours leaving Barrow due to weather 08-21-08)

The view down the road as you leave the "airport"

Whale skulls on the beach by the football field

Visitors bleachers - Watch your step :-)

Artic Ocean - What a view!

Tundra on the "Top of the World"

My Guitar Hero

(Thanks Darren and Erika for the great gift)

A good round of Guitar Hero deserves a nap

Yesterday marked the beginning of the annual Silver Salmon Derby in Seward. We had to go down to the harbor again today to check on the hall from the local fleet.

While this 16.45lb seems huge...the current leader is 16.89lbs. The silver salmon turned into the derby are sold to the local fisheries and hatcheries.

Safari Fishing Charters had a good haul today - including this octopus. The guy who caught it told me he got it up and in pretty quick it was just "really heavy" and "a lot of work."

Yea! The 2008 Summer Olympics has arrived to the world stage. The opening ceremonies were stunning. I often found myself standing in front of the TV with my mouth hanging open. While there were many highlights including the 2000 opening drummers. I think that the moving "printing blocks" were the most mind boggling. Particularly when it was reveled at the end of the segment that it was powered by over 1000 people. WOW! I can not imagine the mind power (and people power - 15,000 with no one person appearing twice) that went into making this opening ceremony happen. The massive LCD panel - what can I say.

Swimming begins tomorrow - If our rain comes back tomorrow as predicted watching the competition is where I may pass the time. The Silver Salmon Derby begins tomorrow. I will be making a trip down to the harbor in the morning just to check the fishing report. Hoping the Silvers are in the bay. May do some fishing off the shore. Silvers are the most aggressive of the salmon species and put up a good fight so they are fun to catch.

The past week and next week find me on the road more than at home. All for work! So much so that Nikan and Bruno have been staying with Mary in Anchorage. This travel period will end with a 3 day trip to Barrow next weekend with our football team. Check back for pictures because I will be taking my camera. Barrow is the northern most point of North America and the first place I applied to for a job in Alaska. Mary nixed that one...seems she felt that the "cons" were more compelling than the "pros."

Hope all is well with everyone...

Two Weddings and more...

Back in Seward after 9 days in sunny San Diego. Although I wish Mary could have been there the entire time, the trip was a great way to end my summer vacation.

• Bachelorette party for Heidi in Temecula at wineries,
• A splendid day at the Glen Ivy spa with Connie (twin sister - great idea for our birthday),
• Visit with Diane and parents - great to see old friends :-)
• Padre game w/Heidi (thanks Gina for the tickets)
• Amber (niece) turned 10 years old on July 30 (yea - great show by dolphin just past the break water),
• Mom's piano lesson - what fun...,
• Mary and I got married on Aug 1 (wow - after 18 years together) Happy B-Day Darren,
• Heidi and Bill got married on Aug 2 (hurrah).

What a great visit! Enjoy the pictures - more to come when I get them off of Mary's computer.

Family Group Shot (although I am missing Len and Emily, will need to replace when I find another in the files) :-(

The "Newlyweds" at Heidi and Bill's Wedding Reception

Mr. and Mrs. Lyon

Mary's Fishing Update

Quick update on fishing in Alaska! Ginger and I took the dogs, two friends (Karen and Joey) and the motorhome over to Kasilof River on the Kenai Peninsula to go dipnetting for sockeye (red) salmon this past weekend. We were out at the river from about 10:30am till 9 pm on Saturday. We caught 8 fish total. Not a large amount considering we had 2 to 4 nets in the water at any one time. People were catching but nobody was limiting (25 per head of household plus 10 per family member) out.

We did have a good time and met some nice, some weird, and some interesting people. One guy makes his own nets and loaned us two. He uses copper pipes which are heavy but the size of the net is effective. Although 12 feet long, our new nets still aren't quite big enough (diameter) so Ginger plans to make use of the shop at school to construct some bigger nets for us this winter to use next year.

There was some excitement when two people caught king salmon in their nets. The kings have to be released since it is illegal to catch and keep them when dipnetting. The first was probably a 20# fish but the second was the size of a miniature horse or at least a goat (60 to 70#). Imagine having the animal swim into your net (you feel the hit at the end of the net) and than pulling it out of the water and up onto the beach. Wow! The guy who caught it worked really fast to get it out of the net and back in the water. Even if he wanted to keep it, I am sure it was too big not to be conspicuous.

The weather cooperated and we actually had some blue sky and we all came home with sunburnt faces. (yes, even in Alaska). We are planning another motorhome camping trip with the boat over Labor Day to a place outside of Anchorage called Big Lake. The lake has rainbow trout, silver salmon and the evil northern pike which tends to eat the other fish and take over. So we will see how good the fishing is.

Rainy in Anchorage today but I'm back to work so who cares. Everyone is complaining that we aren't having much of a summer but the weather forecasters are saying this is more on the normal side, cloudy, rainy, etc. rather than 70 degree days Anchorage had last year. What I find is activities like bicycling, baseball, softball that when it rains, would stop people in So. Calif., folks here just keep on going. Otherwise we might never get outside to play if we wait for the rain to stop! Those of you who have visited know what we mean. Those of you who haven't visited, get your bums up here.

Ok folks that's it for now. Back to work, lots to do...!

Time passes so quickly

Can't believe that my last post was June 22...the days have been busy - I hope you all had a great 4th of July. Mary and I traveled to Cape Cod for the 4th to visit with our best buds - Sue and Susan. It was a great trip!

There were many highlights - including a trip to a working organic cranberry bog...learned lots of cool things, such as - cranberries are "dry harvested" and "wet harvested." The wet havested technique is a second harvest and these berry can only be used for juice and jams. The berries found in the produce section as whole berries and/or cranraisins arrive in stores through the dry harvest.

Back in Seward and Anchorage - our friends at Puffin Charter were nice enough to take me out on a combo trip that was not full last week (halibut and silver salmon) as always when I am fishing it was a blast (and a beautiful day). Summer is quickly passing with lots of fishing, gardening and Alaska Baseball League games...plenty to keep us busy. Gotta run for now - I hear through the grapevine that the King Salmon are still at the water fall - high tide is 11:30pm and my snagging hook is begging to hit the water.

Dipping netting this weekend complete with camping (full hookups) - report to follow...

Later Ginger

Sockeye and Snagging

The weekend was a one good with fishing on the Kenai River yesterday in the drift boat with our friends Karen and Joey followed by snagging today in Seward. Mary and I walked away with 7 sockeye today. (limit for the two of us would have been 12 - so it was a good day). I am proud to say that Mary caught two huge fish today - wish we had pictures...

It was a great weekend with friends and fishing!

Gardening - will the fun never end...

Nikan (on couch) and Bruno spent most of the day between this window and the windows in the dining room watching my work...wondering when I was going to come in and play with them.

I spent to better part of the last two days working outside in my flower beds. Spring finally arrived at a time when I could not get out to address the weeds as they appeared...so yesterday and this morning was about weeding and readying the flower beds for planting. The weeds and dandelions were out of control - pretty yellow but not the "wild" look I was after. (mowing the lawn this morning helped with the "kept yard" look I was going for). This afternoon was all about planting. I managed to finish one audio book and get a good way through another while working the last two days. The green house has helped with my gardening endeavors this year - currently it houses a number of veggie and strawberry plants. Can't wait for my bounty!

Tomorrow is my reward for a job well done - fly fishing on the Kenai River. :-)