Let There Be Light!

Wow…I cannot believe that I’ve been here one full year. Do you remember that last year at this time I was sooo homesick!

It’s been one of the most interesting years I can remember. I have learned a bit more about myself and what I think I want over the next couple years and I continue to enjoy the little wonders of the area. Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized during my December trip to Seattle how anxious I was to get back home.

Catching glimpses of winter wildlife is quite unusual but now that spring is here, there is a lot more to be seen. There is evidence that there was a moose in the front yard yesterday, bear will soon be leaving their dens and one of these days I will suddenly realize that I'm hearing the songs of the birds and not just the wonderful vocal range of raven. I also now have a better appreciation of why residents are so glad when break up begins to take place!

Daylight hours are back up to over 12 hours each day with a gain of close to 6 minutes each day. I didn't realize I'd been so "starved" for daylight until it seemed to suddenly be back in my life after being in Seattle and Maui for over two weeks.

I have now experienced two solstice extremes and if I had to say one was more memorable and awesome than the other it would be summer solstice. Winter solstice was awesome in it’s own right but it really didn’t feel much different than an overcast Seattle winter day when there isn’t much light in the sky. To experienced the shortest daylight time of the year I went to the furthest north place I was could (Fairbanks).

Here is a picture of Denali from the north taken around 3:30 in the afternoon. Hmmm, to the untrained eye it looks kind of the same as from the south. How many pictures of trees and sunsets can one person take?! :0)

Fairbanks is fairly flat so I had a good view of the late morning sunrise and, soon-thereafter, sunset from the 3rd floor of my hotel room. I sat at the window knitting and reading from just before 11:00 a.m. until 2:30 or so p.m. and the sun managed to rise maybe 20 degrees or less above the horizon.

Thankfully there was very little snow and the roads were quite clear so I was able to get some driving in. I visited North Pole during my quick trip so I could mail a Christmas card to a special 9-year old and took the long drive out to Chena Hot Springs. Speaking of not very much snow...I heard on the radio the other day that snowfall in the Fairbanks area was close to 40-inches less this winter that normal and is the 3rd lowest in recorded history.

During my two-day stay, I experienced -35 degree temperatures as I gingerly made my way to and from the rental car. Pardon my French but, DAMN, it was cold. The rental car agency supplies, and highly recommends renters make use of, a heavy duty power cord. If a person doesn’t plug the car in and the battery dies, they are on their own! After deplaning from the small passenger plane back at Anchorage the weather felt downright balmy at 21 degrees.

The picture of the spruce trees was captured on the way to Chena Hot Springs. They are close to 100 ft tall!

Anchorage experienced a somewhat unusual winter as well. Snowfall was much less than normal, we had very few days with extremely snowy or icy roads and most of the winter I was driving with studded tires on dry pavement…not a good thing. I miss that we didn’t have much snow because I was actually looking forward to shoveling the driveway so I would look buff in my sleeveless shirts this summer but, alas, I’ve had to take other measures to work on the arm muscles. I'm fairly sure that I only had to shovel the drive for a total of 30 days or less all winter and now it’s over. I do regret that I didn’t take advantage of the really good snowfall we had early in the season to build a snowperson when I had the chance. I was going to put an old Starbucks apron (shhh, don’t tell) on her before I put her head on.

With such a small amount of snowfall the ceremonial start of Iditarod, which took place on March 6 in downtown Anchorage, occurred on streets filled with trucked-in snow. It was fun attending the event and observing the dogs, their handlers and the set ups that are used. You know how many parades begin with a police escort on motorcycles or in patrol cars. The Iditarod started with police officers on snowmobiles!

I hope this post doesn't seem too disjointed. It felt that way when I was writing and editing but if I continued to attempt to perfect it I'd never get done (one of the reasons I've not posted much lately...this takes more than a little bit of time and it's way past my bedtime!). If you've gotten this far, thanks for persisting!

I'm glad to have been able to see many of you during my recent trips and hope to catch up at a later time with those of you I missed.

TTFN!

Monochrome and Sunset

Winter Color in Alaska can be summed up in two words;
monochrome and sunsets.
When the sky is clear, the colors of the sunrise, and the soon-to-follow sunset, are the most brilliant I have ever seen. Between sunsrise and sunset, and on cloudy or foggy days, I live in a monochrome world.

Over the last several days the Anchorage area has been experiencing ice fog which clings to surfaces as Hoar Frost. The effect of the landscape is like nothing I've ever seen. Ice crystals build upon one another creating a lacy look on deciduous trees and a well-flocked look to conifers. Hand rails, tree trunks, and BBQs left out over the winter are marked with the frost and tree branches droop from the weight.

Next weekend I’m going to be in Fairbanks to experience December Solstice only 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It is the northernmost logical place to be for the occasion without paying ½ a month’s salary (I’m exaggerating a little, but not much!) to fly up to Barrow to experience full darkness. There will be close to 2 hours less daylight in the Fairbanks area, in comparison to Anchorage. Sunrise on Dec 20 will be at 10:58 AM and sunset will be at 2:39 PM for a total of 3 hours, 42 minutes of daylight.
I’m taking a good book and my knitting with me!

Border Collie wearing "mittens"

Catch-up: My Summer Vacation

(part uno/un)


My first Alaska summer was amazing! I kept busy with fishing, gardening, photography, enjoying cool sunny days, rainy days and finally, vacationing con mi hija, Kyla

Kyla is the first person to visit me in my new home. She spent nine days here and we had a wonderful time traveling the South Central region of Alaska. She arrived late on a Friday night and, armed with fishing gear and a non-resident fishing license for her, we hit the ground running early Saturday morning as we headed out to my favorite fishing spot; Resurrection Creek at the town of Hope. Hope is where I caught my first pink salmon and where, it is rumored, a person can get the best homemade pie in the area .

We wanted to get to Hope early enough (an hour or so before high tide) for Kyla to witness the speed and depth at which a high tide invades the creek. The extreme changes usually occur within a few days of the new moon or the full moon so timing was perfect for Kyla to be able to witness the extremes. The change in water level,is so rapid it feels as if the changes occur within the time it takes to look…turn your back and walk several yards, then look again.

This time of year the creek is brimming with salmon that are dying as they attempt to return to the place of their “birth”. Upon seeing the fish lying on their sides in the shallows, breathing their last breaths and knowing that with the receding tide they would be left for the gulls, Kyla’s first reaction was to push them into deeper water. She knew it was a futile effort but was reluctant to just watch.
You can see by the picture at the top of this post, the tide was quite high and not much later (left) the gulls had a place to land and have a feast. The creek banks are made up of glacial silt and are very slippery. The water, right after the tide comes in is very gray from the silt.

While the gulls were having their breakfast, we went the Hope’s only café for our...eggs, homefries and reindeer sausage. We took a large piece of banana cream pie to go but only got as far as inside the car before we ate it. Oh, my gosh…it was heavenly!! After pie, we slowly made our way back to Anchorage, stopping at Whittier and the famous rapidly receding Portage Glacier .

To get to Whittier we drove through the tunnel that is only big enough for one-way train traffic. Kyla took video (you'll turn your head 1/2 way through :0). Imagine riding through a tunnel that is only 16 feet wide (including egress side walk) by 21 feet high. Jet engine fans help ventilate

the tunnel. More tunnel facts can be found at: http://www.dot.state.ak.us/creg/whittiertunnel/tundesign.shtml. Other than by water or hiking, the only way to get to Whittier is through this train tunnel. There are queue lines, just like Washington State Ferry lines, where a person waits with their vehicle until the schedule allows vehicles from their direction to proceed through the tunnel. Many a person has been stranded in Whittier because they didn't make it out of town before the tunnel closed for the night. To mark the occasion, T-shirts are available for purchase that have "POW" on the front. It stands for "Prisoner of Whittier".

Whittier is on Prince William Sound. It's population is 159 (as noted in July 2008), has fish processing plants and is a stop for cruise ships. People who come in on cruise ships generally get on a tour bus to Anchorage or take advantage of the wares and services (kayaking, glacier cruises, etc.) that are available in the many small one-room buildings that are open only during the summer tourist season.

Back in WWII times, large high-rise buildings were constructed to house military personnel. Along with living spaces, the buildings contained everything a city needed…movie theatre, swimming pool, bowling alley, etc. They are now abandoned and for safety reasons are marked to keep trespassing to a minimum.

Much to my chagrin Kyla went inside with her camera and a flashlight with near dead batteries while I waited in the car hoping she wouldn’t fall through a rotting floor or trip and land on a rusty nail. I breathed a sigh of relief when she appeared at the car window many long minutes later. While she was inside she took some shots in the dark and realized when the flash went off that she was on the stage in the theatre. She also got some that she thinks is the theatre snack counter.

On the way back to Anchorage from Whittier, we stopped to see Portage Glacier. Kyla went into the visitor center while I took a nap in the car. It was the second-to-last stop of a long but very enjoyable day and a preview of the next eight. The last stop was at the Moose’s Tooth pizza place for a “Backpackers” pizza with added bacon, delicious salad (their house basil vinagrette is to die for) and dessert I won’t order in the future. Some weirdly textured lemon cake-thing.

Tomorrow…We're off to Denali National Park for three days!!!

Blog Catch-Up: Fishing at Hope, AK

July 2009

My first non-charter boat Alaska fishing experience was in July this year at Resurrection Creek, situated in the community of Hope, AK, approximately 1.5 hours from Anchorage. In preparation for the adventure, I had spent a couple of months asking questions and getting advice about which pole(s) to buy and what I should get for my tackle box. People love to give advice and it was fun to hear the fish stories that were always part of the exchange. In spite of all the information I’d received, I was self conscious, on my first time out, about appearing to be a newbie. In retrospect I think that the Birkenstocks and khaki skirt probably gave me away long before I threw the first cast.

I’d heard a lot about “combat” fishing and hoped that wasn’t what I was about to encounter and as I got closer to the creek, I knew I’d be okay. There were a lot of people there but many were children who were receiving instruction from a parent or grandparent. I would fit right in!

My fishing pole was brand new so I’d never cast it and the conditions of the river/creek were unlike anything I’d fished before so I realized (in retrospect) that with my first cast, I got a bite! I thought I’d gotten snagged on a rock so gave the pole a healthy yank and almost snagged my fishing neighbor with the treble hook that was attached to the end of my line. I learned quickly why people use eyewear while fishing.

With my second cast I got one hooked and it began dragging me downstream! I yelled “YIKES”, or something of the sort, as I was being pulled away from where I’d established a not too firm footing. Because it was only my second cast I wasn’t tired so was able to stay upright as I stumbled down the rocky riverbed with my arms fully extended trying to hang onto the pole. Other fisherpeople were lifting their poles and lines so I could run under without getting tangled. One guy yelled “tighten the drag” so I did except I'd turned it the wrong way and he yelled to me to turn it the other way. What a fiasco…so much for not looking like the newbie!

I finally managed to figure out the drag and bring the fish in before it had a chance to pull me into the water. As it turned out it was only a 3-4 lb pink salmon that I'd snagged in the tail. That explained why it had made a bee line downstream toward the mouth of the creek. If it had been a Silver, a Red or a King I’m confident I’d have been face first in the river with my Birkenstocks and my pole getting away from me as quickly as the fish and the river could take them.

Because I’d snagged the fish, I was not able to keep it and for the next 6 plus hours I fished while watching and learning from other people. At the end of the day I had the pleasure of cleaning a grand total of two fish. In the past, the only other fish I’d ever caught (that was large enough to even try to fillet) was a jack salmon on the Snohomish River over 20 years ago. I don’t remember being the one to clean it so when it came to cleaning those I caught on this day, I watched several people use different techniques and got step-by-step instructions from a very patient man who was cleaning the fish he and his family had caught. I had decided that I would not waste any of the fish so, other than the innards and the head, I took the entire thing home and made soup out of it. Sorry, I don’t have any pictures of my itsy, bitsy fish.

On the way to Hope

Above: Mud flats of Turnagain Arm

Below right: Fireweed aglow

Below left: Mountains and valley

The second time I went fishing I went to the same place and was almost stranded in my hip waders by the quick rising water levels of a bore tide (the extreme tides near the time of the new and full moons). The second experience was not as fruitful and I became frustrated after losing setup after setup. I talked to both Kyla and Ryan that evening and they each pointed out that my attitude needed an adjustment. They were right. Just because I drove 3 hours round-trip to go fishing didn’t mean that I was entitled. Others around me were catching their limits and going home while I stayed on and became more and more frustrated in my determination to go home with a fish, damn it!! During the phone conversation with Ryan he told me that on his trip down the west coast (with the boat that was headed to the Panama Canal) he would sing to the fish and he caught more fish than anyone else. Both he and Kyla reminded me that the earth is free to give or not give.

So, the third time I went fishing I sang to the fish and, after having whacked them on the top of the head with a rock to knock them out, admired the beauty of their skin as I stroked their bodies and thanked them for giving themselves to feed me. I told them that I wouldn’t waste any edible parts, the rest would go to the gulls or the bears. After I’d been fishing for an hour or so a guy came up to the river and quickly became frustrated that he wasn’t getting any bites. I turned to him and asked if he'd tried singing to the fish.

He didn’t answer but after a couple more casts left the area...

likely muttering something about the crazy lady who goes fishing in a skirt.

Summer Solstice at Denali

It never got dark!

Left: Solstice sunset 10:44 p.m. Saturday, June 21

So far, weather-wise, I’ve been quite lucky when it comes to my trips to Denali. This was my third trip this year and fourth overall. The skies and roads have been clear, I’ve had some great glimpses of wildlife and there is spectacular beauty as far as the eye can see.

This time, spent two and 1/2 days at Denali.. On the first day (Saturday) I took dinner to Elizabeth and a number of the people I know, through Austin, who are back working at the park again this year. We ate tofu tacos while we caught up a little on each other’s comings and goings since last summer. Tofu tacos, you say! Yes, even I, a non-vegetarian, think they’re really good.

Before dinner Elizabeth and I went for a short walk and took pictures of plants, rocks and Alaska’s State bird, the Willow Ptarmigan. We also sampled a few wild flowers. Bluebells are sweet right where the flower cup meets the stem and Valerian (pictured to the right above) is used medicinally for many purposes from stress reduction to digestive health. http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbValerianMed.htm. We tasted wild rose petals, too. They are sweet and grow quite abundantly here.

This picture of a Ptarmigan family reminds me of the children’s magazine “Highlights”…see if you can find the (1) the male. (hint, he has red eyebrow pencil on) (2) the female and (3) at least one baby. Ptarmigan are equally as difficult in the winter as their feathers turn white so they are camouflaged in the snow.

I headed to camp at 8:30 p.m. but as soon as I got there realized that I really wanted to be out in the park taking pictures. I found a turn-out area on the park road, set up my canvas chair, put on my snow hat, mittens and heavy coat, wrapped up in my wool blanket and sat. I don’t know what I think I might have seen, maybe a moose or a bear lumbering across my path but I saw what I’d not seen at all last year…snowshoe hare. There were several poking their heads up over the bank maybe as curious about me as I was about them. One was very intent on digging at a root or something and another came within 3 inches of the leg of my chair. I hope it's seeming fearlessness doesn’t mean that they’re being fed people-food and are becoming accustomed to people.

From the vantage point of my chair, I took this sunset picture at 11:44 p.m. and from just down the road “a piece” I took the one of Denali at the opening of this blog.

Mountains of the size of Mt. McKinley make their own weather and it is very rare to get the clear views I've been so lucky to see. All three days, there were great view of the mountain.

I stayed up past my normal bedtime to witness official solstice time in Alaska, which was 9:46 p.m. Actually, I stayed up until 12:30 a.m and the sky looked like it would at maybe… 8:00 p.m. in Seattle. I really wanted to stay up all night but was tired from the several hour drive to Denali and couldn’t stay awake much beyond midnight. I did, though, wake up several times during the night and, if I didn't have a watch to verify the time (2:30, 3:30, 4:20, etc.) I would swear, each time I woke up, that it was at least 8 or 9 in the morning. Both nights, it never got dark! It was so light I could have very comfortably reading a book without a flashlight or a headlamp. It’s a phenomenon that cannot be explained, it has to be witnessed and experienced to understand.

Left: Sunday sunrise on Denali. Sunday, June 21, 2009 5:49 a.m.

Right: Sunrise across the valley. Caribou are often seen in the river beds.

The second day (Sunday) I took a shuttle bus ride further into the park and saw more wildlife and beautiful views. Most of the wildlife was too far away to get good pictures but I could see quite well through binoculars.

The shuttle bus driver’s main purpose is to drive the one-lane, sometimes precarious compact dirt roads. Often, though, they share information about the park. As the driver drives, passengers look for wildlife and yell “STOP” if they see something they want to get a better look at. We saw, caribou, moose, Dahl sheep, hare, Willow Ptarmigan, a falcon, a badger (rare find), many golden eagle and two sets of mother grizzly bears with cubs. Grizzly are quite blonde this time of year so were difficult to spot until we realized that fact. We watched the second set for quite some time. The mom eventually laid down on her stomach with her paws out in front of her and while one baby was romping around the other was between her paws reaching up for her face. It was something you’d see in a movie…it was too cute!

There was one point when the bus was on a cliff side hair-pin curve and a golden eagle was seemingly stationary in flight right outside my window, just beyond the cliff edge. It’s wings were partially extended when suddenly it trust it’s wings to their full 6-7 foot length and caught an air current that raised it swiftly higher into the air. It was breathtaking to witness and was, by far, the best wildlife part of the trip! I’ve never had a favorite bird but I do now. Learn more: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/bird/eagles.php . It's a beautiful bird!

I’m fairly sure this is a gull of some type. Double-click on it to see the color around it's eye.


Until last week, when I saw a moose crossing the road at Elmendorf less than 40 feet from the front of my car, the one pictured here was the largest moose I'd ever seen. They really can be taller than a horse!

Ahhh, Alaska…no picture will ever do it justice. You'll have to see it first hand!

From My Window - Installment #1

I like living downtown!

For many years it's been a dream of mine to live in a downtown high rise but only during the work week. When the weekend rolled around or when I had time off work, or retired, I would be at my out-of-town "weekends house". There I would have a vegetable garden, fruit trees, a cow, chickens, pigs and a bounty of flowering plants for an endless supply of color on the kitchen table. There would be a separate screen house where I could do all the canning without making a mess of the main kitchen and in the off-season a large greenhouse would provide tomatoes and other vegetables year round.

With this move the first part of the dream has come true, I get to live on the 10th floor of a 14 story high rise overlooking downtown Anchorage. I'm simulating the second part of the dream by having tomato, cucumber, basil and sweet potato plants growing in the house taking advantage of the warmth along with the 19+ hours of light each day. If my real garden starts looking productive, I'll post some pictures of that.

I bought a new camera and, although I'm still trying to learn how to get good pictures out of it, wanted to share some of what I see from my apartment window. All the pics are zoomed in, some more that others.

The picture above is a narrow view of what I see every morning when I wake up. The road on the left is 4th Ave, where the Iditarod ceremonial start takes place (if you watch the Discovery Channel CD about the Iditarod you can see my tall 14 story apartment building in some of the shots). The water is Cook Inlet and across the inlet is Mt. Susitna, which I've posted pictures of in the past. The long white building (mid/right area of photo) is the Alaska Railroad station where I disembarked last summer after the train ride from Denali National Park. Behind the building is a tide flat area where people fish for King Salmon.

I see planes taking off and landing at Stevens International Airport and many of the small planes taking fisherpeople to the roadless areas of the state fly over and very near the corner my building.

Zoomed in pics of people fishing for King Salmon (north of train station).

The Ulu (oo-loo)Factory.

An ulu knife, said to have originated with the indigenous Inuit people.

Downtown Anchorage market. Geared toward tourists but will have produce later in the season.

Photo of wind chimes that were given to me or bought by me to remember people. L to R: from Alena, Ryan, and Kyla. The one on the far right is a reminder of my grandma.

Plane about to touch down at Stevens International

Alaska Railroad Station

A ship headed to the harbor.

Sun behind the clouds.

Last, but not least... Denali Sunset:
What luck! I woke up at 12:30 on June 4 and the sun was just setting. I looked out the window and saw Denali! This zoomed-in picture was taken that morning (June 4, 2009) at 12:45 AM. Tomorrow, June 18 sunrise will be at 4:20 AM, sunset will be at 11:42 PM for a total of 19 hours, 53 minutes of daylight!

I see so many great things from my window!

Orca, Halibut and Rubber Boots

Seward, Alaska
Memorial Weekend, 2009

When I go on an adventure I generally leave home very early in the morning or immediately after work so I won’t missing spending time at my destination or waste a vacation day. Since I moved to Alaska I’ve been working at slowing my life down, not forcing things and just doing what it feels like I want to do at any given time. I’m taking more time to plan a little and not having my fingers in too many pies at once. So far it’s working for me.

The day I went to Seward, instead of leaving at o-dark-thirty like I would normally do, I puttered around the house, tended to my seedlings, leisurely packed for cool weather, stopped by my garden, got my fishing license and finally arrived in Seward after a very leisurely drive, stopping along the way to enjoy the scenery and get to know my new camera.

Seward is a pretty, walker friendly little town, set between the Kenai Mountains and Resurrection Bay. Except for the drives to and from, the weather was overcast and cool. On Friday I went on my first Alaska hike and, being a little worried about bears or other large critters (moose, to be exact), had several one-sided conversations with various people. I also did a little light singing. At one point along the trail, I heard a noise approaching from behind…! My heart skipped several beats until I discover the sound came from a pair of hikers and their unleashed dog. If the foliage had been evergreen instead of deciduous, I could have easily believed I was hiking in Western Washington. After the hike I gathered some rocks along the beach before heading back to the hostel for some hot tea. Most of the beach rocks in the area are very small, flat black rocks.

Saturday dawned a little grey and windy but not too bad, weather wise. Before checking in for my boat tour, I stopped by the Kenai Fjord National Park office to get my National Parks Passport stamp. When I checked in for the tour I was told that there were weather warnings in the area and I had three options (1) reschedule the trip, (2) go on the trip and if we didn’t make it around Aialik Cape and into the Gulf of Alaska to see glaciers I would get a bit of a refund or (3) cancel for a full refund.

I selected curtain numer two. I was prepared to battle seasickness with a huge piece of ginger root and water and my focused intent on seeing some whale and puffin. As the boat got going, I stayed out on the deck experiencing the spray until we were told that, because of rough water, anyone not already doing so needed to sit down.

The ginger partially worked. I didn’t get sick but felt close a time or two. The climax of the entire trip was when we saw a pod of 8 or 9 orca. The scenery was beautiful! If it wasn’t for the ever-present mountains, I could have thought I was at the Oregon Coast or taking a ferry trip in San Juan Islands. We saw a couple of puffin, orca, sea otter, seals, sea lions, cormorants, common murres, mountain goats and more. The closer we got to leaving the bay and entering the Gulf of Alaska to round the cape, the higher the seas were. We experienced 15 minutes or so of 8-10 foot waves and after a couple of 14 footers the captain decided that it was time to turn back. Our goal had been the Aialik Glacier.

The captain was also a great tour guide and I learned a few new pieces of information. For example: did you know that puffin take to the water soon after hatching and don’t set foot on land again for four years or so when it’s time to come to shore to mate? Mountain goats often die from falling off cliffs? Orca fall into one of three subgroups: transient, resident or off shore. Not much is known about the off shore group but a good amount is known about the others. There is physical, habitat and feeding differences between the transient and resident pod groups and it is believed that they do not interact with one another, not even for mating purposes. Follow this link for some good basic information: http://www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures/episodes/killerwhale/indepth-orcas.html. The following link is to some orca footage, captured by Donna Graves-Faught. The reward is toward the end of the video. Thanks, Donna! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_lnn4sJz5E

I had a great time and the fact that we didn’t see the glacier was not a big deal. It allowed us time to see wildlife of the bay which we would possibly would have missed seeing if we’d gone out to the glacier.

Sunday was my halibut fishing day! I was prepared to bring home a lot of fish and had dressed to battle a day of standing around waiting for the fish to bite while hoping the skies didn’t open up on us, sending water from above. I donned my rubber boots, my motorcycle riding gloves, two pair of long johns, lots of layers of shirts, wind pants and a snow hat. I was toasty warm and dry.

The fishing charter I took was in a small 6-person boat. After discussing expectations and showing our fishing licenses to the captain, we left the dock at 8:30 AM. A bit of stormy weather was still hanging around from the day before so we had to stay within the confines of Resurrection Bay and it took us only 20 minutes or so to get to the first location. After puttering around to find a good spot, we dropped anchor in 240 foot waters. The captain set up our lines and within less than 10 minutes my fellow fisherpeople and I were getting bites and landing fish.
No halibut but some fair to middlin’ grey (Pacific) cod.

We stayed at that location for a couple of hours, until the cod had passed and all we were pulling up were arrowtoothed flounder which we didn’t keep. Arrowtoothed flounder are generally not kept for eating because “a proteolytic enzyme released from a myxosporean parasite causes softening of the flesh” (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/species/Arrowtooth_flounder.php). Yuk!

All in all from the time we left the dock until the time we returned, we were out on the water for 10 hours but it felt like only a few. I never tired from standing, got sick only once and was the only one on the boat to hook a halibut! Some of you know that sustainability of fisheries is a concern of mine so I rarely eat fish. I want to make sure, as best I can, that the fish I eat and serve is caught in a manner that causes little disturbance to ocean habitat, is not a species that is overfished or one which is caught using practices that results in a large amount of by-catch. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guide is my seafood buying bible. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx . Okay, I’m getting down off my soapbox…

For sustainability reasons, I had decided that if I caught a halibut under 30 pounds or so, I would not land it. It takes a long time for a halibut to grow and become of mating age so when the one on my line was estimated to be only 15-20 pounds, I let the line go slack so that it fell off. I knew that I’d not have another chance to catch one on the trip because we were nearing the end of the day and were at the last stop before making a bee-line back to the dock. We were all pretty tired by then and sat in the cabin of the boat, warming the bodies we suddenly realized were chilled.

Two of the six passengers were headed back to the East Coast within a day or two so opted out of sharing in the fish catch. The remaining four of us each went home with slightly over 9 pounds of cod. I put my mother lode on ice and headed home that same night, stopping along the way to take a nap. The next day I “played foodsaver” (inside Kinser family joke, right Ryan!) and put the fish in the freezer.

I knew it would happen…I’m hooked!! Kelley and I used to do a fair amount of fishing when the kids were little and I really liked it. Over the years I’ve grown impatient with inactivity but I’m settling very nicely into a more relaxed mode and am in a much better “space” to be a fisherperson.

Within the next week or two I'll be going out on a boat to fish for King Salmon. A high percentage of people fish for King from the shore but if a boat is available, it's nuts not to accept the offer! The two fishing poles I ordered have arrived and, after my garden is fully in and I retrain myself about how to tie a hook and what lures to buy, I’ll be hanging out at the lakes and rivers making friends with the mosquitoes!

This posting was a long one. You deserve a prize if you read the entire thing. Let me know what you want your prize to be (Okay, now, be reasonable. I didn’t win the lottery, simply landed a few cod!).