Wedanesday, August 02, 2006

APPRECIATION

Gentle rain throughout the night and into morning is keeping things cool.  The early morning coffee and tea helped dispel the cold in our bones.  Onie played a little FreeCell before starting our breakfast of biscuits and sausage.

Yesterday when I went to Soldotna I picked up a box at the post office.  It had been shipped from Louisiana a few days ago and contained the crown for Onie’s biscuits, preserved figs from the kitchen of Patty Rogers, our sister-in-law.  She is married to E.C. Rogers, Onie’s older brother.  During the growing season E.C. tends the trees and when it is time to pick the fruit Patty gathers the figs, takes them to her kitchen, works her magic and cans the results which can only be described as wonderful.  Now I will admit that not everyone likes Patty’s figs as much as I do and that is just fine.  After all some folks don’t like chocolate, watermelon, ice cream or fudge and it is not in my nature to force these things on them.  Rather they are retained and when I am bad, good or in between I eat some.   Yesterday I was all of the above and this morning the reward was the steaming biscuits with a generous dollop of butter and a good load of figs.  My heart felt appreciation went out to Patty as I savored breakfast.

Besides the rain there is another reason we haven’t been taking our morning walks and reporting the moose sightings or the progress of the fireweed.  Three years ago a fisherman shot and killed a grizzly sow as she and her cubs ate fish near him.  Whether the shooting was justified or he was just being a jerk is unknown and really at this point meaningless.  The shooting had some unintended results.  Besides orphaning the cubs, two of them, the cubs were forced into closer contact with people, to survive.  As the contact grew the male cub became unhappy when food wasn’t forthcoming from humans.  As a result he was drugged, collared so his movements could be tracked, and moved up river thirty or forty miles.  He didn’t stay.  He came back to where his mother was killed, up river from here, and then moved down here.  He has been seen a few times and his whereabouts are known to the rangers.  He is known as an aggressive bear and yesterday he stood and pounded on a car right on the road we walk on, the one next to the vale and little creek.  We are staying in camp and at nights we have a fire or stay indoors.  He has walked through the camp at least once in the last week.  If the bear continues his current behavior he will “have the air let out of him” as the rangers put it.  Another unintended consequence of the original shooting and one that could have been averted if the fisherman had been more judicious in his actions ended with the destruction of the male.  Some fishermen seem to have no appreciation for the opportunity to fish in bear habitat and abuse the privilege.  Perhaps they will be punished in some way in the future.

We took a break from out daily activities and fished a bit, thirty minutes to be exact during which time I got three fish.  It took Onie just a little longer before she had her limit.             .

Days are growing noticeably shorter.  We are losing over five minutes of daylight each twenty four hour period and it is really dark at night.  A little math tells one that in less than two weeks we will have lost an hour of daylight.  Even on the North Slope, at Barrow, the days are growing shorter and today, for the first time since May 10^th the sun set.

The fish were taken to Custom for processing.  Then a stop was made at the post office before heading to Trustworthy Hardware to pick up another new Ugly Stick, eight and a half feet.

Upon returning it was time to get together with Ted and Pricilla for a trout supper. 

A campfire was lighted and then supper preparations began.  The trout was grilled skin side down and complemented by salad and broccoli.  Pricilla brought strawberry shortcake with her home made biscuits for a shortbread dessert.

Gathered around the campfire we finished our supper and dessert just before Stu and Shirley dropped by to visit.

By ten the last of our company had left and we went in, Onie to a movie and me to write, until two.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

THREE & THREE

We were up at nine thirty, had our coffee and tea followed by bacon, eggs, biscuits and figs.  While Onie cleaned the kitchen I sat at the laptop and stayed there until two. 

Outside it was overcast and cool.  During my time at the laptop I talked to Virgil Currie, a friend of ours.  We visited about the weather in Coldspring and our yard.  He is looking after it for us.  Next a conversation with Jim Johnson brought me up to date on politics in San Jacinto County and the latest shenanigans of some disgruntled folks then it was back to writing.

Typed out I stopped to rig the new rod then took it to the creek, with Onie, to try it out.  It worked rather well, in combo with the new reel my friend Bill Hager gave me.  In a matter of an hour we each had three fish strung.  Onie headed off to Custom with them, made a stop at Safeway and the post office before getting back home at seven.

In her absence I returned to the computer to continue writing.  Playing catch up on three weeks of stories while trying to keep current and fish is a tall order.  Most of the time I fall short in some area.

Outside it was cold and rainy.

Ted came by to visit for a while and then I returned to the machine.

Onie’s return brought hot wings from Safeway which she preceded with a good salad.

A movie at eight thirty followed supper.  When it was over at ten thirty the rain outside had turned to a mist drifting in the cold night air.  Onie drew the covers tight around her neck and went to sleep.

The laptop occupied me until twelve.

Friday, August 04, 2006

FALSE REPORT

It seemed like yesterday we had emptied the tanks but it was time again.  We rose at eight to start the process.  By nine thirty we were back in space seven and one could not tell we had ever moved since our arrival.

While the fresh water tank filled we organized things outside, after Onie swept our rug free of the small stones that had accumulated over the weeks.

Jim and Polly’s storage boxes were checked for a good seal and then taken to the driver’s side basement door preparatory to being loaded.  First we had to remove the spare tire, eighty pounds, and rearrange items already there then the boxes were put in place for the trip home.  The spare tire was also stored.  Fishing rods not currently in use were placed back in their heavy PVC tubes and the tubes capped.

At last, noon, it was time for breakfast.

While we were eating we got word that the limit for reds had been increased down river at Swiftwater.  That later proved to be a false report.

In a repeat performance of yesterday we fished for an hour and each had three fish on the stringer.  Onie was off to Custom and Safeway again while I typed.

It had been a while since we had visited with our Alabama grandson, Kyle, so I called him to catch up on the newx from him.  He started school, middle school, yesterday and was very excited about it.  He had been racing and some he had won and others he had finished back in the pack.  He related that part of it was his fault, he had driven poorly on one occasion and another time his pit crew, Dad, had failed to read the track correctly and set the cart up wrong.  His tires had too much traction and he finished seventh, out of starting in fourteenth position, out of a field of twenty one.  Dad and son are both real competitors and like to win.

My brother David and I had a nice conversation and discussed a possible trip to Florida next spring as well as fishing in Alaska, together, in the future.  His daughter, Debbie, was visiting and asked about the halibut I had caught.

A short conversation with Jim Johnson ended the phone usage for the day.

Onie returned at eight in the rain and fifty seven degrees.

Our supper was salad, grilled steak and broccoli.  Onie brought me some cookies some of which I had for dessert.

Adam and Eve, was the movie for he evening and proved to be pretty much a waste of time.  Hollywood sure could use some good writers to say nothing of producers and directors

We went to sleep at midnight.

Saturday, August 5, 2006

SWIFTWATER

Trout and bacon broke our fast along with the coffee and tea.  A bit more relaxed now as things returned to normal we each worked a crossword while we ate, swapping when we got stuck and continuing until the puzzles were solved.

The sun had managed to dominate the sky and the temperature had climbed to sixty by the time we ventured to the grate at eleven.  During the next hour and a half we put three on the stringer, me three and Onie nada.

A massage appointment at twelve thirty took us town and while I was worked over on the table Onie took fish to Custom then went to Safeway.  Later while she waited for me she reorganized our fishing bag, trying yarn on hooks, replenishing weights in our little plastic box and generally putting things to right.

At two o’clock, with the sun still shining and in a warm sixty two degrees, we headed off to Swiftwater to see if we could change Onie’s luck.  Two hours later we hadn’t managed so we headed back to Castaway Riverside and the Marlin.

Perhaps we were experiencing an Indian summer or we had just misjudged when summer would actually occur but at supper time we were sweltering under a cloudless sky in sixty four degrees.  We delayed supper and it was back to the grate for me and Onie.  Onie was to do the catching and I was to do the netting.  It worked out just that way and we soon had her three fish on the stringer.

Supper, salad, salmon tails and corn on the cob followed by one cookie for me was well worth the wait.

Fed and rested we headed over to Ted and Pricilla’s rig for a visit.

At ten thirty we were back in the coach ready to watch another movie, The Cutting Edge.  This was a little better than the junk from last night but did not rank up there as a must see.

Sleep came at one.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

TWO IN A ROW

The thermometer registered forty nine at six.

Later, at nine thirty, it had climbed to sixty under another sunny sky.  It looked like it would be two in a row for the sun.

The steak and eggs, coffee and tea, cooked and brewed in a quiet camp.  Most of the itinerants had gone and the regulars were taking a day of rest.

Dirty clothes had accumulated again so a good deal of time was spent in remedying that situation.  Conversely a little time was spent on fishing.

Between the clothes and fishing a little time was spent with Ted discussing smoking fish.  He has a smoker and has processed several batches.  On more than one occasion he has asked if I would like to borrow his smoker to try my hand.  I suppose the time has come.  Pricilla sent Onie the recipe for the brine soak, yesterday.  The brine soak is step one in the process.  That is after catching the fish, filleting them, skinning them and cutting them into serving size pieces.

Onie and I fished while the clothes dried.  We managed four, three for me and one for her but overall the catching was slow even though the fishing was fast.

When the wash was finished and put away we tried our hands again at the river.  She got two more for her limit.

It was six o’clock.  The sun still shone, having reigned all day without the rain, and the air had managed to reach a scorching sixty six.

Onie sent me off to Custom and Safeway.  Custom got our fish and we got Safeway’s blueberries and movies.

At home Onie put our supper on the table.  To the west we watched the sun finishing its day as it dropped behind the cabins on the hillside.

When the movie was over at eleven it was fifty five.

Monday, August 07, 2006

BIG JOB IN LITTLE SPACE

We sort of have a schedule today so we got up at eight.  Sun greeted us again with the temperature already at fifty.

Last night Onie had mixed a batch of brine to soak the fish in.  This morning we cut the fish into pieces, selected the most uniform forty and placed them in a five gallon bucket I had borrowed from Stu.  On top of the fish was placed a plate and on top to the plate a gallon jug of water.  That high tech arrangement was to hold the fish under the surface of the brine solution.

With the fish soaking we whipped up a batch of blueberry pancakes and Onie fixed some bacon in the microwave.  That along with our coffee and tea was welcomed after our labors and early rising.

While Onie cleaned up the dishes from breakfast I made a few more notes, still playing catch up.

The cooler had managed to stay out of the car when I left Custom last time so now I had to retrieve it.  When I returned Onie and I began fishing.

While the number of fish in the river was still good the catching remained slow and Onie and I fished and rested and fished and rested until we had accumulated our limit at seven.

It was off to Custom for those six. 

The sun was bright and the thermometer in the Subaru told me it was seventy four.

Onie usually has impeccable timing and today was no exception.  A salad, salmon patties and cabbage were waiting when I went through the door into the cool interior of the coach.

We had the sun three days in a row and it felt like summer was still here but the eyes told us the fireweed was just about bloomed out so winter can’t be far off.

When supper was over we began the next step of the fish smoking process, drying.

This is a big job for a little space such as our kitchen.  The forty pieces of fish are spread out on five chrome racks, from the smoker, to be dried.  This accomplished by letting a fan blow air over them all night long.  By the time the racks were placed on the countertop and the fish arranged on them there was barely any room left for the fan, but we managed.

Tired after working on the fish we tried to watch a movie but soon gave it up and went to sleep, at midnight.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

SMOKE

The beat goes on with the smoking process so we got up early again,

Processing fish to smoke takes a lot of fresh water and a by product is gray water.  The first thing on the agenda was more fresh water.  Once that was flowing the blue boy was retrieved and a couple of trips made to empty the gray water holding tank.

With the water situation in hand the smoker was plugged in and set to preheat.  Actually there is no setting.  One just plugs it in aAnd the calrod starts to heat.

Sonny had offered some apple wood to use in the smoking so I went to his coach, a nice Airstream, and got a few small pieces.

When the temperature inside the smoker reached one hundred twenty the racks with the dried fish on them were placed inside the smoker.  Then the cardboard box the smoker came in was placed over the smoker to protect it from the cool wind.  The object was to get the internal heat up to one hundred twenty to one hundred forty and hold it for at least four hours.  The calrod is low output and a breeze or cold ambient temperature can keep the smoker from reaching the desired level of heat.

When the thermometer showed one hundred twenty the pan that holds the wood was placed n the bottom of the smoker.  Soon there was a small gray column of apple wood smoke wisping through the morning air.  The aroma reminded me it was time to break for us to break our fast..

When breakfast was finished a few notes were made while Onie once again cleaned the kitchen then we headed off to fish.  The fish hadn’t yet made their daily appearance so we returned to the coach where a little computer clean up was done while we visited with my sister, Martha, on the phone.

An hour and a half had passed so another batch of wood was added to the smoker.  The first batch was just gray ash.

For the second time this summer Onie was defrosting the refrigerator/freezer.  The computer occupied me.

Outside Dennis was taking down his cabana, getting his grill ready for transport, taking in the awning, storing his rug and the numerous other things necessary to prepare his rig for winter.  His wife, Sandy, has been gone for a few days and he will be leaving tonight.  He says he won’t return until next spring.

Lee and Barb are leaving day after tomorrow and they are out too, taking in chairs and the rug so there will be a little less to do tomorrow.

The camper occupants are clearing out and soon it will be very quiet here.  Ted and Pricilla have said they are leaving next Monday and Stu and Shirley will be leaving the 15th or 16^th.

We haven’t seen a traveling rig in a few days now having been limited to seasonal campers, folks in the lodge and those in the cabins. 

By noon the sun had driven the temperature to sixty five and it looked like we were in for a day that would be total sunshine.  Pricilla lay outside her rig sunning and several of us were dressed in short pants and tee shirts.  Rigs had windows open taking in the fresh air, blowing out the stale.

A break from the laptop was taken and I headed back to the fish grate but had no success so I returned to the Marlin and writing.

While the refrig was defrosting Onie had been cleaning and putting together some Splenda, flour, milk, baking powder, salt, butter and blueberries.  For those non cooks among us the result was a cobbler and a delicious one I might say.  When it came out of the oven we each had a taste; yum, yum.

Another trip was made to the rive with the same result,   The reaction was the same, also, back to writing.

The smoker had been doing its thing for the last five hours.  I lifted the box off, opened the door and slipped out a piece of fish.  It tasted good to me.  I offered Onie a bite.  It tasted good to her.  Next I went to Ted’s and offered him a taste and he said it was fine so I went back and unplugged the smoker and left it and the fish to cool. 

At last Onie was ready to fish so I tried it one more time, with her.  The upshot was one fish for Onie and two for Pawpaw.

The smoker was cool now so the racks with the fish were removed and taken inside the coach for further processing.  It would be refrigerated overnight and tomorrow Onie would pick out any bones, with tweezers.  This would prevent holes being poked in the plastic bags during the final process when the fish would be placed vacuum packed using our Food Saver.

A few notes were made about the day and then it was time to take our catch to Custom.  Ted rode along and I dropped him and the smoker off at a friend of his.  The smoker would be in use again tomorrow, there.  On the way back from Custom I picked Ted up and we went to the park.

It was eight o’clock and our appetites were growing.  A campfire was started.  We noticed that Pricilla had already brought food and placed it on our table outside the coach.  There was salad, turnips, salmon and batter ready along with her skillet.  Onie had broccoli, plates and silverware.

When the fire was blazing we began our salad.  After the salad we began cooking the fish in batter.  It was tasted, for doneness of course, as it came out of the boiling oil.  This job must be done by the cook to insure no one else is harmed by his lack of skill.  After several pieces had been tasted and eaten completely Ted, Pricilla and Onie figured the fish was safe so they had some too.  After a while we added turnips and broccoli to our plates.  When there was no room left for another bite the ladies brought out dessert; strawberry shortcake topped with whipped cream.  As it turned out there was room for another bite, in fact several bites.

Our repast had lasted an hour and just as it was ending Stu dropped by to enjoy the fire.  The group sat or stood around the fire, as the spirit moved them, and talked about the summer, the loss of daylight and where we would be going when we left.