Wednesday, August 09, 2006

RIB

Rain is back and may stay for a while.  The good news is the clouds are holding in what heat there is and it was fifty one at ten.

The number of reds in the river is dropping precipitously and it is possible that the run is almost over.  The fishing is slow as the silvers really haven’t begun to show up in any real numbers.

Perhaps the snow on the mountains to the north and east of us, the Kenai drainage, has melted and as a result the level of the river is falling a little bit each day.

In addition the fireweed is almost bloomed out.

All of these are signs of approaching winter as if the shortening days were not warning enough.  The precipitation that was falling today may well be snow in another few weeks.  Hopefully we will be a little further south before that occurs.

After breakfast I set off for Safeway to return movies.  Onie worked on the smoked fish, removing bones with tweezers before putting them in Food Saver bags.

When I got back from Safeway she already had the Food Saver out and working.  When I started running the machine for her, she was bagging the fish, things moved along much faster.

When the last of the fish was packed I returned to the laptop to write some more.

Outside the rain had stopped but it remained cloudy and cold, fifty two.  While I wrote Onie cleaned house.  At four o’clock we both decided it was time to fish.  We left our tasks and went to the grate.

Fish came up the river in small schools, steady enough to hold our interest but slower than last week.  Many fish were grated but quite a few had to go back since they were too small to suit us or were foul hooked.  Working together we had strung a total of ten reds by seven thirty.  With a gift of two, from Pricilla, we had twelve and I made a hasty trip to Custom getting back home at eight thirty.

Onie joined me back on the grate for half an hour and two more reds were strung giving us our limit.  The fish giver to us did not count against our limit.

We hadn’t had enough of fish for the day so supper was salmon patties with tomato avocado salad and blueberry cobbler and strawberry shortcake.

At ten we started a movie but were too tire to finish it.  It was paused as we paused to sleep.

At one o’clock the rain returned.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

BERT & JASON

The really cold weather hasn’t returned yet, thank goodness.  Last night the low was forty seven but by the time we rose at nine it had climbed to fifty one.

Coffee, tea, eggs, sausage and warm up biscuits got us started.  While Onie cleaned I wrote and then we both set off for the river.

Two were put on the stringer but many more were lost before we called a temporary halt and went back to the coach.

We checked our email and talked to Jim and Polly, Dawn, David Matthew and Tracy regarding the up coming shipping of the reds home.

A little more typing was done and then we headed back to the grate.  This time we had a little better success and managed to string four more before it was time to go to Custom.  They close at eight and it is best to allow at least half an hour to get there.

Jason rode with me.  We stopped by the post office after dropping off the fish and then returned to the coach and the campfire we had started before leaving.

Jason and his dad, Bert, joined us at the campfire for finger food, salmon salad and soup.  From the boom box came bluegrass and songs by the Platters.

As the dining was winding down LaVonne joined us and then Priscilla stopped by. 

At eleven the rain began falling again and by twelve it was coming down hard enough to dispel our group.  Everyone sought the shelter of their respective lodging.

We could hear the rain hissing as it struck the fire as we cleaned up and got ready for bed.

By the time we pulled up the covers at twelve thirty the rain was falling in earnest.

Friday, August 11, 2006

HOBO JOE

The rain beating on the coach woke me at two.  I listened a few minutes before going back to sleep.  At three I was awake again listening as the rain fell even harder and the coach rocked in the wind.  By six o’clock the rain had slackened and the wind abated somewhat.  The temperature was fifty two.

When the coffee and tea were started at nine the rain was still coming down and showing no signs of letting up, much less quitting.

We took our coffee and tea back to bed and finished our movie

from Wednesday night.

When the movie was over we refilled out coffee and tea cups then started on preparing breakfast.  Breakfast was blueberry pancakes and sausage at noon,   We worked the two crosswords in the morning paper and watched it rain.

At one thirty it had rained itself out.  Onie cleaned the kitchen while I typed.

Outside the fresh water was replenished and the gray water emptied via the blue boy. While this was taking place Onie went to the lodge and took a long hot shower, as much to warm up as to get clean.

An excursion to the grate lasted about an hour and resulted in a few pinks, which were promptly released, but nothing else.

Our supper of soup and salad was eaten while storm clouds began to gather outside.

A quick shower after supper helped me be presentable, maybe, and then we dressed for a night out.

Sonny, Birdie, Ted, Pricilla, Bert, Jason, Onie and I all went to BJ’s to see a local celebrity, Hobo Joe, perform.  Hobo Joe is a fishing guide, songwriter, guitar player extraordinaire, singer, stage entertainer and an outspoken individualist.  We sat through two and a half hour of non stop music and Alaska trivia, thinking to leave when he took a break.  He had started at eight thirty and by eleven our brains had absorbed all our bottoms could endure.  If he ever took a break we will never know. 

Without me telling you, you will know what it was doing when we got outside, it was raining.  We hurried to the car, drove two blocks to Safeway, got out and hurried into the store.

We had several things on our list but by splitting up we were able to fill the list in short order and then head for home, in the rain.

In the Marlin we quickly put the perishables away and climbed into our bed.  At midnight sleep came quickly.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

AIN’T NO SUNSHINE

We were up at nine.  Outside puddles of water were testament to the fact it had rained all night.  It was still raining and it was obvious ain’t no sunshine this morning.

Our coffee and tea were on the table by ten.  The thermometer at Onie’s elbow told the tale of the temperature, fifty one.

Onie served eggs, pork chops and tomatoes for breakfast at eleven.  No one had ever accused me of being obsessive about anything but once in a while I do get a little focused.  The last few days I have been intent on getting caught up on the stories so Onie can get them posted so today I wrote some more, writing until two when I stopped to fish.

When I got up from the laptop Onie sat down to do her magic, edit my mistakes, resize pictures, import them into the story text and then post everything to the website.  By staying with it several hours today she was able to get week eight posted.  Hopefully week nine will go up tomorrow and perhaps week ten on Monday.

While Onie toiled I caught one red, one pink and two trout before calling a halt to my endeavors.  Back in the coach I rested on the couch, watching Onie, until I dozed off.

When I woke Onie and I went back to the grate where she put on a clinic in catching.  Unfortunately only one of those she caught was a red, the rest were pinks.  I too managed a few pinks but no reds did I string.  The one she caught gave us a grand total of two for the day except for the fact that Pricilla gave us six.

I headed off to Custom with eight.  The total yield was twenty six and a half pounds of fillets.  I also took one for Jason.  After Custom I made the post office and Trustworthy Hardware.  They had closed early so I stooped at Fred Meyer but they were out of the weights I needed.

At the Marlin Onie, Bert and Jason were trying to start a campfire.  With a little additional starter and rearranging of wood we soon had a blazing campfire.

Onie brought out supper for the four of us and we were just getting started on the appetizers when Pricilla showed up with some grilled pink salmon.  Everyone here had told us pinks were no good to eat but Ted and Pricilla as well as us wanted to try it for ourselves.  Ted had caught and kept one earlier in the day and then they had grilled it with lemon butter and a piece of bacon on it.  Really it was quite good, not so good as a red but still very good.

When the pink was almost gone Pricilla left and returned with fresh brownie topped with ice cream.  This was dining the way it was meant to be, appetizers and then dessert.  The main course could come later, room in the tummy permitting.

Ted had come with Pricilla when she returned with the brownies and now Stu and Shirley came by.  We kept the fire going while those who cared to had supper, salad and chicken and rice.  After dinner we sat around the campfire and told jokes and talked of earlier times.

At eleven the party adjourned and Onie and I cleaned up.  At eleven thirty Onie went to bed and sleep.

In the living room I pecked on until four.  I had finished this story and was caught up, finally.  Now I could help Onie do her part so we could get the stories up.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

THEY HAD GONE

Onie was up early and had her coffee.  When I rose at noon hot tea and sausage fed me as I read the paper.  The coach, under a cloud covered sky, rocked in the gusting wind which made the fifty two feel like thirty.  I stepped out and adjusted the awning, tightening the support rails to keep down the flapping.

Ted was readying his rig for the road.  The awning was up and most of the fishing gear had been stowed.  The smoker had disappeared into the basement as well as his charcoal grill.  Camping chairs lay on the ground waiting to be put in their place.  By nine o’clock in the morning he and Pricilla will be gone, stopping at Frank’s to pick up their freezer before heading north.  They hope to fish for silvers for a few days before heading home to Maine.  When they get there it will be the first time in seven months and close to twenty thousand miles.

The Sunday crossword was a doozie and I finally gave up to await Onie’s help.  She was working on getting week nine posted.

When week nine went up Onie relinquished the computer for the less stressful environs of the bedroom where she watched movies.

After checking email and enews I too put down the high tech typewriter/word processor and picked up my rod and reel.  Under my tee shirt, flannel shirt, shirt jacket and rain suit top the wind chilled me but I did my flip and drag for an hour without touching or feeling a fish.  They had gone.  Perhaps it was only for today.  Time would tell.  I headed for the coach and a triple cup of steaming cocoa.  Sipping it I played at Free Cell before writing these few words and then working on Agency books and listening to the Sunday service for last week.  It arrived yesterday.

The day light was really shortening up now and at eight thirty it looked like seven thirty at home.  It would be pitch black by ten thirty or eleven and not get light again until five or five thirty.  Fall will no doubt last a day or two before winter arrives.  By November, December at the latest one will be able to walk across the Kenai River on a sheet of ice.

A light mist covered the windshield as I listened to Don the Baptist from our home church, First Baptist of Coldspring.

Ted and Priscilla came by at nine to say goodbye.  They are just about packed up and will be leaving early.  If he decides to fish north of Wasilla, for silvers, he will call me but it sounded as if he, like Pricilla, is getting anxious to be home.  We agreed to stay in touch.

At eleven we called it a day.  It was forty seven.

Monday, August 14, 2006 

WINDING DOWN

Ted and Pridcilla left this morning before we rose.

When I went out for the paper, in the rain, Frank was just putting up the steps to his rig.  It will stay here for the winter.  He winterized it last evening and this morning.  As he got in his truck he waved goodbye.

Ardith and Marv aren’t back yet so that only leaves us, Sonny and Birdie and Stu and Shirley, of the seasonals in the park.  Two rigs pulled in last evening, a fifth wheel and coach traveling together, and rumor has it they will be here a couple of weeks.

Stu and Shirley will be gone before week’s end.  Marv and Ardith should be back before they leave.  Activity in the park is certainly winding down.

Did I mention it was cold, fifty one, and raining this morning at nine?

Coffee and tea chased away some of the chill and what was left over was banished by the furnace.

Onie worked on another week’s stories, readying them to post.

I watched two movies, a John Wayne and the other was a waste of time.

The rain and cold persisted but Onie braved it in the afternoon to do the wash.

I went to Custom to see about shipping some fish.

When I returned Onie was on the grate.  She had been there an hour and had strung two reds.  I got my pole and joined her.  The reds that had disappeared were back.  The next three hours were busy as we caught and released several fish before stringing a total of twelve.  Custom was closed so I headed and gutted the fish, put them on ice until morning and went into bed.

The rain beat a nice tattoo on the roof as sleep overtook me.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

We started the day with a forty nine degree reading on the thermometer and the rain falling.  The rain continued all day.  The combination of the cool temps and the rain coaxed us into sleeping later.

Onie got up first for her coffee and a little Free Cell.  Later I took my turn with tea and Free Cell.  The email was checked and the enews before I began work on the agency books.

Jason and Bert came by to say adieu, they are returning to their real world.  This is ours.

When the work on the agency was at a stopping place I joined Onie on the grate.  She had three on the stringer and Jason, who had been fishing earlier, had given her three.  The fish were running and within ten minutes I had strung two.  Then things slowed down.  Three hours later I had three more.

Shirley and Stu were getting ready to go to the lower forty eight.  Onie had been helping Shirley wash their boat and do a few other things before I joined the crowd.  The boat was washed and the canopy removed and stored.  Things on the patio were placed in the storage building and those that were going south were put in their truck.  They leave their fifth wheel here for the winter and pick up their Holiday Rambler Endeavor diesel motor home when they get to Washington State.  The preparations to leave had been underway for a few days but had gained momentum today.

When they called it a day I hurried back to the grate where two casts brought the last fish I needed for my limit.