August 29, 2007

If the leaves are beginning to turn summer must be drawing to a close and the leaves are no longer the healthy green that signifies summer so summer must be falling, or failing. In addition it is chilly, cold to a Southern boy. This morning at six it was thirty six. That feels like winter to some of us. In addition to the cold a heavy fog hung over the river lending its drear countenance to the feeling of winter in the south.

By seven the thermometer had managed to climb to thirty nine though the fog persisted.

With a busy day ahead of us we rose and started our coffee and tea before cooking sausage and oatmeal to break our fast. The crossword was completed before breakfast was finished.

Kurt’s truck was driven into town and dropped off at the Car Spa where it was to be pampered before its long winter sleep at Castaway. His truck will be staying in addition to Stu’s dually and Duaine’s jeep. Several folks also leave their boats.

Onie picked me up and we went to the Visitors Center in Soldotna to shop for Christmas for David Matthew and gifts for Richard and Mary. They had done such a wonderful job on our carpet we wanted to show our appreciation in some way other than just a thank you.

Next we stopped at Safeway to check out their specials then headed on to Sterling to check on some parts for the RV. They didn’t have what we wanted so we headed home at noon.

Next on our list of chores was grilling some chicken for later use. The grill was started and then our attention turned to the fish that had been air drying. The smoker was readied, filled and started. During this time fresh water was flowing into our holding tank. It was multitasking at its best.

While all this activity was taking place outside Onie was busy inside cleaning the coach. She began packing items not frequently used then defrosted the fridge.

While the chicken was grilling and the fish was smoking some time was spent at the river with Sonny. This provided great exercise hustling back and forth between the river and the coach so a few casts could be made. By the time the chicken was done no fish had been hooked, much less strung.

At four thirty Onie drove us back into town to pick up Kurt’s truck. I stopped by Freddies to fill Kurt’s fuel tank before I headed home with it. Onie stayed to shop.

At the camp Richard and Sonny helped me put the cover on Kurt’s truck and then put a tie down on it so it won’t blow away this winter, hopefully.

Onie and the groceries arrived at six. We got the groceries into the house where she tucked them away.

The smoked fish had been on long enough so the smoker was unplugged and the job of unloading it begun. Along the way several pieces were sampled to be sure a good job had been done. As a result it wasn’t necessary to cook supper.

Onie enjoyed Lifetime when the laptop was occupied at seven. Four hours later three days had been completed.

August 30, 2007

Winter is getting ready to get here and we are getting ready to get out of here.

It was thirty eight at six this morning. The first frost can’t be too far away.

Coffee and tea were made and then the toad was taken in to the Car Spa to get a windshield leak repaired. It took the gentleman about thirty minutes to seal the top edge after he checked it and found one small leak. Nice people live everywhere and he is one of them. He comped the repaired.

Back at the coach at ten thirty under a sunny fifty degree sky I found Onie up and about.

As you may recall we are not hidebound by convention when it comes to what we eat or when we eat it. As soon I was back we sat down to sausage and watermelon for breakfast. We finished the crossword just when the last bite of melon was downed.

By the time a few notes had been scribbled down it was noon and a comfortable seventy degrees.

Outside chores were calling so the laptop was abandoned for them. With a bucket of soapy water, a hose of running water and a long handled brush the screens were washed and rinsed. They would dry quickly in the sunshine and low humidity and then they could be taken down and stored for the trip home. While the tools were handy the wheel covers were washed also. Washing seemed to be the order of the day so the racks for the smoker were washed and spread to dry.

With the washing over the basement received attention. Most of the items stored there were removed for repacking. The screen carriers and wheel cover boxes along with the smoker box were opened and waited to be filled with their respective contents before being placed in the basement for the impending trip.

The wheel covers were removed and placed in the boxes and then UV ray protectorant was applied to the tires.

With Onie’s help the screens were taken down, rolled up and placed in the carrying tubes.

The coach was starting to look like it was ready to travel although some things still waited to be done.

All work and no play means all work and no play or in our case, no fish.

A trip was made to the fishing grate where Lee was trying his hand, with no luck. Confident that any fish hooked could be jumped onto the grate or beached on the rocks I didn’t take a net to the river. A few minutes later a nice silver was hooked. He put on quite a show of tail dancing before spitting the hook and heading on up river. Lee got a net.

In the next hour four reds were strung, two for us for our Saturday night bash and two for LaVon. After the fish were cleaned it was back to the laptop to make a few more notes and escape the threatening rain and rolling thunder. The rain never came but a few sprinkles did show up.

We both went to the lodge for extended showers before dressing for dinner.

Lee and Barb picked us up at six thirty. We were on our way to Bear’s Den for a special treat.

Before we were out of the drive Sonny came to tell us that a weather bulletin had just been issued advising of impending damaging wind and hail. Our night out was delayed while we took in the awning, pulled in the slides and placed exposed things either inside the coach or under it.

We were still seated in the Bear’s Den by seven.

Nine o’clock found us back in the coach and a few minutes later we were tucked in bed.

August 31, 2007

Our friends in Texas tell us it is warm there, in the mornings. Well, I suppose warm is a relative thing since thirty seven will be considered warm here in a few weeks, perhaps a few days, but the thirty seven this morning felt cold to the writer even though there was bright sunshine to go with it.

When the coffee and tea were brewed at seven it was already thirty eight and it was anybodies guess as to how hot it would get before the day was over.

When Onie got up she put out the slides and turned on Fox News. The laptop held my attention.

An egg, salmon patties and toast with figs was set on the table at ten. The outside temperature had already soared to fifty.

After breakfast Onie bagged some smoked fish while I serviced the batteries. One blue boy tank of gray water was emptied and then the tire covers were moved to nestle with the spare. Fishing boots went into the plastic tote where they rode on the way up and where they would stay until we reached Lake Road once more. Most of the rods were packed leaving out just enough to defend ourselves in case there is a sudden run of silvers.

Shopping chores beckoned so Onie and I set off for Soldotna via Srawberry Frank’s to invite him to our whindouey on Saturday night. He and Bea were out so we continued on our way.

Our first stop was at a Napa auto parts store. We are looking for a plastic head light cover. They didn’t have one. In fact they didn’t have any.

Onie wanted to look in Gottschalks one last time before we left so I dropped her there before continuing on to Trustworthy to exchange a reel that had gone bad. It was the second one that had failed in successive seasons and I wanted no part of a third one. The folks were kind enough to give me full credit on a Shimano Calcutta 200B, a more expensive reel but one not likely to fail under the duress of salmon fishing. Fleece vests were on sale, half price, so one was picked up for Onie and the author. A knife sharpener was added to the stack of goods on the check out counter and then we squared up and I went back for Onie. She too had found some good buys getting me a couple of new knit tee shirts, a new shirt for her, some Christmas gifts for family and some yard art.

Schalks is another auto parts house and they too did not have the headlight cover.

Freddies was the last chance and they struck out too when it came to the cover. We did manage to score a chai tea and latte before getting some groceries and few other things.

When we got back home at six Richard, Mary, Sonny and Birdie were sitting round a campfire. We joined them. While we visited a double rainbow appeared across the river. At seven thirty the rain crossed the river and began falling on us. We went home. Looking out the window we could tell the devil was beating his wife.

Salad topped with chicken was supper. Outside the rain continued.

Afterward I wrote until eight thirty while Onie worked on eats for our party tomorrow afternoon.

Just before the light faded the rain quit. We are now down to fourteen and a half hours of daylight and are losing five and half minutes a day. Soon it will be dark when it should be light.

September 1, 2007

For those of you not keeping track today marks the beginning of the last third of the year. Eight months have passed and four remain.

And for those of you not blessed enough to have been reared in the south or at least have southern grand parents or have a really good friend from the south and really didn’t know what I meant yesterday when I said the devil was beating his wife it is really very simple. That is a way of saying that the sun is shining while it is raining. Stay tuned for more exciting and interesting sayings from the south.

It was a little warmer this morning, forty at five and forty two at nine but the warm temps didn’t keep the sprinkles away.

The warm coffee and tea were enjoyed while Fox News spieled out the latest misfortunes to befall mankind.

The pancakes and sausage was cooked in spite of all the bad tidings for we knew that the morrow would bring more of the same. We paid more attention to the good things, sausage and pancakes. We also distracted ourselves with the daily crossword.

More writing took place while Onie cleaned the kitchen before turning to more preparations for our party this afternoon.

I went off to see if Bea and Frank were home and try again to invite them to the party. They were. We visited a while talking about his life and home in Maine. He lives close to our friends, Ted and Priscilla Gotto, and brought me up to date on what is going on with them. Then he took me out to show me his new green house and how his garden grows. Frank is amazing. He is eighty five years old and every year here he has a big garden. This year he put up a new greenhouse so he can have more vegetables. While in the garden Frank picked out a big head of cabbage for us as well as a huge head of red tip lettuce.

I thanked him and told him I needed to be on my way and we looked forward to seeing him this evening, at five.

Back at the coach Onie continued working on supper.

Sonny and I moved Sandy’s canopy over close to our fire pit. Rain had been threatening to fall all day and if it did we wanted some shelter for our guests. Amy’s table was brought over and put under the canopy and then our awning was put in place. Our table was turned to provide more seating under the awning and then firewood was fetched.

We lit the campfire at a quarter til five. The grill was started too.

By Onie’s hands food started appearing at five. Duaine and Bonnie, Richard and Mary, Sonny and Birdie, Doris, Mike, Les and Wendy, Chuck and LaVon, Sandy and Kyle all filtered in over the next fifteen minutes.

Bea and Strawberry Frank, the gardener

Birdie, Chuck, LaVon, Bonnie, Duaine, Doris, and Wendy

Sandy and Mike

Richard and Mary

Dennis was working late and didn’t arrive until seven. Under a threatening sky, chairs were gathered round the campfire. Conversations quickly developed between small groups but most of the talk was on the same subject, leaving. This would be the last Saturday night for all of us to be together until next summer.

It had been a good summer for all of us even though Sonny had suffered a heart attack and had been life flighted to Anchorage. He was back with us and his recovery was going well even if he was off his chosen feed. He, like my brother David, has been put on restricted intake by his cardiologist and what he can intake is limited to what is green, lean, doesn’t taste good or is something he doesn’t like. Both Sonny and David have a great sense of humor and a get it done attitude so they will make the best of it and be with us many more years, hopefully.

Ty, our resident fishing guide had managed to hook himself in the lip, the biggest hookup of the summer, but he had extracted the hook himself and continued fishing with his charter for the day. He acquired a Georgia Peach for a girl friend this summer, he is from Georgia also, so perhaps she helped him tend to it as it healed quite rapidly.

Onie and I had had our scrapes with the fish, both of us getting hit with a one ounce sinker that left a big knot for a few days. Mine drew blood, her’s didn’t. Sid had a hook thrown at him by a fish and it had caught in the edge of the brim, about an eighth of an inch thick, of his cap but he suffered no harm.

Others in camp had had interesting adventures as well and the air was fairly full of tales tall and short until Onie announced everything was ready to eat. A list of everything that adorned the table would no doubt bore some readers and make others rush for the refrigerator. Either would not be good so we will keep it short and say that among other things coconut salmon, salmon salad, salmon spread, salmon patties, spiced crackers, grilled venison sausage and gilled marinated shrimp were there to tempt the palate of any man along with her famous cabbage salad, recipe by Polly Johnson.

Onie finishing the Coconut Salmon

Now that short list will suffice as there is more story to tell.

As the meal and evening wore on a few rain drops fell and the temperature fell with them. This resulted in our keeper of the fire, Richard, throwing another log on the fire. The trenchermen simply drew their chairs closer to the fire pit and stayed with the program until nothing was left except the plate of goodies Sandy had saved for Dennis.

Onie went into the coach to fetch something that will forever be forgotten in view of what happened next. When she didn’t return promptly I went to check on her. What greeted me looked like the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. There was blood everywhere. There will be no picture. Apparently she had momentarily lost consciousness and fallen against a cabinet, striking her nose before falling on the floor, then pushing herself up on her left arm so that her right arm stuck the cabinet sustaining a big bruise. When I got in the house she was trying to stop the nose bleed. I’m no doctor but I have had a broken nose and seen many more. It was obvious her nose was broken. With a wad of tissue in her hand she lay down and elevated her feet while I got some help and started cleaning up the blood. Les, who is a physical therapist, checked her face for other injuries while Sandy yelled to her to stuff some tissue up her nose, pack it, to stop the bleeding. Les concurred that the nose was broken and she should see a doctor. It was nine thirty. News of Onie’s fall quickly spread outside to the folks gathered round the campfire along with the news that she would be going to the ER. The folks gathered their chairs and called it a night wishing us well and volunteering to do anything they could to help.

Dennis drove us to the ER in Soldotna with Sandy riding shotgun giving him directions. The hospital in Soldotna is not a big one as hospitals go but they get an A+ from me. When Sonny had been having his heart attack he had come here and they had given him some stabilizing drugs and air lifted him to Anchorage to Providence Medical Center, another place that gets and A+ from us. When we arrived around ten, only Onie’s name and date of birth along with any medication allergies was required before she was seen by Dr. Hileman. He is a gentle man who seems to know his trade. He examined Onie and said he believed she had a broken nose but ordered some X rays just to be sure. The X rays confirmed the diagnosis but also showed there was no displacement so it was not necessary to pack the nose. He gave us a couple of Amoxicillin tablets, to prevent infection, gave her a tetanus shot, and wished us a good night and good luck. He said he would be sending his record to our doctor, Jonathon Shaffer, in Sugar Land.

We got back to the coach at a quarter to three. We thanked Dennis and Sandy for all their help and then got Onie in bed. The writer stayed up to clean up a few more places that had been missed in the haste to get Onie to the ER.

Then some notes were made as if there was any way we could ever forget the events of the day. At three thirty I joined Onie in bed and tried to sleep.

September 2, 2007

Nine seemed like a respectable time to rise after being up until three thirty. Outside it was overcast and inside it was cold. After setting the furnace on sixty five the writer went back to bed until ten to ten.

The coffee and tea were set to brewing. The smells woke Onie. She is feeling better but has two black eyes and a swollen nose.

Somehow a couple of pieces of coconut salmon, some potato salmon patties and a few slices of sausage had escaped the troops last night. We added an egg apiece and called it breakfast.

The dishes from last night and this morning were washed and instructions given to Onie to take it easy before going outside to take down the canopy we borrowed from Dennis. Richard and Sonny helped as there was n way I could get it done on my own.

Sonny helped e get our awning back in and then I turned my attention to repacking and storing the smoker in the basement. It was not likely the love seat or canvas table ould be used again before our leave taking so they were packed and stored in the basement, also.

Kurt has a storage shed and allowed as any thing we wanted to leave until net year could be stored there. The salmon net and bucket of salmon specific gear was placed there.

Since we hoped to get an early start tomorrow we took in the slides, got off the jacks, disconnected the power and TV cable and went to check the air in the tires and add as needed. Next the fresh water holding tank was filled and then the gray and black water tanks emptied and flushed.

We went back to our site where we leveled up, put out the slides, connected the power and dish cable and prepared for the morrow.

A drive was made to Freddies to pick up Onie’s prescription for antibiotics and to fill the car with gas.

On the way home I realized I had filled the wrong prescription getting the one for Vicodin and not Amoxicillin. What a dumb senior mistake. Tomorrow was Labor Day and all the drug stores would be closed. It was too late to go back as the pharmacy closes at six and it is now ten til. Something would have to be figured out.,

Back at Castaway I joined Onie, Sonny, Birdie, Richard, Mary, Dennis and Sandy around the campfire where we shared peanuts and coke. Onie was sporting her two big black eyes, behind big sun glasses, and swollen nose as testimony to the aftermath of a long night.

By six thirty the bugs had moved in to the campfire area. We let them have it.

In the coach Onie watched LMN while tales were spun on the laptop.

September 3, 2007

Even though we are running the heater to warm up we are enjoying the cool weather for we know what waits below the Canadian border or maybe even in Canada.

This morning it was thirty six at six when we turned on the electric heater. When the coach was a little cozy at eight we rose to start the tea and coffee. Outside it was still a cool thirty eight.

As we sipped our tea and coffee we savored an English muffin covered with figs. We followed that with an egg, sausage and a salmon/potato cake.

After making numerous phone calls and ascertaining that there wasn’t a pharmacy open anywhere on the Kenai Peninsula I called the hospital ER and prevailed on them to let us have two amoxicillin tablets. They agreed and told me there would be an ER charge attached to which I agreed since Onie needed the antibiotic according to Dr. Hileman. When I got there the nurse was very nice and just gave me the pills. The receptionist was the one who had said there would be a charge.

Since the car cover would be going on the toad tomorrow a stop was made to get the dirt off the front portion so the cover wouldn’t act as sand paper.

Back at the house with the pills at twelve thirty, and a car that was clean on the front I went in to find Onie had been cleaning house and washing. She had also cut into the nine pound cabbage and made some cabbage salad.

When the salad was all together she headed off to post some more stories and take a shower.

The step had refused to retract when we had moved yesterday so a little step time was called for. The same problem had occurred before and half an hour had been sufficient to fix it. Two hours later the motor was pronounced D.O.A.. The steps were pushed into a retracted position and fastened there with several electrical ties. No motor is available here, for sure, when most of the simplest parts have to be ordered.

The cover was put on the Subaru, the rug taken up, shaken and rolled up, with Onie’s help, and then stored in its box until next year. The love seat was folded, placed in its carrying bag and stowed and then the small canvas table was collapsed and stowed.

By now the campfire was blazing with Richard, Mary, Sonny and Birdie gathered round it. It seemed that five was a good time to quit for the day so we joined them, gathering close to escape the wind and cold.

When supper time came, eight, Richard and Mary brought hamburger patties to put on the grill with our venison burgers. When they were done we took them inside the Marlin, out of the cold wind, and completed them with all the fixings.

Everyone was tired so an early evening was called for and they hurried to their camper at nine.

Out in the fifty four degree wind the two remaining folding chairs were collapsed and put in their bags and then they joined the others in the basement.

Tired but dirty the mechanic went off to get a shower before turning in around ten thirty.

September 4, 2007

We have slept our last night at Castaway until next year. Our summer here is done.

Perhaps it is already fall. The leaves are turning and falling. The fireweed has bloomed out and the flowers turned to cotton like material which blows in the air carrying seeds to make more plants for next year. The ermine which live down on the river close to the grate have begun to lose their dark, almost black, color as the hind quarters are turning brown. Moose have checked their calendar and made themselves scarce since hunting season is open. And yet it was only forty six this morning at eight. It could still be summer with temperatures like that and if the sun breaks through it could be a lot warmer before the day is done.

Coffee and tea washed down our Cheerios and banana after which Onie washed the dishes.

Outside the plastic table was being washed and stored. The grill, brush, extension cord and cal-rod were all placed inside the opening in the spare tire. They fit there very well and will ride snugly all the way to Texas.

The TV antenna was taken down and placed in Kurt’s storage shed.

That was the last thing to do before we began the sequence which would let us depart. The shore power was disconnected while Onie started the engine and retracted the jacks. The jack pads were pulled from under the Marlin and placed in the basement along with the door mat.

Now we left our space until next June. Stopped in the drive we hooked up the Subaru as the wind gusted around us making it feel even colder than the forty eight it actually was. Before too many days passed we would be wishing for some cool weather. We knew that.

Richard, Chuck and LaVon met us as we were idling out of the park. We stopped to say goodbye, once again, and then we were on the road again. It was ten twenty. In our rearview mirror we saw Duaine pull his American Dream around to dump and flush his tanks. He would be twenty to thirty minutes behind us.

We took the long way out on Scout Loop Road hoping to see a moose before we got on the highway. W didn’t.

The Sterling Highway was carrying a lot of traffic and the light sprinkles that had begun to fall did nothing to slow it down. We had to bide our time before slipping into the line of vehicles heading toward the Seward Highway. We both kept a sharp lookout for animals but our efforts were not rewarded with any sightings.

Rounding Cook Inlet we saw the great expanse of mud that is left when there is a really low tide as there was today. One has to see it to believe it but the mud stretches for miles and it is hard to reconcile the fact that in a few hours water, the incoming tide, will cover it all.

While the tide was still going out at the head of the inlet it had already turned closer to the mouth and with the incoming water a few belugas in the inlet searched for lunch.

In Anchorage we stopped at Freddies for groceries, a stool for Onie to step on to get in and out of the coach and her prescription for the amoxicillin.

At four we met Sonny and Birdie at the Moose Lodge on Artic Avenue. We were spending the night there as their guest. When we arrived they had already paid our fee for the night. There is no water or sewer connection but there is electricity for the coach.

Sonny told us that many Moose Lodges have parking available for RVs and that the cost is usually five or ten dollars. After looking at the locations we figured it would pay for itself in a year so we joined and are now moose. In the future if we want to see moose all we need do is look in the mirror.

With the paper work done we all sat in Sonny’s rig and visited until Dennis, Sandy and Kyle arrived around six. It had been prearranged that we would meet them, they live in Anchorage, and eat supper with them at the Golden Corral. The drive was but a few blocks and the line was short to get in. Having never eaten at a Golden Corral the writer had no idea what to expect. What was found was a very large diverse selection of well prepared food and desserts. After the meal we stayed at the tables visiting one last time for the year.

Kyle had to go to school the next day, Dennis and Sandy had to work and we had to travel a rough and rocky road so we called it a night at eight thirty.

In the coach we watched a local TV channel until eleven. We knew we probably wouldn’t see a picture again on our set until we were back in the lower forty eight.