June 16, 2008,

Monday

ONE THIRD

Not that we are keeping score but today marks the beginning of the second third of our summer away from Coldspring, church, home, yard, hearth, dear friends, family, hunting leases and other things dear to our hearts.  One third has passed away.

Yet to come are visits from my brother, David, our daughter Tracy, our daughter Dawn and my sister Martha.  Those events will transpire in the next few weeks and then we will begin to wend our way homeward where the dogwood blooms and the bluebonnets grow.  For now we are happy and content to spend our time here in Alaska waiting for the arrival of our family and, need I say, fish.

Most of us run sleep deficits, particularly while we are working.  Somehow it seems we never make it up but perhaps the author is getting near.  This morning he woke at a quarter of five.  At five fifteen he decided to get up and make tea and ready the coffee pot.

Outside the sun was already brightly shinning but the temp still hovered around forty.

The Monday edition of the Anchorage Daily News was retrieved from the front of the Marlin, read and laid aside in favor of the Sunday edition which was unread.

With a cup of tea in hand the laptop was opened and the writer set about finishing week six.  Perhaps Onie could do her magic later in the day and get it posted.  If so it would be the first time this summer that we are right up to date with the website.

At nine o’clock the coffee pot was turned on and soon the wafting aroma of freshly brewing coffee drifted to Onie, up her nostrils and into her resting brain.  It stirred and she woke.

The reward, an hour later, for this small task was hot biscuits and sausage.  What a trade off.  The writer is up for that anytime.  The Sunday crossword was finished as well as the Monday puzzle then Onie turned to kitchen details.

The writer showered and crawled back into bed to warm up and nap.  Family Feud played on both televisions.

Later when the driver rose he took out the trash and volunteered to go fishing.  This way Onie could have the kitchen and coach to herself while she made fudge, salmon salad, rearranged her shelves and storage areas as well as make additional preparations for her upcoming trip with the girls.

An accurate internal clock is a handy thing to have especially when one is waiting to lick the fudge spoon and clean the pan.  Today my clock was keeping perfect time.  Just as I had settled down to do a proper job of spoon licking and pot cleaning a knock sounded at our door.

It was Sidney.  Barbara had spotted a baby moose wading in the river.  We grabbed our camera and headed for the river bank.  Others in the camp were gathering there to see the newborn as it worked its way up and down the river bank.  Onie was able to get a picture or two.

Back in the coach Onie continued her labors while Pawpaw pecked away recording the events of the day, for posterity.

Supper was served early again, at least early for us, around five o’clock.

We had just finished eating when Sidney came by and said we had a new summer camper, from Texas.  I promised to meet him, later, and invited Sidney and Barb to come over for a game of Skip-Bo, after they had eaten.

Sometime later there was a knock on the door.  It was Sidney.  Our new neighbor, from Texas, was trying to mount his dish antenna on his fifth wheel and needed our help.  I grabbed a long sleeve shirt and the tuning meter before going with Sidney over to the new folks trailer.  They are Norman and Chris.

Norman had his dish and the various hardware laid out in the back of his pickup.  We assembled it and then took it to the back of his trailer to mount it on the ladder as we had done with Sidney’s.  The dish was considerably larger and heavier but with the three of us handling it we got it mounted.  Then it needed aiming/tuning.  After half an hour of no success, no signal at all, Onie’s help was enlisted inside Norman’s rig.  She ran the diagnostics on the TB screen and reported on signal strength.  Another half hour passed before we had a signal and yet more time before we had a very strong signal.  We locked the dish in place and disconnected the signal meter.  Even though we had a very strong signal there was no picture.  Norman had put his service “on vacation” and would have to call Dish to get it turned back on.

Sidney and Barbara went to shower while Onie and I retreated to the warmth of the Marlin.  While we had been working the sun had gone behind the hill and that meant the temperature had dropped at least fifteen degrees in half an hour.  The writer’s hands were numb.

We warmed up and started a game of Skip Bo while we waited for Sidney and Barb.  When they got to the coach we stopped our game, made some popcorn, then we all gathered round the table and began our game.  It was ten thirty.

By twelve thirty the boys had prevailed, barely, and it was the consensus that it was too late (early?) to start another game.

The navigator and driver turned out their lights at one thirty.  It was daylight outside.

June 17, 2008

Tuesday

SKIPPY

When Onie rose at seven thirty she was greeted by a bright sun and warm house.  The writer rose at eight. It was already fifty six.

An egg, grits and sausage were soon on the table steaming, beckoning us to satisfy our hunger.  Coffee and tea lasted longer than breakfast and throughout the solving of three crosswords.

We both checked our email accounts as well as looking at the market and on line news.  The writer went first since he had agency work to do.  There were bills to pay and deposits to be made as well as entries made to client records.

With envelopes in hand, containing the deposits and bills Onie set off for Soldotna along with Barbara.  It would be another day of shopping, for them.

The writer wrote as well as played some games before setting off for the grate, pole and bucket in hand.

Each day we have warm weather the river will rise as snow in the mountains melts and feeds the creeks that drain into the Kenai.  A few days ago Sidney fixed a stick at waters edge, to track the rise.  Today it appears that the river is up about six inches.  As more water comes into the river more fish will follow.  The writer stood on the gravel and practiced his flip and drag for almost an hour visiting with Priscilla and Phylis who were also there.  None of us hooked a fish although the writer did feel one swim under his line.

He hadn’t been back in the coach long when the ladies returned.  Onie handed her purchases into the coach and then came in to store them.  Finished putting the groceries away she announced her intention to try her hand at the river.

She and Pawpaw went down to the river and fished in their favorite spots.  Both had the same result, no fish.

Sidney and Barbara were also beating the water with no success.  Before both couples went back to their rigs Barbara extended an invitation to play Skip Bo, after supper.  We told her we would be there.

Back in the coach Onie started supper while Pawpaw pecked away.

Salad and chicken fajitas on vegetable tortillas with fresh homemade pico di gallo were soon on the table.  Another crossword was worked as the supper was enjoyed.  When both were finished we turned to our laptops and a few games of Snood.

With long sleeve shirts covering our tee shirts we walked across the lawn to Sidney and Barbs where they were listening to music. The Skip Bo cards she had bought today when she and Onie were in town, Onie bought some too, were brought out and opened.  The four of us shuffled the new stiff cards.  Soon the games began.  Partners were the same as last night.  Three games were played and both teams had the pleasure of finishing second at least once.

At midnight we took our leave, stopping long enough on our walk back to look at a thermometer.  It was forty five under clear skies.

We readied ourselves for bed and then watched Tru Tv before going to sleep at one thirty.

June 18, 2008

Wednesday

LARD

Bight sun shone through the windows on the driver’s side of the Marlin.  It was ten o’clock here but it was eight in Hawaii.  Eight is a reasonable time to rise so we did.  Onie did the honors this morning on making coffee and tea while Pawpaw brought in the morning paper and then read the comics.  The comics are the only things that really change on a day to day basis, in the paper.  Even “Classic Peanuts” is different from day to day and the comics Pawpaw reads never have murder or mayhem in them.  They fit his Polly Ana outlook very well.

Onie was slaving over a hot stove.  From her oven she produced hot biscuits and from the stove top came pan fried bacon, usually done in the microwave, and in the bacon grease, lard, she fried an egg for each of us.  What more could one want for a breakfast feast?  Coffee, tea, crossword, Muscadine jelly, butter, all these things were added before we offered thanks and began our meal.

Each time we have biscuits we have a touch of the Louisiana kitchen that is home to our sister (in-law) Patty Rogers.  It is from her kitchen that come the finest, best tasting, clearest fruit jellies one can imagine and it is not just any fruit.  Most of it is wild fruit that she has picked, Muscadine grapes, Mayhaw berries, Possum grapes, blackberries and others as well as domestically grown figs.  To have her delicacies to go with Onie’s biscuits is to be tempted to overeat at every sitting. 

Fortunately the walk from the table to the laptop is not a long one and Pawpaw was able to negotiate it this afternoon without too much difficulty.  There he recorded the events of the morning before heading off to the shower.

The day would be a warm one that hadn’t required a heater since the early morning hours and certainly would not require one this afternoon.  It would seem that spring is losing out to summer which will officially arrive in a few days.  With the warm days the flowers, at the various rigs, are flourishing as well as the herbs and Sidney’s lettuce patch.

Following the shower Pawpaw turned to the mundane facets of life at Cast A Way, filling the fresh water holding tank and using the honey wagon to empty the black and gray water holding tanks.

As the day wore on we gravitated toward the fish grate and the river, trying our hand at catching some, or at least one red.  Sometime later we gave it up for another day.

After an early supper we played dominoes and watched game shows before going to bed.

June 19, 2008

Thursday

NESTING

Today was the day Sidney and I had set aside to go morel mushroom hunting so the writer rose at seven.  Sidney was still busy, with Sonny, spraying weeds along the camp roads.  They had gotten a late start because Sonny’s truck, a diesel, wouldn’t start.  It had been too cold at six, thirty two degrees.  They had to wait, warm up the engine, then start it and get to work on the weeds.  We would leave around ten.

The writer went back to bed rising again at eight thirty.

Onie put together a breakfast of an egg, grits, sausage, coffee and tea.

At ten thirty we set off to hunt mushrooms.  An almost empty gas tank required us to stop at Freddies, Fred Meyer, for gas before continuing on to Ninilchik, Deep Creek and then Anchor Point.  There we stopped at the State Trooper station.  No troopers were available but the secretary did her best to direct us to where a big, ninety thousand acre, forest fire had burned last year.  It was there we hoped to find the mushrooms.  The directions we were given took us back to Oilfield Road and then twenty miles off the pavement, down side roads, walking up and over hills, down next to creeks, through moose territory and past concentrations of bear scat but not to any mushrooms.  Hours later and what seemed like miles of walking we gave up and started back towards the pavement and home.

Long before we reached the pavement Sidney spotted a cow moose and yearling.  The cow was grazing behind some brush and the yearling was barely visible.

Later both the cow and yearling crossed right in front of the Subaru.

When we reached the Sterling Highway we turned toward Soldotna and the camp.

We had gone but a short distance when Sidney spotted an eagle nesting in a tree, right next to the road.  She never moved when we stopped to take her picture.

We stopped off at Freddies, to top off the fuel tank, before going back to camp.

Once there we worked on Kurt’s rig getting it ready for his and Becky’s arrival, on Sunday.  We put out the awning, opened the slide, got the water and electricity working and flushed the antifreeze from the water lines.

Then it was back to the river for another try for my first Red of the year.  One hundred four casts later a red was on the hook, on the bank, bonked, bled and on the stringer.  Now Onie could make the writer some salmon salad. 

Trying to add another fish to the stringer a few hundred more casts were made before the cold drove the fisherman to the cleaning table and then to the Marlin.

Onie had the heater running and the coach was warm.  After a quick cleanup I settled down with Onie to watch TV.

With light streaming through our window we turned off the TV at one and went to sleep.

June 20, 2008

Friday

FOUR

At four this afternoon, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News, the sun had begun its journey south having reached its northern most point at three fifty nine.   This in fact is not a fact.  The earth had reached the farthest tilt on its axis and as it begins a reverse tilt the sun seems to travel south.  No matter how you interpret it, the longest day has occurred, here, and the Alaskans, one and all, lament its passing for as the Daily News also reported “…seeing how summer so far has been MIA”.  As of today the temp in Anchorage has failed to hit seventy and managed only an anemic sixty seven for the year’s high.  The beginning of shorter days means winter looms on the horizon, in Alaskans eyes, and that will bring cold, snow, darkness, wrecks with moose, despondency and alcoholism.

We celebrated by washing clothes.

Then Sidney and Sonny, with the writer looking on in a purely supervisory capacity, that means failing to compliment when things go right and criticizing when they don’t,  worked on the ionization rod in the water heater in Kurt’s rig.

Later the writer became the worker and unloaded charcoal and chairs from the coach.  They would go into the pickup for the ladies to use next week.  A medium size suitcase was also unpacked and passed into the coach.  Onie would need it to pack.  Ten years ago she would have used two larger suitcases.  When this one was packed she would have room left over.  It is interesting how one’s “needs” diminish as one matures.

Some things were placed in the truck.

Sonny has a piece of old walrus bone he wants to have worked with scrimshaw.  The web had been searched for a local artist, to no avail.  It was remembered that Northland Gifts, Gloria Ager, sells scrimshaw from local artists.  She would know where to locate someone.  Sonny and I set out for her shop, a short distance, to make inquiries.  After arriving there it was but a short time before we left with a name and phone number for an artist in Ninilchik.

Onie had cooked all day.  Now she just shifted gears to fix our supper.

Later we played four games of dominoes.  Twice she finished next to last while the author shared that honor the other two times.  Both players were content to know they had played so well.

Tru TV occupied us as we dressed for bed and even after we got there.  We watched until twelve.

June 21, 2008

Saturday

TRAVELING

Rain was falling when we woke at five.  That was a good reason to go back to sleep.  We woke again at seven and rose to make the coffee and tea.

Later Onie fixed oatmeal and sausage for breakfast.

Outside the rain quietly gave way to cloudy skies while inside Onie continued cooking   and packing food , for the upcoming trip with the girls.

The writer spent time outside packing Kurt’s pickup.  The number of boxes as well as camping chairs, the grill and Onie’s luggage obviated the possibility of taking the toad.  Even with a shoehorn there would be no way to get everything in the Subaru.

By one o’clock we were ready for the road.  Circling the camp we said farewell to our Alaskan family and headed up the gravel road toward the Sterling highway and the trip to Anchorage.  As always we carried the camera and kept a sharp lookout for animals.  None were seen.

Several Espresso shops were seen along the way and we stopped at one such place, in Cooper Landing, for a latte and Chai tea, before heading on to Anchorage.

In Anchorage we checked in at the motel before heading off to Fred Meyer for fuel and to shop for groceries and me some rubber boots.  In addition to the boots the writer got a pair of crocs as did Onie.  An hour later we headed for Carr’s Safeway for more groceries.

It had been several hours since breakfast and our energy reserves were running low.  At eight we found a Mexican food restaurant where we stopped for supper.  Alaskan Mexican food is not Tex-Mex, ‘nuff said.

Just as we were finishing our meal Onie’s phone rang.  Tracy’s airplane was on the ground and headed for the terminal.  We quickly paid our ticket and headed for the airport.  Although Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska it is not large by lower forty eight standards, coming in at under four hundred thousand.  We were able to drive to the airport, probably six to eight miles, in less than fifteen minutes.  By then the girls had deplaned, gotten their luggage and were standing curbside.  The airport is not gargantuan either.  Since the truck was still loaded with things from camp as well as our Anchorage purchases the girls and Onie opted to ride the shuttle to the motel.

The pickup arrived first and the driver had the door to our suite open when the ladies and luggage arrived.

After a brief visit we bedded down for the night.  It was eleven.  Outside the rain had returned.

June 22, 2008

Sunday

BIRTHDAY

The gang was up by seven thirty, some earlier.  No one had a big breakfast but some were smaller than others, I had a strawberry and a few grapes.

The rain that had fallen all night continued to beat a steady tattoo on the roof.

Tracy and the writer left a little after eight to go pick up the motor home that would provide transportation and home to her, Onie, Haley and Diana for the next ten days.

Clipper RV Rentals is on the Old Seward Highway a few miles from the motel.  We were there in a short time.  Tracy had pre-registered as well as prepaid but pages and pages of paperwork remained to be completed, read, signed and initialed before we went out to see the coach.  It was a 2007 twenty nine foot Coachman Freelander.  To all appearances it was brand new.  Upon closer examination we found a few streaks of red paint where some previous driver had kissed a fixed object.  Notes were made on the inspection sheet.  Further inspection revealed a gray water tank that needed emptying as well as a propane tank that needed filling.  Propane and fuel tanks are supposed to be full when the unit is returned but apparently the prior user had failed to fill the propane tank.  One wonders if that user will find an additional entry on his credit card, for the propane.

Tracy was given a cursory explanation of the workings of the generator, appliances and holding tank system before she received the keys.  Then we were off to the motel, in the rain, to pack.

Tracy parked as close as possible to the covered walk of the motel and then luggage and perishables from the refrigerator were brought down and placed in the Coachman.  Next the writer began transferring the items from the pickup to the motor home.  The ladies stayed in the coach, trying to pack items as they came in.

In the process his shoes and outer clothing became soaked, an unusual occurrence in Alaska since rain rarely comes down fast or hard enough to really get one wet.

They were ready for the road except for a review of awning mechanics.  Tracy moved the coach to the parking lot of the motel where she parked, got out and began her short course on awning deployment and retraction, in the rain.  Ten minutes later it appeared she had the functions committed to memory.  The awning was retracted and secured.  Now nothing was left except farewells and wishes for a safe happy trip laden with many adventures.

The writer watched, from the truck, as Tracy eased the unit into gear and started on her first motor home journey, as driver.   Keeping her company were Onie, Haley and Diana.

Time had flown.  It was ten thirty.  Kurt and Becky Tatsumi, from Sheldon, Iowa were on a Sun Country plane that should be landing at any time.  The writer, now the driver again, headed for the airport, ten minutes away.

When he was five minutes away his cell phone rang.  The Sun Country flight was on the ground.  Kurt and Becky would meet me outside the terminal in the passenger pickup area.  It wouldn’t be hard to spot them as the area is only seventy five to a hundred feet long.  By the second pass they had retrieved their baggage and were waiting curbside, under the canopy, out of the rain.  Getting wet in the fifty degree air meant an instant chill.

Their one suitcase along with four boxes of frozen chickens were loaded and then it was off to Fred Meyer for some shopping.  This time we went to the Fred Meyer on Northern Lights at the New Seward Highway.  Earlier Onie and I had shopped at the Fred Meyer on Muldoon.

While Kurt and Becky shopped for tennis shoes for Kurt, the driver parked then went in to get a Chai tea.  Since Kurt was a bit under the weather he went back to the pickup after finding his tennis shoes.  The driver waited until Becky had finished her grocery shopping then helped her store them in the truck.

Now it was after noon and pangs from the nether regions were making themselves felt by the driver.  It was decided to find a place to eat lunch.

The driver, as well as Kurt and Becky, had passed the Campbell Creek Sports Bar and Pub but had never stopped to visit.  It was decided to stop in for lunch.  After looking at the menu each of us decided on soup and sandwich, pannini, to be specific.  Waiting for our meals we looked out the window at Campbell Creek and watched folks float by in inflatable kayaks.  No one was fishing for reds but perhaps they will later as the fish migrate up the creek to spawn and die.

Twenty minutes later our plates of food arrived.  It was immediately apparent we should have ordered soup or sandwich but not both.  We did our best to be good kids and eat our lunch but ended up getting go boxes.

David, my brother, would be arriving at Anchorage International Airport at four thirty two.  That was some three plus hours in the future.  We decided to fill the time with a movie.  Becky decided that we should see The Hulk.  Kurt, who was feeling poorly, decided to sleep in the truck.  The Hulk is a movie that showcases Hollywood’s ability to take a kid’s story and show gratuitous violence and mayhem, leaving nothing to the imagination and despoiling a child’s innocence.   Hooray for Hollywood and animation!  Not!

At the airport, Continental, the airline David was arriving on, was two minutes early in arriving.  We had parked in the short term parking and were waiting on David as he came down the escalator.

David made his way to baggage pickup, with Kurt, Becky and me in tow, where he retrieved his one piece of luggage before we took a short walk to the truck, loaded up and left for points southwest.

The traffic at five fifteen was light, by most standards, and we whizzed out of town and headed for Cook Inlet where the travelers and driver were treated to a vision of unending mud flats, created by a very low tide.

Kurt and Becky dozed in the back seat while David and I rode in the front and visited about family in general and Deedee, his granddaughter, in particular.  She is a very bright, articulate four year old who is already a world traveler with her own passport.  He also caught me up on David, Jr. and his first few days as an intern at a hospital in Miami, Florida.  Ginger, David’s wife sent her greetings and love as did sister Martha.

With steady driving we reached camp at seven forty five.

We stopped at Kurt and Becky’s rig and helped them unload, and store some things, before we rolled on down to the coach where we unloaded David’s suitcase.

It had been a long day.  David had spent his seventy second birthday traveling from his home in Richmond, Texas to our coach in Sterling, Alaska.  He was tired and hungry.  The driver/cook, writer, etc. was also tired and hungry.  Unlike Onie he had failed to plan ahead for this evening’s meal and with no plan in place the place for supper became, Suzie’s.

Suzie’s is a favorite with locals and many of us who call Alaska our summer home.  Yours truly had the clam strips while David had chicken strips.

Back in the coach at nine we put on some contemporary music, for us.  It was from the fifties and sixties.  For you younger readers that would be nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty, veritable ancient history as it were.  For the next five hours we listened and reminisced with each new song evoking memories of a past long gone.  It had been a time of innocence, zoot suits, duck tails, sock hops, chopped and channeled cars, fast girls, those who kissed on the first or even second or third date, hard work, low wages, expensive gasoline, it took almost an hour’s labor at minimum wage to pay for a gallon, the Navy for David and marriage and a son for me.

When we finally called it a day David had been up twenty four hours and the writer had been up about nineteen.  It had been a rather unusual birthday for David having started in Texas and ending in Alaska with music and events of olden days reminding us that many days had passed since he and I were little boys, on our knees, playing with our cars and trucks, building roads through forest of weeds, bridges over rivers of ditches and dreaming dreams of what was to be.  Much of it had been.  We will wait to see what will be.