STILL UNDEFEATED

Monday, June 29, 2009

We are enjoying the cool weather while it lasts. This morning at nine it was sunny but crisp.

The chili and eggs for breakfast went well with the hot tea.  The Anchorage Daily News contained the usual easy and hard crosswords.  When the crosswords had been dispatched Onie cleaned the kitchen and the writer sat down to work on week six.

Monday is wash day and the writing was interrupted to help with the wash.  When the wash had been started the writer returned to his laptop and Onie set off on a long walk with Inga.

The writer was alerted to keep a weather eye out for what seemed to be impending rain and if a deluge developed he was to hurry to rescue the ladies.  In the meantime he was to write and check on the laundry, fold clothes as they dried and stand by for rescue.  It did sprinkle but the need for rescue never developed.

A trip to the laundry was interrupted by the need to help Chuck and Barbara set up another garden box.

When Onie returned the laundry was finished and taken to the coach.

While Onie stored the clean clothes the writer went out to work on the satellite antenna.  The pole that had been purchased for the mounting had to be bent to accommodate the downward tilt needed to pick up the signal.  It was placed in the ground and some Sac-Crete poured in and mixed around it.  A while later we tried aiming the antenna but the pole had too much give in it to allow aiming as the window to hit the satellite is very small and a waver of a quarter inch causes one to miss the bird.  Tuning would have to wait for a u-bolt to fasten the pole to the side of the shed so it would be more stable.

Kurt and Sidney had been helping with the antenna and now we gathered around our picnic table to visit and enjoy snacks.

After supper Kurt, Sidney, Barbara, Becky and Krista came over for Skip-Bo.  We played until ten, Krista and the writer were still the undefeated champions, when the company went home.

Onie cued up the movie, Cellular, which we watched until twelve thirty when sleep caught up with us.

LAST CHANCE

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Summer is upon us.  When we rose at eight thirty the temp was already up to fifty five.  With the sun high in the clear sky it promised to be a warm, if not hot, day.

The ADN was brought in and the crosswords worked, email checked, a visit made to Facebook and a call from son David answered before Onie woke and joined me for tea.

She prepared the steel cut oats along with the walnuts, blueberries and honey before we sat down to enjoy more tea and breakfast.

Breakfast out of the way we began reorganizing our tackle bucket and reserve tackle.  Then Onie began tying some flies, placing thirty in the tackle box before she stopped.  When the fish are in the river and we are catching, the last thing we want is to lose a fly/hook and have to stop to tie one before we can resume fishing. 

In the cleaning mood we tackled the patio next before we went online and registered for the Denali drive-in lottery.  We had thought to register in July but I had read in this morning’s paper that today was the last day to register.  Onie had been following the registration on line but the website she had been tracking was not an approved Denali website and they had posted the wrong information for several years.  Luckily the paper had carried and article this morning with the correct information and website.  We will be notified in mid July if we are among the lucky sixteen hundred who will get to drive into the park in their personal vehicles, weather permitting.  And the weather can be mighty iffy as the dates are September 18,19, 20 and 21 so there is a good possibility of snow which could close the road.

Registered and with crossed fingers reels were taken off rods for re-spooling.  While that was transpiring Hager came by to talk.  When that visit was at an end Onie and the writer went over to water Frank’s plants.  They are gone for several days and Onie volunteered to water their plants.  They have several that are quite beautiful.

Plants watered Onie and I went to fish and fish we did with the same results for the last several times, nada.

Bill and Nancy Hager came back by to visit some more and ask questions about the fifth wheel.

Questions answered the driver went off to Soldotna for u-bolts for the satellite antenna, hooks, sharpening stone and weights. 

On the way back Hager stopped me on the road in with more questions about the fifth wheel.  We visited for half an hour.

Back home the purchases were put away before Hager called again to invite the driver and Onie to join him and Nancy for pizza tonight.  We agreed if we could go Dutch treat.

They picked us up at seven and we went to a new restaurant in Soldotna.  It was spendy but the food was excellent.  We were back home at nine thirty.

Bookworm occupied us ‘til midnight.

SO ON AND SO FORTH

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

We slept until ten thirty.  When we woke it was sixty eight and sunny.

The Anchorage Daily News was retrieved from our doorstep and read while we enjoyed our tea.

Some notes were made and the stories for week six were finished, put on a stick and given to the navigator for editing, inserting of pictures, formatting and posting to our website.

By noon it was growing hot, sixty eight, and we were seated at our table eating our first meal of the day, working crosswords.

Today the weir counter will go into action at the bridge over the Kenai River, in Soldotna.  Tomorrow we will get our first report of second run reds.

When breakfast was at an end, work resumed on the hole for the TV antenna.  Digging a hole here is not like digging a hole in Coldspring. A post hole three feet deep can be made with a pair of drop augers in less than five minutes at home.  Here five minutes with a pair of drop augers will get you to the first big rock two or three inches under the surface of the ground.  After that it is slow going as rocks are dug out and then a little soil removed before the next rock is encountered and so on and so forth.  The writer labored on with the so on and so forth.

The work was interrupted when Bill and Nancy came down.

Onie and Nancy played dominoes while Bill and I went to look at rigs, a 5^th wheel and a 37 ‘ Pace Arrow motor coach.  We returned at five.

After supper Onie and I played a game, Bookworm, together until bedtime at eleven.

A FIFTH FOR BILL

Thursday, July 2, 2009

An appointment had been made yesterday to look further at a fifth wheel camper with Bill, down at Noble Car Wash.  The appointment was for ten so Onie and the writer rose at eight and had breakfast and tea.

At nine thirty Bill showed up.  We left the park and went to meet the seller’s representative.  After an examination of the interior and asking some questions regarding maintenance a call was placed to the seller who was in Colorado.  A connection was made, an offer tendered, a counter offer made and an agreement reached to sell and to buy.  A call was placed to a bank in Houston to transfer funds to a credit union in Alaska and the Hager’s became the proud owner’s of a nice fifth wheel camper.

Then the camper was moved to Castaway and put in the only remaining empty slot.

Under the sunny hot sky Sidney, Ted, Kurt, Chuck and the writer helped Bill set up, get the slides out and deploy the awning.

Seated at Onie’s computer at three the first weir count was checked.  It was twenty five hundred plus.

Frank and Inga were still gone so we watered their plants again.

Onie’s new gas grill got another work out as she cooked shrimp and mixed veggies in her basket.  It was delicious.

Krista and Becky came over at seven for Skip Bo.  Krista and the writer remained the undefeated champions.

Becky left for her rig at ten thirty and Krista stayed to visit until twelve.

We went to bed and Onie went to sleep.  The writer watched The Battle of the Bulge, again, and finally went to sleep at two.

LONG DAY

Friday, July 3, 2009

Another hot sunny morning greeted us at eight when we left our bedroom.

Hot tea, chili and eggs with the crosswords got our day started before Onie left at ten with Priscilla for garage sales at locations yet to be found.

The writer sat at his laptop before calling grandson, Kyle, who will be arriving late this evening, in Anchorage.

When Kyle and I hung up Bill Hager called to say he would be down shortly.  He wanted me to go to his rig with him and make a shopping list of things needed to begin getting his fifth wheel livable.  When he arrived at twenty to eleven we did just that, then he and Nancy set off to see where they could find the things on the list.

Next door to the Hager’s is Ted and Priscilla Gotto’s coach/space.  As the writer walked toward his own rig he noticed Ted and Sidney sitting in the sun, visiting.  He sat down to chat for a while.  An hour and half later he finished his short walk home.

At the coach he had every intention of rigging up and going fishing but he was overcome with a strong desire to take a nap.  He knew it would be a late night before he could really lay his head down for any length of time. 

With eyes that had barely closed and ears that were just beginning to close out sound he heard Onie’s return and saw her come in the door.

He got up to help her unload her treasures and then lay back down.

Onie woke him at five to get ready to go to a fiesta at Don and Julie’s, at five thirty.

When we got there it was obvious they had done a lot of planning and decorating to be sure the party was a success.

Hostess Julie getting things ready.

Folks gathered around the tables.

Even though we were enjoying the company and the good Mexican food we had to leave at six thirty to head to Anchorage. Kyle was due in around midnight and we had some shopping to do before we met him.  The drive in was marked by one highway patrolman for every ten miles, on average, and almost all were giving driving awards as we passed by.  It is rare to see even one patrolman in the hundred forty mile trip but to see fourteen marked cars and several unmarked is just unheard of.

We negotiated the numerous construction sites and saw one moose at the Russian River in a marsh.

At ten we were at the Brown Jug warehouse and by ten forty we were in the parking lot of the old Seward Highway Wal-Mart.  We shopped until eleven thirty and then drove to Ted Stevens International Airport where we parked and went in to wait for Kyle’s arrival.

He had been in route since a quarter of two, Huntsville, Alabama time, traveling by himself.  We were expecting him at one minute into the new day.  That would by three-oh-one Huntsville time making his en route time almost thirteen hours.

Outside a beautiful sunset lit the nighttime sky recalling the Alaskan appellation of Land of the Midnight Sun.  The information board in the airport showed his plane was still in the air.  The driver checked with the Delta ticket counter and they advised his flight was four minutes ahead of schedule and should be at the gate at eleven fifty seven.  It was.

JULY 4^TH/ARRIVAL KYLE

Saturday, July 4, 2009

At Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage we sat waiting for Kyle as the sweep second hand on the wall clock swung past twelve and clicked off a minute of a new day, July fourth.  A few minutes later he came down the escalator.  We were so relieved to see him and glad he was here.  Hugs were exchanged as well as big smiles, pictures snapped and then it was off to baggage claim.

Kyle arriving at Anchorage Airport. 

Pawpaw gets his hug.

Then it's Onie's turn.

A quick text was also sent to Kyle’s mom, Tina, to let her know of his safe arrival.

At the baggage claim carousel his bag was among the first off.  We retrieved it and headed outside.  Kyle took one deep breath of the sixty two degree weather and began talking about leaving the hundred degrees just a few hours earlier.  He also talked about the beautiful sunset he had seen on the landing approach as well as the snow covered mountains.

With his one bag loaded we headed out of the parking lot and to the nearest MacDonald’s.  Traveling had made him hungry and we still had three hours before we would be in the Marlin.  While Kyle munched his early morning meal we headed for the holiday gas bar where we fueled up and headed for Sterling and Castaway.  It was twenty to one.

Around the Inlet a light haze lay over the water and surrounding mountains but the beauty wasn’t hidden. Although the tide was out the remaining water dropped the outside temperature to forty and before we got around the Inlet the tide had turned and was coming in.

At Turnagin Pass we stopped to stretch and show Kyle where we had spent the night on the way in.

One moose was seen, through the fog, about forty miles from Sterling.

The part of the night with the least amount of light had come and gone by the time we reached camp at three forty.  Kyle was amazed that the sun was coming back up.  It had never been really dark.

By four o’clock the only sounds coming from the Marlin was the deep restful sound of folks sleeping.

Kyle was still on Alabama time and he woke up at ten-ten.  Onie got up with him.

Kyle had some sausage for breakfast.

The writer rose at eleven thirty, had some tea and made some notes.

Then Kyle and Pawpaw walked up to the lodge deck for the festivities that were about to begin.  When we got there the food had been laid out and a serving line was just beginning to form.  One look at the desert table told one that food servings should be kept to a minimum so as not to infringe on room for chocolate and strawberries.  With that in mind portions were kept to a bare minimum once the writer got to the food.

It was obvious that many folks had their priorities all wrong as person after person loaded their plate to the overflowing point with such worthless non-nutritional items as salad, grilled chicken, potato salad, baked beans, various raw vegetables and other things from the non essential food groups.  The writer on the other hand paid obeisance to the neo food faddist in Washington and their latest food pyramid by taking a table spoon full of each of the above.  Then he progressed to the food staple table where Tres Leches Cake, Strawberries mixed with chocolate and whipped cream, brownies, peanut butter pie and cheese cake, waited.  He passed the cheese cake.

Later he was rolled down the steps of the lodge and left to deflate on the parking lot.  Even later he made it back to the coach.

Why do people over eat?  Is it because we remember a time when we didn’t have a lot or when we were especially hungry?  If this is so then why do people who grew up with plenty over eat?  Is it because our food/diet is lacking in basic ingredients that our bodies need to keep us healthy?  Perhaps it is because we don’t feel secure in our surroundings or with our spiritual life.  Or even better perhaps we don’t feel good or accepting about our earthly body.  But it may just be that we are greedy, like the taste of food and don’t have the self-control to say we have had enough and then lay down our fork, pick up our bodies and move away from the food.  You can take your pick from any or all of the above or substitute some of your own, but when you have discovered the answer to this age old question, if you’ll share it with the author we can both be rich.

As the sun went behind the hill Kyle, Onie and Pawpaw settled in for an evening of the Game Show Channel which was followed by a snack and then bed.

OVERNIGHTER

Sunday, July 5, 2009

There would be no church for Kyle or Pawpaw today even though they rose at half past two.  Outside it was forty seven and cloudy.  Inside it was sixty five and bright as lights lit up the coach and preparations to go on an overnight halibut/lingcod fishing trip.  Clothes were pulled on while Onie made Kyle some egg sandwiches for breakfast, and fixed tea and sausage for Pawpaw.  A final few things were loaded in the Subaru, hugs were exchanged with Onie and then the fishing duo was out the door, into the car and on the road for Homer.  It was three fifteen.

The light in Kyle’s eyes told Pawpaw that he was willing and able to drive as is every fifteen year old young man who has had his permit for two months lacking five days but, it was going to be foggy and the roadside would be playing host to several moose as they drove to Homer.  Pawpaw drove.

Sure enough several moose were seen and the fog did make its appearance though it was not as dense as it has been on other occasions.  An observant patient Kyle mentioned to Pawpaw, halfway to Homer, that he would like to drive and Pawpaw was sure that the reaction time of this fifteen year old was quicker than his own but he also knew that in some cases experience will trump speed and this was one of those times, in his opinion.  He continued to drive with the promise that Kyle could drive on the way home, tomorrow as there shouldn’t be any fog on the road and the number of moose roadside would also be not as great.  With that assurance Kyle relaxed and went to sleep.

We began the descent into Homer around five fifteen.  The Spit lay wrapped in a fog blanket, seen only by radar.  Fifteen minutes later we were under the damp blanket and on the Spit.  The small boat basin was in view.  Kyle was awake.

In the parking lot we traded our shoes for waterproof boots, picked up our Tote box full of clothes, wet weather gear and camera and headed for the Solitude and two days of fine fishing.  Down the ramp and on the floating dock we were met by Larry, Jr. who took the box and led us on to the Solitude. 

Captain Larry, his friend Dave, Mary, who was along for the ride, she wouldn’t fish, and her husband John were already on board.  As we placed our Tote box in a cabin below we heard the twin diesels fire up and heard Captain Larry ask for shore lines to be cast off.  Then we felt the Solitude get under way.  Our odyssey had begun.  It was five forty five.  We knew Onie was still asleep back in the Marlin so we thought perhaps we too should be asleep.

In our cabin, where we would spend the night, Kyle took the top bunk while Pawpaw got the bottom one.  Kyle said he figured it would be easier for Pawpaw to get in the bottom rather than crawl to the top.  He was right.  Soon we were both fast asleep.

On the flying bridge Captain Larry was plotting the day’s fishing even as he headed out of the no-wake area and into the channel leading into Katchemak Bay.  He chatted with other captains, although many who would have been heading out in past years were still tied up as the number of fishing tourists was down dramatically, and they discussed weather and tide forecast.  The trip out to the halibut and lingcod fishing grounds would take us out and around the peninsula and back toward Seward, weather permitting, but as he heard weather reports his optimism gave way to reality.  Below we slept on.

Topside Captain Larry was piloting the Solitude through increasing wind and building seas.  Eventually it was the increasing seas and attendant rough ride that woke Pawpaw and Kyle.

When they reached the upper cabin they were immediately aware of a fogged-in condition, visibility was no more than a hundred yards, and seas that were running two to three feet, not real rough but rough enough to make one wish for better sleeping weather.

Dave was already in his foul weather gear which told Pawpaw we were nearing our first fishing spot.  He and Kyle got their boots back on and weatherproof tops.

Kyle visiting with John, left, and Dave, right.

Little Larry made his way forward and stood by the anchor winch until given the word to let anchor go.  Then we heard the chain and cable unwind as the anchor made its way down ninety feet, to the bottom.  When it held Captain Larry shut off the engines and came down to the fishing deck.  He announced what Pawpaw already suspicioned, it was too rough to make the trip outside.  We would have to stay in the protected parts of the bay.

With lines in the water we waited for a while for the first bites.  When they came it was the familiar rattle of a halibut nibbling and butting the bait.   Rod tips firmly pulled down told us that the first fish of the day were hooked and waiting to be reeled in.  Soon Kyle and Pawpaw were waiting for thirty and thirty five pound fish to be released so they could get to the big fish.  They didn’t seem to be in the ninety feet of water so we left.

Motoring through the fog was an eerie sensation for Kyle.  There was no visible point of reference except the surface of the water and the nearby fog horizon, now just fifty yards away.  Overhead it seemed even closer.

Even though the approaching seas could not be seen we knew they were bigger but soon the anchor was let go once more and the Solitude was at rest once again.

Now standing on the deck that was rising and falling to four foot seas we put three pound weights on our lines and lowered them down over a hundred fifty feet to what we hoped were big halibut.  They weren’t.  As happens to fishermen we had released moderately sized fish in hopes of getting something bigger.  What we got was something smaller.  Kyle and Pawpaw had each kept a thirty five pounder at the first stop, just for insurance, and now with the twenty pounders that were going in the fish box they looked very respectable indeed.

Two o’clock proved there was still a sun in the sky as the fog began to burn off and reveal the shoreline that had been there all day, just a half mile away.  Snow covered mountains stood between us and the open sea where the wind was blowing thirty two miles an hour building seas that looked big even to vessels three and four times our size.  There would be no trip outside and toward Seward.  The Solitude would spend the night in her berth in Homer and we would spend the night in our bunks on board her.

Half an hour later the anchor was hoisted and the trip in began.  The fish box held a full limit for everyone on board and the outgoing tide was running hard.  The wind was increasing as were the seas.  It was time to go in.

Larry, Jr began taking the fish from the fish box preparatory to filleting them.  When he got to Kyle’s thirty five pounder Kyle grabbed it a held it up for Pawpaw to get a picture.

Then Larry, Jr got out the rest of the fish.

As the fish were filleted and the carcasses thrown overboard the sea birds gathered for lunch and some followed us for the two hours it took us to get back in and to the fuel dock.

Back in the boat slip the filets were unloaded and given into the care of Coal Point Packing where they were to be cut into one pound portions, flash frozen and held for shipping instructions.

Kyle and Pawpaw went back to the boat after the trip to Coal Point.  The other fishermen had left but the two Larry’s were still there but they were getting ready to leave for home.  They would be back in the morning, early, for our second day of fishing.

Six o’clock was just around the corner as Kyle and Pawpaw headed back up the ramp from the floating dock to street level.  Once at street level they crossed the road to Captain Patties, a sea food restaurant.  Still in their fishing boots and clothes they were seated at a table for two, laid with white linen napkins, silverware and good dishes.  Outside one window lay the road that runs the length of the Spit.  Out the other window lay the waters of Katchemak Bay.  Underneath them the chairs they sat on still seemed to rock with the waves.

All day long Kyle had done well with the rolling heaving deck but now he almost lost his breath when he looked at the menu.  A simple bacon cheeseburger was ten dollars and three pounds of Alaska King Crab was eighty four dollars.  Pawpaw could tell his appetite was failing him, a sign of serious shock in any teenager.  After mulling over the menu Kyle decided on the bacon cheeseburger and a glass of water.  Pawpaw ordered a sampler plate of grilled prawns, fried mozzarella cheese, fried clam strips and fried calamari as well as a dinner salad and a bowl of clam chowder.

When the food came Kyle discovered he liked everything on the sampler plate and acquitted himself quite well on what was there. 

When the meal was over Pawpaw and Kyle wandered through a few shops before heading back to he boat at seven thirty.  Sitting in the salon they discussed several things including the cost of things in Alaska before Kyle went below at eight.  He was soon asleep.

Still in the salon Pawpaw worked on some crosswords before going to his rack at nine.

Back in the coach Onie had gone back to bed after the fishermen left and then slept in.  When she rose she had a cup of coffee and some breakfast before catching up on her email and then beginning the weekly wash.  Her day had passed quietly without the two guys to watch over and feed.  After a little TV she had turned in.