PROBLEM SOLVED

Sunday, July 11

Onie was up at nine thirty to shower. It was fifty two and sunny.

The writer was up at ten when he dressed for church, ate some cold cereal, had some hot tea and waited for Onie. She came in, had some coffee and got ready for church.

We were out the door at ten forty five.

When we got there they had just started the first song. We found a pew and joined in. Tim's message was “When I Must Carry On”. The scripture came from Psalms and dealt with David when he was being hunted by King Saul, had few friends and little earthly hope of living, much less ever becoming king of Israel. He turned to God, as he had in the past, and found the strength to carry on.

After church we stopped by Kurt and Becky's at twelve fifteen to pick up the rest of our laundry. We had left the last load in the dryer last night. Kurt and Becky had gone to church early and now they were in the basement hanging sheet-rock.

They got to a stopping place and came up for coffee, tea and lemon poppy seed cake. While we enjoyed our snack the ladies planned for an event tomorrow night. It would include us, them, Frank and Inga as well as Mike.

Home at one thirty the writer made notes while Onie enjoyed a sandwich.

It was another beautiful day on the Kenai Peninsula. The sun was shining and it was sixty two, a little on the warm side but still very nice. Ladies who hadn't gone to church lay stretched out in lawn chairs soaking up the sun in their shorts and tank tops.

Kyle--Dennis and Sandy's grandson--celebrated his twentieth birthday with cake and ice cream served to the camp. We sang Happy Birthday to him.

By three we were back in the coach. The writer decided to fish a bit and Onie walked up the hill to visit with Frank and Inga.

No fish were caught between three and four so the fisherman reverted to his alter ego, the writer.

Onie was back from the hill and tried to work on weeks five and six but had a software problem. When she tried to download a fix off the web she couldn't get a signal. She played Snood instead. After a few games she called Tracy, our daughter in Austin, who knows computers. She gave Onie a fix and a little later, when the writer took a break, she fixed the problem. Now her computer could read the files that the writer was giving her from his laptop. She could start work again on the stories, preparing them for posting to the website.

Laundry accumulates so quickly that we hardly know where it comes from. Last night some of the clean clothes had been left in the dryer at Becky's. Now we went up the hill to retrieve them. They were a bit wrinkled so they were heated a bit before the writer and Onie folded them and placed them in a basket.

Becky set some snacks on the table and the foursome sat down and visited for a bit before Onie and Tom headed back to the Marlin.

The clean clothes were put away.

Kurt came down to the coach, rod in hand, so the writer joined him and the two went to the grate. Onie stayed in the coach working on weeks five, six and seven.

When the writer returned some time later she had made good progress.

Supper was eaten around nine and then it was time to watch some GSN before calling it a night.

CLAM UP

Monday, July 12

We were up at six thirty.

Outside it was overcast and forty four. Inside a cup of Chai tea was made and then it was time to heat tea water and read the paper. When the tea water was hot the tea ball was dropped in and the paper was taken back up. When the tea had steeped, a serving of salmon and cabbage was nuked and eaten for breakfast, then it was time for a quick shower and to get dressed.

Becky came over at eight oh five. Folks were getting ready to go clamming. The writer grabbed his muck boots and bib rain wear before joining Kurt, Becky and Sidney in the truck. We were on the road to Anchor Point.

Arriving there at nine thirty we unloaded the four wheeler, clam guns, clam shovels and buckets. After donning our clamming gear; boots, bib rain wear or hip boots we loaded things onto the four wheeler. With the writer driving and Becky behind we started out, scouting for a likely place to dig clams. Sidney and Kurt were walking. After a false start the four wheeler was driven about a mile down the beach to a place the riding pair agreed looked clammy. Becky got off with the gear and the driver returned to get Kurt and Sidney. When the group was reunited they gathered their gear and headed where the water meets the sand. Then it was time to start digging for clams. The writer and Sidney used clam guns while Becky and Kurt preferred shovels. After a while Mark called. He was coming down and would be in the parking area shortly. Sidney took the four wheeler to pick him up. When they got back Mark spelled the writer on the clam gun and after that they shared the duty.

We searched for and found clams until about one when a fast incoming tide drove us from the beach. We had one five gallon bucket full and another half full. It had been a good day at the beach.

At the trucks the group loaded the four wheeler, clams and gear and headed to Castaway with the exception of Mark who went to Homer where his boat was in the small boat basin.

We stopped at Kurt's house to unload the four wheeler then went down to Sidney's to open and process the clams. There they were dropped into hot water until the shells popped open, then the clams were removed and placed back in a bucket. When all the clams had been relieved of their shells the group headed to the cleaning table, on the grate, to clean the bodies and diggers. They finished at five.

While the group had been working on the clams Onie headed to Becky's with stuff for supper.

The writer showered and dressed for supper before walking up the hill to Kurt and Becky's. Frank, Inga, Mike, Kurt, Becky, Onie and I sat down to supper at seven. Everything was delicious.

After dessert the group got up and cleared the table. With that task accomplished the group divided, the ladies went out on the porch and the guys took the soft comfortable chairs and couch inside. The guys talked politics and fishing, two of the three most important subjects in the world, the third being hunting. They pretty much agreed on what was wrong with the current political situation in America and even the world for that matter but agreeing on the proper techniques for hunting and fishing was another matter. Since they were each experts in their own right and each uses different techniques it was inevitable that no concrete conclusion was reached other than the fact that if each adopted the others methods the world would be a better more harmonious place. Birds would sing louder, the sky would be clearer, pollution would end and the Garden of Eden would bloom once again. Of course they recognized the possibility of that happening is as remote as politicians making rational decisions.

An hour after sitting on the couch and in the comfortable chairs the guys were advised by the kitchen crew it was time for the gathering to come to an end.

We were home at ten.

Onie got on the web to stop payment on a check the writer had mailed June 25^th but had not yet arrived at Citi Bank, to pay a gas card bill.

That little chore out of the way the happy couple settled in to watch some GSN until eleven.

Onie went to sleep but the writer remained up until one thirty, alternating between games and writing.

FLIMSY FISH

Tuesday, July 13

Onie was up at eight and headed to Curves shortly after rising. I rose half an hour later. It had rained last night and it continued this morning so outside it was cool and cloudy.

Tea water was started and then I had a cup of Chai tea and read the paper while the tea brewed. A fresh cup of tea in hand I sat down to check my email. There was a note from Billy Green at our church regarding our finance committee. A call was placed to him and my brother, David, to discuss the problem facing the finance committee. After talking to David I called Billy Green back and we discussed the issue, further.

When Onie returned home she fixed steel cut oats while I made a few notes.

Fourteen thousand fish came in yesterday and there is lots of activity on the grate. Some fish are being caught.

After breakfast Onie and I went to fish. After a while we had our limits, mostly big fish, but all of Priscilla's fish were flimsy.

Kurt fished along with us and then stayed to visit.

Rain fell all day and at times it was cold.

My turn at the cleaning table came at ten and when the fish on the stringers were fileted and placed in storage bags and the bags placed in our fridge the fridge was full.

We ate supper at eleven.

Around midnight we crawled into our warm bed.

Outside the rain continued to fall. It was forty five degrees.

POSTED

Wednesday, July 14

In her routine Onie was up at seven thirty and quickly off to Curves.

The writer was up half an hour later.

Talk yesterday had revolved around cleaning Kurt's boat and getting it ready for the summer. A call was placed to him to see what time he wanted to get started. He was hanging sheet-rock in the basement and said ten would be a good time to start on the boat so it was agreed the writer would be there at ten.

The writer showered, checked his email and sat down to work on some stories for week five that weren't complete.

With Onie home from her morning workout we sat down to our steel cut oats.

When ten was near the writer headed up the hill to help clean up the boat. The tarp covering it was removed and laid out to dry before the boat trailer and boat were backed into the garage. We cleaned the dust off and vacuumed out the leaves. Kurt installed the depth recorder while the writer checked the safety equipment and inventoried the life vests. When we were satisfied everything was in order and ready to use for the summer we both went down to fish.

We stopped for a snack at the coach, warmed up beer batter halibut and coconut salmon.

Twenty four thousand four hundred fish came in yesterday. The fishing should be very good but it would be hot work. Overhead the sun burned like a furnace. It was definitely shorts and tee shirt weather, some ladies were laying out sunning, but the writer dare not sport such attire as he would be sure to burn. The seventy five degrees feels like ninety five. Only those who have been here can relate to just how hot seventy five can be here.

When summer comes to the Kenai Peninsula and the surrounding mountains the almost daily rains and heat combine to melt the snow that remains on the mountains. The resulting runoff flows into rivers and streams that feed Kenai Lake that feeds Kenai River. When that runoff reaches Castaway the river water rises and comes a few inches over the part of the grate where Kurt and I like to fish. This allows us to land our fish by skating them onto the grate and forego the use of a net. There is always a possibility that in the process of netting a fish it will have the hook knocked out resulting in the loss of the fish. Once the water gets up where we can skate our fish in it is rare we lose one. Spectators think it is quite the show to watch the fish come jumping and splashing onto the grate and then the rocky shore. Of course we wear knee length boots but oft times we are soaked to the waist by the water flung up by the fighting fish.

Fishing with the water over the grate should be a cake walk but today it was a walk on fire. The grate was full and fish very slow coming through. Overhead the sun blazed down. Three hours after wading into the water on the grate we each had three fish, one of which was flimsy. Kurt began cleaning our catch while the writer busied himself catching his last one.

With the fish cleaned and bagged they were stored to await further processing.

Tomorrow canning will start so the writer got out the Cajun cooker, propane bottle, connected it and checked to be sure it was ready for use. Then the pressure cooker was taken from its box and readied for Onie.

When Onie processes the fish for canning she will save the tails for smoking so that will start day after tomorrow.

Now it was time to go up the hill to get the boat and put it in the water.

Kurt, Becky, Darlene, Gene and I rode to the launch site and got the boat in the water. Then it was down the river for a ride.

Fish are still at the gravel bar.

Back at camp we unloaded our boat passengers at the grate and then tied up the boat a little farther upstream.

Kurt and Becky stayed in camp, sitting under our canopy where we enjoyed some smoked brisket from Lake Road. They left us at eight to go up the hill.

Inside he coach the writer had an avocado and tomato while Onie started a movie.

With the tomato and avocado inside the writer he sat down to complete the stories for week five. When that was done Onie completed weeks five, six and seven, let the writer have a final look at them and then posted them to our website. She had worked on the three weeks almost all day.

With the stories posted she returned to her movie. The writer headed off to the shower. It was midnight. Upon his return he played two computer games before starting work on week eight.

REDS FOR BECKY

Thursday, July 15

Onie was up at seven to go to Curves. She left at eight with Kay.

The writer rose at nine thirty and watched GSN for half an hour before starting his tea water, having a cup of Chai tea, reading the paper and checking his email..

Outside it was clear and thirty five.

Onie got home at noon and the writer and she had a blueberry scone with their morning beverages and worked some crosswords before he sat down to make a few notes.

Onie started preparing to can, washing jars and then cutting fish.

The sunshine had warmed things up to a toasty seventy by this time.

Things were slow on the grate as most guys had gone to Ninilchik to go halibut fishing.

Seventeen thousand fish came in yesterday.

Processing fish and canning take a lot of water and create a lot of gray water so another load of fresh water was taken on and the honey wagon used for us and Sidney. They have been canning also.

With those chores out of the way the writer got ready to go down the river with Kurt and Becky and some of their friends from Kasilof. He made two trips ferrying guys from camp down to the gravel bar. Those included me, Sidney, Barbara and Jay.

At the gravel bar the writer got to help Becky get her first red of the year. He fished a long time before landing a fish, but then it was soon all over for him as his fish were landed bang, bang, bang three fish hooked and strung in thirty minutes.

When the boat was cleaned and rigged for fishing, the other day, we made provisions for cleaning fish down river and now the catch was fileted and bagged before the troop headed home.

The last of the fishermen were deposited on the grate at a quarter to eight then Kurt and the writer took the boat up river and tied her up.

Becky hadn't caught her limit from down river so now she fished some more and caught some nice reds.

Kurt and Becky

With more cleaning to be done Kurt fileted and bagged Becky's fish.

A smiling Becky went up the hill while Kurt stayed to visit with me and Onie.

Onie had been canning all day and had done two cookers which was two and a half cases.

Mark brought his daughter, Katy, over to introduce her. She is student at Texas Lutheran, studying bio-medical engineering. We visited a while and found they both like the hill country of Texas.

We went inside at ten.

Onie was very tired. She watched a little TV then went to sleep.

The writer ate the supper she had prepared, a great salad, spaghetti and sauce along with sour dough bread then watched GSN. Three computer games were played and then notes were made and stories written til one.

It was cloudy, dark and fifty.

SO IT GOES

Friday, July 16

Onie was up at six and started the fish in brine.

After a cup of coffee she was off to Curves.

A quick change of clothes and she was ready to go to yard sales with Kay, Darlene, and Becky.

The writer rose at ten and had steel cut oats and tea before taking the trash out, showering, dressing and writing a little.

That line of work was forsaken to load fresh water and empty our holding tanks. While the honey wagon was hooked up we emptied Sidney's tanks, too.

Chores out of the way the writer and Sidney headed to the grate to fish. Twenty two thousand fish came in yesterday and today it didn't take a long time to catch three.

Gene and Kurt had made an appearance on the grate and the writer helped Gene with his technique while giving Katy a few pointers as well.

Katy's dad, Mark, was watching Katy fish and he and the writer shared experiences about raising daughters and having grown daughters. As usual the writer's advice on adult children was for the parents to learn to pray as the children, in young adulthood, rarely ask for advice they intend to take. Usually what they are seeking is approval for something they have already decided to do or have already done. Guidance for the future must be done when they are in their subteen years. At this point in time the board of education can be applied to the seat of learning with very good results. Once they reach puberty they become all knowing, all wise and omnipotent as well as bullet proof and invincible. This condition lasts until they are in their thirties, sometimes forties and can, in rare cases, linger into their fifties.

That is not to say this affliction affects all people all of the time. On occasion these folks will have lapses into periods of good sense and it is then that they actually seek and take advice. When this occurs the elder parent should not give up on praying as the affliction may well return with a vengeance and it is then that these adult children think it is time for the old folks to give up control of their own lives and place it in the hands of the children. Of course if these adult children have children of their own they are in the same place their parents were a few years earlier, giving advice to their children who aren't listening. It is usually about this time when the adult children come to their senses, think back on their life, reflect on their parent's lives and realize that the old folks are wise and were smart all the time. Of course by then their children are trying to put them in the old folks home, read, out of the way, and so it goes. The advice still stands. Learn to pray and pray often for your adult children. We do.

Kurt and company decided to go down the river to the gravel bar. The writer opted to go along. It was down the river while sitting in the boat that Gene hooked and landed his first red.

Onie came home at five thirty. They had eaten at Veronica's.

Kay decided to try her hand at getting a red and was soon connected, the fish was netted and she was on the board with her first fish of the season.

Kay, Jay on the stool

Mark cleaned the fish Katy had caught as well as the writer's and Kurt's.

Katy with her fish, dad, Mark at the cleaning table, Kurt to right

With the fish in the fridge it was time for supper.

Smoked salmon pasta salad was welcomed and filling.

While Onie watched Fox News the writer rinsed the brine from the fish and put it on racks, seasoned it, turned a fan on it and left it to dry overnight.

He joined Onie in bed at eleven.

WORK

Saturday, July 17

We woke at nine, then got out of bed to have coffee and tea.

Onie fixed biscuits and bacon for breakfast and she had two eggs as well. Crosswords were worked as we ate.

After breakfast it was time to make a few notes.

While the writer was seated at his laptop, Onie left with Kay for a yard sale close by that they missed on Friday..

Later the writer showered, dressed, started the smoker and wrote.

Forty five thousand fish came in yesterday and a lot of catching was taking place on the grate.

It was still cloudy at noon but the temp had managed to climb to fifty two.

Onie and Kay returned just as the writer had finished loading fish into the smoker.

Work at the Marlin began in earnest. It started with staging fish and jars for canning and and continued with finishing wrapping jars from previous batches. The fish that had been staged were placed in the clean jars and the canner was started. Onie cleaned out and defrosted the fridge and freezer. Tom helped with the freezer by turning a hair dryer on the accumulated ice. While the writer was playing with electricity and frozen water the navigator was busy making strawberry cobbler. With the cobbler baking she rearranged stuff in the big freezer and took out the briskets, to thaw. They will soon be smoked.

Both laborers took a break to fish. When the limits were caught, strung and finally cleaned the writer set off to shop for Onie, drop off fish at Custom, and go to Carr's Safeway and then Freddie’s. He was home at six thirty when he took the fish out of the smoker. One taste told him they were mmm good. Kurt and Becky also did taste test and pronounced the smoking a success. Just to be sure samples were given to the ten fishermen then occupying the grate.

The writer paused for a bit to visit and fish with them and Gene. Kurt and Becky also fished and caught their limits. It was Becky's first limit. Darlene and Onie sat in the coach, visiting and watching the action on the grate.

Tomorrow is Gene and Darlene's last day here so they went up to the house to start packing.

Onie cooked clam strips and served them with other snacks. We visited with Kurt and Becky until eleven.

At midnight we went to bed.