One More Row

Entries categorized as ‘Alaska’

Ice Fishing

01/22/2010 · Leave a Comment

So, it is January. We’re over the holidays and deep into winter. Now I love winter. I love snow. I love cold. I don’t love entertaining small children in the winter. See, winter activities require balance and agility. Snowboarding. X-Country skiing. Downhill skiing. Ice skating. My poor kids, they have my sense of balance so couple that with their age and our winter sports are limited to something like sledding. And there’s sledding. Oh, wait sledding too. We spend a lot of time sledding.
Now Bubba is getting older – he is SEVEN now – and he realizes we sled a lot. He wants to do Other Things. One of the Other Things he asks to do now is fish. We went fishing a couple of times last summer, and he is hooked (pun totally intended). He was surprisingly shocked to find Little Campbell Lake completely frozen over when we took him by there. He suggests, “Ice fishing?” Phone call to my Dad who is versed in such things and the next thing we know we are outfitted enough to take the kiddos ice fishing. Over Christmas, my Dad took the boys & Terry fishing, and they had a great time. So, when we had a lull one weekend the suggestion was….”Let’s go ice fishing.”

Ice fishing it is. Now let me say up front, I am not a fishing person. Not that I have a problem with it, just I would rather do Other Things when I am outdoors. I am not squeamish in any way shape or form….quite the opposite actually. Still. The boys long to do something else, and I must be an open-minded mommy.

Honestly, it was a pretty good time. See these guys up above? They have very different fishing styles. Bubba is very alert and patient. As soon as he feels the bittiest, bit of a bite, that poor fish is yanked out of the water with force similar to a shuttle launch. Seriously. The poor fish are airborne well above Bubba’s head. Muskrat on the other hand is slower. He waits until he is certain the fish is on the hook. Preferably after the fish has SWALLOWED the damn hook.

Our job? We are fish removal and baiting of hooks minions. It is a thankless job resulting in very, very cold fingers. I think it was about 8 degrees in these pictures. We don’t keep the fish….they are pathetically small but very fun to catch.

One job we don’t get to do. Ice removal from the hole. This a kid only job and high prized. Note to parents: purchase two ice scoops for they are not expensive, and it will keep the peace.

We did drill our own holes in the ice using a hand auger. If one were REALLY into ice fishing, they would have a power auger. We are not REALLY into ice fishing so we use a hand auger because drilling the hole is half the fun. This is one of our holes in progress. The ice is about 18 inches thick. Plenty safe. I was surprised to find how easy it was to drill a hole in the ice. I expected it to take longer. We will definitely do more fishing this winter….

Categories: Alaska · Da boys

October 1

10/01/2009 · 7 Comments

Today is October 1st. This may come as a surprise to some of you but not to me. I love October. It is my favorite time of year here in Alaska. Very cold nights. Warmish days. Sweaters. I finish up garden chores and put flowers to bed for winter. Some people think this is a sad thing to do. I find it to be hopeful because I think about all I want to do next year. It also feels good to not have SO much to do – the kids are in a rhythm at school, the sun is going down and coming up at a normal hour, and we are hunkering down for snow. I love it. In wild celebration, I got a coffee for me and a hot chocolate for Muskrat and headed down this morning to Westchester Lagoon and watched the steam rise from the lagoon and enjoyed the colors.
It is also Socktober Fest. The month where knitters come together and knit socks for no good reason other than socks are fun and should have a month devoted to them. I am participating in Through the Loops mystery sock. Never done a mystery thing. Should be fun. Not too late to join in – first clue came out today. ;) The yarn above is STR mediumweight in Midsummer night.

Categories: Alaska · socks

Something other than the kitchen and knitting

07/07/2009 · 6 Comments

While our summer has been filled with kitchen stuff and Terry gone to training, we have tried to squeeze in some outdoor time doing hiking and such. Our two latest adventures: Mt. Baldy and ERNC public use cabin.
If you live in the Anchorage Bowl area you have probably hiked Mt. Baldy. We hadn’t, but heard it has a gorgeous view from the top. Now Bubba is forever saying, “Let’s climb a mountain!” when we are out hiking, so I decided we would climb a mountain. I knew Mt. Baldy would be straight up, and it delivered.

Here we are basking in the glow of reaching the top. Muskrat was a trooper. It really was straight up and a lot of work. I work out regularly, and I was tired. There was another family hiking along side us, and I think that motivated Muskrat to keep up with the big kids.

Nice view huh? Well, the family we went up with kept going along the mountain ridge. I was kind of boggled by this since the next destination is pretty far, but maybe they wanted to take in more of the view. So, we started back down. Now if you hike much you know going down is much harder than going up. Couple that with a kid who has fear of heights issues and it makes for interesting descent. We did it though. Only to find out at the bottom that there is a different path down. A gentler one. With switchbacks. Doh.
Muskrat was asleep before Terry was done getting a drink and putting on his seat belt. :)
Way back in January, I made reservations for the public use cabin at Eagle River Nature Center. We were supposed to stay the weekend, but training called so we could only cram in an overnighter. The big thing about this trip was we had to “backpack” in 1.5 miles to get to the cabin. It was worth the effort of packing those packs. The cabin is great – would be better to snowshoe in for a winter retreat. Need to book that.
Family portait on the large rock near the cabin. The weather was HOT.

Lucky for me, there was a honeybucket to pee in. There were bears in the woods, I know I saw one, and I have grown fearful of bears in my old age. The black bear reacted as a black bear should when I yelled and waved my arms – it turn and ran fast back into the woods.

The highlight of the trip for me was waking up early and walking out on the porch for some quiet communing with nature to find this baby moose and its momma munching on the willow by the cabin. Didn’t it pose nicely for me?
The trip was good. Learned a lot about what to pack for kids when you don’t have a huge car to pack it all in. I also got to test out all the equipment because I am supposed to hike Resurrection Trail from the Hope trailhead to the Devil’s Pass trailhead. I am going with someone much more athletic and experienced than me. I am going to be humiliated, but this little trip will keep humiliation at a lower level. :)

Categories: Alaska · Da boys

Reclaiming My Life

05/26/2009 · 6 Comments

Kind of a dramatic title to say, I finished the Twilight series.  On Friday, I made, er, asked Terry to come home a little early so I could finish Breaking Dawn.  Of all the books, this one was my favorite.  I liked Bella a lot more and the story was very interesting.  Seriously though, it was a relief to finish.  I felt like I could move forward and finish some things.

Like, blocking the finished pieces of vest that have been sitting around.  I tried using a kid play mat as a blocking board instead of just the carpet.  Worked out pretty well.  No grid, but nice surface for pinning things out.

Packed up the kitchen because, “The contractors are coming!  The contractors are coming!”  Wednesday is the big day.  I think they were a little surprised when I said, “Why, yes, I will have the kitchen cleared for you by then.”  I have been mentally preparing for this for a while so it was just a matter of doing.  It is a little eerie to have an empty kitchen.  Is it weird for me to smile a little at the thought of eating out so much over the next few weeks?  Fewer dishes.  Fewer complaints about dinner.  I should start keeping track of how many corn dogs are consumed because that is what the boys eat no matter what restaurant we dine at for dinner or lunch.
Caught up on my crochet homework.  This class has been neglected.  I have done the bare minimum.  Others have crocheted scarves.  I have stuck with the swatches.  I do like the ripple though. Isn’t it nice in Noro?  I might manage to squeeze one of those out.
Heck, we even managed a day trip down to Seward to visit the SeaLife Center there.  Muskrat had never been there….well, at least for a time he would remember.  He loved it.  Bubba, of course, loved it.  What’s not to like?  Huge Stellar Sea Lions.  Touch tanks.  Diving birds.  
We even went down to the docks to look at cruise ships, sailing boats, and fishing boats.  Sadly, the Coast Guard cutter was out doing its duty.  I cannot even begin to describe to you the sheer panic I felt taking the kids down to the dock.  All I could see as they peered over the edge to look at the “baby fishes” was them falling in.  The pucker factor was amazing.  Note the PFDs.  Don’t worry, I wasn’t the only paranoid parent.  All the kids wandering around had them.  It was the hip thing for all the tourist parents.
For the next little while, I imagine the posts will mostly be about the transformation of the kitchen.  Just fair warning.  Though, I think most people find remodeling interesting.  Especially when the nightmare is happening to someone else.  :)

Categories: Alaska · crochet · sweaters

Cancelled with two l’s

03/29/2009 · 4 Comments

Canceled is spelled cancelled (with two l’s) when used as a transitive verb. Oh, you know how I know this. I am not in Seattle. Mt. Redoubt exploded in a big way on Thursday morning. The plume was 65,000 feet in the air. Alaska Airlines canceled all flights out of Anchorage – one of which was the one my mom and I were going on. We opted not to reschedule or try for the next day because our trip was already so short and just for pleasure. They graciously gave my mom her miles and money back.

This was a good choice on our part because the volcano has been, uh, active. Anchorage avoided the ashfall from all of the other eruptions until yesterday’s eruption at 3:23pm. The winds were just right for us to receive a “minor ashfall.” It takes a couple hours for the plume to move, so I decided to go grab some thai food.

Here is the ash plume moving its way across Anchorage. The skies looked pretty dark, like a nasty rain storm moving in. When you get the major brunt of the ashfall, it is dark like night and literally rains ash. It is a mess and a nightmare for people with respiratory issues. At least this is what I remember from 1989.

The ashfall was just a “trace”, but the trace built up on the windshield and looked pretty cool. Terry’s poor car. :(

Now we had a reason to wear the masks I was hoarding. The boys loved them. Note the hands on the hips – Muskrat is such a bad ass lately. Many storm troopers have felt his wrath.

The more scientific among us, Bubba, suggested that we collect ash. When Terry so astutely pointed out we didn’t get much, Bubba said we should collect the snow, let the snow melt, then collect the ash. So, that is what we did and are doing. They looked so funny out there with masks tromping around in the snow.

I am going to be honest. It has been shitty week. We are still dealing with kitchen stuff and refi stuff. The volcano. No trip. No break from my kiddos who are stir crazy. People elsewhere are starting to post about flowers showing up and the snow melting. We have four more weeks of winter. I am in a foul mood. It is getting hard to find perspective and be cheery. On the bright side, I did visit the representation of my new dining table at the show room which made me happy. The sales guy thinks I am some crazy woman who can’t wait 12 weeks.

Categories: Alaska · me

No knitting to report

01/31/2009 · 5 Comments

This past week we got some more snow after having all the good holiday stuff melt away, so today we donned our snow gear and headed up to Powerline Pass to do some snowshoeing. The boys have been in their snow shoes and tromped around in crusty ice snow, but this is their first time in real snow. They did great.

Muskrat was particularly a trooper. His little legs worked hard to keep up with us as Bubba was in a constant trot as he moved through the snow. About an hour later, Muskrat declared he didn’t like snowshoeing and wanted a graham cracker. :) Bubba wanted to climb the peaks in the distance.

As you can see, it was pretty ugly scenry. This is about 20 minutes out of town and up the side of the mountains that are to the east of Anchorage. Very popular for skiers and snowshoers. It was a perfect place for the boys to get acquainted with snowshoeing although it was chilly today, single digits. It usually is cold when it is sunny in January – still, the temperature was positive.

That is Mt Susitna in the background (squint, you’ll see it) or as it is affectionately referred to, Sleeping Lady (again, if you squint you can kind of see how the mountain is shaped like a lady sleeping). That is Anchorage down below.

Not much knitting to report. I have a sleeve done on Helena. One more to go. I am doing the finishing work as I go, so not much longer. I found great kitty buttons, but I forgot to photograph them. Most of my time lately is spent working out – ooh, so exciting, I know. For those of you who read this blog not through a feeder, will see in the sidebar that I am keeping track of how many miles I finish. My goal is 130 miles by April 1st, and I am well on my way. Completing about 12 miles a week. Apparently, the Gold Nugget Triathalon is a go – swimming, biking, and running for all. Trying to decide if I want to train for that or just focus on running. I don’t know, something about a swimsuit. Not my favorite thing to wear. :)

Categories: Alaska

Misery

01/16/2009 · 3 Comments

The misery continues on so many levels. Today marks Ice Day #3. In all my years of living in Alaska, we never had three days off of school in a row due to weather stuff. Seriously. It is pretty nasty out there with rain and high winds. Driving is especially nasty if you live any distance down a side road or have a sloped driveway. So, we are sucking it up. Building things and playing lots of games. A toy bomb has gone off in my house, and I am trying not to care. The boys are learning a lot about, uh, negotiations between one another. Yes. This is the stuff memories are made of.

I am about half way done with Helena and completely smitten. It is a wonderful knit. Mindless in a good way, not in a miles-of-stockinette way. The yarn I am using is Patons Grace which is a mercerized cotton. I love it. I thought I would hate the cotton, but it is making a beautiful fabric. It will be soft and have a nice drape. We will see how it holds up to three year old abuse.

Man, it is blowing a gale out there….

Categories: Alaska

Global Weirding

01/15/2009 · 6 Comments

Up until about three days ago, this temperature was a very common sight on the digital thermometer that sits on my kitchen window.

This is what it shows this morning. That is what, about 56 degree difference? Today we embark on our second ice day. Wanna know what it takes to close schools in Alaska? Nope, not -40 degree temperatures. Nope, not 18 inches of snow. It takes complete and utter glare ice on the roads and some serious winds. Terry went to work this morning, he said getting out of the subdivision was like driving on an ice rink with 1/2 inch of water on top. :) That said, I think I might brave it just to get the boys out of the house. That is simply the kind of mommy I am.

Categories: Alaska

Long Winter’s Nap

12/20/2008 · 3 Comments

This time last week we were hit with some cold temperatures for the area – single digits to negative numbers. Mix that with the ocean water nearby and we end up with fog. The dense fog means a hoar frost.


Once the temperatures stay cold long enough, the fog disappears leaving crisp blue skies as a back drop for the white trees. Some of my favorite winter days.

We will slowly begin to gain light, which will be nice considering we have a whopping 5 hours and 26 minutes on winter solstice. The nights are long and chilly right now. This picture was taken at 1:30 in the afternoon in a southern direction. :)

Categories: Alaska

A cabin in the Woods

11/29/2008 · 4 Comments

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving – if you are in the States. Ours was lovely. As is tradition, we headed South to my folks’ house in Kenai. We do the typical Thanksgiving feast on Thursday and on Friday evening we welcome the holiday season with Kenai’s electric light parade and fireworks. That has been the Thanksgiving agenda for me for as long as I can remember. On Friday night, I found myself wondering how things degenerated from singing carols around the bonfire to listening to Mariah Carey’s Christmas in front of the bonfire while the teenagers texted one another.

This year though, I did do something different. See, my parents have a cabin. They’ve had it for three years now. I have never seen this cabin. Other people have seen it besides my parents so I know it really exisits, but I have never made it there. Here is why – it is 13 miles off the road. In order to get to The Cabin, as it is so cleverly referred to, one must ride an all terrain vehicle that is appropriate for the season and trek into the wilds. So, on Friday morning my Dad, Terry, and I made a quick trip out.

This was Terry’s view of the trail from the snow machine we were riding. My view was of the back of his helmet, if I was looking straight ahead. I rode “bitch” as he was oh-so-fond of telling me. When I looked to the side it was pretty. Snow covered trees. Peek-a-boo views of the Cook Inlet. Nice.

About an hour later (as we are inexperienced snow machiners were seriously slowing down my Dad), we arrived at The Cabin. Our snow machine was the yellow one, in case you were curious. Finding The Cabin was pretty stealthy – we were just trekking down the trail and all of a sudden my Dad darts off into the woods and there is the cabin. Not sure how he finds it each time because it was not obvious.

Here is the front. It looks down on some woods with a little creek nearby. About 1/2 mile out, you can reach the beach of the Cook Inlet. Inside the cabin there is a full kitchen with a propane stove, a sitting area, and sleeping quarters for a number of people. Very pleasant. Efficient use of space, which always appeals to me.

Watch out for bears though – see those marks all up and down the tree? Those are claw marks from bears. They go all the way up the tree until they are level with THE ROOF of the cabin. That is a big bear – not that my parents have ever seen one there. When the bear is done marking the tree, it gnaws on the cabin. There are markings on two corners of cabin.

Need to go potty? The outhouse is about 50 yards or so from the cabin. Apparently, they have had issue with people thinking it is a public restroom. :) The sign seriously cracks me up for some reason.

It comes complete with styrofoam seat, so it isn’t too cold when you sit down. :) Go ahead, laugh. It is true.

Now the big question is when are we going to get the boys out there. I don’t know. The logistics of getting everyone out there is crazy. Only two snowmachines (yes, yes. I keep saying snow machines – it is an Alaskan thing. I know the rest of the world call them snowmobiles), makes for a challenge. Then in the summer it is, uh, boggy. My mom has some foul things to say about the treks they have made in the summer. Truly a testament to how much she loves my Dad. Still. We are thinking maybe March the whole fam-damily is going to make it out there.

Categories: Alaska