On the Go

It has been so busy of late that I realized I still have not finished posting about the Afognak Lake survey that ended over a week ago.  I still have a few posts to go, and you'll see them in the next few days.

Our Afognak Lake survey was short at only 2 full days and three nights, but we did cover a lot of ground.  We basically paddled hard for two straight days, and hiked around the evening before and morning after the 2 full days of paddling.  Hiking, paddling, paddling and more hiking.  It was a lot of time on the go!

I became intimately acquainted with the cockpit of my inflatable kayak.  To break up the routine, sometimes I'd sit back and while at other times I'd lean forward.  Leaning forward is when I could paddle with the most power.  And always just off to the side there was Philip paddling away with his weirdly bent paddle.

I went ashore to check for potential sites a lot.  Sometimes I'd stay on shore and hike a section.  Philip would tow my boat and at the end of the survey segment there would be my boat waiting with Philip. I'd hop back in again and away we'd go. ..   Patrick

The remains of our elk camp from the week before - we took the split wood of course

Fog on the Mountain

Yesterday the kids and I went for a Sunday drive.  We had woken up to thick fog over Mill Bay but by the time we left the fog was breaking up and the sun was poking through at times.  It was quite the show, and so we drove up to the top of Pillar Mountain to catch it.  It was worth the drive.

We then motored on to Bell's Flats and checked out the various neighborhoods.  The neighborhoods in Bell's Flats are very different than they are in town.  Lots of cottonwood trees and salmonberry covered hillsides.  I was amazed at the number of WWII Quonset huts still in service.  We ended up at Java Flats where Stuey had a chocolate chip cookie and Nora had a hot chocolate.

Our semi regular Sunday Tradition!  Patrick

Stuey channels Don Quixote as he tilts with Kodiak's windmills

Halloween Party Pictures (Late)

Pipi Longstocking was Nora's 'top' costume

I put the pictures for the Halloween blog posts in the order they were taken.  Early on the party was small, but it grew and grew.  At one point, I looked out the back window and saw a horde of costumed party goers arriving - wolves, wolverines and random super heroes.  Suddenly there were a lot of people at the party.  Then all the kids and parents left and it was the late night crowd.

And Thank You Niche and Amanda for all the Halloween decorating.  The house has never been so well decorated!

Alex and Dana - the dragon (with the tooth faerie) was my favorite costume

Halloween Party Pictures (Early)

My co-workers at the Alutiiq Museum convinced me to resurrect an old tradition - the semi annual Saltonstall Halloween Party.  My only terms in the deal was that the party end early and that kids were allowed.  My vision was a raging fire pit and adults drinking beer and wine in costumes while kids did their thing with flashlights. And so it happened.

I made deer chili for the table inside and beer brats on the fire pit for the brave souls outside, and the kids ran riot in costume.  There were a lot of kids.

What's funny is that the kid friendly party was a happening thing for the first part of the party, and then the adults took over.  All the kids left with their parents and my kids retreated to video. Suddenly it was again an adult party.

Next year bigger bonfire!

Patrick

Farmer and Cabbage Patch Baby

The tooth faerie with the tools of her trade - scariest costume of the night!

Good lord - I pray that I get to see the dentist instead of the tooth Faerie

The 'Magician' and Stuey

Romans

Webs and Butterfly

Halloween Party

Tonight I am having a kid friendly Halloween Party.  A party that ends at 8 rather than midnight.  Fire pit with brats and beer.  Kids running around with flashlights.  Everyone in costumes.  That is how I see it anyhow, but I do know that my co-workers are bringing speakers because they want to dance.  A warm up party before the more serious parties start downtown!

And the people in the photo are the Alutiiq Museum staff who came to the party in 2005.  I'm the guy in the wolf costume.  That's Patty Mahoney in the devil horns and Sven behind Katie's ferns.

Patrick

Frosty Survey

Philip and I's archaeological survey of Afognak Lake coincided with a cold snap.  The first winter weather of the year. On the first night the temperatures dropped down in the 20s and Philip's water filter froze solid.  Every day we saw snow showers.  We'd see them in the distance coming down the lake from the north.  And at times it snowed really hard.

The first morning on the lake was really cold.  Water drips from my paddle froze on the deck of the kayak, and dribbled down the kayak blade getting my gloves wet.  My hands got really cold!  I switched to using my canoe paddle instead because it did not drip in the boat nearly as much as the kayak paddle.  But the conditions did warm up, and paddling hard warmed us up too.

Afognak Lake is pretty big and it took us all day to survey both sides of the lake.  As the crow flies it is 6 miles long, but with all the islets, coves and peninsulas to navigate I bet we kayaked much more than 6 miles each way.

On the second day we paddled down the river to the sea and then on to Afognak Village.   More snow  and ice on the water.  Patrick

Running the Afognak River in inflatable sea kayaks

The Afognak River was a tad bit low for our trip

Those are snow showers in the distance headed our way!

Bucket O Carrots

Last weekend with the snow and cold temperatures the ground froze.  Cold temperatures and snow make me very happy!  But I was just a little bit bummed because I had not yet gotten around to harvesting all my carrots.  'Oh Well', I thought, 'I did not get them all but I'm probably not losing that many to the frost'.

Then yesterday it thawed and rained - dismal.  But it did thaw the ground and so I harvested my carrots.  All 17 pounds of them!

I was amazed at how many carrots I still had in the ground.  My carrot patch is only about 5 by 2 feet, and I have been harvesting carrots all summer.  I had even filled up a third of a 5 gallon bucket for the recent elk hunt.  How many carrots could be left in there?  Apparently WAY more than you would expect.  I almost filled a 5 gallon bucket, and when I weighed them (and taking off the weight of the bucket) I discovered that I had harvested 17 pounds of carrots.  Tasty bonus!

Now I hope it freezes again and kills the kale and remaining lettuce!

Patrick

Afognak is Beautiful

Not much to write for this post because Afognak just is beautiful and the pictures do all the work.  But I will add that the weather was perfect for photos on this past survey.  Late Fall raking light, clouds, sun and snow squalls made for some dramatic pictures.  And Afognak Lake seemed to flat calm every day at dawn and in the evening.  Those reflections of the clouds in the lake - Wow!  I just could not stop taking pictures.  Patrick