Christmas 2018

This year on Christmas morning no one got up until past 7AM - I believe this is a record.  We opened our presents one at a time, and some of the highlights included new vests from Granny Coco, an almanac and Guinness Book of World Records, a promised pool table for Stuey, and insulated Alutiiq Museum mugs.

When Stuey saw Nora open up her vest he smartly observed, 'I bet I got one too'.  And promptly found and opened it.  And, yeah, I will admit I often do get them matching gifts - otherwise there is the whole sharing and/or envy thing.  This happened with me and my little brother too.  I think it just might be universal.

Later we tried to drive to the pass to go skiing but the road was too icy, and we drove out to Bells Flats instead.  There was a temperature inversion going on with sunshine up above and layers of fog on the ground.  The rising sun made for some gorgeous views.  When I took the dogs for their walk in Abercrombie the lake was all misty and the sunshine golden.

For Christmas dinner we went to the Pfeffer's house.  I brought mashed potatoes and Sheep and Deer roasts.  Mike cooked up elk - so it was an Alaskan foods meal.  Lots of people and kids and quite the busy scene.  Nora and Stuey discovered the new Pfeffer sauna that works on infrared rays.  They got inside and reported on the rising temperatures inside.  Patrick

White Christmas

Well it is not quite Christmas yet, it is supposed to rain tomorrow, and there certainly is no snow on the lawn at our house.  But there is a lot of easily accessible snow nearby and today the skiing was spectacular.  So I'm going to call it a white Christmas.  And tomorrow I hope to drive the kids to the pass after present opening  for some sledding and skiing.  I guess we'll call it a white Christmas commute.

Merry Christmas!

Patrick

Abercrombie on a stormy day

These are pictures from a couple of days ago of a hike in Abercrombie.  I took the dogs for a walk after I took Nora and Stuey skiing and sledding at the golf course.  There we met up with the cousins, but we had intended to drive up to the pass.  But the road was so bad we had to settle for the golf course.  At Abercrombie the snow had melted off the lake and the wet surface acted like a mirror.  If it ever freezes again the ice skating ought to be great!

Walking the dogs I enjoyed the moist air and grey light.  When I was near the beach I could smell the iodine from the seaweed.  Sometimes I like a good hike on a grey day.  Patrick

Skiing with the cousins at the golf course - the road was so bad we could not make it to the pass

Nora and Stuey decided that if we could not make it to the pass then they did not want to ski.  So Stuey built forts and sledded with his friend Thor while Nora went for a walk along the road wearing micro spikes for the ice.  I did not get any pictures of either Nora or Stuey!  Patrick

Ice Crystals

Ice Crystals on the 'bleach' setting

I took these pictures at the end of the cold snap.  It was only a couple of days ago (Thursday and Today is Sunday), but with all the rain it seems like ages and ages ago.  On Thursday the Buskin River was about to freeze and in the evening I even went skate skiing on Lake Gertrude at Abercrombie.   And then in typical Kodiak fashion it snowed and changed over to rain.  And rained, and rained.

But the good news is that we have been getting snow up high on the mountain.  If you can get there anyway.  Yesterday the road was a sheet of ice with water running on top.  Still that is what I plan on doing today - alpine adventures.  Climb into the mountains and get above the rain!
Patrick

Ice Crystals on the normal setting

River was starting to freeze up

Slow shutter speed blurs the water and increases depth of field

Depth of Snow

Right now there is 2 to 3 feet of snow at the pass

According to the meteorologists at the airport we received just a 'trace' of snow in the last storm.  And so continues a string of clearly wrong weather measurements.  The last few years I've noticed that they always measure the snowfall on the low side, and often overall precipitation too.  In the old days they would measure the snow during the storm.  So even though it melted by the end of the storm it still counted.  I could use these measurements to guess how much snow fell on Pyramid and they helped me decide if I should go skiing or not.

It highlights that measuring some of the weather statistics is based on judgement.  It is not always consistent.  And this does create a real life problem.  We do need these sorts of statistics to monitor climate change.  Right now our airport statistics make it look like we are getting practically no snow year to year when I know that this is not true (except for 3 years ago when we really did get NO snow!). What happens if some government agency is deciding how much money Kodiak should get for snow removal and uses the airport statistics to decide?  We might get no money because it looks like we have no snow that needs removal.

Patrick

Same Spot - Different Seasons

Last Spring I took the above photo while on a hike with the dogs at Abercrombie.  It was raining and the tree just sort of caught my mood (click here for blogpost). Drooping branches, raindrops on the water, and oh so, so green.

Later during the summer I caught up with my spruce tree by the pond.  The lily pads had populated the surface of the pond, and I could see the forest reflected on the lake, but the tree still looked droopy and oh so green.  It reminded me of that children's book about the house in the various seasons and how the city grew up around it.  Same tree just different seasons.

In the fall I continued to take pictures and watch my tree.  The lily pads died and sank, and the pond briefly iced over.  All the deciduous plants turned yellow.  And then the pond froze for real and even a little snow fell on it.  Tree still looking droopy but the scene is far more stark.

Today I noticed an inch of snow on the lake (no photo).  All is white and green and looking dead.  My tree endures while all changes around it.  Patrick

Light on the water

Standard 'cloudy' setting with the warmth adjusted (upped) at home

These pictures were all taken yesterday during my afternoon cross country ski.  I've been skiing on the trails above Buskin Lake.  These trails tend to hold snow because at this time of the year the mountains create a permanent shadow.  It is dark down in the valley - And yet wherever there was open water it was reflecting this beautiful golden color.

I tried to catch the light in a photo and the photo kept on looking blue and drab - no golden light.  I tried the 'cloud' light setting and even adjusted it more to red and yellow.  Better but still did not catch the gold on the water.  Next I tried various filters.

Back home I played more with the photos in iPhoto.  I found it helped when I pumped up the warmth and upped the exposure a bit.  The snow started to look white rather than grey and blue.  Anyway, I do not think I quite the gold colors on the water but I came close.  Patrick

I did a lot of iPhoto on this one - but think I captured about what it looked like

'cloudy' light setting with the reds and yellows pumped - pretty good! (but a little too magenta on the snow)

'bleach' filter - I kind of like how this worked on the snow

I forgot what filter this one was! Expressive?

Basically dramatic effect filter - a little too far and no gold at all

2018 Burger Grind

Philip's Cuban Sandwich made with pulled elk and homemade sauerkraut

Sunday afternoon Philip and I ground up 102 pounds of deer and elk into hamburger.  Normally this process is more of a party, but this year it was just the 2 of us.  Still Philip brought over the party food and before we even started grinding we cuban sandwiches with homemade sauerkraut on top.  And from then on it was all cutting, grinding, and packaging.

The work went surprisingly quickly and it only took us 2 hours to finish grinding up all the meat.  I guess that's why we have the monster meat grinder!  The part that seemed to take the longest was wrapping up all the individual packets of meat.  What's ironic is that I am very good at packaging meat but terrible at wrapping up Christmas presents.  You would think it would a transferable skill.

Last night I made burgers with the freshly ground meat.  I fried up onions to put on top and along with dijon mustard I sprinkled some blue cheese on top too.  They were delicious.  Burger quality this year is  excellent!  Patrick

Sunrise Ski

Yesterday was a busy day - I got out and about early for my daily ski because in the afternoon I ground 102 pounds of burger meat (post to come).  On Saturday we had experienced the deluge and I got soaked finding a ptarmigan for the Christmas bird count.  So yesterday's sunshine had me wondering why we had not planned on the Burger grind for Saturday instead of Sunday.

Sunday was certainly the day to be out and about - clear and cold.  And we now have a base of snow for cross country skiing.  So I drove out the road early and went cross country skiing at the golf course and did a loop around the Upper Buskin.  I watched the sunrise at the golf course and then at the Upper Buskin I looked the other way and watched the mountains all turn pink with the rising sun.  Down in the dark valley the river reflected the pink of the hills on high.  The wind was throwing up spumes of snow from the mountain top ridges on high, but down in the valley in the trees it was flat calm.

Skiing at dawn certainly has its perks.

Patrick

Snow in Town

It has been a warm fall and I despaired that winter would never arrive.  We did have a few short cold snaps, and even flurries that turned the ground white.  But until yesterday we had not had a significant snow fall at sea level.  Of course it turned to rain by midnight, and today is supposed to be seriously ugly.  Still the storm is supposed to end with some more snow, and then it is supposed to be cold for a while.  Yesterday I even skate skied at the golf course - I beat out a 2K loop and skied 15K or so.  It looks like we may finally have some winter.  Bring it on!
Patrick

St Marys Christmas

Thursday night was the annual St Marys Christmas pageant. In years past they did a play, but this year it was all songs.  Each class sang a few songs and played musical instruments.  Simple and very good - same as every year.  I was particularly impressed that Stuey and Nora played guitars!
Patrick