A Smaller Pack: September 2021

Friday, September 24, 2021

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Yesterday on our walk Nora and I checked out the waves. The same storm that brought us Termination Dust (first snow on the mountains) also created some big waves. Nora and I climbed down near the water and watched the waves crash on the rocks. It was pretty dramatic. Nora asked, 'what would happen if we slipped and fell in?' I looked down at the cliffs and watched a huge wave hit and then suck everything back out and replied, 'we'd probably die'. But we played it safe and stayed away from the edge.

I watched Nora and the waves and thought of that old Walt Disney movie where Mickey Mouse was the Sorcerer's Apprentice and used magic to get the buckets to carry the water - only everything got away from him. Nora was down on the point 'commanding' the HUGE unstoppable waves - the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Patrick

After School Hikes

Lately Nora and I have been doing a lot of after school hikes with the doggies. We throw sticks into the water for the dogs to swim out and fetch. We go off trail and pick berries. Yesterday rather than pick blueberries to freeze - we just scarfed them down and probably ate a cup or more each. Lovely afternoons.

Patrick

XC Running

Stuey's Fall sport is cross country running. Back when I was on the running team our season ran from September through November. But here in Alaska they started running in August and the season ends in October. So every day since early August Stuey has had running from 4 to 6 PM.

Unlike most of the other kids on the team, Stuey just started running this year. When he started his legs were not used to the pounding and he had to go slow. But he stuck with it, and as the season has progressed he has gotten faster and faster. He has even been in 3 races (one was a 'fun' relay). In the 5K he improved his time over 2 minutes between one race and the next!

I am really impressed at how the team trains. When I was a runner we just did the same old boring flat trails every day. But the Kodiak team trains on Pillar Mountain on the same trails I ride my mountain bike down. Super impressed. When I was in high school those trails would have been way too steep for me. A couple of times while mountain biking I have even bumped into the XC team going the other way.

Since Stuey started running his fitness level has improved dramatically. We've gone hiking up mountains a few times since he started and he has just zipped up the hills. I think he is going to have a HUGE advantage skinning up the mountain when ski season begins - and yesterday we saw the first 'termination dust' on the mountain. So just as running season is winding down ski season is winding up!

Patrick

'Fun' relay at the golf course

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Colorful Weekend

It's fall here on the 'Rock', and there are some bright colors out there. Yesterday I noticed that even the cottonwoods have started to turn yellow. On Sunday Stuey mowed the lawn for what I believe will be the last time, and pretty soon I'll raking up the leaves for compost. We also had our first hard frost of the year.

It is definitely my favorite time of the year for hiking. It's much cooler so you do not get all sweaty on the climb up the mountains. Also the bugs and vegetation have been knocked back by the first frosts. But best of all the colors and low raking light make for great photographs. Here are some pictures from the past weekend.

Patrick

Monday, September 20, 2021

More Camping with dogs

Dawn on the mountain

Another picture heavy post on the weekend camping trip. We caught perfect weather for the trip. It had been very windy all day, but started to die down just before we climbed up the mountain. And there was still enough of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay.

For this post I put in captions and I think each photo is worth a thousand words. All except the first photo is in sequence - so you can click through the photos, read the captions, and get a good sense of how the trip went.

Patrick