Sleeping ducks

 

Yesterday in the park I was standing by the lake edge when I noticed a line of ducks asleep on a log.  We got a little close and they perked up and a few of them left the log and paddled out into the lake.  I was expecting Bodi to leap in after them and cause a commotion, but he just sat and watched the ducks with me.  After a bit, while we quietly watched, the ducks who had left came back and perched back up on the log.  They warily watched up for a bit more and then tucked their heads into their wings and went back to sleep.  The picture just below is actually the last picture I took.

Trusting ducks!

Patrick

Tuesday night sunset

Bodi at the beach

 

This is Bode at the beach.  It is one of his favorite places because he loves to swim and play with other dogs.  Chase and stick-keep-away is the game all the dogs play.

On this recent visit while Bodi chased around with the other dog I took pictures of the birds. Then after our time at the beach we caught some more bears in the river as we drove home.

Patrick

White winged scoter

I think this is a Mew Gull

Not at the beach! This is a Pillar Mountain View

Accidental Bear Viewing

 

 

There have been a lot of bears around lately.  Close to town if you go to pretty much any stream or river with salmon in it you will see bears.  Yesterday Nora and I went to Buskin Beach and saw 2 sows and like 5 cubs feeding in the river just before you get to the parking lot.  There was a gaggle of photographers taking pictures of the bears and at the same time a bunch of fishermen focused on catching fish themselves and keeping a wary eye on the bears.  

It was a big dance.  The bears would move one way and all the photographers would follow them while the fishermen would move out of the way.  

Nora and I watched for a bit, but we soon left for the beach to give Bodi his walk.  The other day Bodi and I ran into a small bear on the beach, and I am proud to say Bodi knew to stay away. On that occasion to get off the beach we had to walk past the bear.  I put Bodi on a leash as we went past and practically had to drag him by the napping bear.  He wanted nothing to do with the bear.  

At the beach Bodi did some swimming and played with the other dogs (post to come), and then Nora and I left.  On the way back out the road beside the river we watched the bears a bit more from the car.  All the 'dancers' had changed positions in the 1/2 hour or so since we'd last been there.

Then to kill time Nora and I went to the 'Beaver Pond' where we often launch in our raft to float the Buskin.  We wanted to see the fall colors on the cottonwood trees.  Of course we got to the beaver pond and there was a bear swimming across.  Then while we watched he caught and ate a salmon.

Maybe this afternoon I'll bring along my binoculars and go looking for bears.

Patrick

Cub with natal collar

Beaver Pond Bear

The 'Beaver Pond' - on arrival we saw a bear swimming across

bear cubs

Bear Track on the Beach

Sow and cub

Weekend Doings

 

Sunrise

The sunrise as seen from my house on Mill Bay now rises from behind Spruce Cape rather than out of the ocean.  My own personal Stonehenge or seasonal sun dial.  And that means it is Fall for sure.

It was a busy weekend.  Stuey had a race on Friday, and finished with his best time ever and on a hard course.  Then Saturday morning I finished harvesting all my potatoes and planted my garlic.  This year I planted 59 garlic cloves and harvested 4 buckets of potatoes.  Many of the potatoes were HUGE - mostly double fist sized, 'meal-in-one' wonders.

Then Saturday afternoon with Molly I presented a lecture on the archaeology at the head of Women's Bay. Then finally on Saturday I took Bodi for a long walk in the alpine.  Busy weekend indeed!

Patrick

Fall colors

Bodi in the alpine

Stuey had his best race yet on Friday

Blueberries in the alpine

The start of Friday's Running Race at Abercrombie

Sunrise from behind Spruce Cape

The garlic cloves from this year that I planted for next year's crop

Last Survey of the year

 

Keller helps me with a test pit

Last Wednesday was my last archaeological survey of the year .. ... . I think.  It was a day trip with a hike along the coast looking for sites - just like the one last week.  And like last time Molly and I got dropped off and picked up in the helicopter.  Helicopter rides make everything worth it, and it was a gorgeous hike along the beach.

On this survey we were required by the contract to dig a lot of test pits to look for sub surface cultural deposits - artifacts, fire-cracked rock, charcoal stained soil. I found this a little silly and un necessarily time consuming because Kodiak's site are usually fairly obvious.  Most of the time there are structure depressions on the surface or there is almost always a spot where erosion has exposed site deposits for you to see.  Or a soil probe will work too. Generally there is no need to dig a test pit.  But we did our due diligence and dug test pits.

And found 2 sites - neither one as a result of a test pit.  One site was obvious in an erosion profile (eroding firecracked rock and charcoal stained soil - see photo below) while the other one was a big and obvious house foundation and 3 other associated structure depressions.

Still I am not all down on all test pits.  Sometimes you need to dig a hole if a site is set back from the ocean and not eroding.  This is particularly true of older, more deeply buried sites.  And in those situations I sort of know when you need to dig a test pit.  I have found a few really old sites this way.  There are 3 that come to my mind - one was the Amak site where we did community archaeology in 2011 and 2012 (click here and here for old posts). The Amak site is literally a kilometer from the coast, but I always thought it would be a good place for a site when the sea was closer.  And when I finally got a chance to dig a hole. I found a site.  The same is true of the Kashevarof Site across the valley from the Amak site.  I had looked at the bench where it is situated for years as a possible site - and then finally got to dig a hole and bingo! (click here for discovery of Kashevarof site).  And finally last spring in Kiliuda Bay I dug a test pit and found a circa 5,000 year old site (click here), but again, a few years before when we had excavated a nearby site, I had walked by the site every day and thought 'that low mound just has to be a site'.  And when I finally got the chance to dig a test pit I was right!

So I am not opposed to test pits.  I just don't think they are always needed. If there is a soil exposure handy and there is nothing in it - then there is no need to dig a test pit!

Patrick

Helicopter arriving for pick up

en route to where we surveyed

At drop off

On survey coffee in hand

There is a site in this picture - guess where it is located

Soil exposures make it easy to find sites - no site here! (no charcoal, firecracked rock, or burnt soil). And no need to dig a test pit either, but we did anyway.

A place you would expect to find a site but we did not

These starfish looked kinda sick

This is a site we found - note the black soil and fire-cracked rock under the layer of white ash (1912 Katmai ash)

Pillar Mountain Hike

 

Monday afternoon I drove up to the top of Pillar Mountain with Bode and went for a hike.  We started at the last windmill and followed the trail on down the ridge.  It was beautiful with all the fall colors and the sunshine.  I tried to take close up pictures of the foliage but nothing came out very well.  I ate a lot of lingonberries.  At the furthest point on the hike Bode and I sat a bit and contemplated the Buskin River Valley.  And then we walked back to the car.

Patrick

These aren't from Pillar Mountain - but my yard a few weeks ago