Snow that sticks

 

It snowed a bunch of times in town last week.  I'd wake up to snow in my yard and drive to work through falling snow.  Then the sun would come out and all the snow would disappear in an instant.  Just the day before yesterday there was enough snow at the golf course that I contemplated XC skiing (see bottom photo).  Then I opted for downhill (photos in this post) and the snow was almost gone at the golf course by the time I drove home.  

The ground is now too warm to hold snow. And  I think I missed my last chance to XC ski at the golf course.

Patrick

Maybe the last snow at the golf course?

Carrots from the garden before the garden is planted

 

Today I finally harvested the last of my carrots from last year.  Early last November we had a couple of hard freezes and I harvested a bunch of carrots, but I left a bunch more in the garden.  Then it froze hard and that was that until today when I harvested 5 gallons of carrots.

After the garden froze hard I covered the carrot patch in leaves and then put a couple of tarps over it all.  My hope was to insulate the carrots and keep them from a freeze and thaw cycle. I have done this before and it has worked in the past.  But leaving them in the ground all winter still seemed like a risk.

So I was very happy this morning when I uncovered the carrot patch, scraped off the leaves, and found crunchy sweet carrots underneath. And they do taste amazing - way sweeter than they did in the fall.  But after past experimentation I also know that I have to eat them up quick.  

Some of the carrots have black spots and I now know that this is a 'carrot mold' and will spread to the other carrots.  Also, last time I did a spring harvest after a couple of months the carrots lost their flavor.  

So this year the plan is to discard the ones with black spots, eat them fast, and savor the moment of eating garden fresh carrots in the spring!

Patrick

Shishaldin 2005 - My Film Swan Song

 

Slide film - stitched into panoramic

I've been looking through old photos lately and have been thinking about the film to digital transition. I stuck with film longer than most people.  I remember that the museum got a digital camera in 1998 and it was terrible - like the pictures it took were less than 1 mega pixel in size. By 2003 a lot of people I knew were using digital cameras, and, at the time, the pictures seemed pretty good.  I think the pictures were generally 3 mega pixels in size.  But looking back I am still glad that I did not switch because I think my film images were still better.

In 2005 I got a digital video camera that also took 2 megapixel still images.  It was my first digital camera, but I mostly still stuck with slides.  But I did take digital stills.  And I often created panoramic images stitching the digital files together. Then in 2006 I got a 6 mega pixel digital camera (the Pentax Optio WP10), and, for me, that was pretty much it for slide film. 

I think 6 megapixels is actually pretty close in quality to digitized slide film.  When I have scanned slides I've found that much over 12 megapixels all you gain extra is more grain in the film (I usually scan slide film at around 19 MB).  However, the 6MB digital cameras were better with colors and exposure than the film camera I was using at the time.  So at about 6 mega pixels I think digital had finally caught up with film, or at least for me it had.

But for a couple of years there I did use both digital and film.  Some major projects from that time period are archaeological surveys to Chirikof Island and Olga Lakes, the Salonie Mound excavation, and the pictures shown here from our ski trip to Shishaldin Volcano in the Aleutians.  I think the 2005 trip to Shishaldin might just be the last trip I ever did where I mostly used slide film.  It is not a coincidence that I started to blog in 2006.  Blogs are easier when you do not have to wait a couple of weeks for the pictures to come back.

Anyway, here are the pictures from my days of film swan song - the 2005 ski expedition to Shishaldin Volcano in the Aleutians.  We hiked and skied 20 miles or so to the base of the volcano and then waited for a weather window to climb to the top. The volcano is over 9000 feet high and is the tallest in the Aleutians.  We got to the top and skied down - at around 7000 vertical to our base camp it is the longest vertical ski run I've ever done in my life. Quite the expedition, and it is mostly documented in film!

Patrick

Digital - this is about 3 mega pixels in size

Digital - these are the 2 mega pixel pictures stitched into a panoramic - that's 7000 vertical to the top

Slide film - leaving False Pass on the long hike and ski to the volcano

slide film - the smoking caldera at the top of the volcano 

slide film - skiing from near the top of the volcano

slide film - Shishaldin is in the distance on the left

slide film - that's more than 5000 vertical ahead of us!

slide film - our camp at the base of the volcano where we waited for a weather window

slide film - navigating through a white out to get to the base of the volcano

Abercrombie Walk

 

Yesterday I went for in a walk in Abercrombie with the dogs for the first time in almost a month.  The last time I went for a walk there I noticed that the blueberries had just started to bloom (click here). But I had not brought a camera and did not take any pictures of the blossoms. So I had intended to go back the next day and take some blueberry blossom pictures. Then it started to snow on the mountain and there was no reason to go to the park.  Needless to say, but I only got around to finally taking the blueberry blossom pictures yesterday!

Patrick

A little Bit of Sunshine

 

Yesterday it cleared off and got sunny.  I was actually a little bit sad because it had been snowing every day for more than a week and we still need the snow.  But WOW! it was good to finally see how much new snow we have gotten.  Yesterday was the first time in it seems like ages when I have gone up the mountain and it has not been a whiteout on top.

The dogs and I did a run into the south bowl they fell way behind because the snow was so deep (see video at bottom).  We also saw the Navy SEALs up there training.  They were post holing just like the dogs.  At one point we came over a little rise and found the SEALs sledding on their backs - just like real seals.

The skiing was glorious!

Patrick

We skied down into the trees and surprised these guys (look carefully)

last day of whiteout on top

3 to 4 inches at a time

The last week has been very very good for our snow pack.  3 weeks ago we actually had no snow below about 1200 feet.  Now we are skiing to the road and on the Antons Bay side of the pass there is more than a foot of heavy snow at the road.

For the last week it seems like it has snowed 3-4 inches every day.  Snow squalls, sunshine and rain.  And the snow keeps on building up.  And with the mist and occasional freeze the snow has also been consolidating nicely.  But still in places it is getting too deep for the dogs.

Patrick
 

First Day of Spring

 

Yesterday was the first day of Spring.  On my way to work I saw a pod of orcas passing through in the channel.  I was hoping to catch them chasing the resident sea lions, but they seemed to ignore them instead.  And I was surprised that the sea lions did not get out of the water. Still I could tell that they were clearly agitated and on high alert (see video at bottom).

While I was waiting for the orcas to show up again (I only saw them for all of about 1 minute) it started to rain. Later the sun came out, and then while I was skiing it snowed.  Such is the weather on the first day of spring - very changeable!

On the mountain we got over a foot of new snow.  It was so deep that the dogs had a hard time keeping up (video below).  Back home they all immediately curled up on couches to sleep.  I think all the deep post holing made for a high intensity workout! Later I read a book by the fire and listened to the dogs lightly snoring as they slept.

Patrick