Plan 'B'

 Friday afternoon Stuey and I drove to the pass with the dogs to go skiing and the road was so bad we had to turn around. It had been raining all morning and the road to the pass was glare ice with water on top.  So our ski was a 'bust' and we turned around and opt for plan B - a walk on the beach.

Not a bad option at all.  The recent rain and warmth had busted out the ice in the river and the beach was covered with ice.  The big storm had created a nice surf and I enjoyed watching the waves catch the little icebergs.  Best of all, the sun came out and blasted the beach in sunlight. 

Yesterday it froze and there was a little new snow on the road - so new more 'slick and slide' drive to the pass - and on we went back up for a ski. It is nice to have options!

Patrick

Back to the Mountain

 

After cross country skiing everyday for 2 straight weeks we are back to the mountain and downhill skiing.  These pictures are from the last 4 days on the mountain.  It has been pretty variable conditions, and a different story every day.  Sun, wind, ice and new snow.

Until yesterday we still could have gone cross country skiing if we had wanted to do so.  There was plenty of snow at the golf course and even in my yard.  But yesterday we got a warm storm that melted all the snow in my yard, and I fear the golf course is a mess.  So today when we take the dogs for a 'ski walk' it is downhill or bust.

The good news is that we probably got a foot of new snow on the mountain.  However, the trick will be getting to the pass in the car.  I am worried the road will be a sheet of ice with water on top.  If that is the case we'll just take the dogs to the beach for a normal walk.

Patrick 

Sunny Sunday

 

Sunday was gorgeous - a true 'Sun'day. Stuey and I wanted to ski up the Upper Buskin again so we took the dogs to the beach first.  There are too many deer and bunnies on the Upper Buskin to risk bringing along dogs. So we took the dogs for a walk and then went skiing.  So the dogs got in their run and then Stuey and I went XC skiing.

The skiing was no where near as nice as on Saturday.  The shot of warm air at the end of the storm had turned the snow on the ice into water. The entire river was grey ice.  But we went up the river anyway and it was like a luge run going back downriver.

I took lots of pictures but something went wrong with my camera and it deleted them all.  I only got the one picture from just below - the last picture that I took. I do not know why the camera did that.

Patrick

All the way to the waterfall

 

On Saturday Stuey and I cross country skied up the Upper Buskin River to the waterfall.  This is one of my favorite skis and this is the first time I have gone all the way to the waterfall with Stuey.  It is not often that the river freezes solid enough to make it all the way up to the waterfall.  And some winters the river does not freeze at all.  So when it is good you got to make the most of the opportunity.

On this trip I have never seen the river frozen so solid.  Usually there are big holes and collapsed sections to negotiate.  But not this year. It is frozen solid the whole way up and down the river.  This year the problem is a lack of snow.  Most of our recent snow has been of the ocean effect variety and it seems to have barely snowed at all on the upper Buskin.  Getting to the river we had to negotiate logs and roots - everything was exposed and barely covered with a coating of snow.

But once on the river there was about a 1/3 of an inch of new snow on top of the ice.  It was pretty good skiing and FAST!

Patrick

Snow and a dropping tide

 

Yesterday morning we took the dogs to Buskin Beach.  It was lightly snowing and the beach below the high tide line was coated with new snow.  Just the bottom part of the beach was not covered with snow.  Clearly a dropping tide.

While we were there it stopped snowing and turned to ice fog.  Ours were the only tracks on the beach.

Patrick

Tanners

These are pictures from over a week ago when the Kodiak Tanner crab fleet returned and for a while the town was awash in crab.  I got my share and have been eating a lot of crab.  Stuey has decided that crab sandwiches is one of the best lunches in the world.  I agree.  

We mix a little bit of mayonnaise and pepper into the crab.  And not very much mayo either.  Then mix it all up and put it between two pieces of lightly toasted bread.  Very hard to beat.  It seems I have not had the patience to take a photo of a sandwich before I snarfed it up.  Only got a photo of a salad with crab on top.  This is a favorite of mine, but Stuey thinks crab on a salad is a waste.

This year I steamed my crab for 18 minutes which might have been a tiny bit too long.  And then put them in an ice bath.  The meat has come out of the shells really easily.  This year I also froze crab in the shell.  To do this I froze it overnight right on the coils of my freezer.  Then the next day I dipped each crab section into icy cold salt water.  I had mixed up a big pot of water with a very high contraction of salt in it the night before and left it outside overnight.  So the icy salt water might have even been below freezing.  

After dipping each crab in the salt water I returned them to on top of the coils in the freezer.  The dip in salt water created a coating of rime on the crab sections.  Hopefully this coating protects the meat from oxidizing.  I gather it's what the canneries do with crab too.  

And then, finally, in the evening I took all the crab sections and carefully put them all into a huge trash bag in freezer.  Also to help prevent freezer burn.  

Anyway, we have tried the crab we froze and it is excellent.  As good or better than the stuff from the canneries.  But still got to eat up the crab quick.  Because even the stuff from the canneries has a short shelf life in the freezer!  This should not be a problem.  Crab is so good!

Patrick