Barred Island Picnic

 

Yesterday the kids and I went on a picnic with Stewart. This is a yearly summer tradition. We took Stewart's boat to the Barred Islands, and this is not the first time we've picnic'ed there (click here for past posts featuring the Barred Islands). Stewart's family is based out of Pulpit Harbor on the North side of the island.  And this side of the island is closer to all the cool little islands. Hence picnics with Stewart tend to be more exotic than the ones we do on the south side of the island.

The Barred Islands are spectacular. Big clouds on the horizon, white shell on the beaches, blooming pink roses with bright green leaves.  It's a deserted island straight out of a pirate story. We ate lunch, did some exploring and went for a swim.

Near the end of the picnic we took the annual Stuart and Stewart picture. Stuart is named after Stewart so every year we try and take a photo of the two of them together.  (Click here for a few blog posts that feature Stuart and Stewart from years past). Every year Stuart has gotten taller and taller, and I think he is now taller than Stewart!

Patrick

Annual Stuart and Stewart photo

Maine Moments

 

Some pretty pictures from our first few days in Maine. We have not done anything too exciting.  But it is enough just to be in Maine and on vacation. Everything is very very different from Kodiak, Alaska. 

Patrick

hydrangea

vetch

blue flag iris

Mullenshead bedrock and Boyscout Island in distance

Mullenshead beach rocks

dying locust trees at Mullenshead

Wading back from Boyscout Island at Mullenshead

Mouse Island picnic

Casino dock close

Casino dock far

Maine Arrival

It's July and we are on our annual pilgrimage to Maine. It's where we get re acquainted with family and the kids get to learn about our roots.  

This year we took the bus to the Rockland ferry terminal, and the very first thing I did after getting off the bus was order and eat a lobster roll.  The experience most definitely placed me in Maine. We then took the ferry over to North Haven and so begins our Maine vacation.

Picnics at Mullenshead, dinner at Mom's and reading books on the deck.  It's vacation time in Maine. More to come in future posts.

Patrick

First picture I took on arrival in Maine

Museum after Renovation

 

The museum re opened in Late May, but all the construction cones for the walkway up to the front door did not get removed until last Monday. So on Monday it was my job to take some post renovation pictures of the museum, and these are what I came up with. I was pleasantly surprised to catch the ferry Tustumena leaving harbor.  It made for a 'Chamber of Commerce' view of Kodiak and the harbor.

Patrick

Nice Day for a Swim

 

Earlier this week I took the dogs on a walk up to the 'seismic' lake. It was super hot and there was no wind. So when we got to the lake, and there was no body around, I decided to go for a swim too.  So I took off my clothes and jumped into the shallow pond.  It is only waist deep and there is a katmai ash bottom.  The water was perfectly cool but not cold.  

My being in the water totally confused the dogs.  They chased me all around (fast swimmers!) and I was worried about their claws scratching me when they got close.  I figured out that if I swam under water they could not see which direction I went.  So I would go under water and turn and the dogs would continue in the direction I had been going. 

Afterwards I put my clothes back on and threw sticks for the dogs.  Then we headed back down to the car.

Patrick

Caught on Google Earth

 

The other morning at work I was writing site descriptions for our Shuyak Island survey that took place in early May. After every survey I have to write a short description about every archaeological site that we found or visited.  Where is it located, how big, what is the condition of the site, how many houses, how old etc.  To help with site location descriptions and distance measurements I often use Google Earth.

So I had Google Earth open and was looking at this distinctive place where a beaver dam recently burst and created a sort of canyon to the beach.  I remembered being there this spring and I thought, 'wow that looks exactly like it did when I was there this spring - this aerial imagery must be from this year.' So I checked the date the aerial was created and it was from May 10, 2025.  I looked at my notes and that was where we were surveying on May 10th.   Wow! 

So I went looking for Philip and I and our 2 red kayaks. An initial cruise up and down the coast on the aerial did not turn us up - it is a big area and we kayaked 12 miles that day.  So then I got methodically logical. I noticed that the tide in the aerial was close to high.  We left camp in the morning at dead low and it did not get high until mid afternoon.  So I focused in on where we were in the afternoon.  I looked at pictures I took on various beaches and matched the tide lines and tree shadows.  In the picture below I could see that in the aerial the shadow was more out of the east than when we were on the beach, but not by much.  So I scanned slowly along our route and then there we were!

I remembered going on the beach just where my kayak is located.  I pulled it up on the beach and dropped a rock anchor because the tide was still rising.  I did not find a site at the locality.  Philip was killing time waiting for me to finish with a bunch of small little coves.

Patrick

Notes from the next morning describing our day on May 10th

Shadows out of west and tide near high

Same place shadows more out of east but tide close to high too

This shows the shadows better - we were clearly here later in the day than when the aerial was created

you have to look closely to find us!