Trick or Treating Our Neighbors

Halloween is when you meet your neighbors.  What other holiday sees you going door to door to all the houses on your street?

Our street does not get many trick-or-treaters, but every year it gets a few.  And the neighbors have come to expect us.  Several times we heard, 'I bought candy just for you', or 'I was worried you would not come'.

In the old days before I had kids it was a different set of neighbor children who walked the neighborhood.  And last night I noticed that a couple and their children who are both under 5 were making the rounds behind us.  The neighborhood is growing a new crop of trick-or-treaters who will eventually replace Nora and Stuey.

Nora and Stuey did go trick-or-treating with their aunt and cousins by car out on Spruce Cape. And they did have fun and got a lot of candy.  But Nora was adamant about walking our street when they got back.  And even though it was lightly raining we walked and did not drive.  It was time to meet the neighbors.  Patrick

Sheratin Circuit

Shelly Lake - we walked around the far side in the sunshine

Yesterday Brewster and I did the Sheratin Mountain circuit with Philip T.  We dropped a car at the Red Cloud trailhead and then drove to the end of the road and hiked up the trail by Small Creek.  We dropped down the backside and checked out Shelly's Lake and then climbed around the backside of the mountain.  Philip knew a route through the cliff bands and we were hiking with the goats.  At one point there were massive cliffs both above and below us.  We finished the hike in the big bowl on the east side of the mountain and hiked out the red cloud trail. 

Funnily enough it is not all that of a time consuming hike.  We were only hiking for 4 1/2 hours and really did not rush things.  Door to door, even with longish drive over the pass and the shuttle, the trip was only 6 hours total.

The sunshine was glorious and it was hard to believe it is almost November.  We even saw some plants sprouting new shoots like they think it is spring!  Patrick

Cliff bands and goats (if you look carefully)

Scary!

MMMMmmm Popcorn. ..

Last night Nora and I went to Molly and Ryan's housewarming/Halloween party.  As you can see Nora was a box of popcorn while I was a freaky vampire.  My costume came with face paint and after applying it I remembered why I hate using it.  It itches like crazy!  And the wig hair touching the face itched too. 

By the end of the night I had rubbed most of the paint off of my face itching. I also seem to remember having itchy face paint during Halloweens past.  I think it is one of those things you do every 5 years or so after you have forgotten how much they make you uncomfortable. 

The bottom photo is a selfie I took with Molly's camera.  She handed the phone to me to take a picture of her and Ryan in costume and it was on selfie mode.  I did not expect to see myself!  So I took a picture.  A VERY rare patrick took selfie (I still do not own a phone). 

Tomorrow night is trick-or-treating on Cliffside.  I think I'll be a vampire without the face paint!
Patrick

I actually took a selfie with Molly's cell phone!

Busted?

 Oh No!  What are Stuey and Nora doing behind bars in a police car? Have they been delinquent?

Never fear it was all part of a St Mary's field trip to the Kodiak Police Station.  I helped drive the children from school to the station and with the other parent drivers helped out as a chaperone while at the station.

I must say I was impressed with the place.  It was far more modern and larger than I had expected.  Of course the kids did have to ask about doughnuts. ... .. . Awkward moment.

The hit of the trip was the tour of the police car.  I was sort of amazed that the officer just let the kids do whatever they wanted to inside the vehicle.  It seemed very trusting.  I thought, 'Oh man and they are letting Stuey inside there - get ready for some real sirens'. But then I realized that the back of the car is stripped down so that detained individuals can't damage it.  What could a kid do that a violent drunk could not?

 The St Mary's students were energized and asked a lot of questions.  I give quite a few school tours myself at the Alutiiq Museum and it was interesting to be on the other side of the tour.  I was proud to be a St Mary's parent.  Patrick

Pumpkin Seeds

While Stuey played basketball with 2 'play-date' friends from school, Nora and I cleaned out and carved the Halloween pumpkins.  Nora took extra care to get every seed, and afterwards I roasted them with oil and salt.  So simple, so good.

Basically I just put the seeds in a roasting pan, and sprinkled them with a liberal amount of salt, some ground pepper and a hefty dollop of oil.  I stirred them all up and then broiled them 20 minutes or so at lowish heat (325).  I basically wanted to dry the seeds out.  Then I turned it up to a full broil (500) and kept a more watchful eye - stirring quite frequently.  After about 10 minutes the seeds were all browned and crispy.  Perfect!
Patrick

Stuey hitting 'em like LeBron

Tip off at the start of the game

Stuey was on fire at last night's 'Lil Dribblers basketball game.  In his first game Monday night he did not score a point, but last night he sank so many shots I lost count.  My best guess is that he scored 18 points, or all but 3 of his team's (A Balanced Approach or ABA) baskets.  And he was shooting from ridiculous angles and distances.  If there had been a 3 point line he would have scored 26 points!  Until late in the game he seemingly could not miss - he drained everything.  I'm not so sure hitting so well is good for him in the long run.  He may never drain them again like he did last night.

The other team was very good.  To their credit they passed and defended much better than Stuey's team.  But Stuey and his hot hand had his team up by 6 well into the second half.  And then he got tired and the other team upped their defense.  The other team had taller players and limited ABA's passing, and they also had one VERY good player (#6 in photo below) who was draining 3 pointers almost as well as Stuey.  They came back and won by 4.  It was a great game. 

As regards my situation, I've noticed that the ipod mix in the car has been throwing up 'I can see clearly now' by Jimmy Cliff quite frequently.  It's a good sign.  Patrick

Stuey on a breakaway

Stuey is a little out of focus, but he did drain this shot

Stuey grabs a rebound

Another 3 point distance try

Is it going in?

Stuey on D

Middle Sister Circuit

Yesterday I took the doggies on a 2 hour hike - a circumnavigation of the middle sister.  Initially I had titled this post 'backside of the middle sister'.  And indeed the best part of the hike was on the steep sunny slope of the middle sister that faces town - the 'backside'.  But I quickly realized that the unintentional double entendre might draw the wrong type of google hits to the family blog. 

For such an obvious hike I am surprised that I have never tried this one before.  It only took 2 hours and there was virtually no bushwhacking.  I started on the trail up the backside of the North Sister (the trail that used to start up the creek but has since been fixed).  Walked across the big bowl and up through the saddle between the middle and third sister.  And then I enjoyed the sunny slope side of the middle sister.  There are some gorgeous views of town too.

The only tricky part is when you turn left to go back to the saddle between the North and Middle Sister (upper right in the photo above).  You do have to stay high on a steep slope to avoid some pretty bad brush.  If it was wet or if there was any frost the slope would have been scary.  But yesterday it was just fine. 

All and all, a nice 2 hour tour with the dogs.
Patrick