Doggies

 

Bode is getting big.  For a while there we thought he had stopped growing and would always be a small dog.  And suddenly he has had a growth spurt.  I still do not think he will ever be a giant lab like Brewster or Tank, but he is beginning to look more like a lab than a miniature breed of some sort.

Nora suggested we do a DNA test to figure out exactly what makes Bode's heritage, and last night we sampled his DNA and will send it in today.  They had a check list of what they check for and one breed was 'Village Dog' - it seems they know Alaska dogs!  Not that I particularly care about Bode's pedigree.  I already know what type of dog he is - Bode is Bode!

Patrick

Gooseneck barnacles - I gather these are a delicacy in some parts of the world

Glorious President's Day Ski

 

I had yesterday off of work for President's Day.  So in the morning I took the dogs cross country skiing and in the afternoon Nora and I went up Pyramid for a Presidents Day downhill ski.  

The day started off dismal and grey with all the peaks socked in with fog.  And it was still spitting rain when Nora and I arrived at the pass.  We even debated whether to wear rain pants.  But it cleared off in a spectacular fashion as we climbed up the mountain.  

On Sunday it had been raining at the bottom of the mountain and windblown ice in places on high - so I was not expecting very good ski conditions.  But I was totally wrong - 'Hero' dust on a soft crust conditions on high and spring corn snow on the lower mountain.  Absolutely perfect ski conditions!

On the drive back Nora commented that with the sun and warmth it 'felt more like April than February'.  Indeed this morning I heard birds singing.  

Scroll to the bottom and I posted a 20 second video that show the snow conditions on the mountain.

Patrick

This winter we have received a lot of snow on high but relatively little in town.  So we've mostly been downhill skiing.  But for the last couple of weekends we did have some pretty good cross country skiing.  Unfortunately it warmed up Sunday and I think we lost our cross country ski snow.

On Saturday I took the kids skiing in the Upper Buskin area.  We had not skied in this area in years (click here for ancient XC ski post), but we used to ski up there quite a bit.  It was interesting to listen to the kids comments and memories of skiing in the area. 'when are we going to get to the river' 'I remember this place' and so on.  Of course when we got to the river it was totally open - so no skiing on the river.  So we turned around and skied back to the car.  A short ski today but we'll be back!

Patrick

 

My Kabob recipe

 My Kabob recipe is more of a method than a recipe.  Basically the secret to my method is that I pre cook my kabobs at low heat in the oven before I grill them.  I'm a hunter so instead of some fatty store-bought-meat I am make my kabobs from elk, deer or mountain goat - even reindeer on occasion!  Over cooked game meat is dry and gamey tasting.  In the past when I cooked my kabobs entirely on the grill they tended to get too charred on the outside or would be raw on the inside.  So I started to cut my meat up into bigger chunks and cooking them at 170 degrees in the oven for 45  minutes to an hour while I waited for the grill briquets to turn to coals (no gas grill in this household).

Anyway for ingredients I usually make the standard teriyaki sauce - smashed garlic (I actually generally use the garlic paste tubes here), grated ginger, soy sauce, lemon or orange juice, some sugar, worchestershire sauce, and even some tomato paste.  Once the marinade is complete I cut up the meat and put it to soak in the marinade in a bowl.  Then I cut up the vegetables. And wait as long as I am willing for the meat to marinade (last time I waited 1/2 hour).

For the kabob vegetables I use bell peppers, onions, fresh basil, tomato, cauliflower, and on occasion mushrooms, and, of course game meat cut into big chunks.  I actually fold every other chunk of meat onto a basil leaf.  I also always thread a pepper chunk onto either end of my kabab stick to hold everything all together.  I mash and squeeze all the different ingredients very tightly together onto the stick.

The next step is to put them into a glass dish, baste each kabob with the marinade from the bowl, and put them into the oven to cook at low heat (my oven's lowest setting is 170).  Every 10 or 15 minutes or so I baste them and turn them so that they cook evenly and get thoroughly marinaded.  Then when I think they are somewhat cooked (this is a judgement call - sorry!) maybe 45 minutes later - I put them on the grill to brown.  

I do not leave them on the grill very long - maybe 4 minutes a side with 3 turns over coals that are not flaming too high.  Again more of a judgment call on how you grill them, but I like them slightly charred on each side.  And the goal is not to cook them because you already cooked them in the oven!  I also use plenty of marinade from the glass pan and bowl - I like my kabobs well-marinated!

My kabobs end up moist and NOT gamey and the meat is pink all the way through and not raw inside.  I unthread each kabob onto a pile of rice and dig in.  My kids like to add a splash of soy sauce at the end.  

Patrick

Nora Finds a Cave

 

Yesterday in town it was gusting up to 50 miles and hour and raining - HARD.  But at the pass it was a blizzard with a foot of new snow already on the ground.  Screaming wind and blinding snow.  But once we got into the trees and in the lee of a gully known as the 'Beaver Pond' run it was really quite nice.  

We got to the top of the gully and decided not to leave the shelter of the trees and brave the upper mountain.  It was ugly up there!

As we were taking off our climbing skins and getting ready to ski down Nora found a hole under our spruce tree shelter.  She looked in and found a secret cave under the spruce boughs.  It was a pleasant spot and we both realized that if we had been stuck on the mountain for the night the cave would have made a warm shelter.

And finally some new snow!  It is supposed to keep snowing and raining right through the weekend.  Whooooo Hoooooooo!

Patrick

Cold Eagles and warm walks

 

This time of year downtown Kodiak has more than a couple of bald eagles in every tree.  In the dead of winter they come to town for the food.  Fish scraps from the canneries, spilled dumpsters - there is more food in town for the moment than they can find anywhere else.  And so downtown Kodiak is festooned with eagles.  It actually reminds me of buzzards in the trees around a kill in the plains of Africa.  Only it is far far colder and there is no pitiless sun.

These eagles are right outside the back door to the museum.  They line the edge of the roof, are roosting on the light poles, and even perched on the in the grass on the top of the hill there.  There are also magpies, crows and ravens.  It is quite noisy with croaks and squawks.

Patrick

Ski Doodles

 

These pictures are from a week ago - it's been a week since we got new snow.  But we did get to enjoy this last snowfall as it has also been clear and cold for the last week.  That is supposed to change today with a big storm rolling in.  Hopefully we get more snow than rain.

With the last storm I got 'first tracks' in the South Bowl twice.  First the afternoon after the storm and then a couple of days later after blowing snow obscured my first tracks.  These days there are so many people skiing on Pyramid that it is unusual to find an untracked slope.  And it was shocking that my tracks remained alone for so many days - especially considering how good the skiing was in the south bowl.

I got to admire my tracks driving to and fro from the mountain.  There they were on high - my doodle on the snow covered slopes.  My signature that said I was there - I really loved looking up and seeing my tracks!

Patrick