Cross Country Skiing Lives

 

Stuey and I are still skate skiing every day at the golf course.  I thought that last Friday would be our last day, but then it snowed 3 days in a row and actually got better. It seems every day I tell Stuey that it'll be our last day at the golf course and then we go the next day.  

But the sun certainly is strong.  It did not even top the mid 30s and the snow still melted off of all the areas where it had been bare at the end of last week. The ground is warming up and spring will not be denied.

I dug around in my garden beds and while the ground is still frozen in my garlic beds I did find new green shoots in the nettle bed.  Enough green that I think I'll add nettles to dinner in the next few days.

Patrick

Nettle shoots from the garden - first life

Croci in the snow

New snow, tree trunks, and dogs

 

Kodiak is experiencing a little shot of a re-invigorated winter.  It snowed Friday night and it looked like winter again around the house.  Then late Saturday afternoon the sun came out and it all quickly melted away.  And then it snowed again last night.  This morning my yard looks exactly like it did yesterday morning. Needless to say, but I am not tired of winter.

Yesterday I checked my garden beds and the ground in the garlic beds is still frozen.  Last years carrots are still covered up and I am waiting for the ground to thaw to harvest them.  The only signs of life thus far in my yard is the blooming crocuses. Today I might even try and get the classic picture of a crocus blooming in the snow.  I also dug down into my nettle bed and did find nettle sprouts.  So pretty soon I'll be eating tender nettle shoots.

A week from today I am off on an archaeological survey.  It looks like it is going to be a cold survey.  But I don't mind.  I still want winter to bring it on!

Patrick

Ice on Lake Gertrude - elsewhere in town most of the lakes are now ice free

Bodi and Red

Rey

Skate skiing with the dogs at the Golf Course - all the bare spots covered up!

Red and Rey

Winter lives!

Puzzle with 2 Solutions

 

Recently I did a really good puzzle that had 2 solutions.  It's a Liberty Puzzles puzzle called 'The Hunt'.  The colors were all so spread out that it was difficult to do it by color, and I mostly had to do it by looking for shapes.  The top photo below shows what it looked like when I was just starting to put it together.  The hardest part is that because of the alternate solution many non-edge pieces had flat sides.  It was effectively impossible to sort out the edge pieces.

Then when I finished I went to the Liberty Puzzle website and found a picture of the alternate solution (see bottom photo).  Then it was a matter of taking the puzzle apart and putting it back together again to match the photo.  The third photo shows the puzzle about half way to alternate completion.  Basically I took pieces out and lay them aside on the other puzzle board.  And then I re-attached them all to make the head.  It took just as long to complete as the original puzzle.

So with one puzzle I got double the fun!

Patrick

My completed 'deer head' was too large for the puzzle board - so I took this one from the Liberty Puzzle website

Last Snow at the Golf Course

 

This past week Stuey and I have been catching the last of the snow at the golf course on our cross country skis.  Every day there has been a little less snow but we've still been able to navigate the bare spots and create a decent ski loop. But I fear this is the end.  

Yesterday the snow bridges over the creeks were starting to collapse.  Once those are gone the golf course becomes a much smaller place.  It's snowing this morning but even a couple of inches of new snow will not help the 'snow bridges'.  These days the sun is just too strong - new snow on bare ground melts immediately when the sun comes out.  It's a good thing there is still a deep base of snow at the pass because I think that's where we will be skiing next week.

The daily ski has also served a dual purpose.  Stuey has been practicing his driving on the golf course road.  It's a perfect place for learning to drive.  There are practically no other cars and it is a fairly straight forward road.

Patrick

This one is from an attempted skate ski at the pass - the crust was too soft

Stuey's learning to drive

From last Sunday at Salonie - it was WINDY!

Easter egg hunt

 

On Sunday Nora and I drove out the road to look for glass balls, or as Nora put it, 'go on a glass ball Easter egg hunt'.  

The day before at Buskin Beach while Nora and I were walking the dogs a large group of kids sprinted down from the USCG recreational facility and started to look for Easter eggs on the beach.  Nora and I saw a few eggs and pointed them out to kids.  But those eggs were plastic with like chocolate inside.  So on Sunday Nora and I decided to go on a real 'beach combing' Easter egg hunt, and we drove out the road to find the best beaches for glass balls.

I showed Nora how to look for glass balls at the back of the driftwood and under the brush - all the glass ball finding tricks that I knew.  And then we found a glass ball!  I did not expect to actually find one. So many people go out there and it has been picked over for years.  I only thought we had a slight chance of finding one that had been deeply buried in a log jam and only recently exposed.  

Later I recounted to Nora that I first walked that beach and looked for glass balls way back in 1987 - over 35 years ago - and that I had most definitely walked within 200 yards of that very glass ball.  In 1987 I did not find a glass ball either.

Needless to say, but now Nora is hooked on looking for glass balls.  Next year we plan on doing another Easter 'egg' hunt.

Patrick

Winter Food

 

Tanner crab salad

A few pictures of winter food and meals or the remains of meals from the last few months.  My favorite meal of late has been tanner crab salads (pictured above).  When I have tanner crab for dinner I always cook too much to ensure that I have lots leftover to add to salads.  Nothing quite so convenient for a good salad topping as a container of picked crab in the fridge.

The meat pictured below is a sliced backstrap from our Sitkinak deer.  The deer were so big and fatty that even generally lean cuts like the backstrap have inter cellular fat.  It is like eating corn fed beef and makes for excellent stir fries.

Patrick

Sitkinak deer backstop

Remains of Southeast Alaska Prawns - Thank You Jared!