Wascally Wabbits

 Isn't it so cute creeping out from my boarder of greens?  This little ferule rabbit is sweet and soft, and didn't look like it was missing any meals.

 I just watched it twitch its nose and ears, cautious of its surroundings.

It clearly had no idea that Elmer Fudd was just around the corner...

  
 OK, you got me.  This is actually the second rabbit in as many days that has met its demise in our yard.  I seem to be the spotter while Pat grabs his lever-action .44 (which is super fun to shoot!) and takes out after the 'vermin' while Rowdy whines with all his power, going berserk when he hears the shots.  Do you see Rowdy's rapt attention below?!

So, wanna come over for dinner?!

Goin' on a Bear Hunt...

Just before Pat left on his bear hunt, he took Marc out to shoot his .340 Weatherby.  For fun, they filled an old juice jug with colored water and Marc took it down.

So Dave and Pat made use of the rare 2' seas to take the skiff across the inlet and into their river of choice.  They found a nice sandbar on which to make camp, but it was a little way from where the boat landed!

 Unfortunately, the bears were not showing themselves in this particular place, so they changed locations and had much the same luck.

Instead they were forced to sleep in, relax, take naps, etc.  Boy, bear hunting is tough.

Christmas Catch up, pt.1

Throughout our Christmas vacation, I rarely carried "real" camera and relied heavily on my cell phone camera!  I did, however manage to record some fun events on the "real" camera, so here they are:

 Out at Dad's, a big focus was bird hunting!  Orange has now become a Christmas color favorite!  Doves were the big fun hunt around the house, since the pheasant seemed to be pretty sparse this time.  Jackson was able to run around with the guys as they hunted, but seemed a little less enthused to actually handle the quarry!

 Yes, there is quite the horizon!  Wide open spaces with just a few homesteads with trees to break it up.  The wheat patches were just showing a slight haze of green; less than other years from lack of rain (isn't that always the story?!).

This was a very comical moment to me: 3 guys all on their cell phones, all pacing through the kitchen!

 You know Pat.  Debonair.

 It was fun to catch some sweet moments between brothers.

 Isaiah is still a star!  He absolutely loves the camera.  Reminds me of a certain sister of his...

 Even Pat couldn't resist a little play time with the little guy!  He also loves the outdoors!

I was so glad to get to see Jackson play ball.  Those kids could take me.  Seriously.

 Mom's house was full of Wii!  Unfortunately, Pat didn't let anyone else play.  Later (I'll have pictures and a video) we couldn't breathe for laughing at him so hard!

He did take a few moments away from the Wii to give Isaiah a ride on the vicious buckin' bronc!

At times I wish I had more pictures, and others I am glad I just took the time to enjoy the moment.  Mostly I just wish we had more opportunities to take pictures!  I am so thankful to have family that I love and miss dearly.  I apparently took pictures of Pat's family with my cell, so those and more, will be coming next!

Not every bear hunt can be as successful as the one Pat and I took on the previous post.

Just the weekend after, Pat and a couple friends went out on a boat across Skilak Lake on pursuit of a black bear or 3.

It seems that despite the careful stalk of what appeared to be a bear and turned out to be a burnt tree stump, the three had a wonderful time and the weather could not have been more beautiful!  I did hear that they saw a real bear, but it was unattainable.  We are forced to endure only the pictures of their camp and scenery as opposed to any trophy photo's.  Perhaps this fall will find more success!

Epic Eighth Anniversary Trip!

Disclaimer:  This is a long post with a lot of pretty amazing pictures.  Prepare to spend some time!

I can hardly believe it has been 8 years ago when I convinced my beloved to "just get married!"  We semi-eloped to a friend's place who had the most beautiful grounds, and asked our closest family to join us while we said our vows and pledged each to the other.  It was the most special day!

Little did I know what was ahead!

For the traditionalists, we did go through the formal ceremony in July when we had set a formal date.  It was also beautiful, but in retrospect, the first was the all we needed (though it was fun to wear a fancy dress!).

Every year, we try to celebrate our anniversary by doing something fun and usually outdoors.  This year was a take 2 on getting a storage barrel to our bear camp up in the mountains and to do a spring black bear hunt.  We had tried the week before but kept loosing our trail in the snow and getting our feet snowed in.  We had high hopes that the snow would be much less.  It was, for a while.  We trudged our way through drifts of snow, winding back and forth to and from the trail.  I can't adequately describe how fabulous this was.  *Sarcasm!*  Then we hit this:

Fortunately, my loving husband chose this moment to suggest we bail.  I had been trying to think positively while tromping through muck, mud, & snow while tripping and sometimes falling through the snow and over hidden branches into running water below.  Finally, I was just trying to be quiet.  "If you don't have something nice to say..."  Yeah, I was not going to be saying anything nice!  My husband became my hero when he said we should just quit.  Then he really pulled out the stops when he produced a tiny bottle of wine to drink with our cheese!  It was very fun!  Suddenly, I had no problem thinking positively!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, he suggested we go down and head to Seward to take a Kenai Fjord tour!  This is something I have been asking to do for years but the interest just hadn't waxed as much for Pat.  I was so excited and I think he was too!  We promptly finished our lunch and made our way to Seward.  We had no bedding and were wearing matching camo clothing, so I suggested we try a thrift store to remedy both situations.  We found a lovely comforter and pillows with bed mats for cushions, and I did find a nice sweater to add to the old pair of jeans I had in the car.  Crisis averted!  Since I had "new" duds, we also hit the town and saw a movie!  It was quite possibly the most interesting movie theatre I've ever been in.  It had fascinating decor, and  I was a bit in awe of the Christmas lights around the curtained screen.  I wish I would have had my camera as it was somewhat indescribably, well, quaint!  We had a rather cool night camping in the car (we did use the automatic start to warm it up a time or two!), and made it to our dock at the appointed time.  I was very excited!  Pat looked a tiny bit tired, but he was excited, too!

From our second deck window seat, we had a great vantage point to see the first of many wildlife sightings.  The first was the Sea Otter.  There were many who were just reclining in the midday sun.  

Then came the Dall Porpoise.  We called them the Killer Dolphins.  They have coloring like the Killer Whale but are porpoise and like to play in the boat's wake.  They chased us a couple of times, but we remained safe!

(O.K., this wasn't my photo, but I thought I should show you what was splashing in the photo previous to this!)

We did come upon a couple pods of Orca's, the Killer Whale.  There were several young and female with one larger male.  It was quite obvious to tell the difference!  I kept waiting for our deckhands to lean over the deck with a fish hanging from their teeth, but I suppose these guys haven't learned those tricks just yet.  It was pretty spectacular to see them for "real!"

We were having a ball running back and forth from our cozy table inside to the upper deck to see more.  It was a little breezy up there, and the wind made it a bit chilly, so we chose not to stay outside for too long of intervals.  

We were approaching this glacier, Holgate Glacier to be precise, and this other tour boat was ahead of us.  I thought it was good to give perspective!  We followed suit and slowly advanced on the slightly calving wall of packed snow/ice.  I had never heard the calving before, and it was truly thunderous.  We only saw smaller pieces fall and it was booming, so I can only imagine what a huge chunk would sound like.  

True to form, Pat was on the lookout for bears and found 4 black bears crawling around near the glacier.  We also saw many mountain goats with cute little babies, but the real draw for Pat were the bears.  He is, at this moment (in the photo and in present tense), planning his next bear hunt, since this one proved to be a bit different!

The Orca's abound!  This is one of the male leaders of one of the pods.  They were fascinating.

The whales are what I was most excited to see, since we've seen all the other animals before.  After seeing all the Killer Whales, we began to have sightings of Humpback Whales!  They were either solitary or in a pair, and it was extraordinary to see them!  The captain of the boat would get as close as we safely could, then turn off the main engine to achieve as much quiet as possible.   You could hear them blow out as they surfaced and then slid back down.  Everyone on the boat would gasp with excitement with each fluke.  It was amazing!

Spectacular!  I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday, worshiping in creation!

We did come back pretty tired.  It seems that even our dogs were exhausted and we all just crashed with pleasant, peaceful rest!  That was truly the best bear hunt on which I've ever been, and one of the most memorable anniversaries yet!

Pat Update

I heard from Pat today! I was a bit apprehensive, as I had thought that "no news was good news." That was sort-of true, but not really. It seems that a certain someone shot something, but forgot a certain something in a truck that was needed. No it wasn't Pat, since he didn't even get a license or take his bow. Anyway, I had meant to make a lot of fun of the certain someone, but then I realized that I was so thankful. I was thrilled to hear the stories and the background laughter! It seems that the weather has been cooperating and the bugling of the elk has been keeping them up at night! Still no pictures, so just imagine...

Bear Hunt #1 2009

I thought I'd try this instead of posting the pictures. This gives a bit more photo op's but I'd better get better at loading these things. Good grief. I'm way past my 8-year-old genius of computing. I need to befriend some high school kids, eh?!
Back to the point, we packed camp into Pat's high camp spot (a mere 5 mile journey through easy road, rough mucky horse trail, and our previously bushwacked/made trail straight up the slope) and set up for the evening on Friday. We saw about 11 bears that evening and felt good about the prospects. The first morning, we decided against the getting up before daylight thing and just slept in until 7:00AM, and had a quick snack for breakfast before heading out to scout for bears. We spotted one immediately on "Blisterfoot" and promptly went after him. (We christened the sloping mountain as such due to the severe blisters we both received from the side-hilling required to go anywhere.) I got within 150 yards or so of the bear, but he saw us and was a bit spooked. Pat squeaked him and made him stop for me to get a shot off, but I was high. Pat was able to make him pause a couple more times, but I haven't practiced enough to feel comfortable taking another shot. After that sound disappointment, we kept going around Blisterfoot, closer to Pat's spot from last year, since we'd seen another bear in the area earlier. By this point my knee was making me less mobile, so I rested while he looked over the ridge. More mountain. No bears over there, visible anyway, so it was time for us to go back to camp and eat.
We took the "shortcut" down the mountain, through the brush laden valley, and finally back up our slope to camp. That was a bushwack ordeal. I could not believe how Pat made it through there in the dark and fog alone last year. I guess he wasn't really alone. That was incredible.
Anyway, that afternoon was mostly spent napping. We held up and tried to set up on a close high spot for me to try again. No bears through there, but we did see more on Blisterfoot that evening.
There is no way for me to describe how juiced Pat was. A kid in a candy shop does no justice. We hit the sack at a decent time to get up early and hit it before dawn the next morning. I have to mention the camp Pat set up for us. It was a semi-level area with 2 levels of sleeping quarters for us. He actually slept above me, despite the pictures. He leveled his area with some flat rocks and covered them with moss and hemlock branches. My area just needed the hemlock cushion and especially that second night I had blissfully deep sleep. I was not remotely nervous about sleeping under "just a tarp." It served the exact purpose of a tent, just a little better ventilation. I was plenty warm and cozy. Not worried about bears, either. I've yet to loose sleep in fear of those skittish things. They have to wake me up to eat me, so I sleep soundly. Pat did just as well!
Sunday morning proved promising as we saw 2 bears just above camp. I was again within 200 yards or so and laid prone with the pack as a rest. I shot again, but apparently my perfect shot turned into pixie dust before it hit the bear as he remained unscathed. My confidence seemed the only thing that was shot. Bullseye. I left the .06 to Pat from then on. I was done, and none too happy about it either. After a walk about and testing the rifle to determine that it was indeed shooting 4" high at 100 yards, I spotted another bear on Blisterfoot and sent Pat after it. I told him I'd follow with the pack, but I'd be limping along and didn't want to ruin another opportunity. Long story short, Pat shot it soundly, we blood-trailed the sucker for a couple hundred yards through alders/hemlock/grass until we could no longer find any blood to trail and finally gave up again. We knew when we'd been beat. Oh, and we had no more ammo. That made the decision easier. Again we started for camp, but decided we'd sidehill and forgo the bushwacking.
We'd gone about 500-600 yards before looking back. We just about died. Here comes this beauty of a black blob coming right out from where we had just walked, eating his heart right out without a care. We weren't even quiet. I think a few choice words were let loose at that moment. With laughter. Sort-of.
To close, we left that night and made it out just fine with one lone bullet in the rifle, saved for any unsavory encounter that we hoped to avoid with a lighter colored bear. We saw much in the way of evidence of these larger brown bears in the area, and when we stopped to gorge on the raspberries, we knew why they were there. Yum.
Pat came out of the experience with a huge appreciation for the area and excitement to go again. I left with a huge amount of frustration and annoyance. I tried to let his optimism win and can now look back with some fondness, but man, that was tough.