July 4th!

Here we are again! We spent the Fourth in Seward where they have the Mt. Marathon Race! There are over 900 people; men, women, & kids who compete in this race in different heats. The full race is a total of 3 miles; 1.5 mi. up and then back down. The kids race is shorter, but I'm not sure how much shorter. Anyway, the top picture is the bottom of the mountain chute that they run up and down. There is a trail as well, but many choose the chute! Yikes! The other photos are us fishing the Russian River again! In the first photo, you can see the brown bear behind Pat! It started out behind us about 20 yards on the shore. It was eating the fish carcasses and then decided to swim across the Kenai River over to the island that you see. I waited until the bear was on the island before going back to shore and retrieving my camera! We had left the men's race early to come back and fish, and I was a bit peeved, but since I caught my limit (4!) and Pat only caught 2, that made me feel better! Also, note my fabulous hat that Pat is sure I will find to be the best hat ever! Don't I look like I know what I'm doing?!

Mom's Birthday!

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend several days with my mom before her birthday today! We had a great time! It was so much fun to show her where we lived and what we did! She got to see my first salmon! I've apparently not been as vocal to her about how proud of her I am! I've always been so impressed at her nursing abilities! She has continued to learn and grow throughout her career and is still making changes! I know she'll make an incredible nursing instructor! Mom, I love you and am very proud of you! You've been a great support to me through the years! Thank you! You've been a great mom! Have a great next year! Happy Birthday!

Weekend Without Me!

Pat gets to go out this weekend and canoe the Swanson River - without me. He is not going alone, however, as his friend Travis (co-worker) accompanies him! I think they will have a great time! For those of you who love my other scenic photo's, here's another one of Homer. You can see the "spit" down in the bay. That is basically a sandbar/docking area that becomes quite the scene in the summer! What a view!

Boy, the real ones look tiny compared to Mom's! Here's a few more pics of our adventures! The big fish and the dock were in Homer, and the fish were the ones Pat actually caught on Sunday morning at the Russian River. The beach is at Captain Cook State Park. It is the northern-most point that you can drive to on the peninsula except where you drive from Anchorage. In fact, there was a sign that said "End of Road!" Apparently, someone thought the road continued on through the forest?

Sorry it's taken me so long to post! I've been a little busy! We have had my mom and aunt here for the last week or so and have travelled around and done some real serious fishing!! Pat and I have both brought in fish, mom had a great time perfecting the art of "flipping," and Lissa had the opportunity to capture us on "film!" Our fishing was on the Russian River where it meets up with the Kenai River, and the other photo's are overlooking the Katchemak Bay in Homer! We finally had decent weather over the weekend, but today it's raining - again!

Close Encounters!

This is what we saw this weekend! We took off and went to the Swanson River Canoe trails which are north and east of the Swan Lake trails that we went on over Memorial Weekend (which I still haven't gotten my film back yet). This weekend was a little cloudy and rainy so we only went on 12 lakes! We do have this nice lighter canoe and less gear so we only portaged once most times. It was still quite heavy with all the gear in one trip! As you can see, we did get a little close to some critters! We first came close to the loon on Lure Lake while we were fishing. It kept swimming around & under us to see what we were and what our spinners were! It was pretty amazing! We camped at a great site that had this fabulous view! We didn't see this bear until we were driving out today. It was actually the 3rd black bear we saw off the road! He didn't seem too bothered by us, as he was mostly interested in eating the dandelion heads! We stopped in the road and took a few pictures and still he ate! It was incredible to be so close to him! I guess there really are bears out here!!

He is Smokin'!!

Monday night I came home to the smell of something sizzling! Pat made this smoker at work over the spring and brought it home the other day. (He unloaded it himself and consequently, the 1/4" steel plate box was bent slightly as it was the piece that hit the ground first out of the truck!) Let me tell you that it cooks/smokes just fine! This chicken was absolutely mouth watering! He thought it wasn't as good because of the charcoal and not wood fire. I thought it was great! Where the charcoal is sitting is also where the grill function can be utilized! You didn't think that we'd go without a smoker/grill here did you?!! Oh, yeah, in the background you can see our new canoe hanging over our car!! It's an Old Town Penobscot 16, for you canoe enthusiasts! It's 22 lbs. lighter than our Coleman! We'll take better pictures when it's out on some water! Should be soon! I hope to get our pics of the last trip soon, but we'll be out on another back-country trip this weekend! A little more back than the last time! We'll be breaking in the net!

landing net

I made myself a landing net this month. I cut a spruce sappling for the hoop and another for the handle. I used 180 feet of braided nylon for the net. It took about 580 double- overhand knots to complete the netting.

Fuchsia Fever!

I brought home this fabulous fuchsia from the greenhouse yesterday! Isn't it gorgeous?!! It has to come inside overnight until it's hardened off. It still gets into the 30's overnight here - yuck! I'm ready for WARM!!! Warm being relative, of course! You may be asking why I didn't put this into the greenhouse? Well, my greenhouse is full of other plants! My previous effort of starting plants from seed has failed miserably, but I still have lot of other little plants growing well! My seeds died from neglect when we were off on our canoe trip!! Perhaps next time...! Oh, and for anyone wondering, Pat's "chin" will likely not grow any longer as it sticks out of his helmet and below the face-shield and tends to burn off!

Swan Lake Canoe Trails

This is where we went this past weekend! We took off with our 80lb. canoe, loaded down with supplies for 2.5 days from the west entrance. We traveled down to the fork on Spruce Lake on Friday night. We took off the next morning, early as the sun is up over 18 hours, and traveled through the upper loop through Swan lake, and down to Loon Lake. We stopped at the island and camped for the 2nd night. Sunday morning we headed home, but not before taking some extra time to fish and nap! We had an amazing time!! We traveled through 15 different lakes, 5 twice, and portaged for 5 miles - 3 times as we had two loads! We took our "real" camera as our digital only holds battery power for about an hour! We hope to get more photos to you as soon as we can!! I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with my personal ability to make it that far!! Oh, yeah, that photo is not of us!!! Our big red/orange canoe will be obvious!

Sunday Afternoon

This weekend we took the afternoon and went to Engineer Lake. Supposedly there are trout there, and though we saw many in their acrobatic feats, none seamed to be interested in our flies or spinners. We did seem to find a way to spend our time, though!

Melli's Garden...almost

Greenhouse Needed!!! Actually, we are going to get a heater tomorrow so I can move some of these kitchen plants outside! I have a lovely array of plants including, but not limited to, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, daisies, forget-me-not, hollyhocks, pansies, columbine, & dianthus! I have seedlings and potted plants, so I'm definitely needing to spread out!! Fortunately for me, my fabulous husband has provided me with a greenhouse! Someday soon, I will be picking tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and smelling lots of blooms!! We'll see how things go this year of the "Potted Garden"!!! I hope the moose don't get any of it!!

It's not easy being ... brown

Okay, here is where our climate leaves us! There are a few little buds starting to show, and some green beginning to grow! Pat's surprise that he made for me is this great mini-greenhouse! I love it! It's just big enough to hold a tomato or two, some peppers, and my little seedlings!! I have to get a heater for it before I put those little plants into their new home! Isn't my hubby wonderful!! He's already making plans for next years' model!

Ol' Wollynimblebuggerbeater egg-noodlingwickybomble

Hey, Adam - Is this what you were talking about?!!! It is a particularly large "fly" that uses a hook about 4" long!! If you have any other suggestions, please let us know!!!!

egg-sucking girdlebooger!!

Today Melissa and I went to Sport Lake to do some trout fishing. The last of the ice cleared off the lake today and we were exited to put the canoe in and do some fly-fishing. The weather was nice, 54 degrees and just a little breezy. We launched the canoe and paddled across the lake to a calm cove. Melissa had a fish in the boat before I could even get my fly line in the water!! she boated three small Kokanee salmon and released them before I had my first fish on. Some popular fly patterns here are the egg sucking leach, the girdle bug, and the wooly bugger. I figured I would cover all the bases so I sat down at my fly-tying table in the tackle room and invented the egg-sucking girdlebugger. It was the only fly that produced fish, we were there for two and a half hours and caught nine fish. I now have a lot of egg-sucking girdlebuggers to tie before our next outing!!

Posterity

It's snowing right now! Big Fat Flakes! It won't stick, thankfully, but thought I'd keep you up on our weather!!!

It's Begun!

We have been out! The ice is breaking up and this weekend we got out and worked out the kinks in our canoe skills! We tried a little fishing, but it seems we will need much more practice on this one! In fact, Pat is out as I write honing his fishing skills at a different lake!

4TH BIRTHDAY AND 1ST TOOTH!

Here's what's happenin' in Kansas! Jackson is now the full, fabulous FOUR! Sydney is now one tooth shy of a full mouth! Fortunately, the replacement tooth isn't far behind!! Her "6-year-old" tooth is coming in!