Northern Lights!

Although I did not take these pictures (they are copywrited to Jan Curtis), this is an almost exact look at what we could see yesterday morning at 5:30 AM! Pat has been at work by 6, so we're up early, and he gave me a call yesterday to go outside and watch the lights! They were spectacular! I did try to take my film camera out, but no luck! It looked like a green banded rainbow, but when you watched for a moment, the light would flare up and flicker up through the sky like a fire flame, only huge! It's really difficult to explain, but amazing to behold! I watched for around 30-45 minutes! Later that day, I heard many people had been watching them the night before, so they had been active all night! What an incredible light show that God gave us!

SNOW!

It finally snowed! We got a little more than 6 inches!
The sun coming through the trees was spectacular! Pictures don't capture it, but I tried!
Just moments after this particular shot, I dropped the camera and now it is being fixed. Consequently, it may be a while before we take a roll of film and get it developed and put on disc. I'll keep trying! Hopefully it won't take long, and from now on, I have to duct tape the camera to my hands before I use it!

Morning Moose

This morning we were greeted by at least 6" of fresh powder! It was gorgeous! As I was going to work this morning (this was taken at 8:40 am), I saw a moose just off the road. I slowly crept up to take a couple pictures, and she seemed to be more involved in eating than worried about me. This evening we took the snowmachines out for their first real ride! Unfortunately, there is still not quite enough snow. The terrain was pointedly felt through the snow. Hopefully there will be more!

After the Feast, more Food!

This is our interim Pastor, Keith Randall displaying all the fabulous left-over pies! A bunch of us got together Friday night after the Kenai Electric Lights Parade and Fireworks at the Randalls house to unload the pie left-overs and enjoy more fellowship!
Justice is a cutie-patootie! He is the oldest son of our friends Aaron and Stacy, and their youngest boy, Keagan, is passed around often and below is being held by Maureen! It's all fun! This is more of the Alaska-family that has helped us while we miss our Outside-families!

Thanksgiving Play!

Pictionary was the name of the game after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our Surrogate family! The Hart's invited us over, and we ate at Jason and Rita's. Holly and Rita gave us and Rita's son Miles some good competition, but we prevailed in Pictionary! Jason, Dave, & Scott were all gone, so Pat was the lone adult male! It was tough for him! We also played a bit of Ping-Pong to take care of those extra calories!!

Vaughn had a bit of after-dinner nap longings! He's Rita's youngest, so far!

Price of Beauty

It's what I have to do. I can't explain it. I won't make any excuses. I am addicted.
Pat took a few pics of a ship getting ready to take on a load of oil. The barge is up a dock in Nikiski (Ni-KIS-ski). You can tell it is light by how far up the water line is. Those mountains never get old!
Oh, by the way, to all those who visited us this summer, we've had the most clear, sunny days that I can remember since we moved here! It's remained quite cold. We were in the mid teens for a high today, and as we came home tonight, it was -2. A bit crisp!

A Day in the Life

The rug is essentially finished and now on display!
Pat made this battering ram for a friend of ours in a drug unit of the Kenai Police force!

Chilly

It's been a little chilly here lately. We've been topping out in the low 20's for a while. This is the Kenai River, and since it is still flowing, the water is "warm" compared to the air and creates a beautiful mist. The mist rises and freezes over all the vegetation and tree limbs for a glittering frost covering. There are ice flows starting, so it won't be too long before it's mostly iced up, but there is usually a trickle that stays visible this close to the ocean. It is just gorgeous in the morning with the alpen-glow on the mountains with the mist rising from the river!

Birthday Brother-in-law's

Happy Birthday to Two Great Guys! Chris' Birthday is today, and Josh's Birthday is Friday! As you can tell, Josh is anticipating the arrival of his first baby girl, and Chris is enjoying his youngest baby girl! What good daddy's! We miss you both! Happy Birthday!

100th!

Our 100th post!Pat has been busy preparing the bear hide for tanning by washing/salting/drying it! The tub worked out well for the washing! The tanning solution was rubbed in and dried, and now he's slowly working to soften the now preserved rug! It has very soft, fluffy fur, but the "leather" side is still a bit stiff! That will give him something to do until it snows enough to ride our machines! It's been a bit chilly, and his next quest is to hunt the abundant coyote, and perhaps even a wolf or lynx!

Twenty-Tenth Birthday!

These White Orchids are from Jackie

Happy Birthday Baby!!!
Today is the birthday of my best friend Melissa. She is the best wife any man could ever dream of having! One of the things I love the most about Melissa is that she "gets" me. Those of you who know me understand what I'm talking about. Not very many women in this world could be married to me and not lose their sanity. With all my different hobbies and interests I am always fired up about something that has nothing to do with normal life but somehow she understands that that's what makes me tick and she loves me for it. How many women do you know that would suggest moving away from family and friends to go to Alaska just because it's their husband's dream? And not only that, she has become interested in the things that I'm interested in. She is hands down my favorite person to go into the woods with. She looks so cute packing a rifle and binoculars, and she can hold her own when it comes to making the shot. I still don't understand how she manages to look so good in hip waders, I feel like I'm in an "Uncle Buck's" cheese cake calendar every time we fish together!! We spent a dozen or so nights tent camping deep in the back country with the bugs and the bears, canoed literally hundreds of miles, caught hundreds of pounds of fish and packed countless miles hunting for bears high on steep mountain sides and still she is just as feminine and cute as ever, how does she do that?
So here's to you Babe, on your twenty-tenth birthday, may you always be in your twenties!!
Thank you for being my lovely wife, I love you
Pat

Happy Halloween Birthday!

My dad is dressed as a fisherman! We think he'd rather be fishing than farming, but in Kansas, it's tough! It's Dad's birthday on this Halloween! Yes, it's on Halloween every year! We had a great time while he was here visiting! I also know that if I ever need anything that he could give me, he would! He's moved me innumerable times, and I hope I'm near being done with that request! Thanks for being a great dad, Dad! Happy Birthday!

First Snow!

We've had our first sticking snow! It is most exciting! There seems to be a calming effect with a clean, fresh blanket of snow. It will likely be some time before the snow is here to stay; however, I am excited just the same!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mom, Happy Birthday to you! (less the operatics!)

A Bear-y Good Time!

We spent this last Saturday trying, again, to bag my bear. Unfortunately, we did not spy any bears in any remotely close location. Our morning started by going up our familiar Skyline trail, and once we reached our intended position, the fog rolled in so thick, we could only see between 50-100 yards. It was an ice-fog that left many plants iced over in an inexplicable beauty. In many places, the fog only iced the north-facing side with about a half-inch of layered ice. As the sun rose and pushed the fog up, most of the lighter frost burned off, but at the end of the day, there was still a remaining white tinge at the top. We decided to change our trip up a bit, and explored a different face of one of the mountains. We climbed up and side-passed along the top rocks. The view was spectacular, and unable to tranfer to photo's! We climbed down after going about 2/3rds of the top after Pat spotted a gorgeous bull moose chasing a cow in the lower areas. We "stalked" the moose up to about 100 yards and got a full view of the incredible spread of antler ivory! On our way back out through a different trail, we heard the second bull moose of the day grunting for a cow! Pat called to him and he seemed interesed for quite a while, but as we wanted to leave before it was too dark, we had to continue! It was a bit daunting to hear him crash through the alders ahead of us as he went down the mountain.

We did get the skull back from Pat's bear this last week! It is really interesting! And so much fun!

Twitter-pating!

These moose were romping through our neighborhood this last week, and made it right up behind our kitchen window! It seems as though this young bull's actions cost our neighbor his zodiak (a very tough inflatable raft). I had just been thinking it was about time to start seeing moose in the yard again!

Melissa's first bear hunt

Well, now it's Melissa's turn to try to get a bear.
Saturday morning found us once again climbing skyline trail to the place where I shot my bear two weeks ago. This time we were at the top of the mountain by daylight and glassing for bears as soon as it was light enough to see. I have noticed that Melissa has an incredible ability to spot bears from great distances. We were hidden up and to the left of where this picture was taken when Melissa spotted a large black bear feeding above timber line in the far right side of the picture (about a half mile away). She spotted him with the naked eye but it still took me awhile to see him even with binoculars. He was eating blueberries and moving the other direction so we had to stalk very quickly to catch up to him. This included climbing about 500 feet up and traversing the mountain side using whatever cover was available. This is exhausting, we were moving very quickly trying to stay low the the ground while navigating alder patches and rock slides without making any noise. Anyone who has stalked big game animals knows how tiring that crouch can be!! At three hundred yards we looked at him through the scope but decided to try to get closer. At 200 yards there wasn't anything to steady the rifle on for an accurate shot so we moved closer still. When we were inside 100 yards the bear was moving behind rocks and terrain and wouldn't offer a good angle for a shot long enough for Melissa to steady herself (remember, the bear was moving away from us so we were trying to keep up). We moved closer three times to get into position. Only a hunter can understand how exhilerating it is to sneak up on a large animal, it's like the adrynaline rush you got from playing hide and seek times 100! It was sooooo cool to be doing this with my wife!! This is the stuff hunters dream about when they should be working, paying attention in church/school/while driving. I just knew we had this one in the bag, which wall will we hang him on? (he was HUGE) Will the news paper want to do a story? what is the AK record size? The third time we got set up for a shot there just wasn't anything to rest the rifle on and Melissa said the cross-hairs just wouldn't stay on that sweet spot. So, like only the most seasoned mature hunters can do, she waited until everything was just right to take her shot. She knows how important it is to kill this bear quickly, he would be VERY dangerous to go into cover to find if he was wounded. The bear took a few more steps and again was out of sight, so we elected to move once more to find a good angle on him. As we rounded the mountain we expected to see his shiny black coat glistening in the morning light, but with each passing step it became more and more painfully obvious that the bear had sensed our presence and vanished like only a predator so adapted to his environment can do.

Melissa was devastated, she came so close to the trophy of a lifetime only to have him give her the slip. I was and am extremely proud of the way she handles herself in the field. I know that if she lets the hammer fall with that rifle there will be little if any tracking, and that makes me feel very comfortable hunting with her. The season is not quite over yet so there may still be an entry with another bear in it soon.

Melissa was so hung on getting a bear that we decided to hunt again the next day. To make a very long, painful story short and painful, we packed 18 miles in the wind and rain and Melissa saw only one bear at least a mile away. I'm sure the missed opportunity from the previous day served as more salt in the wound with every passing mile. 9 miles in, Melissa developed a case of planters facsiitis in the feet and was in agony the whole way out. At the end of the day we were wet, blistered and cold and very glad to take a steamy shower!!

Maintenance!

Pat's been making some adjustments on my machine! Apparently, wrapping the trailing arm (what the ski is on) around a tree isn't a good thing! Oops! Those bent pieces are supposed to be straight!

Here's just a pretty picture of Pat taking his bear back down the trail through what I called the "Golden Forrest." It is one of the most beautiful parts of the trail with the fall colors, but it's also one of the most steep areas. The wet weather hasn't helped either. We'll see how it is this weekend!

Autumn Glory!

These trees are on Wolfe Street up from us! The sun was shining on them and it was too beautiful to pass up!
This shows the sun shining on the aspen leaves while the background shows how dark and forboding the sky really was!
This is Mt. Redoubt (named after an early explorer) from the top of Skyline Trail. The light band at the base of the mountain is the Cook Inlet and the Mt. actually rises from sea level to over 10,000 feet. It was/is spectacular!
I was "wasting" film to finish the roll and this shot was at Skilak Lake on the far west side. Not too shabby! I wish I could say that the color really looked that amazing, but it only shows up on film!
This was on our Skyline Trail hike (before the bear hunt) while I was picking wild blueberries beside the trail! It has snowed up on these high elevations, and in fact, the back mountain ranges in this picture are completly white-capped!

Pat's first black bear

Carrying a bear is hard work!!

Melissa and I got our first bear this morning. We started up the Sky Line trail about an hour before daylight and quickly gained about 2,000 feet in elevation. That will really take one's breath away!! Our plan was to get to the top of the string of peaks and glass for bears on the other side. From this vantage point above the tree line we would be able to see bears feeding on the many berries found above the trees. After spotting a bear, I would plan a stalk to within rifle range (less than 300 yards) using Melissa as a director to get me close (she would stay on top and watch the bear). We were within 100 yards of the top where we would begin our search when Melissa said "Wow, look at that view!!" I did and when I looked back I noticed something black moving across the hillside. It was a bear!! I motioned to Melissa to hide and I began to judge the size of the bear. It is illegal to harvest a bear with cubs or a cub less than a year old. This bear was traveling alone and his ears were small in relation to its head. He had seen us but did not know what we were as we were being as quiet as we could. I could feel my adrenaline pump as I steadied the cross-hairs on him, it had been two years since I had killed anything with my Remington 30-06, but it all came back to me as I pressed the trigger. A loud bang was followed by a satisfying thump indicating a solid hit. The 165 grain Balistic Tip slammed into the bruin's neck and he was dead instantly. Melissa saw another bear in the bushes about 400 yards on the other side of my bear, but with one on the ground already, we decided to let him walk. Melissa took the rifle and covered me while I circled around and found the bear. A few shots with my slingshot confirmed the bears fate and that's when the work really started.

It took all we had to drag the bear onto flat ground and begin the skinning/caping work.


A few trophy shots were in order, I really enjoy my hunting pictures.

My trusty backup is the most amazing wife anyone could ever want! How many women do you know that will hunt bears with a pistol?