arctic alpine mastiff

Winter Solstice

2009-12-21T09:47:00.002-09:00

Happy Solstice.
5 Hours and 32 minutes to day and tomorrow the day will be 8 seconds longer. Visible light is at 7 hours and 35 minutes.

2009-12-07T09:37:00.002-09:00

Not so good news. Maggie went to the vet the other day and after all the tests I was told that she has a big tumor in the bone on her leg. The vet just said that giving her warm bed and good food is all I can do for her. I have been spending most of my free time with her. He said it comes down to a quality of life decision. She is still wagging her tail and happy to eat and hop around outside. I hope that she lets me know when the pain becomes too undearable.

1st snow that counts

2009-11-09T14:16:00.002-09:00

Last night it it opened up and we woke up to ~3" on the steps of the outhouse. Maggie is loving it back to her old game of walk a few steps take a bite of snow walk some more eat then some more snow. The snow over the ground cover lightens up the forest and the silences the footsteps on our walks. I marked out my xc-ski runs in the backyard this weekend and took a warm shower. Life has never been this good.

Weekend Review

2009-10-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

I should give an update on what is poppin’ in Girdwood. The rain stopped on Thursday after 3 weeks of 40 degree weather and rain, I welcomed Ullr’s blessing of; stars, frozen ground and snow up in dem hills. I saw that they were making snow at the resort and someone got a few runs in above chair 6 with a head lamp dawn patrol. The cabin now has heat and I’m installing the RV shower and water system this weekend. Ashley will be home in a couple of weeks. I’ve tuned one of the four pairs of skis, and put the studded tires on the truck. Teton Gravity Research (TGR)’s movie Re:Session will be playing this weekend benefiting Challenge Alaska. It should be good to see some more winter faces around. Send +++vibes+++ to Maggie. She is having a hard time moving around with her arthritis and hip dysplasia. She loves the cold and snow but it is making life very hard for her.

2009-09-15T09:03:00.001-08:00

2009-09-15T08:59:00.001-08:00

Movies from Girdwood

2009-09-15T08:47:00.002-08:00

Funny movies from Girdwood

2009-09-15T08:36:00.002-08:00

doing my bid

2009-09-14T11:04:00.004-08:00

What a weekend. I did my bid, relaxed as much as I could: Kind of like sleeping in an airport, and finished Desert Solitaire. This morning was cool and damp with the darkness of winter rolling in at 5 minutes and 40 seconds shorter than yesterday. Walking Maggie around 6:30am I heard the frist of the Great Horned Owl calls that I hear every fall in the twilight. Five low, "Who Who Hoo Hoo Who" every 10-15 minutes till the sun started to silhouette the Chugach Range to the East. Then the varied thrushes and robins started their chorus around 7:45am. The cabin is coming along, we have cleaned out the old "grow room", Stained the cedar siding painted the window sills Glacier Blue and next is the tin roof. Soon we will be moving in, by the end of September early October.

Fun guy and gal @ the fungus fair

2009-09-09T13:39:00.006-08:00

This weekend Ashley and I hit up Fungus Fair in Girdwood. We went to the formal on Friday night and had a five course meal with each course containing a variety of wild and domestic mushrooms. We met up with some ol' friends and met some new ones. The guest speakers were as entertaining and charismatic as the lectures were informitive with local specialists Kate Mohatt (USFS), Dominique Collet (author)and visting from the east cost Lawrence Millman and author of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Steve Trudell. We attended a workshop where we each made an Oyster mushroom log to grow over the winter lead by Ken Gill.
By Sunday we had our fill of mushrooms and Girdwood so we packed up the truck for a trip down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. We camped along the banks of Exit Glacier River outside of Kenai Fiords National Park. The river had resently flooded and most of the surounding forest was still wet and downed woody debris piled against the shore lines made finding a spot in the dark a chalenge. By the time we woke up the next day a storm had moved in on us and the visibility was low with the clouds hanging at ~1500 feet. We bagged the climb up to the Harding Ice Field and did a short walk up to the face of Exit Glacier. It has been so much fun traveling with Ashley as she graciously drives me around. I will miss her during her travels back east to see her family and then down to Costa Rica for two months banding birds.

pink paws, rainbows, and creekside camping

2009-09-01T10:33:00.004-08:00

September is here and the leaves are changing. I went up to Hatchers Pass last weekend with Ashley and we camped along the river on the Willow side of the pass. The reds from the Dwarf Dogwood/bunch berry (Cornus canadensis), Blueberries (Vaccinium Spp.)and Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) and the golden yellow from the Willow (Salix Spp.) and Birch(Betula neoalaskana and papyrifera var. kenaica) painted the mountain side with colors of the burning sunset and rainbow that we saw on our drive in.

Maggie is getting restless as she can anticipate our move to a new cabin as she got into the powdered cure that we use for making salmon eggs into bait so she has a lovely pink color on her face and paws. I just put down the deposit for our cabin up on the mountain side for next year. It is an old A-frame and a dry cabin with lots of blueberries on site. So in the next few weeks I need to dig an outhouse and plan my water system, as well as patch up some insulation and fix the roof. The swans are in at Potters Marsh south of Anchorage and Fungus Fair is this weekend. I have had fun meeting with some of the experts as they are staying in the bunkhouse with Ashley. I saw one of the biggest King Bolete mushrooms (Boletus barrowsii)from one of the guest speakers collections. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Whiskey Puppy @ the Brown Bear

2009-08-25T10:34:00.002-08:00

Purple hands and wet boots.

2009-08-20T15:47:00.009-08:00

The nights are getting chilly but we have not had any hard frosts yet. Ullr can you hear me?

I've been down to Old Girdwood a few times fishing for cohos (Oncorhynchus kisutch) but catching only pinks(O. gorbuscha).
Funny things have happened to me in the last few weeks like the yard sale/ car wash. I'll be working through the hard parts (not the end of the world)

but enjoy the best parts and one of those is meeting an amazing girl. The craziest thing is she likes me too. Ashley and I have been working the woods around Girdwood for blueberries, and other edibles like; nettles, and shrooms if we can find them. Spending the evenings tromping till our boots are soaked and hands purple (from the berries) and numb (from the nettles). I look forward to getting in the kitchen and doing some cooking and baking with our forest goodies with her. She took me to her plot in the community garden and it was one of the better gardens. We poked around thinking about how to make the kale and carrots grow better for next year and what other veggies and herbs would do well in our rainforest. Next year I’m in. I am starting to dream now about what I could grow.

Where did July go.

2009-07-29T09:42:00.004-08:00

This Friday I will have worked 27 days in a row. Saturday I'm taking off and driving down to Soldotna to see some David Alen Coe with some folks from town. We had such a nice start to summer but the rain has hit and does not look like it will break for the next few weeks. Ha....................... This is why I like it here. Big pineapple express giving us 50-70 mph wind in the fiord and warm rain.

2009-07-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

Swimming at Moose Flats

hot time summer in the city..courthouse rm. 501

2009-07-14T13:10:00.012-08:00

Back in the courthouse this summer.

A subpoena for Mr. Whynotski’s testimony is attached to this message.

It's been hot and I'm not talking about witnessing arson, that was years ago. Alaska is like a sauna... hot , humid and smelling like cedar with the wild fires off of Funny River Road, Maggie now looks forward to her outside baths. The fests are over, Forest Fair was keen,

Melissa Mitchel & Whipsaws stold the show and back at the house it took us some time to kill the keg of Mooses Tooth

but we had a good hooping session. The days are still long and silvers are in Bird Creek!

summer solstice moose pass

2009-06-24T14:15:00.002-08:00

sockeye run on the kenai

2009-06-19T14:42:00.011-08:00

Copper River Red w/ a homeless man:

One fish two fish red fish blue fish:

Polish Fish:

The Ride:

Fish On:

Dinner:

Overland to the Dutch Hills

2009-06-17T10:42:00.027-08:00

This last weekend was different. Something about my breakfast made me feel happy.

I loaded up Maggie and went north to Trapper Creek and Petersville.

More flowers are blooming:

Wild Geranium(Geranium erianthum):

Wild Rose:(Rosa rugosa)

Nannerpuss says "I smell a bear foot print".

Miner Shanty:

Dutch Hills:

We made a stop at Talkeetna for a beerewski a the West Rib. Downtown was swarming with mosquitoes and tourists. One train and eight tour buses unloaded the folks with no agenda.

They were just walking around in a travel coma. I bet they were on a boat a.k.a. "$h!t barge" for a week and then offloaded onto a bus or train and shipped up to Talkeetna before they paused at Denali for a night. There were a few people picking guitars, mandos and banjos in the pavilion that looked like seasonal locals. I had to get out of downtown quick. Next stop the old graveyard:

Walking the back roads I found this old chunk of steel from Michigan's hay day:

Then it was back to Girdwood where the resort keeps most of the people couped up. home Sweet Home.

Whats blooming at the Ham Tram.

2009-06-08T12:57:00.026-08:00

This weekend I tried to go birding "but dem' buggers move too fast". So I took a lot of pictures of the wild flowers that are blooming. Kristen at the Wildlife Center gave me the heads up that stuff was starting to happen. So the pooch and I hit Winner Creek snaping shots of all the flora.
Dwarf Dogwood aka bunch berry (Cornus canadensis)

Blue Berries (Vaccinium Spp.)

Alaskan Violet (Viola langsdorffii)

Iris

Salmon Berry (Rubus spectabilis)like the raspberry but orange/pink and not as sweet.

Yellow Anemone (Anemone richardsonii)
Moss Heather (Cassiope mertensiana)

star flower (Trientalis borealis)

Look this tree looks like a Butt!

BBG needs to rest. She does this at home all the time and this is the first time I've seen her sit on a chair in public.

I could not get Maggie onto the Handtram.

Not going to happen.

BBG says "I'll show him it is too hot for the Ham Tram."

wet sluff and strawberries makes you say uncle

2009-06-05T08:07:00.007-08:00

On Tuesday I had my first June ski for this year. I met up with Ryan from the Wildlife Center and one of the VerMonster kids that just moved up here and two folks from Anchorage at the Tincan pull off around 6:30pm. This was after we all worked a full day at our various jobby jobs. The alder bash was still not too bad, but Kimbro took her time picking up the trash that was melting out of the snow. Big thanks once again. We made it up into the alpine and soon begin the billy goat on the ridge to the top of Todd's Run. There were sluffs that were running off the boot pack that grew to an uncomfortable level. I knew the snow was soft from baking in the sun all day. I almost turned around twice. At the top we took it all in and discussed our route down and safety zones. Ryan made the first ski cut and it slid, growing as it ran out. We sat at the top listening to the rushing snow. It lasted almost 20 minutes for it to stop. We all made it down safe but I was worked from the wet snow and it was 11:30 by the time we hit the cars.

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria Spp.)
I gave Magpie a quick walk before bed and I noticed that the strawberries are blooming.Maggie gives me a look like she knew I was playing in the snow without her.

On Thursday June 4th I got a text with pictures from my brother. I'm an Uncle. I hope the stogies were lit up all over Wisco last night celebrating the birth of Minnow Abigail Catherine Kidder.

Hardcore Alaskan gifts, lupine, and a pack-test

2009-05-29T11:05:00.008-08:00

After sitting out this last storm smoking eulachon (sp?) hoolagain with my roommate Chris before he heads out to Naknek and Bristol Bay commercial fishing for the summer. Maggie and I have tried them pickled, fried and smoked, and smoking was by far the best way to eat these minnows.

The rain broke in the afternoon so BBG and I did the Post Office run. The cottonwood trees have that sticky sweet smell in the air the grass is growing inches a day and the Nootka Lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) is blooming.

I took the bike for a spin after the walk and headed north to Indian. I only saw three other bikers in their new rain gear and money bikes on the trail. Why don't people say hi back to me? Must be the second hand clothes and the bike from the 1970's or it is just the summer crowd. It took just over an hour to get to the Brown Bear and Diamond Jim's in Indian. Mary Lou is a riot at the liquor store, she will talk your ear off and try to sell you some hardcore Alaskan Gifts.

As I'm lamping in Indian before I head back to Girdwood ~14 miles left to ride I get a call from the Girdwood Fire Department and they tell me that the pack test is tomorrow at 8am sharp for my Red Card Refresher. Well this is going to hurt as I have not trained at all. I bike home and hit the sack dreading tomorrow. The Pack Test went well I still was 5 minutes under the cut off. Three miles with a 45lb pack in 40.30 minutes with a cut off time of 45 minutes. It was good to see many of the summer seasonal friends that I used to work with. Noonan said he beat me by a beard because his is longer and mine is all trimed up, but he was still behind me. I'll add pictures of my walk and bike soon.

fireweed, fiddle heads, taraxacum.

2009-05-26T12:06:00.009-08:00

What a start to summer. Maggie a.k.a. nanerpuss a.k.a. BBG a.k.a. big baby girl got tangled up with a pitbull on our walk last week. She is getting better after a trip to the vet and some pain pills and is starting to get back into her game. She acted as if this was the end for her. BBG lost most of her will for two days. This is going to be a major setback for her in accepting other dogs. She has always been alpha female in our house. Our daily walk to the Post Office has been suspended as we are exploring other trails around Girdwood.

We took a ramble up the beaver pond trail. The flora is greening up with every day sitting around 18 hours of sunlight. I started to collect some fiddle heads and dandelion greens for a salad. On the way home I started to notice that the fireweed was now taller than all the other plants. Thinking to myself this is the beginning and end of summer wrapped into one vascular plant. The new tips of the leaves have the crimson red that light up the mountain sides as the flowers, stalks and leaves change color. I plucked the plant from the ground, adding it to my bag of greens. BBG is grazing on any forb that tickles her nose as she bulldozes through the brush.

She and I are still dreaming about winter. A winter with light deep snow that she can dive her face into taking bites as she mows it down. I'm dreaming of lines, friends, long skis, and that greedy feeling that I should not be doing this because people care about me. I had that feeling yesterday as I tried to boot up a couloir. I made it to the narrows with 7 feet of snow on top of a rushing creek. I held on as truck sized chunks of snow settled and collapsed into the creek. I backed down and put my skis on for a run down the fan that was full of suncups and debris.

Back at home I decided that I will embrace this summer and started fixing the old road bike. This is time to enjoy new/old friends and fresh fish on the grill with a foraged salad.