Hot hot heat

Um, can you say "BEST SUMMER EVER?!"

Last summer I only wore shorts once - yes, once. Actually, we didn't even have a summer last year...it was more of a gray and rainy extended period between spring and fall. The weather we've had so far more than makes up for last year. You should all come up and visit ASAP!

Yesterday's temp during my commute home:

Holiday weekend 2

Although the fishing was slow on Saturday, we moved to another spot on Sunday and our luck improved a bit. Many times we could see the fish fighting their way upriver -- it's just a matter of getting your fly to the right spot!

In addition to the three reds I landed, this guy ended up on my line -- he is ready to SPAWN! His head was pretty beat up and there was a wayward hook stuck in his skin. I thought for sure the fish was done for as I released him, but he appeared again near where I was standing in the river. These fish are crazy tough.

Combat fishing at the confluence.

Mim spotted this huge bull moose (complete with a still-growing fuzzy rack) walking down the road next to our campsite. We followed (somewhat) quietly and were rewarded with some neat photos.

D and his family are still down south fishing it up, so it's me and our animal menagerie holding down the fort.

Can it

It's hot here, peoples! The outdoor thermostat at our house read 80 degrees yesterday at around 6 p.m. One of the local weathercasters says it could be even hotter if the haze (from a wildfire near Denali) wasn't present. I would estimate that 99.9% of Alaskans do not own in-home air conditioning, so the heat is sort of an uncomfortable situation for us -- but I'm not complaining. This summer has been amazing!

Last night all of the doors and windows were open, and I had the ceiling fan running to move some of the hot air around. The reds we caught this weekend had to be pressure canned -- and having the cooktop running for 3 hours straight added to the indoor heat. Everything turned out great though.

My new favorite recipe: slices of onion, basil and canning salt.

Preparing to heat!

Finished product.

Holiday weekend 1

I'm tired. What should have been a jaunty 2 hour drive home turned into a slow 4 hour crawl. Our highway heading south from Anchorage is basically two lanes with occassional pullouts and extra lanes for passing, and apparently everyone was heading home after the 3-day weekend. It wasn't all bad though -- the skies were clear with bright sun and the temperature hovered around 69 degrees (even at 9 in the evening!) And no flying cargo boxes either, so everything is good.

The weekend in a nutshell: lots of fishing, sun, HOT weather, good food, great company and fun times all around. Oh, and I was able to nap in a hammock - does it get any better than that on a warm summer day?

Thanks Don & Mim for the tasty meals!

Everybody wants to hurry up and get to the fish, but first you have to walk from the campsite to the stairs leading down to the river, then over a trail of boardwalks before taking on the river crossing and another long trail to the best spot -- all in heavy waders and boots! Of course on the way back it's all uphill (hopefully with a pack full of salmon filets!) With the temperature in the (high?) 70's, I was ridiculously hot in all my gear.

The actual Russian River, before it meets up with the Kenai at the confluence. D likes to take Drift down to cool off and get some exercise in for the day.

Hanging out on one of the many stairs over the bank. At the end of the day, it felt so good to slip our feet into the water and cool down a bit ourselves.

This run of fish is waning, which meant slight relief from the crush of other anglers. We had a little more room to spread out. This area here is the ferry landing where people pay to park and catch a short ride over to the other bank - it's spendy, but more convenient than the couple miles we usually walk.

Oh yeah, and some other stuff happened this weekend too...

Happy 4th!

Hi all -- I'll be off for the next few day so happy 4th of July to everyone! D's brother and Uncle have arrived in town from Outside, and we'll all be converging for a fun fishing weekend. Will post photos when I get back.

Grow baby grow

After a slow start, my annuals are doing pretty well. The mix of sunshine and wet weather has really encouraged everything to grow, including the yard -- to D's dismay. He's going to be doing a lot of mowing this summer.

I need to go around and take some photos of all our plant life -- the geraniums are by far my favorites.

The cats are really enjoying Drift's kennel while outside...

I can't seem to keep them inside during the warmer months -- they just meow until someone lets them out or else we find the screen door open just a smidge (who says you need thumbs to open doors?)

I got your beauty tips right here

I was a bit perplexed when Drift started appearing with green streaks all over himself. Then we figured out that when he rubs his body against our neighbor's chain link fence, long blades of grass get in his way and leak onto his fur.

Or he is experimenting with eyeshadow.

"How do I look?"

Those orange cylinders are Drift's dummies for fetching. I wonder what people think of us when we're yelling "fetch your dummy...DUMMY!!!" at the dog in public.

Celebrity sighting

Oh my goodness, I forgot to post about my Bear Grylls sighting from Friday! Bear is this British mountain climber and explorer who has a show on the Discovery Channel called "Man vs. Wild." And he's, erm, quite attractive. (Don't raise your eyebrows at me...D knows all about my Bear obsession!)

A friend of mine is in town from Minneapolis so I skipped out on the fishing this weekend to hang out with the gang downtown. And who do I see walk into the outdoor area of Humpy's? Um, BEAR GRYLLS! I thought to myself, "that man bears a remarkable resemblance to Bear" before dropping my jar and realizing it was actually the man himself. I snapped a few across-the-patio papparazzi shots (he's the one in green):

No, I did not squeal in a high pitched voice or sprint over to Bear's table for a photo (both are actual behaviors exhibited by some "ladies"). I was impressed by us Alaskans -- for the most part everyone left Bear alone and let him enjoy a pint of beer (and hand-rolled cigarettes) in peace.

Fishin' 4

What, you want more photos? Of me? And fish?

Look at all the reds I caught! Well, maybe in fantasyland -- this was our combined haul from last weekend.

This is the first fish I caught that day -- I'm surprised he could swim at all, with the majority of his tail missing. Maybe a bear took that chunk?

Thanks to Mim for taking the following photos of me. I love having someone else with a camera around, otherwise I don't exist in photographs -- it's just D, the dog and the boat!

Midnight sun

Sunday was a stellar day in terms of weather. SUNSHINE ALL DAY! And mid-70 degree temperatures. D and I sat outside for a few hours on the deck (me: reading / D: boy crafts - fishing tackle) and we managed to get some color. Actually, I got a little color and D looks like he just returned from Hawaii.

Summer solstice has passed but the amount of daylight we are getting is still unreal. These photos were taken at about 11:30 pm on Saturday night:

King of the jungle

Little Dude hates our annual visit to the groomer. He yowls in the car and looks all wide-eyed and pitiful, but once it's done he is much happier. He's a Norwegian Forest Cat -- which means big bones, a blocky head and LOTS of fluffy long hair -- and is prone to matted, tangled hair. I know some people get the lion cut for cats because they think it's cute but I do it because of the hair issue.

But it IS pretty funny to see.

Before:

After:

RAWR!

FYI, the cat's haircut is $90 -- way more than I spend on my own head of hair.

Fishin' 2

I am so disappointed in my swanky one-year old waders -- they have already developed a hole in the neoprene part of the left foot. So that foot (and left leg after 6 hours) was swimming in cold river water. It wasn't too bad though -- I took a few shore breaks to warm up my foot and then headed back in for more fishing.

So much excitement during the day though! A black bear and two cubs were nosing around the bank area looking for some easy meals. D took charge and scared the bears off (everyone else pretty much freaked out and jumped in their boats or stayed in the river.) He really is pretty handy to have around in the outdoors...I think I'll keep him.

D's mom Mim was able to snap this photo of one of the bears walking back in the woods after snatching a salmon carcass.

We had a discussion on whether this is a red squirrel or something else. This little guy and a friend kept nosing around the bank area on a mission for food.

I know this moose is difficult to see, but he is swimming in the river (directly between the guy in gray and the man in orange on the opposite bank). Hard to believe that such an awkward-looking creature could be a great swimmer.

Our fishing spot is a popular area for driftboats to end up in. Some were locals and others were guides with newbies or tourists. Flipping for reds is not rocket science, so everyone I saw was able to get the hang of it pretty early on.

You know, the family that fishes together, stays together...

I brought Drift down with me and he was excited to see D, Don and Mim!

The sweet campsite that D's parents were able to score. We stayed in this one last year with some friends. Love the beautiful view.

Tackle! (or crafts for boys, as I call it)

About ten minutes into the drive home on Sunday, I avoided disaster BIG TIME. D had spent the week with his parents so he had the truck and boat, while I drove down separately on Friday. When we left the campground on Sunday I followed behind his car -- and early on he passed a big motorhome while I was stuck behind it.

All of a sudden a big black cargo box flew off the top of the motorhome and crashed into the road. I managed to swerve around the mass of items that tumbled from the box (cooler, lawn chairs, children's toys...that's about all I saw in the confusion) and thanked my lucky stars that I was back far enough to avoid a really, really bad situation. About halfway home it registered that I could have had a cargo box in my windshield. Moral of the story? SECURE ALL CRAP to your vehicle -- and don't tailgate.

Day in the life

I have really been feeling two steps behind on everything this week. The to-do list is still pretty lengthy, even after my productive Monday. However, early this morning I dropped one of the cats off at the groomer to get a much-needed lion cut (those photos will be posted later when he gets home -- it's pretty entertaining) and took a few hours off to clean the house and wait for the garage door guy, who is replacing our old and drafty and broken down garage door. Then D left work early so I could head to the office. It's all about teamwork!

What I really need is a whole weekday off because about half of the items on my list need to be done during the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, which is when I am chained to my desk, zombie-like in front of my computer screens. It would be so fabulous if I had a personal assistant, even for just one day a week.

Fishin' 1

I'm still going through my photos from the weekend, but here are few to give you an idea of combat fishing in Alaska.

The area near the Russian River ferry is always crowded. Everyone is packed in, shoulder to shoulder. I cannot fish like this -- I need at least 5 feet between me and the person downriver or I get big-time crabby. I'm more than willing to trek an extra mile (in waders!) for a nicer spot.

Looking downriver.

The fishing was pretty good -- the reds are returning at such a high rate that Fish & Game upped the bag limit to 6 (from 3)!

We're #1

Holy moly, guess which city comes out on top in Business Week's "10 Best Places to Start Over" list!

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=20441328&GT1=35000#1