Woo Hoo!

Well peeps, have I got some B-I-G news for you! But for those of you not in the know (yet) -- I'll enlighten you all later this week. Gotta make some calls and such.

But you should know that I am ridiculously, over-the-moon excited!

Here fishy fishy

Hi peeps - we're heading to Homer later this afternoon to meet up with D's parents. I need to get some halibut fishing in before flying off to Tennessee later this month...

The day after

Aha, I was right! We walked into the sushi place last night and some of my girlfriends were sitting in the reception area, attempting to look innocent. Turns out that D colluded with our friends to setup last night's dinner. Not everyone could make it, but it was a fun night for those of us who were there! I'm not sure if we'll revisit that restaurant again though -- the service was S-L-O-W and some of the food wasn't up to par.

I managed to zip in and out of the DMV yesterday in under an hour - quite amazing - and surprise, I can live with my new license photo. Which is good because it'll be with me for the next 5 years.

My boss brought me the most beautiful bouquet yesterday for my birthday -- white lillies and the biggest hydrangeas you have ever seen! Seriously, these things are as big as someone's head. People are amazed by the size of them when they walk by my office. And the smell! Just heavenly...

The big 3-2

Oh boy, I'm moving a little slow today! Some girls from work threw me a super fabulous pre-birthday party last night. With heaping salmon salads in bread bowls, plus coconut chocolate cake. And wine. Lots of wine. I'll be honest, it was a struggle to get out of bed this morning. I keep forgetting that I can't drink like I'm 21 anymore!

Tonight D is taking me to a new sushi restaurant in town. This place is gorgeous on the inside, but the best part? They serve deep fried tempura Oreos for dessert! I know it sounds weird, but it's to die for -- the Oreos are soft and gooey on the inside, with whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top. Mmm, can't wait, although I have a sneaking suspicion that tonight's dinner may turn into a surprise party. Usually I get calls and emails asking what the plans are for my birthday, but not a peep out of anybody this year.

And finally, my driver's license is up today -- it is time to renew and replace my old photo (which makes me look like a jaundiced pumpkin-head). Crossing my fingers for less than a 2 hour wait at the DMV. Wishful thinking, right?

The killing spree continues

The dead vole count is rising fast. Pepper brought home her 6th victim on Saturday. I'm almost afraid to let her out of the house now for fear of finding another "gift" on my kitchen floor!

Good news galore

Happy news has been just rolling in! First off, our friends Susie and Mike delivered a healthy 8 lb. baby boy yesterday morning. Jackson Scott was just 4 days late...not too bad, just a little off schedule.

AND, I just received word that I am the grand prize winner of a local radio contest -- $500 day spa certificate and $500 Nordstrom gift card all for me! Just in time for my birthday. Thanks Magic 98.9 FM!

Fireweed

I snapped these fireweed photos on our way back to Anchorage on Sunday night...which turned into an 8 1/2 hour journey. One thing about trips up here, you never know what will happen so it's best to have a positive attitude!

Local lore says that when the blooms reach the very top of the plant, winter is approximately 6 weeks away.

Kitty says: I brought you a present...

In the summer, my cats are free to roam outside willy-nilly. 2 of the 3 tend to stay close to home and within the backyard area, while the third (Pepper) can't wait to get the hell out of Dodge. She disappears for hours and sometimes doesn't make it home by the time we lock up for the night, so we'll find her mewing outside the screen door in the a.m.

Lately Pepper has turned into a bloodthirsty huntress and twice now has brought me little furry offerings -- the latest coming last night. I went to let her in and saw a little vole (Alaska's version of the mouse) firmly clutched in her mouth. Ew ew ew ew gross! I made D dispose of the first one last week, but this time I put on my big girl pants and chucked this latest dead thing into the furthest reaches of our yard.

She managed to get the first one (that I know of, eek!) into the house -- can you say disinfectant?

Leavin' on a jet plane (in 19 days)

In a little less than three weeks I will be flying down (thanks for miles, mom!) to the beautiful and laid-back little town that my parents have called home for quite a few years now. Gatlinburg is situated at the base of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and I'll tell you what, I have never slept so well as I do in my "room" at my parents' house. It's so quiet -- no highways or busy streets around their neighborhood -- and quaint log cabin homes dot the landscape. Can't wait!

More Kenai River king fishing

Sunday morning was our last opportunity to fish for king salmon before the end of that season. After trolling for a bit, Mim had fought a nice sized king and D scooped it up. Here he is cutting the gills to let it bleed out before tucking it away in the cooler.

Look at that king! Just slightly pink and weighing close to about 35 pounds. And in other good news, the dog managed to not fall out of the boat this time.


Mim and her catch:

Most salmon are filleted, but with kings we like to cut them into "steaks."

King eggs are the best to use as bait. Add some super-secret ingredients, mix it up and refrigerate. Don and Mim let D have these eggs so they'll get used next season!

Kenai River dipnetting

It was a bad weekend for accidents on the Seward Highway. We missed the crash on Friday evening, but were stopped by the one on Sunday (and could even see the lights of the State Troopers a few miles ahead.) In all we waited, at a standstill, for 5 1/2 hours -- and finally arrived home at 3 a.m. Needless to say, D and I are tired today.

Most of the time I drove the boat, while the guys traded off dipnetting and bonking/tail clipping/gill cutting. At times the water was rough and the waves pushed us around. It was definitely a wet, windy and cold time for everyone.

Marty and Mike hard at work with the dipnets. It seems like everytime Mike took a swig of beer, a fish would swim into his net -- so I encouraged him to stay hydrated...

I tried netting for a while but it really gets difficult when the boat moves a lot, so I left that to the guys. In total, we fished from 2 pm until about 10:30 pm. I got one porta-potty break, thank the lord. At the end, the guys decided to gut the fish on board while I slowly motored back to the bridge. It seriously looked like a horror movie in the back of the boat -- blood everywhere!


Our total for the day? 35 reds! We gave the majority to the guys since they don't get to fish every weekend like some crazy people. :-)

More photos tomorrow...

The rest of that weekend was great though -- Saturday morning we fished for kings from the boat but got skunked. That afternoon, D and I motored almost to the mouth of the Kenai to pick up Mike and Marty for an afternoon (and evening!) of dipnetting.

Dippin' this weekend

Growing up, my mom would clip her favorite "love is..." comic strips out of the paper and affix them to the fridge. It's a bit of nostalgia for me when I see them now...

On that note, we're going wild on the weekend once again! It's back to the Kenai River for more king fishing and some dipnetting. Dipnetting is only open to Alaska residents -- non-residents can't participate in any stage of the harvesting, including cleaning, driving the boat or benefitting from the catch. Our household (D and I) is eligible for 35 reds and 1 king, but we don't need that many and will not harvest our full amount. I always wonder how many people take their limit and end up wasting the fish.

Last year I drove the boat while the guys dipnetted -- and it was a bit stressful for me at times, navigating between all of the other boats and making sure I was motoring along at the right speeds. Wakes and waves from passing boats push us towards shore and I can't gun the motor because it makes holding onto the huge nets difficult.

I will post photos next week, but until then here is a slideshow from the Anchorage Daily News on dipnetting from shore at the mouth of the Kenai River. Dipnetting boats aren't allowed in that area, so we'll be a little further upriver. (It's easier and more convenient to dip from a boat as opposed to doing from shore.)

Kenai River weekend 3

Nicely cut king steaks are safely tucked away in the cooler, ready for vacuum sealing.

The parking lot at Centennial Campground in Soldotna gets a little busy during fishing season.

The boat launch at Centennial -- very conveniently located near the campsite D's parents were able to secure. This place is ridiculously crowded on the mornings that guides are heading out.

Quite a few mallard ducks were splashing about in the little pond at the boat launch.

D and I went down to watch the "lead lobbers" (I love that name) fish for kings. The anglers have loooong rods with heavy lead weights on the line, which they then fling out into the middle of river. The woman below has a king on the line.

You can see that her rod is totally bent over from the pull of the king. Unfortunately it came off her line, but she put up a good fight! The fish was pulling her hard, so the guy behind her had to make sure she didn't fall in the river.

Kenai River weekend 2

Looking at this photo, you would never believe that Drift is a psycho, fish-obsessed dog.

All of the popular "holes" along the river are always crowded.

The man in the black jacket has a king on his line. Can you can see the net standing straight up? That gives everyone else on the river a heads up that there is a FISH ON! This is a guide boat, designated by the green and yellow oval sticker back near the motor.

Here is Don fighting his own king!

It finally got tired after 40 minutes. Mim stood by with the net and...

...here it is.

Kenai River weekend

Wow, you all must have really sent some good fishing vibes my way because on Saturday I caught my biggest king ever! She was about 30 lbs., with just a teeny tiny bit of pink. It was a perfect way to start the morning.

D's dad caught this beautiful king a short time after we finished with mine.

While my fish only fought for about 15 minutes, Don's king wrestled him for close to 40!

When there is a king on the line, everyone in the boat has a job: the angler fights the fish, D drives the boat, someone has to be on net duty and the last person acts as photographer. It all works out pretty well.

What is Drift's role? He just whines and barks and generally goes ape shit with a fish on the line. The damn dog got SO excited about Don's king that he perched on the front of the bow and somehow lost his balance. Next thing we know, the king is netted and Drift is in the river! Unfortunately that didn't make it in the photos, but everyone around us got a big kick out of it. That dog lives to embarrass us, for reals.

More photos to come!