Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sept 27, 2012

We had another fabulous Alaskan summer and arrived back at the California abode today after eleven day's travel. All is well... except we arrived to 100˚ heat. We have not been in that kind of temperature for a whole year. A few more pictures of summer.... Cousin Tom came up along with our grandson Jayden. I like this picture. Sarah took over 700 pictures during her two weeks with us. Here she got distracted and almost lost a hand. Pix taken in Juneau at Mendenhall visitors center. Jay and Tom kayaking at high tide out front of the cabin. Thank you very much for making this madcap bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew journey with us by way of our blog. Mel & Paulette

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Sept 11, 2012

Three full days left until we depart for points south. Temps are getting chilly. We have had two nights in the high 30's. Days are 50-55 degrees. Rain is now common, though not continuous. Unless something exceptional happens we probably won't post again until California. Debbi, Paulette, and Robin checking out the thickness of a filet on the 104 lb halibut. Freezer fish: I landed three silver salmon one morning. The top two are average for our river. The front fish may go 13 lbs. For comparison the blade on the filet knife is 7" long. I cannot tell you what a joy it is to walk out one's front door and go fishing any time. Last evening about dusk I lucked out and landed this 15 lb salmon (the pix doesn't do it justice) using my 45 year old fly rod. I built the rod myself way back in high school. Several times in the battle I thought the pole might break. It's going to need some repairs after the fight. Several rod guides are now loose. Now that's great fishing!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Inquisitive Moose

Sept 5, 2012 As I sat down to write a mom moose appeared about thirty feet from the library window. Somewhat distracting, but never tiring. Then her baby actually came to the window and looked in at us. He was all of three feet away. Paulette reminded me we have only a ten days until we depart for Juneau. Then two more days ferry ride south to Prince Rupert, Canada. Follow that with two more days driving to reach Washington State. Weather remins cool. Fall is in the air. Each day actually seems markedly shorter than the previous. The Coho salmon run has not happened in any numbers yet. Hopefully the next week will see more salmon in the river. I hope to add some to the halibut in the freezer. My total salmon catch for five hours accumulated fishing... ONE. And a small one at that. Paulette says HI to you all.