The blind feeding the blind



Fun in the Sun



This weekend the village held their annual "Fun in the Sun" activities which was created 15 years ago by the

First Chief's wife.  They always have a wide variety of activities for everyone to participate in throughout the weekend.  There was lots of food with several food contests and potlucks.  The games included blindfolded feeding contest in which two blindfolded people had to feed each other pudding, ring toss, raft racing etc.  Mike and Scott volunteered to help with the raft races in the lagoon, which was a whole lot of fun to watch.  Two people made up each team, one in the front of the raft directing their teammate in the back of the raft who had the oars and also happened to be blindfolded.  The times for completing the race ranged from 1 minute and a few seconds to a little over 12 minutes.  They closed the activities Saturday evening with a talent show (that I somehow got volunteered to judge) and a dance.  The village has a lot of talent, as we got to see in the talent show and listening to their band.  They have two, The English Bay Band and the English Bay Rockers who play in several of the area's towns and villages.  

The English Bay Band
The village First Chief plays bass



The winning talent
They did a hilarious commedy skit

 

 

The judges





One fish, two fish, mystery fish, new fish

  

Fish was the story of our day today.  Scott, our principal, took us fishing on the ocean and we had lots of fun and luck.  I also managed to get yet another sunburn in Alaska.  Who knew I would need sunscreen here more than in Missouri.  Mike caught 5 halibut (we threw one back) and a very large starfish.  I am much better at feeding fish than catching them but was able to catch 3 halibut (we threw the baby one back), an Irish Lord (no pot of gold), a new fish we learned is a ling cod and very good eating, and a mystery blob.  Okay, so it's not a fish, but the title wouldn't rhyme if I ended with blob.  It was a living organism of some sort, blobbish in shape and suctioned to several rocks which he brought to the surface with him.  He is quite uncooperative and has refused to identify himself so we're stuck calling him Blob.  Since the day went so well we now have a freezer full of halibut that we look forward to eating this winter.  It's an interesting change from the old normal.  We usually have a small amount of fish in a freezer filled with deer meat.  Now we have a freezer full of fish, but no deer.  It has been replaced with fish and hopefully some bear!

 

Today's keepers




Mike's starfish




Ling Cod




Mystery blob



Da Barge, da barge!

Today the big barge came to Homer with school supplies (yay!) and propane for the village for the winter.  I may be showing my land locked roots, but I think it's pretty awesome they can load up 3 large trucks on a boat and drive them off onto the beach.  The crew was super nice to us and took the pallets of school supplies up to the school building so we wouldn't have to break down the pallets and load them onto the trucks only to unload them again to take into the building.  The barge itself is pretty interesting without her cargo and current duties.  She was originally a minesweeper during World War II and received 3 Battle Stars during that war as well as accumulating 10 Battle Stars during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.  There's something special about anything that's been around that long and done that much that is still in operation today, carrying out its daily duties.

 

Before

On a culinary note, I decided it was time to be adventurous and try some of the mussels we've seen in the inlet.  We've seen some members in the village gathering them and one was nice enough to give us some tips on how to prepare them.  So after prying the little critters off the rocks they are apparently quite fond of, we scrubbed them clean and threw them into a pot to steam.  I must confess to feeling a bit of remorse that they must be cooked alive, it seems so cruel.  However, after a little garlic, butter, and parsley they were quite tasty on toasted french bread so I suppose it's worth the suffering.  They never said they were not willing to take one for the team, so we'll assume they are.

After

Pictures of Nanwalek

Nanwalek from the lagoon

Nanwalek from the ocean

Sunbathing sea lions

They have orange dandelions!
(there's yellow ones too)





Mount Bede from the ocean



Bede from our porch

Low tide

High tide

The reef - you can walk out on it during low tide,
but have to be careful or you'll get trapped
there when the water comes back up!

Low tide

Ocean - I don't think I'll ever get tired of living on it!

More ocean!

Being on the ocean, seagulls are everywhere!



They are everywhere and so is their evidence,
I'm sure it's just a matter of time before
I get hit by some of it



Seagulls are so funny to watch
I'm remided of Finding Nemo
"Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine"

  

Eagles are everywhere!  You can almost
always see more than one somewhere.



Young eagles don't have the white
on their heads and tails until
they reach adulthood



Amazing sunsets all the time!!





The lagoon and the ocean from the trail



Trees at first hole - the first fishing
hole upstream from the ocean

 

Scenery along the trail to the lakes

   

Squirrel along the trail
He's about the size of a MO chipmunk


 

The forests resemble rainforest

The waterfall - it's amazing
salmon manage to swim up that!

First Lake - good fishing!



Second Lake



The road to Dogfish begins in
Second Lake



Dogfish



The beach at Dogfish is lined
with these dead trees still standing.
How amazing is God's creation!

Lessons Learned So Far



Mike's picture of one of our best sunsets



We left Doniphan nearly 3 weeks ago and it already seems like forever.  We've been able to see and do so much in that small amount of time and know we are blessed to have those opportunities.  We've also learned some important lessons along the way and I've compiled a list of what we've learned so far:



1.  Don't drive to Alaska unless you have at least 2 weeks to piddle around and enjoy everything along the way.

2.  Chocolate does not travel well under truck seats.

3.  It is easier to get firearms on a plane than through Canada.

4.  Clean windshields attract bugs at a much higher rate than dirty ones.

5.  There is no such thing as being over prepared.

6.  The more thoroughly prepared you are, the more stuff you will have to find a place for later.

7.  When you have a flat, the four way lug wrench will magically be under things that were packed before it was.

8.  Never judge a town by the size of its dot on a map.

9.  No amount of preparation can overcome the weather.

10.  An air compressor's effectiveness is greatly influenced by one's ability to remove the valve stem cap.

Another lesson:  Eagles will give you better photo opportunities
if you come bearing gifts of salmon scraps.

11.  In making preparations, you will miss a few details.  Those will be the details that matter.

12.  We have wonderful, wonderful friends who were willing to give up over a week of their lives and put up with us along the way.

13.  I serve a wonderful God who was arranging this journey long before I knew it and am married to a wonderful man (okay, so I already knew that, but it's still worth saying)

Dogfish

Yesterday we went to Dogfish, an area along the ocean on the other side of the mountain ridge we see from our porch.  It's where all the good bear hunting is supposed to be (so knowing our way there is a MUST) and very beautiful, but beauty comes with a price.  The "road" there makes roads on the side of cliffs overlooking lakes of death with no guard rails seem like pleasant sunny strolls.  Okay, so maybe it's just a small section, but it's still enough to make my blood pressure go up.  Mike, of course, thinks it's great fun and most of our good old, mudding boys back home would be jealous of the trip.  To get to Dogfish we have to go along the side of second lake, IN the lake.  Yesterday was very windy so the waters were a bit rougher than usual, and the water is already high on the ATVs and UTVs.  To add an extra level of adventure to the trip, there is a steep drop off along the edge of the lake so you have to keep the vehicle just along the edge or join the rather lengthy list of those who have lost theirs in the lake (something nearly everyone here has done at least once).

 However high the levels of my blood pressure and Mike's fun, we did survive the lake portion of the trip and the rest went quite well.  We did some fishing on the beach, saw lots of bear poo but no bears, and watched a couple grouse with babies.  While there we also punctured a tire, but we are thoroughly prepared so we were ready for this exact situation.  Mike pulled out our handy dandy tire plug kit and had the tire plugged before all the air was gone from the tire.  We then pulled out our 12 volt air compressor only to discover the cap would not come off the valve stem.  They came off every other tire with ease, but the punctured tire's cap refused to budge regardless of our efforts of persuasion.  Still, we're not terribly concerned because we are thoroughly prepared and also have a spare tire.  Unfortunately the lug wrench that came with the Ranger does not work on our new wheels so we weren't able to change the tire and had no choice but to trudge home.  Luckily the tires were stiff enough and we had enough air to make the trip and get the necessary tools and remove the tire.

We've definitely already had lots of adventures and learned some valuable lessons along the way.  I can't think of a prettier place to do some learning!



Dogfish