What a Day!

Wow, what a day!  It started early, with the Supreme Court decision in favor of so-called Obamacare.  I didn't see that coming, honestly.  Then to top it off, Chief Justice Roberts was the swing vote, wrote the majority opinion, and found a way to approve it, one that, if I understand correctly, had not even been argued before them!  Did I just fall down a rabbit hole?!  I hope this provides the Big News that Obama needs to push him toward re-election.  He's certainly not getting it from the economy.


Today is also the ninth anniversary of the wedding of Faith and Brady:  Happy Anniversary, you two, even if you might be reading this on Friday.  :-)

The bald eagle nest Kathy found just down the street from us has two eaglets in it, which we can see sometimes over the rim of the nest.  It will be fun to watch them grow and learn to fly.  


Work for me continues.  We are having a Bureau of Indian Affairs audit of four contracts this week.  Luckily, BIA is not like the IRS, they actually work with you.  This will be a major milestone for us to put behind us.  We have an entirely different staff now, so that makes it more challenging, but we are making progress.  The Internet connection is a major problem.  We've clocked it at 50 kbs, when it should be at least 512 kbs, which itself is nothing to write home about.  Ugh, so frustrating.  The Transportation Department    at least has permission to get our own provider, which will make all the difference in the world.


I finally had my shoulder examined by the orthopedic surgeon today.  They had to take xrays, which I understood don't show soft tissue:  the nurse forgot to bring in the CD of my MRI, which she had three weeks to do, and why was it at her house in the first place?  Unfortunately, she lives in Coffman Cove, which is at least 45 minutes away.  Bad news, six weeks in a sling; good and gooder news, it's my right arm, and I can use a computer keyboard with the sling on, so won't have to take the six weeks off.  Then comes another three months of recovery.  


Kathy got uncomfortable news this week.  I won't say bad news, because at least now she knows:  she has very high blood pressure.  They have her on two meds, and coming in every other day to have it checked.  Yikes.  Glad they caught it, and it probably is a factor on several other health issues she has.  We both have put on weight, too, not good.  Not enough hiking, walking, and too much eating.  I'm blaming it on living through a real winter, one that involved too much couch-sitting.  


The fish are not cooperating.  King salmon and halibut should be running, but they are both  spotty.  Several fishing sites have actually been closed by the state, since the king salmon population has been so low.  


July 4th is huge around here.  Fireworks are legal, too.  They've been going off throughout the city for the last two weeks.  There is a booth across from where Kathy works, so we'll stop by some time and see what they have for sale.  When in Klawock.......


My cousins Kay and Carol have booked their flights to visit us!  They'll be staying at the Fireweed Lodge, a really nice little lodge about a half a mile from our house.  They planned their trip to take in the totem pole raising in Hydaburg.  The poles last about 100 years, then have to be replaced.  The totem parks do about three to five a year until they have all been replaced.  This is really a special Alaska Native ceremony, so will be really fun to see.  Kay wrote that it's 109 degrees in Houston this week, so they are really excited about being someplace cooler.  

Faith and Brady, Rock Climbing at Mission Trails Park

That's all the news that fits.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Blogging Toward July 6

My online subscription to the San Diego Union-Tribune ran out.  Rather, my credit union issued new credit cards because of some possible compromise, so my billing doesn't work anymore.  I need to renew it.  I wondered why, since I haven't lived in San Diego for over nine months.  It got me thinking.  First, it's only been nine months, so we still like to know what's happening in the place where we grew up, raised Kelli and Brady, and spent decades.  Second, all the Wescott Family minus Brady and Faith live there.  Third, I'm a news junkie.  Fourth, I'm still very interested in the health of San Diego, especially politically.  And last, there is no newspaper here, no local TV channel (at least not one that we get on the satellite), so I have to get my 'fix' somehow!

Kathy at the spongy plateau above little Bob's Lake.  I wondered about plain name, in Tlingit Country, then discovered it's named for Native Rights Activist Robert Peratrovich.  Okay, this leads to another question, I expect.  More on that in another post.  

Keep in mind that this humongous state has only about 750,000 people, and nearly half of which live in and around Anchorage.  In Southeast Alaska, which is very different in many ways from the Alaska mainland, there are about 78,000 people, spread out pretty well, after the 31,000 in Juneau and the 14,000 in Ketchikan.  Wikipedia has this about Southeast Alaska:

 "Although it has only 6.14 percent of Alaska's land area, it is larger than the state of Maine.  

Due to the extremely rugged, mountainous nature of Southeastern Alaska, almost all communities (with the exception of Hyder, Skagway, and Haines) have no road connections outside of their locale, so aircraft and boats are the major means of transport."  Not to mention it's an archipelago, which is a collections of islands!

Think about this:  could it be any less like San Diego and Southern California?!  So, this all explains why I feel such a strong desire to stay up on the news in San Diego.

Speaking of San Diego, check out this official NOAA weather chart from Saturday:

D a t e	Time (akdt)	Wind (mph)	Vis. (mi.)	Weather	Sky Cond.	Temperature (ºF)				Relative Humidity	Wind Chill (°F)	Heat Index (°F)	Pressure
						Air	Dwpt	6 hour					altimeter (in)	sea level (mb)
								Max.	Min.
23	10:53	N 8	10.00	Fair	CLR	84	48			29%	NA	82	29.65	1003.9
23	09:53	N 12	10.00	Fair	CLR	80	51	80	48	37%	NA	80	29.65	1004.0
23	08:53	N 10	10.00	Fair	CLR	75	52			45%	NA	NA	29.66	1004.2
23	07:53	W 3	10.00	Fair	CLR	63	56			78%	NA	NA	29.67	1004.8
23	06:53	Calm	10.00	Fair	CLR	57	54			90%	NA	NA	29.69	1005.2
23	05:53	Calm	10.00	Fair	CLR	52	52			100%	NA	NA	29.70	1005.7

Yes, it really does show we hit 84 degrees.  Another hour, and it hit 87!  The overnight low had been 49, so we had nearly a 40 degree swing!  Oh, it was so nice!  It didn't last, though: the clouds came back, and the temp on Sunday and Monday was about 52.

One of my favorite flowers, seen for the first time.  I'd seen it in books many times.  It's a Kalmia, don't know if it has a common name.  The flowers are about the size of a dime.  Beautiful!

I've got two and a half grant applications submitted.  One for the Klawock-Craig Hiking and Biking Trail, one for the Klawock Transit System, and one for the Klawock Youth and Family Project.  One is a Letter of Intent, still have to flesh out the full grant proposal.  Still looking for that first grant, know it's only a matter of time.  That will be a day to celebrate, the first time I'm successful.  


No tour boat today, second week in a row.  This is another reason we need to concentrate on the lodge visitors:  they are already here, and waiting for something to do.  


I do have a friend on a cruise, wish we could met her and her husband someplace.  She is posting on Facebook, having a great time.  My Texas cousin emailed me out of the blue yesterday, asking if we were ready for visitors when I return, and I said sure!  She and her sister are looking for and adventure.  There will be a big celebration around the raising of new replacement totem poles in Hydaburg the end of July, so told her that would be a great time to visit.  The Native regalia, drumming, and special ceremony around these pole-raisings are really a treat to watch.  


WELL inside two weeks to go for my trip to San Diego!  I have to pick up a few more shells and rocks for Henry.  He's into organic and non-organic things.  I love his Facebook profile picture, showing him carrying the big rock.  What a kid!  Love that boy, and can hardly contain myself:  have I mentioned it's been over six months since I saw him last?  :-(

Spring Into Summer!

June is moving along.  Warmer and drier days, and a little sunnier, have us out walking more.  We found a muskeg nearby with easy access, so took the dogs for a long walk on Sunday.  Almost all the ground is spongy at best, wet at worst, suitable only for our Xtratuffs.  There are lots of trees, all stunted by the high water table and very acidic soil.  It's like a bog.  We're hoping it'll be a good place for blueberries later in the summer. 

We took the dogs to Stan Snider Park on the weekend, and let them swim in the Klawock Inlet.  They both love to swim.  


Two weeks from tomorrow, I fly home for eight whole days.  I can hardly wait.  Every other day Kelli sends us a picture of Henry, a new Henry story, or new words he is saying, and it tugs hard at my heart that I am missing these moments.  He and I had so much fun together, and with me being out of work, I could and would pick him up at the drop of a hat.  That was before he was walking - I can't imagine how different it will be now.  I'm looking forward to taking him for walks down by the San Diego River.  He's quite a chatterbox now, too, and that will be fun.  


He surprises them with new words out of no where, like cinnamon.  I miss him so much.

The bald eagles are more numerous.  Kathy saw a black bear on her weekly trip to Hydaburg, but I haven't seen one yet.  The salmon don't run for another month, at least in the rivers, and this is the reason the bears are more visible.  People are catching some King Salmon out around the islands, and halibut.  The Council President pulled in a 40 lb. halibut today.  

No tour boat this Monday, must have been some tough weather that forced a schedule change.  Last week the boat was full, 65 people, and I only sold two shirts.  We are still having trouble getting the Cultural Heritage Tour program up and running.  I've been pulled back from it, and the person they hired didn't work out.  This has so much potential, I hope we can get it up and going.  

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice.  Today, the sun came up at 4:09 AM and set at 9:39 PM.  It actually gets light around 3:30!  We took a nice long walk after dinner today, as the sky was clear.  We walked down to our usual destination, at the curve in Big Salt Lake Road, where the Big Salt Lake overlook gives a great view of the lake and the mountains and the sunset.  It was warm and nice so we walked on down the road to the Klawock Cemetery.  It's always so quiet here.  We walked along a main highway for about 20 minutes, and saw only three cars.  The hermit thrush were singing away.  We saw a couple of bald eagles, and crows, too.  

Here's one of my favorite flowers, bunchberry, blooming right in our yard.  It's hard to believe it's directly related to dogwood trees.  

Earlier this week I took a break during the morning and went out to the docks, right behind our offices.  As I looked over the docks from the top of the ramp, I saw this brown critter jump out of a boat, lope down the dock, and disappear into the hole around a piling.  I got a pretty good look, and was sure it was some kind of weasel.  Today I went out again, hoping to get another look at him or her.  The docks were deserted.  I walked down the ramp, and got to the bottom and saw this little brown head pop up on a side branch, about 30 feet away, looking right at me.  There he was again!  He took off running down the side branch, behind a boat, so I couldn't see exactly where he went, so I cautiously walked toward where he had been.  I rounded the corner, and he was no where in sight.  I keep going, meandering down the dock.  After about three boats, he popped up out of one on my left, jumped onto the dock, and ran ahead of me, jumping into the last boat on the right.  Hmm, now he's sort of trapped, and he is a weasel, cunning and fierce, I better be careful, I thought to myself.  I got my phone out and ready to take pictures.  I was sure he had jumped into the last boat, but as I got up to it, I couldn't see him, and there didn't seem to be any place for him to hide.  All of a sudden I see quick movement, a flash of brown, and realize he's running along the bottom of the boat, toward the stern, in my direction!  He jumps up on the gunwale, and stops, staring at me, and posing!  I snapped off three pictures, and was getting ready to back off and give him room, when he suddenly made a perfect dive off the boat and disappeared into the water!  Funny how he seemed a little panicked as he ran from me, all the time having no fear of the water which he could have jumped in anywhere along the dock.  

I'm not quite as close as it looks.  You can barely see his claws in this picture, and Mink or not, he's still a weasel, and could do some damage with claws and teeth!  I was so lucky to get this close and take his picture.  He's about 18" long with a 10" tail.  I was probably about ten feet away.  Pretty cool!

This is a picture I took recently, and you can see the boat on the left of the picture.  This was what the locals call a 'minus tide,' when it's below a certain normal level.  When the tide comes in, it comes right up under our building, which is in the far right of the picture, at the end of that black pipe.  The far building is the cannery, which was used up to last year, but sits unused this year, a real shame.  


One more flower picture, and it's time for bed, or at least time to get back into my Jack Reacher book!  :-)  

I found this flower today, in a culvert, and almost passed it by, as there are lots of yellow flowers blooming, none of which are anything special.  This one is a relative of snapdragons, and even has a cousin growing in the canyons behind our San Diego home.  


Good night!





 

Long Days and Short Hikes

The sun comes up at about 4:00 AM.  We have two windows without curtains.  Our log house is set exactly on an East-West axis, so in comes the sun.   

We've got doves now, noisy ones.  I really expected there would be a lot less invasive species up here, in the Land of Cold.  There probably are, but at the same time, I've never seen so many dandelions in my life.  They formed a solid gold carpet in front of the gas station, and I mean solid.  It was actually pretty, and I was sorry when it was weed-whacked away.  The doves we have, Eurasian Collared Doves, are not native.  They are first cousin to the Mourning Doves San Diego has, but these guys are much louder coo-ers.  

Kathy's boss gave three month notice he is resigning.  He and his wife have been on the island about seven years, and are now moving to Oregon, partly to be closer to his grandkids.  I can certainly appreciate that reasoning!  

It's pretty quite now politically, with the Republican candidate chosen.  I miss the contest, the debates, the discussion of issues.  It will all be back soon enough, I suppose, as the final decision comes closer.  We saw Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels interviewed the other day, and wondered why he didn't run.  He seems to have integrity and a deeper knowledge of the country's issues.  Mitt Romney: is he really the best the Republicans can do?

Okay, off the soapbox.  Life in Klawock and Prince of Wales Island continues to test us, and it's not about the weather.  We've adjusted to that, I'd say.  It's the lack of entertainment, including restaurants, that we haven't adjusted to, and I don't expect we will.  We really miss all of the culture amenities found in bigger cities.  I don't know if that means a town of 10,000, or 20,000, or 1.3 million....wait, I take that back:  I'm pretty sure it doesn't have to be a town of a million.  It might have to be one of 100,000, but not a million.

I set up a table in the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall today, to sell Klawock Tribe tee shirts to the visitors on the tour boat.  Sadly, there was only one other table.  This was mostly due to so many people being away at Celebration, no doubt.  We had about 30 people come into the hall, out of a full boat of 65.  Clearly, there needs to be more advertising about the Native art and craft tables in the hall, and there needs to be a lot more artisans set up.  This is a great chance to make some money.  

We took a couple of short hikes down by the Harris River yesterday.  The dogs had a blast, evening wading into the streams and river.  They both love the water.  We also saw a huge, huge pile of black poop.  If it wasn't from Bigfoot, I'd be really surprised!  I won't post a picture, but you can check out the one I posted on my Facebook page.   

Just Like Camping

The weather has warmed up and the sun is coming out more often, which made me realize it feels like we are camping!  Sure, we live in a house, but it's a log house, with lots of trees around it and a lake about 200 steps away.  There are eagles and blue jays and chickadees and juncos, snow-capped mountain ridges in three directions:  doesn't that sound like camping to you?

Work was very good this week.  We conquered a particularly vexing issue, and got two grant proposals submitted.  I started the week down by the city docks, greeting the group from the tour boat Wilderness Adventurer, from InnerSea Discoveries.  It has a capacity of 60 people, but I think there were only about 40 or so aboard. 

As they were returning from their walking tour of Klawock, I had a table set up, and sold nine tee shirts.  I was pretty happy with that amount.   

The tour boat comes in each Monday about 8:00 AM.  The Tribe wanted to do the tours, but the City has the contract, so their Administrator gives the tours.  We plan on getting the contract next year.  In the mean time, we are working hard on our own walking tours, to entertain and educate the 80 or so mostly hunters and fishermen who stay in the local lodges.  There's probably about that many staying in Craig, too, a short six miles away.  
We will have an Alaska Native dance troupe perform, too, but not this week or next, as the biennial Celebration is taking place in Juneau.  This is a gathering of tribes from all over Southeast Alaska, and this year even attracted tribes from Washington State and beyond.  

This is a great picture of the Coming Ashore ceremony.  There were 55 dance troupes that performed!  Kathy and I went to see one of them in their final dress rehearsal before leaving for Juneau.  It's very impressive.


Kathy had a good week, too.  She experienced a breakthrough with one of her couples, something that doesn't always happen.  


I made my reservations for a trip to San Diego, too!  I'm so excited I can hardly contain it!  I'm flying in just under one month, and will be there for about eight days.  It will have been about seven months since I saw Henry!  


Henry and parents are moving to Maine, just about the same time we moved to Alaska last year, funny.  Kelli and Jared both got jobs at Jared's alma mater, Maine Central Institute, a private high school.  It is part of a school district.  However, it has about 140 residential students, from other states and countries.  They will have a three bedroom, 2 bath apartment in the dorms, as part of their compensation, and be in the same town with Jared's parents and several siblings.  What a great opportunity!


So, I must return, take care of a few maintenance issues, and get the house ready to rent to strangers.  We may get lucky on that front, and rent to a nephew, which would be much, much better.  


Well, with pictures and all, this is a pretty good catchup.  Off to the kids fishing derby at the Prince of Wales Fish Hatchery, just down the road. 

June, Already?!

I did it again, went weeks without posting.  I'm going to try harder to do better.  With summer here, there will be much more happening.

We still haven't seen any bears, although we've heard about them showing up.  We did see small fish jumping at the Klawock River mouth yesterday on your way home.  Fish bring bears, and bald eagles, and otters, and seagulls.

The Prince of Wales Island Marathon happened last weekend, and all indications are it was a big success.  More people signed up than ever before.  The inauguaral half marathon was a huge success.  We do our committee debrief on Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to hearing how the rest of the committee feels.

I left the celebration ceremony early on Saturday to run down to Hollis and greet Kathy.  Besides being glad to see me, I don't think she was too happy about being 'home.'  She had a great two weeks with Kelli and Jared and Henry.  Our grandson is growing by leaps and bounds.  He is one smart kid, even had a story that he kept repeating for Nona, his grandmother.  She bought him a pair of Elmo crocks, which he loves.  I miss him so much!

Serendipity met opportunity:  Kelli and Jared both accepted jobs at Jared's alma mater in Maine, in the town where he grew up, while Kathy was visiting.  Yep, they are headed to Pittsfield this summer.  They get to live in a three bedroom apartment on campus with all utilities paid as part of their compensation, pretty nice.  So, they made arrangements and went to the County on Wednesday, May XX and got married!  Again, nice that at least Kathy could be there, along with Henry!  :-)  Kirsten was there, too.  

This means, for the second year in a row, at nearly the same time of the year, a Wescott will be moving out of San Diego, far, far away.  Funny how things work out.  They have excellent opportunities, and are very excited their move.  I can state unequivecally that their move will be easier than ours, including the Henry factor.  Obviously, the factor of family is a big, big plus, but I'm referring to the Island factor that we encountered and for which we were not fully prepared.  


Spring is in full bloom.  The bushes have all leaved out, flowers from ornamental rhododendrons to dainty shooting stars and showy bleeding hearts are blooming all over.

My mother turned 80 years young on Wednesday:  Happy Birthday Mom!  My son turned 34 on Tuesday:  Happy Birthday Brady!  My daughter-in-law turned 32? on Saturday:  Happy Birthday Faith!  Phew, busy week!