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.