construction under winter sun

Building a deck, multi-functional as worktable, pee-station, and sunset observation deck.

Magic

These photos essentially show Jono's land. The place is one of wonder, of strange power. The moment I set foot on the beach, I could feel the ancient energy, the life-force energy of thousands of years of natives who lived here. The white shell beach, large tides, surrounding mountains, beaver pond, resident deer, and huge peninsula mountains looming across the Shelikof, all combined to completely overwhelm me, and along with Jono, we roamed in a state of stupor for most of the two weeks.



The west view.



The cabin and beach. Lots of lumber for our building projects. And this is winter!? According the experts (every person you might ever talk to) you can't build in the winter, let alone cruise around in a little rubber boat all over the bay...

Our mighty chariot

This is our proud vessel, which I sometimes refer to as the rubber ducky. You'd have to be crazy to be out cruising every day in a little rubber raft in the winter in Alaska. So we loaded her as much as she would float, and set out into the open seas.

Problems, 3 a.m. archaeology

Our plan was to float Jono's big boat out on the high tide of the cycle, it came, we pushed, the boat didn't move. So we waited until low tide, went out and discovered that the rudder was frozen in the ground. Under full moon, we proceeded to axe, chip, and hammer/chisel out the frozen ground around the prop and rudder.



Super delicate work, trying not to screw the screw.



Hammer and chisel, this is precision work.

Woke at 3 AM to catch the early tide, pushed, engaged the reverse drive, strained backs, and still nothing. So we depart on our magical journey tomorrow in the rubber ducky (little red inflatable raft).

The gentleman Becker...

Leaving the bear camp now, heading out with my friend Jono (above) to his land farther out in the bay for two weeks of magic and building.

The last pull...

Pulling the pot for the last time... and more success than previously- five big tanners in the pyramid! Yummy in my tummy.

belly!

my beautiful pregnant sister's belly is growing! Say hello to Uncle Thomas!!

poor, hungry deer

All this snow hasn't been too friendly for my buddies. This is Charlie, and he didn't seem too impressed with the dead grass I offered him.




Another baby, this one in the woodshed. (you can see how small he is compared to my boot).

Thank you, earth

Menu de la restaurant d' Amook:

to start, spicy seaweed soup
appetizers, lemon crab dip and codfish ceviche'
main course, fresh crab and avacado sushi



Tomorrow's entree':
venison backstrap mushroom-pepper stirfry
rsvp

Halibut fishing take two: in Hawaii

This really is the sunny side of the Island.





It turns out there are limited perspectives of photos you can take by yourself.







Baiting the gear...




Results: those aren't halibut- but two nice codfish- perfect for a big bowl of ceviche' !




This is how any true subsistence boat should look.


Special report:
Almost two weeks ago, I lost a crab pot (it was taken by the current and disappeared). I searched for it several times, no luck. Today, as I was cruising around, I found it- it had traveled down the bay and around the corner- a two week trip of over a mile distance! Well, I thought I had come upon a great new fishing technique- a way to fish huge areas with one pot, but alas, it only had one dungy in it and most of his legs had been eaten off by something. (the sad part is- this was the second time I lost the pot- and I reset it this afternoon. why don't I learn?).

Happy Birthday Suzanne!

Well I was going to post something a little more obscene, but then I remembered that Alex is bigger than me, so I have to be a little more of a proper gentleman. So here is your pachyderm soul-pal. Happy birthday kiddo!

(For those of you who don't know Suzi, she is my little-hottie wife's little sister, and Alex is her boyfriend. Long gone are the days when the teeny-bopper could take anyone, even if they had a stick with a nail in it, sigh...)

picture of the moon

I was setting up the camera for a long exposure shot of the moon last night, and had an unexpected visitor, who invited me to "dance". Needless to say, I accepted, and dancing in the moonlight might never be the same again.

memorial

Well, there are a few deer who live in the yard and I have grown very fond of them- I especially liked one little fella- the guy on the right, who I would talk to every day when I went outside (this photo was taken a month ago, looking out the front door of the cabin).



Sadly, I noticed a lot of eagles nearby after this last big snowstorm, and my friend did not make it through the storm. I will miss him.

catch of the day

sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy...

No wind, 28 degrees so the snow stays snow, sunshine on my face, a mountain in my backyard, and snowshoes on my feet.






nice action shots!!



Notice the huge white mountains across the water in the background- the Alaska Penninsula. The sun later dropped lower in the sky and lit them up yellow, and I have never seen them so imposing.

fishing in a snowstorm

Zero wind today, lots of snow, so I went fishing!



my trusty stallion




this is as bright as it got all day, I could hardly see for all the snow in my face




Obviously, no longer shrimp sunday- just funky crabs and a codfish





Halibut fishing results? Well, three Irish Lords, also locally called Double Uglies, Mother-in-Laws, and other expletives. And I look like I am ten years old.

shrimp sunday!!

my first subsistence shrimping success- a big fat spot shrimp!









the sea provides dinner, once again

la nueva guitarra

I bought a crappy classical guitar at the pawn shop- to have as a beater camp guitar- and the pixelated design around the hole was so disgusting that I was driven to action- I found sticker paper- and spent a night photoshopping and printing the salmon sticker- now it sounds so much better!

tidal ice

beautiful and noisy (this is currently my front yard)

burning the rubbish bin

Notice anything "sketchy" about this?

seaweed?

Rose proves her skills with the nutritious discovery that not everything has to be meat. Seaweed soup!

the final product

sausages, burger, and jerky, oh my!

A hindquarter and backstraps hung in the entryway for about ten days, then we processed it- steaks, stirfry, Italian/breakfast/chipolte sausage, kielbasa, hamburger, and three kinds of jerky.






Rose wanted to just eat it raw, but I had to say no.

The Butchers

Matt came down on the Resolution (a Fish and Game boat), and we had a grand old time cutting up the deer.


Matt is a gangster.

"oh crap, grab that!"

This king crab was so huge, he couldn't fit into our crab pot, but was clinging to the outside of it when we pulled it up- "oh crap, grab that!" Too bad for him. The others are tanners.

papa

The second day was beautiful, sunny and warmish (almost 40), and I went early in the morning on a beach-stalking hunt. Again, lots of small deer- the silly fawns would come crashing through the brush and stumble upon me- and I got really close to several deer because of a freak hail storm that lasted about an hour- probably could have shot five of them (but it would have taken all five to equal one big deer). I eventually went into the woods- the deer trails were so icy that I could walk quietly- and came upon a small mature deer. She looked at me and I froze. She froze, and watched me for about five minutes. I didn't move. She couldn't smell me, so started walking in a circle around me, coming closer, then backing off, almost coming right up to me. I just didn't move, probably for about twenty minutes, though I did tell her that I meant no harm. Finally, she went back to eating, and moved behind a tree. I snuck up to the tree, and peeked around, and there was a large deer farther up the hill. I began stalking it, but my little friend stayed between me and the big deer, and as I moved up the mountain, so did they, keeping just enough distance that I didn't have a shot at the big one. We all three slowly walked up the hill together at a leisurely pace, until I eventually was forced to bum-rush them, hoping the big one would trip, or slip on the ice or something- but they got away. Then I saw another deer bedded down in the snow. I started a stalk on him, and was able to get really close, though I couldn't see him well because the sun was directly behind him. He stood up and started walking parallel to me, and as a squinted at him, I suddenly saw the antler spots on his head, just before he disappeared behind a tree. Another no-think raise and fire, another nice lung shot and a dead deer. This deer I had to drag for a mile to the beach, but with so much snow and ice on the ground, it was easy. Then I hiked back to camp, got the skiff and Rose, and we went and retrieved him.

mama

In January, there is a subsistence deer hunt on parts of Kodiak Island where I could shoot three or four deer- to fill the freezer- not a trophy hunt because the deer have already dropped their antlers. I shot two deer, partly for me and partly for my buddy Matt, who just had a beautiful little girl and is too busy with her to go hunting much.

Both hunts were magical- the first deer gave itself to me as a sacrifice. I hunted hard all day, but didn't see many deer of size, just lots of moms and babies. I was determined not to shoot a mama, though it admittedly was my fall-back plan. At the end of the day, I still had not shot anything, looking for a large male only, and I returned to camp. Rose laughed at my poor skills and pointed to a mama in the yard, "why don't you shoot that one?" (apparently female deer are the delicacy of Belgium). Rose is no killer though, and I guess I might be secretly a softy, but I determined I would take a last walk in the fading evening, and if I saw nothing, when I returned I would take the female. I saw nothing. I came back and found the female, walked up to her and had her in my sights. But I couldn't do it. I watched her for several minutes, and pulled my gun down. In my head, I begged God, or mother nature, to send me another deer, any other deer that I could shoot instead of "mama," as I now called her. In this state of agitation, I unwittingly wandered over the top of a hill, where I had already walked that day, and a deer spooked out of the brush, stopped right in front of me, broadside. I didn't think, just pulled up and fired, perfect lung shot, and after a short flight, he dropped dead. A nice, medium sized male, exactly what I wanted all day. And mama lives on.



(numero uno)