Odds and Ends and Off to Idaho

I'm cleaning the recent photos off the cameras and packing to fly out to Idaho this afternoon to "get some work done".  Here is a fellow local blogger, husband and grandson engaging in some multi-generational subsistence salmon fishing right off the beach in front of their house - passing on the tradition.

Lovebirds spending some quality time together by the Dutch Harbor spit.

The newest member of the Aleutian Rod and Gun Club demonstrating how it's done.  If you're going to tick Goldfish off, I recommend standing a very long ways away . . . . 

Cannery cats by Alyeska bunkhouse.

The horses have been hanging out at the far end of Summer Lake the last few times I've rode the pass.  It is getting greener by the day, and the lupine is popping out at sea level now.

One of the many neighborhood foxes.  You can see the dandelion crop is good this year . . . 

Road to the pass - just wide enough as long as you don't want to exit your vehicle.

Bird on a wire.

And I'm outta here!  I'll be posting from Idaho, I'm going to try to convince the anesthesiologist to take some pictures during the surgery.  Not sure what Sis has in mind for afterwards - hope she knows I'm not painting her house this time through . . . . .  

After the Storm

So, I haven't posted in a week, and it's 3:30 AM and I'm lying awake in bed snuggling a fast-asleep and very beautiful Goldfish whom I unfortunately woke up when I attempted to sneak out to the computer.  What drives this blog are pictures, and the only pictures I've taken this past week would get me in trouble with family and quite possibly the authorities so in a rare exception to my rules, these two photos were taken a few months ago, not in the past week, but they have been sitting on my desktop awaiting an idea, and the idea is this:  life's storms can either strip away the non-essential and reveal the essence, or they can deposit new and interesting features that add to the whole.

The top photo was taken at Summers Bay after a particularly savage storm in March.  The sand has blown away leaving the stones sitting on little pedestals with the sand accumulated on the leeward side.  The bottom photo was taken at Little South America after the same storm, and all matter of strange items were thrown up on the beach by the waves (I'm still fascinated by king crab shells on the beach).

I guess life is a bit stormy for me right now as I head to Idaho in four days for shoulder surgery, my first glimpse at the idea that there are limits to the human condition and that the fun we have in life has a cumulative effect on our bodies.  Too early to tell if the storm will strip away the extraneous or deposit the unusual . . . . how have life's storms treated you lately?

Coast Guard Cutter "Spar"

The USCG Buoy Tender Spar has been in Unalaska this past week servicing the navigation aids in the area.  The Spar is a Juniper class buoy tender, nicknamed "The Aleutian Keeper".  She is 225 feet long and powered by two 3100 horsepower Caterpillar 3608 engines and has a 6900 mile cruising range.  She also has a couple .50 caliber machine guns in case she wants to play rough.  WLB-206 is the second Spar to serve the Coast Guard - the first Spar was WLB-403, launched in November 1943 and serving proudly for 53 years before decommissioning in 1997.  The Spar name comes from the Coast Guard Women's Reserve which served as a supplemental Coast Guard force between 1942 and 1946.  The acronym SPAR stands for the Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus!  Always Ready!

In the third photo, you can get a closer look at the crew cleaning and servicing one of the channel markers in the East Channel.  I believe Mike Rowe did a Dirty Jobs episode on a buoy tender, possibly the Spar.  In the bottom photo you can see that those View For the Living Room shots I post on here sometimes really are right from the living room!

Out Exploring

We were out hiking in the valley last weekend, checking out a couple little lakes up in the mountains.  The third photo is a kind of neat view of Ballyhoo - if you enlarge it you can see the cruise ship that was docked for the day.  In the last photo you can see Chico checking out the house with the blue roof - it is for sale, and Chico was giving the neighborhood a close look as we were thinking of making an offer.

Unexpected Pleasures

Sometimes at night when I am returning from walking Chico I see this image on the front doorstep and it always fascinates me - the shadow of the eagle projected on the wall right by my front door, the intersection of the steam pipe and the shadow, the harsh yellow of the sodium lights contrasting with the midnight blue of the late night sky.  I have a coffee table book called Beneath the Roses by Gregory Crewdson where the photographer has gone to enormous lengths to stage scenes to photograph, to great effect, but to me the best scenes will always be the ones you stumble upon when you least expect it.  

What kinds of everyday images make you stop in your tracks and wish you had your camera in the area where you live?

Where Has The Week Gone?

These pictures are actually from 6 days ago, amazingly, and I think that was the last day it was sunny.  Not only has it been a bit dreary on the island lately, the week has gone by insanely quickly!  I had a visit form Susan Lynch at work a few days ago, dropping off a couple yoga mats as a "Pat on the Back Award" - I think she actually just wanted to eyeball my belly and make sure she is still ahead in the contest.

In the top photo, right after Goldfish took the photo, Chico started running out towards me.  It is a 600 foot drop to the rocks on either side, so I was trying to shoo Chico back without either of us falling off the little knife edge - pretty comical.

This evening after work was some good training up at the Public Safety building and we're all hoping for some nice weather for Memorial Day weekend!  Cheers and good night . . . .

Bear's Birthday Party

Elaine's fabulous Trifle - she was paid off no doubt by the shiny gal below . . . . 

Lauri and Susan looking fabulous - 41 pounds in three months, great job!  As you may have guessed, Susan was at the Disco party in the next room over and was just stopping by.

ZS getting up close and personal with Alena!

CB took a break from dancing to chat with the birthday girl.

Elaine is hiding behind Nemo . . . . Nemo is stuck to the birthday chicken - a long and interesting story, and Bear is very happy to be a new member of the club!

I'm stunned to see I have no pictures of the elusive Bear, the guest of honor that night.  Let me publicly say Elaine is in such deep trouble for grabbing the check for the whole party at the end of the evening . . . we're going to stuff money under your mattress while you're on vacation 'Laney!

Low Tide in the East Channel

During low tides the East Channel marker lays almost flat on the rocks and it looks like there is just enough room between the rocks and our dock for big boys like F/V Arica, which draws almost 20 feet when loaded, to sneak through.  In reality, as long as they stay centered they're fine - you can see the eagles throwing a little party on the skiff stacked on the stern are totally unconcerned.  Smaller boats like the sport fishing boat in the bottom photo sometimes don't even use they channel, they just cut across the gap.

This weekend was fun, we went to Bear's birthday party on Saturday night then we hosted Book Club tonight.  I'll get some birthday pictures posted tomorrow!

Willow Ptarmigans

The willow ptarmigan is the Alaska state bird and one of my favorites for a lot of reasons, some of them related to the large number of them I have killed and eaten over the past 20 years.  Their plumage changes with the seasons and they are masters of camouflage once their seasonal change is complete.  They make some of the most unique noises in the animal kingdom, hard to describe really, and they will sometimes explode from right underfoot as they sit tight on the ground until the last minute, relying on their ability to blend in with the surrounding terrain.  

These days I no longer hunt ptarmigan - is has always just been an excuse to get outside in the winter and snowshoe around in the fresh air anyways - but photographing them is still great fun.  They are gorgeous birds, and I thing the old World War II buildings make interesting backdrops to capture them "on film".

High Slack Tide in the River

Last night I was walking Chico along the creek, taking our customary stroll through the neighborhood before retiring.  The rising tide and flowing creek had fought each other to a perfect draw, and the water was neither flooding or ebbing; combined with the almost still air and the late hour - I took this picture at 11 PM, you have to love the Alaskan summers - it was as if the whole island was holding its breath.

I'm rather fond of the bottom image, where I took the top image, cropped it, then flipped it upside down.  The water has become the land and the ripples make it look like the church is being viewed through ancient glass like you find in old Victorian houses or perhaps through the fogged lens of a fading memory.  The picture has a story to tell but what is the title?  "Reflections on Faith" perhaps?  Walking along an isthmus of land, what many believe to be the oldest continuously inhabited coastal community in North America, it is easy to reflect on all that has come before, and all that will come after we are gone.  What do you think of when you view this scene?  Click on it, blow it up, and think for a second.  (Besides "Steve, why didn't you bend that blade of grass out of the way before you took the picture??")

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all those great mothers in my life (and yes, Goldfish makes the list because Chico gets better care than lots of kids out there).  Also, Happy Mother's Day to Sharon, Alena!, Melanie, Jane, Jennifer, Kym and my sister-in-law Sherry, all amazing mothers, and Dog Mothers Bear, Elaine, April and Lauri!

Just Desserts - Plan B

Goldfish made a couple loaves of Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid to bring to the Just Desserts concert but we ended up going camping instead.  The wind died down and we had nice weather but were a little surprised to see the light snow falling when we poked our heads out of the tents this morning.   The bread was fantastic and went well with Joe's excellent cowboy coffee!  

What Determines Beauty?

Same eagle, different picture.  A good illustration that what we crop out of our lives when we focus intensely on a goal can be just as important as the goal itself.  Out here in Unalaska, those of us with 80 hour work weeks are constantly having to decide how to spend the other 88 hours - sleep usually gets low priority . . . .