 © 2002 Karen Bierman |
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Somewhere, in the dark vortex of a winter storm, on the western edge of the North Pacific, far from the civilized world, in a large archipelago, on a small un-peopled island near a glacier, where the fish run by, there's a warm and cheery light streaming out through a window of a house at the edge of the water. Inside the house a fisherman with too much time on his hands is franticly pecking away at his computer. That be me. Somewhere else, in another part of the world, far away from the un-peopled island by a glacier, where the fish run by, in another house, someone else with too much time on their hands is staring as a vacuum tube image being beamed around the world by the frantic fisherman. That be you. |
Greetings from the Cusp of the Civilized World |
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Fairweather Range taken by Dan Root while fishing aboard the C/V Reel Job 2003 |
Date: April 17, 2008
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"April showers" |
April 17, Shelter Island April blizzards bring May King Salmon—I know it doesn’t rhyme but after a quick glance outside this morning it is all I got. You can’t see it in the photo but two of the white blobs on the beach are our geese. Not “our” geese but the geese that return each spring to fight and mate and nest on the Island. It doesn’t take a goose whisperer to understand how they feel about all the driving snow. One got up to waddle closer to the other and ended up goose stepping down wind like a fascist in one of those old newsreels where everyone moves too fast. With a little luck I’ll have my boat dug out of this soon. |
Date: March 29, 2008
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"There goes the sun" |
March 29, Shelter Island We are building a green house and doing some other grounds improvements. What a difference a year makes. Last year on this date we were still looking at snow on the ground. We have had a beautiful sunny week for yard work and hot tubs at sunset. I head to Anchorage next week for the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council meeting—fish politics. Not much fun but it has to be done. Meanwhile the Admiral will be putting the grounds in ship shape and making the final inspection of her book before publication. The gulls are starting to work bait out front. It won’t be long now. See you soon. |
Date: March 15, 2008
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"Here comes the sun" |
March 17, Shelter Island Old Man Winter’s grip is loosing its strength somewhat. He is still quite up to delivering a sharp slap in the face, don’t get me wrong, and he can still kill us with a sweep of his fingers, but he is not as ornery as he was a month ago. He is tired of playing the game, me thinks. And his counterpart, Summer, is gaining strength to temporarily hold him in check. We are getting ready for another season. We have been remodeling some and now we are doing grounds work. Soon we will be making daily trips to town to ready the boat for fishing. I can hear the fish mapping their strategy for a run on the streams. We’ll be there. You too? |
Date: February 9, 2008
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"Exiled with a wild thing" | 
"Never a dull moment" |
February 5, 2008 Shelter Island It can be a strange life, on a small un-peopled island, by a glacier, where the fish run by. In our thirteenth winter I’m still bewildered by it at times. I’m sure without the Admiral’s guidance I could slip from the cusp and find myself fully immersed. Here she guides me in the fine points of interior decoration. |
Date: January 26, 2008
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"A Blow" |
January 26, Shelter Island SOUTHERN LYNN CANAL-400 AM AST SAT JAN 26 2008 ...STORM WARNING TODAY... ...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING TONIGHT... .TODAY...N WIND 55 KT. SEAS 11 FT. FREEZING SPRAY. .TONIGHT...N WIND 45 KT. SEAS 9 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. .SUN...N GALE TO 45 KT. SEAS 9 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY. Today is another good reason to confine fishing activities to summer months. It is lonely enough being pinned down by the weather at home, it’s plumb miserable to be pinned down in this stuff on some island away from home in a tent or under an overturned skiff. I’ve been beached for days twice by weather, both times hunting in the fall in drenching SE gales. I’m glad I’ve never been beached in weather like this. It is just awful out there. They are calling for this to last through next week. We’ve seen it do this for weeks on end. Each year we are more comfortably set for these hunkering episodes. This time I think we’ll paint. Stay tuned to see what color we turn out.
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Date: January 15, 2008
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"Ice fishing in the dark and stormy night" |
January 15, Shelter Island Lots of folks ask me what kind of fishing I do in the winter. This question is usually met with a blank stare. Here is a photo that explains it all.
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Date: January 1, 2008
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"New Year" |
January 1, Shelter Island Happy New Year! We hope this new circle around the Yellow Orb brings more reason and compassion to humanity than is currently in play, particularly among world governments. That said, WOW, did 07 go fast or what? This is why people fall down and break their hip. The surface of the earth travels up 1000 mph as it spins. Add that to the fact that we are ambulating around the sun at 67,000 mph and it’s a wonder there are any unbroken hips on this blue orb at all. It is all I can do to hold on. Then I learned that we really don’t have days per say there is only one day and it zooms around the planet at, you guessed it, 1000 mph. No wonder I can’ get anything done. July 4th is just Christmas chasing its tail like a puppy around the axis of paradise. I guess I really knew this stuff I just didn’t get it. Like when my cousin was teaching me to ride a bicycle. It was an old balloon tired iron horse looking thing with a big spring up by the long handlebars and a big sprung seat. It kind’a looked like a 1921 Harley. So he was running beside me hanging on to the seat and letting me steer and almost touch the pedals. I was having a great time and was talking to him as we went down this dirt road hill behind the garden on the Montana ranch where my cousin lived and I was visiting for the summer. As we crused down the hill I said, “I’m doing good, huh Kevin. Huh Kevin. Kevin!” I turned around to see my cousin standing at the top of the hill grinning with pride that he had taught me to ride and I panicked. Having no confidence in myself I froze and ran off the road into the cesspool at the bottom of the hill crashing into the muck and knocking the wind out of myself which was not all bad considering the smell. If I had known the surface speed of the earth combined with the orbit speed later in life I never would have learned to ride a bike. Now that I know, I’ll probably need one of those walkers just to show up at the breakfast table. This is why fish prefer to swim. Fluid gives us the illusion of weightlessness which in turn counters the fear of falling. I’m sure that is why I learned to swim before I learned to ride a bike, which brings me to the conclusion of my “lost in the snow storm” story. We made it, with a little help from our friends, which is why we need to all get along in this world. It is scary shooting through the universe at 67,000miles an hour spinning at 1000 miles an hour at the same time. We need all the help we can get just to do the right thing. When we spend so much time and money trying to kill each other it makes the ride a whole lot worse for a whole lot of people. If we all hold onto each other’s bicycle seat maybe we can all make though without falling in the crap and breaking our collective hips. Happy New Year! Look out for your neighbor. Oh, for those wishing to know The Admiral’s report of our whiteout adventure she gives a full report here. |
Date: December 24, 2007
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"Happy Christmas" |
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December 24, Shelter Island I was thinking that there really wasn’t much exciting to blog about until Monday Dec. 17. We launched our winter boat, the Led Zeppelin, and went on a routine run to town for shopping, mail the Christmas cards, get some fuel and the normal mundane town stuff. Sunday we were visited by 40 knot north gales with snarling foaming chop to about 8 foot. Having watched the awesome spectacle of Mother Ocean when she is in a foul mood we double-checked the weather forecast before we ventured out. Naturally, the National Weather Service was ambiguous in their forecast leaving plenty of wiggle room in the event they were dead wrong. We went in with a brisk SE breeze and about two foot chop (they were calling for north winds to 20 knots subsiding in the afternoon). We completed our chores and were ready to leave the harbor for home about 2:15. I called my neighbors on both sides of the Island to check the sea conditions and got favorable reports from both. The wind had changed to north and had been holding a steady breeze at about 12 to 17 knots with three foot seas--no problem. We have been experiencing snow flurries all day but the neighbors confirmed clear visibility. As we headed out of Auke Bay we were descended upon by a thick snow squall limiting our visibility to about 100 feet. I took a compass reading and struck a heading of 240 degrees magnetic as the last point of land disappeared behind us. As the big flakes closed in around us Karen and I joked about the way time and space seems to suspend in these conditions and with any luck we might navigate through a portal and emerge to a tropical paradise. We were half right we did seem to find a portal of sorts but not to a tropical paradise. The next land we spied we were sure was west Shelter. I was surprised that we had drifted north from our course as I had held steady trying not to do just that. No problem, we headed south along shore knowing that we would come to the Navigation Light at SE Shelter soon, see Anchor Point Lodges lights and round the corner following the shore home. As I said, time seems to loose its structure in zero visibility. We could see less than a hundred yards at best and hardly beyond the bow rail most of the time, snow was piling up on the windows and spray was washing them occasionally restricting visibility even more. I reached out the front window to squeegee the side window and my arm bumped the wiper and broke it. Though we could see the shore it was barely visible within the distance it was safe to navigate in order to avoid rocks. I had to stick my head up over the windshield to see and next my hat blew off exposing my head to the wet cold wind. Karen and I both had our pocket watches but they were buried under layers of clothing. We followed the shore south farther than it should have gone. This was our first inkling that we might not be where we should be. Karen called Dean at Anchor Point and asked if his lights were on. Yes, they were, he said, but we probably couldn’t see them in the whiteout. Daylight was waning by now and we had no idea where we were. We followed the shore south some more but I saw nothing familiar. With land on my right heading south there are only two places I could be; Shelter Island or if our heading was a little too south in no visibility we could have passed Shelter in the snow and that would place us at Admiralty heading away from home. It was getting darker with no let up in the snow and still we had no idea where we were. I turned around and headed into the building waves keeping the shore on my left now. After about ten minutes we saw a small hole in the whiteness to the east. We were barely able to discern the mountains behind the glacier for a few moments. It was fuzzy but it was the glacier area. We concluded from the direction we must be between Shelter and town lost in a time/space virago brought on by the whiteout condition . Again we were half right we were indeed lost in a time/space vertigo. I turned and headed south again feeling I must have really gotten off course to the north. We followed the shore line again all the time looking without success for the navigation aids we knew were around us on Portland Island, Shelter, Favorite Reef and Horse Island Reef. Finally as the snow lifted slightly I saw land on my left and right. Islands were on my left. Holly molly there aren’t no islands where I was supposed to be. I must be way off I thought. By this time I have been in touch with Dean on the SE point of Shelter and Jay on the SW point. Both brought out spot lights to give me direction in the now black dark of night. As we pitched in the seas I was thrown against the control box for the engine and pulled out the emergency cut off gizmo which shut the engine down. At this point I should mention that we have what we call an Uh-Oh bag. This is a waterproof bag with flairs, radio, flashlights, matches and fire starter, extra hats and socks and a few tools. We always take this bag in our winter skiff. In the charter boat we have everything electronic we can have. GPS chart plotters, radar, lights, heat depth finder. I can navigate as well with no visibility in that boat as I can on a clear day, just a little slower. This is not the case in the small winter boat. I am strictly visual in the skiff--And we forgot the Uh-Oh bag at home this day so I couldn‘t even see my compass now. Not only that but I couldn’t see to put the shutoff gizmo back in it’s spot so I could restart the engine and my fingers were cold and turning into fat sausages. Tune in next episode and find out if we live or die. Will the fat sausage fingers find the gizmo slot in the dark? Will our neighbors lights guide us home or will we be stuck for the night on the boat freezing in the dark choppy seas? Is it possible to have a white Christmas on the black December night? |
Date: December 16, 2007
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"A moment of Solar Power" |
December 16, 2007 Shelter Island I’m back! Sorry it took so long. I suffered a melt down on my laptop. Thanks Dell. The Dell guy called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to purchase an extension on my warranty before it expired. Nay, I said, you guys are just trying to get an extra buck from me before I expire. I know that guy had a remote control in his hand when he called and bingo--dead computer. Then, of course. I had to deal with Vista incompatibility or planned obsolescence however you wish to view it. In any event we expect to receive our new satellite modem in a week or so and I won’t have to send messages in a bottle to get my ramblings on my blog. The Public Marked went OK. We sold some things but still had lots left over to send as presents. Karen is still trying to get her publisher to get the book right. She is working on her second book. This one is about the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome which the current Iditarod Sled Dog Race commemorates. |
Date: Octobrt 16, 2007
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"Book Cover" |
October 16, 2007 Shelter Island I’m getting calls asking what is going on! Apparently I am behinder than usual on my blog. The Admiral and I have been very busy readying for winter. The Desire is put to sleep. The winter boat is freshened for use. The guest house will be winterized today. Karen is negotiating the final lay out of her book. We are hoping to have it on the shelves by turkey day. I spent a week in Anchorage politicking for more fish and now I’m working in the knife shop getting ready for the Juneau Public Market Thanksgiving weekend. Karen will premiere her new line of cat jewelry there and I will show my knives and with some luck we will have “The Adventures of Rooty Tubers, Gnomes of the North” available for the Market. We are still waiting to hear from you on next season. Our special is still available but hurry to insure your dates. |
Date: Sept 5, 2007
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"Thanks fish" |
Sept. 5, 2007 Shelter Island 2007 season is gone! It is a bittersweet ending each year. On the one hand, we will miss our fishing friends. On the other hand, we like the time off in winter. Thank you all for making our 07 season great and for the bounty you brought. Thanks to the earth for producing the fish that allows us to live our dream. Such a powerful wheel of life turns these waters. Southeast Alaska produces the nutrients that feed the salmon, halibut, the whales and other marine mammals, the eagles and bears gorge in the abundance of food energy. The land and waters sustain Life from all over this side of the planet as great migrations arrive here to feed each summer. The Inside passage is truly one of the earth’s greatest caldrons of seething production. After watching for thirty years we remain in awe of the spectacle of life, on a small island, near a glacier, were the fish run by. Thanks for sharing it with us. As we review the books at season end it is plain to us that we will need to raise the rates again for 2008 season. We have tried to keep our rates down but I’m afraid the oil companies haven’t. We haven’t crunched all the numbers so we don’t know what the 08 rates will be yet. We are sure however, there will be an increase. For a limited time we are offering a special price to those who sign up early for 2008. From now until December 1, you can book 2008 at 2007 prices. See the Rates page for details. |
Date: July 29, 2007
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"Happy Tenth John" |
July 29, 2007 Shelter Island Blind-man John shows a nice early Coho he caught near Rocky Island in late July. (Rocky Island, in the background with the green marker, is the rock the paddle-wheeler hit in May) This is John’s 10th year at Whale’s Eye. He found us on a day charter off a cruse ship and has returned every season since. He’s just part of the family now. Thanks John. Your visits have marked the passing of the seasons and now the passing of a decade. We look forward to many more years of fishing together. Nice Coho John. |
Date: June 30, 2007
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"Halibut Delight" |
June 30, 2007 Shelter Island The Raptor Center folks told us that Lucille would return to her home and they were right--she is back! We spotted her sporting her raptor center bracelet while feeding on a halibut carcass on the beach. We were delighted to see her back and celebrate the Great Circle of Raptor Rehabilitation. Lacking fluency in eagle speak I cannot say with perfect authority, however being a frequent and long term observer, I can speculate that there are similarities between the nuances of eagle culture and human culture. Take the feeding ritual for example. Martha Stewart would probably cringe at the manners displayed by eagles feasting on a washed up seal carcass. Rest assured, however the eagles have the presentation quite under control. Each cackle and threat is meticulously choreographed to bring the most nutritional value to the protagonist while exercising momentary dominion over the feast; not unlike our politicians at the pork barrel. |
Date: June 6, 2007
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"Free at last" |
June 6, 2007 Shelter Island Unlike Paris Hilton, Lucille served her time in captivity. Also unlike Paris, she is fully recovered. The Juneau Raptor Center (link on my "Links" page) called and invited us to her release event. The Admiral got to open the cage and let her go, only fitting as she was the one who stuffed her in the cat carrier to begin with (Karma repaid). I stood by to photograph and failed miserably. I was allowed to recite my poem to the gathered throngs. All went well and the old gal shot out of that cage like she was propelled; a bird with a mission. Lucky for us a spectator, Erica Scales, got a good shot and shared it with us. Here is my poetic interpretation of the event taken from my first public reading.
Ode to Lucille Here’s to Lucille, the eagle. May she always fly higher than a beagle. May she dine on fresh fish and seagull. May she steal many meals from the otters and the seals, And may she soar wherever she feels. |
Date: May 15, 2007
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"First ship of the season" | 
"First shipwreck of the season" |
May 15, 2007 Shelter Island The Golden Princess, to large to fit in the Panama Canal, dwarfs the wilderness out front. Living in a tourist town and operating a tourist related business we like to welcome visitors and try to show them the best we have, however, I wonder when enough is enough. This thing is taller than the largest building in Juneau. It carries 4 thousand tourists and crew. It has a small golf course, a large casino, three pools, restaurants, movie theaters, and boasts cheep holidays. It is 951 feet long 118 feet wide and it burns untold millions of gallons of fuel a year. And about 5 of them show up each day all summer long! They really don’t do anything of purpose but function instead strictly for amusement. I got to wonder if the starving folks in South America or Ethiopia or Somalia are amused. Even more I wonder if my great grandchildren will be amused that we burnt all their fuel and fouled their air eating and gambling up the Inside Passage. Lets hope they miss all the rocks as they party along the wilderness. Oops! I guess I hoped too soon. The Empress of the North just hit a marked, charted, lit, well known rock! It boasts “state of the art” propulsion in addition to the paddle wheel. They say the z drive propeller pods rotate 360 degrees and give it “unequal maneuverability.” Heck, it don’t take no unequal maneuverability to hit a rock. Any idiot can do that with just about anything. I wonder how far those pods rotate now? |
Date: April 30, 2007
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"Goose hunt" |
April 30, 2007 Shelter Island I don’t want to say it too loud but spring may be arriving. It hasn’t snowed in several days. The sun is waking me up at obscene hours in the morning and staying around till past my bed time. I’m down to a light pair of long handles and a summer coat. Our six Canada Geese are back for their annual three week grazing and hollering convention on the beach. As soon as the meadow grasses sprout they will relocate and begin their nesting, setting and hatching rituals up there and we will all sleep a little better The humming birds are fighting over the feeders and the screaming yellow legged rock hoppers are screaming and hopping around on the rocks. But the real kicker that makes me think it might be spring is, I saw Larry Edfelt, a local salmon moocher, fueling his boat at the dock today. You can set your tide calendar by Larry’s appearance on the water each spring. It’s not like Larry shows up when the fish arrive, rather the fish look for Larry to know it is OK to swim by yet. Not that I’m insinuating Larry is old—he is not old—well not that old anyway. The fish actually have been migrating by a few years before Larry started fishing for them—I think. Well, it is what it is. I’m betting on Larry and declaring the arrival of spring. |
Date: April 5, 2007
April 5, 2007 Shelter Island Thick overcast blots the sharp edges of reality. Rotting snow withdraws its forces exposing last year’s forgotten underbelly. Fish slowly migrate to their prescribed destination. It’s springtime on the cusp of the civilized world. |
"Departure" |
"Return" |
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Wow! Life has been flying by at record speed. I have some updates for you all. First, the photo of us departing the Island for Mexico; Yup, the Admiral, the dog, the eagle and all. We had to “hot load’ the helicopter in less than optimal conditions. In the rush to jump in myself, I inadvertently lightened our load by depositing my cell phone on the beach—great start. Neighbor Jay assisted in our hasty departure and got this picture from the porch. He later returned and rescued my phone off the beach and again to dig us a trail to the house on our return. Thanks Jay. Life was wonderful in Old Mexico, hot days and cool evenings in San Felipe. The soft Mexican way of life—why hurry. The contrast is startling. Arizona was startling also with everybody in a fit to go nowhere. When it was time to return we were more than ready. Our last day in Phoenix we saw 99 degrees. I almost expired. I had to peel my clothing down to the legal limit of the law, not pretty. |
"Shopping in Mexico " |
"Big Frogs" |
| After our return I jetted up to Anchorage for a week to politic for sport fishing rights, wa’da week that was. We were able to do some good for our industry but I’d rather clean the septic tank on the Island than co-mingle with the poli-ticks at the Anchorage Hilton. You get your hands dirty both ways but at least on the Island I’d no longer be up to my neck. All that done, we still have two feet of snow on the ground. As it turns out the eagle we rescued was likely our Lucille. Latest report from the raptor center has her no longer docile. She was starving and had sat in the tree so long in the freezing wind that she could not take flight once she came down to munch on our freezer scraps. The raptor center took x-rays and blood tests and has been feeding her yummy protein rich food and vitamins. She is recovering quite well. They will release her as soon as natural food arrives for the season to insure her survival. Fred is flying around looking for her still, it’s that time of year. He knows we had something to do with her disappearance. He witnessed the capture. The raptor folks said we could take part in the release and photograph her then. They said she will return to her Fred and their nest next door. Fred and Lucille have been our neighbors for over 20 years now I sure would not like to see anything bad happen to them. We are starting to see deer tracks in the garden again. We even saw a set of small tracks perhaps Rhody? And so life on a small Island at the cusp of the civilized world moves to Spring and thoughts of fresh fish filling the waters and our tummies. See you soon |
Date: Feb.20, 2007
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"Shelter eagle" |
Feb. 20, 2007 Shelter Island 6:30 PM As I write this the adrenalin is still coursing through my veins. Life on a small Island at the cusp of the civilized world has its challenges. We have been getting ready to take our annual sun break to Mexico. We were supposed to be in town today but the North Wind has been exercising its dominion over Island people and we have been unable to launch a boat. Neighbor Jay volunteered to take us but his boat is 2 feet smaller than our winter boat. The helicopter is due about 10:00 tomorrow. It ain’t easy stuffing the Admiral, the dog, me and all our stuff in a small chopper on the beach in 30 knot winds. The days are getting longer but darkness does come each evening about 5:00. We have been throwing old freezer food out on the beach for the birds. This time of year is hard on them and it is time to clean the freezer. We have been watching the ravens see how many herring they can stuff in their mouths at once and the eagles soaring. I have been trying to get a good photo for my last blog before I leave. So, just before dark what comes hopping down the beach for a bite to eat but the symbol of America. “Well that’s odd,” says the Admiral, “Don’t them things usually fly in?” "Yup, sure do,” grumbles the Captain. They say recognition is the first step to survival and in time we recognized something was wrong and we contacted the Juneau Raptor Center. The eagle had a broken wing. It was up to the Island Animal Rescue Team (IART) again. After a brief strategy consultation from the Raptor folks we sprung into action. We called neighbor Jay for reinforcements, just in case. With salmon net in hand I located the creature about half way to the waterfall trying to find refuge in the forest fringe. My mission was to keep him in an open place where I could net him. His mission was not to let me do that. I was hoping my reinforcements would show up before the moment of truth but that was not to happen. After a few tries at escaping he just kind of resigned to his fate. I slipped the net over his head and began apologizing. The Admiral soon was on the scene with a blanket and heavy gloves. Our new guest is in a plastic kennel in the shower waiting for transport to the raptor center on the helicopter tomorrow. What a rush. He is a beautiful fellow and looks to be in fine shape. He is not much liking his new surrounding but he will be safe and warm until he is delivered into the hands of the professionals tomorrow. |
Date: Jan. 24, 2007
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"Waiting for season" |
Jan. 24, 2007 Shelter Island We thought we would provide some space in this page to introduce our staff. Meet Kayla our professional greeter who commands a lookout post on the front deck waiting for our return each day from fishing. As soon as she hears our boat (long before it is in sight) she takes up residence at the landing area to count fish and receive tidings of the day’s catch. She monitors the day end photo shoot and then sees that everyone has made a comfortable transition to land. She is also eager to accompany anyone desirous of a walk to the waterfall. Here is a shot of Kayla at her post waiting for next season.
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Date: Dec. 23, 2006
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"Road Crew" |
Dec. 23, 2006 Shelter Island I have been desperately pawing through photos to find something cheery to post for Christmas. We got a new camera to take better photos for our web site but first we need a colorful subject to take. The problem is, it has been really gloomy. Not us, the weather. It has been raining all December which has made the six feet of winter wonderland we had look like six inches of pooh. The only color besides gray tones I can find is the blue tarp covering the boat and the red plastic gas cans that have reemerged from the snow piles. The Admiral and I go out each day seeking to capture full color dynamic Alaskan photos like in the magazines and when I come home and look at them they look black and white. It's that fuzzy bi-polar thing I have touched on before in this blog. We were getting a bit discouraged when the Admiral said, "Ya know! True color is something gleaned through the window of the Soul." Of course this left me dumbfounded and confused. So she expounded by saying, "We see, what we want to see." Which left me more confused so she said, "Come let me show you." And low and behold she showed me. And the spirit of Christmas descended upon me like-Tinker Bell on Captain Hook. And I was smitten. And I found my true colors. The great news is we are on the up side of the big fuzzy. Thirteen seconds of day light we gained today. I hear the faint call of a far off salmonoid. They are somewhere between Russia and Cape Fairweather. It won't be long now! Have you made your reservation yet? They have. Merry Christmas and a GREAT new year to you. |
Date: Dec. 10, 2006
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"How much?" |
"Four days later, not much" |
"Snow slid off the roof" |
"But not all the roof" |
Dec. 10, 2006 Shelter Island Wow what a month November was! NNNaaassstttyyy! We got 51 inches of snow--ABOVE NORMAL! There are some things we like above normal, our kids IQ for example but snowfall is not what I like above normal. We also got a below normal in the temperature department. In fact it was the coldest November ever recorded! Burr, the mean temp was 19 degrees and that was a mean temp especially when combined with the high winds that prevailed all month. The first two days of Dec. delivered an additional 2 feet of snow making the total accumulation a couple of feet over poor Rhody's head. The next 4 days of Dec. brought warmer temps and almost 2 1/2 inches of rain. Needless to say things look pretty soggy round here. We are down to about a foot on the ground in the forest with more on the beach and large piles where I stacked the stuff with the front loader. It is like walking through soggy mashed potatoes. Hopefully the thaw is enough to give the deer a break. We are nearly done with Christmas cards. I put the Newsletter in the card this year because I am not sure how regularly we can get to town. We will try a run to town to mail them tomorrow. My Blog is starting to look like a weather diary. I guess that is the dominant factor in ones winter-time life when one dwells on the western edge of the North Pacific, far from the civilized world, in a large archipelago, on a small un-peopled island near a glacier, where the fish run by. Hope you're having as much fun as we are. |
"Rhody and Jay" |
Nov. 24, 2006 Shelter Island 'Ol Rhody seems to be getting into everything lately. He snuck into neighbor Ron's garden today and couldn't figure a way out. Ron is enjoying the sunny life in Mexico right now so we assembled the Island Animal Rescue Team (IART) to intervene in his behalf. Neighbor Jay came strolling by giving new meaning to the term brisk walk (its about 6 above). When he got to Ron's garden, located near our guest house, he discovered Rhody's predicament and called on his cell whereupon the IART spontaneously assembled and prepared to muster an appropriate response. Our mission was to open the gate. We did but the little bugger didn't quite figure it out. So neighbor Jay gave him a lift through the open arms of freedom and he scampered off thanking us graciously for our concern. The Admiral served as photographer and interpreter as, of the three IART members present, she alone speaks Deer. And the Uncharted Voyage continues. |
Date: Nov. 23, 2006
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"Rhody" |
Nov. 23, 2006 Shelter Island A high pressure ridge has moved in from the Arctic dropping the temperatures to near zero at night and bringing clear sunny days. The wind is still howling and vessel traffic is at a minimum. The combination of sunshine and wind have allowed us to make the most of our solar and wind power saving on diesel which is still near $3.50 a gallon. We are enjoying the bright days and taking this time to catch up on "round the house" stuff. I got my second deer yesterday with the help of neighbor Jay. The deer are coming out on the beach to eat whatever the wind uncovers. This weather will have a drastic effect on deer populations if it keeps up. Their high value food is locked under three feet of show while temperatures and snow travel force them to burn more calories to stay alive. The eventual net loss will slowly emaciate them. We have had a yearling browsing near the house for days now. Karen finally put her foot down when it started devouring her rhododendron bush out front. She fenced the bush in and named the deer Rhody. Here is a photo of Rhody. We hope you all are warm and safe this Thanksgiving. We certainly feel we have much to be thankful for. Our best wishes go out to you all. For making our dream of a life in the wilderness come true we thank you who visit us in a warmer time. Without the income we derive from your visits we would still be plugging away in the salt mine. To the salmon runs and the flat halibut that bring nourishment to us and the great forces that balance all things accordingly we pay humble homage. Happy Thanksgiving from Karen, Rick, Jess, Kayla the dog, our two cats, a dozen or so Gabby Jays and Rhody the deer. |
Date: Nov. 19, 2006
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"Winter Storm Warnings in Effect!" |
MARINE FORCAST PKZ013-150100-SOUTHERN LYNN CANAL-400 AM AST TUE NOV 14 2006
...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT...
...GALE WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT...
.TODAY...N WIND 40 KT. SEAS 7 FT. SNOW. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY.
.TONIGHT...N WIND 35 KT. SEAS 7 FT. SNOW IN THE EVENING. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY.
.WED...N GALE TO 40 KT. SEAS 8 FT. SNOW.
.WED NIGHT...N GALE TO 35 KT. SEAS 7 FT. SNOW.
.THU...N WIND 30 KT. SEAS 6 FT.
.FRI THROUGH SAT NIGHT...N GALE TO 35 KT. SEAS 7 FT.
Nov. 19, 2006 Shelter Island Karen and I sit at the window spellbound watching the awesome forces of nature rock our world. There is not much we can do. To go outside we have to dress like we are taking a walk on the moon. The view at the window holds us like a Steven King thriller. Huge combers march by like infinite columns of white capped storm troopers goose stepping past the Fuhrer. An occasional waterspout can be seen belly dancing between the marching colums. Blowing snow occasionally obscures the parade adding a dreamlike fuzziness to the motion picture window. At these temperatures any spray lifting from the sea turns immediately to ice on any boats unlucky or stupid enough to be out. Our first winter on the island, 1994, ice buildup from freezing spray capsized a 95 ft. tugboat in the channel in front of our house. It was a clear cold day and we watched as a Coast Guard helo dropped a rescue swimmer into the water to retrieve the body of the captain. At about 40 knots (45 mph) the tops start to blow off the waves and streak across the space between. This phenomena, known as spindrift, has been a dividing point to mariners for centuries, time to write that last letter home and place it in a bottle. If the wind continues to build the spindrift eventually obliterates everything but the mumbled prayers on the lips of the dying. We aren't there yet. The Admiral went out to tie down the corners of the solar panel arrays to anchors we placed in the ground for just such an occasion. We are afraid the panels might end up down in Seattle. Wind chills are way below zero. Since about 9:00 last night, (it is now 9:00 AM) T-Rex has been bellowing like an enraged banshee. T-Rex is our affectionate name for our wind turbine. The thin carbon-fiber blades stall and warble when the wind gets above 30 mph to prevent it from spinning so fast it self destructs. This warbling effect is like three two foot by two inch vocal chords. The resultant sound wakes our neighbors out of a dead sleep a mile down the beach. The dog hides under the bed. It can be heard clearly all the way to Ken Skaggs place two miles away on the south end of the Island. It is an angry animal sound that surges in pitch with the wind gusts. The only thing I can compare it to is T-Rex in a very foul mood like in the movie Jurassic Park and the thing lives only 100 feet from my bedroom. So much for positive thinking and the National Weather Service predictions of a mild winter; temperatures dropped and the wind started blowing on the first of November. We managed to sneak into town in a lull on the eighth. Then the Old Man clobbered us with a blizzard on the twelfth, three feet of snow drifting to five. We have been digging out of repeated blizzards ever since. Juneau's claiming 5 feet since the storm began. Last night we started to get some real weather. It is a good thing we cut down nearly all the trees that were close enough to smash our house and kill us a few years ago. Winds are gusting over 60 knots. Since I started writing this it started snowing again and white out conditions have brought visibility down to below 100 feet. Here are some photos of the last few weeks-enjoy. |
"The Glacier takes a dip" |
"She's about 140 feet" |
"Snoooooowy" |
"Tea on the deck anyone?" |
"Digging out" |
"Snow burn" |
Date: Nov. 4, 2006
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"Woman's work" |
Nov. 5, 2006 Shelter Island Wow! Where does the time go, November already? We have been tending to our winter preparation. Winter lasts a long time 'round here so we do a lot of prep for it. Crisp clear days and starry hot tub nights have been the gracing us with temps dipping into the teens at night and daytime highs into the 40s. We get some nice sunsets about 3:30 now. I'm a year older since my last blog entry, double nickels. I see little choice but to follow the calendar. Good thing my assistant does all the heavy lifting. |
"God's work" |
I have been working with the J-birds this Fall. It has been kind'a tricky but I have the little thieves eating out of my hand now. I'm not sure it was a wise use of time but it beats doing all the heavy lifting. |
"My work" |
Date: Oct. 5, 2006
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"Busy waterfall" |
Oct. 5, 2006 Shelter Island Ocean storms continue to wash over the Island like waves basting a fat seal on a shallow rock. We are preparing for winter, splitting wood, tucking things in and taking frequent hot tubs and walks to the waterfall. Life is a dreamy wash of gray days and lengthening nights. Jess has packed off to Arizona for the winter hoping to find some sunshine. As I write this steam rises from a hot cup of blueberry tea laced with pure Tupelo Honey sent to us from our friend and guest from Florida. Thanks Roy! We look forward to a long peaceful winter. Life is good. |
Date: Sept. 17, 2006
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"Silver Cloudset." |
Sept. 17, 2006 Shelter Island As fall’s yellows browns and grays overwhelm summers greens reds and blues the geese are holding court in the flyways. Ever notice how a goose can screech and fly at the same time? Ever try to run and yell at the same time? I don’t know how they do it. It seems that these long distance flyers don’t particularly like their seasonal move. They seem to complain the entire trip. I wonder if someone ever invented a goose valium perhaps it would improve their quality of life. They would still have to move every 6 months but it might be less stressful. It is like their wings are attached to their vocal cords. The Admiral harbors a theory that they aren’t really honking with their mouths it’s just that their wings are rusty and squeak. I have a dissenting opinion. Nothing with that much grease inside could squeak that bad outside. Someone put forth the notion once that the geese don’t really migrate they just kind’a hover and the earth tilts under them. I don’t know if that hypothesis holds water either. I sure am glad the geese come and go. It brings wonder to this pondersome blue orb we inhabit. |
Date: Sept. 2, 2006
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"The Admiral takes advantage of a rare moment of sunlight to reacquaint herself with what’s become of her garden." |
Sept. 2, 2006 Shelter Island September second, we are in post-season decompression. Today is warm and sunny. In August it rained 30 out of 31 days nearly 15 inches total--gales prevailed. The highest temperature recorded in Juneau for the month was 64 degrees. The last day of August we had 1.5 inches of rain and the first of September we had 2 inches. Though today the world is at peace we are suffering post traumatic shock. The young people are starting to call momentary patches of clear sky, “blue clouds.” Note that my description of the sky cover above says “broken overcast.” I hope it isn’t fixed too soon. The summer of aught 6 will go down as a thinly disguised winter and now in this moment of grace we look forward to the other shoe dropping. For some reason when we have a mild winter here people say, “Look out we will be paying for all this nice weather come summer.” When we have a bad summer, however, nowhere does one hear people predicting a good winter—noooo—they all say, “Look out now, if summer was this bad, winter will be horrible!” So here we are waiting the proverbial “other shoe.” I suppose one could also ponder the options of having just one shoe. It only works for the few of us who posses only one foot. Therefore I guess if we are to get anywhere with two feet let the other shoe drop. So be it…. Once the demon is barefoot we attack!! Aught 6 was my 14th season on the water professionally and the coldest, wettest, most miserable summer I’ve seen in near 30 years in Southeast Alaska. I guess you have to explore the limits sometime. As our favorite son Tricky Dick once said, “In order to appreciate the view from the tops of the highest mountains one must venture to the depths of the darkest valleys.” (Or some such a thing.) On the positive side the fishing was good for the most part. We all made it safely through the summer. I guess I should be content to count my blessing; things can always get worse. Having paid my "weather bill" this summer, I for one, will be looking forward to a warm dry season next summer. |
Date: April. 16, 2006
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"Junk." |
April. 16, 2006 Shelter Island I hate to speak too soon but I think we cheated death for one more winter. I realize we can’t win this game but we can try to postpone the inevitable until the last minute. We have been revving up for the fishys. I got my Cabela’s box the other day. I’m always so inspired by a box from Cabela’s. Spring New line on the reels; bottom paint on Desire. Oh how good it feels; fish frying on the fire. Blossoms on the apple tree; nothing more to wish. I’ll probably never make a living at poetry; guess I better to fish. There you have it folks. I’m not inspired to song often so treasure this moment. See Y’all soon. |
Date: Feb. 12, 2006
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"Black wolf" |
"Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" |
Feb. 12, 2006 Shelter Island Well, I have been flakey on keeping up my blog! My only excuse is that I have been occupied with other things. The winter has been so mild that I have spent days and weeks landscaping with the backhoe. You regulars will be impressed. I am also making knives like crazy. I have a table at Juneau’s boat and outdoor show so I am under pressure to produce. If that isn’t enough Karen woke up one day and declared she was going to write a book. Many people say that but she actually did it so I have spent the last month or so helping her edit. Now she is off for three weeks visiting her family so I’m forced to tend to my own needs cooking, cleaning and feeding these worthless animals around here. Tails of woe… To entertain you all in the absence of my ramblings here are some photos my neighbor Raymond Huffman took of the black wolf that has been hanging out at the Mendenhall Glacier. He seems to be a loaner but he has been seen regularly for about three years now. The fish will be here soon. |
Date: Dec.23, 2005
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"Winter sky." |
Dec. 23, 2005 Shelter Island Kawabunga! We gained 3 seconds of daylight today. All us Shelter Islanders mumbled a word of thanks. As we in the north streak toward the light at the dazzling speed of dark, the King Salmon are rounding the tip of Unamak Island! My sources, which I must not reveal, have them on a bearing of 168 (magnetic) making .02481932 knots (D2 or half the speed of dark). By doubling the angle of the adipose fin, allowing for the drift, subtracting the set, I have them arriving at the confluence Saginaw Channel and Favorite Reef at 4:17 Pm Greenwich Mean Time one May 14th --just in time for dinner. Happy Solstice Merry Christmas
No! We’re fine. Really! |
Date: Nov.21, 2005
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"As bright as it gets." |
Nov. 21, 2005 Shelter Island I'm not sure what it is. It is so subtle. It isn’t darkness nor is it light. Some here call it greylight. It can go on for days, weeks; in fact, with only small breaks, it prevails for months. I’ll call it the Great Dimness. It is like being stuck inside a fuzzy black and white TV or an old Charley Chan movie—very dim. Last Thursday Point Barrow experienced sunset. The sun will not rise there again until some time in February. I am very pleased not to be in Point Barrow. We have experienced about 7 inches of rain in fewer days. The wind has ripped from every direction. Our last glimpse of the Yellow Orb was due to a momentary cloud failure. The Admiral and I wonder what life on Earth is like. Have a great Thanksgiving, we will. Adios from the Great Dimness. Not really alive but not dead either. |
Date: Nov.3, 2005
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"Moma's Island SUV" |
Nov. 3, 2005 Shelter Island The admiral occasionally lets me drive. Boy can we move stuff now. This ranks among three biggest events since we bought the property 20 years ago. First was the wheel barrel, then the 4 wheeler and now the back hoe. Seems we could have used this a long time ago… We got it to make some of the work around here a little easier but it’s very presence seems to have generated a lot of work we weren’t even dreaming of when we got her—go figure. Notice I have my automatic inflating life jacket on and the Kayak on the roof just in case of a rogue wave. You never can tell!
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Date: Oct.10, 2005
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"Our first apples harvest" |
Oct 10, 2005 Shelter Island I guess I have been a little delinquent in keeping up my blog. Life has been exciting lately and I have been living instead of writing. What can I say. I’ll try and catch you all up in the next few months. It blew like crazy last night. Tree limbs parted and the door blew off the downstairs area. The carbon fiber blades on the new wind turbine kept bending back and stalling which they are supposed to do in high wind to avoid damage but is sounds like a T-Rex being slaughtered on the porch. It is really LOUD and quite unnerving going off all night with the big gusts. Between that and the limbs and cones falling on the roof it was a pretty restless night. Fortunately it was mostly bark and little bite. We survived just fine. When I hear about things down in New Orleans and Huston I count my blessing that I live in Alaska where the weather is well recognized as the enemy and accounted for. 2005 was a great season. The fishing was incredible, the guests were fun. We still find it hard to believe we can make a living doing something we enjoy as much as this. Thanks to all of you who have helped make our dream come true. On September 1st we had Larry and Gail Lunn both master knife makers from Florida come stay with us. Gail stayed a week and Larry stayed for three weeks and taught Jess and I how to make folding knives. It was a real learning experience for everyone. You can check out their knives at Http://www.lunnknives.com Since they left we have been getting the boat and guest house ready for winter. We’re almost ready. Here is a photo of Jess and my first knives. |
"Rick's Folder" |
"Jessey's Folder" |
Date: March 20, 2005 Spring Equinox
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"Tell us what you really think Jess" |
March. 20, 2005 Shelter Island We are busy cleaning and burning and picking up after winter’s storms. We lost several trees; there is fire wood to gather and fishing line to be wound onto the reels. It is always a good feeling to be on the waking up side of the big freeze. The geese are returning and the crocus are blooming, looks like we slid by the Old Man once again. Kaw-a-bunga! |
Date: Feb. 24, 2005
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"Viva Mexico?" |
Feb. 24, 2005 Shelter Island The Whales Eye word for February is “chewing tacos.” We are sipping margaritas and watching the moon rise over the Sea of Cortez. Wish you were here. A mere two thousand miles due south of Whale’s Eye the ocotillo are in bloom the steaks are gently sizzling on the grill and I have shorts and a t-shirt on and I ain’t even blue. Eat your heart out Pittsburg I here you are getting a foot of fresh snow tonight. |
Date: Feb. 4, 2005
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"Who me?" |
"shovel what?" |
Feb. 4, 2005 Shelter Island Winter has been holding a tight grip on Shelter Island. As last summer was the warmest in recent history this winter has been the stormiest. We have been blessed that we have not been caught out in our small winter skiff in bad water so far—and there has been plenty of bad water so far. We try to get to town about once a week to check the mail and hit Costco for grub. It looks like we won’t make it this week as the blizzards will not relent. Snowfall has broken records which has kept us busy shoveling “tunnels” to the various out buildings and a bout 70 feet of beach and driveway to launch the boat. Often people ask us, “What do you do in the winter when there are no tourists?” The answer, of course, is try to survive. Hay, it’s a full time job! Here are a few pictures of our winter wonderland. I have heard that the Aleut word for March means “to gnaw straps.” Of course that was long ago and as we sit by a warm fire and watch the storms rage by we prefer the gentler term “to read good books”. The days are getting longer and soon warmth will return and the long darkness will be a faint memory. Life in the North is truly a bi-polar existence. |
Date: Jan. 11, 2005
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"The waterfall" |
Jan. 11, 2005 Shelter Island After a tumultuous holiday season with north winds gusting to 65 knots on Christmas Eve, we are finally getting some of that calm sunny but cold winter weather we love. We are quite thankful to be enjoying calm seas and a sunny day especially after hearing about the tsunamis in Indonesia and fifteen feet of snow in Reno. That was yesterday! Today it is 5 degrees f. North winds to 40. The channel is frothed with foam and heavy freezing spray. The ravens are all puffed up against the cold their sense of humor left hanging in the wind. Brrrrrrr. |
Date: Dec. 2, 2004
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"Neighbor Jay took this shot of Karen and I and our winter transportation" |
Dec. 2, 2004 Shelter Island What a winter so far. We’ve been busy outside upgrading the lodge making improvements to the electrical system, the grounds and living spaces. So now that the cold weather is finally arriving I’ll have time to sit inside for overdue upgrade the web site and more entries in the web log—right! Not to be! Of all things, the satellite we bounce off for our internet got struck by a meteor or something and here I sit looking at blinking lights. I’m going to have to copy to a disk, stuff it in a bottle and toss it in the channel hoping someone down wind will find it and upload it to my site. This is a giant leap backwards in communications technology. If you are reading this now it is because someone in Skagway found my bottle and uploaded. Stay tuned for the next bottle installment. |
Date: Sept. 27 2004
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"A moment's rest" |
Sept. 27, 2004 Shelter Island Here I set pondering the 2004 season, in full regalia, coffee cup by my side, at my station on the stern of the Desire waiting for the next fish--Wadda year! Our ninth season as a lodge, it’s a good feeling to know we made it. We have slowly but surely made progress from those first few hungry years when we didn’t know if we would survive. We have built a new guest house, an addition to the lodge, made many improvements to the grounds and progressed to a new boat. We’ve met lots of great people and made some lasting friendships. I am a better fisherman than I was nine years ago and Karen is a better chef. Over all we feel satisfied with our choice to leap from the civilized world of the 20th Century and balance here on the cusp in the 21st. Thank you all who have shared our home and this awesome, watery wonderland we live in. Thank you for making our dreams possible. We hope to be sharing our neighborhood with you for years to come. In the next few weeks I will be putting together a highlights 2004 page with lots of pictures of the people and who shared a few days of their lives with us and the fish they encountered. It was the warmest sunniest year on record, probably not a good omen but I sure did enjoy the sunshine. |
Date: May 5th 2004
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"On the water" |
May 5, 2004 Shelter Island After three weeks of lying in mud puddles to bottom paint, wiring and rigging and drilling holes in shiny new aluminum we launched Desire yesterday May 4th. She’s not quite ready to fish yet but she is at least wet. Now comes the fun part, learning how to read all the fancy new gages and handle the engines. Approaching the dock is currently intimidating (I’ll get over it). The spring Kings are starting to show up (the second pre-ordained happening in the great circle of seemingly unrelated events) so we’ll be fishing in a few days. KAWABUNGA!! |
Date: April. 18th 2004
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"The new boat 'Desire' as it arrived in Juneau" |
April 18, 2004 Shelter Island One of the pre-ordained events has materialized. The new boat is here and Jess and I are busy installing new stuff on it. She's 33 feet from bow to propeller with a 9'6" beam. There is enough fishing room to hold square dances on the back deck and the cabin is spacious. With two 150 HP Yamahas on back we don't know if she'll float or fly. We haven’t had her in the water yet so it is a presumption at this point. It will probably take a couple of more weeks to have her ready for the water. Now if the other two ingredients show up (the fish and you) the "great circle of seemingly unrelated events" will be complete. Let’s do it. |
Date: Feb. 23rd 2004
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"Neighbor Jay took this 'out front' shot last summer" |
February 23, 2004 Shelter Island As I write this, three seeming unrelated events are occurring that will later crystallize to reveal a grand design. In a small town on the northwest coast a craftsman is skillfully welding flat sheets of aluminum together to form a sturdy vessel for the pursuit of happiness. Three thousand miles away a large school of salmonoids, heeding an ancient primal instinct buried deep in their pea sized brains, just hung a left at a fateful juncture in the central Gulf of Alaska. Eight thousand miles from this school of fish a working man in Middle America is patently maneuvering through traffic on the way home from a hard day at the office. As these events precede the fate of the sturdy vessel, the noble fish and the working man will unfold into a common destiny that will culminate in a delicious feast in celebration of the "great circle of seemingly unrelated events". I hope you will be here. |
Date: Jan,9 2004
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Date: Jan. 26th 2004
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"Moon and Venus from the hot tub" 1-26-04 |
January 26, 2004 Shelter Island As we advance steadily toward summer (gaining nearly 5 minutes per day now) our hopes and anticipations are reflected in this photo of the sunset over Admiralty Island. May the year unfold as brightly as this the first new moon of 2004, may Venus, the goddess of love rather then Mars the god of war preside over the new year, and may the fish be as numerous as the stars on a clear night.
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"Moonshine on the Chilkats" 1-9-04 |
January 9, 2004 Shelter Island A moment of grace. I guess one of the blessings when one lives in the northern latitudes is that although we don’t get much sunshine in winter we do get a lot of moonshine. However, the moon is more fickle then the sun. She doesn’t show her face on a regular, daily schedule like her counterpart. When she does show her presence its worth the wait. |
Date: Jan,3 2004
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"Red sky at 3:00 P.M." 1-3-04 |
January 3, 2004 Shelter Island As the sun sinks slowly into the southwestern horizon our PBY Catalina whirly-gig makes another perfect landing in the crimson waters out front or hits the rocks. Old Alaskan bush pilots say a good landing is one you can walk away from—a perfect landing is when you can reuse the plain. Come back often and see if the PBY is reusable. |
Date: Dec.29,2003
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"Winter Crabbing" 12-29-03 |
December 29, 2003 Shelter Island There was a brief cloud failure today. Jessey and I were crossing the channel. A radiant, glowing orb appeared on the southern horizon. It baffled and near blinded us. Before we could get a fix on it the cloud grid was restored and the apparition vanished. Life on a small island at the fifty-eighth parallel returned to normal. |
Date: Dec.21,2003
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"Noonday Shadows" 12-21-03 | |
December 21, 2003 Shelter Island Living in the northern latitudes one never forgets what side of the daylight slope one is on. Year rounders have a kind of nuclear clock that ticks off the gained or lost minutes each day. Daylight or the lack there of is an all pervasive part of our lives. We are either gleefully sliding into summer or we are grimly trudging into the great darkness. Doctors call it seasonal effect disorder. We call it cabin fever. Winter solstice is the sweat that breaks the fever and leads us down the road to recovery. Unfortunately there is no vaccine though many of us run for the south for a couple of weeks of solar treatments in winter. This photo, taken at noon, shows the shadows from a sun that hovers near the horizon. It was taken on one of the rare winter days that were not overcast. Hot damn! Summer, here we come. |
Date: Nov 20,2003
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"PBY Catalina Icing" 11-19-03 |
November 20, 2003 Shelter Island Old Man Winter came to call. We are out splitting and stacking firewood today and preparing to hunker down for the big darkness. A few Humpbacks are still feeding out in the channel. Soon they will depart for warmer waters. I'm purchasing equipment for the new boat. I'll see if I can get a photo of one they built like mine to post on this page. I can tell this winter is going to zoom past. Soo much to do. We went from 4 inches of rain in three days with temps in the 40s to 20 degrees with 30-knot north winds over night. Everything is icy cold now. |
Date: Oct.23,
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"waterfall" 10-23-03 |
October 23, 2003 Shelter IslandHere is a shot of the waterfall just north of the lodge. The leaves are nearly gone. I'll take more photos as it freezes over and shifts shape to adjust to the rainfall. The BIG news is I plunked money down on a new boat! Ca-chink! Ca-chink! She'll be aluminum, 27 feet. I'm having her built down near Seattle. She'll have lots of bells and whistles and be leading edge on safety features. We are taking suggestions for names any ideas? |
Date: Oct.16,
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"Rainbow over cornflakes" 10-13-03 |
October 16, 2003 Shelter IslandThings are moving right along here. We are shopping for a new boat. The Reel Job is safely tucked away for the winter. The guest cabin is winterized. There is more snow on the mountains but not even a hard freeze at tidewater yet. The dang seagulls are moving into their winter weirdness mode. Hundreds the things descended on the beach the other night when we were in the hot tub. Some are sopranos, some base. The riot they caused was a demonic cross between third grade tuba practice and a well-attended Jimi Hendrix sound-alike contest. They worked themselves into a prolonged frenzy that would have put Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show on the rocks, then suddenly, they all shut up at once. The silence was unsettling. Ah, life in paradise has its tribulations. |
Date: Oct.4,
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Moonset over Loan Mountain 10-03-03 |
October 4, 2003 Shelter Island We are experiencing an awesome period of grace. Winter has lifted up her vale of storms and is allowing summer to return for a brief visit. Temps have been up to 65 in the day with sunshine and bright blue skies. The evenings have been warm and bug free for a sit on the porch swing. Last night as we sat in the hot tub and watched the moon set, it was so still we could hear three different whales blowing. The sea lions were grumbling in sea lion-speak in the distance. We heard the local harbor seals breathing and splashing, and some proposes swim by. The night was a plethora of living ocean noises. As a "monkey owl" shrieked hysterically near the tub we got just a tease of the Auroras. |
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Date: Sept.27
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Young Love 9-27-03 |
Sept. 27 2003 Shelter Island 9.3 inches of rain so far this month. It has been raining for days now--inches and INCHES of CONSTANT, cold, DRIVING rain!! The tanks are full. Fire hazard is WAAAY down. Streams are full. ENOUGH!! ALREADY!!! NO, oh NO, IT doesn't BOTHER me, I always TALK LIKE THIS. Here is a shot of Ginni and Jess. Ginni got a week to visit home then back to her base for a brief time and off to Iraq for a year. Jesssy had an accident working on one of his toys and cut a piece of his finger off. Now we are both members of the digit club. Hurts, don't it!! |
Date: Sept.21
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Rods 9-21-03 |
Sept. 21 2003 Shelter Island Idle rods in the breezeway indicate season's over. After I get caught up on my web page I'll strip the line and disassemble all the reels and clean 'em up for next year. We still have to put the Reel Job to sleep and haul out fuel and supplies for winter. Ginni, Jess's wife, returns from Germany for a few weeks today. She will be leaving here to spend a year in Iraq. Our hearts go out to all our young people serving overseas. This is not the world I intended to leave my children. We'll get to town in the next few days and get a photo of her for you. A marsh hawk went after the calico cat this morning on the beach. The hawk dove on her several times but the cat held her ground and defied the thing to come back and try again. The hawk decided to go after something with a little less attitude. |
Date: Sept.10
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Fog 9-12-03 |
Sept. 12 2003 Shelter Island I haven't kept up my web site as well as I wanted to this summer. The fishing was awesome so I went fishing instead. I think I made the right choice; now that season is over I have plenty of time to cut bait. I will be updating regularly for the next few weeks so keep coming back and visiting. You may find yourself looking back from this page or one of your photos highlighted on one of the other pages. It was a great season with outstanding salmon runs and fantastic weather. It's times like these that make it all worthwhile. |
Sunset 7-12-03 |
July 12, 2003, Shelter Island We are about half way through our season and the fishing is hot. The Cohos are coming in huge, the Halibut are in close and the weather is gorgeous. I have been wearing shorts! On the boat! Definitely the nicest summer in the last several. We have had some great guests so far this summer. We have photos of new friends and dead fish to post on this page. I am going to replace my faulty hard drive as soon as I post this today. When I get everything running again I'll show you some of the fun stuff that has been going on. So come back in a week or so. Meanwhile here is a sunset I took last night about 10:00. |
Pod 5-28-03 |
May 28, 2003 Shelter Island. Our first guests arrive tomorrow. We've been running huckle-d-buck trying to get everything ready. Been catching a few fish, working on the boat, scrubbing the guest rooms and generally sprucing up the place after a long winter of piling stuff up. I think we're ready, in fact I'll take the plunge, we are ready. Got a visit from some old friends the other day (see photo above and more on our whales page). They dropped by for lunch I'll bet. All the whales seem to have returned from their winter vacations now. The sea lions have been serenading us with their demented love songs at night, the geese are nesting, eagles are frisky. We're ready! |
The Captain |
April 21, 2003 Shelter Island. In spite of when they say sunset and sunrise actually occur I can attest that it is light at about 4:00 AM and still not quite dark at 9:30. The reason I know this is because we haven't gotten used to lowering the blinds before we go to bed at night yet. So about 4:00 am the daylight comes blasting in the window and the birds start in with their lovey-dovey springtime bird music. Eagles, ravens, j-birds, Canada geese, and the notorious Screaming Yellow-legged Rock Hoppers, it sounds like a lovebird rock concert out on the beach. I complain sometimes but birdsong is definitely better then listening to the North Wind blowing ice pellets against the windows in the dark. We're getting the boat and gear ready for season, ordering new fishing stuff from Cabela's and generally keeping busy. It won't be long now. I even got my annual spring haircut, need it or not. See you soon. |
The Admiral |
March 26,2003 Shelter Island Our hearts and prayers go out to our sons and daughters in harms way. Ginni, our daughter in law, remains in Germany for now. Many of the young people she and Jessey grew up with are in the mix. With a sense of dread and bewilderment we continue to prepare for season. After digging out from the blizzard warn sunny days have spurred us into activity. Spring clean up has begun. It is amazing what forgotten treasures surface from the melting snowdrifts. Karen is trimming the apple trees and crocuses daffodils and snowdrops rise their sleepy heads to greet the spring. |
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March 13,2003 Shelter Island That's Jess and I rigging a come-a-long to the bent wind turbine tower after a sixty-knot gust popped the expansion bolt out of the rock ledge. With wind chill down around -35 and snow and salt water blasting us we are in a hurry to get back in for a hot chocolate. Next the diesel oil in the stove tank jelled so we had to perform liposuction on the thing and put some treated stuff in. Just another day in paradise. |
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Blowing snow has plugged every crack in everything even poor ol' Kayla. It's hard to tell how much snow we have. Some places the ground is bare and others it is up to my butt. It seems to be deepest where we have to move it. The boat is blown full to the gunnels. That's OK I didn't want to go fishing today anyway. |
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As the tide retreats and the wind continues to blow, the tower temporarily secure, we will patiently wait for this weather to pass so we can get ready for season. I'll tell you this is a real heart breaker after our trip to Hawaii. It is hard to imagine we live on the same ocean we were boogy boarding and snorkeling in a few weeks ago. |
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March 9,2003 Shelter Island Waiting for the cold snap to pass. The weatherman says no time soon. We will be in full tilt preparation for season before long. I am completing my spring tackle order. The Kings are hearing the call and heading this way from Siberia (like the weather). |
1-14-02 Breakfast Guest |
1-14-02 Looking In |
Jan 14, 2003, Shelter Island Today we had company for breakfast. It's either Fred or Lucille. Hard to tell which. They all look alike. The snow is mostly gone at sea level for a while. We have been blessed by calm sunny days and clear moonlit nights a time for hot tubbing and wood chopping. |
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Dec. 29, 2002, Shelter Island. We are gaining 1.10 minutes of daylight per day--HURRAH! The darkest hour has passed. Time to shift our gears, blow out the cobwebs. I have already been going through the gear, "slickin' the reels, sharpenin' the poles." We hope the season finds you all healthy and happy. Our New Years prayer is for peace on earth. We're already getting bookings for next year so you regulars should give me a call soon so we can get you down for the time you want. Your fish, as we speak, are circling around in the Golf of Alaska, making arrangements to be here. |
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