Summer Solstice ...

Greetings Everyone!

Our days are moving right along -- with the weather.  It's cooled into the 70's now -- much better! 

The other day a Bald Eagle came to watch what we were doing -- or at least I  like to think so. Each year -- about this time, the eagles come to roost in the tall Cottonwood tree down by our moored boat. It's always an eye stopper to watch those large birds come soaring past the cabin and maneuver themselves ever so gently onto a branch.

On Wednesday - we had our first strong winds -- blowing 30 mph for a couple of hours.  Below - when the winds first began to pick-up -- we moved our boat up closer to shore and re-secured the ropes.  Ernie took this photo of me undoing one of the side boat ropes from a rock.   

During the windstorm -- I took the opportunity to take our cabin's indoor rug out onto the deck and scrub it down.  Why scrub down a rug in a windstorm?  Because the winds kept the mosquitoes away. The mosquitoes are rather abundant this year!

After the windstorm abated - I noticed the swan decoy that I had attached as a buoy was gone.  So it didn't pass the wind test!  Bummer - now I 'll need to canoe the shoreline to see if I can find it and bring it back. 

On Thursday - Kirby and Greg brought some lumber to the island on Kirby's barge.  Below the guys unloaded a heavy beam.  The guys (Ernie, Greg, Randy & Gunter - not in the photo) carried the beam using a scrap piece of 2x4 with two men walking side by side at each end of the beam -- pretty nifty.

Afterwards - all the helpers relaxed on Kirby's barge - an almost mosquito free zone.

 

 

Below - I noticed a young Cow Parsnip plant growing in the yard.  These plants are wild and common for this area -- they  grow  5 to 8 feet tall with large, very pretty white flowers.  However, if you touch them - they can irritate your skin.   Alaskan Natives -- in the old days-- used to cook and eat the roots. 

 

The lake water continues to rise -- and now the barge is almost ready to push off the shore and into the lake.  We'll give it another day or two.  Afterwards, we plan to make a fuel run.  Not my most fun thing to do.

With Summer Solstice upon us -- Kirby is planning to host the traditional Summer Solstice Cruise - motoring his barge around the island.  So later this evening - we will go cruising.

Take Care Everyone and enjoy the longest day of the year!

Hot & Lovely Mosquitoes!!

Greetings Everyone!

Has it ever been so hot?!  The National Weather Service issued a "red flag'' alert the other day -- letting Alaskans know that our temperatures have been abnormal, record breaking, fire danger high and snow melting fast from the mountains-- so everything is official -- it's DARN hot for most of us. 

Of course with all the above normal temperatures our lake water has been rising more quickly than usual.  Below the waters are coming closer and closer to the barge. Once the waters get a bit closer and a bit deeper -- we can push the barge out and go for a fuel run.

With all this hot weather -- the mosquito population has explored!  Lots and Lots of mosquitoes to bug everyone constantly.  Only the Swallows seem to enjoy all the mosquitoes.  Ernie had put out our mosquito magnet a few weeks back and its been going full-time.  Below -- I took a photo of all the dead mosquitoes crammed into the mosquito magnets mesh bag before we emptied it.   

Yesterday we went into town to get a few supplies and I dressed in typical Alaskan fashion.  Chest wades for 'water boat work' -- and to ward off mosquitoes -- a long sleeve shirt and a mosquito net head cover. I was also sprayed with lots and lots of  "Essence of Mosquito Dope".

 

The mosquitoes have been so bad -- that all the stores in town were sold out of mosquito zappers and repellents.  I'm glad we stocked up on mosquito dope the last time we went into town because everything was sold out!  We couldn't believe it - even all the mosquito magnets and related supplies. 

Another interesting happening in town -- was seeing all the Alaskans going about with sunburns and 'real' tans!  Below - is our temperature reading at 7:30 pm!!  Today's temperature is suppose to be the same as yesterdays.

Since I'm not used to hot weather - I try and get out of the hot sun in the late afternoons when it seems to be the hottest.  So to do something fun, I decided to try my skills at making a no-sew, four-strand, braided rug from all the old sheets we no longer use.  So far - I seem to be following directions well.

Oh - Ernie has been doing a lot of bar-b-cuing lately -- and I wanted to share a trick he found on the Internet for charcoal grilling smoked chicken.  The technique produces cooked and very moist, tasty chicken. I suppose it could also be used on other meats.

Place a pan half-full of water directly onto the bed of charcoals when they are gray. Leave some room along the sides to place 4-6 handfuls of soaked wood chips (apple or hickory). Put the soaked chips directly onto the hot coals.

Then, put the chicken on the grill over the pan of water.  Use medium heat! Cover and smoke the chicken.  If you are doing a whole chicken (not cut up) - it'll take about two hours.  About half-way through the cooking process, check and add more water, coals and wet chips if needed. Yummy!!

Take Care Everyone!!

Plants and Whatnot ...

Greetings Everyone!

This summer continues to be absolutely beautiful here at the cabin!  So many warm days with lots of sunshine. With all the perfect weather, we've been delving into projects that we've been meaning to get to -- or else just catching up on. 

Also, I don't know what it is -- but we just haven't gotten around to re-staining the decks.  For some reason we find something else to do.  The other day I went into the greenhouse and reorganized, cleaned it up and played around with the plants -- while Ernie organized his work shed.

Later, I went around the yard looking for rhubarb plants in the old garden site and found three that looked promising for replanting.  The soil at our cabin is not the best -- so plants that are not native to this area have a very difficult time growing -- plus moose love to eat whatever they can get into. 

For a bit of background -- our cabin is on the original homestead site that was established by Andy Anderson in the late 1920's.  He and his wife, Jessie had a large vegetable garden -- which included rhubarb.  They were able to grow various vegetables because they kept the soil fertile by using the manure from their horses and goats -- plus, Andy had built a fence around the garden to keep out the moose, horses and goats.

After Jessie died at the age of 40, in 1940, Andy moved off the island and only returned to the homestead every now and then until he sold Caribou Island to a developer in the late 50's.  So most of Jessie's plants either died off or struggled to survive.

Thus -- my search for rhubarb.  Below -- I transplanted the little plants into a bin with commercial top soil and steer manure.  So - I shall see if I can bring back Jessie Anderson's rhubarb.  Of course, it will take a couple of growing seasons before I can harvest rhubarb for pies and other baked yummy goods. In addition, I'll need to transplant them -- somewhere.

As I was saying -- we've been allowing ourselves to become distracted from re-staining the decks.  Below - is our outhouse undergoing the addition of cedar panels.  When we built our sauna a couple of years back -- Ernie had some scraps of cedar left over which he had stacked away for some other future project.  So -- we decided to put the cedar to use and get it out of the way.

No, that's not a tree growing in our outhouse -- it's a vent pipe that I covered with birch bark a few years ago. Yes, there is a roof on the outhouse -- it's clear corrugated roof paneling for lighting.

Another project Ernie found -- as he was looking up at one of our solar panels -- were some wires that had come loose - in fact -- wires that appeared to be snapped in two.  So up onto the shed roof he went -- where he discovered that he needed to make some repairs and re-secured the wiring.  Mission accomplished!

Back to plants -- after I finished with the rhubarb -- I took a stroll around to see what other plants are now growing or coming into bloom.  We have a number of 'Beautiful Jacob's Ladder' in bloom under and beside our deck.

 

Plus, the 'Prickly Rose'  bushes are beginning to bloom -- Jessie Anderson used to gather up the petals and make jelly and tea.  Some Alaskans still continue to gather up the petals.  I've not tried yet -- I just enjoy seeing the plants in bloom. 

 

Another side story -- Jessie Anderson was an experimenter with plant seeds. She planted numerous plants to see what would or could grown on their homestead and, in this climate.  She actually became a seed seller.  Selling her seeds to seed companies. Jessie became well known around this area for her seed success.  

 

There are still many of Jessie's flowering plants growing around our cabin site and most are edible or medicinal. When those come into bloom -- I'll show you.

Jessie was also a self-taught artist and she designed her own seed packets which she and Andy 'ran off' on their mini-printing press.  Andy would then take the finished seed packets up lake and mail them from Copper Landing to the seed companies or to customers. 

 

Another one of Jessie Anderson's plants growing around our cabin -- are raspberry bushes.  This year they seem to be everywhere!  I love the raspberry bushes and I've actually gathered some of the berries and made jam.  A couple of years back however, when a bear came to the island -- it found the bushes and that bothered me BIG TIME! 

Well, so much for side stories and plants.  Today, I believe we'll do the re-staining of the decks.  I think.

Take care everyone -- and a big HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dad's out there!

Warm & Warmer Daze!!

Greetings Everyone!

The great weather just keeps coming and coming -- PLUS lots of mosquitoes -- but hey, it's all good. 

Below - Ernie is preparing to pump water from the lake  -- it goes into the 100 gallon holding tank inside of our cabin. Once Ernie gets the pump going -- its my job to ensure the water comes flowing up to the cabin. 

We have three water filter systems associated with the pumped water -- one is at the intake from the lake, one is attached to the cabin filtering water going into the holding tank -- and the last filter is attached to the kitchen sink -- specifically to filter our drinking water.

So -- with all that in mind -- as I was monitoring the water filter going into the cabin -- I spotted a small fish (fry) come gushing into the filter bowl.  After we finished pumping water - we had to dismantle the filter bowl.  Below - Ernie and I are looking at the little fish (fry) floating at the bottom of the filter bowl.

Then, we unceremoniously dumped the fry out onto a piece of scrap wood, replaced the filter and called it 'good.'

With all the warm weather -- we decided this was the perfect time to check-out our portable fire hose.  Below - Ernie is  looking over the equipment to see if we have everything we need to conduct a fire drill.

With all equipment ready -- we went down to the lake and began testing our fire drill skills.  Ernie was the first to start the generator to ensure it was operating properly.  Then, he shut it down and had me restart the generator.  He's always making sure that I know how to use all the equipment at the cabin.  (Well - most -- I've not been instructed on the use of our chain saw.)

So -- with all systems go -- we attached a 50 foot section of fire hose and began our drill. Below Ernie is instructing me on how to handle the hose and nozzle because the water pressure is quite strong.  We only attached a 50 foot section of hose.  With all the water pressure  however, the spray was able to reach way up past the front side of our cabin.  If we had attached the other 700 feet of hose we could have easily reach the back and sides of the cabin.

 

 

Last year - Ernie purchased connectors for two garden hoses to be attached to each side of the water pump.  So we practiced attaching a garden hose to one side of the pump -- and it worked quite well -- with both the hoses spraying. We traded off back and forth to get a feel for the different hoses and to 'pretend' we were aiming at a fire. 

 

Well, I just had to take things a step further -- being tempted by the heat of the day -- I began spraying Ernie via the garden hose attachment  -- and also sprayed myself in the process -- "Girls just want to have fun ..."

 

Later, Clancy showed up to 'shoot the breeze' and bask in the hot days of summer.

 

 

With all this warm weather - Ernie and I have taken to cooking outside on the bar-b-que.  From the weather reports -- it looks like we're in for another week of some very nice, warm days.

 

Take Care Everyone!

Summer Day's...

Greetings Everyone!

Gee - it's been rather warm here at the cabin -- getting into the mid 70's to upper 80's! No rain and very little wind - if any.

The other day - Clancy and Big Keith stopped over to watch the NBA playoff  finals -- they came in style --- arriving by boat, wearing shorts and sandals. I must say they were brave -- since the mosquitoes are unbelievable this year.  We now have our mosquito magnet going full-time -- it's 'catching' lots of the little, annoying critters - the mosquito magnet bag must have gathered close to a thousand!

Below - Ernie is securing a piece of drift wood to serve as a hand rail for our side deck stairs.  Looks easy - but he had to spray himself down with lots of mosquito dope just to work.  He's just about finished with that project and then, we'll move on to re-staining the decks around the cabin.

The other day Kirby came by on his barge with a load of supplies -- heading towards his cabin. Since it takes him about 45 minutes to cross the lake on a calm day -- and it was calm -- we could see that Kirby spent his leisurely cruise reading a newspaper and guiding his barge every now and then.

One of my tasks I like doing at the cabin -- is mowing the small patches of lawn that we have.   There are various places where wild flowers grow and I enjoying seeing them -- so I'm careful not to mow them down.  With all that in mind, while mowing yesterday, I came across a patch of little blue flowers --  Forget-me-nots -- the Alaskan State flower.

The goose buoy I put out the other day -- still floats.  I believe its going to remain floating - but it has yet to be tested by the winds. 

 

Below - is a view from our cabin - looking up lake.  The water levels continue to rise each day - slowly coming closer to shore and the snows are melting from the mountains. 

Soon it will be Summer Solstices -- we are having about 18 hours of daylight now - and our nights are mostly dusk before the sun comes up again.


Take care - and thank you for checking on us.

Just Plain Fun ...

Greetings Everyone!

Life at the cabin has been wonderful - who could ask for more?  The weather is fantastic, the lake is 'flat', the scenery is amazing and --- there's lots to do. 

Below - Ernie is continuing to work on his project with the side deck stairs. His plan is to add a drift wood side rail.  So we'll see how that turns out.

The other day we decided to take our boat out and check to see how the motor is running - since we've not been using the boat too much this year.  We only got just past Tater's place when we saw our friend 'Lucky Mike' working on his boat motor.  It turns out his boat motor is more of a pain for him to fiddle with -- so we towed him and his boat over to the Upper Landing. 

Since we were headed across the lake -- we decided to take a load of trash that we gathered from last falls storm.  Below Ernie and Mike are looking over at Vince's Place -- as Vince is walking up from the beach to his cabin.  We all gave each other a big hand wave and continued on.

Later -- we decided to go check on our friends - Gunter and Bridgett -- and check-out 'Lucky Mike's' work.  Gunter and Bridgett are adding an addition on to their cabin this year. So to help them out - 'Lucky Mike' used his John Deer to plow and level off the site where Gunter and Bridgett will be laying the foundation.

While visiting them, Bridgett received a call to pick up Jan over at the Upper Landing -- so I 'pushed' Bridgett from the shore, she waved good-bye and she took off across the lake.

Remember when I shared that I tried using some duck hunter decoy's as a buoy and they both sunk?  Well, I graduated up to a goose.  Below - I'm once again attaching a fowl buoy -- only this time I'm attaching the goose buoy to the west side of our boat to mark a row of rocks.  So far the goose is still floating -- I believe it was a success - it hasn't sunk.

Yesterday it was near 78  -- so some of the other cabin owners were out playing on the lake in their Kayaks. There were also a number of other boats passing our cabin -- I didn't recognize any of them. 

Since it was such a beautiful day -- I took advantage of the sun to wash clothes.  Nothing smells so good as clean clothes dried in the sun.

With all the warm weather -- thunderheads are appearing in the sky above.  So far - they've only drifted by and not become an actual thunderstorm -- dumping rain on us.  The thunderstorms can be beautiful - but they are also very frightening because of the lightening -- there's no telling where the lightening will strike -- causing a wildfire -- lightening is not welcome at the island!

Last evening we went over to the other side of the island for a very tasty bar-b-que at Niles cabin.  He and his wife, Chris flew in for a couple of days and I just had to have a picture of  their plane moored to their beach -- its so Alaskan.

    This summer it seems that Swallows are nesting everywhere.  Below - at Niles cabin their gourd has a pair of nesting swallows right above the deck.

On the way back to our cabin - we stopped to take photo of the sunset taking place in front of Clancy's cabin.

Speaking of Clancy -- he wants to give a 'shout-out' to all his friends on the North Slope reading the blog.  Here you go Clancy -- he does like to have fun!!

Today - Ernie is having a small gathering at our cabin for the NBA sport fans (Clancy, Vince, Gunter and Big Keith) who are into watching the basketball final playoffs.  After the game, we'll have a bar-b-que -- and I'm sure there will be lots of talk about the game.

Since I'm not into basketball -- maybe I'll take the canoe out and go for a paddle or take 'Lucky Mike's' remote control boat and play with it in the lake -- if the lake is calm.

Take care everyone -- and enjoy this beautiful day!

Keep on Rolling...

Greetings Everyone!

Summer is getting underway at the island.  The buds on the deciduous trees have opened and now we have leaves on the trees -- it seems to have happened quickly - like overnight.  Everything looks so new.

As the lake water continues to rise to its summer level - I decided to tie a plastic hunting duck along side our white buoy -- the buoy helps identify where a large rock is so that when we come to shore with our boat - the propeller won't hit the rock -- an expensive oops. I'm sitting on the rock holding the intended duck.

With all the nice weather -- we took the opportunity to check Tater's mooring lines and attached a yellow cord.  The cord will help locate the mooring lines under high water.

While Ernie worked on the mooring lines -- I went about collecting wild chives. Below - Ernie catches me in the act of snipping and bagging chives.  One thing I noticed -- were all the mosquitoes I disturbed along the shoreline. Not too fun.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the homemade honey wheat bread I made the other day.  It was yummy and made some great French Toast for breakfast.

On Facebook a few weeks ago, my daughter had posted a suggestion -- rather than toss out the bottom part of celery - put the cut off section in some water and the celery will regrow.  So I tired it -- and sure enough - I have new stalks of celery growing. Now I'm going to see how long it takes to grow an edible piece of celery - and if it really tastes like fresh celery.

Well, remember the duck I attached to the white buoy?  The duck sank -- so I went out and retrieved it - seems there was a hairline crack that sucked in water and sank the duck.  As you can see in the photo below -- the water now covers the large rock.  Lesson learned - don't attached a leaking duck to a buoy.  Right?  Well, I got another duck and reattached it to the white buoy and it too sank -- suffering from the same hairline crack syndrome.  Lesson learned - forget playing with cracked ducks.

      


Before the water level rises much more -- Ernie and I went out and laid our summer water hose.  Below - Ernie is preparing to secure the electrical water pump.

But -- before we could finish the water hose and pump chore -- I spotted a moose trotting up the shore from our friend Tater's cabin.  So we carefully and quickly went up the side deck stairs to our deck and watched the moose.  Her behavior was sort of odd -- to me anyway -- she would leave the shoreline and go into the trees - then, come back out and trot up the beach - then - go back into the trees.  Below - Ernie took a photo of her stopping to check things out by our cabin. 

Anyway, she continued up the shoreline -- going between the beach and trees.  This moose appeared to be young - perhaps her first year alone.  She doesn't appear to be the same moose that had the twin calves -- she is smaller.

Oh well - that is island living.  We completed our water hose chores successfully. 

Take care - and we'll touch base again!