Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

My daughter, Autumn ,is in Hoonah visiting from Wasilla. It's the same town where Sarah Palin was mayor. It's up near Anchorage for those who may not be familiar with Alaska. She had mentioned that she wanted to get some pictures while she was here, so the other day we had a break in the weather and went out. We ventured down to Lumbago Way. It's an upaved alley of sorts that runs along the beach. Garteeni Creek is on the far side of the peninsula in the pictures. In the spring the Dolly Varden trout show up to feed on the salmon smolt that are working their way out to the saltwater. In late summer and fall there is a run of Humpback and Coho salmon. There may be Chums that run up there too, I can't remember. The creek runs right by the breakwater for the harbor and past the boat haulout area. Last year I watched a few folks go out on the flats on a minus tide and take a few buckets of clams or cockles out of there. I wish Iliked clams- I'd go dig some myself. In t...

I hope every one had a nice Christmas. We certainly did. As per usual, we ate too much, or at least I did. When I looked at the amount of food that was purchased prior to the holiday I didn't really believe that we could go through it all. Of course, once again, I was wrong. Thankfully I didn't eat it all myself. My sons Ben and Brian came for a visit, and my daughter Autumn and her husband Aaron were here. Then of course Jen and her tribe. Throw in a few friends and you have a pretty nice showing. On Christmas Eve we all descended on Jennifer's house like ants at a picnic. She has an annual shoebox dinner that she puts on. Fortunately we don't have to eat the shoes. Then the next day we're back again for brunch. For some reason she doesn't seem to get tired of company. She's the most sociable person I know. I'm really kind of glad she's that way. It gives all the guests a place to go when I get crabby, as I'm prone to do. All the kids seem to l...

Being an ignorant buffoon can be difficult at times. There are a few upsides though. If people realize you aren't the brightest bulb in the box, they have a tendency to not expect too much from you. Plus you can usually get some kind soul to help you out in your time of need. Such was the case today when I couldn't remember how to download my pictures onto a flash drive so I could come up to the library and do this blog. Fortunately, family friend and Stanford grad, or is it Stamford grad, well, whatever she is, Candy is really intelligent and she was kind enough to help me. I really appreciate the fact that she is so patient too. I know that I have a tendency to try even the most docile teacher who ever lived. I just don't pick up on things too quickly. Anyway, I got the help I needed and was successful in getting the pictures I wanted for this blog. Back on the tenth of this month we had an open house. It's been an annual event for awhile now, though last y...

Well, here I am again- up at the library, trying to do a blog post and read my email. I got a call from Gene, the guy who is supposed to be setting us up with Hughes Net so we can get internet service at home. I was expecting to be all squared away by now, but he called and said someone made off with his direction finder. He needs that to make sure the antenna is pointed at the satellite, so I guess I have to wait until he gets another one. Go figure. To make matters more interesting, I can't tell which picture I'm choosing for the blog right now- it just gives me a number, which I randomly chose, so obviously I got the picture from my book. Oh well. To add to the situation, I only have thirty minutes allotted for this computer before it automatically shuts off and I lose everything. Can you believe it? Actually I can- nothing really surprizes me. " What doctor? I have the only recorded case of malaria in Alaska? No, I'm not shocked at all" "What's tha...

Whooee! It's raining buckets outside tonight; blowing sideways, cold, black as pitch. Just a typical late November night in Southeast Alaska. As one gal from the farm used to say, " It's raining like pouring pee out of a boot." Well, I've never poured pee out of a boot before- but if I had to,I can imagine that it would be quite a downpour . Obviously this isn't a picture of anyone pouring anything out of anything else. Because I'm using the library computer and I'm not overly comfortable with it, I'm digging into the archives of my picture file for something to write about. I don't want too much time to elapse without posting something to the blog. I decided to post these pictues of Brian Bitz. He was diving off the airplane float last year when I took these. I think he was looking for some crabs- the yellow bag is to hold his catch. He didn't get anything on this particular day, but he mentioned that he's picked up King Crabs on occa...

My mind is a mysterious thing to me. Judging by the looks I get from some people, it's a mystery to them too. Out of the blue, some thought will appear and I haven't got the foggiest idea where it came from. Sometimes it will be triggered by something totally unrelated to the subject at hand. For instance, the other day I was walking back from the post office and I noticed this apple tree in Ernie Jack's yard. The apples reminded me of ornaments on a Christmas tree, and I was going to do a blog on it, although I hate talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving has even arrived. Then I started thinking about a pear tree that my neighbors up the street had back in Marion. I distinctly remembering being just a little guy, maybe three or four. It was summer and I was young enough that I was willing to wear a sunsuit without objection. I was barefooted and walked up into their yard. Pears had fallen on the ground and the honeybees were crawling all over them. I was scared of bei...

It snowed today for the first time this season. It didn't amount to anything, just a few flakes falling, not even enough to cover the ground, and then it was gone. I don't know why, but up the bay by Neka Mountain the ground is covered all the way to the beach. Maybe it was colder there than in town. Anyway, it probably won't be long now and we'll have to deal with the blasted stuff. Just in case, I climbed under the house and wrestled out a snow shovel. Since there wasn't any snow to take pictures of, and since I don't really want to think about winter yet, I thought I would display a few pictures from a little outing that I took with Jan and Jen and Kaylahni awhile back. We were going to go out to Freshwater Bay, but as Botts luck would have it, they were refurbishing the road, so we went to another spot. It was a beautiful day so we parked the car on the side of the road and ate a sandwich and sat in the sunshine and enjoyed each others company. It had the ad...

When I was in elementary school, many, many years ago, every year, about a week or so before Thanksgiving,we'd sing this song. I don't know what the name of it was but it went... Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go, the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh- something, something, something. I can't remember the rest of the lyrics. I don't know if they still sing it or not. I was young enough at the time that I hadn't experienced enough life or picked up enough baggage along the way to become self-conscious, so I would sing that song with gusto. I thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving, not so much for the food, although the pumpkin pie was always a treat and it was the only time we ever ate turkey. There was something about that day that I knew was special. I don't know if it was because we were out of school for a few extra days or because Mac usually had his shipment of Christmas trees arriving in boxcars about then or if maybe it...

Well, Halloween has come and gone. I'm kind of glad. I'm sure the dog is. He had to suffer through the embarrassment of wearing this ridiculous pumpkin costume for a while on Halloween night. When he saw it he ran under the table and had to be enticed with food to put it on. Unfortunately the Jack O' Lantern is just the beginning of sorrows. I think there is a Santa costume and something that looks like a clown one hanging in a closet upstairs. How humiliating. Dogs have feelings you know; although a piece of cheese can go a long way in helping to offset any loss of dignity. I don't know how anyone else fared, but here in Hoonah we had such a dreadful wet, cold, blowy evening that we hardly had any kids come by. Wouldn't you know it? I had gone to Walmart several weeks ago so I was all stocked up with stuff and ready for the big onlslaught. Of course it didn't happen. If I had forgotten to get anything for Halloween, there probably would have been a warm fron...

It's November 2, and although it's election day, and that in itself is pretty scary given the condition of the country, I'm not referring to the political landscape; I'm speaking about the changes happening in the natural one. Winter is on the way and as much as I might like to deny it, I can't avoid it. As you can see the snow on Ears is much lower than it was just several days ago. Most of the plants in the garden have died or are in the process of dying, with the exception of the Rhododendron and the Dusty Miller. It poured buckets last night and most of today and when I took the dog out a little bit ago to do his thing I darn near froze. Of course he doesn't care about how I feel, he's too busy smelling pee and other gifts that the neighborhood dogs have left, to worry about me- the selfish little brat. Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield, I don't get no respect. Soon I'll be forced to go out and shovel little paths in the snow so the dog wo...

Several days ago my friend, Bob Pinard , asked if I wanted to go hunting. The weather was supposed to be good, and since I didn't have anything pressing, I agreed to go, although I had to think about it for a little bit. In years past when I've hunted with Bob it required my being up well before daylight, packing a ten thousand calorie lunch and taking enough ibuprofen to pre - empt the pain that I knew I would suffer after traipsing through the thicket, up mountains and down ravines. He always seemed to choose the very places that I would never even consider hunting. He's one tough fellow. At sixty-nine years old, he's got eleven years on me, but you would never know it. He seems to have the ability to shrug off pain and most challenges don't seem to bother him. Though he wouldn't approve of my saying anything, it's my blog, so I'll mention that he's one of the most generous people I've ever met. On the day we went out hunting we took his truck...

I was going to post something here several days ago, well, actually it's been longer than that, but I didn't want to just be putting anything on here. I guess that's what Twitter or tweeter or twiddle dee, twiddle dum, or tweetie bird or whatever that site is, is for. I didn't think anyone would be overly interested in, say, my shopping experience at Costco. "Well, I'm pushing a huge cart right now. It's really getting heavy. I just picked up four cans of Folgers and I'm heading for the green olives. Maybe I'll buy a jar of pickles while I'm there." Maybe I'm fooling myself. Perhaps what I write about is less interesting than stale bread, but I do have some nice pictures now and then. If nothing else, it's fun to share the beauty of this place with those who can't be here. This past Sunday was one of those days when I can't imagine being anywhere else. It was so beautiful -sunny and warm too. I sat out on the front porch and...

With fishing season over for the year, at least for me, I'm left with my annual inner conflict of what to do with my time. I absolutely hate wasting time, but I'm so undisciplined that unless I go to bed with some idea of what I'm going to do the next day, I drift about like a man without a country and then suffer with a guilty conscience for not accomplishing anything productive. As long as I'm not doing anything else, I don't mind cooking and cleaning the house. I'm not going to run out and buy an apron or anything, but it gives me something to do and it gives Jan a break. Yesterday I was making supper- shrimp salad. I don't know why it takes so many utensils to cook a couple pounds of shrimp and cut up some veggies, but it does. I wonder if Martha Stewart makes a big mess when she cooks. I guess it doesn't matter if she does, someone else will clean up after her. I don't have that option. While the shrimp was boiling I did some dishes and dried th...

My favorite place to shop in Hoonah is here at the Tideland Tackle and Marine store. If they would expand their inventory a little to include perhaps milk and bread and of course cheese and Pace chunky salsa, there might be little reason for me to shop anywhere else. No doubt I'd probably get in trouble if Jan sent me down for a loaf of bread and some lunch meat and I came back with a box of 8/0 stainless steel hooks and a pack of OG55R glow in the dark hoochies, but it would still be nice to have a little larger inventory. Unfortunately, I don't know where they would put anymore stuff. The store is painfully small as it is. As you can see, they carry a pretty good supply of guns and ammo, reels, trout lures, spoons, hooks, flashers and my favorite, hoochies. For anyone who doesn't know, hoochies are little vinyl octopus lures that come in a variety of colors that you tow behind a flasher to catch salmon. Those wicked employees at Tideland intentionally order all manner of ...

Before summer becomes too much of a distant memory, ( and before I lose the fact sheet that my grandson Kristian gave me) I wanted to do a post on the zip line, one of the popular attractions at Icy Strait Point. This isn't the best picture ever- I was shooting into the sun, but it was the only one I could get at the time. I was coming back from a days fishing earlier in the summer and I had a chance to get the most breathtaking, clear shot of the zipline- the wires were visible right unil they disappeared into the mist at the top of the mountain. It would have been a world class shot. I turned the boat around so I could get the best advantage, I turned on the camera and got just the right placement, and right when I pressed the shutter button, the battery died. Go figure. It was a classic Botts situation. After I got done swearing and a little time passed,I could see the humor in it. I still wish I could have gotten that shot though. Just looking at this picture is enough to make ...

The sign kind of says it all doesn't it? How many times have you felt this way... the boss is yelling at you, your spouse is being a jerk, the kids are acting up, you just found out the repairs that your car need are going to cost you the next two months salary. Things happen in life and you just wish that they would happen somewhere else to someone else. I don't think that any of that crossed my daughter's mind when she bought this sign for us. Maybe she was thinking about addressing the neighbor's dogs when she picked it up. I think I've mentioned before that Hoonah has a leash law, but it's not always enforced. In fact it's seldom enforced so we get random dogs running through the neighborhood at times and since they don't like to get their butts wet, they prefer to visit a yard that has been groomed. Namely mine. I don't mind picking up after Rigby, but that's where I draw the line. It would be nice if I could train him to use the toilet like...

I'm not sure what mountains these are. They may not even have a name, I don't think most of the mountains around here do. They sure are pretty though. They aren't too far from False Bay. Whenever I see them I know we don't have too much further to go. You can see the blue sky in this photo. Totally unlike the a normal September as I mentioned in my last post. Today is more typical- it's blowing about twenty five with rain coming down in sheets. Thank God things are returning to normal. If we kept having all that good weather who knows how many people we'd have living here. On our way out to False Bay a few weeks ago, shortly after we left the pavement, we passed the remains of two more fine old wooden boats. The green one is the Judy Ann. It belonged to Terry Shepard, a little gnome of a man who calls himself the Hobbit. He looks the part. Just over five feet tall with a full grey beard and a walking stick, he called the Judy Ann home for years. When I first me...

We've been enjoying the most lovely September that I can ever remember in my thirty four years of living here. Typically, you don't need to look at the calender to know that September has arrived. Usually the continuous rain and cold winds leave no doubt in anyone's mind that winter is on the way. Most years, by mid- September the mountains over at Homeshore would have terminaion dust on them. That's the first light dusting of snow that shows on the higher elevations. That's sure not the case this year. The weather has been unseasonably warm...hot even. I don't want to complain, but I probably will anyway. I just worry that all this sunny,dry weather will play havoc with the salmon. We need all the rain we usually receive at this time of year so the creeks will fill up and provide a good place for spawning. Fortunately I never had to worry about whether or not it rained- we had kids in all kinds of weather. Oh well- enough of that. As I was saying, this weather...

I went out fishing on Friday. The season is rapidly coming to a close and I wanted to eleviate any feelings of guilt that I will most certainly experience this winter for not putting enough time or effort into the season. As often happens with me, I go through these long droughts with no fish during the typical day. Sometimes, if I happen to have a good book to read, I can just put the boat on auto-pilot, aim for the deepest part of the bay and start reading, occasionally looking up to see if the lines are jiggling. Depending on how long it's been since my last bite, and how interesting the book is, I'll either jump up and run outside to go pull the fish, or I'll reluctantly put the book down and walk slowly out to the cockpit, put on my wet, stinky gloves and proceed to pull up the fish, cursing it for not biting sooner, before I got so engrossed in my story. If the fish is especially big, to where the tattle -tale springs are really pounding, the adrenaline spikes and I c...

I've been wanting to post to this blog about one of the most trying weeks I've ever experienced in my life, but before I could, I had to wait until this evening. On Saturday night, August 28, I was sitting in my living room when I heard a shot ring out. It's not all that unusual to hear shots here in town, especially around this time of year. Frequently Brown Bears wander in to town in search of food and the police are called to chase them off with rubber bullets. Shortly after the first shot, I heard two other shots. I heard a truck come charging up the road and screech to halt out front of my neighbors house. Haley Tokuoka flew out of the truck and ran into her parents house, screaming "Oh God! Oh God!" A few minutes later my daughter called to let us know that Haley's husband,Matt, and another police officer, Sgt. Tony Wallace had been shot. At the time it wasn't known if the shooter was roaming around the town freely or if he had gone in to his house. ...