Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 Ahhh, the holidays. If one were to watch the many TV shows around Christmas you would be led to believe that the holidays are all about fun family times with people sitting around the Christmas tree drinking egg-nog or singing and dancing out in snow covered streets in some idyllic setting like Whoville or some such place. If, however, you were to watch a TB show, you would find a reality that is possibly closer to your own. I wish there were such a thing as a Silent Night. My house has been a prototype for holiday madness. My daughter Autumn is visiting with her husband and since school is out and my oldest daughter Jen doesn't want to miss anything she's in and out of the house like there was a revolving door out back. God forbid that I should try to keep any heat in the house. It's in the single digits outside with an icy wind howling, but the door is open more than it's closed and then I get to hear the bitching about how cold it is in here. T...

  This fine gal is my friend Ladonna Dybdahl, or as I usually call her, Ladonna Momma. Fortunately she has a good sense of humor- either that or she is exceptionally patient with  me realizing that I'm just an overgrown kid myself and therefore not as responsible as most adults. As you can see by her attire, she really gets into the holiday season. Notice the ornament earrings. I've thought more than once about getting my ears pierced so I could adorn my head with some of the colorful accessories that so many ladies gravitate to. I've often thought that with just a few modifications most earrings would make wonderful fishing lures. As you can see by this picture, I caught Ladonna totally unawares- that's why she has this look of surprise and perhaps confusion and is possibly saying "What in the HECK are you doing Tom?" I have to admit that its not really fair to catch people by surprise, but otherwise you might end up with  no picture at all...

  Like so many other people across the globe I'm shocked and saddened by the events of these past few days, first in Oregon at the shopping mall and yesterday in Connecticut at an elementary school where twenty six people were murdered; twenty of whom were innocent children. Perhaps I have no right to comment on this incident. Lord knows I'm certain I don't have all the facts, but I do have an opinion based on what I've seen so far and so I will take this time to express it. I'm struggling to put to words my feelings. First I'm distraught and then I'm angry. I'm confused and trying to make sense of what has become an all too common  headline in American life.  I'd like to sit down with God face to face and ask why this has happened. I guess I'll have that chance some day, and it will make sense and I will see that, while it wasn't His will to have this happen, He will nonetheless take this incident and make something good come from it....

  We all have people in our lives who we know casually; maybe the neighbor down the street who works at the school or the gal at the coffee shop who always smiles when you come in. We might have a conversation in passing and while we might not consider them friends per se, we like them. We may not know them well enough to invite for dinner, and most likely we wouldn't engage them in a conversation about politics or family matters, but seeing them on a regular basis is kind of comforting. Whenever I go to Juneau I like to drop in to Donna's Restaurant for breakfast. Frequently I'm waited on by a gal who by now must be close to retirement.She's been there at least twenty years, and though I only travel to town a few times a year, I always look forward to seeing her. She keeps my coffee cup full and we engage in small talk and even though I'm not a regular she remembers me and smiles. Until recently I didn't know her name. I t...

  How often have you seen some new product on the shelf or an idea that someone has come up with and you think- that's pretty neat, I could have done that. In fact my friend Buffalo Bob sent me a book titled- Damn, why didn't I think of that? Well, as I was working on this post, I was thinking the same thing about this marine storage facility. Who would have thought that it would have been such a popular thing to utilize? Obviously, the owner, Gus Skaflestad did. That's why it's called Gus's instead of Tom's. Blast! Another golden opportunity has passed me by. Oh well.  The whole idea of storage facilities is kind of hard for me to fathom. It would seem that if you have so much stuff that you can't store it at your house, you may have too much. I like to watch the show Storage Wars on A&E.  That's the show where people bid on storage lockers that have gone to auction because the folks haven't paid the fee. It's amazing w...

I usually don't post extra large pictures on this blog, but I wanted you, the readers, to get some idea of how large this chair actually is. Some years back I came home from a fishing trip and here was this chair on the front porch, with my son-in-law sitting in it. It was so large I assumed that he couldn't get it in the front door, which wasn't the case. It fit, but just barely. The kids had gotten together and bought it for my birthday, which was a very nice surprise, but I was almost embarrassed when I sat down in it. I was unaccustomed to such luxury. It was so big my legs dangled out over the front and I sank into the cushion almost up to my neck. I alternately felt either like a little kid or a king. It's as close as I'll ever come to sitting on a throne that's for sure.  As you can see, this chair is huge. If the fabric were to be stripped off of it, it there would probably be enough to fashion a small circus tent. At  the very least it could hous...

   I suppose that at this moment Twinkie lovers throughout the world are having heart palpitations at the very thought that their beloved baked delight might have made it's last appearance on store shelves. Thanks to a combination of incredible mis-management at the highest levels and greed on the part of the baker's union, a whopping 18,500 jobs are on the line at the Hostess Baking Co. I guess a judge has ordered the two sides to try to come to some kind of an agreement and thus keep the company out of bankruptcy. No doubt the magistrate lusts after Twinkies, Ho Ho's and perhaps even the chocolate cupcakes with the squiggly line on top and the luscious cream filling. I understand the panic that some folks might be feeling. How often I've passed the Hostess display and been lured in by the seductive packaging. Many a coffee break has seen me happily munching a fruit pie or a package of Snowballs. I had almost no self-discipline when confronted with the multi-pac...

I had to go to Juneau earlier this week for a little annual maintenance on my bod. The doctors have you at a distinct disadvantage. They won't authorize any refills for your meds if you don't go for a physical at least once a year, so I had to go in. I needed to go see the dentist too- I'm starting to look like a Jack-o-lantern when I smile so I needed some upkeep there as well. While we were there we stayed at a hotel for a few nights. The gal at the front desk said they had wi-fi. That's nice. I don't know wi-fi from hi-fi, although one has to do with computers and the other a stereo system I guess. Anyway, since it had been a few days since I had checked my emails, I thought I would avail myself of the hotel computers and check it out. I couldn't believe how fast their Internet was. As soon as I put in my password my email account came up. I didn't even have time to go get a cup of their free coffee. When I turn on my computer here at the house ...

   My wife's co-worker was showing Jan these photos and when Jan mentioned them I thought it would be great to do a blog on something different. These are some of the neatest photos I've ever seen. They were taken by Johan Hinchman when he and a family friend, Bill Veeler, were out on a hunting excursion three or four weeks ago. They hiked up to Elephant Mountain and somewhere near the top ran across these caves. Obviously it was before the snow started to fall. Johan said it was readily apparent that the bears had been utilizing these caves in years gone by. The snow hadn't started falling yet or they might have been occupied. That's a scary thought. I wouldn't want to walk up on a sleeping bear in it's den. Some  years back one of the local fellows, I think it was Karl Greenewald, was doing some cleaning up on Graveyard Island, right across from town, when he came across a bear that had denned up on the island. I can't recall if the bea...

My wife Jan speaking with our friend Bob Pinard  Ninety one year old Jim Carey  Not quite ninety one year old, Tim Banaszak Heading back home Animals and farm equipment   This past Sunday Jan and I grabbed up our daughter Jen, our  granddaughter Kaylahni and our friend Bob Pinard and we joined the exodus from town. We were going out to what has become an annual event, the Thanksgiving day celebration at Game Creek.  For a few hours our "family" expanded as we joined members and ex-members of the community at Mt.Bether Bible Center, as well as various and assorted Hoonah residents and visitors to Hoonah. If you were in town on that day, you were welcome to come join in the celebration. I'm not sure how long the farm  has been doing this- seven or eight or ten years. However long it's been, it's fun. Along with a lot of really good food you get a chance to visit people that you don't ...

   It's been several days since the storm that stretched almost the entire length of the Eastern United States made landfall. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably seen hours of video of the destruction that it left in it's wake and heard countless reports of the devastation from the wind and floods and snow. There's no two ways about it, the storm impacted millions of people and will continue to do so for a long time to come. This is only the latest in a series of bizarre weather events that  have come upon this country. From the hurricanes to tornadoes, to floods to drought, the past few years have been horrific in terms of weather. Perhaps Al Gore is right-it's all the fault of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. He's made millions of dollars in speaking engagements and books sales spouting that philosophy. He's certainly not going to change his tune when there is a profit to be made from these disasters....

I have two sons. Both of them are in the military- one in the army and the other in the navy. I know their strengths and their character and Jan and I are very proud of them. They're extremely capable of doing whatever their duty requires, regardless of the difficulty. My dog, however, has pretty much fallen down on the job. Though we obviously didn't get him to be a guard dog, he has taken it upon himself to fulfill that position- a sentry if you will. I looked up sentry in the dictionary; it claims a sentry to be a guard, especially a soldier stationed to prevent unauthorized passage. In the top picture you can feel confident that the house will be safe, no intruders will get past this diligent fellow. Frame two:  Standing up on the back of the couch can be stressful on your legs-I'll just guard from a more comfortable position. Frame 3: This is boring. The sun feels good I'll just rest for a minute. Frame:4 Oh to hell wit...

     I'm trying to do this blog post for the fourth time today. The first time I had something that I wanted, or at least I had a good start on it, when I hit the wrong key and got a message that asked me a question- do I want to do this or that. Hell, I don't know. The computer wanted a yes or no answer. What the heck, I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right, so I said yes. It wiped out all my work. Go figure. The next two tries I didn't like, so I wiped them out myself. So here I am, I've already eaten my supper and watched the last presidential debate. I've got my coffee here with me on the desk and I'm ready to go, but for reasons I can't comprehend, I'm typing faster than the words are showing up on the screen, so it's a hurry up and wait scenario. I feel like I'm back in the navy. Oh well, things could be worse.   The fellow in the top picture is my friend Bob Pinard. We met just over thirty-three years ago when he and his fa...

With help from my daughter Camille, I was able to transfer this picture onto the blog. I wish I knew the exact weight or at least the length of this gal. In the back of the tide books there is a table wich gives an estimated weight for halibut, depending on their length.  All the large halibut are females. They grow faster and get larger than their male counterparts. I'm not sure why that is, just God's plan I guess. I was reading some research on halibut which stated that in some circumstances female  halibut can actually change sex to fertilize eggs. It has something to do with ocean conditions- not enough males around to get the job done I think. These fish are unusual anyhow. When they're born they have an eye on each side of their head, but within a short time the left eye migrates to the right side, so both eyes are on the same side.As that happens, the brown coloration that is on both sides gradually fades and one side becomes white as they settle on the bottom. ...

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window I saw that we were being blessed with another glorious day. I decided to drive from one end of the pavement to the other to get some pictures, with a side trip down to the park. For those not familiar with Hoonah, the stretch of road that's paved is only about four miles or so. It starts (or ends) at the cannery and goes out to the airport. All the road past that is gravel.   It's nice to see that our fall is turning out so well. Frankly I was afraid that since our spring and summer were so cold and rainy it would be more of the same this fall. Thank God I was wrong. We've really enjoyed a fine October so far. Yesterday it turned a little foggy and rainy so I thought I'd go ahead and make some vegetable soup today. I was fortunate enough to bag a small buck last week so I had some roasts that I intentionally cut small just to put into soup. With this weather I probably should be barbecuing tonight. No ...

 From time to time I like to do a little review of a book that I 've read that has made an impression on me for one reason or another. I've mentioned everything from River Jordon's  Praying for Strangers to Gary Larson's The Far Side: Gallery Five . The most recent book I read was recommended to me by my good friend Buffalo Bob Holden. He's a voracious reader and when we talk on the phone we usually discuss books that each one has read. I believe he's on the library board in his hometown of Townshend, Vermont, so he gets to see the good stuff when it comes in. The last book he recommended was Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith .  With the coming of fall and a slower pace, I'm left with either watching the TV or reading at the end of the day. Sometimes I do both, although there are times when I'm reading a really good book that it transfixes me so totally that I can block out all other distractions, except of course the need to pee. That takes...

 Where in the heck are my pants? How often have you heard or said that? You could substitute socks, underwear, shirt, jacket or assorted and sundry other items. I was getting ready to take a shower this morning and was looking for a clean pair of jeans to wear. Off to the left of the closet I have some that are in no-man's land. They're visiting the dress slacks and I have orders from my wife that I can't wear them for working in. Amongst the better pants I even have a pair of white jeans. What the heck...? Why? Why do I have a pair of white jeans? I'm sure I must have bought them some time back, but whatever for? You can imagine that five minutes after I've donned them they'll be covered with salsa, grease, dog hair or a combination of all three. I don't like light colored pants anyway.They always show everything. I can't tell you how many times I've turned on a faucet in a public restroom and the stream of water is like all of Niagara Fal...

  For all intents and purposes, the 2012 fishing season is pretty much over for most of the troll fleet. There will still be a few hard noses who will go out to catch some winter kings after the season opens in October, but most of them are located where there is more access to the ocean. Here in Hoonah  the stalls are filled with the boats that have been out fishing all summer. The last of the tour ships has come and gone and the charter operators are secure in their slips. Some of the guys are working furiously to build frames over their boats to support the tarps that will keep the snow off. There are last minute oil changes and leaders that need coiled up. Spoons and flashers are stowed until next spring and there are handshakes and farewell greetings as different ones go to places unknown to spend the winter. Hopefully someplace warmer than Alaska. I keep thinking that some day I'll join the exodus and spend my winters where I don't have to s...