Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 Several hours ago I had some idea what I wanted to write for this post. I suppose I should have stopped right then and written it, but I had to make a trip to the store and the post office. There were some muffins to make for some friends whose family is visiting for Christmas. I needed to go to my daughter's house and enjoy an annual shoe box dinner with her and two of my grandchildren and a great granddaughter, as well as some close friends. These things are all blessings to me. Tomorrow we'll open gifts and have more family and friends over to share an abundance of food and hopefully and abundance of laughter. Like so many others, I sometimes get caught up in all the gift giving and holiday cheer, that I forget that there is a reason why we celebrate Christmas. It's because God loved us enough to send His very best. John 3:16 states that "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life...

 It's been awhile since I've written any posts. I haven't been out with the camera much lately. I guess I haven't seen too much that I wanted to photograph. The weather has been foul for weeks, rainy, snowy, windy- typical weather for Southeast Alaska in the late fall/early winter. Who really wants to see pictures of cloud shrouded mountains or rain thick seascapes? I started looking back through the archives of my pictures hoping to find something worth while to write about and I came upon this bench from down at the cannery. I remember asking my friend John Kveum about it some time back, but I can't really recall what he told me. I know it's been around for quite a long time. Back in the days when the cannery processed salmon, many a captain or crew hand or maybe cannery worker sat on this weathered bench, knife or fid in hand and decided to leave his mark. I guess there's something in all of us that wants to make a statement or be remembered. Ma...

   I've got a few pictures from Halloween 2019. One that I truly wish I had was a fine young fellow  who came out with his children on All Hallow's Eve to keep them safe. His name is Wilbur, and I've known him for years. He was a student in the school where I worked for a season. He used to address himself as Wilbyrightback. He's always been a pleasant young man and he's got quite the sense of humor. He frequently comes to work with assorted colors of nail polish on his fingernails. His daughter likes to paint them, and Wilby allows her to. When I answered the door on Halloween, aside from a lovely little girl dressed as I don't recall, her full sized father, Wilbur, was dressed in a mermaid costume, complete with wig and sparkly fins. It was hilarious. I do wish I'd gotten the picture, but I'm afraid it was an opportunity missed.  However, I didn't miss the chance to see my great granddaughter Evelee dressed as a fairy, complete wit...

    I was speaking to my daughter Autumn this evening and found that we both have a penchant for the delicious flavor of Almond Joy candy bars. As a general rule I never bother to buy candy bars. I'll admit that I do pick up a few of those little bite sized Reese's Peanut Butter cups when I'm in shopping at the store, and I imagine if you ate enough of them in one sitting it would be the equivalent of a full sized candy bar, but I try hard not to put too fine of a distinction on that. Anyway, with the recent passing of Halloween I found myself the proud owner of a number of M&M's, Snickers, Twixt,Milky Ways, Reese's Cups and the afore mentioned Almond Joy candy bars. When I was in Juneau shopping, I picked up the economy bag of candy at Costco. It had 150 candy bars and packs of M&M's inside. I didn't want to run out. Kids can be viscous when they come knocking on your door expecting a treat and you don't have anything. Better to play it...

I recently had to make a trip down to Wisconsin to visit my ill mother-in-law. It was a rush trip and totally unexpected, but it all worked out good. She recovered in spectacular fashion, I was able to visit with some family members and before the battery on my camera crapped out, I got a few pictures of one of my favorite subjects, trains. I've been fascinated with trains ever since I can remember. While I was standing near the tracks, waiting for the train, I could both hear and feel the rumbling of the approaching train; the ground vibrated like a small earthquake as it came nearer and the flashing red lights and ringing of the bells  of the crossing were just the icing on the cake for me. Growing up,whenever a train happened to be passing in front of our car, I'd sit in the back seat with a grin from ear to ear while my dad fumed at being held up.The only time I shared his disgust was when I  had to pee really bad. There are no trains in Southeast ...

    I whine quite a bit about getting older. There isn't a whole lot about attaining the "golden years" that I find very golden. Maybe they're called that because all the gold you might have been lucky enough to accumulate when you were working is now spent on medicine and doctor visits. There is one very good thing though about being retired, and that is, while everyone else is out trying to make a living, I have time to go to some of the places that others can't access during the week because they're at work. This past Friday, Jan and decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and take a drive out to Freshwater Bay. It's located down Chatham Strait, and if I were to take my boat down there, it would take me at least six hours to get there. By road it's only 28 miles. Even so, it still took us the better part of two hours. There is a lot of loose gravel and pot holes, to say nothing of multiple blind curves and hill...

 Here's a picture of me from a few weeks ago, coming to the top of the ladder at the cold storage. I had just unloaded my catch of cohos and had to climb up the ladder to get my fish ticket and check. Like so much else lately, the trip up the ladder was a workout. I try not to do it much any more. I get winded, in part because I'm packing a lot more pounds than I should be. No discipline I guess. It's also part of the aging process though I think. As we get older we have less energy and slow down. We need more time to rest and we're less active. Lately I've taken to having an afternoon nap... or several. Sometimes they're planned, and sometimes they just sneak up on me while I'm in my chair watching the TV for a few minutes. I was up at the post office today and my friend John Murray, who is always outspoken was talking to a lady. When he saw me, he said-"Botts! Pull up  your pants!" He was right, they were starting to sag a little. I'...

  The fishing season is winding down, as is normal for this time of year, and with the end of the season comes the foul weather that fall brings. For the past few days we've experienced some thirty knot winds in Icy Strait, with higher gusts. A lot of the boats that were fishing the outside coast have come in to fish Homeshore, but with almost no protection from the winds, everyone was forced to seek shelter in town. There are boats tied up to the floats from Petersburg and Wrangell, Juneau and Angoon and Sitka and of course Hoonah and I don't know where all else. Boats with names like the Trisha Marie, Loretta Ann, Corvus, and Sea Fire. They're all shapes and sizes, and most of the ones that came in from the weather are trollers, like myself. It's interesting to see the different shapes, especially on the old wooden ones. They're all unique. I happened to be listening to some music the other night on U tube and came across a song titled Away From the ...

    Last week I was fishing at Homeshore for cohos, along with a number of other boats. Fortunately it's a big area so it doesn't get too crowded, unless the fish are all being caught at one end or the other, in which case it's like throwing a single lifesaver on the floor in an old folks home and watching the elderly people scramble for it. On the night that I took these pictures, it was calm and relaxing. It's the kind of weather that you long for. This year has been uncommonly windy, with day after day of westerly winds blowing. Finally, as we approach the end of the season there's  been a stretch of calm weather, which is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I was lulled into believing the National Weather Service was going to be correct after they correctly predicted good weather for about a week. Several nights after these photos were taken I anchored in the same spot. I was a little surprised that no other boats were around me, but that was fin...

   As I sit here writing this post, I'm listening to the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the flute and synthesizer that were used in the song La Folie 2  by New Age artist Deuter. It's one of several songs I've downloaded by this artist. He's so incredibly talented. I was looking on my Ipod and see that I have 686 songs downloaded onto it. Frankly, there have been a few that I wish I hadn't downloaded, but for the most part I'm delighted by them all. I was thinking of how much a part of our every day lives music is, and I wondered, where would we be without it? It would be like strolling through  a garden without color or scent. My musical tastes are quite diverse.  In the past six months I've downloaded songs ranging from the deep twangy voice of Johnny Cash to the mellow Charlie Rich in the country venue, new age music from John Adorney, Deuter, and the husband, wife and daughter team that make up the group 2002.I've got a song titled Release...

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of watching our friends dog, Rabano, again. They ran down south for a few days, and when they returned, they brought back a shirt for Jan, and some cheese for me. I happen to love Beechers Flagship cheese. My friend Mark introduced me to it a little over a year ago. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I'm unable to get it here in Hoonah. The closest place I know of is the Costco store in Juneau. It's a little spendy, but well worth the cost. I'm afraid I can't adequately describe the flavor. It's sharp,with a bit of a salty tang that is so satisfying. If you look closely, you can see that I'm holding two blocks of cheese. One is an eight pound behemoth, and the other is about a three ounce sampler. I'm sorry to say that even though Mark and Sarah appreciated the dog sitting, the eight pound block is Marks. However, in all fairness, I must mention that Mark was good enough to order my favorite soft drink, Vernors, a...

  For six days there has been a troll closure for all salmon here in Southeast Alaska. It doesn't impact the sport boys or the charter guys, but it shuts us right down. The theory is that it will give the coho salmon more of a chance to get into the streams and rivers. I find it interesting that in the past, the closure has always coincided with the Golden North Salmon Derby in Juneau. The fact is though, there seems to be less salmon being caught this year than in recent years. How much that has to do with all the hot, sunny weather we've had and the warmer water temps and what percentage can be attributed to the fact that there are more and more lodges and charter outfits targeting all the species of salmon as well as halibut, rockfish, ling cod and whatever else is swimming in these waters is a matter of speculation. I suspect that if something doesn't change soon, fishermen, lodges, charter companies and residents are going to find themselves with n...

  A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to be surrogate parents to our friends Mark and Sarah's dog, Ra'bano. After losing our dog Rigby, it was nice to have the chance to have one of our furry friends come by for a few days. I can only recall once when he kind of whined a little bit. As hard as it can be for people to be in unfamiliar places and uncomfortable situations, I can only imagine what it must be like for our pets. I know that not everyone has the luxury of leaving a beloved pet with a friend or neighbor when they have to leave for one reason or another. I just hate the idea of having to board your pet at a vet or animal shelter. Maybe I'm full of hoo-ha, but I feel like as much as possible they need to be in a loving environment while their owners are away. As you can see, Ra'bano (which means radish in Spanish) is feeling quite at home on our couch. He's really well trained, and though the food right there before him is enticing, he didn't once...

  For the past three weeks or maybe a month we've had unusually hot temperatures here in Southeast Alaska. Actually it's been happening all over the state I believe. I know that eighty plus degrees doesn't sound so hot to some folks, but here, where the average temperatures range in the mid sixties to mid seventies in the summer, having the temps soar to the upper eighties was quite uncomfortable. No, it wasn't just uncomfortable, it was outright miserable, truth be known. Much like last year, there hasn't been any rain since the beginning of June, so the grass around the house was starting to dry out and turn yellow, and the creeks are exceptionally low. Not something you want to see right before the salmon show up to do their annual spawning run up the creeks and rivers. For some reason the horseflies seem to thrive on this hot, dry weather, and they were out in droves. I was fishing up the bay for King Salmon last week and the flies like to...