Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  Some years back, when I was living in Hoonah, I became the manager of the L. Kane Store. I always thought that it was a stupid name for a store, until a lady who was a friend of the family who owned the store mentioned that when it was established, back in 1893, women owning businesses was frowned upon. Her name was Louise Kane, and in order to do business with suppliers in Seattle, she shortened the name to L. Kane's. It was one of three stores in Hoonah at the time, and unfortunately was the one that a local fisherman named Frank preferred to shop at. He lived on his small wooden fishing boat with his Black Lab, appropriately named Blackie, in Spasski Bay. It was a protected harbor, regardless of which way the wind blew or how hard, and provided shelter year round, even during the fierce winter weather that blew in from Icy Strait. When I first met him he must have been in his seventies. He always seemed to have a few days' growth of beard and wore a dirty felt fedora, a kn...

  I took these pictures out back this morning. For those of you who can't tell or aren't familiar with the flora of Southeast Alaska, these are blueberry bushes. As you can see, there aren't any blueberries on them. In years past, I wouldn't even bother to pick any berries until now because of all the leaves. I kind of like to wait until after a frost so that in the process of picking I don't end up with more leaves than berries, plus there is a little white worm that inhabits some of the fruit, and I think the frost drives them out or at least kills them. In any event, I had planned on going out picking several weeks ago, but the fishing season was extended, which was a good thing, and the weather was really foul with lots of wind and rain, which wasn't such a good thing, and I missed my opportunity to go picking. Blast it! I really wanted to have a gallon or so of blueberries so I could make a few, or I guess more than a few, batches of ...

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 ...

These are a couple of pictures that I took from the first king salmon opening outside. When I say outside I mean out on the ocean, away from the Inside Passage here in Southeast Alaska. I always hate having to go out there. Almost always there is a swell, which in itself isn't so bad, but if it's a westerly, which it often is, and there is any wind on top of it, which there usually is, then it can be miserable. The area I fish is such that I have to be right in the trough of the waves, which means I'm constantly fighting to maintain my balance while at the same time watching out for other boats and pulling the fish aboard. It makes an otherwise enjoyable experience a real pain. In order to get to the outside, I have to pass through South Inian P ass, which is also a real challenge for me. The idea is to try to time your passage through on the outgoing tide, so you aren't fighting the current. The bad part can be if there is a westerly wind blowing in Cross Sound, the...