Spring and summer inspire lots of visitors to come to Sitka.  Understandably so as everything is blooming and green, growing and sprouting, not to mention sunny sunny sunny!  Well, except for those few rainy days, but man, it has been nice!

My mama came for a long weekend and had some good times with Charlie.  She and I even got out on an Allen Marine cruise to Deep Inlet and Redoubt Bay one evening.  Wildlife abounds as usual : we saw a grey whale, loads of sea otters and eagles, plus a bear chewing on a whale carcass and some salmon being hauled in by gill netters out near Deep Inlet.  She also managed to fit in making curtains for Charlie’s room in the quick weekend.

Good Times with Grandy

Getting used to rubber boots, still not quite big enough

Grandy and Charlie

Coming out of Redoubt Bay - Doesn't do it justice

Finally we get a nameplate for our house! I guess we're official now

No, we aren’t roasting our firstborn over the stove.  Don’t worry.  It wasn’t on at the time and hadn’t been for some time.   It’s summer time here, so temps are at 60 or 62!  Balmy for us, tank top weather.  Charlie runs around naked, or would if there weren’t so many pokey objects for him to scrape his beautiful baby skin on.  We all have farmer’s tans from where we roll up our long sleeves as the temps soar to the low 60′s as the sun comes out.  We’ve actually had incredible weather lately and I actually did get burned a couple weeks ago but thankfully I had prepared to get burned and had a swim suit top on.  It only took an hour and I was a lobster.  I remember when it used to take 20 minutes in Montana sun, but hey, this way I get to enjoy the outdoors longer

Taking ole Pops for a walk on the beach

Fishy Fishy in the Sea, Daddy caught him with his knee, Mommy cooked him in a pan, and Baby ate him like a man...with a beard

Nate went fishing last weekend with a friend of ours and they made out pretty well.  King salmon, yelloweye and black rockfish.  Not a bad couple days of fishing, not a bad several nights of eating either

Charlie and his favorite, Spruce the Moose 14 1/2 months today!

We continue on here in Sitka, enjoying our ever expanding community of friends and neighbors.  Our neighborhood is famous for our dandelion bonfire parties where fellow dandelion-hater neighbors gather our harvested invasive weeds and watch them come to a sizzling burning fiery end.  Our goal:  to eradicate any and all dandelions from our small loop of homes forever.  Our pleasure: watching them die by fire!  And roasting marshmallows in their coals, they have to be good for something at least

Happy Dandelion Free Summer to you all!

 

 

 

The end of May brought a couple visitors up to the Northernly realm of Sitka – all the way from sunny warm California!  Grampa Mike and Glenda brought us the best gift ever, aside from many moose themed presents for Mr. Charlie, a weeks worth of toasty sunshine!  It was truly our first week of summer, lucky for them.  We even got sunburned!

We had a good week, full of house projects including stabilizing our deck, putting in a new door with a window, outside trim around the windows.  We visited the Raptor Center, took a boat ride to Silver Bay, made some tasty food, and of course enjoyed the extra eyes and arms necessary for chasing after a 14 month old Baby Charlie.

The only smile I got out of him in a life vest, must be Gramps' influence!

Pops working on Indian River Trail. Gramps and Charlie helping out

Lots of evening visits to Sandy Beach, wind rain or shine

All in all a great time.  Thanks for coming to Sitka!

Charlie and I headed down the end of the road to catch a low tide (planned of course, ha!) and to see Dad doing his weekend surveying of passers/drivers by for a FS survey.  LAAAAME.  Poor guy.  We got to enjoy the sun however, a much needed sunny day here in Southeast… and a much needed update on life in pictures for Charlie.  Wow, it’s been too long.

Almost his only agreeable shot for the camera

Mt Edgecumbe was looking mighty fine today if I do say so myself.

You, over there, hey, you!

He prefers pointing to waving “hello” or “goodbye.”  Ever the gentleman, polite and kind.

Baby's first seaweed!

I’m not sure he enjoyed it, but he didn’t eat any more.

In less than a month Nate and I both managed to visit the ER, thankfully for minor incidents but they both happened to involve our hands, both injuries acquired by sharp axes.  Amazing…well the nurse thought so.  I had the same nurse Nate saw on his visit and, as Charlie came along for the adventure, she threatened to start calling us the Ax Family if he showed up next.  She’s from Choteau, Montana, obviously great, and knew how to give a person loving, tender heck for their careless flailing about of their extremities.

Numb and Scrubbed at the ER

So, I suppose the story is required.  Well…we just bought this trailer in the Forest Service court, and the same weekend we bought it we also started, ah, retrofitting it to our standards shall we say.  We ripped out drywall, put up new, mud, taped, sanded (still are, never ending, uh).  We knocked out a wall and will put up another in its place.  We picked out paint and carpet, and are still deciding on tongue-and-groove options for floors/walls/ceilings.  Plus the place is in dire need of a revamped if not totally new kitchen including appliances, cabinets.  Did I mention new windows.  Anyway….

There is in this wonderful place a gigantic wood stove.  A wood stove that is designed to heat a 2400 square foot home probably, not the 900+ sq.ft home we have acquired.  So I was being the diligent mother and wife and about to prepare a fire for my chilly wee babe.  Nate, the diligent gentle husband had just that day put a new ax near the firewood for such things as fire making.  I did use this ax to cut up some kindling and was on the last hew (I just made a noun) of the log and whooooooosh, I thus missed the log and cleaved my left knuckle.  It was more long than deep so I wasn’t gushing by any means.  Nate was a stupendous husband, as usual, and made me sit down even though I was walking circles and walking in general to try to avoid the inevitable faint I could feel coming on.  Amazing again though is that I did NOT faint!  He took a look at it after several minutes of me “adjusting” and declared that yes, we were going to have to take a trip to the emergency room.  Ugh.

Meanwhile, Charlie is whimpering in the living room waiting to be fed.  So we fed him( I say we because it was definitely a group effort) and loaded up the family into the truck and went to the hospital where I got shot up with beautiful numbing Novocaine a few times since I was still able to feel some of the eleven stitches I got.  Ain’t no thang!  Here are the results:

Franken G

And here’s a cute one of the Charlie man and his beloved newspaper.

I think we should submit it for publication really

Brother Jeff was able to come up for a jam-packed quick visit, and consequently I was able to get off the rock for the first time since April, and for more than just a day trip!  August 9th we headed out to Kruzof Island across the sound from Sitka to Shelikof Cabin where Nate had been working the previous week.  To get there we had to haggle a ride from our friend Jay (not really, he was more than willing to do it), and arrange for another friend to pick us up.  The adventure started soon after Jeff landed and we hauled 3 bikes, Charlie’s bike trailer, bags of food and clothes, panniers, rain gear and fishing poles into Jay’s boat and set off across the water in the pouring rain.  It was GREAT!

We landed on the eastish side of Kruzof and biked 5 miles with all our gear on a Troad (Trail/Road), old roads they used for logging, to a trail head, then hiked a mile or so over to the westish side of the island where the cabin was.  Keep in mind we started boating from Sitka around 530p and yes, it is summer in Alaska, but it started getting dark then around 930-10pm, plus it was raining and overcast so it was gloomy.  Needless to say, we were hiking in the dark by the time we got to the trail head.  And we forgot all but one headlamp.  And there were bears, but none where we were that night, thank the Lord!  Charlie’s first adventure and he slept right on through.

We stayed a couple nights and enjoyed the glories of the long stretches of beach and Shelikof River that was host to a bountiful supply of pink salmon which both bears and eagles enjoy to the fullest (ha).  Jeff caught us dinner one night and I didn’t forget the salmon spice I had prepared especially for such a catch.  Nate and Jeff went surfing and Charlie slept a lot but enjoyed the beach walks and looking at all the sand dollars washed up on shore.  The last day we even got to see a bear fishing in the river!  So fun!  We can’t wait for Uncle Jeff to come back so we can go out again!  Couldn’t have done it without him.

Surf's up! Uncle Jeffy & Nate prepare to conquer the sea, or be conquered

Goofy Brothers, those guys

What a bunch of Californians

A beautiful ride back to Sitka. What a Day!

Greetings after a long drought of blogging.  We finally got internet!  Yay!  Granted it was about a month ago but whatever.  I get so distracted throughout the day with things I’m trying to do, research, buy, clean, etc that it’s all I can do to remember what month I’m in.  Well, on to the update:

Charlie and I recently went on a trip up to Anchorage the end of July, his first flight out of utero.  He seemed to be familiar with the whole thing and slept most of the way there like a seasoned traveling machine (which he is given that we flew SO much over the winter thanks to my flight benefits and not working, either of us).

Charlie before his first flight July 19

We got to visit with Great-Grandma Mary , Grandpa Jerry and Carolyn, Grandma Mary and some good friends from Bozeman who have recently moved up there, the Cryders.  We also had a big gala at Grandma Mary’s house.  She invited over a whole slew of people from my church and school growing up.  It was amazing to see so many friends collected together at the same time.

Great Grandma Mary and Charlie, the 5th generation Alaskan!

4 Generations of Alaskans - Baby C & Mama G, Grand Daddy Jerry & Great Gma Mary

We headed down to the Kenai Peninsula to the cabin where the sockeye’s were in thick.  Being on the river again with a few fish on my line was a dream come true.  I can’t remember the last time I had been fishing on the Kenai.  Seems like I only go to mainland Alaska (Anchorage/Soldotna) in the winter…what a silly concept.

Big Red! About a 9 pounder! and Uncle Richard in the background

Here's a more flattering view of her mouth

Charlie was able to meet his “cousin” for the first time down at the cabin as we all fished and filleted.  Stacie and I grew up together and are basically sisters.  Abbigail thought Charlie was her baby, not even her brother, but her baby, she is such a little mother and is soooo good at babies!  Dan was surprisingly cordial and nice to me despite teaching Abbigail that my name is Aunt Beast, which I don’t mind really.  Aunt Genelle is such a mouthful.

Abbigail Fish Slayin' Dan & Charlie-Man at the Cabin on the Kenai

Next stop was north to Wasilla where we were able to spend some leisurely days with Dad and Carolyn at her house in the woods.  It rained a bucket load most of the time but lighted up enough for us to get out to Hatcher’s Pass and go for a hike in the Talkeetna mountains.  I don’t think I had ever been out there during the summer, shocking; it reminded me so much of Ireland but bigger.  Man.  To think those trails and mountains were so close to me growing up  and I never took advantage, ah well.

I mostly did video in Wasilla, so maybe I’ll post one next blog time.  Here is a smattering of other pictures from our trip.  Hope you enjoy!  Be in touch, we’ll try to be!

Crying Kiddo & Miss Hannah, Miss Naomi & Miss Jennifer Cryder our friends from Montana who recently moved to Anchorage...our new "neighbors" !

This "Yawns" for you, Liz

Four day old Baby Charlie and Pops

Our first hike, and boy was it a doozy!

Gazing at the beloved Pooh mobile: 1 month old

There's Charlie! 7 weeks

To each his own paci : 2 months

I know, I know, it has been like a thousand and one years.  Our pirated internet connection disappeared and it takes another thousand years to set up internet here in Sitka for no apparent reason except that it’s Sitka, and the technician who does the install or whatever is sent out from Anchorage, and not on a regular basis, and only if the weather permits or maybe whenever they feel like sending someone out, who knows.  We still don’t have internet, just borrowing from the neighbors

Sitka Sound Vreelands

The Vreelands at 2 weeks post partum

Charlie Man at 2 weeks

Charlie in his snazzy Grandma love PJs

Here are a few pictures of what Sitka has looked like from the heights above on Harbor Mountain.  Nate had to go do snow patrol up there at the local snowmobiling area since we got dumped on earlier in the week.  There has only been snow three times this winter in town and since this was one of the three times there were lots of people wanting to get out and sled around.  These are some of the pictures he took while out in the gorgeousness of the day.  It’s been sunny for 3 or 4 days in a row now!  We were walking downtown today and Nate exclaimed, “Gosh, it’s like we live in Switzerland or something!”  We still can’t get over the beauty.

Ski Bowl and Sitka Sound

The white foam stuff you can see to the left of the little islands is actually from the herring run.  I’m not sure if it’s the spawning herring or the spermies the boys spread about after the roe has been laid by the ladies.  Either way it’s quite impressive the amount of stuff from the herring run that is in the water.  There is a boat that sets up in one of the harbors and distributes the herring roe they collect on hemlock branches they set out in the spawning areas to the public for free.  I’ll try to post pictures of the roe covered branches.  It is the craziest thing!

The Old Ski Hill Bowl

Evidently there used to be a ski hill here back in the ’50s I think.  It looks so inviting to skin up there and swathe down through the pristine snow while looking out over the water.  I tell you, I don’t think I’m going to get tired of this place.

Todd and Harbor Mountain

Looking at Harbor Mountain, a mount close behind Sitka.   There are nutty people who ride snowmobiles up those avalanche chutes you see coming down the middle of the mountain and then ride off to the left.  Todd is one of those people.  I told Nate not to even think about it.

postscript:  Charlie and all of us are doing great.  Charlie was circumcised on Friday and was a stud muffin trooper.  He is recovering wonderfully, like nothing ever happened, and we are all out on the town today taking advantage of the sunshine.  More pictures coming, don’t get your panties in a wad.