Finally.... something.

I haven’t been lazy, honest. I’ve just been getting around.

After my last post I’ve been to Cold Bay twice, St George Island twice and Kodiak once.

Starting with St George, the people out there are nice but I can’t understand why they would want to live on such a barren rock in the middle of the Bering Sea. I got invited to a little get-together on that trip and ended up getting my first taste of seal. That’s right, Northern Fur Seal, a young’un not yet away from its mother. The Aleuts call it Lakudax` pretty tasty too boiled up in seawater with some onions and potatoes and served on a bed of putchkii (wild celery)
I spent some time in Cold Bay again. After work I was fortunate enough to get some hunting in on those two trips, a number of ptarmigan and a nice red fox. The caribou weren’t in season at the time and were nowhere to be found anyway. I did see this guy though while I was out and about. He wasn’t much interested in me but did seem interested in whatever he was digging for. I was on top of a small hill on the other side of this pond where we sat and watched each other for about twenty minutes before I moved on.
After that trip I spent some time in Kodiak hunting with my father and a good family friend. I ended up getting some nice deer including one on a nice 150-yard neck shot uphill and a nice big buck who’d seen some fighting. At least a three point but maybe a four but I can’t tell since the antlers have both been symmetrically broken off at some point. (get it?)

Since that trip I’ve been back to St George for a four day trip and will end up out there again in a few weeks for more fun.

It’s gotten colder here and finally got a decent dump of snow here in town. Of course the snowblower I went through and got cleaned up and running in September has choked on the crappy gas I poured into the tank. So I’ve cleaned crud out of the carb twice now, cleaned out the fuel tank and lines, added fresh gas, searched the Internet for tips and she still isn’t running. No A-ganger I, so I took the thing to a small engine shop and am awaiting its return.

It’s after Thanksgiving and after the insanity that follows it in the form of crazy shoppers. My wife dragged me from my sleep at a little after 4am to participate in the insanity. No really great deals this year though, just a bunch of loony people with money to burn. Everyone we met though was pretty good natured and polite, no stampedes or pregnant women getting trampled and up here, just long lines.

We’ve got our Christmas tree already. It’s drinking its water and looks pretty good in our house. In past years we’ve had to return the tree after it wouldn’t drink but this year we did all right from the get go.

My cousin is back from Kuwait. He was over there in the Army retrieving and repairing vehicles from Iraq. I only got to talk with him a little on Thanksgiving but he sounds well and I’m glad he’s back. He re-upped over there and is expecting to be redeployed in six months or so.
My other cousin is somewhere in Southeast Asia with the Navy as an AO. He ought to be back soon as well. I went to his graduation at Great Lakes a few years ago. I was still in the reserves then so I wore my uniform. It was very different going there as a submarine qualified petty officer than it was as a recruit.
Thanks for your service, cousins.