My Dad, my sister, and my grandson.

Dad, second from left, and Diane, next to Dad, are joined by Caleb and Mom as they watched SP on the front beach this summer.

Every year, I travel to Anchorage in October to facilitate the Village Seminar for the Aleut Corporation. The meetings are usually held on Thursday and Friday in the 3rd week of October. If my Mom and Dad fly in early, I miss Dad’s birthday. If my sister, Diane, flys up from the lower 48, we celebrate their birthdays together. (That one doesn’t happen very often.) There has been one static for the past 7 years….I miss my grandson’s birthday.

I suppose having been in the room when he was born should count for many years of missed days. Especially when you take into account what my daughter told me to do to myself at 4:30 am, after she had been in labor for 37 hours! (She ended up laboring for 47 hours, I do believe. I have forgotten, although I am certain she has not.) And having him in my hotel room on his first birthday, stark naked on a sheet, indulging in a decadant chocolate first birthday cake (him, not me) counts also.

I feel extreme guilt when I see the picture of him on his second birthday…his mom was also in Anchorage that year, and SP was home with Grandpa. Caleb, the wonderman, put a candle in the shape of the number 2 on top of a box of animal crackers. That was SP’s birthday cake! He did let SP blow out the candle numerous times…something that they both were very excited about. I was really excited when Mom said we would have a second little party for him when we got home this year. Was I ever surprised to find out that, being the last one to fly in a mere 3 days after everyone else, they had the party for him 2 nights before I got home!! What the hell??

So, to break the silence of my blog, I want to wish my Dad, Sam, 83, my sister, Diane, 52, and my grandson, SP, 8, many, many years.

Fishing for Reds! Aanux^!

It is a busy time of year, so I apologize for slacking on the blog. The aanux^ (red salmon) are starting to hit, and I have been busy bickering with my husband. Things are starting to smooth out in the equipment department (trailer, boat, engine, net) and although my body is beat all to h***, I am enjoying myself immensely.

It is darn hard to get the net straight! Our engine isn’t strong enought to pull in reverse, so Caleb has had to devise a bridle (not quite refined yet) to pull with it attached to the stern.

Skiff and engine courtesy of brother-in-law Greg Hawthorne.

It is so nice to be able to fish, practically from our front porch. Plus the whole family gets involved…all four generations! The reds are HUGE this year.

Our first concern has been getting enough fish for the smoke house. Dad said, ” I am not wasting my cottonwood for less than 15 fish!” Well, it took us two days, but on the morning of the third day, mom was stripping 20 fillets to brine and hang. SP was so excited to be able to fish. Any kind of fish made him happy. Sadgunix^ (Trout), araamusax^ (bull heads), flounder. And, oh yeah, the aanux^, red salmon.

Our second day was frought with wind. The north wind blows in the fish, but it hits us smack dead center and plays havok with the skiff. I almost had a heart attack when mom waved Caleb and I off when we tried to land the skiff again to pull the net, and I saw my 82 year old father down on the beach pulling away with mom and Laresa!

Many years of experience go into each step of the process. Sam and Gert Svarny.

The third day, Caleb had to work so we set the net early, and Laresa and I planned to fish it all day. Easy……except I couldn’t get the engine to start! We spent the day pulling ourselves (in the skiff, of course) out the net and back. Man that is tiring. The good thing was that Laresa is almost as good as Caleb at picking the fish out of the net. The bad thing was that I just wasn’t pushing hard enough on the engine starter button and when Caleb got home, he started it right up. Aaarrgghh!

Neighbors are a blessing in Unalaska. Zoya and Bobby Johnson helped Laresa, Caleb, and I pull the net in on Saturday evening. Then Bobby expertly repaired the net where a hole had mysteriously appeared. Two nights of mom’s lovely cooking – fish stew with alaadix^ and boiled salmon with potatos, petrushky, fiddleheads, and seal oil! Yum. That’s the life!

Two days of rest and we are hoping for good weather tomorrow. At any rate, something will get done because we have another project going – the mini greenhouse!

What’s popping up out there?

I have been spending as much time as I can hiking lately. I can honestly say I do become quickly addicted to being out there in the hills, especially at this time of the year when everything is beginning to pop out of the ground. It is always amazing to me to all of the sudden notice that there is more of a green tinge to the hills than a brown one. Well, we are not quite there yet, but we are fast approaching that moment.

So what is pushing its way out of the ground this week besides morels?

More on the fiddlehead later in the subsistence pages.

Monkshood has similar leaves to the wild geranium. Be careful around them.

If the sun is out, or is radiating through the clouds, DO NOT let the sap touch your skin.

Purple orchid. ( Dactylorhiza aristata.)

And although I realize that many people are disappointed with the rain, we really do need it right now. The hills are turning green right before our eyes! Go for a hike.

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