Goodbye!

Summer is over. School has started. We are back into the swing of things here in the city. The transition home this year has been a strange one. Bryan is with us which is unusual. (He was able to take Emmett to class on his first day of Kindergarten which was really important to him and was totally awesome.) Both boys are in school now so we are getting used to 2 lunches, 2 backpacks, 2 sets of paperwork, 2 packets of homework, etc... The strangest thing for me is that I don't feel like I have missed 3 months of time here. It honestly feels like I went out our back door and a few minutes later, entered our front door. Everything is the same - including the pace of life that we left. That's probably what gets me the most this time around. I TOTALLY appreciate the life we have at camp, the pace, the routine, the ease, the time with family. The boys are happy to be back but overwhelmed at the same time. There are night time fears that weren't there before and tears that come on all of a sudden. All in all though it is good to be home and everyone is rested, happy, and doing well.

Goodbye East House! We love this cabin and will love seeing it again in the spring.

Goodbye guys! You were awesome and we totally miss hanging out and talking with you. Good luck adjusting back into the "real" world and with the rest of the year.

Hello school!

Thank you so much for reading this blog. It was a lot of fun to do. Hope you enjoyed yourself and check back in with us next season. Have a wonderful year and we'll be back in 9 months!

A Side Note

In between Kodiak and Home, we made a pit stop in Anchorage to visit family. The weather was beautiful and we managed to make it to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. This was our second time to the fair and the kids just have a blast! Here are a few highlites. I went with the theme of "Everything in Alaska is Bigger!" (Texas, eat your heart out!)

My sister says that this Ferris Wheel has one of the best views in the world - on a nice day.

This cabbage ended up breaking the world's record if you can believe it!

Miss Piggy was overdue the day we were there. About 3 days later she finally had 11 babies!

The trip home

1. Push the skiff into the water with the tractor.

2. Load luggage into the skiff and hope it stays dry on the ride into the cannery/Larsen Bay.

3. Take the van up to the landing strip. Unexpected situations may arise: high tide, bears, forklift stuck in the only road, etc...

4. Fly to Kodiak on a small bush plane, weather permitting. Flight takes about 30 minutes.
5. Fly to Anchorage and then wait for another plane to take us HOME.
6. It is the middle of the night and time for the last leg of the trip. The shuttle ride!

Wrapping it up!

The end of the season arrived earlier than usual this year. After waiting for more than 2 weeks for Fish and Game to make a decision on whether or not to open again, we made the decision that it was time to go home. Part of the packing up process at camp includes putting the nets away, cleaning out the boats and putting them in the Boat House, winterizing the cabins and engines, taking inventory on any foods or goods that are being left behind for the next summer, pulling up the lines and anchors that are still in the water, and boarding up the cabins. I helped with the inventory and getting our cabin in order. The rest of it falls on Bryan's, Leon's, and the crew's shoulders. They pretty much worked full force after the boys and I left. These are some pictures to give an idea of some of the things that we do to get the camp ready for the winter. As you can see, during the summer the Boat House doubles as an indoor play ground for the boys.

Road Trip!!!!

Before the boys and I left camp, we took a day trip with some friends to another bay. We had beautiful sunny weather the two days before hand but on this day it was grey and damp! Oh well, such is Alaska...

We all met up at a friends cabin and took two skiffs up the river at the head of the bay (Zachar Bay). We went at

high tide since it is marsh land. The skiffs were tide up down

stream a bit and then we walked farther up the river to do some fishing. There were signs o

f bear EVERYWHERE! Bear trails, footprints, scat, half eaten fish, etc... Amazingly we saw no bears the whole time we were there. The day was fantastic! I haven't been up a river for a million years so I was totally enjoying the moment. Everyone caught a salmon including the kids. We had a great picnic with cucumbers from the garden, homemade cookies, smoked salmon, and deer sausage. Definitely a day that we will remember for a long time!

Net Mending

Once the nets are cleaned, the next job is to "mend" them. That means we fix up or patch any holes or tears in the web of the net. To do this we use a special twine and a mending needle. You start with making a granny knot at the beginning of the tear/hole and then with a few more knots, twists, and flicks of the wrist, you end with another granny and cut it loose.

This is probably the job that our crew likes the least (well besides emptying the outhouse - but that goes without saying...)

It is tedious and can be trying for some people. It can be hard to see where to start or sometimes how to finish a mend. In the pictures below, the lighter colored twine is where we fixed a hole. I actually like mending and it is one of the jobs that I always help out with. Once the nets are mended, they are then ready to be put back into

the boat for the next opening.

Cleaning Nets

When we pull the nets out of the water, they are stacked into the skiffs. They are then pulled up onto shore and "racked". Corks on one side and leads on the other. We give them a good cleaning with a power washer and our two hands. After the nets are dry, we then start the process of mending them. This means we sew up any rips, tears, holes, etc. in the web.

The bottom two pictures are our trusty helpers!

Just to let you know, I will be putting together some more posts once we get to Seattle. It was getting to be too slow out to camp. I have lots of stories and pictures left to share.

Saturday - Day to Play!

This is the last full day and night here for the boys and I.  Lucy stays with Bryan.  We are hoping that they will be home no more than a week after we get there.  It will be a busy week with school starting, but we always miss them lots.  I am awake early thinking of last minute things that need to get done and things that I'd like to do on our last day.  I think the most daunting task will be the cleaning of the boys' room!  It is always nice to start fresh each year but there are lots of Lego pieces, shells, and other small stuff scattered everywhere...

I am hoping that Garett can take one more spin in his Zodiac.  It used to be Bryan's when he was little and Papa fixed it up really nice for him this year.  Has an outboard on it that he is able to start and run on his own.  We are also having friends over for dinner.  They have 4 kids and it is always nice to get them all together.  I think the crew is excited for the dinner as well.  They are in need of some distractions and socializing with all of this down time.  It is always better to be fishing than not out here - especially in August!

It should be a nice day weather wise too.  We had quite a stormy day yesterday.  Everyone just kind of hunkered down and tried to stay warm.  I don't think any of us got much sleep either that night because of the wind.  Our cabins were definitely rocking!  The buildings here are built on top of pilings.  This is because of the freeze and thaw pattern that the ground goes through each year.  So, because of this, if you get a good wind, it literally will shake the house making it feel like an earthquake.  Adam said he kept waiting for their cabin to be ripped right off the pilings and tossed into bushes behind them.  Garett had to sleep on the couch.  Bryan and I were up and down.  No damage was done however and the sky and water are calm this morning.

Judy and Leon get home this afternoon from their trip.  Leon will fly out tomorrow and we'll fly into town on the plane he gets out of.  Short hello and goodbye with Papa which is sad.  I know he is eager to get back out here though.  The boys will be glad to spend a few days with Nana.  We always have fun at their house in town.

After we leave the guys concentrate on winterizing the camp and getting all of the gear out of the water - anchors, bouys (OK I can't figure out this spelling - sorry), and lines.  They have already started on some of the stuff in camp.  The boats also need to be winterized and they are stored in our Boat House down the beach.

The internet has been really slow for a few weeks now and I am unable to post any pictures.   When I get back to civilization, I will do more posts about the things we've done lately and include pictures.

OK, time to start our last day!  Just think, tomorrow I can take a shower  ;D

We are still here!

Well, I don't have the picture option again today so I guess I'll just give an update.

Judy and Leon are still in Maryland. We pulled up the nets on the 15th and have been doing shore work since then. Adam and Austin did some net washing, Bryan, Justin, and I worked on mending the nets, and today there was yard work and house painting. We have managed to enjoy some downtime. The boys and I visited some neighbors. Bryan and the crew did some sport fishing. Adam caught a really large cod! Today we took a boat ride to the lagoon to do some beach combing and hiking around. The weather has been beautiful. The backs of our necks are all nice and brown :)

It has been over a week since we've been on our own. Everyone misses Nana and Papa but we are making it work. I think Bryan and I have done a pretty good job of coming up with meals that help empty out the freezer as well as use the nice veggies that are growing in the garden. It is a hard time of year for groceries because you don't know how long you are going to be here. You need to use up what you have and you don't want to order too much other stuff.

There are plenty of chores to do around here though to keep us busy. We are planning on taking another boat ride in the next few days somewhere and have a picnic. Let's hope the weather stays good!

I'll write more later and hopefully can attach pictures.

Double Trouble

I realized yesterday while looking through my photos, how many I had of both boys posing for me...

Thought I would do a little time line of the summer so far. 

This first one is of our two maniacs in full force.

 

Now they are getting ready to go out fishing with Daddy.  For some reason, Emmett wanted to wear his Mexican Wrestling mask.

Awwww...  How sweet are these two monkeys?

Oh yes.  Another cute one.  It is taken after banya so they are freshly clean as well :-)

Here they are kicked back waiting for the boat to take them to the cannery.  Justin made some lounge chairs for us on his off time.

What camp isn't complete with out their very own Men In Black?  Be careful ... they are armed and full of nonsense!

There you have it!  Our crazy and wonderful and lovable boys!  They certainly keep us entertained!

Fishing for Fun

Sometimes we are able to take a little time for fun.

Leon gets his "fun" boat, Lakota, ready and takes everyone out to do a little sport fishing.

This shot is of Steven and, what looks like, a heavy halibut.

Garett is the king of sea bass fishing.  Every time he goes, he knocks 'em dead!

The last time they went out they got a BIG surprise...

This enormous Cod!  The tender weighed it at 46lbs.  The funny thing is that Leon reeled it in because it was eating the Greenling that he had originally caught!  Wish I had the picture of that fish because it was a good sized one itself!

A close up of the beast from the deep!

Our Gardens

This is my garden this year.  Sweet Peas and radishes.  It isn't doing very well but I tried.

This will be my garden next summer.  Right now it only grows fishermen who carpenter. 

This is Judy's green house.  Inside is a lush forest of zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, lettuce, and tomatoes!  It is also a favorite place of the bears because the compost pit is in the back.

This is Judy's new raised garden at the back of the house.  She started everything in the green house and then transplanted it here last month.  The peas are out of control.  They are huge and have only just started flowering!  There is broccoli, lettuce, brussel sprouts, potatoes, radishes, peas.

The satellite dish up above is what allows us to have internet.  

A Changing of the Guard

Just wanted to write what has been going on lately.  Found out when I signed on that the picture option is back up so I will try to do another post later in the day with pictures.  

Bryan and I are now "in charge".  That's right, Ma and Pa Francisco and running the show!  Ha ha!  The reason is that Leon and Judy left yesterday to go to Maryland.  They will be visiting their oldest daughter and her 3 girls.  They weren't able to come this summer to Alaska and we sure missed them.  I know they are going to be SO happy to see Nana and Papa!

This is the first time, with me being at camp anyhow, that both Leon and Judy have been absent.  It is very strange.  We miss them already.  The boys won't have trips to the boat house and Garett was talking about how he is always showing and telling Nana about different things.  Emmett is usually following Papa around.  "Papa?  Where are you?  Papa?  Where are you going?"  Even Lucy is wandering around looking for them.  She sits at the front of the door of their cabin waiting to be let in...

So now Bryan and I need to figure out the dinners, everyone needs to help with dishes and cleaning up the main house, and my boys also have to help with dishes.  They were very cute last night.  I washed, Garett dried and put away, and Emmett helped put away too.  We started him off with the silver wear but he helped with more.  We also have to take care of Judy's plants and garden.  Yikes!  The boys are excited about that though.  Emmett loves to water!  Adam is worried about not having any more cookies being made.  I will try my best but it won't be the same that is for sure :)

That is the new news.  Time to get dressed and get breakfast ready to go.  They guys are late this morning so let's hope it is because of fish and not dirt!  Wish us luck out here on our own :)

An Update

OK, so I have been wanting to do a post with pictures but that still isn't working out for some reason. So....I'll just give some updates instead.

We are still fishing. Officially open until 8/15 and then we see what happens. The guys are doing 3 picks a day so that is good - that means there are more fish! Two nights ago we had another bear. This time I think it wrecked the grill for good. Happened around 3:30am. Leon heard the grill go over and managed to get a couple of shots off at the bear. Adam and Austin heard the shots but Justin...well let's just say that Justin sleeps like a baby out here!! Garett didn't hear anything either which is amazing because he was right NEXT to Papa when it all happened. He stayed the night in their cabin and slept with Papa on the couch bed. No bears last night though. I walked on the beach to the Boat House last night and there are sure a lot of tracks on the beach!

I guess the guys have gotten tired of their facial hair. Justin shaved yesterday I believe and Adam shaved today. I gave him a good neck trim too. They are looking good! Everybody did laundry so they are ready to take on the world - ha!

Judy's garden is doing well. We are eating lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, and broccoli from it. The salads are SO much tastier when we start putting in her stuff - yum... Leon built a raised bed box like Judy's for me. Bryan put it next to the house today. It is right in front next to our porch and goes all the way out to the end of the wall by the clothes line. That will be really nice to have next year. We are thinking of doing something like that at home now for herbs.

Emmett had a birthday on Wednesday. He is now 5 years old! He was very excited of course. Loved all of his presents and "Happy Birthdays". There were 6 other kids here and they just ran around and had a blast.

I guess that is about it for now. Hoping I can add pictures next time :)

Bear update

Well that rascal came back again. Broke into the warehouse, again, and made a mess. Tore apart the screen door, again, and made a mess. Dug up Judy's compost, again. Knocked over and messed up the grill, first time. Justin and Leon didn't hear a thing - again :)

We were ready the next night though. Well, Leon was. He did an all night vigil only to have the bear show up at 5:30 am of course. Anyhow, he popped the bear in the butt good a couple of times and we hope that takes care of it. Nothing happened last night and we'll see about tonight.

I am having trouble with this blog thing the past few days. It won't let me post pictures - not sure what is going on. So bear with me and I hope that this program gets back to normal!

That pesky bear!

He was back! The one night that Leon wasn't waiting for him of course. The darn thing broke into our warehouse and ate up ALL the salmon that Bryan and Justin had put on the racks to smoke. As Bryan put it, "It was a stealth job!" It was like he was in and out. Every piece of salmon is gone and the racks hardly disturbed. An entire bag of garbage - GONE! No trace of it. Bryan remembers locking the far side door which he must have because the ramp leading down from there was broken. The bear must have gone up it and tried to force the door open by standing on its back legs. Bryan isn't certain if he locked the other side door. That was most likely the point of entry .... it left out of the swinging double doors at the front of the warehouse. So Justin and Bryan were very depressed to see that their fish was gone, and everyone helped take down the busted ramp.

This afternoon the bear came out of the wood down onto the beach. Everyone was warned and Papa and Bryan took off on the 4-wheeler, shot gun in hand. Leon managed to get a shot off but the bear was a little far so don't know if he got stung or not. I think the doors to everything will be shut and locked tonight! Hope that bear enjoyed his salty salmon!

PS. I finally figured out how to answer comments that some of you have left. So check it out!

Bear Pics

*pictures by Leon

Bear Encounter by Garett

Yesterday when me and mom were down on the beach, Paul came out of the cabin of the Lazy Bay and says "Your neighbor said that there is a bear coming your way."  Mom looked to the end of the beach and saw the bear crossing the creek toward us.  Me, mom, and Emmett ran home.  Later the bear got to camp.  

In the middle of the night he broke the screen door in the Main Cabin and ate all of the chili that we had set out from dinner.  He also tried a few potatoes but didn't like them that much.

*pictures will follow

Fun facts...

1.  Our electricity comes from a generator and solar panels.  The solar is fairly new.  We only turn the power on in the evening.  Generally between 5 and 10 pm.

2.  We do have a washing machine.  It uses the water from the creek so there is no HOT setting.  There is a dryer but it isn't very good so we hang our clothes out on the line.

3.  I mentioned before that we bathe every 3-4 days.  We wear the same clothes for that time period too.  Changing underwear and socks is purely personal - ha!

4.  I also mentioned that we deliver our fish in slush ice.  We have two ice machines down the beach in our boat house.  They make ice chips from the water in the creek nearby.  The ice is stored in totes so that it stays ready.  These machines are also run by generator.

5.  There are bathrooms in the main cabin and in our cabin.  The crew (for the most part) uses the outhouse.  That's right - outhouse!

6.  We heat the cabins with either a wood stove or a propane or oil stove.  The stoves we use to cook with, as well as our refrigerators and hot water heaters, are also run on propane.

7.  Fresh produce is really hard to get out here.  It also costs and arm and a leg.  Judy has a nice green house that she grows, tomatoes, peas, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini in.  She also grows lettuce, string beans, broccoli, and potatoes.  We are both trying radishes this year and she's doing brussel sprouts.  Nothing is ready to eat though usually until August and later.

8.  We pick fish 3 times a day.  The guys leave at 7 in the morning for the first one.  They have breakfast when they get back in - no matter what that time may be.  The 2nd pick is at 2 and the last one is after dinner at 7.  We deliver our fish after every pick.

9.  When fishing, breakfast is one of the following:  pancakes and bacon, french toast and sausage, eggs and hash, or hot cereal with toast.  So far Adam is the front runner with the most pancakes eaten!

10.  We do have internet (after 5 when the power is on) but NOT when it rains.  For some reason, we cannot get a signal in the rain.

That's it for now!

Sea Life

The guys found an octopus in one of our nets yesterday.  Today they found a giant sea cucumber.  It is amazing really how many strange and new sea creatures 0ur boys have been able to see and experience out here.  The octopus I think is one of the most unique.  They are really strange creatures.  For those Seattlites that are reading this....no harm came to either the octopus or the sea cucumber.  Both were released in their natural habitats - after we snapped a few pictures of course :)

* photo by Garett

Banya Day!

Yay! Yay! It's Banya Day!  

For those of you who don't know what that is or why it is so exciting, it means a BATH!  

The top picture is of our banya.  This is where we scrub ourselves clean every 3-4 days.  The picture on the right is inside the banya.  There are two rooms.  One for dressing/undressing, and one for getting clean.  We heat water on a wood stove as you can see in the picture.  There is also a tub of cold water.  You mix the two levels of heated water in smaller buckets and ..... you have it!  Warm water to bath with.  The water comes from a creek that runs nearby into the ocean.  So yes, it is bath day and we are all feeling fine!

Cast of Characters #5

THE CREW... *pictures by Garett

I think it would be wise to say that these guys are the 2nd most important people out here.  You're only as good as your crew right?  This year we have 3 really great guys.  Adam (on the bottom) has been here all summer.  He is from Ohio.  I think he kind of likes it here - haha

The guy above in the orange life vest is Adam's brother, Austin.  He arrived a little over a week ago, joining us right when the fishing really started.  It was also when the kelp arrived, the storm, damaged, and loose nets.  He's really been thrown right into it.  Justin is the fellow up top in the white shirt.  I believe he has an octopus in the bucket that he is holding up.  (a post about that will come soon)  Justin is a returnee.  He fished for us 2 summers ago and has come back for some more!  He got here about a day after Austin.  We love having experienced crew come back.   Makes it much easier for Bryan.  

I am looking at these pictures and see a common characteristic - facial hair!  Besides seeing how many pancakes they can eat at one sitting, guys often grow out their beards.  Just for the fun of it!  

Thanks to all you family members who helped/supported your sons (and hubby) to come here.  We really appreciate it and I hope that they are getting something out of it in return.