Autumnal Somnolescence

There are those who might say that I don't post often enough, but I counted and I have 12 posts. Many would say that is plenty. Like me. But I suppose that for the interested....or bored....it is time for another. Since the excitement of our camping trip, we covered a lot of territory. Dip netting, for instance. We made two separate and only somewhat productive trips back to the Kenai to harvest the bounty of the Red Salmon run. We try and do it every July 18 or so. This year the fish didn't choose to return in large numbers overall and certainly not on the days we picked. We did wind up with in the neighborhood of 50 fish which we hauled home, processed and froze. We even ate a few.

It seems that I can't get enough of concrete work. Two years ago I had built a set of concrete steps that stepped up the hill that the steps out of the back door of the garage emptied out on. Last year I decided that I didn't need to go all the way down the steps from the garage and then back up again, so I poured a slab that connected the two and eliminated the bottom two steps. After examining that again, I couldn't figure out why I had missed the fact that I wouldn't need to go down at all if I just eliminated the steps and poured the slab all the way across. And then once I got that poured, I realized how nice it would be if there were a patio extending away from the house at the same level as the slab that eliminate the steps altogether. As you can tell, there were several episodes of form-building, concrete mixing, pouring, and finishing. And now that it's done, I can't see why I didn't just do that in the first place. Its a learning thing.





I've continued my Baldy adventures. I pretend that I climb twice a week. Realistically, I probably do get up the mountain once a week, and the views have been beautiful this fall. As the blueberries and high bush cranberries have turned pink and red, the hills have been alive with color. The clouds rolling in and out have been dramatic. Our home is often masked by the clouds for a short time, and then is on top of the clouds while the rest of the city is beneath them.

My constant companion for my Baldy hikes is our old dog, Raisin. A friend gave her to us about 12 years ago, and she is a little the worse for wear, as we all are. She doesn't necessarily climb at my pace, but she is always not far behind. I don't even always go get her, but she knows. Last week, Robert and Curtis and I went to hike a 6 hour loop up to the mountain tops and down to the depths of the valleys. We didn't go get her because I was a little concerned about her making the trip. We stopped for a break about 1500 feet up and 2 miles or so away. As we sat there eating, she showed up ready to help us eat. She is deaf and doesn't see well, but her nose still works very well. Here is the Google Earth link, by the way, to our hike. If you click on the link and open it with Google Earth, and then execute the path, you will get an automated tour of the mountains and valleys along our hike. Pretty cool.

The termination dust (snow on the mountain tops for those of you not from Alaska) is coming down the mountains. We have had snow here twice so far and it won't be too long. I still have a lot of winter preparation to do, so I wouldn't complain if it were a while, but I'm afraid it will be here sooner than I am ready for.


Our garden has produced well this summer and we just harvested everything a week ago. Beverly has been trying to can and dehydrate and freeze the produce. We made 39 quarts of applesauce and canned 79 jars of green chili that Beverly's parents brought up from Arizona. We have been eating the salads and potatoes and the grandkids ate the strawberries all summer long. Beverly made blueberry syrup and jam and strawberry jam whenever the kids picked too many.

The Lord has wonderfully blessed us with health and happiness and the bounty of the land. May you have his choicest blessings upon you.