Tree roots.Looks like the perfect location for a little fairy village or a gnome home!Near Jackalof Bay.Tree creatures.Each one teach one session.Huge tree stump from selective logging.Forestry hike
This was the first part of the journey, a little forest ecology field trip. We learned that there are naturally hybridized Sitka-White spruce trees here in this temperate rain forest. And they grow huge!
Tree roots bleached from the salt water.The remains of an urchin, the test.A sea cucumber me thinks.Hermie the Crab.So many barnacles.Lil Bit walking in the deposits of broken shells. ASMR esq.A boy in the cleft of the rock.So many sea snails. AK Boy found a skeleton of a sea star with muscles and barnacles attached There’s a tiny little sea star right in the center, on the kelp. Tide pooling adventures.
Afterwards it was back to the bunkhouse for some much needed rest. Walking miles in mud boots is not advisable. But we were ready for the next adventure come morning!
AK Boy at the microscope 🔬Lil Bit zooming in.What type of creatures we might see.Alexa explaining how the plankton samples are taken.Lab time!
Lab time was quite eye opening. 🫤🔬🤢 Remember that time at fish camp when pulling nets and a bunch of sea water splashed on your face and some got on your lips and you licked them… Yeah, you ate plankton.
It’s been a decade +1 now. Looking back over some timeline photos with gratitude and admiration for the many wonderful people in our lives and glorious experiences. And for the young people (grown-ups?!?!) my oldest two have become (the first becoming the “Legal” for sure grown-up age today!)
I’m often scratching my head in wonderment of how, exactly, the time has gone so quickly. The business of life steps on the gas when you’re not looking.
This summer is getting underway and we are trying to take advantage of every single moment of decent weather! (Two summers of rain and dreary days has us in a deficit !) We’ve got a to-do list a mile long to get done and life moments to pause and celebrate. Which of course leads to the aforementioned warp 9 speed of life.
Near Jackalof Bay, Alaska
I hope you take a moment today to pause, breathe deeply, walk barefoot and be grateful.
Ahoy mates! We’ve shoved off and we’re underway to the Kasitsna Bay Research Facility to explore our marine and forest ecology! This is an overnight trip across Kachemak Bay. Seas are mostly calm, overcast skies, it’s supposed to rain but so far it’s just cool and overcast.
Aboard the Discovery with Captain Victoria!
I’ll be sure to post more about our adventures when we return home! You can see our adventures here!
I made a quick trip to Oklahoma 3/6-3/13 to visit family after my mom had a health scare. When I left Alaska it was cold and snowy, of course there was a climate shock and jet lag to deal with upon arrival in the 63° Okie heat of early spring. It was nice to see my family and thankfully, B’H, my mom pulled through and is doing better.
While there I didn’t leave the farm except for a trip to the grocery store. I enjoyed the quiet solitude of the back road farm scape and the warmer weather was nice! I had more warm 60°+ days in one week than all of last summer. I should have brought better deodorant.
Some of the remnants of Vera sprinkled all around the farm.I spotted three different colors of daffodils all totalled.A crepe mertle in bloom by Uncle Steve’s (blessed memory) house.These little wild grape hyacinth are everywhere.Kitty, I got my cat snuggles fix with this one and Binx.
Spent as much time as possible with Ma and Rickerd while staying at my sister’s and enjoying their little homestead. Got to visit with lots of family as everyone came to see Ma and got to see me as a bonus. 😜
While at my sister’s & John’s place I was able to help with her baby chicks and little kune kune piglet Mr. Wiggles.
Mr Wiggles has breakfast.
Between the chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, cats and dogs, there’s a lot going on! I baked a few loaves of bread in my spare time and tried to make some cherry mashes but that’s another story for another time. I made a few meals too. Normal stuff.
One week is a short time to fly that far but life back home calls. Return I must.
Waiting to board.
The valuable people were seen, the important things said. I’m grateful for the opportunity. 💞
Mom & her 4.
Back to the daily grind now. And what’s left of the snow, it’s rotting fast. I’ve got ducks, turkeys, goats, rabbits and dogs to deal with now. And children. Can’t forget them.
The weather man said to tie down any loose items night before last as overnight Thursday & Friday would be a bit gusty. Remnants if an ex-typhoon they said.
It’s never a good time to have a wind storm when you have an overabundance of beetle killed spruce trees in your area. The wind set a steady tree swaying pace the entire day, kicking up a good gust fairly often.
The power was out for a large amount of Alaskans from Sterling to Willow yesterday morning. They had clocked some 70mph gusts up north. At around 7:20 am ours went out.
Time to fill the woodshed. First time we cut wood without Caleb here. 😥
We managed to cut up about a cord of wood yesterday between two friend’s properties. Thankfully these trees were already down and not a casualty of the storm. We do have one tree down on our place from the storm to dispense of. Overall nothing to complain about. Plus that should fill one side of the woodshed. Now to the other side.
This was the longest outage we’ve had since moving to this house. The biggest inconvenience for us being unable to flush the toilets. Trees were down everywhere, on houses, on power lines, on the roads. A good reminder for always being prepared. I need to figure out a water storage system for this house. And install a couple 12 volt LED lights. And finish that solar generator I bought all the components for a couple years ago. Also time to fix the generator pull cord… I need to make a honey do list.
Thankfully, those dedicated lineman worked overtime and restored our power at 3:21 am. About 20 hours, I wonder if we’ll see a difference on next months electric bill?
Fred Meyer must have been the only store in town with power since everyone was there shopping. It was worse than tourist season.
Alaska on my mind... 