Summer Fun in Kodiak

It's June 28th, seven days after the Summer Solstice and days are getting shorter (the day after the Solstice we already lost one minute of daylight!). To make matters worse, tomorrow I start work for 5 consecutive weeks. So, to take advantage of my last day of vacation, this is what I did.

7:00 Fed the dogs. Read the paper.

9:20 Cindy dropped me off with my kayak while she went to church. I tried kayaking around Abercrombie State Park but the waves were too high (there were some 5 footers near the rocks) so I stayed in Mill Bay.

11:30 Cindy returns to pick me up and have lunch. Then it is siesta time.

3:50 Cindy goes off to tennis and I go bike out to the water reservoir. We had been there a few days before. But as I rested I saw something that wasn't there at that time. Three fresh deposits of bear scat. Needless to say, I cut my rest time short and pedaled back quickly. 

5:30 Washed the car and had dinner

7:00 Took the dogs on a short 2 miles hike to Island Lake and down the creek back home.

8:30 We are both off to the VFW shooting range to practice. Cindy is liking this sharp shooting stuff (I think because she is better than I am). 

9:30 Then it's back home for showers, resting and lowering the black-out shades to get some rest before work the next day.

The sun has been shining for weeks, the air temp is 61 and the water temp is a warm 49 degrees! The only good thing about work is that I can do much after leaving the hospital since the days are still quite long. 

Hope you too are having fun.

Summer Solstice

Days are getting quite long. Sunrise tomorrow will be at 5:12 am and sunset at 11:07 pm. Every day we gain about 4 minutes. With the twilight we will get to see light beyond midnight during the Summer Solstice, around June 21st. Here are pictures I took recently. They are quite similar to photos I took in December at 9 am and 4:45 pm when we had 6 1/2 hours of sunlight.

For what its worth, I've noticed that the sun rises about 20 degrees more to the south during the winter than in the summer. (That is my estimate, not something I have seen published) This is where it really counts to place your windows with more of a southern exposure to capture the winter sun. I don't know why they make a big deal about the southern exposure in New Mexico and Colorado. You get the winter sun all the time anywhere by comparison.

To celebrate summer we bought a watermelon recently. Unfortunately, it was overly ripe from the long trip it made from Mexico to us. So, enjoy your southern fruits and vegetables. We will soon be enjoying our wild blueberries, salmonberries (more like raspberries, but not as tart), and making rhubarb pies. That will be a nice finish to a freshly caught salmon dinner!

Sea Otters

Today we'll talk about sea otters. Here is a picture of one that climbed on the kayak of the lady who runs the excursions listed on the picture. Note how the water just runs off their fur. It is impermeable to water and extremely warm. It has to be because unlike seals and sea lions, sea otters have no fat or blubber. So their coast are really great.

This is why the Russians  came to this area in the 1700-1800's....for sea otter fur. But they almost sent them into extinction. Fortunately, there are enough for us to see on many of our kayak excursios. They like to live where there are kelp forests underwater. They love to eat sea urchins and sea urchins love to eat kelp. So, otters keep the sea urchins under control in our bays.

There are a few sea otters out in Mill Bay near our house. The picture of an otter in the water along with the kelp was taken last week from the bluff on our 5 mile hike. It was sunny and 55 degrees. Not much need for jackets anymore. Come visit.

Crabfest Parade

As with any small town, the annual festival is always cause for excitement. In Kodiak we have the 51st annual Crab Festival.

Weather can vary from one day to the next in Kodiak.  And as frequently happens, the rain began just before the main event. Steady rain with 40 degrees didn't slow down many people and, as a result, we had a great turnout for the parade.

The Queen sat in a convertible with the top raised. The Lion's Club Lawnmower Brigade was out in force. And Carlos joined the other radiologist on their bicycles with signs promoting "Unlimited Miles Per Gallon".

For more photos of our parade go to  http://gallery.me.com/criokodiak/100466/

The grass is finally green and growing

Well, we've been watching the yard "green up" over the past week. The trees are changing just as quickly. Last week there were tiny buds...now there are leaves opening. 

Carlos was taking pictures daily because the changes were so dramatic.  One day we came back from a walk and noticed that about half the yard was still pretty brown.  By that evening the brown had decreased dramatically.  Then we started watching how fast the grass was growing.  There was no need to even consider mowing last Sunday. Now, on Friday, we've got a few inches of height that we are cutting down.

We are able to use our small tractor to mow but Cindy had to come in after 45 minutes since her fingers were so cold.  The outside temperature was only 43.  But with all the sunlight that we have now, the grass just knows it isn't freezing anymore.  Today's length of visible light will be 18 hours and 33 minutes and will increase by 4 minutes tomorrow.

Easter Snow

We thought spring had sprung. It was up to 40 degrees one day this past week. The ice was melting and Walmart was full of swimsuits. One guy has his kayak on his car rack, ready to put into the 39 degree water. But locals told us it always snows on Easter. And so it did! We both thought that the last snowfall a couple of weeks ago that dropped over 20 inches was the last. It took everyone a couple of days to dig out of that one.

This new snow didn't prevent the locals from going on walks. So did we. First, Carlos explored the creek behind the house, looking for signs that the local bear had come out of hibernation. The newspaper said it was about time for that but there was no sign of bear activity along our creek.

Next, it was to the beach to let the dogs play. Here we met a family having a nice time. By the way, the extra dog is Jasper whom we are pet-sitting while his dad goes to the lower 48 for the weekend to visit his family. The snow drifts are so high that he likes to step over the fence and wander away. Hope we still have him when his dad come back.

Then it was off to the museums where Cindy met an eagle who let us get pretty close. He's an old one and preferred to just face away from the snow and let 2 clowns take pictures of him.

Hope you enjoyed your Easter weekend. We sure did.

For more photos, visit our gallery at: http://gallery.me.com/criokodiak#100458

Attack of the Ravens

Recently Carlos took a hike up Pillar Mountain. The hike was actually up the road but it was snow covered and had lots of ice so it is classified as challenging for him. Along the way the dogs and Carlos met a group of ravens catching the wind currents, as the winds were up to 40 mph. Suddenly one of these 4# ravens decided that with the help of the wind, he/she might be able to pick up a larger load. A few minutes later others got the same idea and took turns trying to attack our 10# dog, Raton. Fortunately, they were not successful.  Raton ran back to Carlos for protection after her harrowing experience. Next time he decided to take his 22 (He doesn't think ravens are an endangered species).

Sleepy Eagles

The eagles continue to enjoy the weather on Kodiak. At times you will see dozens just sitting in trees or along the roofs of buildings. Hope you enjoy these photos of a few Carlos photographed the other day. This is what happens after a full meal.

Names in Alaska

I recently met a lady at the gym. We exchanged names...hers being Eva Louise.  I commented that my daughter had the same name and had been named for her grandmother.  The other Eva announced that she was named after a tugboat. At my raised eyebrows, she explained that the tugboat delivered her mother to the hospital for delivery in Ketchikan. This is just another example of differences when you live so far away.

Eagles Vacationing in Kodiak

About 3 weeks ago when coming from the airport, I saw about 100 eagles within a 2 block area. So by noon I was back out there attempting to photograph them. 

It was a peculiar sight with about 50 eagles swirling around in a group like you would expect to see of birds flying south for the winter. Rumors have it that they are not all Kodiak's eagles. Many of them come here from the Kenai Peninsula (9 hour ferry ride from Kodiak). They are here to enjoy the leftovers from the fish processing plants. Since the eagles can find only limited fish in the nearby bays, they must resort to becoming scavengers at the plants.

One of the pictures shows an eagle on the roof of our house. That is because our neighbor left a deer carcus for them to feast upon. He was just waiting his turn as the other 25 got their snack.

One set of pictures I took during the summer showing the different layers of the eagle's eyes just for anatomic interest.

You will be able to tell the different ages of the eagles by their coloration. The juveniles are mostly brown in color and do not yet have the distinctive markings until about the age of 3.

Enjoy the other photos they was have at:.....http://gallery.me.com/criokodiak/100443