Tales from the Bike Trail

Preamble
While I haven't written much about it, I have been biking to school most days. The rides are uneventful. I have not yet worked myself into a heart attack. On the contrary, I've continued to get stronger, and I'm doing most of my rides in a higher gear than when I started. The condition of my bike is not great, but I've managed to put off the getting a tune up. More workout for me, right? The ride in is still work, but I really enjoy the slightly more downhill ride home.

I. Moose!
I have had four moose spottings from the path; probably three different moose, including a mother and calf, the mother I've seen three times. For three sightings, the moose was 8-12 yards off the path munching away on grass or scrub. Once, I came upon two groups of people stopped on the trail about 30 yards apart, facing each other, as if there were going to be a rumble. In fact, the moose and her calf had just walked across the trail, and people were giving them space. We passed with the moose's rump just three feet off the trail. It was big. Sir Mix-a-Lot would be impressed.

While you might think that 8-12 yards would be a good opportunity to view a moose, and get a good picture, I have not done so. The reason is that moose are not that bright, but the moose near the trail have come to expect that there will be riders on the trail, and that they'll just keep going. And given that the moose aren't terribly bright, and that they defend themselves by charging and doing a 2000 pound hard-hooved dance on the head of the threatening entity, I've decided to do exactly what the moose expects: keep going.

II. Wipeout!
No, I didn't ride my bide down to surf the Turnagain Arm bore tide. I wrecked, hard. Left a lot of my left forearm on the pavement, and parts of my knee, hip side, and the plam of my right riding glove (it certainly paid for itself) as well. No hospital need, but it hurt a lot and required quite dramatic looking bandages.

I wish I had a great story, about dodging a moose (and then talking my way out of a trampling with my newly-honed moose whispering skills), or jumping over a dog, or helping to keep a kid safe, but I do not. I came into an intersection in the bike path, thought about going one way, saw some broken glass on the path, changed my mind, turned, got the handlebars cranked and went down.

The one lucky aspect was that this was the one trip I've made home without my laptop in my backpack.

Signs of Winter

On Friday, there was a dusting of snow on top of the mountains until noon. Yesterday, the snow stuck around through the day. This morning, the fields around our house--at sea level--were blanketed with frost, and the bike trail dotted with golden aspen leaves. Man, are my fingers cold. Time to upgrade from the half-finger bike gloves.

Halibut: Episode I

Tonight was the first of what will prove to be many, many, many halibut dinners. It turns out that we went over to the Murphys' place for dinner -- Jim was on the same fishing charter as Chris, so he has 60 pounds of fish in HIS freezer, too -- so we didn't even get to make a dent in our own fish supply. Anyway, I think it'll be funny to have a comprehensive list of every halibut dish we end up eating until our stash is used up, so I'll post them as they happen and tag them "just for the halibut". You can thank Chris for that gut-buster. I love you, dear!

So, tonight's dinner: Baked halibut on mashed avocado with papaya slaw, served with brown rice. Very fresh and tasty.

Feelin' Fined in Kodiak

We just got back from a four-day trip to Kodiak. Sadly(?), we didn't see any enormous, froth-mouthéd bears, but we did see lots of salmon, and lots of people catching the salmon. It turns out that the bears tend to stay away from town, which is generally a good thing, so you have to hop on a plane and fly to the other side of the island to see any.

Let's play a game! Which of these figures has been exaggerated?

A) Kodiak's bear population has a density of .7 bears per square mile.

B) Kodiak's commercial fisheries brought in a total of 337.3 million pounds of fish in 2005.

C) The maximum penalty for possession of a bald eagle feather is $100,000 and 1 year in prison.


Answer: B. They pulled in a measly 337.2 million pounds of fish.

Mainly, I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that one can be fined $100,000 for possessing an eagle feather. This had a lot of influence on my decision to leave a very lovely eagle feather in the bushes where I found it. Of course, when I first spotted the feather, I immediately DID NOT pick it up, and IN NO WAY had it in our room for four days while debating how hard it would be to hide it in our luggage. In the end, it was a fine example of a juvenile eagle's secondary flight feather, but it really wasn't worth a hundred grand. Plus, once you pay the fine, it's not like you get to keep the feather.

Incidentally, the fine for killing a bald eagle is only $15,000. Just don't take the feathers.

Anyway, we had a fine time in Kodiak -- the weather was great most of the time, and the scenery was beautiful, and we managed to bring 60 pounds of fish (caught by Chris) back to Anchorage. Soren and I didn't get to go fishing, but we went to Fossil Beach with our friends Dana and Ned.




Fossil Beach gets its name from the fossilized shells embedded in a sandstone cliff at one end of the beach; as the cliff erodes, chunks of stone containing said fossils tumble down to the beach. You can find individual shells, but there are also some larger rocks with multiple fossils inside:



Now that we're back, it's time to find some halibut recipes. I think we're going to have to eat halibut every day until we leave in December.

More Foraging

On Labor Day, we drove up to Arctic Valley (about 1/2 hour from Anchorage) and tried out the subsistence lifestyle once again by picking blueberries. Luckily, we also have grocery stores to depend on for food, because we only came away with a cup of berries. Soren helped, though!



There were quite a few other people there, taking the berry-picking with different degrees of seriousness -- some were just dabbling, like us, and some were coming away with several gallons of berries. Crazy. On the other hand, I think most of the folks with vast quantities of berries were actually picking crowberries, which are technically edible but need to have the seeds removed first (or something like that). There's a much lower demand for crowberries, so it's easy to get a ton of them. Not that I'm discounting their hard work.



We're going to Kodiak next week -- Chris is planning on coming back with at least 80 pounds of fresh-caught halibut. Now that's subsistence.

Creative Endeavors II

Repainting the kitchen cabinets in Ichabod House isn't the only art project I've done lately -- I've finished up a few slightly more creative things over the past month or so.

First, something I made for my pal Kelsey, who was a summer intern for Audubon at the lagoon. Soren and I spent many mornings chatting with Kelsey, and over time it was revealed that she and I have some important things in common, such as video game addiction, some degree of l33tness, and a love of unicorn books. When she told me her favorite animal is the cuttlefish, I knew she needed a squid hat.



And here's a nice picture of her not being eaten by a giant squid.



(A picture of Soren in the first incarnation of the squid hat is here)

Next, a few freaking adorable little felted animals (awesome patterns by Crafty Alien):




Finally, a drawing of Leland. Not my favorite, but I'd started it in July and really wanted to finish it after we learned he was gone.



Hopefully I'll have more to show soon, although it'll probably end up being a set of forty felted bunnies and raccoons. I just can't stop making 'em.

Home Sweeeeet Home

I got back from Rhode Island a couple days ago after paying my first visit to our new (old) house in East Greenwich. I had a great time, and got lots of visits from people I haven't gotten to see in a long time.

My mom came out from Santa Barbara to check out the place and help me paint the kitchen cupboards (before: dark purple; after: white). She also helped me do my very first electrical project, which made me feel like a complete girl (Are you SURE the power's off? These wires are scary! Eeeek!) and distracted me just enough to make me forget to take any pictures. My dad and stepmom, Kathy, also came over (even though Soren wasn't with me!) and treated Mom and me to a nice dinner at the nearby Post Office Café. Sunday was a veritable parade of friends -- Jay came by in the morning, followed by Brian, Edith and Sam in the afternoon and then Hannah that evening. It was so good to see everyone, and to finally see the house! I can't wait to come back in December.

The place is in really good shape, both structurally and aesthetically -- the dark purple cabinets had to go, but everything else is fine for now. I'll repaint other rooms eventually, but there aren't any wacky colors to drive me crazy in the meantime. I've even come to peace with the pink tiles in the upstairs bathroom. It's a good thing, since those 1930's tiles are about 3/4" thick and their removal requires a major commitment to swinging a sledgehammer.

The yard is looking pretty good, too; there might be some shrub removal in order, and the grass will need some TLC before it can serve as a proper croquet lawn, but the ancient elm (?) tree in the backyard is amazing, as are the ancient rhododendrons and the ancient burning bush and the ancient clumps of irises. We'll see about the ancient yew bushes. I'm known as Yewbane after the destruction I wreaked at our last house.

Ooh, and the flight back to Alaska was pretty amazing. The glaciers I've seen so far in Alaska have been cool, and I like the blue ice and all, but I'll admit I wasn't totally sure what the big deal was. Then, over the Yukon, I saw views like this at 38,000 feet (not my photos, though I wish I'd taken some):




Now THOSE are glaciers. Or at least those are great views of glaciers. Now I understand how they end up carving the landscape.

Hey, speaking of really old, slow-moving things, happy birthday, Dad! I kid because I love! Ha ha!