A Year In The Life, Day 46, July 6, 2014

Well, the family beaver trapping/fishing outing from the other day turned into a family beaver trap-checking outing today.  And it wasn't just a scenic drive, either.  For more on that colossal, prehistorically huge beav, check out the "The Mountaineering Beaver" post, soon to come (this evening).  It was a beautiful, wonderful summer day.  Oh, and getting a ten-second-timed photo on a floating boat with a family of four.....ain't easy...

 

A Year In The Life - Day 45, July 5, 2014

 A representative bush pic today - some friends of ours, heading out in the boat on a glorious day, with the pack of sled dogs in the background howling a farewell.  And their grand-daughter is along with them...riding in the milk crate in the center, of course.  We don't need any fancy child seats out here. :)  It is a rougher way of life out here in the bush, and that's just how it is.  Conveniences are a premium you just learn to do without. 

 

Gillnetting with W

Well, as some of you have seen in posts of June days past, we have been scavenging bits and pieces of gill net, floats (corks), leadline, and floatline from our daily walks and gradually getting them sewn together.

As a recap from those past posts:

The gym up at the school ended up being the final destination for the project, and last night was the opening in the subsistence fishery we were hoping for.  We constructed the net for the purpose of it being a set net, using 4 inch mesh and measuring just under the 60-foot maximum length specified by the regulations we have been fishing under here in Russian Mission.  We have been waiting though for a shot at drifting, as the small mesh is better at tangling the Chums than it, apparently, is at allowing them to swim into it and get caught while sitting still.  In other words, a moving net with slack in it works better when your mesh is too small for your targets.  Yesterday's opening relaxed the dipnet, beach seine, or set-net only regs and allowed drift nets of 6-inch or smaller mesh.  And drifting we went!  Yet another bush task that many folks keep telling us our boat is too small for, yet somehow it keeps on accomplishing everything the larger boats are... ;)  When we sell it next year there will have to be a write-up.  Anyway, here are some pics, and then at the bottom is a dropbox link to the video.

 Some of you have seen or will see these in the video.  This one has to start it all off, taken at the house as we were leaving, with W all ready to go, gloves and all :D

Then, on the boat, before the first set, as we were waiting for start time.  Kinda reminded me of mornings waiting for trout season to kick off - or even the trout rodeos for that matter...the anticipation is always the greatest part, while the unknown is still possible.

And the first fish of the evening, with a boy hooked for life - I hope:

Last of the photos - a parting shot of some curing eggs for the fishing yet to come this summer/fall.  Any steelheader worth his or her salt has their own recipe for curing eggs, and my days (years) on the Olympic peninsula of Washington filling steelhead punchcards taught me mine.  The number one ingredient is pictured, but the rest I will reserve here for now.

Here's the dropbox link to the video of some of the fun - **You should watch it...**

Click Here to watch "Gillnetting with W"

A Year In The Life - Day 44, July 4th, 2014 Happy Independence Day, and Thank You for it!!!

Today's family outing was a fishing/trapping bonanza, just as many of the last 40 days or so have been. :D  Made special by the company, of course.  And here they are:  Here in the bush, you often see folks driving snowmachines, boats, or four-wheelers while holding clinging children.  Sometimes a four wheeler will drive with the driver holding a baby and another child (or two) on each fender  don't worry - those pics ARE coming up for a pic of the day sooner or later...  This happens to be a picture of mom driving while holding Warren, in a picture taken by dad, who is holding Abram.  She held Abie while dad amd Warren got to fish and set beaver traps, and so a trade was only fair.  Yeehaw!  Down the Yukon we go :)

A Year In The Life - Day 43, July 3, 2014

Wow.  Today is a day of multiple pics "of the day".  You'll have to check out the additional post about it entitled "Gillnetting with W" once I get it posted - likely tomorrow.  Awesome stuff. But for now there are fish to clean and eggs to borax.   Meanwhile,  here's a taste: The little dude with one member of tonight's catch.  (I love this little guy)

A Year In The Life - Day 42, July 2, 2014

Well, you guessed it.  Another fishy picture for today.  Brace yourself...there will be lots more.  It is still a daily event.  Always different though, and always entertaining when you have this guy with you.  This pic resulted from his wanting to carry his fish up the hill this time...all by himself.

 

 And a little further up the trail...

A Year In The Life - Day 41, July 1, 2014

It feels like you can be out in the woods looking to gather something pretty much throughout the year here in bush Alaska.  As July is now here, we are getting ready to enter the "gathering time" that comes just before the "hunting time" of the year. :)  Soon we will be heading out to the hills and tundra, searching high and low for the berries that we wait all year for.  But for now, it is something else.  Sarah has recently gotten into some crafty projects that involve essential oils, and creating home-made natural products such as bug repellent, sunscreen, lip balm, etc.  The project of the day is bath bombs, which she will be making when her family gets here later this month, but we are prepping now for that endeavor.  We begin with the Wild Rose Hip (improperly capitalized here) blossom, the pic of the day.  Others will follow, and as the project goes on, this post and its pics will likely be revisited.

These things are about the most fragrant blossoms I have smelled here in the 'wild'.   They are POTENT.  At any rate, we find them - and they are all over - and we pick them.  Though the petals are the only portion of the blossom Sarah will be using, it is far easier to just bring the whole thing home and sort them later.  That just involves separating all the petals and arranging them out on the dehydrator trays, like so:

After drying, they lose their fragrance, although they seem to take on an enhanced color.  It is in this state that they will be added to the bath bombs later.  Presumably when they are placed into the bath they will rehydrate and smell nearly as they did before.  Sarah will find out, at any rate.

 As stated, that post on the finished result will follow later this month.  Sarah is currently engaged in several projects - beading, Kuspuk sewing, and natural body care products - and so at some point soon all my documenting the events will culminate in a few crafty posts, as well as the projects I am chipping away at between putting a dent in the Northern pike population.  Stay Tuned for the crafty side of Bush Life.  :D