Laziness

Nothing has happened except for a few killer migraines and more time with my canine boys. Sorry to disappoint but I'll have visitors next week so things should perk up. For now it's just maximum cuddle time with my furry beasts.
Two suggestions though- If you haven't seen the movie Babel, watch it and also pick up the book Bottomfeeder by Taras Grescoe. It's a terrifying account of how we're overfishing our oceans and what consequences we'll see. Really scary but all that talk about seafood makes me want to eat more seafood! And go to Portugal.

King Fisherperson

I got lucky and the neighbor who's a river guide, took me out fishing for Kings this morning. I didn't get one but a guy on the boat did. 43 inches and 35 lbs, definitely the biggest fish I've ever seen in person. After he got that one we never saw another and didn't see any other boats pull one in either. The river had been closed to Kings for awhile because of the poor run and then opened back up just to spinner fishing. Tomorrow morning it's back on bait though so the guys are expecting better luck. I'll get one someday but in the meantime, I want to get out on a halibut charter. In a couple weeks it'll be Reds and then Silvers, just wish I had a freezer to put some in when I do catch them. Being homeless leaves a lot of loose ends, you know?

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

I love this place that I'm house sitting. Love the deck, the spa, the grill, the perfect little size (1bdrm, 1bth with a sleeping loft), the neighbors, the wooded neighborhood so close to the river. Love the dogs, the roses, watching the veggies come in. Love almost everything. Except the cat that yells at me all the time, and the water situation.
The house is on a holding tank which means it's not connected to the city sewer. All the water and waste that leaves the house goes into a tank underground that's pumped out by a big truck when needed. Since the owners told me they can last 55 days without needing to be pumped, I naturally have a need to out-do them. So now I'm paranoid about my water usage and maybe a little militant. Sometimes. Sometimes I just want to wash my hands with HOT water, damn it. And anyone who's ever lived with me knows how much I like hot showers. On Facebook there's a group called "I stand aimlessly in the shower for ages just to be warm" or some shit. That's totally me, I've been known to take a beer and snacks in there. Thankfully, I can hop in the spa whenever I want. It's my saving grace. Particularly when getting home from a weekend of camping with an inch of dirt under my fingernails and so much grime caked into my skin that it looks like I might actually have a tan.
I think I can relax though. I've been here 23 days, have 28 to go and haven't even come close to hitting the halfway mark on the holding tank. How do I know? Because I checked it, kinda like checking the oil in your car. If you want to be all Independent Woman like, sometimes you gotta dipstick a bunch of raw sewage. I can deal with that, I'm just going to use some pretty scented soap afterwards.

Pretty Alaskan Pictures

Seems my last post was particularly disturbing to one young fan so I'll return now to pretty Alaskan pictures. Saturday I did a short hike with my friend Sue on Hidden Creek Trail to Skilak Lake (Anonymomous and Anonydadous might remember Skilak Lake from their winter backroading experience). Later I met another friend, Ben for some car camping. Then on Sunday Ben and I did a short "backpacking" trip into Lower Russian River. I'll call it my first backpacking trip because I did carry everything in and stay overnight but really, the trail was only three miles long and has gravel laid the entire way since it's ADA accessible. Cheating? Probably. We were going to do another trail but the weather was ify and we didn't feel like spending the night on top of a cold, rainy mountain. So here are the pictures, enjoy.

Saturday
First brown bear sighting from the car. Just the way I like it.



P.s. The sibs say I'm fat. Jealous bastards.





Sunday




Directions on the bear locker say to camp at least 100 yds from
your food yet they installed it too close so close to the tent sites you can't possibly do that. The brown edge is the locker, the yellow blurb is my tent. 100 yds? I think not.




ADA accessible cabin I was tempted to stay in instead of my tent with the two dogs and the possibility of bears lurking around.

The Cat Has Bonded

She's started bringing me little presents. Thankfully she's kept them out of the bedroom so far but the owners say she likes to wake you up by standing next to your face with wiggling things in her mouth. These ones weren't wiggling so much anymore...

You're welcome.

Hopeless

I drove 1.5 hours to Hope and was about 1.5 hours late. When I got to the meeting spot I found four cars full of unhappy campers upset about the lack of fishing there.
A)Who are you people and B) How did you come to have a say in my trip?
When word get's out about a camping trip, it's gets hard to keep the guest list down. Unfortunately the original friend and I had planned on low-impact trail camping and everyone else did not. But, because they had the food, I followed. All the way down the Sterling Highway where I had just come from.
Everything turned out great though. We found a good spot on the beach and got some fishing for Kings in. Even though nothing was biting, the weather was gorgeous and I even got a sunburn. So Hope remains on my Alaskan To Do list but sleeping in a tent by the ocean with 22 hours of daylight does not. It's a beached Keetah. The older, wiser, and slightly grumpier lab.
And Sabaka, my new shadow.
Time of actual sunset, 11:16
Lick the grill? Me? Uhhhhhhhhhhh, what was your question?







Spoon me, I'm cold!

Twilight today lasts until 12:47 and starts again at 3:19 with sunrise at 4:48.
I know what your question is and the answer is Lunesta.