Field Notes, Camping Part 2

We returned to camping after Heidi's party. (The goat is still a pet not a taco).

I love boat camping because it is so much like car camping. I am at a point in life where I have comfort needs that surpass my needs to have an authentic outdoor experience. What do I mean by that? I mean that I needed Vince to bring his power propane grill and tank in order to simplify my cooking. OK, I'll be honest, my coffee drinking. Vince needed his chainsaw in order to simplify his fire making. Because we were boating it over, this was no problem. (Please notice the Full Circle Farm boxes that I loaded with delicious food. The rain poured down on them and nothing inside got the least bit wet!)

We arrived back in Mallard Bay as the tide was descending. It was the last possible minute that we could have come in without being mud bound. We decided to pitch our tents in a more open area; a high bit of flat ground that looks to be surrounded by the occasional very high tide or winter storm. Our camp was lovely...one tent for little kids and me, one tent for Willie and Vince. In the kitchen area Vince created a bench/table for me. And that propane stove had water boiling in less than a minute.

These were lucky days; the sun shone each day and I found eagle feathers, but mostly they were lucky because Willie got out of working and was able to join us.

After setting up camp we took a low tide hike to the rocks that you can see in front of Falcom in this picture. We decided to call this rock group 'Marina Rocks' because she and I had been teasing about my taking her out there and making her the queen of that place when the tide came in and they nearly vanished. We decided it was a good thing I didn't take her out there to rule her land after all!

It was not long before the boys went swimming. It did not take Willie long to climb back out, but while he was in there, he loved it.

All around every beach were clam shells and muscle shells. Imagine if all of these shells had been ground to sand. What beautiful blue sand it would be! The kids made great art.

They made this around a large bear poo.

This marks our families camping spot. Willie and I thought that these initials, when pronounced sounded almost like a Yapese word.

Here is an ode to the Fairies.

There was a lot of relaxing.

There was a lot of hiking about (but dad didn't bring the camera).

Every evening we took our perch and watched the bears come out on neighboring beaches. It was like our own bear viewing camp made great by the distance we could watch them from and the ocean separating us. We saw the mom with her two cubs every evening (cute!). We also saw one fellow come down to the shoreline and roll around in the gravel. They all seemed to come down and then head over to the salmon run at Humpy Creek (which was opposite of our camp and made the experience that much better).

If you are at all squeamish to the realities of women, please read no further. I don't want to be the one to bust any fantasy bubble you might have.

Some loyal readers may remember in my last post about the problem I have with camping. How no matter what I do, I have to wake up in the night a pee. This is epic, because I wake up and then I spend what feels like an hour talking myself into climbing out of my sleeping bag to go out and go. Well...I made a promise to myself that I would not allow myself to lay awake at night trying to fall back asleep while knowing full well I had to get up and pee this time.

The first night I woke up and not only did I have to pee, but, it was pouring rain. The necessary self talk was even more difficult because I knew that getting up also meant making sure our things were covered and protected from the rain. 15 minutes later, I was out there but got chilled so quickly I decided to forget about covering our things and I jumped right back into the tent. Then I layed awake what felt like an hour wondering what was getting ruined out in the rain.

Then came the second night. All was going along as planned. As I promised myself, I jumped right up when the urge came. I got out of the tent and surveyed the camp. Everything was fine. I got back into my sleeping bag, and low! All the leg hair whiskers that were having their first opportunity to grow in 25 years were springing to life with a vengeance! The tightness of the sleeping bag just made me even more aware of my newly emerging leg hairs. It was agony! The few mosquito bites on my legs were not helping either. I thought to myself, "I'm getting to go through heroin withdrawals without the dope!"

After an hour of agony (and not sleeping) I decided to listen to the night world; the waves lapping on the distant shore, the wind blowing the sedge grass, something that I was sure was the waves or birds or something in the sand, the gentle rhythmic sound of Vince's snoring. I couldn't stand it anymore. The meditation was not working! I pulled out my cell phone to find out just how long I had been laying there in agony and when I did I heard a loud "HUMPH PH!!" and heavy footsteps running away.

I was officially awake. "Vince." I whispered, hoping not to wake the kids. "Vince." I got a little louder, no luck. After calling his name 8 times...no kidding... I shouted, "VINCE GREEAR WAKE UP!"

He was up like a rocket. He jumped out of the tent to see what was going on. Marina and Falcom were also awake. Marina rolled over to me and said, "It's OK mom, it was just me. I've been out on the beach picking muscle and clam shells. It's OK." Then she was quickly back asleep.

No, Vince did not see anything and he and I both laid awake another hour. Any amount of wildlife that we might have had around us would not be back, but that did not ease my mind. My mind did not relax until that next afternoon when we arrived back home and I ran upstairs (without so much as a proper hello to DeeJay) to hot water and a brand new razor.

Field Notes, Camping Day 1

We left the harbor during low tide and both kids were very helpful at hauling our stuff to the skiff. While we were hauling the stuff, the kids spotted this squid hanging down from underneath Glenn's boat. Good Eyes!

It had been our plan to find a campsite, set up, and then come back and forth to town. (We have a party tonight that we want to go to). This way, we could leave our camp intact for the next five days.

Pulling into Mallard Bay the kids spotted this bear. Pretty incredible, considering the tiny speck she looked like from the bay. It was quickly apparent that she had two cubs with her. They were so cute tumbling down the beach together. We sat in the skiff watching them on shore for some time. They were awesome! I couldn't help but wonder if the mama bear ever has to say things to the cubs like, "Is that a good idea?" or "Stop bickering you two!"

Then we pulled up on shore and found a spot to pitch our tents and set up our camp. We took a long walk around and saw a lot of bear poo! This did not help the children with their newly discovered bear phobia. ("Is this the beach where the bear was?" "Dad, do you have a gun?" "Did you hear that? I'm sure it was a bear." "Dad, you have a gun right?") I wish there was some way to help them understand that this family is so loud that there is no way any bear is going to want to hang around anywhere near us. If I were a wild thing wandering around the forest the sound of this family would be terrifying!

Marina and Falcom took a swim in the bay as the tide came in. They begged me to join them, but I am a cold water chicken.

Marina and I prepared bean soup for dinner. As we were getting ready to stir it, we heard a loud POOF and the sound of dad cussing a small cuss word. One of the chambers on his raft popped. This was a minor catastrophe because our skiff was anchored offshore and we needed the raft to get to it. We decided to not worry about it until morning.

It was very relaxing to be away. It was beautiful. Seals splashing. Loons calling. Children asking if any bears could come this way. Then, Vince saw a bear and cub on a small beach across the bay from where we were. We were inaccessible to that bear and he said softly, "Look, another bear." The kids jumped up and yelled, "Where! Let me have the Binoculars!" and those bears shot away like they had been fired at. No, the kids still did not see that they were more scary than bears.We got into the tent and realized that the zipper was shot. We got one last zip out of it, and played a few games of cards and read a little Beyond Spiderwick and all slept well-ish. (Having to pee in the middle of the night only while camping...Waking up and waiting to get out of the tent for at least 30 minutes while you talk yourself into it...Why? Discuss...)

At 8am this morning, we decided we'd better beat the tide and broke down camp right after breakfast. (Between the raft 'poofing' and the tent zipper 'clapooing' it was the rational choice.)

We cheered Vince on as he paddled out to the boat in the small semi-inflated raft. In a way, I was secretly hoping he would fall in, because, although he would not laugh about it today, yes, he would certainly be very pissed, it would make for a great story six months from now. Needless to say, he made it just fine, it was a better trip to the boat than the first time he did it, and we loaded up and came home.

Tonight is Heidi and Mike's Party and tomorrow we will be back to more camping.

Off Camping

Is that camping week finally upon us? I admit that I am packing with trepidation in my heart. Shockingly, it is not on account of my love of showering, shaving, and well, I'll leave that last part out. No, it is more on account of the weather; the ominous rainclouds that reside overhead. It is due to the mosquitoes that I fear will be tearing the flesh off of my children's bodies. It is the sadness I feel having to leave Willie and DeeJay behind at home. (They want to stay and earn money. Don't blame them but, I still worry.)

I will admit that I am feeling more encouraged now that I have taken the time to plan actual meals for the trip instead of just allowing vince to put a couple of tubes of hard salami and a jar of peanut butter onto the boat and calling it good. Not that the children would not survive. They would. I just want them to survive and have happy memories at the same time. I know, I ask a lot.

We will be at the Fox River Flat area, staying at Bradley Lake for a night or two and then head down to Mallard Bay (near Bear Cove) and then back home. If I am posting from the road it will be as Julie Andrews once sang, "I must have done something good..." My good karma carries the day! Keep checking in because I have a plan...

One Step Closer to School

The shirt says it all:

All boys under the age of 18 received their vaccinations for school today. There was a level of bravery in Homer that one rarely gets to witness.

DeeJay picked up his schedule today and he and I are both feeling very optimistic about this coming year. The counselor and I also cracked open Willies transcript and we are both feeling optimistic for Willie. But, that is something that we will find out more about next week...

Bear Attack!!

It had been a Regular Monday: errands, DeeJay driving practice, coffee with Priscilla. I had thought about writing about how well DeeJay was driving. Or how nice it was being with Priscilla and Maya and Marina for coffee. The entire day had been refreshingly regular until it was time for Weight Watchers and I dropped the older boys at Mema's Shack. When we went around back to go into the house we discovered the happy bee hive (see 'Why Mema's House Has So Much Fairy Magic' from earlier this week) had been knocked over. My first instinct was to think it had been neighborhood dogs or boys. That is, until we discovered this:

Bear Attack!!

DeeJay and I sent Willie into the house immediately. He is allergic to bee stings and these bees were agitated. Then DeeJay covered himself as best as he could and then went to the job of putting that hive back together. He was really a hero about this job because I was quite fearful about getting stung. These bees were more upset than I had ever seen them and I seem to have a physical response to their aggressive presence. No the response is not rising pulse or panic attack, the physical response is to run away. Really, it is what they are psychically telling me to do. I like to please others, shouldn't I obey?

No Mema's scarf, gloves, and my jacket did not do the trick for DeeJay because he was stung twice by the very angry, agitated little creatures. They were really swarming around those hives and around him and the stings were due to the fact that the bees got stuck in the head scarf. One bit his forehead and one got stuck in the back of his neck in his hair.

It is interesting how universal the brain stem response to an angry bee sounds is. Loyal readers may remember when I had to release this batch of bees into this hive and how horrifying it was for me when one of the bees found it's way into my ear. I was lucky, it got out without my having to pull a Van Gough. Today, when the bee was stuck in the scarf wrapped around DeeJay's head it didn't matter that he knew intellectually that he could only get stung once and that it would only be like a shot, his reaction was completely human freaked out, but with control. "MOM!! GET THIS BEE AWAY FROM ME!! IT'S STUCK IN MY HAIR!! OW!!!!"

He is better now and the hive is back together and Vince is planning on bringing it back to our own house for fireweed season. He is going to wear his full bee gear and smoke them into passivity and look for the queen. If the queen died during the bear attack this season of honey production may have been for not. Also, now that that bear knows where that honey is he will probably come calling again, and we don't want bees and fairies to have to battle him over some honey now do we?

PS I went to Weight Watchers tonight and I am back to my usual weight loss of -.2 pounds again. Better than +.2 for sure. When Lynne took this picture I was at a loss as to how this could be happening and then I started looking back...and reflecting... brownies... pecan pie bars... sticky buns....

Am I ready to get serious about weight loss again? I think that if the kids can go back to school and get serious about their subjects again, then I can get back to mine...right? Two more weeks until school starts. I think I'm ready.

Weekend with Kimmy

The dear Kim Ressler came for the weekend with her parents. Dining, family visiting, fishing fun. It is great when Kim can break away from work in Fairbanks or Medical School (I know, can you imagine how cool I must be to have earned a friend who would go in for medical school during her fourth decade of life! My friends rock.) We had a delightful dinner with Valda, Steve, Karen and Ken and Kim the first night. The second night they all went fishing, or should I say puking. ("No secrets in this family" I told Karen when Marina announced to everyone that Karen had puked on the boat and Karen was embarrassed).

When they came back from fishing, Kimmy and I went to Fritz Creek Store and sat in the sun watching the traffic go by for a couple hours. We drank coffee and enjoyed this pecan bar/pie thing. Yes, it is as delicious as it looks. During this chat, I tried to re-emphasise the importance of her having a really cute cottage somewhere tropical once she is making the big bucks in her new career. Once again she insisted that that cottage will be near her future place of employment; Bethel. She does not seem to appreciate the joy my fantasy life brings me of mooching off of her while she is working in North Carolina, or Southern California, Hawaii, Belize.


But before coffee, we went to the garbage dump where Kimmy snapped this picture. She said, "Now here is what the 'Face of Alaska' campaign will surly be missing. How, no matter how good we look, most of us still dump our own garbage."



The next day was a special day for Marina. Special because Falcom was at a birthday party and the older boys were at work and 'there was nothing special for me!' I dared to disagree There was something special for her, alone time with Daddy! So, she made her special list and off we went.

The list read like this: 1) Fritz Creek Store (where she bought herself and ice cream).

2) Farmer's Market (where she got a necklace and a crystal).

3) Island's and Oceans

4) Beach

5) Two Sisters (chocolate croissant and sticky bun that she shared with dad)

Coming in to Two Sisters from a terrific time alone with Daddy at the beach.

After a cup of coffee and a sweet we said Aloha (a good-bye, but just for a while) to Kimmy. She was really crying right before this picture, so it's not her best cutest, but I had to put it on here for documentary aspect of this blog. You know, the How We Were in 2008 shot. Somewhere, I've got a few How We Were In 2000 shots, and a few How We Were in 1995 shots.


I've got a great How We Were in 1999 shot of us in the Sacred Turtle waters off the shore of Tinian, too bad it's not digital... Just wait until we have the How We Were In 2020 when we are standing off the coast of Phuket during a break from your work at that fabulous ex-pat hospital in Bangkok. No, not How We Were in 2020 standing next to some wind bent tree in Bethel. Love you, girl!

Summer Finally Arrives

Busy, outdoor fun. That is what we've been having. Someone at Safeway (grocery store) said to me today, "My you are tan!" Five sunny days and already friends around town think I'm just back from the islands. "HA!" I replied and pulled down my neckline, where I was able to expose the halibut belly white skin which hides beneath. The real Alana. She smiled a knowing Alaskan smile.
Marina, on the other hand, has been going topless around the hood and has a rosy tan all around her torso.

Hum this line to the Cole Porter tune about Paris, "I love Homer, in the Sunshine"