Log Rodeo and Boat Winterizing

Today began a bit early for Neil as he and his boat partner Sam left at 0900 (that's early for us retired folks) to see about towing a log back for firewood from the Mendenhall wetlands.  There is a large one that came down the Mendenhall River during the August floods that we can see from our houses here in Bayview.

Captain Sam as We Headed Out to the Log Rodeo - Boat Launch in Background

So we decided to take the Avon inflatable boat and 15 hp outboard over to check them out with a chainsaw and tow rope.  The big one that we thought we would tackle was just too big and too many big limbs.  Even if we were able to cut it down and move it, it would be a bear to split so Sam decided to leave it alone.  There were four eagle on it when we got up to it and one stayed around for a while.

Here is the Log We Looked Over and Decided Against--with Eagle

We wound up with a nice, clean spruce log about the size of a telephone pole that Sam cut off the stump and we rolled down into the water.  Since we both went to Oregon State, where the Forestry Department is called Peavy Hall, it is embarrassing that we did not bring a peavy to roll the log instead the "manual method".  We finally got it into the water and were able to pull it loose from the beach and tow it over to Sam's house on the beach here in Bayview.  He will buck it up at low tides over the next week, I am sure.

Our Boat Winterization Crew:  Brian, Cindy, Sam, Neil and Natalie

Since it turned out to be a sunny day (another pleasant surprise) we decided to clean and winterize the boat.  We unloaded, vacuumed, cleaned, and power washed the inside and outside, and then put the custom blue tarp back over the boat.  In the picture above, we are cutting twine to tie down the tarp to the trailer.

That took us to about 1630 and we decided that pizza and beer was in order so we all went to the Island Pub for said food and drink.  A good, productive day!

Earlier in the day, Pamela was in the garden being followed around by Stellar's Jays.  We feed them peanuts every day on the deck, and they have become pretty bold free-loaders.  They have even been known to land on a deck chair and peck on the windows to get our attention.  The first couple of times it was quite surprising.  Anyway, one came down to visit Pamela next to our Japanese maple and stayed to have his picture taken.

Got a Peanut?

While on the wetlands this morning, Neil took a picture of Mendenhall Glacier and the Mendenhall Towers with snow on them--winter is coming soon!

Snow is Creeping Down the Mountains

It was another great day in Southeast Alaska.  We hope that you had a great day as well.

Neil and Pamela

Fall Gardening and House Cleanup

A Pretty Nice Fall Day in Juneau - Note the For Sale Sign

Today's weather was a very pleasant surprise with some sunshine and clouds most of the day and best of all--no rain.  It gave us a chance to do some outside work, including getting some of the annual plants under the deck removed and recycling the soil and one gallon plastic pots.  We still have some plants on the deck that will need to be taken care of, but we are waiting for a freeze first.  With the way the snow (aka "termination dust") is coming down the mountains, it probably won't be long.

Neil also did some boat related things, including soaking the crab pot lines in hot water with bleach and Simple Green to get rid of the slime from soaking most of the summer.  They came out looking almost new, which is what he was hoping for.  Here is a very short video of one of our crab pot pulls this summer.

One of the things that we are doing this week is getting ready for the Open House this coming Saturday.  We are making sure that the house is clean, the outside picked up, and are even going to have the windows cleaned inside and out.  We are hopeful that interest in the house will pick up after that.  It also means that we will have to be gone next Saturday from around 1300 to 1600, so we will take a drive and maybe take in a movie.  One of the things we are doing is having our landscaping friend over to help us prune and "declutter" the garden.  Then we will spread some mulch and hope for the best.

Our Full Backyard - RV, Boat, and Garden Shed

When we are not doing minor cleanup and improvement tasks around the house, we are working on getting the RV, truck and Volkswagen ready for other winter and perhaps for our move south.  We are looking forward to spending time with friends in Juneau, seeing a few local plays, and continuing to enjoy Juneau for however long we are here.  

Pamela has become active as a Creative Memories consultant, and is helping folks work on digital photo projects and doing some projects of our travels and family.  She is having fun, helping people, and making a few bucks as well--how can it get better than that?  If you are interested in learning more about Creative Memories, you can contact her at finneypj@gmail.com

We hope that you are having a good weekend,

Neil and Pamela

Another Rainy Day in Juneau

The good weather we had yesterday afternoon was short lived, and it began to rain last night and we have more wind and rain in the forecast.  Not to unusual for this time of the year, but cold, driving rain isn't our favorite weather.

In looking back at the past summer, we found some interesting photos to share that are more interesting than the grey seascape in front of the house at the moment.

Calm Waters in Stephen's Passage Earlier in September

This summer, Pamela's brother Seth and his wife Cathy came up for their first visit (other than our wedding a few years ago) and we got out on the boat with his video camera.  He captured some really neat footage, and I am going to try to share small clips of them in this and later Blogs--wish me luck.  This one is from a day out at North Pass when we came upon a small pod of Dall's porpoise that came over to play with the boat--and throw water up on the bow to get people wet.  And then the whales showed up--it was a fabulous day!

Let me know if you can get this to work for you.  The file size may be too big, and if so I will have to figure out how to reduce the size for posting..

Getting back to the present day, we had a very productive visit with some gardening friends this afternoon, and would up trading three Dungeness crabs for some fresh caribou meat.  They had a very successful hunt (nine caribou between two hunters), so they had enough to share.  The access to great game meat is something that we will miss when we leave Alaska.

If I was Posting Pictures this Summer, This would be One of Them - 18 Coho!

We will be making changes to the Blog and trying to learn more about things as we go along.  We hope that this finds you in good health and spirits!

Neil and Pamela

Back in the Blog Saddle as Fall Comes to SE Alaska

Today's View from Our Juneau Home - Fall is Coming Fast!

This is my first Blog Post since we came back to Juneau in April--it hardly seems that long ago, and this spring and summer have moved very fast.  I won't try to do a total recap in one blog post, but will try to begin blogging more often and catch you up on what we have been doing this summer.

Sea Lion Tearing Up Salmon at Point Retreat Lighthouse

We did have lots of company (over six weeks of company), and did lots of boating, fishing, whale watching, and crabbing with great success.  We have a pretty good supply of salmon and halibut in the freezer.

A Visit to Mendenhall Glacier this Summer

Our biggest news is that our house is finally on the market and we are waiting for the house to sell before we make our move to Oregon.  We had thought that we had a buyer lined up but they backed out at the last minute so we had to get the house listed, cleaned up and "de-cluttered".  This last thing is the worst--the realtors don't want anything on countertops and all the shelves are supposed to be half full.  Now we have the stuff we are used to using daily hidden away in drawers and cupboards.  We have also been taking things to donation places like Salvation Army and selling a few other things.  We will be here until the house sells or mid March--whichever comes first.

We Got Very Close to Lots of Whales this Summer

Neil's Nineteen Pound Coho Salmon

We just pulled the crab pots for the final time (ten nice Dungeness crabs) and will be winterizing the boat soon.  We are selling our half of the boat to our boat partner, and that will be good but we will miss the boating and fishing, we are sure.  We might come back to Juneau in a couple of summers to go fishing with friends.

We hope that this finds you well and enjoying your Fall.  Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.  We will try to post blogs a bit more often that we have lately.

Best Wishes,

Neil and Pamela

Home at Last

We had a wonderful ferry trip up from Prince Rupert that ended this morning around 0430 at the Auke Bay ferry terminal.  We had lots of sunshine in Sitka and starlit skies last night.  We were the very last people off the ferry because they needed us for ballast!

The temperature this morning as we rolled of the ferry was 31 degrees, so it was a bit nippy.  We have parked the Fiver in front of the house until we make room to back it in behind the house--hopefully by this weekend.

We intend to keep the log going and changing the focus to our home, garden, boating and other things in Juneau. Please send us any comments or suggestions.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Ferry Home to Juneau - Sunny Stopover in Ketchikan

During our last day in Prince Rupert, we drove around and reacquainted ourselves with the town, but since it was Easter Monday and a holiday for Canada, we did not do much other than sightsee and have a couple of meals--one in Cow Bay, and a fantastic dinner overlooking the water at the Crest Hotel.  Here is a picture of the four of us at dinner.

The Fiver Foursome:  Elaine, Jim, Neil and Pamela

We had some local wildlife visit our RV park--some small buck Sitka Black Tailed deer were grazing in the park and we saw four more down at the ferry terminal later on.

Sitka Black-Tailed Deer at the Prince Rupert RV Park

Another day with sunshine, and we are close to home!  We woke up early this morning (0630 is very early for us) with Jim and Elaine in the Fiver at the Prince Rupert RV Park about a mile from the ferry terminal.  It was cloudy with sun breaks as we drove down to get in line for US Customs and get in line for the ferry Matanuska.  After a lengthy interview and lesson about just how many ciders and how many heavy duty pain killers you can bring in from Canada, we moved on to get in line for the ferry.  After about an hour wait, we boarded the ferry and are this much closer to home.

The weather out of Prince Rupert turned sunny, and we had a fantastic trip up into Alaskan waters, with sunshine and humpback whales to accompany us.  We played some cards with Jim and Elaine and had a couple of good meals on our way into Ketchikan.  Just south of Ketchikan, we got cell phone service again, and our Verizon Aircard (MiFi to some) began working.  As a result, we were able to log on to the internet via this card and update the blog, check our mail, and do other techy stuff.

Southern Revilla Channel South of Ketchikan

We came in the back channel behind Pennock Island on the way into Ketchikan.  Neil remembers going over to Gravina Island with his Dad to fish in the lakes below Nipple Mountain (that name may not be in the dictionary of Alaska Place Names).

Back Channel - Pennock Island on Right, Gravina on Left

Does anyone not remember the "Bridge to Nowhere" silliness?  Well, that bridge was to connect Gravina Island where Ketchikan's airport is to the Revilla Island where Ketchikan is located.  Hardly "nowhere" for southeast Alaskans.

Downtown Ketchikan with Deer Mountain Above

There was ample sunshine in Ketchikan where we stayed for about an hour.  As you can see from Deer Mountain in the above photo, there is a lot of snow on the mountains still, and the high temperatures are in the middle fifties--but that ain't bad for Springtime in Alaska.

We just pulled out of Ketchikan on our way to Wrangell, then Petersburg, Kake, Sitka, and Juneau.  We will try to keep you up to date in the blog as we move along and when we get home.

Fair Winds and Calm Seas,

Neil and Pamela