A house, in pictures

Ok, so my Mom's been asking me for pictures of 3 rooms of our house for some mysterious Christmas present, and Jay's Mom's been asking for pictures because she wants to see all the changes, so, since I'm sitting in a hotel room in Anchorage, I figured I'd take the time to make both of them happy. So, Mom, Maryanne, here's the house. Hopefully, I can upload all the pictures I want to, because I HAVE to do before and after! Here goes nothin'!

Living room

Kitchen

Upstairs Bath

Master Bedroom and Master Bath

We have two spare bedrooms and another half bath off the kitchen. I took pictures of the spare bedrooms, but they're nothing great to look at, so I'm going to skip those. I'd love to show off our half bath, but I forgot to take pictures of it!

Anyway, this is the house! We have one more bedroom to paint and all the white that we're getting rid of will finally be gone! Only our bathroom and the laundry room are staying white... VERY exciting since EVERY room but one of the spare bedrooms was white when we moved in! We're pretty proud of the place, and how fast we managed to get unpacked and put together. With the exception of a couple of boxes and a few empty walls, you can hardly tell we've only had our household goods for two and a half months! Not bad!

So I've probably used up all my bandwith with this post, so news of other goings-on will have to wait for another day. We just recently had our first visitors, so I'll have more to share on that soon!

Miss everyone - can't wait for people to see the place in person!!!!!!!

Becca

Regain my Manhood!

Well tonight I have finally matched the feat of my lovely bride. As you have seen in the previous post Becca was able to hook into two silvers (coho salmon) on her very first trip out fishing. Besides being quite impressive, they we're quite tasty. Since then though, I have not been able to match her or even to catch a single silver. The only thing that either of us has caught since that good trip of hers is stinky pinks (they look like they should be dead already when they are swimming) and believe me, she has been letting me know that I haven't caught a single silver, let alone match her.

Tonight I have redeemed my manhood. After dropping her off at the dock to travel out to the retreat that she was going on this weekend I went out to the river to see what I could do. Well, I finally caught a silver, and of what a doozy it was. I caught a wapping monster that was 29 inches long and 12.5 pounds. It was a monster and a ton of fun to catch. I can't wait to get out there and catch another one. They should start their run here this week, and hopefully we'll be able to put a few fillets in the freezer. Luckily the monster I caught made for over 5.5 pounds of fresh salmon for the freezer. =)

Well all is well here. Just thought I would put a quick post up to show you the fun we have up here. I know, Matt, and Alex will probably be drooling and I wouldn't be surprised if they were on the next flight up here. Hope all is well with everyone, and hope to see some of you soon.

Jason

I have been assimilated!

It is official... I have given up my city ways and become an outdoors-woman. Ok, that might be stretching it a bit, but not really that much! Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I went fishing. And, I caught fish. And, I threw fish back after removing hooks from their mouths. And, I gutted one of the fish I caught, cutting it open and scraping all the innards out with my fingernails (which are just now getting clean). And, I LOVED it! So, after yesterday's excursion, I spent a lot of money getting myself outfitted with the right equipment for fishing, since I was sorely lacking all of it on my first excursion. Here's the rest of the story....

After a busy week at work that started first thing Sunday morning with a surprise cutter visit on a jetlag hangover (I spent last week in New Orleans for a conference), we decided a morale day was in order by Friday. So I headed out fishing with a handful of the guys from work, after they promised me they'd teach me what to do. Oh, I almost forgot - I purchased the minimal equipment I would need for this expedition on Wednesday, including about 5 lures, a rod/reel, and a license. Not entirely sure that I would enjoy the activity, I decided my pink and green plaid Wellies would suffice in terms of footwear for my first outing (you can see them in the background of one of the pictures!). So we headed out to one of the local rivers in search of the elusive "silvers," otherwise known as really-the-only-salmon-that's-yummy-besides-Kings, or Coho.

The silvers have just started running here, so most of the salmon in the rivers are the Pinks, which aren't very good to eat, and have started to look pretty gnarly. For those who don't know, salmon come up in the rivers to spawn after living in the open ocean for a few years. Once they come up the rivers, they start to change in characteristics, and eventually just decompose and die. Given they're on their way out, some of them can start to be pretty nasty! So, the trick is to go fishing when they first start running, so you get the nice fresh ones. The bigger trick is to only get the silvers because they're the ones that taste the best.

Back to the story: Once we got out to the river, and one of the guys fixed up my stuff by respooling my reel with better line, we headed out to his "secret spot." Of course, the spot required crossing the river twice, which wasn't an issue for the two guys I was with, but definitely was an issue for my too-short pink Wellies. So the Great Outdoors-woman had to succumb to a piggy-back ride across the deep spots. Very dignified. Very. Once I got over that, and got to work pretending to know how to fish, the fun really started! Right away, we started hitting the pinks, strictly catch-and-release though, given their mostly nasty appearance. Then the fun really got going, though, as I (yes, me) caught the first silver of the day! He was a small guy, but I kept him anyway, since we weren't sure we'd see any others. We didn't need to worry too much, though, since we ended up with 5 silvers between the 3 of us (we were allowed 6 total by the regs), with none of them as small as my first guy. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home, so I don't have a good shot of the whole fish, but here's the fruit of my labor after filleting!
(Don't mind the shadow... that's my head). The one on the left is my first one - it was probably only about 3 or 4 pounds, giving about a pound and a half of meat. The other one was quite a bit bigger, though I'm not sure how big. But, I got just over 3 and a half pounds of meat from that one!

So, of course, last night, I had to go out and buy the appropriate gear (ie, things to make it so I don't have to be piggy-backed across a river), and then test it out as soon as possible. Jason and I headed out today to try our luck, but didn't have much. We hooked into a bunch of Pinks again, but sent them all back into the river to die a peaceful death. Unfortunately, we didn't see a single Silver anywhere, but we'll probably try again later in the week. I'm definitely "hooked" on fishing... I really had a great time, and, surprisingly, got a pretty good workout, too! In fact, my whole body is aching tonight, which I'm blaming on the couple of fish I snagged in the tail (much harder to reel in), and hauling myself around in really heavy waders.

Oh, wait! I didn't tell you what the "proper gear" was! That's right, I'm now the proud owner of my very own hip waders and wading boots. I sloshed through the river on my own today, and spent some quality time standing in the river fishing. I'm here to tell you - the water is cold. But it was just cool to be able to do that. So, to end things here, I'll just share two more pictures with you - Jason in his fishing gear, and me in mine. If someone had told me 2 or 3 years ago that I'd own my own fishing gear and hip waders, I think I would've fallen over laughing. Yet, here I am, enjoying some of the best Kodiak has to offer. Yes, I've been assimilated!

More from Man Camp

Another day at man camp. After I posted yesterday we ended up getting launched on a case down near Seward, AK. After a quick search we were cleared to do some sight seeing. What a beautiful day to do that. We flew up the valley from Seward to Portage and then through to Whittier. This is the major/only way to drive from Anchorage down to these areas of Alaska. We had driven this route when we drove to Homer on the way up here. It was amazing see this route from the air, especially since it was actually sunny yesterday, unlike the day we drove it.

These pictures of the glaicers and the valleys are amazing in the picutres, but these don't even do them justice. Seeing them in person is unbelieveable. The best part is that there are people paying mucho $ to do what we get to do. I definitly can't complain.

While we were flying, we even ran into a moose that was trying to cool himself off. Unlike those in the lower 48 that are trying to cool from the 90+ temps, this moose was trying to cool off from the high 60s. The picture doesn't give the best view, but I thought I would include it anyways.

Well today we are probably going to go hiking. Hopefully we'll see a bear that I can actually get a picture of. I almost got a picture of a black bear swimming yesterday, but by the time we got the car stopped he was out of the water and on his way. I'll also try to get some more pictures of where we are staying.

Hope everyone is doing well. Stay tuned for more pictures and adventures from man camp.

Jason

Posting from Man Camp

Hello to everyone. It's been a while since I have last posted, but I'm currently in Cordova, Alaska on a two week deployment and have some time to while I'm standing duty so I figured that I would update everyone on what's been going on. Since Becca last posted from Anchorage we've been pretty busy around here. Once she returned from Juneau we ended up finishing the fence around the house. Fred now has a huge backyard to roam around, unfortunately he doesn't get to watch the neighbors like he did our front, but he has more room then he has ever had for his "kingdom". We'll see how he adapts to his new yard.

I ended up finishing the fence the night before I left for Cordova. For those that don't know, Cordova is one of the places we deploy to during the summer months so that we can respond better to the commercial and recreational fishing fleet. Cordova is on the mainland south west of Anchorage, but it's not connected by any roads from the interior. The only way in is by the ferry or the airlines. So we're basically on an island for all intensive purposes. Needless to say, there is less stuff here then in Kodiak. There is a small town with a few restaurants, and a grocery store (very expensive). What they do have is amazing scenery, hiking, fishing and hunting.

When we come here it's like going away for man camp. The C130 (large transport plane) brings us over it's packed with bikes, guns, fishing gear, hiking gear, and what not. You can pretty much do whatever you want around here. There is a shooting range just around the corner, we've been out shooting Matt's (other pilot) rifles and pistol, unfortunately I didn't get my guns early enough to pack them up and bring them. They will be brough the next time I come. Other then hunting, which we haven't been doing, we have been doing a to of fishing. Currently the pink salmon are running, and hopefully the silvers (coho) will start running later this week. I have caught and filetted 5 already and bring my first Alaska salmon home. I think it will only be a matter of time before I hear from Jay, Matt, or Alex.

Along with fishing we have been hiking, and cannoeing. You can't beat the activities you can do around here. While doing all this we've been spotting all sorts of wildlife. The bears are like stray dogs over here, both black and brown bears. They are everywhere. There are also moose, sheep, deer, wolf, eagles, and much more.

Besides doing all this stuff, we've also been flying around here. It's amazing, we've flown all around Prince William sound (where the Exxon Valdez sunk) the pipeline, Bagley icefield, and many other glaciers. It's hard to beleive that we get payed to do this. Others are paying big money to see a fraction of what we get to see.

Well I've got to get going, hope everyone is doing well, and can't wait to hear from all of you.

Jason

Stuck in Anchorage... why not blog!?

So, in my official indoctrination to Kodiak travel, I have been stranded overnight in Anchorage, something I think I need to get used to! I was in Juneau the last couple of days, visiting our District office, and ran into typical Kodiak weather conditions on the way out of here. I'm almost certain I got the last hotel room in Anchorage, too. Summer in Alaska is a busy time!

We've been a bit derelict in our updates. Our apologies to everyone. Since I am stuck in Anchorage, no pictures for you this time around, but at least there's stuff to share.

We finally got our household goods last Tuesday, on the day they were "guarenteed" to be there by. You should've seen the two of us literally dancing around the house after the moving company called!!! After many promises of "it'll be on the next barge/ship," it was nice to actually have it show up!! The moving company called us right as we were headed out the door for work, feeling dejected that we were going to have yet another few days of waiting til the next ship came... imagine our surprise!

In about 6 hours, all 15,000 pounds and 12+ crates of stuff were offloaded and kinda in the right rooms. Technically, we could've had the movers stick around to help us upack boxes, but since I didn't know where I wanted stuff, I did the kitchen while they were still working, and then sent them on their way. One guy stayed behind to help Jason put stuff together, and then, in an absolute surprise move, the company offered to leave the truck at our house so we could continue to unpack and just put the empty boxes in there. They ended up leaving the truck for 2 days, giving us the opportunity to get rid of almost all the boxes! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, we're now slowly working our way through the rest of the stuff, and we'll start to think about hanging pictures and all that sooner or later. We still have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a hallway to paint, so pictures might have to wait awhile. Jason is determined to get the rest of the fence up (the neighbors behind us put theirs up finally, so we "just" have one side to go!), so I might have to wait for my paint. I'll live, though... I want Fred in the backyard!

I think that's it for now. I'm using the business center at the hotel and the keyboard is annoying me, let alone everyone else in here. Plus, I have a 6am flight tomorrow morning (fingers crossed!), so I should get some sleep!

We'll take "after" pictures of the house as soon as it's worth looking at so we can share those with everyone. Miss and love you all!!!
Becca

Finally, pictures!

After calling the internet company and figuring out that they had us signed up for the wrong package, AND resizing the images to mke them smaller (DUH!), I can finally share some pictures!

So a couple of these are from some of our hikes, some are from my Change of Command, and then there's a random shot from the midnight fireworks on the 3rd/4th.

First up, the view from Ft. Abercrombie State Park. Fred and Jason seem to be enjoying this one together. I think Fred was asking if he could go swimming!


Next up is the view of the base from mid-way up Old Woman. Beyond the base is Women's Bay and the far end of Kodiak Island. Way out on the third spit of land is the Kodiak Winery at Chiniak. We haven't made it out there yet, but plan to. There's also a herd of buffalo out that way! It's about an hour's drive out that way, so we have to plan ahead!


Next up, Change of Command stuff. The first one is me offering my relief to the outgoing CO. Doesn't it look all official and what-not?
This one is after the ceremony. Pardon the hat-head! Aren't the fish in the background awesome?!?!
Next up is the front page of the Kodiak Daily Mirror. Yep, front page, right below the fold.And the actual story, complete with black-and-white picture. FAMOUS!!!!

And, finally, here's a shot from the fireworks the other night. One of Kodiak's self-professed claims to fame is that we have one of the earliest 4th of July fireworks displays in the country. This picture makes it look like it's dark out, but it wasn't quite completely dark. But, it was a pretty decent show for a small town, and it seemed like just about everyone in town showed up for it. Everyone gets there about 11-ish, parks their cars wherever they can across from where they set the fireworks off, and then sits in their car waiting til almost midnight. At about 5 minutes before midnight, we all walked toward the water and just stood there to watch the fireworks... it's too cold to stand outside or do the picnic thing like we always did growing up! Too funny!

So those are the latest shots from Kodiak. Once we get our stuff and get the house set up, we'll be sure to post pictures of the house for everyone to see! For now, there's not much to look at, so it's not really worth it! We're hoping our stuff will be here mid-week next week, so by the end of next weekend, the house should be livable! YAY!!!!!!

Love and miss everyone!

Becca