Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Messing Around the Lodge


Here are some miscellaneous photos from around the bay and lodge this fall.  They're in no particular order....  These photos were taken with my small camera--Jen wants it to be on the record that she had nothing to do with these because "those are shit!".  (I pointed out that I have been waiting weeks for the photos she's taken...…)

We call this Feral's Perch.  This is where Feral comes to look into the house and let us know she's ready to come in!

I've been here at the lodge for about six weeks, but sometimes it feels like it's been much longer!

It's been a warm and wet fall.  We have a rain gauge that I check and log daily.  We've had about 35 inches of rain since my arrival.

I don't remember ever having the rain gauge be completely full before, but the other day we got up to find about 5.5 inches.  The gauge tops out at 5.25 inches on the scale!  It's hard to tell that the rain gauge is full when the red disc is up above the clear plastic.  

The heavy rains have really made Sadie Creek run high at times this year!

When I got here in mid-October, I was surprised to find there were lots of blueberries and huckleberries still on the bushes.  We're eating a lot of pies and berry crisps!

Baking for Thanksgiving.  This bread sort of evolved as I was making it--it ended up as sourdough, whole-wheat, honey, egg bread.

This American Dipper (aka Ouzel) hit a window and recovered on the deck for a while.  He flew off a few minutes later--no harm done!

From the comfort of the couch, Feral didn't even realize she had missed an opportunity to check out the Ouzel's ability to fly.

The lodge and dock from the skiff on a very calm day!

We've got very clear water here in the winter.

Walking down the ramp to the dock.

We've got some pretty big hemlock trees around the crew cabins.

Jen and I took a hike up to the hydro intake to preposition some of our ice removal tools.  This hemlock is along the trail to the intake.

Sadie Creek from the trail.

Almost to the hydro intake.  The lines are to help us access the intake grate in high water or icy conditions.

The stand pipe is to let air out of the pipe so as much water as possible can come down the hydro line to maximize our generator output.




Sunday, November 25, 2018

Thanksgiving!!!

We had a big Thanksgiving here in Warm Springs Bay.  Sailboat Bob made the 90-mile trip over from Sitka.  Blain and Monique brought Jeanne back to the bay and also brought our friend Corrie for the weekend visit.
Sailboat Bob pulling up to our dock.

The entire population of the bay was almost doubled!

We had a choice of turkeys....one was furrier than the other!

Everybody got involved with dinner prep.

We ended up with a feast--turkey, grilled king salmon, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, vegetarian stuffing, vegetarian gravy, home made bread, cranberry bread, cranberries, and three deserts!  Blain volunteered to be the taster....

Blain also volunteered to grill the fish.  From now on, he's not allowed close to the grill without a fire extinguisher!

Somehow the headgear all survived dinner!

The leisurely weekend got compressed when the forecast turned to 35 kts on Saturday, 45kts on Sunday, and 35 kts on Monday.  The valiant Bob crew loaded up early Friday to make the run back to Sitka.  Jen even volunteered to come down to the dock to help with lines!





Tuesday, November 20, 2018

"They're Baaaaaaack!!!"

Hi Friends,

Isn't it amazing how 18 months can fly by without a blog post???  Actually, we don't really have much worth sharing until we get here to the lodge.  For anybody new to the blog, Jen and I caretake here in Warm Springs Bay, Alaska every other winter at the Baranof Wilderness Lodge.  We spend 7 months here and will head back to Sitka next May.

Baranof Wilderness Lodge, our home for seven months this winter!

Not a bad view from the deck!

Feral and I came around from Sitka in mid-October.  Our friend John Little lets us use his 35 foot trawler, Prime Time.  We actually ran into weather and had to spend an unscheduled overnight in Peril Strait--the first time we haven't made our lodge run in one day.  Pay no attention to the mystery logger in the foreground.  

I was able to balance out the trim on Prime Time with 400 pounds of kitty litter!

Feral wasn't too happy with the rough seas!  She was ready for any eventuality!


Jennifer flew over a few weeks later.  She had some training to do on the Airbus that prevented her from coming over on the boat.  Unfortunately, she was delayed an additional five days after the training because of mechanical problems with the float plane and then bad weather.

Leaving Sitka in the Cessna 185 float plane.

Flying over Sitka's airport.

Flying over Baranof Island.

One of Jen's first projects was to put up our boardwalk lights...turning darkness to light!

Feral is happy to be settled in at the lodge.  We're hoping she'll come out of her lampshade one of these days!