King Crab Season Ends

The King Crab season ended last week and Bri and Meg took me down to the docks so that we could invite the crabbers to dinner and get free crab. These crabs are huge and weigh about 15 pounds. The boats unload them by putting the crabs into huge bags that are then weighed by Peter Pan and then dumped to a conveyer belt that carries them into the factory. Here are some pictures that show how the crab is brought in. The first picture is of me holding a King Crab- look how big it is- holding it kind of hurts becuase it has spikes all over its legs.

Halloween Fun

For Halloween this year I dressed up as a Funky Chicken. The costume was hilarious and I won the funniest costume award at MCs that night. Here is a picture of me practicing the trombone dressed as the chicken- thank you Tim for taking this picture. The other picture is of me, Tim as a ghostbuster, Bri as a construction worker, and Meghan as a rockstar. It took me two hours to get her hair to stand up like that- go Elmer's glue.

Last Silvers of the Year

Yesterday we went down to Lenard's Harbor again to try and catch Silver salmon. We didn't catch anything but the hike through the waist high grass is gorgeous. We also got to hike across the plain to the other side of the stream and try and fish there. The stream flows pretty fast there and I watched Tim get caught on the brambles at least 4 times. The sun was shining and it was a great day. As you can see from the pictures the only fish I caught was a dead fish and I then went after Tim with it while Bri laughed from the bank. Here is a picture of the four of us on the mud flats at the harbor, when the tide is out you can walk out about a 1/4 of a mile.

Red Ribbon Week

Today is the first day of Red Ribbon Week and we started off with Red Day- here I am with oil paint on my face and my Amsterdam Hoodie that Ryan got me- that paint stained my face for two days.

Deer Island and Halibut Fishing

On Sunday I got invited to go out on the Whitetail with Marty, Grant, Karen, George, Bri, Meg, and Tim. We went to Deer Island for a BBQ and then picked up the line of halibut that we had put out on the way in.

Bri and I chilling on the tarp waiting for the fire to die down enough to make food.
Bri, Meg, and I posing for a picture on the top of the wheelhouse.
Sitting around the fire, talking, and eating.
Listening to Tim play his fiddle, sitting around the fire.
Holding a rock fish in my gloves- we caught this as we were pulling up the halibut line.
The fish has such a big mouth that I could stick my whole hand in it.
Check out the big mouth on that fish.
Me holding one of the halibut we caught- this one weighed in at 40 pounds.
We caught a ton of sun starfish on the line too. We made Tim "Starfish Boy" he had to take off the starfish and free them back to the water from which they came- he did that about 30 times.
This is the beach at Deer Island, Bri and I walked around the cove and she climbed the cliff while I walked into the stream. The boat is in the distance, we took a skiff from the boat to the shore.
Me, standing in the stream, considering crossing and realizing that it was too deep even with my XtraTuffs.
Tim, Bri, Meg, and I posing on top of the wheelhouse, getting ready to leave.

Me, holding the door open while we load supplies for the trip.

Fishing at Lenard's Harbor

Yesterday, I went with Bri, Meg, and Mark to Silver Hole, by Lenards Harbor. The hike was about a mile through brush, but it was gorgeous. There were lots of bear resting areas and so much bear poop that we were sure a bear had just been there. We fished for about an hour and only Bri caught a fish-but it was a silver so she filleted it and brought it home. On the hike back the tide was in and the small creek we had walked through was now about two feet deep. Bri, Meg and I leaped over it pretty easily- Mark jumped with two feet and landed knee deep in the creek- it was hilarious. Here are some pictures of us fishing, hiking and waving.

8th Annual MC Raft Race

Last night Bri, Meghan, and I went down the Raft Race held by MC's bar. Their team- SaltyDawg was in the same run as mine- the HalfDs- and we both got our butts handed to us by the reining champs. As the person in the back of the raft, I had to stand on the beach and push off with the raft into the harbor. After jumping the raft, Bubbles and I paddled our butts off and basically couldn't get the boat to go straight. Sitting on my knees covered in water that was freezing actually wasn't that bad. Bri and Meghan steered into us and then we collided with the other team as well. After making it around the buoy we were in third and stayed there. Tim told me that he could hear me shouting to Bubbles the whole time-I guess that sound really carries on the water.

On Friday I went with Grant, George, Karen and Tim on Grant's boat the Whitetail to Thin Point to seine for fish. It took us 2 hours to get there and then with four foot waves we got in the skiff and headed up the mouth of the river to the beach. We seined (netted the fish into a purse) and took them out of the net and then bled them (reach into the gills and pull out the gill bone). We got 165 fish, both silvers and reds in about an hour of working. Here I am holding one of the fish I pulled out of the net- they really fight hard.


Its hard to get the fish out of the gill net as they get caught behind their heads and then flop around until they tire themselves out.
Tim and I are gathering the net up to do another run and I am holding the gun in case any bears show up- there were four up the beach from us.
Here is a picture of me on the beach with the Whitetail anchored off shore in the background.
The bear tracks were all over the beach- I am wearing a size 11 extraTuff and the prints are about my size- so a four hundred pound bear maybe.
The bear tracks and my tracks side by side on the beach.
Finally, here is a picture of me reaching up to the set net hook right by the dock in King Cove.

The Great Salmon Fishing Dogs

While I was away Tim took care of my dogs and he took them to the stream by my house. I guess it turns out that both Doppler and Gilda like to fish for salmon. Tim tells me that they grab them, bring them on the beach and then either bite them until they stop flopping or get really scared of the flopping and try to dance around them- gotta love my crazy dogs.

Dandelion Jelly

Today I took Tim to the end of the road and when we got there we found that it had been blocked off and the last snow had caused the road to cave in. So we got out at the barricade and climbed over it to walk to the end- there was bear poop on the road- but we weren't maimed to death. I started singing "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" and that seemed to scare off any and all wildlife since I can't sing. I also found a recipe for Dandelion Jelly and spent hours looking for dandelions- which you would think would be all around but I think the season is over. I managed to get seven jars out of it though- Tim helped me find some also. Here is a picture of the dandelion jelly after it was jarred- it came out a really pretty yellow orange color.

The Great Outdoors

Summer is here in King Cove- a balmy 50 degrees. The new teacher is here- his name is Tim Coray and I have been showing him around. We went to the hovercraft today and saw a mama bear and two baby bears about 100 yards from the car. We also found ferns and got some great pictures of the hydro and Indian Head.

SUMMER!

Fireweed Jelly and the petals that got smooshed to make it, Morgans Point in the distance with the kids standing on the rocks. Me walking on the beach with the tide out.


Tenders in the bay- they wait for the small boats to come in and dump their fish and then bring them to the cannery for processing.

Here is a picture of Doppler hiding in the grass- it is about 36 inches tall now, and one of both the dogs on the beach. Meghans car buried in the grass and a big bear- over 8 feet tall that got shot in town.







The past two months have been great in King Cove. There has been lots of things to see and do. I worked at the cannery for one day- I couldn't hack it, then I was a jailguard for a week- boring but paid well, and then I worked at AC for two weeks. Now I am helping out at Aleut Camp and today we hiked halfway to Morgan Point. Above are some pictures of what has been going on this summer.