5 Weeks

I don't believe it but we have been here for 5 weeks already. I am still really enjoying it up here and I think Tabbi is too. Today Tabbi saw a moose across the bay. She told us to look but it had already stepped back into the bush. That is how thick the bush can be that you can lose a whole moose in a second. Nothing else much going on right now. I work all day then either go fishing or play games with Tabbi and Jesse. We have been playing mainly 2 games. Canasta a card game that we learned when we first got up here. The other game we play is Settlers of Catan a strategy based bored game. I feel bad for Tabbi she has to deal with Jesse and myself who tend to be a little to competitive. So if anyone else has any good games they think we should play we would love new ideas. I think we have played a little to much of both of those games for the time being. Just gonna keep it short for today hope to update more this weekend. We are hoping to make it to church this weekend. They have a church and church camp across the lake. It will be nice to go to church i have not been in almost 2 months with being up here and work in Boise.

It seems like forever since I last blogged and im sorry for that. We have been really busy and our Internet is acting up again. In fact im just writing this on word and hoping that I will be able to cut and paste in my blog if the Internet allows.

A week ago today we decided to go for a hike to the Kijik River. We were told it was around 6 miles away. Now that I have been there I really think that the river is closer to 9 miles away. After a 3 hour walk through a bog and along rocky beaches we finally made it to the river. I led the three of us (Jesse, Tabbi, and myself) to a gravel bar that looked like a good place to fish. With my backpack still on I threw my line in. Within four casts I had caught a grayling. That was my first ever grayling! So we took our packs off and got our fly-fishing stuff out. I had carried all of Tabbi’s and my fly-fishing stuff the whole trip. That includes our waders, fly-fishing boots, vests, fly’s, and rods. We all got dressed and started fishing. Tabbi started getting some hits on a big black ant. I switched to one and we all started catching fish. We only caught five grayling the whole time we were there. We had a good time with only one problem. Tabbi lost her footing in the river and fell. The water is fresh snow melt so it is very cold. We started a fire to warm her up and cook three fish. All of us wanted to stay but we had to get back to start the generator. We have to have it on for about four hours a day took keep our freezers cold enough. The fishing was fun but the walk back was a very long trip. All in all a good day and it felt very nice to relax that Sunday.

We have been really busy working on the lodge since Micah has been at bear camp. It is hard working on some projects without Micah. Some of the things we are doing it would just be nice to have him say “Yes that how we want it”. Micah has been having fun at bear camp. He got his client a 10 foot 3 inch bear, with a 28 inch skull. It should be big enough to go in the books.

Today we went fishing around this area. We walked to the other side of the bay and caught two lake trout. That is the first lake trout I have ever caught. It was around a 20 inch fish. I would like to say it was a little bigger but it might be seen as a fishing story. After we got back our neighbors asked if we wanted to go across the lake. It was fun to go over there today. It was the first time we have gone across since we got up here. It was a very exciting Saturday night. We got home and Tabbi cooked us the fish we caught today.

All in all it has been a good week and I will really try to blog more then I have this last week. Hopefully our Internet holds up and I can blog. Hope all of you are doing well and look forward to your comments.

Tried to put photo's on but our Internet is not working very well right now.

We lost the internet

So i have not been able to blog for the last few days. For that matter i have not been able to stay in contact with anyone the last few days. We uploaded to many Gigs of things to the internet so we lost it for a few days. Well we are back online now and loving it. Not much new really going on up here. Life is simple here, i get up read my bible, eat breakfast, start work, eat lunch, go back to work, have a snack, go back to work, then eat dinner. Most of our nights right now are spent hanging out around the lodge. We have leaned a few new card games, and just got settlers of catan up here as well. Last night we had another big bon fire and the people that live down the bay stopped by. We all hung out tell about 1030 it was still light out when we went back to the lodge. Im really looking forward to the ice being off the lake so we can do more. As i said last time Micah is leaving in the next day or two to go brown bear hunting. We have a list of things to work on while he is gone. We will miss him but im sure he will be having fun. I think i would really like doing that sort of thing. While he is gone i want to go for a few little hikes. I would love to go when he is here too. While he is gone the ice should melt, but we will still not have anyway to get around. We will be more mobile when he gets back and gets the boats up and running. Today i buzzed my hair down to about a half inch. I dont know why i really did it but i think it will be easier to take care of up here. Well im gonna go keep my wife warm and toasty hope everyone is having a good time in whatever they are doing.

Ice Cream

So today, Tabbi got her brand new kitchenaid ice cream mixer. We are very excited to have some ice cream. Micah put in his request for pistachio ice cream. I have never had it but, he says its amazing. We also got some of our gear we ordered from cabelas today. I got 3 new pairs of socks, some hip boots, and my rain jacket. I think i got the rain jacket just in time. We have been having rain off and on but, it is in the forecast for this week. I want it to rain i hope it will melt the ice off the lake. I Really Really want the ice to melt. I have not been able to do much fishing at all, well in fact i would not call the fishing we did even fishing. I want to get the fly rod out and just spend some time on the water. The only problem with that is the rest of our stuff has to get here first. We are expecting four totes to come in the mail any day now. In our totes are all sort of things most important though is my fishing stuff. I brought the poles and fly fishing rods with us with nothing to tie on the line. I am also waiting for the lens I sent in to get fixed. I have only had the one camera lens the entire time we have been in Alaska. It is a great lens for taking pictures of wild life but that is about it. The other lens I am waiting for is my wide angel lens. I should be able to do a lot more scenic shots with that. All the scenic shots I have posted on here or Facebook have been taking with Tabbi's little pink point and shoot. Not much else going on the new guy Jesse will be flying in on Tuesday. Then Micah fly's out to bear camp for about a month. We will have lots of work to get done well he is gone. Once he gets back though is when the real work starts. We will be getting the rest of our materials to build and finish things. Well that is all for now hope everyone is still enjoying my blog. I keep telling Tabbi to write something on here as well. Maybe if some people commented that they wanted to hear her side of the Alaska Adventure I can talk her into it:)

Another Sunday

So it is our second Sunday up in Alaska. We were still not able to make it across the lake to church. So we had a little church service at the house. We even had the neighbors over for some worship today. After worship we had some good conversations about god and life. Things have been going good up here still. I really don't have to much to talk about today. This last week i build some shelves in the loft to put food on. They are not quite done yet but they are getting close. Just working on a few other things around the lodge we have been putting up log railings around the deck. I believe we are gonna start doing more log work this next week.

Tabbi has been really busy just keeping Micah and I fed. Not to mention she comes out and helps us with all sort of stuff when she finds the time. We both really enjoy our time up here. Tabbi love that she gets to spend all day around me. Life up here seems to be at a different pace. I really enjoy it here. I like the work and enjoy not having all of life worries that seem to get to me in the lower 48. I think i would love to live here. Don't worry moms ( Jan and Chris) I will come home and bring Tabbi with me. Maybe some day we would live up here but not anytime soon. Well thats it for today enjoy the new pics

Archibald the Fox

So today is friday the 23rd and it has been a long day. We did not get done working tonight tell 7. It was not bad at all it was a long day but i has been fun. So as the title says Archibald the fox is our new friend. This fox has been hanging around the lodge sense we got out here. I saw him first 3 days ago right at dusk. Just so you know dusk happens right now at 1030 or so and that changes by about 7 mins a day. So Archibald "the fox" came running across the beach caring what i think was a fish. I was taking lots of photo's it was snowing and i thought that i got some good shots. Then yesterday after work we went fishing. There is one spot in the ice that is melted enoughf to fish in. It was a little scary we were fishing on ice next to a big melted spot that went down about 20ft. I put my hand in it for a little bit and let me tell you it was cold very cold. Non of us caught anything but we all had fun. We walked back and on our beach sat Archibald. It was very interesting watching him. He reminded me of my dog Yogi. He would run up and down the snow and rub on the snow. Then he would stop look around and run off again playing. The fox was not even sacred of us at all. I went back in the lodge and got my camera. Then i started walking back out to the rock beach. I aproched Archibald slowly, took some shots on the way. I got pretty close, hunched down and took some more photos. After a few minuet he started aproching me. I started just clicking away with my camera. I dont know how close he got because i was watching the whole thing though my lens. I think he must have only been 10ft away from me. I moving a little to get a better shot and he was off. It was all very exciting, and I got some really cool photos out of the deal. Well thats it for now im gonna try to put some photos on my blog now so wish me luck.

Its Snowing

Well its 10pm on wednesday the 21 and it is snowing. I talked to my mom today, i think that made her happy. I guess when i blogged about trying to cross the lake and not being able to make it. Then saying we were gonna try again the next day and i did not blog for 3 days it made her think i was on the bottom of the lake. So i guess ill try to keep up on this better. So today was fun my wife made spaghetti and meatballs i think because i said it sounded good and she is amazing like that. Micah and I worked on a few different things today. I think that is one of the things i like about here the most. I never find my self doing the same thing very often at least. I think it will change later this summer but for now i will enjoy it. I have been doing lots of things up here from the normal chores like getting water and keeping the fire going. To picking up rocks along the beach to move to the muddy road. Right now we are all kinda stuck on this side of the lake. Until the water melts or we get a real cold snap. I for one am hoping for the melting not that i don't like the cold. In fact i think i would rather have cold the hot, but i want to do some fishing. I have been thinking about making my own tip-ups. For anyone who dose not know what this is. It is a winter fishing device you leave in the ice with bate and check for fish when a little orange flag is up. So any way i want it to melt so i can fish. I saw a fox today and Micah was telling us it is a mix. Part Arctic fox and part red the fox was a very dark fox. I took some photos and will try to figure out how to post them tomorrow for you barb:) It was very nice today when Tabbi showed me the comments you have all left. I feel a little better about this blog now. I was having a hard time when i thought i was just writing to no one. Well i think that is it for today. Until next time the generator is on and i have the energy to write farewell.