Photography Class

A net down at the harbor

So i am taking a photography class at the local college and here are some of my images from around Kodiak, i have been liking silhouttes lately and hence there are two of them here....Kodiak is definitely turning colors here!!! It's fall and getting a little colder and there's less time now to fish so fish here i come this weekend. Shanna is going on a womens retreat so that should be fun!!

A old truck do you see the boat?

A old fisherman at the Harbor

This kid was doing something romantic to his girl and i liked it!

Labor Day trek!!

So the reason why it is all pictures on the top is because the website has changed and i don't like it so i am not going to drop them allt he way down it s time consuming and not worth it so sorry

So waqqaaa!! um it's spelled wrong and it means hi in Yupik which I am not of any descent but of inupiaq nothing against Yupiks but there is a difference. Anyways I know i been slacking but my life has been busy and so have we!!

Shanna took off up to Anchorage before labor day for a weeks worth of training and so that enabled me to eat on my own and live in our quiet house :) anyways we decided with the extra day off for labor day we decided to go on our trek across Alaska!! So on Friday I was able to leave work early and meet up with Shanna in Anchorage, and guess what we do first??? We went shopping!! My most unfavoritest thing to do!! We ran around to Costco, nordstroms, and every where else you could think even though I don't technically live in a village it still feels like it going to the big city or in our case the mainland :) Kodiak is by no means as expensive to live in compared to the villages but it still cost more then Anchorage does and they always don't have all the good stuff......Also with us being in Anchorage we went to go and eat at Moose's tooth, everyone who lives in Alaska knows that moose's is always packed all the time and fortunately we ran in to Kit, Greta and Megan Alvanna-stimple there and they had two seats open. We had a fab time sitting, chatting, reminscing and just plain ol talking as those three are a riot :) The good best thingthough was to go home and see my nephew Samuel Mecham aka. Bo Jangles !! He was happy to see us and was disappointed that the next day that we were already leaving :( he was like how come you only stayed with me one night, but we had other plans and the first on our agenda was to check out the state fair and it didn't matter what the weather was. Of course it rained!! The state fair was well the state fair!! We didn'tgo on any rides but checked out all the food booths and walked around to see all the deals that were to be had, we also met up with our friend Ashlee who used to live here in Kodiak but has since moved away and was working out at the fair at the pampered chef area.....We stayed as long as the rain would permit us to and we also signed up at the Alaska spice booth for a free spice kit and they emailed me at work and said congrats you won!! I never win anythign so it was a big and great suprise as they have a great product!!

But we had to leave in order to start our drive to Valdez which is basically driving up norththen driving south as there are glaciers and mountains that we had to go around!! The drive was beautiful as we got to see glaciers, the different colors of fall and the beauty that Alaska entails!! The drive is basically a 5 hour drive or 6 depending on how fast you go well we unfortunately stayed longer at the fair then we should have and got their when it was dark. We got there and walked the piers and to my suprise they catch their silversbetween the docks and they are allowed to snag and everyone during the day time is trolling for them right outside the city, like if it was Unalakleet it would be like in the slough weird but cool!!! but at night they were quite abit of people fishing out late...Well we decided to sleep in our awesome Dodge mini car forgot the name but it was probably the most uncomfortablest nights ever!! the seats foldeddown but they were very hard and everything!! Luckily morning came and we got to experience what was Valdez Alaska got to see the falls, the town, and everything that makes Valdez, we saw the pipeline which is Alaska's moneymaker which is pretty surreal as you don't think you would ever see it. But we couldn't lolly gag around as we were heading out on the ferry over to Whittier!!

The ferry was full!! Or to compacity and we had to be put onthe standby list which was kind of stressing because if we didn't make it on then we would have to had driven all the way around and we really wanted to see the gulf through the ferry system. Luckily we made it on and the Ferry is the definitely the way to go, for the way back to Anchorage the ferry they have cruises as it's a oversize catamarran !! Got to see the reef that joseph hazelwood hit that made the oil spill in the alaska, we saw more glaciers. It's a three hour ferry ride to whittier which isn't all that bad as it's quite comfortable ride over!!

We got to Whittier and it isn't exactly what i expected there really isn't much to Whittier as it's just a dock and some small stores and that's about it I thought i was going to be something cool but it really wasn't!! Sorry Whittier but you aren't on my list to go back and experience again, but the good thing is that we got to go through th tunnel of whittier and check out the girdwood area on the drive back!! We had one more night in Anchorage and ate with friends and played with Baby samuel again...all in all it was a great trip over and a good experience. Of all the years i have been living in Anchorage and Alaska I have never been to Valdez and know after being there i wish i had made it a point to go and fish and check it out...so if you haven't been there i would totally recommend going our route as it's a great drive!!

Last excerpt last week i was out fishing and got charged by a bear!! scary!! when i fish that area i now bring bear spray in case he wants to taste my meat!! Bad Bear

Olah

Genevieve my co-workers kid








To the left are some fisherman on the Olds, theres kings there but more humpies

Below: My dog running around

To the left are some pretty flowers with fisherman in the back

Below is Pasagshak which is a 45 minute truck drive but has lots of reds

Olah comi sta ok, that's not how you spell it but you get my point doncha? So Shanna finally made it back on Saturday after the weather finally got good but then the weather dropped back down on Monday and she was delayed to fly out late monday night. But while she attended the Kodiak outdoor womens thingie i tried my hand at fishing for reds and kings, the weather got really decent out and there were people out there fishing so there was just no luck for me, i tried my hardest but only caught dollies :) I did see a lot of people that i know out there, saw my co-worker Genevieve out there and it's always nice to go to Pasagshak as the drive might not be the best but just being in the outdoors is nice!! plus my dog knows how to swim now, i taught him the doggie paddle LOL at first he woudn't at all get close to the water now he tries to find a place to cross without having to get wet and then he dashes in.........so i find being out fishing is fun and here coming this weekend i am heading up to Nome to shoot my very first wedding!! My friend Erika and Tyler are getting married and i agreed to take the pictures for the wedding...yikes but it should be fun!! Then after i leave nome i am goign to go to Unalakleet for a week to fish and also pick berries!! So going home is always nice and i have been getting ready to go up there as buying some new fly tying material on which i think would work for silvers up there and need to tie a few tonight so i could be ready for those silvers. Anyways it will just be great being able to be up north again among my people and family!! So that is totally big catch!!

Today

So today is weird actually here the past couple of days it kind of reminds me of red dog because the weather is weird!!! Its been foggy and rainy which i guess resembles fall time but it's alaska i guess !! so below

So above is our friends Rachel and Matt and also we have a b-boy dancing which is cool since we hung out with them at the relay for life which happened here in Kodiak last week which raised a lot of money for Cancer and they are great people. As for the b-boy who didn't want to become a b-boy when you were a kid listening to salt and peppa and biggie!!!..and the rest is the reason why Shanna didn't make it in..the weather has been foggy but Spaulding loves being outside even if it's foggy out or rain :) But rain is the way to go when you live out in Kodiak which has been really great!! I love fishing and i love being outdoors...if you could live in the rain its a great place for someone to be, my job has been going good and have a good HR department that is cool...so that's Big catch!!

It's been forever!!

So sorry to say it's been forever since i had written on here and when i say forever it's literally forever :) but lets see the major changes in my life are I moved to Kodiak, we had a foster kid for 5 months, it rained, and rained and rained and rained LOL. But Kodiak has been a great place to live despite the rain due to the milder climate then up north. This winter i was like yes i definitely don't miss the -30 degre weather and could actually get used to this 30 degree weather in february :) but so far this summer has been pretty wet and when it does get nice here in Kodiak you definitely have to take an advantage over it because those are few and far between. When it's sunny out we drop what we are doing and run out and go on a nice hike or bike ride or go fishing!!

A red from Port lions
But the summer has been a sucessfully one for fishing!! Well lets start that over it started out unsuccessful because i found out pretty quick that red salmon don't bite and you have to get pretty good at something called flossing :) which is you get your line thorough the red salmon mouth and snag it in the mouth. Isn't that weird that reds don't bite? Kings, silvers and pinks do but reds refuse to do it. Are they really the snobs of fish, i guess they could be the smart ones due to the fact that they know what we are casting to them isn't real and only go for the real thing :) So on top of that i have caught some reds, but not as much as i was out there, give me a break it's not like i wasn't putting forth the effort to catch these fish!! So our good friends the Narogs invited me to go over to Port lions with the Johnsons and fish for reds via gill net!! So it was a beautiful drive over as we saw whales and puffins and sea otters over there!! So get this the reds are smart too as they were jumping all over the place but they would go around the net and we only managed to catch 2 reds in two hours as hundreds were jumping around...luckily we saw some locals come out and kind of looped around the fish and caught a bunch so it was like purse seining with a gill net. so we did that the first time and caught like 70 in one haul and let me tell you it was fun but definitely tiring!! All in all that day we caught 190 reds over there and had a fun time cutting them up and used the coast guards vacuum sealing to get all of them done!! Lot's of work but hey our freezer is full of reds!! Yummy!!

This is the old bridge across port lions

Amanda Johnson holding a star fish we got in the net

This is the way to do a wrap around

So all in all we got a lot of reds and had a great time!!! So all in all we got a 190 reds and am thankful that our freezer is full!!! Now thats big catch :) so anyways i am going to try and update this blog every a couple of days as i been lacking in it and all of sudden got this urge to inform what's been going on and this is one of the many stories of the life and times of Sam and Shanna.

ahhhh...so long.

-Kodiak is greening.
-The fish are coming.
-My mighty fisherman is having bad luck.
-Andrea has left...not sure if she will come back for the school. Being a parent is stressful
-I'm working towards another marathon. Keeps changing from Anchorage in August to ??? to now maybe Fairbanks in September.
-Some family friends are coming to Kodiak in July. Can't wait. We are going bear viewing, on a fish charter and much more. The secret is a secret until next week, so I will share later. :)
-I did a 41 mile bike ride in the rain for a race on Memorial Day weekend. aghhhhh.....
-Sam has been busy building his photography portfolio...he busily takes photos for KANA (our job site), at a wedding (for a very small section maybe 1-1.5 hours max, but imagine like 500 or more pics!!)
-We are starting to develop some really good friends in Kodiak. I have a great pod of girls that I run with. Sam and I have some really great parent families that have taken us in too. It is great
-work is steady. I just resubmitted my two USPHS Commissioned Corps awards. Hopefully I get them this year! Much deserved but also much time and stress went into them.
-I'm growing a garden. The garden is half dead from slugs and then take this to the most extreme in context.."you can't plant those here in Kodiak!!!". Try having your garden die and someone tell you that! Boo!!!
-My water aerobics class that I teach is going well!
-I received my long awaited for promotion in the USPHS. I am now a LT. With comes pay increase, waahoo!!
-I'm going to Cancun this July iwth my mom and sister for a week. It is going to be so nice. Relaxation, sun, fun, and with my family.

Sam has posted some fun community pics on his snapfish acct. I have tried to attached the link here. I will get that posted.

Moose Meat and Homemade Blueberry Muffin

Grinding Moose Meat It finally snowed in Kodiak.

A steel salmon that Sam bought me b/c he knew how much I loved it at an auction. It is burned on its edges which actually makes it look blue.

Yummy Moose steaks and roast

Ahhh...Sunday morning was so wonderful. I woke up early feeling great, thinking...so early, should I shower first, or cut the moose meat or make the requested tundra bluberry muffins first? Regardless I had awoke before the rest of the house and I was going to enjoy all of it early this Sunday morning. I thought I might even have time to get some Giada's cooking show in UNTIL...I noticed the TV was telling me it was an hour later than I thought. Darn, we had forgot to change the clocks before we all went to bed Saturday night! :( Regardless the morning made me feel so domestic and like a very Alaskan gal.

Before we went to church Sunday morning, I cut a moose hind quarter, made homemade blueberry muffins and still made it in the shower. After church I made my mom's favorite recipe...Bierocks. I hear many names for these, but it is a square piece of bread dough then you take cooked hamburger, onions, and green cabbage and wrap it up in there and bake. Yum!!!

When we went to Nome a few weeks ago, it was quite sad. My best friend was supposed to get married but her groom got cold feet. It was a true nightmare that seemed like it should only happen in the movies. I was ready to leave Nome!!! Happily though while we were there our friend, Kris gave us the moose. We are so thankful and lucky. Thank you Kris. This weekend we cut it up and ground it into burger for the most part. It is so exciting to think that we finally have some really healthy meat in our freezer besides fish. We had moose steaks last night and YUM, YUM, YUM.