PIX and VIDEO

I took a bunch of pix last week and
posted them on my myspace...
and I just realized I never
posted them on my blog!!!
So here they are... plus a couple videos

June 16, 2009
I took Boss for a walk to the "flats"
and took some pics of some of the
flowers that are starting to bloom

Lupines


Salmonberry blooms... all those pink flowers
will be berries this fall

We just call these white flowers..
they usually come in May,
but have been showing up in mid-June lately

Chocolate lily - "Stinky flower"

Cotton flowers starting to grow in
the swamps down the "flats"

The swamp at the "flats"

We call these "blue bells"

Blueberry bushes

We call these "butter cups"

We call these "orchids"

The Simeon Michael Vincler Skiff Moorage

Looking into the SMV skiff moorage

Looking into the water at a bunch of minnows,
and some slime on the surface

Tweety bird out on a putchky

June 20, 2009

The Goose landing (recorded from my porch)

My dad cleaning the bottom of his boat..

Another view...

Spraying the barnacles off,
they are a little less than an inch long
and they stink!!

My dad pressure washing the barnacles off the
bottom of his boat the F/V Aleutian Vista

June 21, 2009
The Goose, I took this from the skiff
when we were going out to check the net.



The Following 4 pix are of town taken
when we were going to check the gill net.

Hope you liked my pix and videos!! :)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Well we decided to cut the lawn last night… so while I worked out on my Wii Fit, he was out mowing our yard and our neighbors. The lawn was dry and my hubby really wanted to get the grass cut before it got any longer, because we had taken steam bath I was in no mood to be standing outside so I worked out! I love my Wii Fit! I’m having so much fun working out and playing the games and watching my weight/BMI change and track it on the graph!

This morning is beautiful once again, calm with a high layer of fog but it is clear and dry. We let the pups out for their morning outing, they are so cute when they run and chase each other in the yard, running in big circles as fast as they can! After they did their thing, we put them inside and my hubby rode me down to the office.

My mom was a little late this morning, I guess my dad, uncle Darryl and my mom were all out at the boat last night during high tide – trying to get the boat back in the water and back on to the ramp so my dad can get to the other side of the boat’s bottom so he can clean and paint it. I guess my brother was nowhere to be found, so my mom went down to help. She told me they didn’t get done until around 4-5AM!! I’m surprised she made it in to the office this morning! I got all the charge slips entered into the book, then got some of the paperwork done up for our auditors. A couple people came up for cash this morning, and the plane was on schedule with the first flight.

For lunch I didn’t know what to get us from the store, so I picked up a can of Dinty Moore beef stew for my hubby and I figured I’d have some of the cereal I have at home. I get home and pour my Life cereal into the bowl, pour my milk over it and start to eat… after 4 bites I stopped… looked at my hubby (I’m starting to gag by now), and asked him to smell the milk and let me know if he thinks it smells sour or not. Because all I smell is the cereal I’m crunching on with this strange after taste of sour milk, next thing I know I can’t hold it down and start to gag and throw up into the garbage… it’s so hard to get that nasty sour taste off your tongue….. I tried to wash my mouth out, brush my teeth, but it just wouldn’t go away…. I ended up opening up a can of smoked oysters and having some of those with pilot bread crackers…. That milk totally ruined my lunch! I was burping up sour milk a couple hours later! Damn it… here my hubby told me that milk was good… uh huh!!

Well back down to the office. I am getting the rest of last month’s paperwork into the spreadsheets, and let the store manager know that she has to have the store order up to me by tomorrow so I can have it in to our vendors. We had a couple people for the hotel come in; we are now completely full at the moment. I went down to the Post Office to help Polly with some international mail, and then helped her with some paperwork. I checked my mail and noticed I got a letter in the mail from some guy… I was thinking… “Who the hell is this guy, and why is he writing to me?” I did not recognize his name, or the city he was from. So I opened it up to see note paper that has a puffin on it and the saying “Alaska’s Stud Puffin” I was like, WTF?? Read the letter…. Wow… pretty cool… so this guy wrote to me, because he found my blog… and I guess his wife used to work here in Akutan on the processor M/V Akutan back in 1983 (the year I was born). Well, she became friends with two locals who went to work on the boat (there were a lot more than 2 locals who worked on that processor)… and her husband was trying to help her find her friends! They are both still here (well one is out fishing for the summer), and to my surprise… they happen to be coming down on the ferry that should be here this weekend!! I thought that was pretty cool! Old friends reuniting after 26 years!!

There is going to be an elder’s potluck on Friday at the Corp building (where the Tribe office is located) held by Eastern Aleutian Tribes. There were a couple people who flew down (doctors and assistants), I was called and asked to bring something. I think I might bring some Orange-coconut Salmon filets with some of the fresh reds people are getting out of their nets. Not hard to bum a couple for that reason! I don’t know what else I’d like to make and bring….. Potato salad sounds easier... But salmon sounds better! I was also asked to help with the 4th of July activities… People know I know how to make pies… so I was asked if I can make a bunch of pies for the pie eating contest. I told Sandra that if she got everything I’d make it (flour, Crisco, pie filling, pie tins). I’d defiantly make the pies this year! For the longest I’ve known I’ve always done the eating contests, and won almost every time!! But now that I’ve been watching what I eat and how much… I don’t compete in the eating contests anymore; I have stepped down from the competition! LOL… I just sit back and watch everyone now!

Well my hubby decided that he wanted to cook steam bath again, so I have that to look forward to after work. I went to the store and got us everything to have BBQ cheese burgers! Our second flight didn’t come in until around 6:30 or so, then another flight came in around 7:30 (I heard it was a charter for Trident). I worked out on my Wii Fit again for just over an hour according to my “time bank.” But I was on it for officially a little over 2 hours. I make sure to do all the yoga workouts, then I do all the strength workouts, then I do some stepping, hula hooping, some of the balance games, then finish with the longest jog they have. The first day I did it in 10 mins, the second day I did it in 9, today it took me 11 mins. I don’t know I need to find a way to hold the Wii remote better so it can keep track of my pace better!! After I got done working out, we got the BBQ grill fired up and finished cooking around 9:40PM! Late dinner, that’s ok!

Well today was a pretty good day!! Until tomorrow, TTFN!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Tiny Robin!!

Well today is a pretty nice day! I made some chocolate ice cream last night and put some away in one of my Tupperware containers to bring down to my in-laws this morning. The weather is pretty cool out, high 40’s. The sky is overcast but it’s clear out. There is a slight fog trying to precipitate across the bay, but its looks pretty dry out. We let the pups out to do their thing, I had to go chasing Dante as he was trying to “kill” a Trident employee, running down the boardwalk towards the guy. I was pissed that he wasn’t listening and I had to go chasing after him. I’ve been trying to “trust” him and take him out without a leash… that’s what I get for that! Here I don’t need to be running, my damn legs are sore from clocking in so much time on my Wii Fit!! So we put the dogs in then headed down to the office.

This morning was busy but quiet. We had our usual employees come drop off all their time cards, and then most of them showed up just before lunch to pick up the checks. My mom had the charge slips entered in for the day. I had a couple little projects that I had to finish up. We have the store order to price up, we had a freighter leave Seattle on Friday. I have to get the new order done up and sent in to our vendors before Wednesday. Lunch time rolled around pretty quick!!

We ended up going to the café for the usual again. I have to stop eating there, I’m going to put on weight eating fries all the time!!

Got back down to the office this afternoon, went to the Post Office and picked up all the Corp mail. We got some more ink for the printers, yay! I need to get a small office order done up here soon too…. I let Polly know I’ll be back down later to work on paperwork and to transfer some of the stamps from my till to her till so she can have stamps instead of depending on the meter.

This afternoon was a little more active, people wise. I had about 6 people come up to cash their checks, out of those 6 - 5 of them put money on their store accounts. I had a couple calls for the hotel, mostly people canceling reservations or changing their dates (pushing their check in date to a later date, and then staying longer). I also got a call from our City Admin asking for hotel rates for one of the projects they have going, I think she said it was for the boat harbor we’re supposed to be getting a head of the bay. Companies getting ready to put their bids in on getting the project done, so they need hotel rates. Was really good to talk with her! I met her at the APICDA community conference, I saw her before once here in Akutan but wasn’t aware of who she was. So far I think Susan is doing a great job and I love how well she gets along with everyone! It’s always great to have someone who has great people skills!

I went down to the PO and got all the paperwork and deposits done up and ready to go out, then transferred most of my stamps to Polly’s till since she’s working more than I’ve been. Lorraine, our CHA (community health aide) called me and let me know that they are having their elder’s potluck this Friday and they would not only like to invite me to come, but they wanted to know if I could donate any kind of food. I told them yes! I always love sharing food with everyone… maybe I’ll make potato salad… or maybe I can make a homemade ice cream cake… hmmm… or grab a fresh salmon and make a fish pie…. I’ll have to figure out what I’m bringing before Thursday rolls around….

Well I got us everything for pork chops tonight… my work day was pretty good, seemed like time flew by today!! I can’t wait to maybe to clock in at least 30 mins on my Wii Fit tonight!! I need to go see what kind of tarps we have down at the store and get a small one for my fish dry rack so I can get some fish started up next time anyone gets any and I can bum for some!

Oh I have some pictures to post and maybe a video when I remember to bring my camera and put everything on the computer! Then whenever blogger lets me upload them… maybe I’ll do that tomorrow… our first scheduled flight made it in today just before lunch hour, they brought over a small amount of mail on each plane and like 6 passengers. Polly got all the outgoing mail in the Post Office out on the flights today! We should be getting our second flight late tonight, sometime after 5:30 or so. I think we have a couple people for the hotel coming in too… so hopefully my mom checks them in so I don’t have to run down to the office… she lives closer!

Ok well until tomorrow, TTFN!

Saturday and Sunday, June 20 & 21, 2009

Well sorry about this weekend’s blog. I’m having problems with my internet at home…

This weekend was pretty good. On Saturday we didn’t really do much. The weather was pretty nice, with some showers. A couple flights made it in and there was some mail on all of them. My Wii Fit came in today!! I am hooked I love working out on it! I love doing the Hula Hoops and the steps, all the yoga and strength workouts, and the running, all of them are super fun, especially the balance games! I clocked in about 4 hours total (about 2hrs 45 mins working out according to my “time bank”). I love how it tracks your BMI and lets you set a goal weight that you would like to get to. I weighted myself on it when I started, then weighted myself again when I was done… I lost 1.8lbs!! Probably mostly water from sweating! I am going to be sore tomorrow for sure… I thought it was funny that the game was telling me that I was going to feel it tomorrow!

We went down to the flats and picked some putchky’s for dinner to have with seal oil and dry fish. It really started to rain by the time we were ready to go home.

My father-in-law Demetri and my little bro-in-law Tom went over to Dutch Harbor and the plane didn’t come back... so I got a hold of him and asked if he could pick me up some cream and half/half so I can make some ice cream. He said he didn’t see any cream over at the “store that shall not be named” but they had half and half… so I had him pick me up 4 quarts. They should be back on the first plane tomorrow. Yay… can finally make some ice cream!

Sunday was Father’s day. The weather was pretty nice, calm with the usual fog. We went out and checked the net this morning, had 6 fish in there, they look like they were from last one. Only one was fresh so we cut the heart area to bleed the fish out, the rest were already stiff…. The net was coating in a slimy coating of kelp and whatever else. So we tried to make sure to clean parts of the net off before going back home. We brought Tug out with us, he loves going out in the skiff!

The plane made their usual 2 scheduled flights today. My father-in-law came in on the first flight, I was happy and picked up my half and half to make some ice cream! I saw my dad down on the plane ramp with his boat pulled up and he was cleaning all the barnacles off the bottom of the boat with the Fisheries Pressure Washer that we rent out (well that the Akutan Fisheries Association rents out). After he gets it cleaned off my dad said he’s going to paint it a nice blue. I wished my dad Happy Father’s day, then saw my father-in-law getting off the plane so I said Happy Father’s day to him and all the rest of the dad’s that were down at the plane. Then we headed home. My hubby’s mom wanted the fish so she can make dry fish. I need to get started on making my dry fish and get some fish salted and start getting stuff done up before we leave to one of the wedding’s we are planning on attending this year…

My hubby decided that he was going to cook bath today! I stayed home and worked out for 1 hr 46 min according to my “time bank” but I was officially on my Wii for 2hr 52min. I know I’m going to be sore tomorrow, I was already kind of sore before I started to work out! Bath is going to feel really, really good!

I made us a French onion soup for dinner. It made my house smell really good… well like cooked onions. Then after dinner, my hubby jumped on my Wii Fit and I made some chocolate ice cream. It turned out really, really good. I will take some down to my in-laws tomorrow and share since they got me the half and half!!

Well we had a great weekend! I hope everyone else did too…. I just hope it starts to warm up so we can get a nice summer here instead of cold and foggy! So until Monday, TTFN!

Friday, June 19, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA DIANE!!!

Burr, woke up to another cool 40+ morning, dry with a little wind. We let the dogs out, Dante shivered the whole time! We let them back in then went down to take care of Boss, then I went to the office.My mom informed me that the meeting went really great last night! She has another meeting to go to today, for the Tribe. She had gotten the charge slips entered in the book and went over my paperwork from yesterday. She let me know that it came out good. Our auditors want both of us doing counts and signing the daily sheets. Just like how I have to check our store manager’s daily paperwork, I need someone to oversee my paperwork. So my mom will start doing that first thing in the morning when she gets in. My hubby picked some flowers for me (some of the white flower and orchids that grow on the island) and put them in a cup of water for me on my desk. I love how they smell!

Today is pizza day at the café, and Lisa was sweet enough to make Hawaiian pizza, finally!!! Everything they had pizza over the last 2 years I’ve been asking for Hawaiian and they never have it… and I get disappointed and just deal with a slice of pepperoni... but this time she told me she’s making me Hawaiian! I got all excited and went to the café for lunch! My hubby got 2 slices of pepperoni (he’ll pay for it and have heartburn later), and I got 2 slices of Hawaiian!

Back at the office this afternoon and it was pretty quiet once again. My mom is in the Tribal meeting, and the store sounds really quiet. I have those quarters to count up so that’s something to do. My hubby let me know that he’s finished shampooing all the carpets in our hotel rooms. He said a couple of the rooms were pretty dirty… I told him now that he’s done he can get up here in the office done up really quick if he’d like too. We are going to store the carpet shampooer up here in the office, it will only be for hotel use and not be used as a rental. I heard some people heard we got one and was asking the rental rates on it… Sorry this is for hotel and office use only.

My hubby decided that he was going to cook steam bath again today. I told him that if the wind dies down a bit I would like to cut our lawn again. Around 2:30 we actually had our first flight come in, it’s a bit windy and I’m a little surprised they came in this weather… I heard Trident on the VHF radio saying they have 6 passengers coming in… wonder if they are bringing mail. Only thing I’m waiting for now is my Wii Fit! I am pretty excited to get that in! I’ve been loving my ice cream maker (although I’ve been using it as a sorbet maker since I have no cream) since I got it in! I made a couple different batches so far!

Darn I think I need to go find out who has nets out and go bum for fish because we got 2 the other night from my in-laws and we froze those whole… I really need to get on the ball and get everything I need – like my buckets and a new tarp. I need to clean my freezers out and give away some of my dry fish so I have room for this years. I always put a good amount of dry fish away for the winter! No one seems to ask me for any, and all I use it for is to eat on or to trade for other subsistence foods like seal oil, blubber or flipper. I’m happy that I know I don’t have to ever bum for dry fish… most people have the other stuff and no dry fish… I always have dry fish and nothing to go with it! I’m scared to make the seal oil/blubber myself… I don’t want to food poison us… even though there’s not much too it I’m just scared to do it on my own… although I guess one day I’m going to have to be the one to get it done… I’m kind of sad that no one ever made it back out to Akun head to pick sea gull eggs… it’s been over a week now… for sure the eggs that are out there have chicks in them by now…

I’ve been talking with my hubby about us maybe getting chickens… or those one ducks that are like mallards but are too big to fly (rouens) and building a little coop like thing and getting some fencing and putting it in the back yard (since we don’t use our backyard since it’s mostly just dirt then the hill). Having chickens was pretty cool when I was younger… plus fresh eggs sounds good to me! I told my hubby we can sell our chickens as food too and just get more chicks! If people around here would like to have fresh chicken and eggs. I know it’s a big responsibility to take on and chicken feed isn’t cheap. But then again, dog food, bird seed and supplies, fish food and supplies aren’t cheap either. No pet is really considered cheap… and all pets carry a responsibility with them. So we’ll see what we actually do… it might just be a little dream we’d like to have… if I do get chickens I want brown egg layers: like barred Plymouth rocks, Rhode island reds, black australorps, and araucana’s… never know maybe just one day we’ll have them clucking and crowing (if we get a rooster) in the backyard!

Well today wasn’t too bad a day for a Friday.. We ended up having a couple more flights come in… I guess it’s not too windy for them to come in today. The temps are staying at about 48F, staying cloudy all day. I am looking forward to steam bath after work. For dinner I got us cream of mushroom soup to have over toast… I couldn’t find anything else to sounded/looked good and I don’t really feel like going all out on cooking today… something quick and simple! Might grab my parent’s lawn mower after steam bath and cut our yard again. Good to keep up on it so it stays looking great!

Well I hope everyone had a great Friday and an even better weekend!! Until tomorrow, TTFN!!

June 18, 2009

Well today is pretty calm, a slight breeze from the south, a good layer of fog but clear and you can see Akun. Maybe the plane will come in today. The temps have only been in the low to mid 40’s the past couple days… waiting for it to warm up, it’s been a pretty cold summer so far. We took the pups out for their walk, went back inside and got ready for the day.

I got down to the office and started to help my mom with some of the meeting stuff she’s getting ready for this afternoon’s meeting. This morning was pretty uneventful. The plane actually came in, our first flight was here at 11:45! We had one of our guests we’ve been waiting for come in for the hotel. The other person didn’t come in, so I called their contact number and I was told that they were supposed to have called me to cancel their reservations with us. So I took care of that in our books and let other people know we had an opening.

For lunch we went to the café, I had my usual, French Dip! My hubby decided on chicken nuggets. Not many people at the café today at lunch, although we noticed a lot of to go orders.

Back at the office this afternoon, I was by myself since my mom and all the board members were down at City chambers having their meeting. I was waiting for an important email to come in. Once I received it I printed it and ran down to hand deliver it to their meeting. On my way back to the office I stopped at our laundry mat and emptied all the quarters out of the machines. When I get the time I’ll count all the coins and then take the amount needed to fill the change machine back up.

I went down to the Post Office and got more paperwork done and caught up with, now just have to get today’s done up tomorrow… or get both today and tomorrow done on Saturday… We ended up getting like 6-7 flights today, mostly people for Trident. I pray that none of them brought the Swine Flu with them, but knowing that they are coming from all over the world who knows what they might be bringing with them… we got a small amount of mail throughout the day, then on the last flight around 7:20PM I heard there was a pretty good amount of mail.

The Corp meeting wasn’t done with by the time the end of the day came around. So I did up all the paperwork from the store and the office, closed up and headed home. I didn’t know what to get for dinner so I got us Lucky Charms… my hubby was thinking about going to the café again, but I don’t know what to get… I already had a French dip today! After work I noticed my hubby pulled out the new “space saver” over the toilet cabinet thing we picked up in Anchorage. While he was out walking Boss, I was at home organizing and inventorying all the parts. Once I knew it was all there I started to work on putting the thing together! My hubby walked in on me and kind of laughed at me and asked me what I was doing? I just said “what’s it look like?” LOL… so he came and helped me finish it up. It was a very fun filled hour we spent together. I love projects that get the both of us to work together! I love being around my hubby and doing stuff with him! After we finished we stopped and looked at our work, then I started to fill it up with all my stuff! The bright white finish makes our bathroom look like it needs to get a coat of paint! I have paint… a light, light green and a light, light blue… we were thinking the green in the bathroom. We have the blue in the hallways and in the bedrooms. Depending on if the weatherization project is starting and what they are going to do, I wanted to paint the exterior of our house… but the wood isn’t in the best condition. Those houses were built after the school was finished back in 1994, then moved into early 1995. I would remember because we did our first school “video yearbook” that year! And we did an interview on the crew that was finishing the houses up before they got moved into! We also got our hydro electric plant installed then too! So that house is at least 14 years old by now… and you can tell a bit on certain things… so hopefully they get everything fixed up this summer (well that’s the plan I heard).

Well for dinner my hubby decided he wanted to eat at the café instead of having cereal… so he got a Mongolian beef and I got a shrimp fried rice… I didn’t know what else to get so I figured something we can both split would be good!

Well until tomorrow, TTFN!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Well woke up to a calm morning, but it’s foggy out… my hubby is feeling sick; he’s been up all night and most the morning throwing up. He thinks he might have food poisoning or something but we both ate the same thing (hot dogs) and I feel good... Guess he isn’t going to go fishing today. I took our pups out for their morning walk, then let them inside and headed down to take care of Boss then go to work.

My mom get’s the charge slips into the book before I got in, again… Nothing much going on in the office this morning… a couple people came up for cash… the phone rang a couple times: mostly people making hotel reservations. I got some paper work into the computer, then worked on some spreadsheets I’m making… trying to get our daily sheet on the computer then we can print a copy for our files, instead of it all hand written on a sheet… that way when it comes to end of the month I have it all on the computer already because we’re doing it daily! Oh, we got confirmation from Eastern Aleutian Tribes (EAT) – who run our health care out this way- that the H1N1 “swine flu” virus has been confirmed in a person from King Cover, AK. Not too much farther up the peninsula (North) from here… With how many transient processors we have working in these areas; I’m not that surprised that it’s getting closer to “home”. Just have to be safe and sanitary, wash your hands, and cover your coughs and sneeze.

For lunch today we decided on some of the Banquet chicken tenders we got from the store the other day. We have to cook up that halibut tonight, we didn’t skin it yet, just filleted it and put it in the fridge… Thinking I might wrap pieces of halibut in bacon and BBQ it… with BBQ sauce! I need to go get my C.O.D.s (cash on delivery) from Wal-Mart out of the Post Office so I can get our new grill I sent down. I love how some of the bigger stores in Anchorage offer a “Bush Mail Service”. Where we can shop in their stores (like Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer), and we fill out a COD form, and they will ring up, package and mail it to your local Post Office. Then you go down with either cash or a check and go pay for it, and you get your stuff! I used to use this service a lot, but now since postage rates are an arm and a leg I only order/buy stuff I really need (I’m am impulsive buyer…. So half the time I send home stuff I didn’t really need to get in the first place!).

I got back down to the office, and it was pretty quiet most the afternoon. Eva got a store order ready for me, but I told her she’s a week early for the order… we have an order leaving this Friday and we need to know what didn’t get shipped before I can send out our next order. That and I don’t want them to be ordering anything that we have coming in next week… our storage area isn’t that big, so we can’t have too much inventory on our hands. So she said she’ll wait and bring it back to me next week… lol!

I went down to the Post Office and got the rest of the paperwork caught up and got the Registered mail all packaged up and ready to go out if the plane tries. The weather don’t seem too bad, it’s nice and sunny here in the harbor, but once you look out towards the pass it’s all dark and covered in fog... still not going to stop us from hoping for the plane! After getting the paperwork done, I paid for my COD’s and my hubby came and picked them up. He told me that he was thinking about cooking steam bath today too! That sounds like something to look forward to after work!

Well not a bad day at the office! I feel good knowing that I got all the bank reconciliation done and I can’t wait to let our auditor’s know! They told me that if I got it all done that would make their job easier and they wouldn’t have to work as long (saving us money).

After work I went to steam bath! A nice and relaxing 155F without “throwing” water on the rocks… my hubby asked me if I was crazy as he got on the lower benches and I was on the high bench just taking in all the heat… I don’t know what the temp of the steam is… but it’s so hot it makes your ears feel like they are being cooked! Sometimes it’s so hot that your body doesn’t really know what to do and you get cold chills and all your hairs stand up! About 45 mins later (and 3-4 cooling sessions), I finally started to make my way home for the day.

Around 7:30PM I got our grill prepped, started and pre-heated – skinned the halibut, cut it up, then wrapped pieces in 2 kinds of bacon, then proceeded to the hot grill! An hour later I was finally finishing up all the bacon wrapped goodies, generously coated in BBQ sauce. We indulged ourselves in the great smoky flavor of the perfectly cooked pieces of goodness! We called my hubby’s parents to come up and grab the plateful we still had left. I didn’t want to waste it! We also gave them a fillet of halibut (raw) so they can cook it up any way they want to! I love halibut fish pie, deep fried halibut, halibut chowder, baked, BBQ-ed, in burgers and tacos … I feel like that Bubba guy from the movie Forest Gump – talking about how many ways to do shrimp! LOL!

Well today was a great day! Until tomorrow, TTFN!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY PAMMY JO!! LUV YA!

Woke up to the phone ringing…. So we decided to let the answering machine get it… after hearing who it was we tried to pick up but they hung up already… so we got up and walked the dogs…. About 15 mins later the phone rang again, so we answered it. It was one of our friends we grew up with, Ray, asking if my hubby wanted to go out fishing with him (jigging for cod, but with hydraulic jigging machines). My hubby decided why not and got ready to go out with him for the day. The weather doesn’t seem too bad, a little foggy out towards the pass, but looks like it might clear up in the bay! It’s partly cloudy and it looks like the sun might come out… I made my hubby a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, packed him a bag of chips and a couple cans of Pepsi. I should have thought about making him tea earlier… but I didn’t think about it until I got to the office…..

I went down and dropped my hubby off down at the skiff (at the boat harbor), picked up Boss and took him for a walk. I noticed my hubby and Ray heading out the bay in Ray’s skiff. After walking Boss I put him on his line and headed to work. I noticed that my mom got all the charge slips entered in for the day. Since she helped me yesterday with some of the bank reconciliation, I am moving along pretty quickly! Hopefully have our general account finished up by end of the day! Pretty quiet morning in the office, the phone barely rang and no one coming by for cash… maybe this afternoon I’ll see someone other than my mom and Eva…

For lunch I went home and had a can of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and meat balls… then I decided to make a mixed berry sorbet (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries – the frozen kind), it turned out really good! I need to get some cream so I can make some ice cream! I don’t want to just use milk…. I can make a buttermilk ice cream…. Hmmm…. I still want some cream, and I wouldn’t mind some half and half… I’ll see what I can do for now…

Got back down to the office, and it took me most the day, but I finished all the bank reconciliation work on our general account, yay! Feels good to know I have all that done and caught up to our newest bank statements. I had a couple people come up for cash, and had some people call and make reservations for the hotel. I went down to the Post Office and got caught up with all the paperwork, then put it all into the computer. After I was done with that, I grabbed all the cash and took it to the Corp Office so I can turn it in for 4 checks, we usually buy cash from the Post Office and the bar. So much better when the cash stays in town and just circulates… instead of us having to pick up cash all the time!

I went to the store and got everything for hot dogs tonight… I’m not sure what time my hubby is going to be home from fishing… the weather at 4:30 is getting just beautiful out! There is a slight breeze but the sun is shining, and it feels pretty warms out! Can’t wait to get off work and go walk all the pups!

First I walked Boss, let him do his thing… we usually take a “walk” down to the flats and back to Charlie’s (Boss’ owner)… Boss runs and I ride the 4-wheeler!! After taking Boss home and putting him out on his tie out line, I gave him some food and water… then I went home and walked my dogs… I usually just play with them in our yard, since Tug can just chase a ball and the little guys run around. By now it’s about quarter after 6, and I hear nothing from my hubby yet… so I went inside and watched some TV. By quarter to 8 my hubby texted me that they were going to offload their catch at Trident and they should be back at the dock in a little bit… finally I was thinking… but hey, that’s the life of a fisherman… I should know… I’m a fisherman’s daughter! I know how long my dad and brother would go out for… They would leave around the break of dawn usually and be back late in the day, since we have daylight for so long up here… Right now the sun is still up and shining well past midnight, it’s so hard to go to sleep at night when it’s still daylight out!! So after his text message, I went down grabbed Boss and took him for a walk down to the flats really quick. I picked some “putch-keys” and grabbed some for my hubby, then started to head down to the boat harbor. I decided I’d put Boss away before heading down, he’s old and I don’t need to over-run him! So I gave him some water and put him on his line, we’ll put him inside when we drive back by.

By this time it’s about quarter after 8 and I was waiting down the boat harbor for them to tie the skiff up, clean up a bit then head home. I noticed my hubby saved a small halibut that he caught, he figured he’d bring it in since we didn’t have any fresh halibut yet this year! I think I’ll make chowder tomorrow… that or pan fry it and make burgers… so many possibilities!!! We jumped on the bike and drove home, stopping to put Boss in for the night and make sure he had some food… then we went home and my hubby cleaned the halibut (it’s about 35-40lbs) he brought home. I went inside and started the hot dogs I had thawed out and ready. I think he’s supposed to go out tomorrow if the weather is nice enough…

We didn't get any planes today... guess there was either fog inbetween or it was foggy in Dutch because it was beautiful and nice out here!!

Well today was a pretty good day! So until tomorrow, TTFN!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Well woke up to another slightly foggy, slightly breezy morning, but at least it’s dry out! Doesn’t look like the sun will come out today, but it sure does feel and look like it wants to rain! We let the dogs out and played with them for a bit before putting them away and heading down to work.

A typical busy Monday, this morning I showed my hubby how to work the new carpet cleaner that we picked up for the hotel. He’s going to go break in our new shampooer! We figured that since the Corp put all new carpets in the hotel rooms that we may as well try to take the best care for them other than just vacuuming them after each guest’s stay. So once a month or so he’s planning on getting all the carpets cleaned up (depending on how much the rooms are being used that month). I noticed that my mom already had the charge slips entered from the day before. She was helping me with finding some of the info I needed so I can finish reconciling our general account. After she gave me the info I needed I started to whip thru a couple months before end of the day came around. I didn’t really do much but the bank rec. work and help my mom organize the incoming bills. I had a couple people come up to cash their checks, but other than that didn’t really see anyone… My mom got payroll done just before lunch time, so we'll give out the checks when we get back from lunch hour.

It started to sprinkle and it feels cold in the low 40’s…. My mom and mother-in-law were joking around this morning (I think they might have been serious though…) about going out to pick sea gull eggs this morning. I guess my father-in-law said he just looked at them and said “crazy women, it’s blowing like 30 out there!” My mom said they looked at each other and started to laugh! What were they thinking?? This weather isn’t nice for picking eggs!! They would probably break before getting back because of the high seas!! Not to mention how dangerous that would be with the wind and the rain!

Well we had grilled cheese for lunch, for dinner we decided to eat at the café once again! My hubby went for a chicken burger with no cheese. I missed having French Dips… so that’s what I had, with cheese on everything!!! One of the only things that sucks is that I’m trying to watch my weight!! Sometimes, I pig out then I feel all guilty afterwards because I’m trying to watch my weight, but it never used to be like that… I’d always eat whatever I wanted, in any amount when I wanted… and I for sure noticed when the scale hit 216!!! So I tried to change my whole routine, how I eat, how much I eat and especially what I’m eating, then trying to make sure I get some kind of a work out thru out the day, then a serious 30-50 min workout 2-3 days a week. So far I am down to 161.4 this morning! I hope to be able to drop another 20-25lbs and I’d be happy! As long as I can get myself within a healthy BMI I’ll be happy, I am really enjoying how I look and it’s hard for me to go shopping because I still see myself as that Large sized girl… when in reality Med size clothes are starting to have a good amount of room in them!! I would have never thought that I would ever fit a size small… I’m not a small sized person!!! Like I ordered this super cute dress to wear at one of my BFF’s wedding’s, and I ordered it in my dress size… right… well it comes in… and I put it on and LOVE how it fits and how it looks… then I notice that the tag said it was a size small… I looked at my hubby and said I would have never thought that I could fit something in that size if I was looking at it in a store!! Happy I went with my dress size number instead of the usual sizes of small, med, large!!

No planes today... too foggy and windy out! My mom called me and let me know that she was given 6 fish from Joe and Lorraine Loyd, I guess they got around 60-70 red salmon in their gill net last night and they were trying pass some out to everyone in town... I'm waiting to get like 15-20 of them so I can start to dry them.... I don't want to dry only 2-4 fish at a time until I have enough.. I like them to all be hanging up within the same time period so I don't have to keep track of when each fish started to dry so I know when to take it down! Not putting a little up here, then a couple the next day.. and so on until I have enough on my rack.. I need to clean my buckets out so I can get some fish salted.... I need someone to help me make a smoker and how to make bring and how long to brine it so I can smoke salmon... I also want to be able to can fish this year in jars... so I have to get us a pressure cooker sometime too!! Eventually need to go to our store and pick out a new tarp for our fish drying rack (the one we had last year has a big hold in it from pulling it out of storage... opps...). Hopefully the fish start to hit my hubby's parent's net here soon so we can get some fish... I don't like bumming from other people, but I will if I have to!!

Well, until tomorrow, TTFN!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Well today is officially Flag Day. It's a bit foggy and windy with a little rain once and a while. We slept in then took all the pups out for a walk.

Didn't really do much today but sit around and lounge in the house with the pups and my hubby! Nice relaxing day to do nothing! I did make a batch of salmonberry sorbet though! I need to get a strainer and strain the seeds out next time.... I swore I only got a mouth full of seeds in every bite! I am going to make a strawberry sorbet tomorrow!!! I ran out of lemon juice and had to bum some from my mom (my hubby went and picked it up for me!)

We got one scheduled flight but the second afternoon flight didn't come back in because I think it got too windy out, a good Southeastern wind blowing outside. Temps in the low 50's-high 40's.

Well until tomorrow, TTFN! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Felt good to sleep in! Woke up around 11:30AM, I took out dogs out while my hubby ran down to take care of boss. We decided to cook late steam bath last night, we got out around 10:30PM. Took Boss out for a walk then put him away for the night, so he should be good.

We didn’t really do much today, we went to the café and I had an egg flower soup and my hubby had Mongolian beef (I had a couple bites of his!). We didn’t make anything for dinner last night because after we got done doing our yard work the café was closed and I forgot to get my salad…. So no tacos last night, so we’re having them tonight after bath (late, late dinner!).

The barge came in so we headed up there to say hello to the guys and give them some sea gull egg pie. I know the captain that is on there right now has been asking for a couple years now when the sea gulls are going to be laying, his was home last year when they were laying, this year he’s up here! So I made sure to stop by and bring them all a piece!

I also went down to the Post Office and got the rest of the paperwork into the computer, so we’re all caught up and just have to get today’s paperwork into the computer on Monday! We got a lot of planes today, not sure what they are bringing in but they brought some mail. I got my ice cream maker in!!! Yay!! So tomorrow I plan on making some salmonberry sorbet! I need to get cream and half/half in order to make ice cream (we don’t have that at our store….)….. So whenever I can get some of that I’ll make some home-made ice cream!

Once the weather clears up and gives us calm seas again, I hope someone makes it back out to harvest the sea gull eggs… it’s been a couple days so the nests should all have and egg or two by now! I know a lot of people want sea gull eggs because I kept getting calls for some. I only saved us a dozen, then handed the rest out to my neighbors, then gave about 10 to my parents. They didn’t last long! So hopefully someone goes out and gets more soon!

I’m waiting for the fish to start hitting the nets in good numbers so I can bum for some from whoever has a net out so I can start putting fish away. I need to get my buckets cleaned up and ready for salting fillets. I have to get a new tarp for my dry fish rack, clean off all my hanging sticks, and then hope for fish! I can dry up to 5-6 fish on a stick and I can fit about 10-12 sticks on my dry rack, but I don’t like to do more than 30 at a time because cleaning the fly eggs off them takes so long! Yes, the flys lay their eggs on the fish, but if you keep up on a cleaning schedule (I like to clean them twice a day), you can get the eggs off before they hatch into maggots… I hate dealing with maggots… if they hatch I usually throw that piece away… no use keeping it if it’s being “spoiled” from the hatchlings… and you can tell if they are in the fish when they are almost finished drying, I like to hang them in my “back room” (furnace room, the warmest room in the house) and have them finish drying. Dry fish shouldn’t have a smell to them, but a slight fish smell (not much). But if they have this sweet stink (any kind of smell) you know there is a maggot living in one of the fish somewhere. So we would have to go thru all the fish doing a “sniff” test to see if we can smell where it is. Once we find it we will cut it out and throw that piece away! Once they finish drying I like to put them in paper bags and freeze them right away. There are a lot of people here who like to mold their dry fish before eating it. I prefer mine not molded! I can’t wait!!

Ok well until tomorrow, TTFN!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Well woke up to another beautiful clear calm morning. The boardwalk is dry but the grass and ground is soaked in the morning dew. Feels good to be able to sleep in a bit and not worry about having to get down to the office right away! I love when my mom is home and I don’t have to go to work that 1 hour earlier! We went out and walked the dogs, Dante didn’t like his feet getting wet as soon as he got off the boardwalk! LOL, funny pup! We gave them treats then put them away so I can go to work.

I got down to the office and my mom had already gotten the charge slips entered from yesterday. She was going over all my work since she’s been gone, someone has to check over it all other than me since I was the only one who was in the office. So after going thru the paperwork with my mom with no problems I went to getting the rest of our accounts reconciled. I was stuck on a part on our General account but I just had to wait for my mom to come home to get the info I needed so I can keep going. I cashed a lot of people’s checks this morning!! I had my mom pick up cash since she was stuck in Dutch! So everyone is happy now knowing they can cash their checks!

YAY, I’m happy the café is open once again!! Welcome back Lisa and Duy!!! Missed you guys, not only your cooking but your company! It’s really good to have you guys back! I had my usual for lunch!! French dip!! My hubby had his usual, chicken nuggets! Here I was expecting it to be pretty packed but it wasn’t, mostly people with to go orders stopping in and picking up their food, keeping them busy cooking in the back! After we ate, we walked home and started to pick/cut the weeds out of our lawn, I hate dealing with dandelions! Some people consider them “flowers” in their yards; to me it’s an eye sore! Our ball field is coated in them, just masses of yellow blooms waiting to turn into those things you can make a wish and blow all the seeds off of!! LOL! I don’t mind the little daisy’s that try to grow with our grass, but I can’t stand having weeds in my yard! The temps today have been nice in the mid 50’s!! The sky has turned to partly cloudy and the sun is trying hard to shine down on us and share some its warmth! The island is slowly turning green, and then before we know it it’s going to start dying off again!! L

I got back down to the office and it’s been pretty quiet. My hubby decided that he wanted to cook steam bath today… it’s about 55F out and he wants to take bath…. OK…. Sounds good but just sounds like I’m going to have a hard time cooling off once I get out of the steam room! I need to go to the store and see what kind of tarps we have, I need to get a new one this year for my dry fish rack (for rainy days). The one I had last year got a good size rip in it right in the center, so it’s practically not useable anymore. I really don’t want to just duct tape it up like everyone is telling me to!

Well the plane has been flying almost non-stop since quarter to noon when the first flight came in, then we had another one 2 hours later at quarter to 2PM, the next flight should be here around 4:30PM, scheduled flight. Not sure what they are bringing over, I need to get down to the Post Office and get paperwork into the computer… I’ll get that done today! I don’t know what I want to make for dinner tonight…. I want tacos… so I’ll just go get a salad from the restaurant (so I can have lettuce) and break open my stash of Taco Bell fire sauce I have hidden in my fridge!

Well at least I know I have steam bath to look forward to after work, and sea gull egg pie waiting for me in my fridge. I gave the rest of the eggs to my neighbors and my parents today – I let them know that a couple of the eggs had developing embryos in them so they have to check the eggs before eating them. I usually crack them into a cup to see if the egg is good or not. I know other people do a float test… I don’t know what is what… but I think if they float they are not good and if they sink they are good to be eaten! I know some Asians like to eat those some kind of bird eggs where the chick is partially formed… that’s nasty! I don’t know how they can eat that……. But like I said, if you hear it’s a delicacy it’s usually best to steer clear of it!We ended up grabbing my parent’s lawn mower after steam bath and proceeded to cut all the grass down our end of town (which includes our yard and my 2 neighbors to my left-if I was facing south out my front door). My hubby borrowed my Uncle Darryl’s weed-whacker and did up the trim job. So our yards look really nice!!! I might have blister tomorrow though….

Well I hope everyone had a great Friday and an even better weekend!! Until tomorrow, TTFN!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Well woke up to this beautiful summer fog that is floating in the bay, it’s dry out and super calm, the water looks like glass in the harbor. A light layer of dew on the lawn, getting my pups feet all wet! They ran out and did their thing, and then we put them away and went down to town. Temps didn’t get too high, stayed in the mid 40’s all day… Wish we were getting the hot weather the rest of the state has been getting (70+!!)

This morning was pretty busy, people trying to come up to get cash, but I told them that if my mom makes it home we’ll have cash, but until then I have just enough to keep the store running. But that didn’t stop loads of people from coming up and trying to cash their checks! I got the charge slips entered into the charge book, then I had to work on some files in QuickBooks, by the time I finished it was already lunch time!

I got us a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup to have over toast for lunch. I gave the rest of the fried salmon steaks to my neighbor (the store manager) Eva! She was happy with what I gave her!

After lunch I heard that my hubby and father-in-law were going to run out to Akun Head to check for sea gull eggs. I almost threw a fit like a little kid because I WANT TO GO!!!! I figured my mom should be on the next plane and that the weather was clearing up pretty good… and people are coming for cash I don’t have right now… so I figured I can run away from work for a couple hours and go with them. Luckily I did go with them because my hubby wouldn’t have been able to pick all the eggs off that rock by his self, especially with a bandaged up thumb (he almost cut the whole tip of his thumb off doing dishes!) We ended up with about 64 eggs in his bucket and 68 in mine (well one broke on the ride home). I took a dozen eggs for myself and gave the rest out. We ended up taking home the bucket with 67 in it. The ride out was sloppy and kind of wet – beating us up going right into the swells! The ride back was incredibly smooth! It took us about 2 hours 15 mins round trip to run out, harvest the eggs, and then get back home! I took some pictures (I hope blogger lets me post them!) I hope everyone likes them. I don’t go out in the skiff dressed up, trying to look good for the sea gulls! I go out dressed for the worst weather: decked out in full rain gear (grundens!), Extratuf boots, 2 pairs of sweat pants under my rain gear, 2 shirts (a short sleeve and long sleeve), a thick sweater and my jacket, then my rain jacket. I put my PFD (personal floatation device, or life jacket) above my sweater but under my coat. It makes for a great wind break too!! It’s always nice to go dressed appropriately when going out because it’s not like there is somewhere to go into and warm up, not in an open aluminum skiff! So we make sure to dress warm!

I ended up getting back to the office just after 3:20PM, nothing much happening. I went to the store and got everything I needed to get to make custard pies tonight! I also got us Hamburger Helper: Cheeseburger mac for dinner. I also ordered all the party supplies that my older sis would need to throw my godchild/niece a slamming birthday party. I got her EVERYTHING that they need to have a great time with those kids! My godchild is going to be 2 this year! (ALREADY!!!) I got them everything that I could think of: piñata with 2 orders of piñata fillers (toys and candy), cake toppers, invitations, thank you cards, plates, cups, forks, spoons, napkins, streamers, ribbons, candles, balloons, 2 table clothes, a table center piece, and 16 gift boxes for the kids to go home with, along with some other small things, like the cone hats, and “blow-outs”. All I know is that I spent about 200 in supplies so I hope she has a great birthday party. I know my sister usually doesn’t like to spend that kind of money on simple party supplies… but I want my godchild’s party to be the bomb-dot-com!!! You know!! I want her party to be the one kids talk about!! Plus I always say it’s important to have great pictures from your kids birthday party’s because those are memories they can cherish forever!! And to have the table looking great and everything! Most of my early b-day pictures are that way, makes me smile knowing how hard my parents worked to have a great party for such a young kid! I’m happy to be able to help her have a great time on her special day!

Well I’m happy that I got to go out sea gull egg picking. These are the first eggs of the year… hopefully go back out before Sunday if the weather permits, and harvest them again! They are like chickens and will keep lying, but sometimes the weather doesn’t let us get out there and all the eggs get chicks growing in them and we just let nature do its course and we don’t get any eggs! The Northern sides get eggs first, then a couple weeks later the birds on the South sides of the island will start to lay, so if we miss picking the rocks of Akun Head, then we can go to some of the islands on the South side and go pick eggs. It’s just easier on the rock I think, a little more dangerous and slippery, but faster than trying to find nests in the grass! I can’t wait to actually get out and go jiggin for halibut! I want to get my handline wet darn it!! I actually have to make a new handle for my handline and maybe get some new line…….

I’m going to make those pies tonight, hopefully they cool and we get to eat on some before we go to sleep! Oh, around 5 we got a plane in and my mom finally made it home! Yay! We also got these 5 Japanese tourists, who are going to kayak back to Dutch Harbor, who came in and are staying at the hotel for the night. They plan on making the trip back sometime tomorrow in their collapsible kayaks (they were able to compact them and bring them over on the Goose! Then they plan on putting them back together and probably taking off tomorrow) Oh and on another good note, the café is finally going to be open tomorrow for the summer season!! Yay, I don’t have to cook lunch tomorrow, I’ve been craving a French Dip for a while now!! LOL!!! Hoping the Red salmon start to run good here soon so I can start drying some fish! Best to do it when it’s not that foggy and when it’s sunny so that it can dry faster instead of going sour or growing this nasty white mold! I can’t wait to get started!! Just need fish!!

Well until tomorrow, TTFN!

PIX:

My father-in-law Demetri behind my hubby and I
(all bundled up ready for any ocean spray!!)

Lost Harbor on Akun Island

This is a picture of what we call Akun Head -

just some of the rocks we go to pick sea gull eggs!
"Flat rock" on the right, the "big rock" in the back on the left.

Coming up on the "big" rock that
we've always gone to since I can remember!


Getting close to it so we can climb on...

Sea gull nests on the rock
(the 2 little piles of grass on the rock)


Sea gull eggs in a nest

Starting a layer of eggs in the bucket,
by the time we were done the buckets were full!
We use a little nesting grass from each nest
as use for padding so the eggs don't break...

Me picking eggs and putting them in the bucket

Looking down at another part of the rock
(a couple visible nests)

Me up on the rock picking eggs,
my hubby was picking from the lower part

Contemplating how to get down
so I can get back to the skiff,
with a full bucket of eggs

My father-in-law Demetri Sr
waiting in the skiff for us

67 sea gull eggs
(for every 4 good eggs we got, 6 were bad...)

Sea gull egg custard pie!!!

PIX

June 11, 2009

(I have more pix today to post! Once it lets me upload them!)

An Eagle drying it's wings off
June 10, 2009

Foggy morning, looking towards town from my front porch!

Me! Loving my Sephora Brand Eyeshadow! I forget what the name is exactly but it's color #20!

My first red salmon of the year from my cousin Antone,
waiting on the cutting board!

I decided to cut my fish into steaks so I can pan fry them (I fillet the tail piece)

Getting a coating of: flour, pepper and Johnny's seasoning salt


Frying them up in a mixture of butter and bacon "drippings"

Finished ready to eat! I like my rice with soy sauce... I also like the tail because there are barely any bones to pick out!

June 8, 2009

Coast Guard Helicopter flying over town, they landed and did an expection on our fuel farm...

June 7, 2009

One of 2 dirt "roads" on the island! Both are beach roads!

The "turn-around" area down at the "flats"

This is what we call "Grandpa's Head" located down the "flats".

Anther view of Grandpa's Head (we have a rock kind of like this ahead of the bay called Grandma's Head!)

Looking at town from Grandpa's Head

HOW TO EAT/HARVEST WILD CELERY:

First, Identify that you are looking at the right plant!

Here is one (a little one) growing in some grass, they have broad leaves and if handled wrong-it will give you a rash! They also have a slight smell to them (a sweet smell, I can't explain it!)

Push open the leaves and look at the stalks, you only want to take the ones that have the "flower" pods growing. (see pic below)

Once you itentify the flowered stalk, follow it down as far as you can, and cut it. The edible part is the small green stalk that is below the "flower" pod. You can cut the pod off and keep just the green stalk. Once getting home, rinse stalks in water, then make sure to fully PEEL the outter layer off, leaving a firm, but sweet edible stalk with a slight peppery taste. Some are "hotter" than others, I don't like to pick the ones that are freckled with red. The lighter green the sweeter and better tasting! I can't wait for them to get bigger so I don't have to pick as much. I picked these when they were considered "babies", they get MUCH BIGGER than what I was "harvesting." I was happy with what I was able to get, and so was my hubby!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY JENNIE!

Well the weather today went from calm and clear in the morning, to getting foggy by noon, then after lunch it was pouring rain out, then when I got off work it was slightly sprinkling out with a good amount of fog, but it was calm with no wind… we didn’t get any planes today.

Today was a pretty good day at the office. I got the store order done up and sent out to our vendors, then they got me the invoices for what we have coming in this weekend, so I’ll have those priced up by tomorrow then take the sheets to the store sometime on Friday. I worked on getting some paperwork in the computer and went searching through our files for some stuff our president asked for, so after finding what I needed I made him copies. He was happy I found everything, and was surprised that I made him copies of everything!

For lunch my hubby baked us up some chicken nuggets… I only eat like 5-6 of them :P

Nothing much to write about, today went by pretty fast. I ordered us some fuel because it’s super cold and I have my heater on all day…. Tired of these low 40F temps… how come it can’t get 70 here like the rest of the state?

Oh, Antone got the first salmon of the year!! He ended up getting 5 red salmon in his gill net! He gave us one! Yay!! So tonight I’m going to steak up the fish and pan fry it with rice on the side. I will take pics and try to get them posted. Blogger wouldn’t let me post pictures the other day, but I have them ready to be uploaded whenever Blogger wants to be nice to me!

Ok well hopefully more tomorrow, until then , TTFN!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Well today looks a little breezy for a plane but we’ll see what happens by the time the scheduled flight is ready to come over. We took the dogs out and played some catch with them, let them do their “potty” business, played some more then took them in and put them in their “corners” then we headed down into town.

My hubby always stops and takes care of Boss and I head down to the office. I did the usual routine, then started go through all the incoming mail. We got some doughnuts in for the store in the mail yesterday, so I got myself a box and indulged on some powdered doughnuts for breakfast! I shared them with my dad. First thing I need to get done today is get our deposits all entered into QuickBooks then make sure to get them in the mail. I heard that the plane is on schedule and ready to head over. So I ran down to the Post Office to make sure that the Corps deposit is making it out (since its Express mail). Polly has been doing a great job taking care of the Post Office, happy that both of us can be making a paycheck and I don’t really have to be trying to run 2 offices at one time. Well my mom should be back tomorrow, weather permitting!

For lunch I grabbed us can food…. I didn’t really feel like cooking and the hubby couldn’t think of anything he wanted to eat… So I just grabbed a can of Dinty Moore beef stew for my hubby and a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meat balls for me…… figured since I had doughnuts I didn’t have to eat much at lunch time :P

Got back down to the office, I’m stuck on reconciling our General account (I’m not finding what I need but my mom said she knows what I’m talking about so I’ll just wait for her to get back) so I decided to start doing our Payroll account. OMG, payroll account is so much easier!! I’m almost already done with this year’s whole fiscal year for our payroll account! Yay!! Here our General account takes me like a day to get a month done!! But it took me only a day to get our payroll account done up!! (Well afternoon!) Tomorrow I have to get the store order out to the vendors, Eva brought me up a small list of stuff that we need to get. So I have to find some numbers for some of the items and make sure to get that out before end of the day tomorrow.

Yay, I’m a little excited about the new carpet shampooer we got for the hotel! It finally came in today on the only plane we got (the plane didn’t come back for the 2nd flight). So I made sure to go over and get those boxes out. Tomorrow I’ll get around to opening the boxes and reading how to use this one (since it’s different than the one I own at home), then take it down to the hotel. Maybe I’ll shampoo the carpets here in the office first. I also send down a couple smoke/fire detectors because I realized that we don’t have one around/near my office!! And that don’t fly with me… so I went and got 2 of them: one for the office and one for the hallway. We have them in the storage “upstairs” above the store, and we have them in the store… but we don’t have them around the offices! So that was something I knew I had to pick up and send home when I was in Anchorage!

Well today was a pretty good day, not to busy but at least I was doing something all day, and that made the time seem to fly by! The bartender from our little Roadhouse came up and cashed all their coins in with us... about $300 in quarters from the pool table and juke box! So I counted those up and put it all on their store account, since they asked me to do that. If not I would have given them either a check or cash (which ever they prefered). Tonight we’re going to cook up all the stuff I got for stir fry last night, sounds good right now!

Well I hope everyone had a great Tuesday…. Please, everyone send/wish us some really good weather for a couple days so we can get out to the sea gull egg laying spots and see if there are any eggs yet… have to get them when they are fresh.. Don’t want baby sea gulls in them (or have them start to incubate and start to get veins and stuff in the yoke). Last year we got 11 eggs on June 11th….. But this year the weather hasn’t been nice enough to even check if they have nests yet or not! Hopefully someone can get out there soon and see what’s going on… sea gull egg (custard) pie sounds really, really good right now!!! I haven’t even been out jiggin for halibut yet….. My hubby and I are usually out fishing in May…. But like I said the weather isn’t being nice to us this year….. My freezer is sad being empty… and my dry fish stash is getting low (we’re almost out!) and I ran out of salted salmon since I only salted 2 reds last year (we didn’t really get any sockeye (red) salmon last year, maybe 5 a day from all the nets… it’s like they just didn’t come… the year before we were getting at least 40 a day from all the nets!) So hopefully the Reds show up this year… I really don’t want to have to dry up humpies again this year… I prefer dried reds over dried humpies (pinks). Also hoping it starts to warm up, it’s been pretty cool this summer so far… I usually have a good base tan by now… but this year has been pretty cold, wet and cloudy so far!

Well until tomorrow, TTFN!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Hmmm... well today looks like it might be promising for a plane. The sky is overcast but it’s clear out with no fog, there is a small breeze blowing from the Southeast, it’s not raining but the boardwalk looks wet… we let the dogs out to do their thing, after they were done we put them away in their “corners”, then we rode down to the office, my hubby always comes with me in the morning so he can go get Boss and take him out!

I got down to the office and did the usual routine, entering all the charge slips from over the weekend. After I finished doing that I noticed that all the time cards were turned in early, so I started to get payroll done. I had to wait for QuickBooks to do a payroll update, then I was able to finally get our checks printed. I had a couple of our employees waiting for their checks so they can go shopping. Around 11:30 the Goose finally came in!! YAY, a plane!!! And I heard it was full of nothing but mail!!! Hopefully they bring all the mail over, I’ve been working in the Corp Office and letting Polly get hours in the Post Office, but I went down and helped her sort mail. There was a lot of mail! I would say at least 80% of the mail is for the Trident plant….

On my way home at lunch hour, there was a Coast Guard helicopter flying over the village, I heard they are coming to town to do a check up on the City’s fuel tank farm. Our store manager and I was driving down the boardwalk, stopped to take a pic and wave hello, and we noticed them waving hi back! Eva got all happy saying did you see them, did you see them?! She’s so cute when it comes to Coasties, she’s only 59 – but she reminds me of this awesome woman named Tootis (rest in peace) and of my gram! My gram would always talk about how back in the day, when they were my age, how they would dress up and put on their red lipstick! For lunch we had Marie Calendar Turkey Pot Pies…. Quick and easy…

This afternoon was pretty busy, I ran out of cash… which really sucks because I guess everyone is getting their Aleut Corp dividend checks in and I have no cash for them… Around 2PM, the second flight of the day came in, bringing more mail on it! Out of all the box/package mail I only got my ice cream books in!! I was hoping for my shoes… or ice cream maker! Oh well, they will get here eventually!

I went back down to the Post office to help sort all the mail that came in on the afternoon’s flights. I heard that Polly had to close the counter down because she was swamped in incoming mail and there really was no room left for mail to go… and with the way we have to count all the incoming mail… she was having a hell of a time… so I went down and spent like 30 min ripping thru bags of mail like it was Christmas… first counting, then sorting out mail that has scan bars to ones that don’t, then separating town mail from Trident mail… after doing that I would go thru and scan everything… which has to be scanned all 3 times: Arrival at unit, Attempted delivery, then delivered. If it’s an item that has to be signed for, then we have to put it on the side until the Trident mail guy comes down and picks everything up so he can sign for everything. As for town mail, people get a card in their box letting them know they have a package, then they can bring the card to the counter and pick up their box (just like any other Post office, we’re no different!).

The store got some of the items we were missing from our last freighter order… so we have doughnuts, Hostess cupcakes, apple and cherry pies… along with some other items (I didn’t open the box so I don’t know… Eva will let me know tomorrow).

I got us everything for stir fry for dinner…. But we ended up watching some shows and playing Guitar Hero that we lost track of time, and by the time we realized it was too late to be trying to cook up a big dinner, so we munched on chips and beef jerky for dinner….

Well today was a busy Monday! I hope everyone has a great night! Until tomorrow, TTFN!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Well woke up to the phone ringing…. I usually just let the answering machine get it…. As I was laying there I hear my younger sis Ivy telling me to get up and answer the phone! I picked up and she let me know that she just witnessed my cousin give birth to my newest little cousin, Natasha Lynn. I believe she was around 7lbs, 19 inches! Yay, congrats, can’t wait to see her when she comes home!

Well another foggy and windy day here in the Aleutians… it’s been 10 days since we got our last plane…. I don’t know when this weather is going to let up. It’s not like it’s that bad out, it’s just foggy with a northerly breeze. It’s dry out today at least! We let the dogs out, and then put them away before we headed down to town so my hubby can walk Boss.

Just before noon I went down to the store to get the cash out for the day and give the keys to our weekend store clerk. I went home and my hubby baked us up some chicken nuggets for brunch. We didn’t do much today, spent a lot of time watching some TV shows I downloaded from iTunes!

Around 6 we decided to go for a ride down to the “flats”, the area behind the incinerator. I figured the “putch-keys” (wild celery) are big enough to go get a couple bites off of! So we went down on the ATV’s and went to harvest some for dinner – I love dipping it in seal oil and having it with dry fish! They are very small right now, but I was able to find a good enough amount for both my hubby and I to enjoy. We brought Tug with us, while I was on the hill going thru the ‘wild celery’; my hubby was down by the beach swimming Tug! Tug loves to be in the water! After I was happy with the amount I had ‘harvested’ from the hills, I yelled to my hubby that I was ready to drive back home and get ready to eat!

I made sure to rinse the stalks off in cold water, and then I proceeded to peeling the outer layer off. If you don’t peel that layer off you can end up with a pretty bad burn (like a rash) around your mouth and on your skin. My hands and arms don’t seem to react to the juices from picking and peeling them, that’s why I’m dealing with them. Most people get a bad rash from just handling them, unpeeled that is. Once they are peeled they have this sweet crunchy bite to them, with a slight peppery taste. Both my hubby and I love to eat them the traditional way, dipped in seal oil! We decided to break out the dry fish and brew up some tea and pull out some bread and jam! So that was what we had for dinner and it was well worth going out, searching for and harvesting the small wild celery shoots!

Well we’re going to just sit around and see what’s on TV and enjoy the rest of the weekend! Until tomorrow TTFN!! I have pix to post of me picking wild celery, what they look like and what part to harvest! But I have to find my camera cord now!! So hopefully tomorrow!

Oh and a correction…. I guess I have my dates wrong… my Grandpa Bob passed away on June 5, 2003… so it’s been longer than I remembered…. Guess he lived in my memories for 2 years and a day longer!! I hope I can be as great as my grandpa was!! Watch over me, I will always love you!!!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Nina! Love you lots!! Also, RIP Grandpa Bob, today is the day we lost my grandpa in that Ultralight accident over the Knik Arm 5 years ago. I love you lots grandpa and I hope you’re watching over us and happy with all we’ve done!! Miss you!

Well finally got to sleep in! The weather is still foggy and windy and a little wet at times. The dogs went and did their thing, then we went inside and watch some CNN, see what’s going on in the world. We didn’t really do much today. I went down to the store and got the paperwork out at noon, then I went home and cooked us up breakfast for brunch. Scrambled up some eggs, fried up some bacon and toasted some bread! For dinner we had a bowl of cereal, since I forgot to get something from the store for dinner.

We didn’t really do much today. We went down and looked at the improvements on my dad’s boat the F/V Aleutian Vista. He’s done a lot of work on that boat, it’s looking really nice! We stopped in the bar and bought a couple bags of chips since we were in that area… I grabbed a Find Words (word search) book from my dad’s boat, he had a couple so I figured I’d take one for when we’re bored (something to do). I swear I did like 6-7 of the word searches last night, I like the Angle Search and the Number searches (the number ones really seem to challenge me a bit, way more than the ones with letters!).

I made sure to call my Aunt Nina, but she wasn’t home so I made sure to let my Gram let her know I called to try to say ‘Happy Birthday’!!! For some reason our long distance isn’t working on our home phone (I heard a lot of people’s long distance is out), but at least we have cell phones!

Well I had a great Saturday and I hope everyone else did!! Until tomorrow, TTFN!!!