Top 10 Highlights of 2013

1. Living the Alaska lifestyle with Robin
2. New Zealand trip with amazing wildlife and hunting experiences
1. Penguin viewing (see the video)
2. Red stag viewing (see the video)
3. Goat hunting (see the video)
4. Camping with Lucky, The Campervan
3. Exploring Petersburg, Alaska
4. Awesome halibut and salmon fishing season
5. Whales, whales and more whales. We saw so many whales, including some right by the boat. See the video.
6. Mama Bear, Baby Bear #1 and Baby Bear #2. These bears were frequent visitors, and we were frequent viewers! See the video.
7. Pig hunting in Florida
8. Robin's successful deer hunting in Alaska and Kentucky
9. Great progress with health, fitness and workouts
10. Robin's encore career as a medical supply technician

A Holiday Story: I Am Going to Hell

This story was relayed to me by a very good friend last year (whom I miss dearly!), during the campaign hoopla of last fall's elections, Thanksgiving, Christmas – The Giving Season.

I held on to it, planning to post it to the blog and reread for when I need a pick-me-up.

Warning: You should make sure you don’t need to pee before you read it. Every time I read it, I almost pee my pants because I laugh so hard.

Here it is, for your enjoyment. Edited for anonymity.

"When [The Dog] finally decided she liked rawhide bones, we found out that she can't tolerate them. If she has a bone, she has diarrhea the next (early) morning. It's a real treat to wake up to that smell (she doesn't know how to ask to go out either).  

So I wake up to a mess Saturday morning. I clean up the worst of it, throw everything into an old plastic [local grocery] sack, and toss it on the front porch to put in the garbage bin later (because I was still in my nightgown).  

A couple of hours later, [The Mr.] and I are sitting in the living room drinking coffee (still in my nightgown). He notices something on the camera/security monitor (and it's not a political canvasser for a change).  

He says, "That's weird. Some little kid just stole a sack of garbage off our porch and ran out and got in that white van."  

I say, "Oh, shit! That's the Lutheran church picking up for their food drive!!!"
I had forgotten that Saturday was the day they were picking up the food they'd requested we put in a [local grocery] sack and leave on our front porches! 

I was going to call the church and confess, but I couldn't talk about it without laughing hysterically.

So I guess I'm going to Hell."

The Summer of Fun, Friends and Festivities

Lots of great boating and fishing, lots of great hiking, lots of great scenery and lots of good times with friends and family.

>> See summertime photos.

The Summer of Wildlife

In addition to the weather, whales and our non-stop, non-sleeping summertime lifestyle, we had great wildlife sightings. So far, no bears, but the salmon are coming into the rivers and I expect to see some near rivers edge soon.

Here are some other wildlife photos:
>> Deer, puffins, eagle, buffalo, goats

Robinhood Makes Headlines -- Again

Robin has now made headline news for the FOURTH time in the two and a half years since we have lived in Kodiak.

• Robin received archer hunter status, and robin-hooded another student's arrow, during a recent archery certification class covered in the Kodiak Daily Mirror. (He is moosehunting today!)
  >> Read the article.

• In other news, Robin was the first dental patient at a new community dental clinic. What the Kodiak Daily Mirror article doesn't mention is that he almost single-handedly built the clinic dental exam areas!
  >> Read the article.

• The third headline was when he built the Uganik public use cabin for the Refuge.
  >> Read the article.
  
• The fourth headline was when we took our muzzleloading class.
  >> Read the article.

A Whale of a Summer

This has been a whale of a summer, both literally and figuratively.

To start with, the weather has been phenomenal. In fact, it is the warmest and driest summer on record in more than 40 years. July was the warmest since 1979, and the driest since 1967. And, we had 18 consecutive dry days and 10 consecutive days with high temperatures above 70 degrees.

The whale action has been unprecedented. We haven't seen this many whales since our time at Glacier Bay. A mama and calf swam so close to the boat we were thinking about donning our gumby suits!

Needless to say, I have been outside enjoying this beautiful weather and beautiful place. Today, it's blowing and raining (for a change), so a good opportunity to update the long-neglected blog.

>> See some whale photos.

Red Stag, New Zealand Style

The primary hunt for this New Zealand trip was for red stag. It's an animal between a big deer and an elk in size. These are awesome creatures who "roar." It is a sound much louder and deeper than an elk bugling. An amazing sound to hear out in the wilds and remoteness of New Zealand. It really carries, too, and you can hear it from miles away -- literally.

We were about 1 1/2 hours from Blenheim, a total of 5 hours from Christchurch. In the middle of nothing. Lots of scruff, rugged and beautiful country with mountains, rivers, gorges, canyons and some steep, hot hiking. It's near Mount Gladstone, sort of.

The weather was perfect: blue skies, clear, crisp in the mornings but really heated up as the day went on to about 65 degrees. Which for us, seemed really freakin' hot. My pores were definitely cleaned out from all the sweating. Did I mention it was hot and steep?

We had spotted this fellow the night before, and were hoping he was still around. We were about to pack it up and head to another ridge, which I really did not want to do. (The sun was beating down and the climb was steep.) But, then I spotted him. I called attention to the guys ahead, and they got into position immediately. Good thing, too, because it all happened so fast.

Robin ranged him at 300 yards, set up and took the shot. Drilled him and down he went! We could hardly find the bullet hole -- that's how thick his hide was -- we had to find it from the inside. We also had to get through these prickly bushes, but all in all, he was pretty easy to reach.

He was around 450 pounds, and made really awesome burger!

See the photos from the red stag hunt.