North to Alaska

The Next Adventure…

kari — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:26:16 +0000

A quick glance at the calendar just revealed to me that it has been exactly five months from yesterday (five months!) since we returned home to Minnesota from Stonewall Place. How quickly the time goes! First of all, I would like to apologize for the long silence. I truly had the best of intentions when we arrived home and had planned on continuing to post. Somehow, life got in the way and as we stepped back into the rush of the familiar while at the same time processing and remembering our time at Stonewall Place, I found it difficult to sift through it all, sit down and write in a way that would have been comprehensible to anyone. It has been a busy, but blessed and beautiful Minnesota summer filled with camping trips, weddings, meeting of friends’ new babies and time with family and friends all the while looking for the next adventure…

When we first left Stonewall Place I was worried that our time there would feel, in retrospect, like a strange dream. However, while trying to readjust to rush hour traffic (why is everyone driving so fast?), trips to big-box stores (the first of which left me in tears), and the general distractedness and discontent with which we go through life here in so-called civilization, our time at Stonewall Place began to feel more real and this crazy world in which we were suddenly walking around more like a strange dream. I attribute this to being constantly awake and aware at Stonewall Place, in a wild environment that demanded constant vigilance, not only because of ever-present dangers, but also because of ever-present wonders. The transition was jarring and left me a little lost and disoriented. This feeling has faded, but I can still remember Stonewall Place, False Pass, and the beaches I used to walk there in much greater detail than I can remember most things, because of how ‘present’ I was in every moment. We learned so many lessons both practical and spiritual, about self-reliance and teamwork, about having control and not-having control, the great value of both community and solitude, and yes, after eight months with mostly each other for company we learned a lot about each other. Before we left, many people couldn’t believe we would agree to put ourselves in that situation. I received a lot of wide-eyed declarations of not being able to imagine it. It certainly wouldn’t work for everyone, but for us it was a relationship-builder. We learned to rely on each other, to trust each other and to work together and we also learned when to give each other space and when to shut up (it can be rather unpleasant to have the only other person within miles angry with you.) Our time at Stonewall Place was truly a gift, an amazing experience that will always be with us.

We would also like to give you an update on our lives and the next adventure we are in the process of stepping into. After applying for jobs in his field of Mechanical Engineering, both here and in Alaska, Pierre was recently offered a position in Juneau,AK. It is a great opportunity and one we feel we can’t pass up. Pierre will be working for a company that has a contract with the Coast Guard to improve the energy efficiency of their facilities in the Pacific Northwest. We have mixed emotions about relocating, but we are excited about returning to Alaska and again having the opportunity to live in such an amazing place (although very different from the wind-swept tundra of the Alaska Peninsula!). We are planning on bringing this blog to a close and starting a new blog to chronicle our move and our lives in Juneau. The reason for doing this, rather than continuing with this current blog is because we know that some of you who have subscribed to this blog have a special interest in Stonewall Place and may not wish to continue receiving posts. It will also give us an opportunity to start fresh and let a new blog take shape along with our new lives. We would like to say to everyone who came along with us for the ride, thank you!! We started this blog assuming that only a few friends and family would follow it. We had no idea the interest it would generate, the new friends we would meet, the dear family we would reconnect with, or the sense of community it would provide for us in a place that was so isolated. Thank you so much for reading, for your support, for the kind words, for trying the recipes, for everything!

You can find the new blog here: www.whaleburps.wordpress.com
(Yes, you read that right!) We would love for you to join us on this new adventure!

All the best to you, dear friends!

Kari and Pierre

Home Again, Home Again…

kari — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:23:13 +0000

We left False Pass last Thursday morning and arrived in Minneapolis early Monday morning (yesterday). Thursday afternoon was spent in the Cold Bay airport, an experience everyone should have at least once in their lifetime. We then spent two nights in Anchorage relaxing and reacclimating to the sights and sounds of city life. We enjoyed eating out, going to the Anchorage Museum and having the opportunity to reconnect with friends we made on our way to False Pass back in September. Our original plan was to depart Anchorage Saturday night on a direct flight to Minneapolis. A friend of ours who works for the airline had given us passes, so we were flying stand-by. When we arrived at the Anchorage airport we discovered that the flights leaving Anchorage are not taking many stand-bys because of the large amount of freight they are now hauling due to the opening of fishing season. (Yes, we were bumped off our planned flight by dead fish!) We spent Saturday night in the airport trying to get on two more flights, a red-eye and an early morning flight, but had no success. Finally, Sunday morning we realized we were going to have to come up with another plan. After a little research we discovered a shuttle van that would take us to Fairbanks. It was at the airport and almost ready to leave so we abandoned our luggage to be dealt with by the airline and hopped on. The scenery was beautiful and on only a couple of hours of sleep we were glad we didn’t have to drive the seven hours ourselves. The direct flight from Fairbanks to Minneapolis left at 9:40pm so we arrived in plenty of time and had no trouble getting on. An unplanned detour! We are now home and enjoying warm weather and the company of dearly missed friends and family. Please check back for a few more posts! I still have a few more recollections, thoughts and stories I would like to share and to be honest, I’m just not ready to say goodbye!

A (very!) distant view of the Alaska Range of which Denali (or Mt. McKinley) is a part, taken just outside of Fairbanks.

False Pass Photo Essay

kari — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:53:58 +0000

We were able to spend some time in the village yesterday, taking the opportunity to walk around and explore, something we hadn’t done very often on our numerous mail runs and previous visits. We are leaving just as the busy summer fishing season begins to wind up. There are more people in town, faces we don’t recognize, and more activity as people arrive for the summer. The population of the village will jump from about 40 to 120 for the season. From a small town to a bustling metropolis! We have so enjoyed getting to know people in this welcoming, tight-knit community. Everyone has been so kind and helpful, always willing to go out of their way for us “people from across” or “the mainlanders” as we were known. We wish we would have been able to spend even more time getting to know everyone here. One of the biggest challenges of living across the water from the village was not being able to attend events and holiday gatherings, having to turn down invitations because of the weather (the weather never seemed to cooperate when we were invited to the village!)

Round Top and the village cemetery.

The Post Office and library.

The old Peter Pan cannery, no longer in operation…

Pierre and friends.

The docks at the Peter Pan cannery, where we would usually tie up our skiff.

The fuel dock at Peter Pan.

Sentinel Peak, Stonewall Place sits directly beneath it.

The Isanotski grocery store where we bought many onions and carrots. For being so remote the prices are very reasonable and the selection great. About once a month we would buy frozen t-bones, really exceptional ones, and have a steak night. It was also very exciting to find a pineapple!

A friend of ours took us on a four-wheeler ride, a short way into the hills and then north on the beach. We had no idea there was such an extensive network of trails around the village. This river was the end of the line for our trip.

We hope to return to False Pass! Sooner rather than later. What a beautiful, wild place.

Farewell!

kari — Thu, 19 May 2011 06:22:14 +0000

We’ve arrived in the village after bidding farewell to our home for the past 8 months! Stonewall Place is buttoned up and Buck and Shelly will be arriving in the next couple of weeks to begin the upcoming fishing season. What a grand adventure we’ve had! It was hard to leave, hard to say goodbye to such an amazing place where we have experienced so much. We are full of emotions as we say goodbye to Stonewall Place, the village of False Pass, our new friends here, and as we look forward to arriving home and reuniting with friends and family there. We are staying in the village tonight. Our flight to Cold Bay and then to Anchorage is scheduled for tomorrow.

Motoring away from the beach and from Stonewall Place for the last time!

Tying up the skiff at the city harbor.

A Visit From The Neighbors

kari — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:44:07 +0000

Early yesterday evening I went to the chicken coop to check for eggs. I noticed that a few things had been disturbed - a bucket upturned, chicken wire dislodged, the large set of antlers that rests against the chicken run had been knocked over. There was no wind, so I figured the only explanation was a curious bear. It hadn’t been too determined, just curious. Later in the evening I ventured back outside, a little more cautiously this time, to put the chickens away for the night and I spotted these three bears up on one of the hills behind the house. The mother and one of the cubs disappeared over the hill while the other “little” guy stayed to munch on some tufts of grass before following the others. Pierre was able to capture them on tape.

The East Dam

kari — Sun, 15 May 2011 06:32:38 +0000

Our new east dam received its first big test yesterday evening. After the big creek flood in November, when the old east dam was destroyed, Pierre redesigned and built a new one. We were able to get most of the construction work done in March when we had a stretch of good weather. It was online and piped into the hydro-electric system by the end of March. Since then it has been working great. We have lost about 1 psi (just a bit of water pressure) with the decrease in elevation, but in lowering the elevation we were able to capture more water. Yesterday afternoon it started raining steadily. It only takes a few hours of steady rain to raise the creek levels and this was the highest they had been since fall. We stood patiently out in the rain, watching the water rush over the dam, and were pleased to see that it’s solidly in place and was not only handling the large amount of water in the creek, but that it looked like it could easily handle a lot more.

This photograph was taken today after the creeks had receded some. The new dam uses a completely different type of screen to keep debris out of the hydro-electric system. It has a wedge-wire screen, custom-made by a company in Colorado, that utilizes the “coanda effect” in capturing water and keeping out rocks, grass, and other particles. The coanda effect is the tendency of a liquid to follow a flat or curved surface. It’s happened to you I’m sure of it!! For example, when you’re trying to pour liquid from one glass to another and instead of neatly arriving in the glass you had intended, the liquid instead dribbles down the glass you are pouring from and onto the table making a big mess. You’ve been coanda-ed! Another common place the coanda effect is used is in leafless gutters. The new screen allows the water to drip down into the dam where it is then captured and diverted into the system, while all other debris is simply washed right over the top. This means the screen no longer has to be cleaned every day and there is less of a chance of the hydro-electric system being backed-up or damaged by a rock or a stick.

This is a view of the dam from behind. A large part of the work installing it was raising the creek bed to accommodate the angle of the screen. The water is collected in a box below the screen and enters the system through the pvc pipe you can see running from the dam and through the creek. It then travels down the hill to the water wheel. It’s our hope that this dam can withstand a flood like we experienced in November.

Ducks in a Clump

kari — Sat, 14 May 2011 06:17:10 +0000

One of the highlights of our time here (and one of the things we will dearly miss) has been all of the interactions we’ve had with wildlife. Seals, sea lions, otters, bears, whales – every day is filled with wonders! However, throughout everything I’ve written about our daily encounters with wildlife there has been one glaring omission that I am going to try to rectify. Birds! There are 445 species of birds, most of which are migratory, that make their home in Alaska (from www.alaskabird.org). Alaska is a bird-watcher’s paradise and Stonewall Place is no exception, although I realize I’ve hardly written anything about the birds we have seen. There are a couple of reasons for this. One reason is that we don’t have a camera equipped with a zoom lens that would adequately capture our favorite birds and I really enjoy including photos with the posts. The other reason has something to do with the fact that we are what you might call ”novices” when it comes to bird-watching. I, personally, have only recently (in the past couple of years) started noticing and taking an interest in the birds around me. I do find them fascinating and delightful and we have both enjoyed getting to know a variety of new species here. However, when it comes to bird-watching, our observations are vague and unscientific at best and downright silly at worst. For example, one of the species we’ve become very familiar with are the harlequin ducks. I noticed them as soon as we arrived and absolutely love them. They are hilarious, bouncy and buoyant and in groups they squeak, squeak, squeak, sounding like a committee meeting of squeaky toys. After a time Pierre noticed that in the evening the ducks would congregate together in the middle of the pass. They would form a “clump” after a day of feeding in smaller groups. Based on this observation, one of our exchanges went like this:
Pierre: It looks like the ducks cut out early tonight.
Kari: The ducks are in a clump already?
Pierre: Yep. Oh wait, it’s Good Friday. Holiday. That explains it.
Then there are other species of birds that have become familiar, but that we have been unable to accurately identify. There is a large group of birds that spend all of their time in the middle of the pass, floating on the water. They ride the current in a large group and when the first of the group reaches a designated point (how in the world do they decide where the right place is?) they pick up and fly back to where they started. I’ve named them the “tide-riders” because I have not figured out exactly what they are. There is also an enormous raptor of some kind, with mottled coloring, that we see sometimes. We just call it “that big bird.” Two of my favorite birds aren’t even native to this area (or so I’ve been told) and are reviled and considered a nuisance by almost everyone. They are the members of the corvid family, the ravens and magpies. They are clever and pesky and have a lot of personality. The magpies are especially devious and brazen, particularly in the village. On more than one occasion we have carelessly left groceries out in the open and have returned, even after just a few minutes, to find holes pecked in almost everything. But I love their opportunistic nature, their coloring (especially when they fly, with a “swoop-swoop-flit”) and the way they seem to be trying to talk to me. The ravens are huge and have an interesting call that I’ve learned to recognize. Speaking of calls, Shelly recently asked if the golden-crowned sparrows had arrived here yet, that I would recognize them by their distinctive “1-2-3″ call. I hadn’t noticed. I looked them up and by appearance I wasn’t sure. But the next day I heard it and it was unmistakable, three descending notes, the last note in a minor tone. It’s beautiful and very catchy and has become the Stonewall Place soundtrack. I’m still not sure if the golden-crowned sparrows arrived at the same time as I was asked about them or if I simply hadn’t noticed them, but they are definitely here now. Then of course there are the bald eagles. When my parents were here we were able to see a mother eagle sitting diligently on her nest that is perched on a rock pillar on the beach just south of Stonewall Place (she is still there!). They were so excited and I realized at that point just how common eagles had become to me, whether they are riding the air currents, competing with seagulls for snacks, swooping dangerously at each other, perched like sentinels, or nesting. I am certainly going to miss seeing them every day. A few of the other birds I can now proudly identify are ptarmigan (which we talked briefly about hunting as we’ve heard they’re delicious, but never got around to it) cormorants, oyster catchers, the common snipe (which used a spring near the north dam as a watering hole for a couple of days this winter) and the king eider duck that I observed one day in the pass. I gleefully documented the eider’s presence in the Stonewall Place day book, a diary that is filled with major events and wildlife sightings, thrilled that I finally had an interesting bird sighting to record. I wish we had photos of all of these birds for you! And as summer begins I hope that wherever you are you have a chance to delight in the birds making their homes around you, even if your observations of them are unscientific or silly!

The Greenhouse Project

kari — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:45:04 +0000

The last project before we leave (in just one week!) is the greenhouse. A major renovation is planned for this summer (a lot of the wood in the structure is rotting and it needs new glass) so we have been trying to give Buck and Shelly a head start by doing some demolition. In addition, I still have seedlings to plant! The plan for planting is a little different this year because taking the glass out of the greenhouse will basically make it an outdoor bed. It will be a little while before Stonewall Place has an indoor growing space again, so I have lots of little seedlings (cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga) to put in the ground under large glass jars to protect them. Here are a few photos from today’s work of removing the greenhouse glass:

Multigrain Bread

kari — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:21:22 +0000

A few months ago we received a wonderful little package in the mail from my dad’s cousin who has been following our blog. It contained a recipe for multigrain bread and some of the key ingredients. It turned out great and entered our bread rotation along with oatmeal bread and honey whole wheat bread. Whenever I made bread here at Stonewall Place I made one of these three. I never did get around to making sourdough, which is ubiquitous in Alaska, a tradition that began with early settlers who did not have access to commercial yeast and other leavening agents and had to simply use dry goods and wild yeast. I had plans of making a sourdough starter, but in the end decided I did not want to use our supply of precious flour to maintain it. (Maybe when we get home I’ll make a Minnesota sourdough, although it won’t be quite the same.) Anyway, what I like about this multigrain bread recipe is that it utilizes a 7-grain hot cereal which is easier than purchasing several little bags of various grains. The original recipe, from America’s Test Kitchen, makes use of instant yeast and a stand mixer. It can be found here. I modified the recipe to utilize the mixing technique from the oatmeal bread recipe, which made mixing by hand much easier. I also left out a topping of rolled oats as I found most of them ended up either in the bottom of the toaster or sprinkled on the counter. This bread is full of crunchy goodness and makes great toast!

Multigrain Bread

1 1/4 c. 7-grain hot cereal mix (Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead Mills are
                 recommended. Don’t confuse hot cereal with boxed, cold
                 breakfast cereal!)
2 1/4 c. boiling water
3 – 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
4 Tbsp. honey
4 Tbsp. butter
2 1/2 tsp. (or one package) yeast
1/4 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. salt
3/4 c. pumpkin seeds or sunflower
             seeds (unsalted)

Combine 7-grain cereal, whole wheat flour, honey, butter, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Pour boiling water over this mixture and mix well. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has cooled to about 110 degrees. In the meantime, dissolve yeast in warm water. When the cereal mixture has cooled, stir in the yeast mixture and the all-purpose flour, about a cup at a time, until a still dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle dough and work surface with seeds. Knead gently until the seeds are evenly dispersed and the dough forms a smooth, taut ball. Place dough in a large, greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide dough into two equal portions. Shape each portion into a loaf and place in greased 9 x 5 x 3-inch bread pans. Cover the loaves and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes. (The dough should barely spring back when poked with a knuckle.) Bake in a preheated, 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on top and bottom with the knuckles and have achieved a nice golden brown color. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire racks. Yields 2 loaves.
- Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

Earthquake

kari — Sat, 07 May 2011 01:42:02 +0000

Yesterday morning we were woken up around 6am as the house began to rattle and shake! A couple of hours later the house shook again, stronger the second time. Two earthquakes occurred, 5.8 and 5.9 on the Richter Scale, very near each other about 15 miles from the town of Sand Point, which is east of here on the Alaska Peninsula. A great place to find up-to-the-minute earthquake information is the U.S. Geological Survey website where I found information about the earthquakes we experienced a few minutes after they happened. You will notice on the map that there are always many little squares over the Aleutian Islands, indicating a lot of seismic activity. Earthquakes are quite common here!