After not cutting my hair for 18 months  and my beard for 16 months I have turned a new leaf and had three hair cuts in 3 months.  After Heather my sister-in-law cut my hair in Indianapolis this summer, I have been able to convince Dianna that its an easy thing to do.  Before school started in Aug. she made her first attempt at it.  It took a while (45 mins.) before she was done, but in the end it looked good.  Last week she gave it another shot.  It only took 30 minutes this time, and it looks even better.

Even though Dianna is getting good at cutting hair, I won’t let her trim the beard yet, that is a little to sacred.  Only and expert can trim that.

Each year I have gone through a phase.  Year 1 hot chocolate. Year 2 ice cream.  Year 3 popcorn.  On Thursday I took Dianna’s popcorn popper into school for a science experiment.  After 5 batches of popcorn the popper died.  The 6th batch had started to pop when it turned off and wouldn’t start up again.

Here it is with its last batch.  It was a good popper.  Hopefully Dianna won’t read this before she wants popcorn.  Then I can play dumb and not know why the popper won’t pop.  My fingers are crossed.

Usually the excitement on Friday afternoon is due to the upcoming weekend.  This Friday the weekend took a back seat to the large pod of Beluga whales passing through Elim.  In a matter of a couple hours 8 different whales and been shot and brought to shore.  Most of the village came down to the beach to help pull the the whales up and butchering.  If you weren’t helping cut up there was plenty to talk about.

I didn’t help butcher but I was busy getting recipes for Pickled mungtuk (the blubber) and learning how to make dry meat.  Here they are rinsing the sand off before they start cutting.

Once all the mungtuk is off they take start cutting the meet out.

I was given some meat and mungtuk, but Dianna and I don’t eat a whole lot of the meat or mungtuk, so I so no need for a whole slab of either.  Here is a small piece of mungtuk, that I will try to pickle.  Also, a chunk of meat that I will strip and make dry meat.  I also took a small chunk off and fried it up for dinner.  Its nice to have fresh meat once in a while.  It’s kind of like your eating beef with a fishy taste.

We have just finished our 3rd week of school.  We have had frost on the ground several times now.  Dianna has started wearing a stocking cap when we go for 4 wheeler rides.  All of these point to the fact winter is coming and it will be here before we blink our eyes.  After school Dianna and I took the chance to head out to the beach have a fire and enjoy a hamburger.

Miles also enjoyed the chance to run free on the beach and eat anything that we could finish.

The lows have dropped below freezing and Labor Day has come and pass.  This all means it is time to pick up the kayaks from Moses Point and bring them back to be stored for the winter.  Last year the transportation was scary and dangerous mostly because I had no good way to secure the boats to my trailer.  This year I bought some Yakima Hull Raisers, and converted my trailer into a kayak hauler.

I guess some of the kids in town thought it would make for a nice place to lay down.  I wonder if Yakima will put a warning on the box next year.  Warning the Hull Raisers are not designed for small children to lay down on!

With school starting it only meant one thing…time to lace up those hiking boots and hike to Walla Walla.  The forecast said rain, and it was cloudy the weekend but we never actaully got rained on.  We stopped for a quick break and Miles decided it was time to hunt small furry creatures.  Oh yeah he got one!

We had to cross two log bridges the first one has seen better days.  The trail is also starting to become overgrown.  You can see the grass is almost as tall as I am.  We took the .270 with incase we saw a moose.  Neither of us REALLY thought about how much work it would be to pack a moose 10 miles out…Kind of a blessing we didn’t get a moose.

Our last mile or so before we get to the cabin is on the beach.  Here are some crazy rocks that go straight up from the sand.  Its easier to dishes when you have a dog that eats everything.  U set the bowl on the ground when finished and he licks it clean…already for breakfast!

After a good dehydrated meal why not stretch you out on the floor.  I’m not sure who taught who but they both seem pretty good at this.  When your all stretched out its time to get a good book..hope ya brought one and catch up on some reading.

Yes finally, even I am able to laid down and get a couple zzzz’s .

This summer Dianna made a wonderful dog dish for Miles.  The problem is that it just isn’t big enough for his food and it wouldn’t be long before it breaks.  I decided that instead of letting it sit and collect dust it would make a great ice cream bowl.  I can easily fit twice as much ice cream in Miles dish compared to a regular bowl.

Sorry Miles back to your tin can!

Summer Vacation sure flew by again this year. I traveled a lot so here are some of the Highlights from the 2 1/2 month roadtrip.

It started in St. Louis with Grandpa.  We saw the arches and watched the Cards lose to Milwuakee the first night then beat the Cubs the second night.  The second night we were only 6 rows up from the Cards dugout.

Grandpa didn’t even seem to mind that the cubs were losing as long as the Cheerleaders kept coming out to dance on the dug out.  Here we are under a smaller Arch.  They were putting them together for some reality TV show.

After leaving St. Louis I dropped Grandpa back off in Iowa and headed West to pick up Joey and Holmes.  Then headed west and south First stop Reno to visit Tobie.  Then down to LA to visit Skip.

Joey sees the mountains for the first time on this trip.  Joey pokes his head through the back window, judging by the smile on his face he is one happy guy.

Joey and Holmes have an old fashion dual with Bananas outside one of the truck stops.  I guess Joey won since Holmes drew his banana at ate it, instead of trying to shoot Joey.

We spent a day at the beach with Skip and his Brother.  It was the same beach they shot Baywatch at.  Here Joey spent the day surfing and waxing his board.  The rest of us worked on our tan..(I got BURNT) and relaxing.

After leaving LA we headed north on HWY 1.  We made a stop in Big Sur then hit the road and landed in the big city of San Fransisco.  Joey and Holmes wait for Jess to come home from work.  The next morning we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was foggy so we couldn’t see all of the bridge, but at least we saw the middle half.

After San Fransisco we landed in Red Wood National Forest.  Where I was able to drive my truck through a tree!  Joey decided to spend the night in the truck with me.  Holmes braved sleeping on the picnic table, I guess he doesn’t believe in Big Foot.

After arriving in the Seattle Joey and Holmes flew back to their homes and I went up and visited Uncle Gary Aunt Peg and Bear.  When Miles wasn’t running through their screen door we was busy playing with Bear.

Other highlights this summer.  Paddling in warm weather.  Miles would swim or run the banks most of the way but sometimes he would ride in the Canoe with Dianna and once in a while he would try to ride on the kayak.  This never lasted long or ended good.

Dianna and I also made a road trip out to see Mike and Heather and their 2 kids.  Dianna spent time showing Kennedi how to email, and then Kennedi showed Dianna how to pose for pictures.

Phil got married this summer, so for his bachelor party we played a relaxing 9 holes of golf. None of us were really golfers as you can see by Cyle’s swing and miss.

Yes I saved the best for last.  I showed Phil that I could still break his ankles with my cross over and I could make enough shots to beat him in some street ball.  On the July 4th Greg, Dianna, Phil and I went to La Crosse Fest and watched Twiggy the Water Skiiing Squirrel.  He is the same one that was in the movie Anchorman and Dodgeball.  Who knew such a celebrity would show up at La Crosse Fest.

After living in the bush for 2 years I have learned and experienced a lot.  One thing I have always hated though is coming home from a long day of fishing and having to clean and put away fish.  I perfer to take the 30 trout or the 85 tomcod and through them in the freezer and get to them at a later date.

A few days ago a guy from the village asked to borrow Diannas sled to go caribou hunting.  He was successful and when he returned the sled he gave us a rib cage of caribou.  After a long day of school I did not want to cut it up and deal with it so I quickly through it in the freezer before Dianna would notice.  If she saw it out she would want to cut it up and put it away that night.

I learned after putting a muskox leg bone in the freezer Dianna also doesn’t like dead animals in the freezer that aren’t wrapped or bagged.  Since I didn’t have a bag large enough for the caribou I decided it would be ok on some cardboard.

This was perfect, it was put away until a later date, and it wasn’t getting her freezer all bloody…until she reached into the freezer to get something for dinner.  To her suprise there was a rib cage of caribou, that wasn’t quite frozen yet.  She didn’t seem overly pleased that I was thinking of her as I put it on top of cardboard.

Here is what Dianna’s shower looked like.  It had a plastic bag duct taped over the holes.  The walls were rotting, and there were some pretty crazy stains in the bathtub.  She got this great idea of buying a new tub and shower walls and then when Phil comes to visit she would go to Anchorage for the week and we could remodel her bathroom.  I don’t think she realized that when Phil and I would get stuck we would start tearing out walls.  It wasn’t long before we had several walls torn out and the old bathtub was still sitting in the bathroom.

Here is the bathroom with no shower walls, and then with no walls.  I wasn’t able to get it quite finished by the time she came home and I am not sure if she was happy she wasn’t here to deal with the mess or if she was just happy her bathroom had walls again.  The bathroom project was suppose to be a suprise for her mom when she came to visit but due to Mt. Redoubt her mom’s trip was postponed until a later date.  But the bathroom is finished now, so when company comes they have a nice looking tub and shower to use.

Here it is the finished project.