Too bad christmas is over

because I want this sleeping bag:

 

 

(source/source)

Merry Christmas!

i'm home!

I made it through hours of flying and waiting to finally make it home Saturday afternoon! Now its time for 3 weeks of relaxing and Christmas fun.

Ahh!

(I am a plant)

Here are a few pictures from a lesson Dan and I did with a third grade class.  The topic was habitat.  We did a few different activities, but the funniest was when we acted out a food chain.  The food chain went plant->bunny->bear->dead bear->mushroom-.>plant (from the nutrient the mushroom made)...  When we were planning out the class, Dan told me he wanted to do a food chain without explaining exactly what that meant.  I found out what it meant when he handed me a green feather wig and told me to act like a plant.  I love my job.

(now I am a bear)

It warmed up to 20,

so we decided it would be a good day for a hike.  And no, I did not miss type.  Today was the warmest day in the last 1 and 1/2 weeks at the tropical temperature of 20.  I have been adjusting to the sub-freezing temperatures okay.  My new snow boots have been put to the test and they work pretty well, and I am soooo glad I got a new coat before I moved up here.  The hardest part about the quickly approaching winter is the disappearing daylight.  We are down to 6 hours and 43 minutes of light tomorrow!  I have been getting through the dark by making sure to get outside and do something during the daylight every day, even if it is just going for a walk around the neighborhood.  Luckily, most days we have a stream trip to get me outside for an hour or so.

Anyways, my goal of getting me outside let me to accept an invitation to go hiking with my co-worker Dan today.  We took a 4 mile hike on the Refuge which let to an amazing view of Skilak Lake and the glacier. 

 The hike was only 2 miles to the top, but the added challenge of hiking in snow made it pretty interesting.  What's more, when we finally got to the top, we were almost blown away by the gale force winds!

Regardless of the weather, I love getting out on the refuge to go hiking, and hiking in the snow comes with the added bonus of getting to see tracks.  Even though we didn't see any animals willing to come out on a windy day, we saw snowshoe hare, moose, mouse, and possibly lynx tracks.  Here is a picture of the elusive snow monster track.

I have a few more pictures here.  I miss everyone and am looking forward to the quickly approaching visit home I will be taking for Christmas!

Everybody's heart melts for a 5 year old in a construction paper hat

Last week, Dan and I got an invitation from the kindergarten class we have been working with to see their very first school play about all of the things they have been learning from our creek visits.  It was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life.  Not only did they sing songs about everything they had learned, explain how pH measures if the water is "acidic like orange juice, neutral like fresh water or basic like a soapy mop bucket," and act out how they learned to pull invasive weeds; they also acted out the story of how the beaver got a flat tail.  The kids did a great job remembering all of their lines, their only problem was that they were all scared of using the microphone because some of them had gotten shocked during their dress rehearsal. None the less, it was a very good performance, and it was nice to see how much they had learned from our visits.  After the show, we got to go to the after party where we got cookies and juice and all of the kids wanted to introduce their parents to us.  Cute kids, cookies and juice, and appreciation from the kids for all of the work we have been doing: a good night indeed!

Winter is on its way...

We got our first snow today.  It had melted off the roads by the end of the day, but is still sticking around on some of the plants.  Good thing I got a new pair of snow boots when I was in Anchorage last weekend!  I also had stream trips with two classes today. All the kids were hyped up on snow excitement, a short school week, and the mayhem of Halloween. In addition to my new snow boots, they put studded tires on the car I usually drive today, so don't worry Mom.  I will stay safe in the snow.

In other news, starting tomorrow, I will be the only person living in the bunkhouse which is kinda sad.  To keep me company, though, my office just bought a new 42" plasma tv for the bunkhouse (yay stimulus package?).  They didn't really buy it to keep me company, but I am pretty excited about it since I figured out how to hook it up to my computer.  I'm also excited because I took the GRE last weekend, so I no longer have the nagging feeling hanging around the back of my mind telling me I should be studying.  Now, I just need to figure out if I am going to go to grad school and what for and when and where. No problem, haha.

Top 6 Best things about the Alaska State Fair

We went to the fair a couple of weeks ago hand here is a run down of the best parts:


#6 Driving to Palmer: finally able to get out of Soldotna in the the company of a couple friends and the drive through the Chugach mountains it beautiful!

#5 Alaskan Fair Food: In stead of hamburgers we had caribou burgers and ice cream. Alaska eats the most ice cream per capita of any state.


#4 Giant Vegetables including a 127 Lb cabbage...I guess that is what constant sunlight will do to you.

#3  Walking salmon around the fair.  One of the anti-pebble mine organizations was selling salmon on a leash as a fund raiser.  We got 2 and walked them all over the fair.  It was great because the crowd was so thick that people would see us with leashes and assume we had dogs.  Then when they got close enough to see salmon on the ends of our leashed they would get quite a shock.  Most people would just laugh, but one kid got so scared, he nearly jumped out of his skin and ran away.

 #2  Double Rainbow we saw driving back home, and a beluga whale.  It was like a Lisa Frank poster.

  #1 Best 4-H poster ever made.  I will let it speak for itself.

Why I like plants/What goes up

 

In an attempt to convince his students that studying plants was both fun and interesting, my Bio II professor gave a speech on the first day about why he liked plants. It went more or less as follows: plants can't run away when you are trying to track them, plants have lots of interesting uses, they look pretty, and they don't scream if you cut them open. I don't know about their superiority as a subject to study, but as far as living off the land goes, plants get my vote for being the the most fun.

I went blueberry picking Sunday and apart from getting a few freezer bags full of blueberries, it was great to get outside and hike around Peterson Bay in Homer. We took a boat across the bay where we saw a sea otter and a river otter which was way exciting. I also like blueberry picking for the fact that clean up/processing was way easier than fishing or clamming. And I didn't have to feel bad about killing anything. Blueberries don't writhe in pain. I plan on having blueberry pancakes for brinner to celebrate the trip.

I have more pictures of the trip here. My boss and his neighbor took their dogs on the trip. Apparently labs like blueberries. It was funny to watch the dogs chewing on the bushes, but not so funny when they were eating the bush you were trying to pick from.



The last two days at work I have been helping out at the weirs where yesterday I learned first hand that the laws of gravity apply to salmon too. Upon completing their migration from the ocean back up to the streams where they were first hatched, salmon spawn and die having completed their journey. Their decaying bodies then become a key source of nutrients to the entire ecosystem delivering nutrients from the ocean that the forests habitat alone can not provide thus ensuring that the next generation of salmon will be able to grow up in the stream and continue the cycle. In theory the salmon life cycle is quite interesting and beautiful in a "circle of life" kind of way. In reality it stinks. Literally.

When you build a weir to monitor salmon going up stream, it is important to build it in such a way that once the fish go through the counter they can't get back down stream and counted twice. Our weirs work great at keeping the fish up stream which is great until the salmon start to come back down. Yesterday I spent way more time than I would have liked (which would have been none) cleaning fish carcasses off one of our remote weirs. It doesn't get visited often which gave the fish a lot of time to pile up and get really nasty.

Even though it smelled really really bad, and was not the most fun thing I've done here, I am not complaining too much. It was still better to be out on the lake than back in the office.

Here is a cool looking mushroom I found in my yard. I don't have much to say about it other than I like the way it looks and apparently it is poisonous, so I am not going to eat it.

 

New Pictures

I got a few pictures from my friend Heather's camera. They are in the album called "Fish and Fishing." The pictures of me in the trap catching/holding the salmon are from one of the weirs in Soldotna that the office uses to monitor the Chinook run. The run is over now, but it was pretty busy for a while. Sampling scales from salmon; just one of the random skills I have picked here.



I also got some more pictures from fishing in Seward. I can see why people like to go fishing to relax. It was a god day to sit, and be with your thoughts.


I have more pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/EmilyS52486/FishWeirAndFishing#

I think I finally fixed the link to my pictures. If not, it is

http://picasaweb.google.com/EmilyS52486

I haven't had any new pictures to add recently, though.

The end is near

I am still here. Not a lot has been going on lately. I went to Homer the last two Saturdays to work at the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in their discovery lab. The best part of that was getting to go to the Mermaid Cafe next door. It has the best coffee in Alaska and a cool used bookstore where I found a Flannery O'Connor book with a peacock cover. I am stock piling books for the long winter which is apparently approaching fast. Alaskan legend says that when the top flowers on the Fireweed bloom summer is done and fall has arrived. I took this picture about a month ago...



and this one today...



It doesn't look good for summer.

Hopefully I will get a chance to get in a few more summer activities before it slips away...

I'm published...kinda

http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/073109/out_366333200.shtml

Weekend Review

The week I spent at the Moose Center was amazing. Not only did I fall in love with the babies, but I learned about some new stuff about wildlife biology and I got to meed some cool people. The babies were sick most of the week with dietary issues, but I think that by the time I left it looked like they were getting better. I hope they are still doing okay.

Going back to the office was kinda difficult. It was just so much fun to get to play pioneer girl for the week at the moose pens. Their volunteer house was a real live log cabin complete with gas powered stove, fridge, lights and an out house. I was pretty much channeling my inner Laura Ingles Wilder and loving it. I don't know how much I would have liked it come December, though. Probably better to get out before the first big snow.

To beat away the work week blues Heather, Charlie and I took a half day off work that turned into a whole day to go clam digging. Again I found myself calling forth a version of myself from a past life, this time bringing out my inner hunter-gatherer. Equipped with a shovel and pail, we headed out to Clam Gulch on one of the biggest tides of the month to scoop up some dinner. 120 clams later, I learned that the hardest part of clamming is not the hour or two digging clams, but the entire afternoon and evening it took to clean them. Not only is it time consuming slow work, but the clams' feet move even after they have been cut into little pieces.

Regardless of the traumatizing cleaning experience, they sure tasted good and I feel like I am starting to earn my Alaskan stripes.

Just a quick update

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. Still no internet at the house. Just a summary of what I have been up to...on the 4th I went up to Anchorage for the day to meet and visit with a friend of a friend who was super nice and showed me all around Anchorage. It was great to see the city and to get to meet new people. We went to Kaladi Brother's Coffee, Tidal Wave Bookstore, REI and the Anchorate Museum, so all in all I would call in very Alaskan trip to the city.

At work I have been mostly reading up on salmon and environmental ed. stuff, and going out to the fish weirs every chance I get-I like getting out of the office. I am getting really good at mounting fish scales on cards, and I have even been getting brave enough to be the one to get into the cage and wrangle the fish, although I feel bad when I have to take the scales. The guys promised that it doesn't hurt the fish, though.

Last Saturday I went on a fishing trip to Seward with a few people from work. We spent to whole day out on Resurrection Bay. I caught 2 Coho (aka silver) salmon, a pink (aka humpy) salmon, and a rock fish (aka sea bass). Pretty good catch. It was a great day not only because we were all catching fish, but because the bay is beautiful. There is a ton of wildlife there too. We saw sea lions, puffins, and even a hump back whale. I have a few pictures of the trip up in my Welcome to Alaska album.

Right now, I am at the Moose Research Center where I am helping out for the week taking care of 4 baby moose. This means feeding them, cleaning up after them, taking them on walks, and even the occasional trip to the lake for a swim. They are really adorable, and since they are going to be research moose, we want them to be as habituated to people as possible, so that when they are older, it is easier to do think with them (like take blood or corral into a pen). I have already taken a ton of pictures of the babies and I have posted a few of them online in their own album. I am sure I will have more to say about the moose as the week goes on, and a bunch of more pictures.

Working Hard...

Ok, I suppose I have a lot to talk about...lets pick up where I left off last. Last Tuesday, I got to take a tour of one of the weirs that the FWS is using to monitor salmon migration. It is really high tech, they have video cameras in the part of the weir that the fish swim through to count the fish when the weir is open. It uses the same software they use in security cameras, so it is kinda like watching criminal fish. We went to take samples, though, so they had closed the weir the day before; however, when we got to the weir, there was only one fish in the weir. Apparently the run is low this year.

The next day, I got to do more fishery stuff which was a lot more exciting. I learned how they use radio telemetry to track radio tagged fish in the river. This is fun because it requires floating 18 miles down the river in a row boat with a large radio antenna and a radio receiver. The receiver beeps whenever we would float past a fish with a tracking tag. We were looking for Steelhead (AKA rainbow trout that migrate between freshwater and the ocean) which are on their way back to the ocean, so there were not that many left in the river. Regardless of the fish, though, it was a really nice day and quite relaxing to spend my work day floating on the river. My co-workers were both very knowledgeable about birds and could identify pretty much ever bird we saw. From what I can remember, we saw loons, cormorants, Arctic turns, Bonaparte's gull, cliff swallows, golden eyes, harlequin ducks, and probably some others that I am forgetting right now.

To continue in the theme of fish and boats and water, I got to go fishing last Thursday! I went with Charlie who lives in the house with me during the weekdays so that he doesn't have to drive the hour and a half home to Homer everyday. We took his boat (a Zodiac which is kinda like a big inflatable raft with a motor) to Stormy Lake which is in the Capitan Cook State Park to fish for Northern Pike. While Northern Pike are found naturally in the Northern parts of Alaska, they have been illegally introduced on the peninsula. This is bad because the Pike have no natural predators in the peninsula, and they are “voracious predators of young salmon” as the posters we have around the office warn. As a way of combating the spread of Pike, the bag limit for Pike has been liberalized which means that people are allowed to (and encouraged to) catch as many as they can. Apparently people have been taking advantage of this on Stormy Lake because we didn't catch anything. Charlie did let me drive the boat for a while which was fun, and the lake is really nice because it is in the state park-no houses. We were the only people on the lake, so it really felt like being out in the middle of the wilderness.

The Kenai Wildlife Refuge hosted their annual wildflower day last Friday, and I got to go the even to see what their Environmental Ed program is like. It was a great day for the event, very sunny and all of the flowers were in bloom. One of the rangers led the walk I was signed up for, and at the end of the walk while I was talking to her I found out that she is a supervisor for some of the SCA interns at the Refuge. Lucky for me, she invited me to come back to the Refuge on Sunday to go on the field day that her SCA interns were scheduled for. With that in mind, I relaxed on Saturday (my first day off in 2 weeks!), and made my way back to the refuge on Sunday.



The other SCA interns are really friendly, and it was nice to hear what their experiences have been like. They are both working at the Visitor's Center on the refuge, so they are required to do hikes on the Refuge to be better equipped at answering questions. I went on two hikes with them; on the first and longest, we hiked to Fuller Lake where we ate lunch. Second, we hiked Burney's trail which led us to a great view of the mountains and lakes surrounding the Refuge. I had a great time, and the trails were beautiful especially since all the flowers were in bloom. The weather on Sunday kept on threatening to rain, but it was nice enough to hold off until after we were done hiking. Today I was back in the office just going through and organizing all of the Environmental Ed stuff and learning everything I can about salmon. I have pictures up from my hikes on my picassa site which the link for is found to the right in the links section.

Oh! Moose update: Bertha (out moose friend) has been back by the house and last time she brought her two calves! Apparently they were nursing from her, but by the time I got outside with my camera, they were done with their dinner and getting ready to lay down and take a nap with their full bellies.



Thats all for now, hopefully we will be getting internet at the house soon, so my posts will be coming more frequently once I don't have to go to the cafe in the grocery store to access internet.

Kenai River Fest=Success

This past weekend was the Kenai River Festival, and the first event that I got to participate in at my new job. We hosted the Pathway to Fishing where I taught fish anatomy and habitat and my other co-workers led fishing gear, fish handling, knot tying, and safety. Finally, we had casting practice with groups of about 20 kids lined up all flinging rubber weights tied to the end of their fishing poles at wooden fish mouths and kiddie pools. Needless to say, it was quite exciting.
The other parts of the festival were fun too, although, i only got to walk around for a few minutes. There were alot of groups supporting the management of the river, and alot of vendors selling everything from llama wool to giant baby shower cakes make out of diapers. There was live music during the entire festival, and I bet no one at Bonnaroo got to hear about 5 different versions of Rollin' On the River.
The weather was perfect on Saturday and turned good on Sunday despite the clouds in the morning. It was a fun weekend, and I am glad I got to meet some of the people out in the community even if I couldn't answer any of their fishing questions. There are no Environmental Ed. events coming up soon, so I think I may get to try my hand at sampling some Chinook. I'll let you know how that goes later.

Homer

Last Sunday me and the other guys in the house decided to take a day trip to homer which is a town about an hour south of us. Along the way, we stopped because the guys wanted to see if any of the people fishing were catching anything. Homer is on the coast, and you drop about 1000 feet just before you get there, so there are alot of really great views along the drive, and we stopped at a spot to take pictures. In Homer, we walked around the spit which is where all the shops and restaurants are and looked at the boats because one of the guys is a fan of Deadliest Catch and the Time Bandit was in Homer getting a fresh coat of paint. We also saw some interesting sea life attached to the boats. Particularly a really big star fish.
We spent the afternoon at our co-worker Charlie's house. Charlie lives on the bluff and has one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. We spent a while taking in the view of the ocean and we spotted a sea otter with a baby through the birding scope. We also saw an eagle and the little owl that is living in Charie's owl box. The weather for that day was perfect, so all in all it was a pretty fantastic day.
I put some of the pictures up in the same album as my last post, that link should still work.

So far, Moose are still exciting

Yesterday for work, one of the girls I work with took me on a great tour of Kenai and Soldotna. I saw the Soldotna museum where they had some of the original log cabins where the first homesteaders lived. I can not imagine living in a one bed room cabin in he best of times let alone when there was snow every where and no roads, and I am really glad that I don't have to eat homemade canned salmon because it looked awful. I finally got to see the coast and the cook inlet which is right next to Old Kenai where the first little town was. The Russian Orthodox church is in Old Kenai and it is a really interesting building with an even more interesting priest. He told us the story of every piece of art in the the little sanctuary; I think that during the summer he functions as both priest and tour guide. Every where we went people were so friendly and wanted to tell us everything about Alaska. One lady even gave us a 50 year old news paper to take back to the office because it had an article about the moose population. The news paper had a really funny article about a guy who fell off his roof, broke his arm and had to be flown into Anchorage "for repairs." We also went to see the old cannery which was the industry that Kenai was once centered around. The original port where they used to have a market place is still there and now it is full of interesting little shops that open in the summer to sell to the tourists which I think is kinda fitting.
Last night after our day trip, we were watching movies at the bunk house when Bertha the moose decided to eat dinner in our yard. Me and the other guys not from Alaska were really excited and all went outside to take pictures which the people from Alaska found silly. So far I have seen about 8 moose, but I still think it is cool that she came right up to the house.
Today was not as exciting. I have been fixing up all the old kid's fishing rods for our booth at the upcoming Kenai River fest which is tedious, but I guess fixing fishing rods is still a lot better than most other office work. Yesterday was great weather which was good since I was out sightseeing, and it has been raining today which is also good because the Salmon are not as numerous as they should be in some places. Apparently salmon like rain.
I have added all of my pictures from yesterday online at http://picasaweb.google.com/EmilyS52486/WelcomeToAlaska#

Its a little cold here

Well, I made it to Kenai with almost no trouble. One of my bags made it about four hours after I did, but the airline brought it to my house which was nice. After my long flight, my boss at the FWS picked me up at the airport and took me to the bunk house where I will be staying for the next year. The bunk house is actually a house that they rent for the interns, not a log cabin with a bunch of bunk beds. Currently there are five other people living with me, but they are all moving to field camps over the next couple of weeks. Thursday I got bear safety and gun safety training (don't worry, I won't be carrying a gun), and I got to go to the shooting range on Friday and shoot a shot gun for the first time. It was quite an experience. Once I found out that I was left eye dominant, I was actually a pretty good shot. I hit all three of my shots in the moving target right in the kill zone.

At work right now, I am getting ready for the Kenai River Festival; we are going to have a big tent set up with different stations to teach kids about fishing. It sounds like I am going to love my job. My main project once the school year starts is going to be going to local schools and leading the adopt a stream program. Pretty much I am going to get to play in the creek all day. All of the people who work there are very friendly.

I am really excited to get to see some of the Alaskan wildlife. So far, I have seen about 3 moose, a couple eagles, some ravens and a few other birds. I took a very long walk today around what are the cross country ski trails in the winter. It was a really long long walk, but it was nice to get out side. The weather has been kinda cold and wet (in the 40s and 50s), but the rain held off for me today. Apparently the weather had been great up until the day I got here, so I am hoping it will get nice again soon. It is all really different looking here than TN, but it has not set in yet that I am going to be here for a whole year. Right now the only thing on anybody's mind is fishing; I think one of the girls at work is going to take me out with her sometime soon. The first King salmon are making their way to the rivers so maybe I will land a big one!

Howdy

As I get ready to embark on another adventure, I wanted to make a way for my friends and family to keep up with me while I am so far away. If you don't know, I am moving to Kenai, Alaska for a year to work as an intern for the Fish and Wildlife Service as an environmental educator. I leave in 5 days for Alaska and am so excited for this opportunity! I hope I will have lots of pictures and stories to share and will be using this site to do just that. Check back often to see what I am up to, and leave me feed back on the guest book or in the comments section of each post. I am going to miss everyone so much while I am gone, but I hope that we will be able to keep in touch better with the use of the internet!

Much love,
Emily