How is it already mid-August?

We ended up eating that crab for three amazing dinners. The next night, we rolled up the giant insect meat inside rice paper with carrot, cucumber, lettuce, mint, and vermicelli. The night after that we just polished it off with whatever we were eating for dinner. From this same dive trip, Scott also brought home several packages of sea cucumber – thin silky pieces of ocean flesh naturally segmented into strips.

Aside from the dive trip bounties and one great halibut fishing trip with Phil and Aimee, this summer has been weak on harvesting. No other fish to speak of, so definitely no upcoming brining and smoking sessions, no Tupperwares full of berries, and Scott doesn’t plan on hunting any deer this season.

Our subsistence way of living in Southeast has given way to a year of readjusting – getting back into the flow of America, familiarizing ourselves with Juneau and its many miles of road and trails, becoming functional in old jobs in new settings, transitioning into two different houses and, the best readjustment of all, welcoming Lota into our lives.

As the weather changes, Lota’s been discovering ever more about the world. He loves chasing dry leaves moving in the wind, and there’s more and more of them on the ground every day. Although, they won’t be staying dry for very long. Within a day, Juneau went from dry conditions to near flooding. In the backyard, he gets fixated on the way the grass moves in the falling rain and he’ll move ever so intently. He also pounces on big bugs and gobbles them up. This morning, he cocked his head to the sound of rain falling hard on the roof.

Yesterday, we walked to the cabin near Eagle Glacier.

Eagle Glacier is behind us. Lota is sticking his tongue out to the camera.

 

Dungy

Scott came home Tuesday night with Dungeness crab. During his week research diving, he had harvested some and managed to bring back a few. Nothing could have made me happier (although last time he came back from diving, he brought home 12 large succulent scallops, which also made my heart swoon; indeed, often the way to my heart is through my stomach).

We had taken Lota for a big walk up Eaglecrest so by the time we came home it was 7:30, too late to prepare anything for dinner, so we did what any reasonable person would do. We spread newspaper on the kitchen table and had crab and beer for dinner – a perfect combo. I couldn’t believe that it was already well into August and I was only just then having my first taste of Dungeness crab shucked straight from the shell.

Back in our Wrangell life, we’d spend a good chunk of summer our time shucking crab we’d pull up from the dredges of the ocean floor. With a luxury of a boat and a great big crab pot (and Scott’s knowhow of where to drop that pot), we always had crab around. As with most things we harvested in Wrangell, it got to the point where we would hardly even eat it fresh. We’d harvest, bring home, cook, shuck, and vacuum seal. Those vacuum sealed packages would go in the freezer and throughout the year, we’d try to find ways to use it all up – throw some in a quiche, a lasagna, soup. They were coveted gifts of my family in New York, who had to suffer through the hard earned satisfaction of shucking blue crab purchased from Chinatown. (I’m being terrible right now – I grew up on this very same crab and loved it. Shucking blue crab on our white dinner table in Chappaqua is the backdrop of so many happy memories spent with my mother. She used her circular chopping board as a surface to smash claws on.)

Lota and the Meteor Shower

10 August - Lota and I went on a 5-hour walk today up to Spaulding Meadows and then a long ways on the trail to the John Muir cabin. He seemed pretty tuckered out by the time we got back to the truck. He immediately ducked under the vehicle to lay down in the cool shade and would only be lured out with his blue rubber bone.

I ran some errands, including Lota’s first visit to Petco. As soon as we got home, he collapsed on the floor and immediately fell asleep. I just woke him up to go outside to pee and now he’s happily chewing on a newly purchased red kong. The Kong company has quite a racket on us humans - $12.50 for a small chew toy made of thick rubber. I haven’t stuffed it with peanut butter yet. It’s too close to his dinnertime to do that.

Two days ago, his favorite toy was a small green rubber ball with a bell inside. But he quickly tired of it, not retrieving it when it was thrown across the room, and now it’s missing.

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11 August - I’ve become one of those people who take excessive photos of their pets and want to show other people them. I’m that person. I try to resist it, but it’s so hard. A large portion of my life is now devoted to walking with Lota, rubbing his belly, and making sure I know where he as at all times. I spent a good hour early this morning cuddling with him on the couch. It’s hard not to project that. And here I am writing about him. Is getting a puppy a form of addiction or obsession?

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Last night, Sara and I drove out to the North Douglas boat launch. I pulled in so that the vehicle was facing the ocean and the big open sky. I didn’t know when we arrived, but another group was below us on the beach with chairs and a campfire. It was past 11 pm and dark enough to see all seven stars of the big dipper. That’s what Rosemary Walling said – the local astronomy professor I spoke to about the Perseid meteor shower – if you can those stars, you’ve set yourself up well to see meteors. Besides the big dipper, there were thousands of other stars as well. Lota was restless on the leash. We were off the road so I didn’t want to take any chances. He was curious about the noise coming from below us on the beach; he wants to greet everyone.

I assumed everyone knew about the meteor shower, but Sara didn’t realize that’s what we were looking for. Her interest lies in seeing the northern lights – after 2+ years in Alaska, she has yet to see them. I told her to focus on just one area and look out for what shooting star-like occurrences. After less than 10 minutes of concentrated staring, I saw my first one flash by. Rosemary has said that over the phone – just look for the flashes of light. It took Sara a little longer to see one – she spent a little time looking at constellations with the help of an iPhone app, which emitted a sound as if we were in a planetarium instead of underneath the big open night sky. After half an hour or so, our necks started to ache. I had seen about four and it was lovely.

When I got ready to go to sleep, I realized that I could get a good view of the night sky right from the bedside window. So I turned off the lamp, placed my pillow as close to the window as I could, and laid my body horizontally across the bed. Within five minutes, I feel asleep with my glasses on. I groggily took them off and put them on the windowsill, promising myself I would get up later to take a look. When Lota stirred around 3:20 am, I peeked outside the window and realized it was already too bright to make out most of the stars.

Tonight I will try again.

Day One

Today was the official first day of my new job. Yesterday, I was a summer fill-in radio news reporter. Today, I’m a permanent radio news reporter for KTOO and, boy, did I start off the new title well.

I’ve been working at the radio station since the end of May. I’ve been regularly doing at least four live newscasts a week, either the 12:30 news or the 4:30 news. Today, during the noon cast, was the first time I forgot to press the all-important “ON AIR” button, which meant for three minutes, I was delivering the news into a mic – to myself. Everybody else in Juneau and the surrounding area listening to KTOO heard the default broadcast of BBC news, which airs when the important button isn’t pressed.

The 12:30 is normally more challenging for me because I have exactly 3 minutes – I must start at 12:29:30 and end at 12:32:30. There’s no underwriting, no transition music. Whereas the 4:30 cast, even though it’s longer, is more flexible with 60 seconds worth of All Things Considered transition music, which means I can end my cast anywhere between 4:34:30 to 4:35:30.

I ended today’s 12:30 cast, with The World resuming right at 12:32:30, thinking, ‘This is the best I’ve done it yet,’ only to realize seconds later there was no reason to press the “OFF AIR” button because it was still lit.

As I walked into the newsroom in shock, the news director, Rosie, pulls her headphones off and says, “I didn’t hear your cast.” As soon as I explained that I didn’t press the “ON AIR” button, she instantly reassured me, “We’ve all done it. It happens, and now that it’s happened to you, it’ll never happen again.”

I got over it pretty quickly, returned to my office, fed Lota, and took him for a small walk. I got back to my desk a little after 1 pm and felt content to spend the rest of the day working on a story for tomorrow morning.

Around 2:30, Rosie walked in my office and said, “What did you find out at the meeting?” I pulled off my headphones and, in a confused and shocked state of mind once again, said, “I totally forgot about the meeting.” I was supposed to cover a 1:30 meeting. Thankfully, I didn’t miss anything as, I’ve been told, the committee went directly into executive session; i.e. the general public isn't allowed to be present.

My mistakes didn’t amount to anything significant. It was just one of those days. On the other hand, I did get two stories done, which hasn’t happened in a while.

Hopefully day two will go a little smoother.