Wordless Wednesday

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Combat Fishing

There is something in Alaska known as "combat fishing". Generally it's just shoving 10-20 fishermen fisherwomen fisherpeople in where only 1 should be.

Case in point:


This was our trip to the Kenai River. Notice that people aren't fishing with poles. In Alaska, residents can dipnet for salmon in certain rivers.

Here is my brother-in-law showing off his dip net.

First there are several things to do. We drove from Anchorage to the Kenai River and parked the RV about a mile from the fishing. Then loaded up the ATVs...
And drove down the beach.

Now some people will actually drive their cars and trucks on the beach. Some even make it out without getting stuck. Some.

Once you are set up to fish you just hang out in the mouth of the river hoping a dumb fish salmon will swim in. Like here...


My father-in-law caught one. Here is his girlfriend holding up. -I told her to look like she just caught a fish ;-)


Then you conk it over the head and throw it in the cooler. Or if you are lucky you have someone right there on the beach to clean it for you. I loved this lady. She was there with a group of her family. They would catch a fish and she would clean it. You can see the ulu knife there on her cutting board. The Ulu is used by native Alaskans (and tourists). Actually I have one that I really like. It works well for chopping herbs and nuts. And I guess fish, but I have a hard time cutting large things straight.


Here is a better shot of the ulu (again I'm saving you from the gore)...


Then you just hang out and wait. And wait. And wait. It can be pretty boring if you aren't fishing (or have a camera - I got lots of strange stares as I took photos). Obviously it can get pretty boring even if you are fishing.


Here is one of the kids finding something to do.

It was a pretty fun experience and very, very Alaskan. Certainly not on the typical sight seeing tours.

Field Trip

Last week Brian went on a field trip with his preschool class to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Here are a couple of pictures...



I will try to get more pictures up later today. For some reason my energy level plummeted yesterday and I'm trying to recover today.

No Cavity Club

Today is a shout out to my son. He went to the dentist this morning and did really, really well. No cavities. No crying. Plenty of space for all his teeth. And, all his permanent teeth are there (this was debatable since only 3 of the bottom middle baby teeth came in).

Whoo Hoo!

He actually had a ton of fun seeing the "pictures" of his teeth, and also having the sweet dental assistant brush his teeth and make them "sparkly". She was really great with him and walked him through the whole process before she did anything. The best was teaching him about the little water sucker thing - Mr. Thirsty (what is that really called?). She let Brian give Mr. Thirsty a drink from a cup of water, then she had him give Mr. Thirsty a kiss. It worked like a charm and Brian had no fear of the thing (I was always convinced it would suck my face off if I wasn't careful).

Hopefully my son will do better with dentists than I have. Recently I went over a decade without a dental visit. It's like when I see a spider. I don't want my son to have the same fears that I have, so I'm all, "look what a great spider. Let me take him in my bare hands and put him back outside where he can live a happy spider life." - all the while smiling like this is the most normal thing ever.

"Look at the great dentist. Let me allow him and his scary death inducing painful wonderful tools to clean my teeth. Oh, the fun we have."