Phase I: Plant Preparation

Spring Snow

I've been looking forward to planting flowers since about January. Planting means that the nights are at least 40 degrees - and days are warmer than that! So I figured I would blog about the process. Phase I: Plant Preparation is just before everything happens. Can't purchase the flowers yet because they can't stay outside yet (and the cats would eat them if they stay inside - impromptu salad bar!).

So these pictures are taken in May - including the snowstorm. I'm a little behind the times, since we're using the camera that takes actual film - we haven't replaced the digital yet, and I still miss it. I'll be taking pictures for Phase II this weekend (to be posted sometime in July-ish?), and Phase III will be pictures from the end of the season (that being August / September).

Deck Pots

Hanging Pots

Perennial Bed (back yard)

Annual Bed (front yard)

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Seward fishing for Halibut. Seward is a harbor town about 2 hours south of Anchorage (less if your foot has some lead and you can avoid getting behind the campers, buses, & sightseeing vehicles that always seem to go so much slower than I want to go and even the posted speed limit). Big cruise line ships come into Seward and drop off passengers bound for Anchorage. It also hosts the Mount Marathon - where crazy people run up the steep side of a mountain growing in the middle of town on the 4th of July. (According to the blurb on about the run on the Seward site, http://www.sewardak.org/ : "a mile and a half up and a mile and a half down, complete with cliffs, waterfalls, and a wonderful view.") I believe the area is glacier cut - because of the steep mountains that come directly to the water. And that's a good guess for just about anywhere in Alaska, anyway. It has a deep harbor and when we go out to halibut fish, we usually anchor out in about 300 feet of water. Halibut are bottom fish and they like it dark, cold, & deep.

Seward Harbor

This is an annual trip we take with some friends on their boat. It's always a good time, but this year it was especially good. You see, the weather is generally chilly when we go. But this year, there was a warm spell and we had some really gorgeous weather. We went out Saturday & Sunday, home on Monday to do some flower planting and get ready for the week ahead.

View from the fishing grounds

I love how flat the water was!

We only caught one fish, but it was a beaut! Not overly large (about 80#), which is good. Mid-range in size means we're not taking "the chickens", it's still good eating, and you get a bit of fun reeling it in. Greg did all the work - reeled it in, then took it to the dock, filleted it, and took what was left to the meat packers. We've had our halibut a couple times - it's one of my favorite fishes for eating. Yum!!

Big Fish

Side Note: It's amazing how quickly one gets used to amenities. Then when they're taken away, we feel the loss and almost can't function properly without them. Take my digital camera. We got a *cheap* camera just to learn with and have fun. I didn't use it for the longest time, but eventually found it handy. Then I started blogging and the ability to take pictures, have them immediately, then write about what I was thinking of when I took the picture was phenomenal! Well, our camera died (because it was cheap). And I've been mourning the loss for quite some time. So now my posting is delayed because we had to finish taking the rest of the pictures on the roll, then get the film developed. *SIGH* We've been investigating a replacement, but for one reason or another still haven't made the addition to our family yet. Soon...