Tomatoes

This was a tough year for gardening up here, between nasty weather, hungry moose and busy gardeners, so we ended up not getting as much fresh produce as we expected. Given that the growing season ended well over a month ago, it was only that much more surprising when I went into my office at the start of last week and saw a bright red tomato there on the vine. What's more, within a couple of days it had some friends (who says you can't have fresh produce in Anchorage this time of year). Check it out:

I also love the fact that the tomato plant has a big loop-de-loop in it from when it collapsed back in August:

Great hike

I guess that usually, or at least in the "olden days," Anchorage would have snow by now. But it didn't happen last year and it hasn't happened this year, so maybe snow free Halloweens are what people should start expecting up here. So to make use of the good weather Bella and I grabbed Louis and Dash from across the alley and headed off to hike up Wolverine Peak, right at the edge of town. What follows is a photographic chronicle of our adventures:

I think its a rule that if you go for a hike around Anchorage and Denali is visible you have to take way too many shots of it even though you already have 60 such photos and it will never look as impressive in the picture as it does at the time. So let's get this out of the way early:

That was pretty easy, right? Back to the hike. All of the leaves have been off of the trees for several weeks now, which really opened up all the views. On top of that, the Devils Club and Cow Parsnip have both died way back, so the brambles and thick underbrush are much less of a problem. At the bottom of the hike we crossed a number of meadows like this, with tall, dormant grasses, a few trees and a glimpse of our destination.
More of the same, but this shows you just how nice the day was becoming. Cool at first but bright sunshine after the forecast was for nothing but clouds.

There's Wolverine Peak for the first time. The plan is to hike up to the knob on the far right, follow the ridge that ascends from right-to-left below the snowline and then traverse back across the ridge to the right to get to the top.

Here we are a little further up the trail, waiting for Dash to come back from chasing rabbits. That's downtown Anchorage in the background.
Near the top, with a bit of snow on the ground, Bella decided to check out the view down into the valley of the North Fork of Campbell Creek. It looks really cliffy, but aside from the top couple feet its actually a steep but steady slope straight down at least a thousand feet to the creek.
Here Bella models her Halti. There was another dog at the summit, so I decided to leash her up just in case, but she was pretty good.
I don't think Louis dropped his snack ever, but if he had the pups were ready. You'd think we never fed them.
No, Louis! The view's that way!
The head of the North Fork of Campbell Creek. That's Williwaw Lake in the center, and the mountain on the far right is Williwaw Peak. Nobody knows who Willy Waw was, but he picked some pretty stuff to name. Looking at this view just made me want to keep hiking to see what was on the far side of that ridge.
Here we are just after starting back down the mountain, with town in the distance. If you look closely, the white building along the water directly above the snow patch in the foreground is where Beth works. If you click the photo to zoom in you can also see a lake about halfway between the snow in the foreground and Beth's building. That's Goose Lake and it's only about a quarter mile from our house. What a great way to spend a sunny Saturday in late October!

The backyard

Once we got the siding project "done" (okay, so technically there's still some work to do, but nothing that absolutely can't wait), I guess I was pretty eager to get to work in the backyard. Last year we moved in just before the start of winter, so the only thing I managed to do outside was to plant some tulip and daffodil bulbs. When spring (finally!) came, it was great to see them start sprouting while the rest of the yard was still covered in snow. Then when the flowers started blooming they were such a nice splash of color after a long winter of white, greys and browns.

But that was all Beth and I got to do last fall, and as the snow melted in the rest of the yard it revealed all sorts of branches, unraked leaves, trash, hoses, a swinging chair canopy, rocks, fence posts, a pot filled with small animal skulls (!), lost tools, utensils, fishing lures, shoes and other assorted crap that was left behind by the old owners. As busy as we were this summer, we didn't get to do too much to fix this up*, and we even ended up adding a bunch of extra branches, logs and construction debris to the mess.

* Although when I think about it, we did put in a fair bit of work. Beth spent about 3 days raking, we cleaned up the trash, built raised garden beds and planter boxes, filled in low spots with topsoil, planted grass seed, trimmed trees on our own and hired a service to cut down 7 full trees. Its just that with our siding project and the rotten midsummer weather we never got caught up.

So anyway, by the time we were done siding I had a bit of a bee in my bonnet about making the yard look nice. Here's what I did about it:

Task #1: Plant bulbs along the front of the house

Beth and I did this one together after work one day. I raked leaves over the top as insulation, and now we just need to hope there's no windstorm before snow falls. I should also not that part of the reason we had to replant is that we not only trampled the old flowers during our window and siding adventures, but we also dug up all of this dirt while burying blueboard. So some of the old bulbs got smashed, split or buried 2 feet deep. Anyway, here's photo evidence (at least of the raking part).

Task #2: Winterized the raised berry beds:

In order to protect our berry bushes from cold weather and foraging moose, they needed to get covered, too. Plenty of leaves in the backyard, but the trick was avoiding dog poop. Fortunately Bella likes to pick just a few predictable spots, so I just avoided those areas.

Task #3: Mow the backyard

I'll start this out by saying that I think throwing leaves away in trash bags is about the dumbest thing in the world. Trust me, leaves don't need to end up in a landfill. But our compost bin is nearly full and in the spring it will have to fit all of the leaves from the last couple of pictures. So instead of composting, I mowed the lawn even though the grass is pretty much dormant by now. By mowing the lawn (and by lawn I guess I really mean leaves), I'm basically just shredding all of the leaves and twigs so they can compost in place and in the spring the new grass should just grow around and through the chopped-up leaves. I got the idea from the gardening column in the local paper, which recommends this as a natural way to fertilize the lawn, and honestly it took a lot less effort than raking would have.

Task #4: Cut down broken tree

Although I clearly don't like this sort of job (Note: not true), I was ready for it even though it cropped up unexpectedly. After a recent windstorm snapped a fully mature birch tree in half 20 feet off the ground, I figured it was best to take the rest of the tree down myself rather than letting it smash our shed, or the fence, or Bella, or one of us. I cut off the still-dangling top and all of the branches with our extendable pruning saw, then had to figure out how to get the trunk down without crushing any of the things that I was trying to protect in the first place. I opted for tying a rope around the very top of the tree and looping the rope over the base of a branch of a nearby tree. After cutting most of the way through the trunk I pulled the rope tight, leaning the broken tree into the living one, an

d tied it off. This held the trunk up while I sawed the rest of the way through, and then I was able to use the rope to gradually lower it to the ground. Later, I dug around the stump and used a chainsaw to cut it off nearly at ground level. All-in-all it went quite smoothly, with the notable exception of Beth's hammer ("Stanley") having to spend a cold and lonely night hung up in a tree branch.

Task #5: Get rid of all the sticks, roots, branches, stumps, twigs, etc. that won't be used in our wood stove this winter

Between pruning trees last spring, getting rid of brush to build our garden, our recent windstorm, digging up roots while burying blueboard insulation, some construction debris, wood that was down when we moved in and whatever other sources, we had some pretty big piles of branches in our yard as well as a scattering of random branches. All this led to a 2-day bonfire to get rid of it all. I hope our neighbors can forgive me for day 2, when I dumped a box of wet leaves and dirt onto a raging fire leading to 3 hours of a massive smoke cloud settling over the neighborhood. My bad everybody. I didn't want to compost it because of nails and other construction debris that were mixed in, and for some reason I was actually convinced that it would burn easily. I guess you win some and you lose some, right? Anyway, after the bonfire (and another two days before the coals were totally out) the yard was a much cleaner place.

Task #6: Dump run

Because you can't burn everything, and because Beth has the good sense to not even try, there was a whole lotta construction debris that needed to be taken to the dump. So last Saturday Beth and I jam-packed Chris' trailer with junk, but there was still more. So we put a tarp in the trunk of the Camry and loaded it up with junk, too, which took care of nearly everything. Finally, we strapped our old dining room window to the roof and took it all up to the landfill in Eagle River. With a net weight of nearly 1500 pounds it was by far our biggest dump run - equal to the first two runs combined!

Task #7: Cut, split, stack and cover firewood

This is the part that makes me feel all Alaskan and manly. I think I even grew a beard while I was splitting wood. Anyway, here's what I was dealing with:

• Logs from the trunks of 7 trees we had cut in early summer
• Logs I collected last fall that had never been cut or split
• Logs from the tree that just got blown over
• A stack of the bigger branches that were pruned in the spring
• Logs from several smaller trees that we cut down ourselves last winter/spring

Anyway, this took a couple of days even though I had started splitting some of the wood in August. But thanks to some gorgeous weather (the state high temperature of 56 degrees was set at Merril Field, which is where our neighborhood of Airport Heights gets its name) and a state holiday (hooray for Alaska Day!!) I was finally able to finish this up last Monday. Now we've got a couple cords of wood ready to go for the winter. Here's our backup stack:

Task #8: Plant grass seed

It turns out that right before the first snow is actually I great time to put down grass seed, so that it starts to germinate as soon as the snow starts really melting in Spring. I haven't actually done this one yet, but I'm ready to go once snow is in the forecast and I've thought about it enough that I feel good writing it here.

Task #9: Final Tidying

This is just tying up the loose ends: coiling ropes, folding tarps, storing things for the winter and just generally cleaning up. I'm already looking forward to next spring when the snow melts and we can go straight to enjoying our beautiful backyard. Not that we won't enjoy it over the winter, but the thought of long summer evenings out there is a big part of why we bought the place.

Parents visit - Part 2

On the Saturday morning of my parents' visit, we (Beth and I, my parents, Bella, our friend Bryn and her dog Dash) made a leisurely getaway around 11 AM to head north of town for a quick canoeing and camping trip. It was an overcast and chilly morning, with a bit of wind thrown into the mix by the time we reached Nancy Lake State Park. From the trailhead it was a 3 mile hike in to Red Shirt Lake, where our canoes were waiting, and by the time we pushed off from shore there was hardly a cloud left in the sky.

Despite the good omen of the weather, I was pretty nervous as we set off in the canoe for the simple reason that this was Bella's first time in such a tippable boat. She did just fine, despite a really tempting fly-by from a dragonfly where she thought about making a lunge, probably because she was just as nervous about her maiden voyage as I was. In the end, after only about 10 uneventful minutes we were pulling ashore.

Home for the night was a small (~200 feet across) island with a rustic (amenities include wooden sleeping platform and table!) cabin looking southwest across the lake. It was the perfect place to let the dogs run amok, which they were more than willing to do. That left us two-leggers to enjoy a beautiful, sunny and warm afternoon however we wanted.

Not surprisingly, we based our entertainments around food, drink and a cheery campfire (which was also a welcome source of warmth as the evening wound down). Sunset in late September was still nearly 8PM, so we were able to prepare dinner at a leisurely pace while sipping from a variety of wines (carried in our brand new Platypus PlatyReserve wine reservoirs - YUM!). The main course was Spaghetti with Parmesan and Bacon - a favorite new recipe that I highly recommend - with a dessert of baked apples filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. It was all delicious, even according to my mom who had uncharacteristically assured us that she would not be enjoying the pasta recipe.

Sleep was restless, especially with two dogs who each interpreted the other's every move as an invitation to play, not to mention Dash's attempt to French Kiss me in my sleep (note: this was only unsuccessful because I had the misfortune of waking up a millisecond before Dash licked my tongue, not because Dash in any way failed to take advantage of me). It also got really chilly in the cabin by the time morning rolled around, although I may have been the only one who needed to add extra layers overnight.

{Dash, you saucy dog, you}

In the morning my mom rekindled the campfire, my dad made a ton of pancakes, Beth and Bryn got water and I... well surely I must have done something. I probably kept the dogs out of trouble. It was a beautiful morning, and when a few snowflakes drifted down on us they seemed so out of place with the mostly sunny skies that I thought they were just ash from the fire. We took our time packing up, with some folks taking the opportunity to head out in canoes to explore the lake a bit before we headed out.

We left our island a bit before noon and were back to the cars a little after one. The weather turned nasty on the drive home, and when we stopped for a late lunch on a detour into Palmer it was raw, windy and dark. There was snow on the mountains and reports that it was snowing hard (but not sticking) in Anchorage. But by the time we got home the sun was out and shining off of the newly frosted peaks. Quite the view from our cozy living room. I'm guessing we celebrated our safe return with a hearty dinner and some wine. I know Bella celebrated by sleeping from about 5 in the evening straight through to morning.

Seasons changing

***Note: this was supposed to be posted at the end of September, but I put it off 'cause I wanted to write the second post about my parents' visit first. Looks like that plan failed, so I'm just going to post this now before it becomes any more dated***

Just like in the spring when it seems that somebody has suddenly flipped the lights on, now it feels like somebody turned them off again. In the past week or so Beth and I have found ourselves biking to work in the dark. It's still light out for the ride home, but by the time dinner is over the sun's nearly set. I guess that's what happens when each day is 6 minutes shorter than the last.

What's more, the weather is following suit. After about 3 straight weeks of beautiful late-summer weather, we got our first frost last Thursday (actually 9/23), and it was a hard one with temps in the mid-20s. Friday was incredibly windy - snapping a 30-40 foot tall birch tree in my backyard in half while my mom and I were out there working. Finally, after a gorgeous Saturday we woke to a few snowflakes while we were camping north of town while it actually snowed steadily in Anchorage for a couple of hours.

For the past few days we've actually had some pretty decent weather in town, but the snow has continued up in the front range and everything above ~4000 feet is looking pretty frosted. It makes a pretty good reminder of all the things that need to get done before the snow starts sticking here in town.

***UPDATE: The first half of this month was really nice: lots of clear frosty nights and sunny days. But the sun doesn't rise until 9AM now, and sunset happens at around 6:30 PM, which doesn't leave much time to get outside after work. It's snowed off and on up in the mountains, but the snowline hasn't gotten any lower than it was for the first snowfall back in late September. It's starting to look like we'll make it to Halloween snow-free. Part of me is happy the snow is holding off, but a part of me is really looking forward to winter settling in.***

Parents visit - Part 1

Since they were already going to be in Minnesota (Editor’s note: MN is still very far away from AK. In fact the two should generally be considered nowhere near one another, but I guess we’ll have to ignore that for now.), my folks decided to fly up for a visit about 2 weeks ago. They got in on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon while Beth and I were still at work and spent an hour or so settling in at our house and playing with Bella before I got home (I left work an hour early so Beth arrived about an hour later.). The plan for the night was eggplant parmesean, Ceasar salad, beer, wine and conversation, and it went off without a hitch. Shocking, I know, given the folks involved.

Beth had to work on Thursday, but I took the day off and after a leisurely start to the morning my parents and I took Bella and drove up to Powerline Pass, an area of the Chugach State Park right at the edge of town. Our hope was to see some of the moose that congregate there every fall and even though we didn’t see any up close we did see several from long distance (Note: that’s not my picture below, but this blog’s been seeming kinda drab ever since my camera bit it). We also saw several sheep in typical sheep-sighting fashion (i.e.: a clump of white dots on a far-off ridge) and my mom and I saw a bear scampering through some clearings across the valley. It was a gorgeous day, with a touch of frost on the ground, the whole city of Anchorage below us, and Denali visible on the horizon 145 miles to the north.

After heading home for a quick lunch it was time for the part of the visit where I put my parents to work. First it was a trip to the grocery and liquor stores, where we stocked up for what appeared to be a much larger group than our party of 4. Next, I set up my mom in the kitchen making spaghetti at Beth’s special request (amazing that the girl can win points with my mom by making her cook a major meal, but my mom was quite tickled to find her spaghetti sauce in such high demand) while my dad and I loaded up construction debris and headed for the dump (with Bella along for the ride). After offloading 800 pounds (my dad was determined to get our before and after weights in the car) of junk that used to be my house, it was back to the house for another major meal accompanied by libations and conversation.

On Friday morning it was back-to-work for the DC-ers. Beth and my dad worked at putting up vinyl siding on the front of the house (which I’ll let her describe on her own blog) while my mom and I worked at burying metal flashing to cover the foundation of our house ahead of putting up the rest of the siding. We worked pretty much straight through from 9 AM until about 6 PM, with a break for a robust lunch (spaghetti, eggplant parm, leftover meatloaf sandwiches, etc.), before the traditional post-construction dinner at Don Jose’s. It was fajitas and a margarita for me, and if I recall correctly it was margaritas all around as we were all feeling pretty parched from a full day of labor.

My folks claim to have enjoyed putting in the work on our house, and were very complimentary of the work Beth and I (and her parents, and Chris, and other assorted helpers) had already done on it. Still I bet they were pretty happy the next day to not find themselves at work. Instead we drove north of town for a canoeing and camping trip in Nancy Lake State Park. But this post is already pretty wordy, so I think I’ll make that trip a separate post for another time.