Happiness IS...

FIVE DAYS OFF OF WORK AND VALDEZ IN YOUR REAR VIEW MIRROR HEADING TO LAKE LOUISE!!!

EVERYBODY HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL 4TH OF JULY WHATEVER YOU DO!

~FISHTAXI OUT!

Eerie Clouds

Woke up to clear blue skies this morning. Hot DAY! Snapped these shots at around 5pm when these strange clouds rolled in. Covered the whole sky. My guess is circum-cumalas clouds.

Count-down to Lake Louise. The logistics are coming together well. One more day of work and 5 days off! 3 PAID! wooohoooo!

Before and After

Roxy got a super bad haircut today. She got cropped! Right before Lake Louise, too. SOmebody gave her a bunny foo foo. Sure, it felt good when they were doing it, looked good at the shop and all, but when she got home, after riding in the back of a truck, it was not what she wanted at all. Inportant Inches were cut off that will take months to grow. All of the curly cues are gone from around the ears and buttox! She can't even look in the mirror and even the cats don't recognize her or her smell.

Happy Monday

The road trip up to Tonsina for the A.B.A.T.E Saturday was a blast. The weather was great up there. Mr. FishTaxi left his bike and rode home with me. Smart thing to do after having a few. So Sunday he got a ride back up and rode back with the group.

I stayed home and watched a movie (Broke Mountain), listened to loud music, cleaned house and planned/organized the food galley for "Camping at Lake Louise." The weather here was crappy. Cold, windy & rainy. This morning I heard there was termination dust! on the mountains across the bay. I believe it, it was that cold.

Today was warmer and sunnier. The Theatre Conference is over. I think we had 1-2 nice days when they were here.

Let Summer Begin!

Bike Ride

The Ice Climber

When I got to work this morning the first thing I noticed was this big plant was gone! I found it stuck in a corner in the lobby entrance. I asked everybody who moved it and nobody knew, for sure. One gal had a good guess.

The Ice Climber in the picture on the wall behind the plant. He hates the plant being there because it blocks his picture.

Sure enough it was him. I moved the plant back.

Doggie College

The Theatre Conference is in full swing and the weather today was mostly cloudy. When the sun did come out they were blinded by the light. I've seen more people sporting unbrellas this week than I have in my whole twenty years living here.

I was trying to get a picture of this dog running down the hallway of the college. When this lady picked it up and I got a picture of Josie pissing on her legs. It wasn't her dog and she had no business picking it up.

Some people!

Soggy Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice! Hope the weather was better where you're at. Here in Prince William Sound it rained most of the longest day of year.

Then the throw-out bearings went out in the Chevy truck today. Good thing Mr. FishTaxi is a mechanic. He made it out to the shop and started taking it apart. He knew it was going and had the parts on hand. While he's got it taken apart he's replacing the clutch & U-joints, too. He got a ride back home at lunch and got his motorcycle. When he came home tonight he was soaked to the bone. Said tomorrow he's wearing rain gear. Thats because they are calling for more rain for the rest of the week. Thats okay. Get it over with now and be sunny 4th of July weekend!

New Boat!

Mr. FishTaxi picked up this boat & trailer for $200! We're going to fix it up, put an 18h kicker on it and take her to Lake Louise! Ordered new tires and are making it legal to tow. For a couple hundred more bucks we'll have a pretty nice boat. Perfect for fishing at Lake Louise.

Talked to my people today and it will be after the 4th when I'll get reds to can. Fine with me. I'm looking forward to five days off playing at Lake Louise. I've already started packing up camp supplies. With this new boat and trailer we can put the paddleboat on it along with lots of stuff and free up room in the rigs. Its first come first serve basis for campsites at Alaska state parks so the FishTaxi needs to be ready to get there. No dilly dallying around.

Lake Louise

Three summers ago I was out geocaching. The nearest geocaches to my home were caches I hid. The other nearest cache at the time was off of Lake Louise Rd. 160 road miles away. Over Thompson Pass towards Anchorage. A trip I've taken numerous times over 20+ years and never taking the time to take a 17mile road off the beaten track to Lake Louise.

Mr. FishTaxi and I made a deal that fateful weekend out camping/fishing. We'd hit the Little Tonsina one night and morning then head to the Klutina. Mr. FishTaxi would stay there and fish while I headed to Lake Louise Rd. and find the cache. It was a hot summer that summer and after I couldn't find the cache (still have not found that cache) I decided to see what Lake Louise was all about.

I was flabbergasted first laying eyes on the largest road accessible lake in Alaska. As pretty as Lake Clark where I had to fly in & out one summer to work in a lodge. Soaking my feet in Lake Louise that hot summer day I knew I would be back again and again.

Salmon Pie

My Salmon Pie is similar to quiche. Made this pie with one duck egg (the bright yellow yolk) and one brown egg. Even though fresh red salmon & kings are running in Chitina (see story below on the dipnetter) I used a can of last years freshpack Copper River Red with Ginger. Soon I'll be canning reds. I've been watching the Alaska Dept of Fish & Game sonar salmon counter on the Copper River near Miles Lake like a hawk.

Almost time to start canning!

Copper River lets this guy go

Dipnetter wins fight for life after Copper River slipPLUNGE: 10 mph river current tugs at man as several watch from banks unable to reach his canyon location.

Wasilla resident Patrick McPherson survived a fall into the Copper River on Monday in part because he used a rope to tie himself to the bank. McPherson slipped and fell in while carrying his 29th salmon up from the ledge. "When they tell you to tie up, you better tie up," he said. (Photo by STEPHEN NOWERS / Anchorage Daily News)

By S.J. KOMARNITSKYAnchorage Daily News(Published: June 17, 2006)

WASILLA -- One minute, Patrick McPherson was slinging a chrome-bright Copper River sockeye salmon into his net.
The next he was in the 40-degree water, being tossed around like a rag in a washing machine by a current that roars and churns through Wood Canyon at 10 mph..
"I remember thinking, 'That's it, I'm gone,' " McPherson said this week.
Like thousands of Alaskans, the 54-year-old Wasilla resident had journeyed to the Copper to dipnet salmon. It is an annual rite of summer for many. With 11-year-old son Brian in town, Patrick headed for the river Sunday, planning to start fishing at 7 a.m. Monday.
With a strong run of fish flooding into the river, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had given dipnetters a bonus 10 fish on top of the standard family limit of 30 starting on that day. Hoping to net a big catch, the McPhersons hired a charter boat in Chitina to take them downriver from O'Brien Creek and drop them on the otherwise inaccessible east bank of the big river.
About 10:30 a.m., McPherson sent his son back by boat to their truck and had a charter boat move him to a new spot down in the canyon where the rock walls climb for hundreds of feet behind the river. McPherson was deposited on a rocky ledge about a half-foot above a churning hole. He fished there alone, and did well for the first few hours.
As McPherson remembers it, he had netted his 29th fish just before the slip. He pulled the net out of the water and slung it to a spot about four feet above. This is what he had been doing for hours.
Once the fish were secure above, he climbed up, clubbed them, and then hung them on a string. He started to clamber up behind this one and had just reached up for a small ledge when his hand slipped, he said. His foothold gave way at the same time.
And suddenly he was in the water.
"It just happened so fast," he said. "There was no room to reach out and grab anything."
For a moment, he was completely submerged. Then he felt a jerk and popped to the surface.
A safety line he'd tied to a tree on shore had stopped him from being swept away in the river. He grabbed at the short nylon rope tied around his waist and managed to maneuver himself near the shore. There, he wrapped the rope around his hand and tried to climb out.
He managed to get one arm up on the rock, but he couldn't pull himself up on the slippery ledge. He hung there in the freezing water, trying to decide what to do next.
He worried the rope might break if he put all his weight on it. Meanwhile, the silt-laden water kept pulling his legs out from underneath him and pushing him toward the churning hole, he said.
"You feel it like tugging at your legs," he said. "I just felt like it was going to suck me down there and I'd never come up."
Across the river, by then, dipnetters working the waters from below the now-abandoned Copper River Highway had seen the accident and were scrambling to try to do something, but it was impossible to cross the raging current. Some bystanders on a cliff, however, did find a boat beached on the highway side of the river and yelled down at its owner that a man was in the water.
Across the river, hooked off on the end of his safety line, McPherson said he never panicked, but he thought a lot about Brian.
"I thought, 'You can't take me now,'" he said.
He started praying.
"I tell you I never prayed so much in my life," he said. "I said, 'Good Lord, give me enough strength to hold on, and make the waters not so rough.'"
The second part of the prayer apparently never got through, he said.
At one point, the still-live sockeye and the net slid off the cliff above and went past him, after the fish had flopped its way to the lip. McPherson thought about grabbing it, but not seriously.
When he realized he couldn't get himself out, he started yelling at two dipnetters across the river.
One finally looked up, he said. A short while later, he heard one man fire a gun several times to try to attract attention. Nothing happened.
What he couldn't see were others all along the cliffs trying to get help to him. They were waving madly when a Hem Charters jet boat came roaring down the river past McPherson never noticing him. McPherson, who had seen the boat come around a bend and go past, wasn't sure he was going to make it.
Then skipper Mark Hem saw people waving on the shore and pointing, spun the boat and headed directly for McPherson.
"I thought, 'How is he going to get me out of here?' '' McPherson said. "I was just so beat.''
Hem was the one who had dropped him off. Roaring back now, he pushed the nose of his jet boat into the cliffs and held it there with the inboard engine rumbling. McPherson said Hem grabbed his hand and told him to hang on. Finally Hem and another man came on shore and were able to drag McPherson onto the rocks.
Even then, dragging that first leg free of the water was a struggle.
"It was like pulling it out of a vacuum," McPherson said.
Once on shore, McPherson was shaky but amazingly unchilled.
His legs were bruised, and water squirted out of holes that the rocks had cut in his knee-high rubber boots as the current pounded him against the shore. He had been in ice-cold water for 10 to 15 minutes.
Looking back, he said, he realizes he was tired when he fell in. And although he was tied off, he clearly hadn't tied the rope short enough. Also he'd been careful not to let water drip on the ledge he was standing on, but a glove he was wearing had gotten slimy and slippery from handling fish.
McPherson said he's incredibly thankful to Hem and others who helped him.
They not only saved him, but also retrieved his fish and gave him his blue and white nylon rope. He said he told them to leave it.
"They said, 'No, this is your lucky rope,'" he said.
McPherson, a wildlife control agent for the U.S. Agriculture Department and former circulation manager in Wasilla for the Daily News, said he managed to drive home after the experience. He was exhausted for the next two days and had a hard time sleeping. He kept replaying the fall in his head.
"When you think of something like that, you know it just could be it," he said.
As far as dipnetting again, he doesn't think he will ever make a return trip to the Copper. If he does, however, he said he plans to tie off with a shorter rope and wear a personal flotation device. He urges others to do the same.

Reporter S.J. Komarnitsky can be reached at skomarnitsky@adn.com or 352-6714. Daily News outdoor editor Craig Medred contributed to this story.

sorry folks-as of 4:30pm the picture won't load. will keep trying. ~FishTaxi

Beth's Shrimp Dip

This is an awesome dip. Made famous in Valdez by Beth. Beth was from Gulfport, Mississippi and would peel all the little shrimp nobody else would bother with to make this dip. I'm making Beth's Shrimp Dip tonight for tomorrow nights pre-Solstice party at 19mile. Thats the thing about this dip is you have to make it ahead of time to chill properly.

Ingredients: can of Cream of Celery Soup, 8oz block of cream cheese, chopped celery & green onions, Worstershire sauce, garlic & celery salt and shrimp. You can use canned cocktail shrimp to chopped big pot shrimp.

On low heat in a sauce pan slowly melt the cream cheese and mix together with the can of cream of celery. Drop in the some worstershire sauce and sprinkle some garlic and celery salt. Chop up 2-3 stalks of celery, a bunch of green onions (or fresh chives!). Add them to the cream cheese/cream of celery mixture. Turn off the heat. Add cooked & peeled shrimp. Stir well. Pour into a nice dip bowl or gladware, cover and refridgerate overnight or at least 6 hrs. Serve with crackers or chips. Keeps well at room temp or shade.

Not only is this dip tasty it has the right consistency for dipping. Nobody will guess there is cream of celery soup in it and will wonder what makes it so smooth & creamy. Try it!

Last Frontier Theatre Conference

They're back!

For the next 10 days my job is going to be hell!

They open up the college and people camp out in the classrooms, the lecture hall and dorms. Its crazy and this will be my first year putting up with it.

I could get 2 comp tickets but I won't use them. I'm not into theatre and besides this is Solstice week. Why would I want to be inside the Civic Center watching plays?

When I could be out King fishing, paddleboating, partying outside on the longest days of the year.

My favorite Photoshop professor made this years poster. I'm so glad I took Photoshop when I did. I learned from the best.

Walking the Dog

Roxy is so much fun to go for walks with. Day or night, rain or shine. Roxy is very social and gets along with other dogs simply by ignoring them. She has made friends with Molly, the Cocker Spaniel across the street. She comes over everyday and they play. She barked at the Golden Retrievers next door which I liked because those dogs have been pooping in my yard since they were pups when we didn't have a dog. Mr. FishTaxi took her over and introduced them and now everythings cool. They stay in their own yard and Roxy pretty much ignores them.

She's a great dog getting me out there walking every night. I walk at work all day and when I get home I'm tired until I see Roxy. She takes me for a good walk.

More fun with Pot

SHRIMP!

Mr. FishTaxi had fresh pot shrimp
all cooked up and ready to munch
when I got home from work tonight.



Perfect way to end a beautiful day. I took the picture of the low cloud hovering My Mountain this morning. I named the mountain behind my house "My Mountain" so anyone pointing at it can say "Thats My Mountain."

Bumper Stickers

Pretty cool Jeep!

Willow Project

The FishTaxi doesn't know trees very well. What I called the Alder Project was wrong. These are willows not alders.

Photographers go Wild

Photo by Jules Tileston Honorable Mention - creative, "Evening Duet"
Photo by Bill Heubner Best of category - Nature, "Falls creek and downed trees" Photo by William Heath Best of category - Landscape, "Wish"
Photo by Chuck Maas Best of Category - Wildlife, "Northern Hawk Owl"

Photo by Laurie Green Best of Show "Berry Picking"

An Alaska contest showcases some of the world's top nature images
By MELISSA DeVAUGHNAnchorage Daily News(Published: June 11, 2006)

Laurie Green was taking a lunch break from her job with the Mat-Su Borough School District when she captured the photo that took best of show in this year's Alaska Wild 2006 competition.
Green knew waxwings were on the move and went outside to see if she could spot a few.
Sure enough, she did. Quickly pulling her Nikon D2H digital camera to her eyes, she adjusted its settings, aimed and shot a few pictures of the birds in flight.
"I was so thankful to be behind the camera for that to occur," she said of her winning photo, which shows a gracefully angled waxwing in flight, plucking a bright red berry off a bush. "Lunch break means snack and go, so I didn't have a lot of time. When I saw what I had got, I said, 'Oh, my God, that's wonderful!' "
Ken Baehr, coordinator for this year's Alaska Wild juried exhibition sponsored by The Alaska Society of Outdoor and Nature Photographers, said the competition is some of the strongest he has ever seen in the contest's 16-year history. Baehr, a photographer himself, won the Best Of Landscape category last year, said photography remains an enjoyable hobby after spending more than 20 years as a combat photographer.
"It's more relaxing taking photographs when you're not being shot at," he quipped.
Society president Chuck Maas won this year's Best of Show in the wildlife category for his image of a northern hawk owl perched on a spruce tree. The group uses independent judges to evaluate the competition so everyone in the society can compete.
"It was last September in Denali (National Park), and on actually a very crummy day," Maas said. "But that's sometimes when you see the best things. We saw (the owl) and he was not anxious to move, perched on a dead snag next to a spruce."
The image is striking. The owl's profile is outlined by gray sky, and a snippet of spruce tree can be seen in the background. The creature's gaze is intent. It seems to be looking straight into the camera.
Alaska Wild has become known in Alaska nature photography circles as a premier exhibition in the state. It allows budding and seasoned photographers a chance to compare their work and get recognized.
"Our goals are two-fold," Baehr said. "To generate interest in the organization ... and also give people an opportunity to display their work and get recognition for it."
This year's exhibit will travel throughout the state, beginning at the Hot Licks ice-cream parlor in Anchorage through June 26. Then it moves to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward and other Kenai Peninsula venues.
In November, it will be at the International Photography Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City before returning to Alaska for additional showings.
"The subtext is that this show gives people around Alaska and the Lower 48 a greater appreciation of the Great Land (of Alaska)," Baehr said.
Maas said the success of Alaska Wild has prompted Society members to evaluate other aspects of their club.
"The title in the organization is 'Outdoor and Nature,' so there's a whole lot of other outdoor activities that are covered in the concept," he said. As such, the group is considering offering an outdoor photo contest -- one in which the beauty of Alaska could be represented through photographs of paddlers kayaking, mountaineers climbing or anglers casting into a river.
"There are a million activities here that are people-oriented but just as much about being outside and in nature," he said.
Maas said the club has about 130 members from Alaska and the Lower 48.
"It's been going very well for us," Maas said. "One thing we try to do is cater to people who not only have experience but those who don't have a lot of experience either," he said.
Baehr said he can see that in the quality of this year's exhibit entrants.
"I think, all in all, it was the best quality entries we had and probably the most difficult to judge," he said. "I can't recall a single image that didn't belong in the exhibit."
Green, winner of the best of show, is a case in point, Baehr said. Her photography skills have grown over the past several years, and now she is considered one of the strongest in the field.
"She won the People's Choice award last year," Baehr said. "She's a very talented amateur, and all of a sudden, she's the one to beat."

Congrats to Laurie Green with her Best of Show!

On the Cover of the Rolling Stone

Gonna buy five copies for my mother!

Happy Feet

THe FishTaxi's new money makers arrived all the way from Viet Nam today. NikeIDs. I designed the colors and had the fishtaxi logo put on them! My sneakers took 6 weeks to get here and my feet are so happy. They have shocks on the heel so I can run faster and jump higher and not have sad feet at the end of the day.

Not too pricey at $117 including shipping. My feet are worth fighting for!

Chopper Cutie

Caught this guy on camera the other day. What a cutie!

We are in the summer mode at work. Hired a bunch of temps to help out maintenance. The theatre conference is June 17-24th and they want the place looking spiffy.

I got the okay today to plant some of my Livingstone Daisies at the college. Might as well enjoy them at work. I wanted to plant some by all the trees in front (by the windows) but those trees are getting pulled up in about a month. I still might plant some in case that doesn't happen, until fall, when the trees have a better chance of surviving.

I put in for time off from work today, 6-6-06. Eleven days, starting the 5th of August. The FishTaxi is going to Boise, Idaho for my vacation! My brother and his family moved there from Seattle a couple of years ago after our dad died and now my older sister is moving to Boise this summer. So, my little sister and I are going to go pay a little visit. Neither one of us have ever been to Boise. The rate this family is going Boise will be the new hub.

Boat Moat

We enjoyed a nice visit Sunday from the original homesteader who we bought our land from. He lives in Panama now. He made this lagoon for his boat the Marriage Counselor and named it the boat moat. It was great to see him healthy and happy.

Half his old homestead is all a park now.

Sing a Song

Paint a picture.

Write a book.

Plant a garden.

Keep a blog.

Or none of the above`~fISHtAXI

Burning Moose Head

Camoflauge

Running around Valdez on Memorial Day were these two guys dressed in Camoflauge. I saw them across town and caught them on camera when at Dock Point.
I don't know if they were playing a game or what. If you click on any picture I post you can see it bigger.

Our Old House

With a cat in the window, a cat in the flower box and a dog on the porch.