Sometimes when you get together with old friends, you get a little silly. Mo, Mary, and I went out on the boat (still tied to the dock) on Mackey Lake, Soldotna, Alaska, and tried to catch. . . lily pads!
Then we announced our presence to the world. Ta dah! We were ready to lead the parade in John’s ole truck. Beauty queens ridiculous Good friends having a great reunion! Stop that laughing right now.
Hungry, but self-sufficient, Alaskans plan ahead for the long, cold winter. They fish for salmon and halibut in the summer and hunt for moose in the fall. Everything they harvest for personal use goes in the freezer to be enjoyed when the temperatures fall below zero and the snow piles high in yards and on roads.
The fishing and hunting seasons requires fortitude, stamina, patience, determination, and above all, a sense of humor.
If you go salmon fishing, prepare for the crowds. Eager fisherpersons line the shores of the Kenai river “shoulder-to-shoulder, cooler-to-cooler, and dipnet-to-dipnet.” And when you dipnet, prepare for surprises.
Photo Credit: Pinkboi Wilbert KTUU Photo Gallery “High tide and big waves can’t stop this guy from dipnetting.”
Read more about fishing in Alaska here
Got Fish? Get Some on The Kenai River, Alaska-Style
Got Fish? It’s the Bears’ Turn (If A Cat Isn’t Around!)
Fishing from shore on the Kenai River is bad enough, but put those eager fisherpersons in boats and watch out for a Traffic Jam, Alaska-Style.
Photo credit: Picture of the Day-KTUU Photo Gallery. Photo by Sarah Evans
See more Alaska pictures in the KTUU.com Photo Gallery: KTUU: Picture of the Day.
Photo credit: http://www.dreamstime.com
The Last Meow.
Now wait. Just. One. Tiddly. Minute.
You get all those fat fish, and all you give me are these two stinkin’ mini-dudes?
Something is not right here. You had better get your priorities straight. Right now.
I want that nice, fat, juicy sockeye salmon over there next to that hot grill.
Now.
Meow for Now. =<^;^>=
It’s cold, wet, and messy, but somebody’s gotta do it.
Intrepid Alaskans go dipnetting at the mouth of the Kenai River, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, for their allocation of personal use sockeye salmon.
Loren Holmes photo www.alaskadispatch.com
A record-breaking sonar count of 246,396 on July, 2013, set the crowds in a frenzy. Eager to fill their freezers with enough sockeye salmon for the long winter, these slightly wacky ambitious fisherpersons (Alaska residents only) rise in the early hours of the day to get their share between the mandated hours of 6am and 11pm.
Photo: Loren Holmes http://www.alaskadispatch.com
But its shoulder-to-shoulder, cooler-to-cooler, dipnet-to-dipnet, along the banks of the Kenai to catch the fish. With record counts of sockeye coming in, there’ s plenty for everyone. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game site reports that 526,992 sockeye salmon were caught in 2012 in the Kenai River as well as a few other sites, with plenty more left for the bears. The sockeye salmon season typically runs for a few weeks. This year the dates are July 10 through July 31.
Loren Holmes photo
Life for non-fishing locals gets a bit tougher though. Here’s a comment my friend, Trena, posted on Facebook.
This is July on the Kenai when the red salmon are running up river. It is so crazy here – every road, every store and parking lot, all the boat launches all full of people, boats, motorhomes, etc. Good news is the golf courses are empty. Great time for golfing. Just have to allow extra time to get there.
The following slide show gives a brief glimpse into the frenzy of the sockeye fishing season: Dipnetting Kenai River’s Red Salmon Rodeo.
I lived in Alaska for ten years a few miles from the Kenai River, and although I never got involved in dipnetting myself, I did enjoy the results of other people’s fishing success.
Here is a previous I wrote post on Alaska:
Two Oceans Meet in the Gulf of Alaska. Not!
The Last Meow
I just have one question:
Cartoon credit: www.telegraph.co.uk.
Meow for now. =<^!^>=
I recently came across this picture in my Facebook stream:
Gulf of Alaska “The place where two OCEANS meet! LIKE if you think it’s cool!” (Facebook) Original photo credit: Kent Smith. See below for link.
The caption claims that two oceans meet in the Gulf of Alaska, but that is incorrect. Take a look at this map of the Gulf of Alaska: the Pacific Ocean is the only ocean that touches the Gulf of Alaska.
What’s the true story about this picture? You can find the answer in this article, “Mythbusting: Place Where Two Oceans Meet Gulf of Alaska.”
Ben Anderson, the writer of this article says this:
This is a strange and natural phenomenon where heavy, sediment-laden water from glacial valleys and rivers [of Alaska] pours into the open ocean. There in the gulf the two types of water run into each other.
Anderson further states that the iron-rich river water eventually does mix with the ocean water, and then the ocean water further carries these valuable mineral nutrients to iron-deprived waters of the mid-gulf, feeding the base of the food chain, plankton.
Just like George Washington said, “You have to check your facts on Internet.” Oh, maybe it was Abraham Lincoln who said that. Let me check Internet.
The Last Meow
Photo credit: http://www.egriz.com
Wait a minute. That doesn’t make sense. George Washington lived from 1732 to 1799, and Internet wasn’t invented until the late 1950s. And Lincoln couldn’t have made that statement either.
Let me check with Al Gore on that. Oh wait, did he really say he invented the Internet?
Or is that another myth? Perhaps he just overstated his case. You think?
Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: “During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”
Of course, Al Gore’s supporters see it differently.
We don’t think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he “invented” the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore’s initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf , and Alan M. Gaines of the National Science Foundation.
Kent Smith, the photographer who captured this shot, sent this link to the original photo. He lists additional resources explaining the phenomenon in the picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentsmith9/4955772693/in/set-72157622762300631/
See also:
News Report: Our Dirty Ocean-Tsunami Trash. Rumors and Truth. Janice Heck, 2013/11/07
News Connection: Can One 10-Year-Old Girl Save Our Oceans?
Book Review: The Light Between Oceans, a novel by M. L. Stedman
Whatever. Now can I take my nap?
Meow for now. =<^;^>=
![BlogEverday[1]](https://janiceheck.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/blogeverday1.png)
Blog Every Day in May Challenge Prompt 27
Write a Letter to Your Readers
Dear Readers,
Almost every writing expert tells us writers that we should know our audience when we write.
But because of Internet and its vast network, our writing reaches farther than we could have ever imagined, so that basic writing suggestion simply doesn’t work.
We bloggers write not knowing who our readers are. We know we have readers because WordPress counts them and gives us fascinating statistical reports.
My favorite report shows a colored map and tells me how many readers/views I have, and from which countries they have viewed my blog.
I am not surprised that I have views* in the English speaking countries: United States (7,198 views), Canada (761), United Kingdom (650), and Australia (390). All four together represent my largest audience. But it is amazing to me that I have had readers in Egypt (38), Saudi Arabia (8), Qatar (8), Brunei Darussalem (3), Occupied Palestine (1), Azerbaijan (1) Latvia (1), and so many more. (*WordPress counts each view of a post separately. If one reader reads three posts, then views= 3).
Why are you reading my blog? Are you learning English? Are you an expat? Are you an old friend?
I can look at sections of the map and think about specific people who might be reading my blog: Is that you, blogger friend Ellen V. Gregory in Australia, reading my post? In Alaska, maybe its Jim, Linda, Joan, Tina, Sherry, or other people I knew when I lived there. Maybe it’s Gary or Mary Jane in Korea; or Kent, Mary, Tammy, Jenny, Leslie in Hong Kong, my friends from Hong Kong International School. In Germany, it might be my nephew, Bill. In India, it might be my friend, Abraham, or one of his family or church members. Maybe it’s my blogger friend Julie Ferrar in France. I don’t know. It boggles my mind.
Equally interesting are the white spaces on the map: Greenland; Paraguay, Suriname, and French Guiana, three countries in South America; all the Middle Eastern Countries; many countries in Africa; and Papua New Guinea in the Far East. It makes me wonder. Is Internet available in these areas? Is Internet available but restricted? What interest would they have in my blog anyway?
So dear readers, I am curious about you. My world geography is getting better because of your interest in my blog. Seeing your country colored in on the map reminds of visits that I have made to many of your countries, and I have many more countries on my bucket list for visits, enough to last a lifetime.
But regardless of who you are or where you live, I do appreciate your taking the time to read my blog. I know you have many blogs to choose from (does that sound like the arrival speech from the flight attendants on your favorite airline?), and I appreciate your interest. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing! To you, my heartiest thanks for visiting.
And if you have a minute, let me know who you are and the name of your country. I look forward to getting to know you better.
The Last Meow.
What about us kitties? Look at our map. We have fans all over the world. How about that!
Meow for now. =(^;^)=
Janice Hall Heck 