Category Archives: Alaska

Solstice—the Long One

It’s all about sunlight, of course. Lots and lots of it. In fact, it never gets dark these days. Sunrise today was at 0258, and sunset will be early tomorrow at 0052, for 21 hours and 54 minutes of possible sunlight. And today, being without clouds, that possibility will be realized. I am going to bed before that promise is fulfilled.

Last night Rose and I were out driving after midnight, and, indeed, the sun’s rays could still be seen, and one of the most spectacular almost-full moons we’d ever seen was hovering magnificently above the Alaska Range. Traffic was substantial, and many vehicles were driving without their lights on. At these light levels it makes sense, even if it seems crazy if you look at your watch.

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Walking Wild Shores

The book is out:Walking Wild Shores book cover
Walking Wild Shores: Portraits of the Natural World.

If you enjoy this blog, you might enjoy this book. It is based on the emailed stories sent out before this blog began.

Update: David James reviewed the book for the Daily News Miner. Now I can actually have one of those ridiculously brief review quotes that all the page-turners display:

“…damned good.” David A. James.

It is a great review. He summarizes it better than I could have.

Back during the publishing process an email came asking me whether there were any reviews that should be used in the book’s promotion. There were no formal reviews, but three were rattling around in my head:

“Please to come byack to Russia.” V. Putin
“Surprisingly little corncob; I actually enjoyed it.” Anonymous
“You write so well.” Author’s mother

 

Equinox, the Springy One

Wow, do we ever have daylight again. One day you’re driving to and from work in the dark at 30 or 40 below, and seemingly the next day the darkness is gone and the temperatures are into the teens and twenties. It adds up fast when day length is increasing by seven minutes a day. And today, although it was snowing again when we woke up, our days just became longer than everyone to the south of us. We’ll still have snow and good cross-country skiing for weeks yet, but you can once again feel the sun’s warmth, a true harbinger of melt and greenery to come. That said, we had some spectacular northern lights over the weekend.

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Solstice—the Short One

And lo, it arrived: the shortest day of the year. Here in Fairbanks this brings just 3 h 41 min 29 sec of possible sunlight. The sun skims along the southern sky, at its peak hitting an angle of only 2 degrees above the horizon. Its light is all sunrise and sunset colors, all day. These weak but welcome rays, heavy in oranges and reds, stream through our south-facing windows at such a shallow angle that they can penetrate right through a building if there is no wall to stop them. You relish the light because it is such a short thing every day. We get up well before sunrise (10:59 a.m.), work hard well past sunset (2:40 p.m.), and return home after it’s been dark for hours.

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Fish Heads can be Remarkably Good

Randy Pyle with a yelloweye rockfish.

Randy Pyle with a yelloweye rockfish.

I took a quick trip down to Valdez to go out with a charter boat for halibut. Randy Pyle of Lady Luck Charters took a group of us out for an all-day fishing charter on the Aleashia. We had a great day on the water. We saw whales, sea otters, great birds—and we caught fish. Then I zoomed home with the fish gutted and on ice: two halibut and two yelloweye rockfish. They fileted up quickly and easily enough, and I vacuum-packed most of the filets and put them in the freezer. I held out two nice pieces for a side-by-side taste test of the fish—baked: a little olive oil in the pan and seasoned only with salt and pepper to keep it simple for a flavor comparison. (I liked the yelloweye better, but both were very good).

 

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