Ever have one of those weekends?

Well weeks actually . . . as I was out of town last week on Monday to Kipnuk for a long “day” trip. 

It is one of those where you leave the house at 4 AM to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  It just so happened that this was June 21^st which is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  When I walked out the door at four the sun was already above the mountaintops to the northeast of town.  With our high latitude we do not have the typical sun rises in the east and sets in the west like most places further south.  During the long summers our sun rises in the northeast about 50 degrees from north not the “normal” 90 degrees “east” heading and sets briefly around 310 degrees not the usual 270 degrees “west”.  So much for the brief explanation as all I wanted to say was the sun was already heading up into the summer sky.

I went with the engineers for a progress inspection since I took over these three projects just over three weeks ago.  We landed in Bethel and then took a small plane out to the village where we went over all of the projects, what had been done in the short amount of time and our schedule to get everything completed by September.  The weather was great over 70 degrees with clear skies but also a few bugs.  There was a slight breeze so they were not too bad.

We caught the late afternoon flight back to Bethel for the Alaska Airlines late flight back to Anchorage.  We arrived around 11 pm and the next day I was scheduled to fly down to Kodiak on my way to Larsen Bay.  I had meetings with several people, the barge company and my subcontractor for my Old Harbor project.  I spent the night in Kodiak with the intention to fly out in the morning to Larsen Bay.

It was overcast in Kodiak in the morning but not bad, more a normal summer Kodiak morning.  Kelly and I headed to the airport for the flight to Larsen but it was reported to be totally fogged in and the weather cams showed it as well.  We waited for several hours for it to clear and decided to head over to another project in Port Lions where we finished a water treatment plant several months ago.  We wanted to not waste the trip and get some maintenance work done there so we had the plane drop us off in Port Lions and to call us if the things improved in Larsen Bay. 

It is a short flight from Kodiak to Port Lions with just a hop up over the mountain and across a bay with the airport just on the other side.  As we flew across I noticed water sprays on the smooth water.  There were whales swimming in several pods with the total being about 12.  They were slowly heading in the same direction in four different pods each with several sprays of water breaking the calm smooth surface and then a back arching its way and finally the double fluted tail up and out of the water only to slowly sink below the surface.  This is repeated by each one of them in a strange unison one after another almost like a synchronized swimming team.

We went and backwashed the system and ran the intake gallery pump for about an hour to exercise it since it had not been turned on in over six months.  The airport called and said the weather had lifted in Larsen and that the plane would pick us up in about an hour.

The plant operator went home and grabbed two fishing poles and we headed a few blocks away to a beautiful water fall a few hundred feet from the ocean.  At the estuary at the base of the falls were thousands of red salmon stacked in there four or five deep.   There were so many you could walk across the top of them across the river to the other bank.  It was amazing to see it live up close and not in a picture.  Several of us took turns “fishing” or should I say harvesting as we caught 25 fish in 11 minutes.  Within forty minutes we had the fish partially cleaned, gutted, and heads cut off and in the cooler.  We made our flight and I could not get over how many fish were in this river with no where to go as they cannot climb the falls and will soon spawn there and die.  Incredible is the only thing I can say about this secret place.  The locals get everything they need for subsistence but there is still more than can be harvested.  Unreal and one of the coolest experiences I have had in Alaska.

We finally made it into Larsen Bay and the mosquitoes were out in force.  I put on my bug dope but was still eaten up.  We inspected the work progress and also went over our materials that the barge had failed to bring.  We came up with several plans to continue working until the barge arrived with more materials.  The weather was closing down again so we called for our plane to come back and pick us up so we could return to Kodiak for the late evening flight back to Anchorage.  We arrived back at the airport after 10:30 PM and I made it home around 11:00 exhausted.

There was still much to be done as I had to finish cleaning and to fillet the fish.  The processing lasted a couple hours and I hate to say but the time I was finished my technique sucked but after a 20 hour day I did not care.  Fish were in the freezer, a shower, and I finally hit the bed.

While on this trip I received a call from my wife telling me the kitchen sink had backed up.  She told me it was backing up in the sink and was leaking down through the light fixture in her dad’s bedroom.  I asked what she was doing as it is not something that would plug up with no use.  I found out she had peeled a large bag of potatoes as she was making potato salad for her brother and dad who were leaving for a week long fishing trip on the Kenai River.  They covered the bed with a tarp and moved the computer and television to the living room while they were away.

Ok that sounds more like it.  I was too tired to fool with it that night so waited until I came home from work the next night.  I cleared the pipes under the sink but the clog was farther down the pipe inside the wall.  My laundry is also on the same line as my office is next to the kitchen.  I worked that evening putting some industrial drain cleaner (diluted solution of sulfuric acid) down the pipes.  It opened the line somewhat but did not totally clear up the line.   

I took apart the washer drain hose so I could pour the acid down that line too but spilled a small amount on the washing machine and as I cleaned it up ended up getting some on my hands and arm which quickly started to chemical burn my skin.  I did not put the drain hose back in the box as I had not finished working on it that night.  I washed my hands and arm pretty well but the tender skin on my arm above my elbow ended up with a nasty “mark”.

After working on it that night I decided I would call a local drain cleaning company I have worked with in the past on projects to come out to the house and clear the line after prodding from my wife.  The kitchen had been a mess for several days and laundry was backing up with everyone not being able to wash clothes.

I received another call from my wife at work on Friday afternoon telling me that the company had cleared the line and it was ok to do laundry.  Not thinking about the night before and me working on that line she started the washing machine but quickly called me to tell me it was flooding in my office and again down thorough the light fixture.  I told her the drain line was still hanging outside the box behind the washer and it was just going all over the back of the machine.

A fan has been running in my office all weekend to dry up the carpet and keep the room from any musty smell.  The drain is cleared and laundry is now caught up after many loads.  The several loads of dishes were washed and put away and I packed and gone on another trip.

My son is moving to another apartment after the first of July but he moved in with us for a week so he could clean and get his deposit back from his apartment.  End result, two more people in the house, another computer set up (he is on it more than I am) two kids with the ever constant running, jumping, terrorizing the dog, Gus and just being kids.

The weekend was a never ending series of mini events with the occasional phone calls from the boys fishing saying all they were getting was wet as it was raining everyday.  There were not a lot of fish for them either as the commercial boats were just off shore harvesting everything in sight.  A couple of the guys Mike worked with came up on Sunday night on their way home to Nebraska without and reds so I gave them some of my catch along with some Halibut and Cod I had gotten earlier so they did not go home empty handed.

A busy weekend, no fishing . . . and off again this week.

Ice