Open Thread – Oh, Deer!
I loved this photo which was a winner of the National Wildlife Federation’s wildlife photo contest. Now they are looking for captions. Click HERE if you want to enter, and be sure to put your entry in the comments below too! With that head of hair, my entry was: “YOU’RE FIRED!”
Something’s Fishy (Hint: Salmon and the Tea Party GOP)
This week, to the tune of dueling canner whistles on the stove, I packed more than 30 cases of smoked salmon. I smoked fish and applied aloe to my river sunburn. I read the news and rolled my eyes. Too many times I thought, “Oh, I’ll write about that.” Outrage fatigue set in while watching the government train wreck. I started counting the days to go back to the river. Any river. As long as it had salmon. Store shelves have been running low on brown sugar and canning jars. Thank goodness people figured out dry brine beats wet brine…
Open Thread – Why Wild Salmon are Worth the Fight
A great video from Parent Earth about why it’s important to stop the Pebble Mine, and genetically modified salmon.
Oyster Roundup! Bastards Flee, Palin Flops, and Traffickers Wed
~Thick and fast they came at last and more, and more, and more… Corrupt Bastards Seek to Flee the Scene of the Crime Former Alaska Speaker of the House Pete Kott (R), and former Alaska House Rep. Vic Kohring (R) have asked for a new venue for their impending retrial. Both were successful in having their guilty conviction overturned, and getting new trials. They successfully argued that the prosecution had withheld evidence about their main witness that might have been helpful to the defense. You see, surprisingly, the oil companies had a nefarious bad guy bribing legislators. Nelson Mandela must…
Open Thread – More Shrimp
Last night’s Open Thread got me thinking about shrimp. In a variation on the theme, here’s an actual shrimp from the waters outside Whittier in Prince William Sound. When they first come up from depths of 400 feet or more, their eyes glow an eerie orange. I normally wouldn’t think of a shrimp as a handsome or festive animal, but you’ve just got to love this little guy.
Oyster Roundup!
Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more… Palin Quits for Jury Duty? She’ll quit on Republican women’s groups, she’ll quit on pro-life fundraisers, she’ll quit on CPAC, she’ll quit on four colleges, she’ll quit on the great state of Alaksa. Frank Bailey said that trying to get Sarah Palin to commit to anything was like “nailing Jell-O to a tree.” So I found it interesting that her sudden affinity for commitment was for something that everyone else tries to get out of – jury duty. Considering that jury duty comes with a couple…
Open Thread – Scenes from Setnetting the Kasilof (LKB)
Here are just a few pictures from my weekend at the mouth of the Kasilof River: The constant, beautiful view from the beach is Mt. Redoubt Volcano — if you remember, it was the one spewing a bit in 2009. Occasionally in the nets we catch more than just Red Salmon — here a King decided to join us as well. In the other net, we also got a few small flounder. Saturday on two nets after both tides, the camp ended up with 34 Reds, one King and 3 Flounder. This is looking down in the direction of the…
Open Thread – No Pebble Mine
This picture is good for the heart in so many ways. For more information on the proposed Pebble Mine project, go to savebristolbay.org Photo of fresh Bristol Bay King Salmon by Jon Corbett
Open Thread: Preparing for Setnetting!
Here’s a picture from several years ago of our campsite where we were setnetting during the annual personal use fishery. I’m looking forward to being there in just a couple of days! Setnetting at the Kasilof is already going on and in the Alaska tradition, we have a number of families sharing the nets and the campsite so we’ll be taking our turn soon. I apologize if the blog is a little sparse right now, but I anticipate a flood of Netroots posts, probably when Shannyn and Jeanne get a moment to breathe or get back this weekend! I’ll have…
Three Days at Sea That Have Nothing to Do With Politics – Day 2
We last left me, drifting off to sleep thinking about typhoid and consumption, and sick English children in orphanages. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can click HERE to catch up. 7:42am – I was roused from death-like sleep by a booming voice calling “I’m gonna need your help here!” Eyes flew open, desperate effort to assimilate why the ceiling was eight inches from my face, and where I was. Then a mental rewind of what I’d just heard from the deck. An urgent cry for help is not my preferred method of regaining consciousness on…