Monday started out a lot warmer outside than Sunday did. We both slept better too. Sarah bought a 1/2 inch camping pad at the store yesterday. With a carpet chunk as base, the camping pad, and two big fluffy sleeping bags on top of it, plus her own bag, the floor is considerably comfier. It makes for much better sleeping!
Ken spied a drill press in the shop. That was the perfect solution to the odd sized swivel on the new shotgun. The drill made the hole on the swivel ever so slightly larger and everything worked like magic. The modified choke still won't come out, but we're done messing with it. Ken headed off to the post office while Sarah put the pieces of the shotgun back together and got the sling on it.
Sad news at the post office though. Only two of the four boxes arrived. The postal clerk said today's shipments had already come in, so we would have to check back tomorrow. Ken lugged what he had back and got the sluice put together and got all the fishing poles prepped. Laurie, Cliff's daughter who also lives on the property we're staying at, brought over some fresh zucchini from her green house and also produced two halibut steaks and a large red salmon fillet from the deep freeze, just in case our adventures in fishing didn't turn out well. We started talking to her about property around here. It turns out that buildable land in this area can be had for $10k an acre. $10K!! That's amazing. We started looking online and discovered that developed land, with well, septic, and a reasonable domicile (by Alaska standards) can be had for less than $50K. It makes one stop to ponder why on earth we pay so stinking much for property in the lower 48. The views here are incredible, the neighbors are friendly, the recreational opportunities are boundless, and this time of year, daylight lasts for 18+ hours. Of course the downside is that the winters are brutal and there's not much in the way of entertainment.
About mid-afternoon we finally headed out to go fishing at Johnson Lake, which was just up the road. A mile or so down the road, Sarah sounded the "Moose Moose Moose!" alarm. Ken had to stop and backup, but finally there are photos of moose. That was the first of three we saw today. We headed up to the Mercantile to get Sarah a fishing license, fill up the water container, and get ammo. Unfortunately, we forgot the ammo, which wasn't remembered until about 11 PM.
Johnson Lake turned out to be a great place to trout fish. They seem to love the red eggs as bait. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of small, hungry fish in that lake and they'll fight over your bait and never let a decent sized fish in for a turn. Sarah caught two that had to go back because they were tiny. Ken caught one 13" and two 8" ones. Two sizable ones got away from him. We know they're there though, so we can try again another day! The number of fishing jumping in the lake is impressive! Everywhere you look, something is leaping out of the water. That doesn't go unnoticed by the the local wildlife! We saw a couple of eagles, a hawk, and a belted kingfisher, plus several loons and a mama duck with two babies. The kingfisher was perfectly content to fish right along side us, even to the point that he almost snagged a little fish Ken had caught that was going to get thrown back. The loons were very entertaining to listen to, as they're very vocal. In the end, we got rained on, caught dinner, and had interesting encounters with both birds and fish. This also prompted a return trip to the mercantile for butter and lemon pepper so the fish could be eaten! The return trip home brought us two more moose sightings, though the photos aren't great as there was condensation between the filter and the lens on Sarah's camera. That's what happens when things get wet!
Laurie came by not long after we got back to give us the slip from the post office saying the rest of the boxes are here. Yay! We're not sure why the post office clerk said that all of the freight was in for the day and the boxes weren't here, but we're glad he was wrong. We fried up the fish for dinner, filling the house with smoke in the process, and sort of steamed the zucchini. It was all quite tasty and worth the effort.
Now it's late and Ken's fighting with a suction hose and fitting that he needs for the highbanker pump. The fitting doesn't want to go on the hose, so all the pieces are being heated on the wood stove to see if they'll become just pliable enough to make it all work.
Tomorrow should bring gold prospecting at last! You can also see the expedition photos on Sarah's Facebook account at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190517&id=525166591&l=7985c041cf. It's been set so that anyone can view them.
The epilogue to the stubborn hose story is that Sarah had the bright idea to soak the hose in boiling water. It worked! It took two sessions of soaking, followed by much grunting, but the fitting finally went all the way in. Yay!
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