Wind power project

Three windmills were put up in the last couple weeks on top of Pillar Mountain, which sits right behind the center of town. Kodiak Electric Assoc (KEA) is in charge, and they plan to produce 95% of energy sales with renewable power by 2020! The primary renewable power source is the Terror Lake Hydroelectricity project. Rumor has it that the windmills will provide 25% of the power.

Cool beans.

while james was here...

I was lucky enough to have James come and visit for almost 3 weeks! We saw a horned puffin down in Gibson Cove and humpbacks off Miller Point. A bunch of us made a bonfire down at White Sands beach, Chad made us dinner one night with Sockeye salmon he caught, we ate brunch at Mill Bay twice because it was so good, hiked Barometer Mt, went to the VFW beach where there is an old and rusty shipwreck in the sand...we were busy! BUT, we also had time to watch a couple John Wayne and Clint Eastwood flicks-gotta love old westerns.

poo

Yes, that is bear poo.


I'm getting closer.

summer solstice :)

We had a little over 18 hours of daylight yesterday. The sunrise was at 5:07 and did not set until 11:14! Carla made us "Kickass Halibut" for dinner to celebrate (she caught it herself just a few feet from her cabin in Homer). She got the recipe from a 90 year old woman who has been in Alaska for over 50 years. It was hot! Carla is a ferry naturalist as part of her job, so she rides the ferry from Homer to Kodiak twice a month and talks to people about the wildlife and natural history of Alaska.

Happy Trails

So, as part of my job I started a family nature club called Happy Trails. It's sweet because it is open to everyone and it's free! We meet every Saturday at a trail head or beach on the road system for some fun outside. Today, I organized a flower scavenger hunt and then we used some watercolors and made paintings of flowers. Next week, the kids are going to become Spruce scientists at Near Island. The Sitka Spruce is the only evergreen on Kodiak Island and it's the Alaska state tree!

beer and mexican food

We stopped by the brewery down on cannery row by the harbor for some brewskis last night, which we quickly chased with some Mexican food from Martha's. My favorite so far is their malty North Pacific Ale. They recently came out with a new lager called Sarah Pale, ha!

Martha's is an interesting place. She runs her business out of a mobile-home-ish vehicle and serves homemade, fresh mexican food at 2 different places in town, one for lunch, another for dinner. We got a 1/2 order of nachos, took it in the car and devoured it. So good. An extra bonus: for lunch she parks right next to where I work (I have vowed to only eat there once a week).

Fiddlehead quiche

James is in town! We made dinner for everyone at the bunkhouse last night and included some local edibles. I made quiche with fiddleheads (picture) that James and I picked on Near Island. Maybe we’ll make a yummy beach green and sea lovage salad tonight.

Fiddleheads are the young, tightly coiled fern fronds, so named because they look like the scroll of a violin- just a little tidbit for ya.