Blueberry!

Happy Blueberry Week! This week gets Team Wilco so excited about this fall's bounty of big beautiful tasty blueberries, we can hardly stand it. We live in blueberry heaven. Mmmm.

Well, in case the oblique weekly references to things that approximate the size of a gestating human haven't tipped you off, it turns out that the evenings of Barry White listening have finally born fruit. With a little good fortune, the number of kids in our family should double around mid-December. Hooray!

Watch out, world!

Let the name brainstorming begin!

Boppa has been craving pickles. His goal is to not to gain baby weight this time. Especially since he hasn't lost the baby weight he gained with Paxson Revel. I've been craving Smartfood Popcorn which for some reason is in short supply on the island.

Here's Mister Senor STBABB (Soon to be a Big Brother) Racecardriver Pax Rev out playing in the rain and enjoying the sea lions.

Hey, they're a lot closer than they seem in the above picture.

There's a story to the background crying in the sea lion video below, but via blog it doesn't come across well. It has to do with Mister's abnormal lack of fear of heights.

And now, for a little Montana/Nevada time!

Goose Up!

After longingly watching the first Goose flight of the day take off without them, Boppa and Paxson finally managed to catch a ride. It was old hat for Pax, who flew on it last June. While walking back from the other side of the runway, there was an extreme walking incident that left somebody taking a mud-puddle dive. No problem, Senor slept right through it all in the backpack. Just some J-Star style puncture wounds.




Hey, we walk hard around here. Just like Dewey Cox. At any rate, here are some highlights from the trip:



Above is the dock where a lot of the Deadliest Catch boats park in the off season. You can see the Maverick if you look real close.



The giant church/gym in welcomes us to Akutan.



Mister, ever pumped back in Akutan.



I sail! I fly! I'm Super Boodah!



It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a giant cave. (The dark spot almost dead center.) It'd be cool to explore.



Not too pumped for the ride to end!

And in case you ever wanted to know what a water take-off feels like...




And back at home, Senor quickly gets back to his roots.

Goose Down!

Down as in verb, not as in fluffy warm clothing item. A round trip ticket on the goose to Akutan was Dawson's birthday present a while back. He's been waiting for a sunny day to use it, but unfortunately last week there was a small incident that put a chink in the plans. Fortunately nobody was hurt too bad. (More on the incident here.)

You might wonder just how a plane can hit a car while it's landing on the runway. Well, in our little town, runway space is at a premium, and the road runs quite close to the runway. Usually, Penair sends out a van that blocks the road. There are also flashing lights that tell you to stop, and a gate that presumably used to swing shut, kind of like a railroad crossing. The lights flash, but the gate's a decoration. At any rate, here's a picture coming from the direction that poses the largest problem.

Apparently, somebody driving back from the spit didn't see that little red flashing light and drove straight through the landing path of the Goose.

Here's the Goose after a little mishap last summer.





The Goose is an awesome plane, built in the 40's, that lands in water just as easily as on a runway. It's pure adventure goodness. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Envisioned as corporate or private "flying yachts" for Manhattan millionaires, initial production models normally carried two to three passengers and had a bar and small toilet installed. As well as being marketed to small air carriers, the G-21 was also promoted as a military transport. In 1938, the US Army Air Force purchased the type as the OA-9 (later, in the war years, examples bought from civilian owners were designated the OA-13A) the US Navy variants were designated the JRF.

The amphibian was soon adopted by the Coast Guard and, during World War II, it also served with the RCAF in the transport, reconnaissance, rescue and training roles, and used for air-sea rescue duties by the RAF. The RAF, in a common naming convention with all of its aircraft, designated it "Goose".

On returning to civilian service, after the war, the Goose found use from the wilderness of Alaska to the sunny climes of Catalina.

A total of 345 were built, with about 60 still airworthy today, some of them in modified forms, such as the Turbo-Goose (see below).

Here's our tribute to the Goose. We took these photos in January and February. (Just so you aren't mislead, there are actually three different Geese here in the PenAir fleet.)

Here's a picture of the Goose taking off over the fateful road. You can kind of tell how it's a hazard.






And this last shot is of the Goose actually crossing the road after making a water landing. When this happens, it just drives right up the boat ramp, crosses the road, and heads on into the airport.



If you want more hot Goose action, you can rent Commando and watch California's governor and Rae Dawn Chong flying around. And blowing stuff up. And making silly jokes.

In other news, last night our home town roots showed up again for their annual production. The Missoula Children's Theater put on a wild wild west rendition of the Wizard of Oz. It's always nice to get a little taste of home here on the islands.




And finally, thank goodness we're back on the enema mailing list!



We don't know how we'd survive without these occasional random surprises.

America's Hottest Governor Has a Baby!

6 pound 2 ounce Trig Paxson Van Palin arrived this morning at 6:30 am. What? Yep, that's right another Paxson in the ranks. Never knew another Paxson--then there was Angelina Jolie and Pax, my friend Mark named their kid Paxon, Dawson's co-worker in Bethel named their son Paxton, and now Trig Paxson Van Palin! What can we say? It's a good name and let's hear it for Peace. Of course, now that it's hitting the ranks of the famous, maybe it will become the next Michael? Because I'm sure when the press is talking about weird name, they're referring to Trig and Van Palin....

Incidentally, Baby Trig is said to have special challenges that they knew about through early testing and of course, I among probably countless others, am dying to know the details. Stay tuned....

Also incidentally, America's hottest governor is also America's toughest governor. Kept up a busy schedule, not even revealing she was pregnant until last month and then goes into labor in Texas while giving a key note address but figures she better jump on the Alaska Airlines jet to come home to Alaska to give birth!

Happy Lentil Week Eve

Tomorrow lentil week starts, and one thing that's always exciting to eat during lentil week is dahl baht. It's hard to find it the way we really like it, dahl baht with dirt/gravel/sand, like the authentic Nepalese recipe from our journeys of long ago, so if we want it authentic, we're going to have to make it ourselves. And when you are eating for three, you have to make sure there's extra dirt. We can't be cheating anybody of their proper serotonin intake. Speaking of Nepal, wow, how about those Maoists? George Bush doesn't appear to be extolling the powers of democracy following their victory in the election. Hmm. GW's secretly a fan of monarchy. In any event, his man in charge seems to have problems telling the difference between Nepal and Tibet. It is true that both countries serve delicious yak burgers, so the mistake is understandable.




Here's a nice example of dahl baht with dirt:




You have to imagine the dirt, of course. But if it's quality dahl baht, it's in there. We're having some for dinner tomorrow night. Mmmmm... lentil soup with rice.









And of course, no blog of this sort would be complete without one of these pictures:

Trouble!

I'd like to be able to say that these kinds of things don't happen on my watch....but the other day as I was getting ready to pick up Dawson from the airport and enjoying a few moments of quiet bliss, I noticed that perhaps it was a bit too quiet and discovered that Senor had found the garbage can I had left in the entry way and was gleefully spreading the recently discarded coffee grounds around the room. Here he is under the care of his father.

Where's a sandbox when you need one?



By the way, where did this guy come from anyway?

Hooray for Sesame Week!

Start celebrating. The options are endless....sesame oil, tahini, sesame seed cookies, sesame seed crackers, or the classic favorite: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun. Mmmm.....bet you can't wait to start celebrating.


Not that lentil week won't be exciting too.....

Summer Bay 2008 Mission #1

To alleviate our lonely sorrows after Day-Day's departure, we hiked out to Summer Bay. There are lots of snow slides still blocking the road, so it looks like it'll be a while before it's possible to drive out there. That may put a small snag in Boppa's surfing plans, but it's still a great walk. And wouldn't you know it, we caught the only 15 minutes of the day's sunshine, so it worked out splendidly.

The otters were out in full force, playing, jumping, diving, and slapping their bellies. There's a good chance mating was involved. It must just be that time of the year!

Eagle down! What happened to this guy is a mystery. But somebody had already eaten his eyeballs by the time we arrived. We didn't touch it, for fear of breaking any bald eagle laws.

And if you want a panoramic view, here's the scene from the beach. I love the sound of the waves rolling in... sure, you have to concentrate to hear them over the roar of the Unalaska wind, but if you listen carefully, I promise you, they're there.

Bye Bye Day-Day

Oh, dear. The joyous days of playing in mud puddles with Day-Day (Hayden, if you want to be technical) have come to pass. Day-Day, Juliette, and Chance have headed back to America. Pocatello, to be precise. Good luck to you! Thanks for being great neighbors. We'll miss you!

Here's a selection of photos from the going away get together.