A WHALE OF A DAY

Well it's that time of the year again--Herring

Season is right around the corner. The planes

are buzzing around the skies all day long on

the lookout for the huge schools of herring

and the wildlife has returned in abundance

to gorge on the millions of fish that will

be spawning here soon.

It was another warm, sunny day so we

delivered a cake before church, went to

church, enjoyed an all-you-can-eat shrimp

Mission's fundraiser after church,

delivered 2 more cakes and then

decided to head out on the water.

We left the dock and it wasn't 3 minutes out

that we had a HUGE Humpback cross right

directly in front of us! No picture--we were

all taken aback by it and slowed the boat

down to a standstill just to watch.

Soon after we saw the local tour boat go by

filled with people that were out whale

watching for the day.

We went a few minutes farther and stopped

the boat and what do you know...

Here comes another pair. These were so close you can

easily see the blow holes on the front.

We turned the boat off and were just watching when

this one decided to dive.

Pretty view with a few seagulls on the rocks. Right now

it seems like Alfred Hitchcok's "The Birds" movie

since there are hundreds of seagulls around town waiting

on the herring fishery. A lot of the larger roofs in town

(like the large hotel) are white from all of the bird

poo being deposited on it.

Somebody got a little too hyped up from all

the whale action and had to be locked in

a body vise-grip until he could calm

himself down. Sheesh.

We went a ways farther to get away from all the whales

and found a shallow channel to anchor up in and fish for

a few herring with a pole. These guys are great bait

for halibut and they love to bite the multiple tiny

hooks on a light fishing pole. My daughter went in

the kayak to paddle around a bit since the water

was so nice and flat.

Here there were 4 herring on the line--2 flew

off into the boat (dogs are inspecting them)

Lots of wildlife all around--eagles, sea lions, ducks...

Lilly just can't stop staring at the fish in the bucket.

Neo just can't stop staring at the fish in the water.

So here is my younger daughter happily paddling

while we all enjoy the silence...

and look what surfaced 50 feet away...

and brought their friends...

these are not zoomed--we were surrounded...

You can't believe the sound of the foooossssshhhhhhh

as they blow one by one in the silence. My daughter

said she could hear them pulling air in after they

blew too since she was down on the water.

It. Was. Amazing.

and Awesome.

and Breathtaking.

and Scary because my daughter

was in the kayak, in the water.

with

the

whales.

We had her hug the shore and we all

watched them, then she was able to get

back in the boat.

Eventually a rain squall came over and

they all went away, so we headed home.

What an amazing sight.

This was a cool shot of Mt. Edegecumbe as we were

going by. And we had another whale come alongside

us as we were headed home too, just kind of keeping

pace with us as we went along.

I thought this was a neat shot of some of the huge

boats that are here waiting for the Herring Fishery.

That should be happening here in the next couple

of days...

CRAVING FRESHLY BAKED GOODS

Living where we do, we are accustomed to doing

without the things that most everybody in the

lower 48 feels like they can't live without.

No Walmart, Red Robin, Sonics or Costco.

There is not a single mall, bowling alley,

skating rink or Home Depot.

But what we do have is a community that

has learned how to make things happen

and we definitely learn how to make use

of the things we DO have.

There are people that live in outlying

communities that are much more

remote than we are. In fact, compared

to them we look like a metropolis.

These people have discovered that

I make fresh bread and cakes.

So now I am packaging my baked goods

into boxes and taking them over to the

Harris Air to fly them out to the small

communities.

I was a little nervous the first time I

shipped a cake, but after meeting the

pilots and the people at the front desk

I knew they would take excellent care

of the baked goods. Plus, they said

if they wrecked it they would just eat

the evidence.

Hardy har har har.

So here is a birthday cake for a camera

enthusiast going down to Klawock:

Cake box snug inside a priority box

Bubble wrap cushion on top

Sealed up with instructions everywhere

Delivered to the nice people at Harris Air.

They are very helpful and just very pleasant.

Most of the items I make can be flown for

approx. $12.00 a box to any of the outlying

communities. That's a pretty darn good

deal considering what it costs to fill up

with fuel in your car to drive somewhere

to get freshly baked goods!

Yesterday's shipment--freshly baked

Chocolate Zucchini, Orange Cranberry,

Lemon Blueberry, Banana and Cinnamon

Swirl bread:

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!

This seems like just yesterday to me...

Look who's 14 years old today!

Happy Birthday Valla Dalla!

Poet, Math Whiz, Little Sister

and Book Worm.

You give teenagers a GOOD name.

Love, Mom and Dad

A TYPE OF ACUPUNCTURE

It has been a long few months for me, with lots of back

pain from a bulging disc. I don't go to regular doctors

for my back since the only 2 suggestions are either

surgery or strong pain meds and I am not interested

in either one of those.

My daughter works at a chiropractic clinic, so she talked

me into an appointment to meet with the doctor there

about my back and neck. She adjusted my neck (which

really helped) but my back was just too painful to man-

ipulate.

She offered me a new technology that she wanted to

learn more about. Since it is non-invasive I thought, Why

not? Like she said, the worst that could happen would

be a waste of time.

The program is called AcuGraph II, digital meridian

imaging. The entire thing is done with the aid of a

computer, a moistened probe and a small hand held

machine that emits hertz.

Basically the doctor has me hold a metal ground and

she uses a small probe that is hooked up to the

computer to measure the energetic status of my

acupuncture meridians.

The readout is then analyzed by the computer and

recommendations are shown in a very detailed

graph of my body. She then takes the small hertz

machine and holds it over each meridian (energy

point) to encourage my body to equalize the hertz

to the machine.

It sounds very strange, I know. But after reading

about it in Chinese medicine it makes total sense.

I have had several surgeries in my lifetime and that

alone will interrupt the Qi (pronounced "chee") or

life force energy in the body.

I have had 4 treatments so far and the difference is

amazing. When I went into the doctor I felt a like a

jigsaw puzzle that someone dumped out on the table.

During the treatments I felt like the doctor had put

a few of my pieces back together, then she put the

border of the puzzle together, now we have groups

of pieces being put together.

There were some painful times. Not during the

treatment, that was painless.But later as the energy

cycled through my body I would have different areas

of my body hurt pretty bad.

One night my right hand swelled to the point that I

wondered if something was really wrong. Then

another time my left rib cage felt like there was a

sword in it. One night my right leg hurt so bad that

I had it elevated and the pain was intense. But the

pain was short lived and then would just disappear.

I have 2 weeks off from treatment and then will

start again.

If you would like to know more about this procedure,

you can read about it more here: AcuGraphII

After reading about this and experiencing it, I think

most people would benefit from having these treatments.

I have read that people that suffer from things like Multiple

Sclerosis respond really well to this procedure.

One of the readouts talks about foods that benefit your

body. Not allergies, but foods that enhance your body

according to your detailed readouts. And it talks about

what hurts your body emotionally and I was blown away

by how accurate it was--I mean blown away.

Nobody knows those things that you think about inside

your head, yet this procedure and test showed me exactly

what I knew about myself and how some of those things

are very harmful to me physically--it was WEIRD.

Blockage of the energy meridians can result in a whole

host of negative health conditions. If you have some time,

read up on this online--you may be very surprised by what

you discover. But don't wait for your MD to talk to you

about that, it will never happen.

Mommy's Nose is Scary!