Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  It runs in my mind that there is an old western song that talks about being back in the saddle again. I'm not sure, but  I assume it's because whoever was singing it was away from their  horse for awhile and had finally returned. I can really relate. Back on March 29th, when I hauled out the boat for some plank work, I had no idea that I wouldn't be returning the Bonnie J back to her assigned stall for almost four months. It's been years since I've missed this much time during the fishing season. I've been chomping at the bit to get out for quite some time. Unfortunately I missed the king salmon season and though historically there is a little mop up for the remaining quota in August, this year there will be no mop up. Part of it is politics and part science I guess. I won't be able to catch another king this year until the winter season starts on October 11. I may be down south then, so chances are I won't catch any kings this y

    There are certain things in life that are indicators that perhaps you've entered the "golden years". One is when you have a cupboard specifically designated for holding all of your medicines. I'm not talking about the medicine cabinet in the bathroom where the tweezers, band-aids and Neosporin are located. I'm talking about all the pills you need just to keep life at some semblance of normal. Things like blood pressure meds, prostate pills, thyroid medicine, calcium supplements, Vitamin D tablets and assorted and sundry other things. The container  that separates all of my pills into daily doses is so full that I can hardly close the lid anymore. Between my wife and I, we could probably open a pharmacy. We have pills, ointments and creams for everything from hemorrhoids to shingles; high blood pressure to Padget's disease. Holy cats! When we order our medicine from Juneau it comes in a bag the size of a small suitcase. One of

  Well, I just returned from Anchorage this morning. I wasn't sure I was going to make it home today. Last night when the jet was making the final approach to Juneau, it suddenly increased speed and started a rapid accent into the air. It was really foggy and rainy and we couldn't really see much out the windows. It's the kind of thing that makes the heart beat a little faster. Anyway, the captain explained that visibility wasn't good enough to land going that direction so we had to approach from the other end of the runway. Then today, it was still overcast with low hanging clouds and I wondered if I'd make it back or spend the day in Juneau. Fortunately it cleared up and we made it here.  I had gone up to Anchorage to have surgery on my prostate. As you recall, a few weeks ago I had written about not being able to pee after a urinary tract infection. I flew up to see what could be done at the Alaska Urological Institute  and met

  No doubt 2015 will go down for me as one of the most difficult and unpleasant years that I can remember. Not only have I had to deal with a number of physical ailments requiring multitudes of trips to and from Juneau, as well as Anchorage at a fair amount of expense, but I've been waiting for months to get the boat done so I can go fishing. As you can see from the above pictures, the shipwright finally got the planks all put on. That was accomplished on Sunday. I was able to finish painting it, and got it ready to launch on Monday. Unfortunately, as I had mentioned previously, we had a very hot, dry spring.Almost every day in May was hot, sunny and windy, as well as a good bit of June. Wood, being what it is, has a tendency to dry out when exposed to sunny, hot, dry weather, as evidenced by all the wild fires in Alaska and the north west. Well, the old Bonnie J is made of wood planks, with cotton caulking in between and sealed with cement on the bottom. The