Short Timers!

We're getting to be real short-timers now after spending weeks more than we expected in Anchorage. No, we're not going to tow our Scamp with this but it intrigued me, thus the picture.

We need to say thank you to Dr. Kira Zerkel and the staff at PET Emergency Treatment as well as Dr. Nelson Priddy of Alaska Mobile Veterinary Surgery who went out of their way to help us understand the issues and implications related to Turk's significant injuries and multiple surgeries. Our confidence in them (and Turk's slow healing) was why we spent the extra time in the Anchorage area.


We've been thankful that the other party's insurance company has been responsive thus far. We trust that will continue when they see the doctor's statement that Turk's healing and resolution of infections may take many months!

The time has come for us to leave town for the last time on this trip. There are lots of places we'd hoped to see and things we'd hoped to do on this trip that have been sidelined to deal with Turk's medical needs. Perhaps that means another trip in the future - it's too soon to tell.

Saturday will see us heading down the road. We'll try to keep the blog current, but expect to be into Canada by mid-day on Sunday where updates will be dependent on finding good wireless access. We're expecting to travel the Cassiar Highway south and head directly to Wenatchee hoping to keep on schedule for the commitments we have with other family members.

Tryouts

Last year our grandson played hockey on a beginning "house" team and did very well. This year he wanted to try out for one of the competitive teams. Tryouts were held at the University of Alaska Anchorage's rink with four sessions over a three day period. The first day was a bit interesting to find parking with a major campus construction project where the lot had been.

The first session started with some stick skills

leading to one-on-one

and then two-on-two short scrimmages.

I thought it was fun watching his father who was at least as concerned about his chances as he was.

After the first session, it was "drop me at the door while you find a place to park."

Like any process, there's always time to wait. (His number changed with each session.)

The end result was that he was selected as a member of the Blue Devils Squirt B Minor competition team. It means a lot more ice time for practices and travel for some tournaments and games. Needless to say, he's excited and we were blessed to be there.

Smokin'

Seems like nearly everyone that comes to Alaska during the summer plans to do some fishing. Given my skills and experience, we carefully selected the best spot to insure success. In fact, we were able to catch two silvers and a nice large halibut ... fillet at the New Sagaya's Market.

One of the silvers was intended for smoking along with a pink that our son had in the freezer. The recipe called for white wine but since I'm not a wine drinker, selection was based on brand - I thought White Truck was appropriate!

The salmon marinated overnight and then was laid out on racks over the utility sink to drain

before loading it, upside down, in the smoker.

A couple hours later, when adding the third pan of alder chips, I flipped them all over with the skin side down and continued the process.

I was pretty pleased with how they turned out - almost like the cross hatching was intentional instead of beginner's luck.

The grandson did a great job of insuring they were sealed properly. The silver will go in our freezer for the trip home, displacing the space usually reserved for ice cream. Sometimes you have to make tough choices!