I'm working as a Fish Culturist at Hidden Falls Salmon Hatchery in a remote spot near Sitka, Alaska! AM I CRAZY!? I'm starting to think so...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS


BUY, SELL, OR TRADE

Room for rent. Good view with deck. Large bed and closet. $0 per day. Booked up 6/28 – 7/10. Contact Growling Grizzly Inn to save your room today!
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Small adjustable dog collar… blue. Free to a good home.
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Recently read books for trade… send me something good, and I’ll send you something good. Almost done with my 1,000 page book!

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WANT ADS

Cooked anything good lately? Recipes wanted! Vegans and vegetarians, need not reply.
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WANTED – A visitor. Free room and board. Room with a view. All you can eat salmon. All you can see scenery, bears, fish, eagles, and other wildlife. Can work around your schedule. Contact ME.

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Looking for 20-24 ft. Aluminum-hulled boat. Prefer hardtop, extended transom, 115-175hp newer 4-stroke outboard. Contact Adam.
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Hungry for waffles! In need of a waffle maker. Mom, can you send me mine?
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In need of a new stuffed Hedgehog… Loved my first, but chewed it up. Contact Tucker.
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WELL WISHES & SHOUT OUTS

Happy Belated 21st birthday bro! - Your sister
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Happy 4 month birthday, Tucker! (5/3/09) You look so cute with 3 baby teeth missing! Love Mom & Dad

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Hey Uncle Eddie, Adam has been down to a t-shirt for the past few days… without 70 degree weather! It's been in the 50s. – Your adoring niece :-D

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Dear Great Grandma Mo, thank you for the nice card. I loved hearing about all the things you are doing. I have had a great week… the sun has been shining everyday. Mom and Dad have taken me to the beach a few times and it’s fun! Love, Tucker
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Hey all,

Well, life is good in Alaska this week. The sun has been out everyday and that makes all the difference. I don’t know what the temperature has been, but according to the hatchery temp records, it’s been high 40s, low 50s. Sounds cold to you all probably but it’s comparable to your 80 degrees right now! Especially if you are sitting on the porch.

Just wanted to write a small thing to let you in on a little news… I have gotten a little upgrade here in the company. Sometime soon, I will officially become a “permanent seasonal.” Sounds like an oxymoron, I know. But with the “permanent” title comes big and better things. Health insurance, paid vacation, and a bit more responsibility. All of the details haven’t been figured out yet, and I’m not sure when my status will change. I think I will be on salary pay now, and that’s what the boss still had to figure out I think. I will be working 10 months still, but I think I can take those 2 months, broken up whenever I want, assuming it works out with the schedule and things.

Anyhow, I guess that’s all I know right now. I just wanted to let you know. :-)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Pictures...

Hey, I don't have much to talk about this week, but I don't want you guys to get all antsy in your pantsy for a blog! So here are some pictures.

The weather has been pretty good (until the day we need to head BACK to Takatz, like last Friday... or today) but Adam decided to go fishing one day at Takatz, so I went out with him in the boat figuring I could read in the sun and we took the dog.

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The view from the boat into the south arm of Takatz.

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Tucker was fine while the boat was in motion... he likes to stick his nose high in the air and smell!

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Even though the weather was nice at the floathouse, the water on the outside was a bit choppy. And we learned that dogs, too, can get a little seasick. Atleast that's what we think it was... he drooled alot and looked really sad. Make the picture a little bigger to really see the sad "I don't feel so good" eyes!

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We also took the dog to the back of Takatz to run around on the beach. Adam really likes the rocks with the snow on it. The tide doesn't go up and over some rocks, leaving alot of snow. (Make the picture bigger, and the view looks better.)

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Tucker finally settled down in "Seaweed Heaven" to have a bit of a snack. Oh how he loves Seaweed!

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Afternoon sun + carpet = Tucker's second heaven! No other words really need to be said.

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Heaven #3? This was last night... passed out while we watched a movie. I know, this is sort of bad behavior, but we are savoring the last moments that we can actually pick him up.

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You are going to have to scroll down to the next picture to do a little comparison! This was today... the next picture was a month ago. He can't exactly get under the table like he used to! I though this was pretty funny... his butt hanging off.

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See how little he used to be! This was at about 15 lbs. Now he's a little under 31 lbs. Doubled in size in a month!

Tucker says "Thanks for all the messages from last week!"

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Another perspective...

Hey guys! So my mom didn’t feel like writing this today so I did! Here’s what we’ve been doing…

So I finally get used to this place and they put me in this boat thing to this big huge green house. Takatz. I didn’t know what we were doing there until this boat came. That’s when I always got put inside but when I came back outside, fish were swimming around in the nets. One day, mom brought me outside when the boat came and I met the guy driving the boat and his giant black dog. The second day at Takatz, I fell in the water. It was a little scary but dad rescued me. It was cold. I learned to stop jumping backwards that day!

We stayed at this place for 10 days and I began to like it a lot. There are rugs on the floor so I have a lot of fun playing. At home, I slip and slide around a lot. I really like playing with my red rubber ball and my tennis ball, but mom and dad take that away from me a lot. I can’t help that I like to chew the yellow fuzz off! I like deer antlers too! Dad gave me that.

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MMMMM... Dad loves this pictures because the antler is big.

So after 10 days, they got on their big scary survival suits and told me to get in the boat, but I didn’t want to go. I ran away from them but they caught me. We rode back and I was nervous, but then I saw people I knew on the dock and I was all excited! It felt good to run around on solid ground again!

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This is me and my buddy, Muttley. He gets bothered that I always want to play with him but sometimes he'll play with me.

Mom took me into the bunkhouse and put me on this scale… apparently I weighed 24.5 lbs. The next day, the sun was out and mom and dad took me to the beach! It was so fun… there was so much seaweed for me to eat. Dad tried to get me to look at the deer on the beach but geez, I didn’t care. SEAWEED! It was fun running in the sand too. They kept trying to get me to go in the water but I still don’t know how I feel about that. I walked in the creek a little bit but it’s still sort of scary. Then we ran around more and went back home.

Then we went back to the giant green house again… this time for only 5 days. All of the days seemed the same though… here is what I did.

I would wake up at 6:30 but since I was in my box, I’d just play with my rope or my fish toy until dad heard me. He’d get up and take me outside and then feed me. I love the morning… I love being crazy and running around and biting, even though I get in trouble. After a while, I’d get annoyed that mom was still sleeping so I’d run into the room and put my head on the bed. Sometimes I’d jump up but that gets me in trouble too. Of course, she’d wake up but she wouldn’t get out of bed! Every morning! Finally she would and then we run around. Sometimes I do my crazy run, which she loves! She says it reminds her of her old dog, Maggie.

Eventually we would all head downstairs and they would carry bags of food out to feed the fish. I have discovered that fish food is DELICIOUS! I didn’t know what it was at first… looks like dirt but it’s good! One day, dad was pouring some food and I stuck my head under to eat some, but I got in trouble. Any food on the pens or the outsides of the buckets I eat though. Then we go upstairs again and mom does the dishes and makes the bed. She throws the blankets on the ground first and I always like to lay on them. They are nice.

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We go up and down the stairs a few more times to feed fish before lunch. Sometimes I follow mom or dad around while they feed, or sometimes I sit and watch. Or I chew on my stick or any kind of wood I can find. Then it’s lunchtime and I get to eat! Then we go back downstairs again… they feed 4 times after lunch. One day I helped check the temperature of the water, but usually it gets a little boring for me.

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Sometimes they take me in the boat over to the shore and we run around in the woods. There is lots of snow still, but I can run right over it. I think it’s funny to watch dad sink into it. Or sometimes dad will go out in the boat and come back with sea-things! One day, he brought me a box crab. I thought it was a rock but then the claws came out and I was so excited and a little scared of it! He also brings me shrimp and crab too. I love them all. They are really tasty… I even like licking dad’s hands! Some days the sun is out and it is really nice outside, but we come in anyhow and I love to sleep on the rug in the sun. It is so warm.

After the bags are all empty, the day is done. They bring them in and put them in a pile. They don’t know that I’ve been sticking my head in the empty bags and licking all the food out. Ok they caught me once actually, but I wasn’t embarrassed. Then we go upstairs. We play and they give me treats if I do what they say. I know how to sit down and lay down. They also get me to stay where I am… Sometimes I get confused though, but they say I’m doing good! I like treats.

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I get to eat again at 6. Then mom and dad make food and watch a movie. That’s when I sleep. After a few hours, they say it’s time for bed and try to get me to go outside to go to the bathroom but I never feel like it, so I hide in my box. Then they pull me out and I say ok… I do my business and come back upstairs where it’s really time to go in my box, but I don’t feel like it now. So I go hid under the table! They usually laugh but always make me go in my box! Then it’s bedtime and mom and dad say good night. THEN WE DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!

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Well, the 5 days were over but the weather was bad so we came back the next morning. Again I got all excited seeing the boys waiting on the dock. I was really happy all day and ran around like crazy! The sun was shining and it felt really warm. Lots of the snow was gone too and you could see dirt! I’ve only seen snow.

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SEE! Real dirt!

Mom took me over to the bunkhouse and put me on that darn scale again… 28 lbs. now. I was almost 15 lbs. when I got here. What can I say… I’m a growing boy!

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Mom loves this picture!

After a while, mom heard the plane come so we ran down to the dock. After they unloaded all the boxes, I heard mom and dad talking about not getting any groceries, then they were in a bad mood. Good thing I still had food! Earlier, mom asked Jacquie if she wanted to have dinner and mom was going to cook. But mom didn’t get some of the stuff she needed so there were problems, but we still went up to my friend’s house. As soon as the door opened, I saw my buddy, Rocky! They keep saying I’m as big as him now but he still picks on me. One day I will show him. I also saw my other buddy, Emma. She’s a baby, not a dog. She’s nice and has red hair like my mom. They cooked some food and Rocky and I played. Then we chewed on bones. Then we played and chewed some more. After a while, I was getting tired but they watched a movie. They kept saying it was me in the movie but my name isn’t Marley! What are they thinking? I did hear a lot of barking though.

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Me and my buddy, Rocky! He's a Boston Terrier but he lives in Alaska... shouldn't he be an Alaskan Terrier? Mom thinks it's funny that we are the same size but my paws are so much bigger than his.


Today I got up early and dad took me outside. I was making a lot of racket at 4 in the morning too and mom took me out then, but I had to go back into my box. Mom finally woke up and petted me. But something weird happened later! Mom started some laundry and was on the couch with dad. The washing machine was almost done and did it’s final shaking. But after that, we heard a loud bang and a hissing sound. I didn’t know what it was but mom and dad ran to look and we saw lots of smoke in the kitchen! Dad realized it was the fire extinguisher that had fallen to the ground and gone off! Mom ran to get me but I got scared and she had to chase me, but we ran outside. There was a lot of fast talking and lots of smoke. We went over to tell the boss and dad got stuff to clean it up. Then I got chained up and I didn’t like the sounds of the vacuums. It was scary. I couldn’t even go back in the house for 5 hours. I got to stay over at the bunkhouse playing with Melissa, who wasn’t working today. Mom took this picture after dad had cleaned up some of the mess.

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Click on this picture to make it bigger... then you can see the real mess!

Finally I came back to the house and it was back to normal, but it was a weird day! Don’t worry, no one was hurt by the dust, but they had to throw my Milkbones out because they were in the kitchen. Mom and dad wore masks when they cleaned so they didn't breathe or eat much dust.

Well I think that’s all! Write me lots of notes please! I hope you guys are having fun… I sure am!

BARK OUT OF THE WEEK - I want to say Happy Birthday to my Aunt Valerie! I'll meet you some day. Also Happy Easter! Does the Easter Bunny come to little puppies in Alaska?