Preseason Hunting Hike

After what seemed like a busy week, Sunday found my hunting partner Chuck and I looking at Church Mtn., for some preseason scouting for Bears. I Goal for the day was to ascend the Western portion of Church Mtn.. This hike was also to test how good our physical stamina is, and if we needed to put in any extra effort before August 1st. rolls around and the season truly begins.


So here is a shot, not to far from where we parked the rig and started our bushwhacking up the Mtn. (there are no trails that lead to the top of Church Mtn., sure makes for some rugged going!)

Here is the view of Baker where we parked the rig and headed into the "Big Timber"

We started our hike at 6 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. we were almost to the top. It was windy, wet, and icy cold near the top. The ground got so steep is was like climbing a ladder and every foothold counted. The new green plant growth is sure slick with a little water on it. Neither of us took a picture at the steepest point, it just wasn't worth trying to fish a camera out of our packs at that point.

So on the decent, i found a flat spot and snapped a few shots.

This is a shot of a more manageable portion of the slope, but still steep though.

We side hilled for quite a ways, checking meadow pockets, that we wanted to see.

At one point i looked back up the hill, and saw these clouds blowing through at around 30 mph., they were worth the shot, and i like to call this next picture "Bear Country".... A prime spot to see one strolling through, unfortunately we didn't get to see a bear on this trip, just lots of sign.

Here is a pic. of the clouds that moved in seconds after the above picture was taken, the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip, enough for me to stop and put on my thermal top!
Checking the meadow pockets finally paid off, and we came across these four deer feeding. The one in the lower left corner was a nice buck, he wasn't going to have much for horns, but was big bodied. I took this picture at about 150 yards, i know it doesn't look like much, but the digital camera doesn't do much justice for distance shots. Was sure fun putting the sneak on those deer though, and made the hike that much more rewarding.

And lastly, the find of the day. I found a nice hiking pole, laying in the Salal as we were going through the Big Timber on our way up the Mtn. I guess we aren't the only ones crazy enough to try such a hike. What are the odds?
By noon we'd made it back to the truck and had covered around 5 miles. We both felt good, and weren't to sore or tired. A good preseason hike, to get our legs under us!

This morning as i reflect back, i can't help but think what a difference a year has made. Being 55 pounds lighter, and exercising almost every day, found me with lots of energy and feeling GREAT after a hike that would have destroyed me this time last year.

So, I'll close with that.....From the North.....where we hike for a purpose and see animals too!

Mark....The Iron Skillet

The Weekend

Well,
When i last posted on Friday we still had to finish off they day. So we met up with mom out at school and had a good visit. Then we headed home and prepped for Dinner.
The only way to end a school year off right is with some homemade Pizza!
So i had three "Iron Skillet's" ready and when Nicole arrived home we created our own "favorite" pizza's. Not sure which are which here but, the pictures almost do justice to how good these were!
I think this was Nicole's creation.
I'm pretty sure this one was my own personal creation: Needless to say i ate it ALL!
Saturday found Isa, Gene, and I headed back to Lake Samish in search of some more of those tasty little trout. This would make 3 days in a row for me.

Isa was all smiles as we returned to the Launch with a cooler full of Kokes to take home.
She prided herself with picking out all the worms prior to there fateful offering on "The Hook"
We couldn't just go alone, So my good friend Gene came along. Good company, and GREAT with Isa. Gene (and I, for that matter) finally got our "cup of coffee" on the return trip to the launch....The fishing was just to HOT to stop for a cup!
I couldn't help but snap a photo of "a man with his coffee" since the topic was the punchline for most of our mornings constant fishing action.


And of course,

we have to get one of those signature "limit" shots. So here is the limit for Isa and me. Another good trip!

So you may ask what we did for Fathers day....... well only one guess......

What else, a trip fishing with the family.

Nicole agreed to go and take Kai along for the ride too.

He didn't like his life jacket was the understatement of the day! So fishing was short lived, but we still managed to boat 7 fish in 40 min. of fishing. That's when it was "time to go" as level 4 of 5 meltdowns had started to occur.

I still enjoyed having everyone in the boat, and it was Kai's first trip to boot!

So a picture of the troops to document our first outing all together.

Not necessarily all smiles though.

And, last as a closing shot to a good weekend.

The old Yami. doing it's duty on another trip, pushin' the dory at maximum speed....8 m.p.h.!

Signing off from the North......Where father's fish with friends and family......and have fun too.

Mark......"The Iron Skillet"

Down To A Science

So the last two mornings I've awoke at the early hour of 3 a.m., to continue trying my had at catching some more of those tasty little Kokanee out at Lake Samish. You may be wondering...why would i get up that early? Well, even I'll admit that's pretty early, but I have to be back home by 6:45 so that Nicole can head off to work, and i can watch the kids.

My goal is to acquire a limit (5 fish) before i need to be home. This is easier said than done. So here is a little break down of how things have to work.

It doesn't get light until 4:30.
I need to stop fishing by 5:45. Giving me enough time to get back to the boat launch, load the boat on the trailer, and heading for home by 6:00.
It takes 30 min. to drive home from the boat launch.
It takes 10 min. to stop and get Nicole a mocha on the way home.
So that leaves 5 minutes to spare!


So since I've made a job out of this entire ordeal......

Here is a picture of my office for the last two mornings, things are working just as they should.

So after all that, you might ask if i achieved my goal?

well, yes, both mornings in fact.

Pretty good fishing in my book!

Gotta have pictures to prove it, right?

This mornings final product before it hit the freezer.

Mission complete.......We've got quite the stack of these in the freezer right now. I think a little canning, and some smoked fish are in the near future.

So hopefully the rest of the day will go as well as the start did.
The kids and i are to pick up some lunch and visit with Mom on her last day of school. Should be fun, I'm sure she'll enjoy our company on her last day.


Signing off....From the North......Where fishermen are hard core....and trout are cooked in an IRON SKILLET!


Mark ...."THE IRON SKILLET"

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Once again, the Iron skillet found himself at home.....and some cooking was in order.
So our Tuesday night meal was one of our favorites. Chicken Enchilada Casserole....Cooked to perfection in.....an IRON SKILLET....What else would i use?


Here is a picture of the final product, right b4 it came out of the oven. You can see the cheese is just getting that golden brown top.....Perfection!



Here is a shot right before being placed in the oven. There are layers of cheese, tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce, green chilli, beans and a little spice that will put the hair back on a bald mans head!

Gotta have a picture of "mixture" prior to a layer of cheese and tortillas

I wish i had a few more pictures of this to share, but sadly it was eaten so quickly that it was gone before i got a chance to snap any photo's!

So signing off....From the North......where bald men grow hair too!

Mark...."THE IRON SKILLET"

CHOWDER TIME!

Wednesday morning found us waking to rain. We haven't had any rain for quite some time, but for some reason the rain we had Wednesday morning reminded me of Clam Chowder!
I haven't had Clam chowder for a long time, and i don't think I've ever made it.
Well, as you can see, i can scratch another one of the list of "made that now....in an Iron Skillet"

I ended up using some of the horse clams we dug while Nicole's family visited. They are perfect for chowder! Ground through the meat grinder made them just right.
Here's a picture of my bowl full.
No Clam Chowder is complete without Oyster Crackers
Mmmmmmm.....looks good!


So while i was making chowder, i had the kids play on the deck. Was just right, i could keep an eye on them and they could have fun.
Little did i know that Isa filled up her little play box with a whole bunch of water! (So much for keeping the Eagle eye on them) She figured out how to turn on the hose and help herself. (I'd put just a touch of water in for fun)
As you can see, most of the water ended up on the deck!

Here's a better shot of just how wet things got!

KaiKai's diaper looked like a marshmallow it had so much water in it!

And last but not least,
A picture of Isa that says it all about another great day spent with
"THE IRON SKILLET" A.K.A. DAAAAAAAAD!

From the North.......Where chowder's made........and Kids, both big and small, have fun too!

B.O.A.T.....Break Out Another Thousand

With all the mentioning of the big boat being broken, i guess it deserves its own post. So here is the story.
A few weeks ago while install a new drain plug, i decided to check under the boat and make sure everything looked o.k.. To my Horror, i discovered 8 GIANT cracks in the hull though the bottom of the boat! It was a pretty sick feeling!
After talking with the builders of the boat i was out of luck on them fixing it. So a Aluminum Fabricator here in Bellingham agreed to do the work. So after we made a plan of attack, i started in on dismantling the boat.

First things first. Off comes the big motor. tipping the scales at 500 pounds this was no easy task! Thanks to some expert help from my two good friends Gene and Jon, we had this job done in a little over an hour. I couldn't have done it without them. There connections in the marine/aviation industry were well used in both guidance and use of equipment!

This is a picture of one of the 8 cracks throughout the bottom of the boat.

A boat without a motor just doesn't look right!

As of yesterday i removed the center fuel tank, cleaned out the bilge area and only the fuel filter remains. My hopes are to get it to Dwayne's shop sometime tomorrow. His guess was he'd have it for 10 days to 2 weeks before I'd get it back from him.

In all he'll have a total of 16 cracks to fix. Once i started looking i found more and more. Hopefully his strategic placement of his new welds, a few added brace points, and better welding penetration will solve the problem!

So the plan is to run the boat (once fixed) through this summer, and then look at selling it this next spring and move up into a little more saltwater friendly boat.

From the north.......Where boats cost more than their owners can afford....and wives put up with a lot too!

Mark ......"The Iron skillet"

A Morning of Kokes

Well, with the big boat broke down i found myself still wanting to go fishing, and since i had to take everything off and out of the big boat, why not reinstall some stuff on the dory so i could at least do some lake fishing. I'm now glad i decided to do so.
This is the outcome after a morning of fishing at Lake Samish this last weekend. The fishing for these tasty little guys was outstanding. I fished a total of 1 hour on saturday and 40 minutes on Sunday. 4 Nice Kokes and one cutty' was the result for Saturday. Sunday turned out 5 nice Kokes.

These are Saturday's fish
Have to get a shot of the view and fishing conditions out of the dory
Back at the launch by 7:10!

A side shot of the dory before loading her up and heading home for some breakfast

In hindsight I'm glad i didn't sell the dory this last year. It's been a lot of fun with Isa this year, chasing trout in our local lakes and there are a lot more in its future.

From the north.....where men get up early.....and catch trout too!

FIRST POST FROM THE IRON SKILLET

hello,

well bear with me this is my first attempt at posting on the blog. Minus Nicole's help none the less.

So this week I've found myself laid off 4 of the 5 days, and all of next week. Between working on the boat, and watching kids I managed to muster up a typical Iron skillet meal for Monday night.

The first portion of the meal was to be salmon patties and shrimp cocktails

Followed by the main course of fresh trout from lake Samish. A couple Kokanee and a couple Cutthroat trout, marinated to perfection and placed in the rack for a proper cooking.


Have to have a picture of an Iron Skillet in action. Boy those Salmon Patties turned out great. I even ate one cold the next day (and i don't like anything cold that has to do with fish, they must have been good!)


Tuesday, found me finishing up the deck project. The lumber is now all in place, I'll wait to stain it when Nicole and the kids are off on there Vacation.

And, lastly a picture of a combo of both new and old product. I tried to reuse as much of the old deck as possible, Once stained there shouldn't be to much of a noticeable difference (at least i hope so).

So that's my first blog from the North....Where we eat well.....and build decks too!