Saturday night live

Well its kind of that 'not much to do season' here at Mile 14 and I've had a heck of time coming up with something to report. Its not like theres nothing going on here at Mile 14 its just that everything that is seems so normal...Then I got to thinking what Dave Anderson told me when I started the blog and I realized that even everyday life here is a bit different than how most folks live, especially those in the 48. So , today I'm going to walk you through yesterdays events here at the river, live, its Saturday night.

Normally this time of year our salmon supply has dwindled and we're looking forward to some fresh fish real soon. But as it was -20 before we left for Mexico and we couldn't smoke a batch for all our friends we waited and Saturday was the day to get it all taken care of it. One thing about this gift of salmon we have here in Alaska...don't kill it if you ain't going to eat it! So the pic above is one of two batches that MP canned and then the next pic is one of two smokers we tended all day, while we did other important stuff.

The next pic is kind of cool if you ask me. I set the camera up inside the sauna after we'd had a good sweat. As you can see theres still plenty of snow but with temps into the high 30's and low 40's we're finally into the 'break-up' season. Later this week I'll publish pics of the driveway and our road when it gets to be 4-wheel drive only. You can also see that I took time to chain up the 4-wheeler and as we sauna'ed about cocktail thirty I noticed that we broke just about every caution sign on the 4-wheeler...We drove it on a road, without helmets, with another rider and...consumed adult beverages. Oh well, we're big kids and theres not another soul in sight at this time of year at Mile 14.

So that brings me to this pic, the stuff I like from Mexico. Last night I had a few shots of Jimador (pronounced he-ma-door) with a one dollar lime I bought and some nice Mediterranean sea salt. The Jimador is a mid priced tequila in Mexico and I prefer it in the blanco variety. Its produced by the same people that make Herradara and I've seen the Reposada Jimador but not the blanco at my friend Ben Jackinsky's liquor store in Kenai. There a bottle is twenty bucks, in Mazatlan I bought this full liter at the Soriana store for 95 pesos, about 8 bucks... Then, next to the Jimador is another outstanding thing you can't get in the USA, no matter how good your store is. Its genuine Havana Club rum straight from Cuba. This bottle here is expensive even in Mexico but all the refined types I know say its simply the best you can get, anywhere. It's an aged rum and has a hearty taste that I guess I could compare to a really good single malt scotch like my buddy Chris enjoys. Its one of those things that just tastes like nothing else in the world.

So armed with a cold beer and a few shots of Jimador I go to work on my latest project, trying to learn Toby Keith's 'We were in Love' . Toby came to Kenai at the start of his career and only had the red album out and that song anchored the album. When he sang it for us it put goose bumps up my spine and it remained a favorite of for years, although out of reach as I figured I could never, ever, in a thousand years sing it. Well guess what, I finally have enough range and enough practice that I think I'm going to get it. It has a tricky part that builds to the refrain where he hits octave change after octave change. I'm getting it so all you folks in Mexico be ready, I'll have it spit shined by next December.

This pic is of our Saturday night mystery meat meal. Although we have all the fancy stores like WalMart in town now me and MP like to do our shopping at the local IGA. Its kind of a quirky little store and often has specials like this that are dirt cheap but in some ways a little scary. For 3 bucks we got 3 pounds of 'stuffed chicken breasts'. It doesn't say what they're stuffed with but me being naturally optimistic I figured it was Chicken Cor don Blu. Wrong. We baked them and they weren't bad but they certainly weren't chicken Cor don Blu....although there was something inside that resembled ham, kind of. One time we were shopping there and for one dollar they had smoked whole Spanish mackerel. They were in a vac sealed bag and were pretty darn big and impressive. Well, I opened it up when we got home and even the dog wasn't interested in eating something that foul smelling. So I took it out to the garbage and that night it was the first time we had bears in the trash here at mile 14...no kiddin.

I haven't done a book report in 40 years so I figure now is the perfect time. Before I left Mazatlan my friend Tony Mercuro told me that UnBroken is a must read. Tony is a decorated Viet Nam vet and one of the most deliberate people I know, he's a steady guy and when he speaks I listen. So last week I gobbled up this book in just two days, I read until I had double vision, you know the feeling?. Its the story of Louis Zamperini who represented us in Hitlers 1936 Olympics. He was thought to be the runner who would break the 4 minute mile barrier but was side tracked by the war. I read non-fiction alot as I want to know things that can make me better. Well, this book certainly does that, its inspiring, its heart rendering, its about history, its about getting through, getting 'it ' done. Its an action book, its a love story, its about sports and what they teach us....its just great and will make you feel good so give it a read...

Please come back to Mile 14, I'll do a better job of reporting the news from right here, the Kenai river.