Ya can't eat that salmon until ya catch it

That title is a teaser....I'll get to that part but first I wanted to recognize a big event in Alaska history. Last Friday was the 50th anniversary of the big earth quack, there's things our generation will never forget where they were the moment it happened, JFK's murder, 9/11 and if you've ever been through a 9.2 earth quack you'd never forget that as well. My family was stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks about 500 miles as the crow fly's from the epicenter. Here's a pic of me during that era, looking quite angelic eh???

I was in 6th grade at the time , we had three classes of 6th graders forming 6-1 through 6-3 and I don't think I ended up in 6-1 based on my academic future but rather than the fact that I was an officers kid. But it was Friday  after school and all of 6-1 was going to a birthday party at Leslie Lindig's house, her dad was the hospital commander and my dad was the executive officer. We lived in an 8-plex which was  'Colonels row' and the Lindigs were across base in a stand alone home. We were in the basement and Chuck Berry had just came out with The Twist and the record player was kind of low so the parents could hear what was going on. The girls were dancing together while us guys did the awkward lets stare at em thing and act like we don't want to dance.  But I kinda had a hook on Anna Potts and was figuring on a dance or two when it happened...here's a pic of Leslie herself dancing at the 6-1 Christmas party with a girl I remember named Inez.  In the background is Eddie Atkinson and Emory Lipscomb, the Generals kid.

The  basement seemed to lift on one side and then fall on the other. I remember it was a feeling a bit like you've experienced on a carnival ride when you feel kind of weightlessness.  Nobody fell down or anything but if Leslie's mom wouldn't have hollered for us to come upstairs we'd all have stayed. Soon we were on the yard watching the street not really 'roll' as some have described but I thought it just rocked up and down...and it lasted a long time. I remember I wasn't scared, kind of hard to scare a 11 year old but I do know the adults were scared and that was enough for most everybody else. The telephone lines were out and we were all driven home by the Lindigs. Of course my dad was gone for many days as the entire State of Alaska mobilized to help. My brother was skiing at Birch Hill and was in the middle of a run and never felt it, my sister I don't remember where she was. My Aunt Lee who just recently passed away was actually in the new JC Penney Store in Anchorage that collapsed causing some of the Anchorage fatalities. 

Two things stick out in my memory....how my mom and was so worried for her sister and the kids in Anchorage and how relieved she was when using the military communications we were able to find out that all was fine. My uncle Rannals never even got a scratch on the two door Impala that he loved. The other thing was church.  There wasn't much a 6th grader could do to help but my mom being the ultra catholic that she was put us kids to work at praying for all the impacted, families that had lost loved ones, their homes, their boats, seemingly their futures. The rest of the story we all know, Alaskan's are resilient and the rebuilding started immediately.

Now...in the ' you can't count your chickens until they hatch' department...here's a picture of my NCAA brackets.

Done. And I was feelings so good about it a week ago. Cyclones....gone. Lousville....gone. Michigan State....gone....and Duke....I'm really mad at them guys. But for me the big story is the Badgers. I'm with you Dave, we're rooting them along all the way.  The overtime game was fantastic. And this guy here is so cool, the joy and emotion he showed when he hit that 3-pointer is to me what makes the tournament, and never mind that just watching a 7 footer tingle the twine from long range is unusually fun, excellent.

Frank Kaminsky reminds me  bit of my favorite all time college player, a guy named Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves that played at Oklahoma State a few years back. Frank towers over the other players just like Bryant did but has the soft hands and good foot movement that some big men don't. He's just fun to watch and also like Bryant his love for the game he wears on his sleeve. Bryant went on to have a ho-hum pro career but because of his performance in the NCAA tourney I followed him through it all....just like I'm going to do for you Frank. So good luck Wisconsin and Frank....I'm a fan for life so how's about a few more 3-pointers this week eh ???

March Madness

I played a little round ball as a kid and at one time I might have been the L.A. Lakers biggest fan.  But I'm over all that now and like most of America and am absolutely taken by the NCAA tournament. It has to be the coolest showcase for amateur sports in the country. So every year I put my brackets together and some years it good, some years it's bad.... I had a coach who used to say, " you win some, you lose some and some you never should have dressed out for. Well this year I'm a crushing them, here's a pic of my brackets, I have 12 of the 'sweet 16'...

I'm guy who runs his life with his heart so sometimes I pick teams based on other reasons that if I think they'll win. Like Duke, ever since Anchorages Trajan Langdon took them to the Championships I've picking them for the final four...well after this years and last years performance I'm semi done with that deal. And how about Iowa State, that game against North Carolina was about as thrilling as it gets. The Cyclones always have a great program and I have them to go to the final 4, I guess we'll see. I guess I'm kind of proud of myself here at Mile 14, guess I do recreation pretty darn well.

Speaking of March Madness, congratulations to this guy who just won the annual Homer Winter King Salmon Derby.

Now I don't begrudge anybody harvesting a few salmon, lord knows I've executed a few of them....but does it seem odd to anybody besides me that while we're experiencing a time of low abundance of King Salmon all over south central and western Alaska these guys are having a derby for them ???? Two hundred and two, that's right 202 of them were killed on Saturday. This fishery is fairly new and growing, it's done 365 days a year and the yearly derby harvests 202 in one day, does that make sense to anybody ???? Of course people will tell you that they're 'feeder' kings and even our local newspaper outdoor writer recently said that they are ' mostly' from Canada. Mmmmmm, well in Jeff's world that miserably fails the common sense test.  Like our local Kings would swim thousands of mile out to sea and ignore all the local food forage that these ' Canadian' Kings seem to be finding. I doubt it. So.....mmm.....ahhh....their Kings come to Alaska and Alaska Kings go to Canada, problem solved.....hows about we'll quit catching yours if you quit catching ours. AND theres another problem, they call this a 'Winter King' Derby. It's not winter at all, it's now officially spring and we're only 4 or 5 weeks away from when King salmon begin to enter the local streams and rivers of this part of Alaska. So if any of you might agree with me feel free to forward this blog on to the Dept. of Fish and Game so they'll have some more common sense to ignore.  Yikes. I feel better now though having spit that one out.... I could go on, but I won't. Done. Finished.

The big news here is the weather. When I opened the paper this morning the forecast had 5 of these babies lined up like ducks in a row. In fact it looked just like the forecast for Mazatlán with just a few, well quite a few degrees of difference.  It's getting up to 40 in the afternoons and the river is running...I guess what I'm saying is that it's just gorgeous here at Mile 14. The other day we had a nice sauna down at the river, then went for a walk where you come across scenes like this...now that's something you don't see every day....Oh, my final four.  Florida, Arizona, Iowa Sate, Louisville...and the winner is Louisville again.

Speechless

You guys know me. I never run out of things to talk about, well almost never. But this has been a weird week, it's been my re entry week and not much has been going on here at Mile 14. I guess we missed one of the strangest winters of all time and we can kinda see the remnants of it. There's no snow, it's so icy that for me and jet-dog every walk is a potential hip breaker, the town is quiet, fish news is over, the line at the Post Office today was one, I run into people who say " welcome home"....it's cool. Here's a pic of my favorite thing. That poor old river has broken up and flowed and refroze so many times this year  it just has to be confused, but hang on baby, summers coming and as my friend Dan Sterchi says " the fish are running and life's easy". I hope.

St. Paddy's day was once stupid for me....that's all I gotta say about that. But this morning at the gym as I chatted with Mike Sweeney our local celebrity Irishman I realized how excited he was for the day and the annual parade that he's always Grand Marshall of. Of course I'm not one to miss anything so it's a tradition....you stand on the south side of the spur highway, the school kids and church kids come by, then the guys from the radio station and then one or two 'causes' and of course Joe Kashi and his Judo students and.....is this becoming a run on sentence ? But the point is, like life itself it's  the same every year but with subtle differences you have to notice, you have to look for, it's there, it really is. And it's my home, my people ,my friends. So here's a few pics of the event.  I especially like the pic of my gym-rat friend Nathan up close....see ya tomorrow buddy.

I wish I could describe to you just how hard it's snowing right now. As descriptive as I can be...all I can say is imagine the heaviest, wettest,biggest, slowest flakes you've ever seen. And for my friends who have never seen snow, and I have a lot of those....imagine the most wonderful white, and it's moving  so it makes everything behind it look grey. If you focus on the snow it becomes a blur, if you focus on trees they become a blur.....I'll write more real soon. I hope you come back.

No matter where you go...there you are

I know that sounds stupid but it's really how I'm trying to live my life. Tomorrow me and MPeasy  gotta jump the jet.  I guess it's one of the nice things of ageing, I'm learning not to be in a hurry for anything. I'm typing this from an outdoor palapa at 5:30 a.m. wearing shorts....that's hard to give up, but where I'm going, home to Mile 14 is a pretty cool thing to. MP says I could stay and I guess I could but we don't want to be one of  'those' couples...we gotta be together and I love her more than I love Mazatlán so it's adios MZT, hola Slowdotna.



As we were walking out the malecon the other night I looked back at where the carnival parade was headed and snapped this pic. Now Mazatlán gets some bad press from time to time but I'm here to tell you the people are what I call 100% ers , I mean in how many business districts do you see this ?

It's unusually warm in Alaska I guess so when I get home the ' re entry' that I experience every year might be a little different. The river is already open and running so we'll have the earliest marine salvage season of all time. Maybe I'll find a record anchor harvest.  I'll go to work hard on cleaning and burning all the dead fall we have on the property at what we call the Black Forrest portion of Mile 14. In other words, I'm gonna try to stay busy. So it's sunseta on MZT 2014, the time flys, I just hope to stay healthy and happy, returning every year just like those birds and whales we see in both places.

My fish count wasn't outstanding this year. The warm water kept the Corvina away and although those Roosterfish that I love where everywhere I only caught one. But the joy is in the pursuit and I certainly did a ton of that. I fished new places with new friends. I caught Bass, I caught Robalo, I caught Snapper and even a few Corvina and of course....Toro heaven. There's a pic of my last one.

A couple months ago as we left Slah's house  I snapped this pic of him. Outstanding. It really captures his character and I'm going to miss his friendship. He has a boyishness about him that makes our fishing trips seem like we're transported in time. Out on a secluded playa, just us, focused on just fishing.......Adios buddy and thanks for everything.

 

 

 

The 1st hundred years are the roughest



Yours truly there ( on the left) really isn't doing very well. The other day I told MP that I'd been lucky in that I'd not had one of my vertigo attacks for many years, I must have felt a twinge of it then because within two days later I had it. I was alone downtown when I had the first spinning spell and it sort of scared me for wondering how I'd get home. I sat still and finally the spinning fatigued like it will and I got back...but, it's terrible since then. I have the most common type, BPPV- benign proximinal, positional vertigo. The otolith in your ear releases crystals that fall into the ear fluid that keeps your balance and walla...pure hell. The spinning episodes happen when I turn my head just right and this morning it was brought on by the sounds and sights of the surf rolling up and down the beach. Once again I was several miles from home and struggled to get back....but I had to go fishing...I had to, we only have a week left and I can't squander the mornings.  For all of you that know me so well this will give you give you an idea...I missed 4 mornings in a row of fishing including an  invite to go south with Slah where Team X caught over 20 corvina.

 

Perhaps the worst part of these vestibular events is that after the spinning stops it shocks your brain so much and your brain works so hard to compensate that it creates what my doctor calls ' brain fade'. It's just a lousy lethargic feeling underlined by forgetfulness. Wow...I struggle through life on a good day, running on 3 cylinders ain't easy....I mean....how in the world can a guy forget the words to Brown Eyed Girl ??? So I just stay close to home I guess and wear my ear plugs so the wind doesn't make the situation worse. I can tell MP is worried about me and that bothers me... The good news I guess is that although this episode seems to be a real bad one Dr. Zirrul told me that the fatigue works this way, the more spinning the better your brain gets at stopping it. If I'm not better soon or at least when I'm back in Alaska I'll go to the Dr. and have a thing called the ' Eppley Maneauver' done which is a head manipulation designed to use gravity and centrifugal force to get those pesky crystals out of the ear canal. Wish me luck, I could use some.

 

But in between spinning the other day I had a moment of clarity when I saw the tide so ultra low that it exposed rocks I'd never seen before. I think I was born for life on the sea as I kinda saw a buffet table. MP and I started out gathering oysters which I got enough of for a nice oyster stew lunch when I kind stepped into a hole next to a rock. I could feel lobsters brushing my legs as they skittered away. So I reached about arms length into the water and yup....I got em but the darn things wedge themselves into the rocks so tight it's almost impossible to muscle them out. BUT, as I'm at water level I notice these stone crabs.

Now it takes a certain type of guy to feel around under rocks where you can't see whats there. In fact as I fished this morning a guy named Ricardo told me about all the Moray eels we have around here... mmm...but it's risk reward. These crabs and the few lobster I had made a wonderful cold salad with avocados as we watched the Academy Awards last night...I might be running a quart low right now but I'm making do, great appetite and muddling on.  No worries, I'll blog something fun as soon as I feel that way....soon I hope.

It's the People

 

Of course the big news around here is that Chapo Guzman was caught right here in our hometown. Here's a pic of me in front of the Miramar where they nabbed him. He was hiding in plane sight just a few blocks from Police Headquarters.  In fact he was on the Malecon just a few blocks away from our dentist's office where we're headed in few hours. He was the most wanted cartel guy in the world and I guess the big question is....what does this mean for us and Mazatlán? It could be good or it could create another turf struggle for the position he gave up. But I'm betting on the opposite, I think it'll settle things down around here and make the other bad guys be a little more invisible... I sure hope so, this wonderful city needs to catch a break.

 

I blogged the building we live in the other day but the real story is the people. We have a communal kind of society here, the people are by and large a lot like us....people that need just a little more immersion in life.  Most of our friends are our age or older and I suppose some of you young people that follow this blog sometimes wish you could stay in Mexico for an extended time or purchase a beachfront condo....my advice is simple....don't get in a hurry. As much as I appreciate this wonderful life I've carved out if they arranged for me to go back and pound nails and watch my two boys learn the ways of the world as I chased King Salmon I think I'd have to trade time frames....but we can't, we won't, we just watch one sunrise, one sunset at a time....that's the deal.

Tony Mercuro there is my best friend in the building. We're a lot different but see the world in the same way. Tony talks of things, idea's, projects, the human condition.....he's about as interesting a guy that you'll ever meet. I took this pic this morning as he was reading on his deck. He's reading a book about the history and creation of the cotton industry, it follows cotton from antiquity until now. Yesterday he found some wild cotton (that MP says is a type called Kapok) and he spun it by hand into twine, I wouldn't be surprised by the time he finishes the books he has a sweater woven. Tony was with the Marines at the siege of Khe Sahn, two purple hearts and one golden heart....it's a privilege to be your friend Tone...

The other night we did a little entertaining, I decided to for go the amplification equipment and just sing to the crowd one table at a time. I've been playing with the P.A. system so much I guess I'd forgotten a bit about the intimacy and rawness of just letting the old guitar go, it was a great night. In the next pic I'm singing to my friends Ken and Mary and her mom Lorraine who is a legend here at the building...I want to be just like you when I grow up Lorraine.

The next pic is my next door neighbors, Jerry and Georgiana....the love meisters.  If  I ever write the final word on love these guys are chapter one. They stand so strong for each other, the openness, the caring and sharing,,,this wonderful pride they have in each other. They have a lot to teach the world and I just want them to know, I'm watching, I get it, I'm trying....And oh, did I mention that these guys know there country western music like I know fishing ???

The guy below is also a neighbor. Mack Lutz is the sports guy around here...if you want to know anything about the Vikings, the Twins or the Uof M Badgers...he's your guy. Mack swims daily in both the pool and the ocean, I call him Aquaman because....well ...he is....Mack had an illustrious college athletic career making him my pick for the Minnesota Hall of Fame.

 Then we have MP and Tony's wife Connie listening to a new song with Marge Hall who is in the best shape of any seventy year old woman on the planet. These three are simpatico, kindred spirits.

Here's a great pic of Roger and Rod who are married to sisters and best friends for sure. These guys fish and get around just about as good as any Mazatlán gringo I've ever met. They're a joy to have around...thanks General for keeping up troop morale.

This is a pic of Zuelamah who works the front desk on most night shifts when we're playing the songs for the bar. She's in her last year of college and intends to go to Law School...so good luck with that deal Zuelamah, it's always nice to have a lawyer on your rolodex....and thanks for being an ardent fan of the songs I sing.

These four guys are our local experts...if you run low on information around here these guys got the answers. Bill Turner has a roadhouse on the Alcan highway and jeez Bill, why'd we wait so long to meet ? I can actually envision that Esso station on the right side of the road at mile 190...wish we'd known you back in the day Bill. Ollie Hanson is one of the coolest and funniest guys I've ever met, he's the kind of guy that I look forward to growing old with. He's a retired fireman from Cranbrook B.C. not far from our old stomping grounds in Mooooontana. Glenn there is a master Chef and just an interesting guy, he cares about people and that goes a long way on my team....and Brian there is musician, enough said...I love that guy,

Phil Horak flipping those burgers there is kinda the straw that stirs the drink around here....in charge of 'special' projects, 'black op's'.  He takes care of all things gambling related and around here that's a big job, thanks buddy for it all, besides friendship....and those two gals are Donla Marquis and daughter Miranda, good Alaskans and wife /daughter of Mr. LaMarina, Jake Marquis who I just don't have a pic of ...but everyone knows him and everyone loves him.

When you hear people say that so and so never had a bad word to say about anybody it's usually not true. Well Barb and Jim Mullin are those people, the nicest most thoughtful folks I know. Here's a pic of them as they got back from a side trip to Mexico City. Jim has the most wonderful sense of humor and it's followed by a funny blink sometimes....hehehehe...

This is just a snapshot of the friends we've made here at LaMarina.....please don't be offended if I didn't mention you, just please know that we appreciate all of you. I'll still be taking pics and I'll sing about you, with you, too you, for you...with love anytime.



Our house

I guess when I tell people that we stay in a 'condo' in Mexico they imagine marble floors and granite counters....well, this is a great place but it's not that. What it is though is what the realtors always say....'location , location, location' and it's people, wonderful friends that we've met who I guess are a lot like us, people that need something else. So this blog is the concrete and mortar and the next will be the people, the most important part of course.

It's the oldest building on our part of the beach. Someone told me that it was designed so that the hurricane winds would blow through it and not into it. Unlike the new high rises here that are cylindrical or as Jimmy Buffet would say 'ugly and square, they don't belong there' our building has personality. Huge common areas with lush gardens and gorgeous flowers, we pick fresh banana's and papaya's right out the front door.

Below is the a pic of our casa and the view from it. We're an end unit on the ground floor ( I prefer to call it a 'garden suite') so we get an extra window and a few extra feet of space. Being on the ground level has it's advantages and disadvantages...no stairs or 40 year old elevator rides but we do have a few 'pets' that come with the unit...geckos, a few roaches, a few crickets and of course birds. Pretty cool.

On the far right of the picture above that walkway leads to a palapa that I'm typing this from. It's an absolute treat, sitting outside in shorts with some good Looney Bean coffee listening to the surf and communicating with you...all my friends. At night we hear the surf loudly, we eat breakfast every day on the patio, we had lobster by candlelight on Valentines day sitting outside, alone, just us.

 

 

We got our unit from our longtime landlords and friends Geri and Smitty Smith, good Alaskans. And like most Alaskans these guys are practical, this unit is furnished with the best stuff in the building. I told Smitty one time....'hell even our knives are sharp'.  It has everything and I mean everything you need in quality, it's plush but it's perfect....perfect for us. AND it has something that most our neighbors don't, an air conditioner that doubles as a heater for those rare mornings when you really need a few degrees. So mucho gracias  Geri and Smitty, the place is chingnon.  And how about our tree of life, handed paint by an artist I'm in love with.



Finally....finally the other morning I caught a roosterfish. I was blind casting the ranger lure just after sunrise when I saw the take and the fish was heavy...it ran, it resisted, it roled 100 yards out and I new...my first guyo in 3 years. I land him and there's nobody around to take my picture...and along with the fact that I forgot the camera put me in a predicament. I did the right thing and didn't kill it just so people could see...but I did hold him over my head and hollered at my friend Mario several hundred yards away and then gave him a big kiss and let him swim away. The next day a guy in the high rise on front of me said it was pretty cool to watch me handle ol slimey so reverently. Guess I've arrived in a comfortable place in my fishing life.....hows about a gorgeous sunset to end this blog? soon I'll blog our friends  neighbors, the hearts and soul of our Mexico lives....