Herring, Herring Everywhere

Herring, without herring we'd have no other sealife. Everything follows the herring schools. They are in by the millions now, and ready to spawn. We catch ours fresh for bait, we use them for salmon and halibut fishing. These beauties were caught right from our boat slip. Plus, they're a lot of fun to catch.
This wild group of sea lions were feeding on them too when we were out trolling for salmon, if we would have caught a salmon, they would have switched their main course from herring to salmon in an instant! These bad boys like to take a nice big bite our of your salmon as you're reeling it in.
This eagle swooped down and grabbed a herring in the water, but couldn't fly back out with it, so he decided to swim to shore instead. We've seen them do this with salmon also.There were also a couple of whales enjoying the treats of herring, but I was unable to get a picture of them today.

So Many Birds

Seems like we've had all kinds of birds flying or passing through lately. The Sandhill Cranes on their way North, they don't stop they just call to us as they pass over head, they have the coolest sounds to them. Happens every spring. We were on top of it this year though, got those hummingbird feeders full and out when we saw the first one in town.

Of course the best spot for the feeder is right in front of the window where the cats lay, they need entertainment too! The hummingbirds don't seem t mind either.This year we had these guys eating out of the hummingbird feeders too. They come flying in and land on the feeders so fast and hard it just makes the feeder really swing. Frank is really into birds (mmm Byrdman=Birds, who knows) but he got his bird book out when these started coming in, it's a "blah, blah, Warbler" At least I remembered the Warbler part!But whatever their kind, they are all hungry! This Eagle was giving a look to this Raven, boy if looks could kill! That Eagle wasn't letting go of his halibut head either, we got some pretty close pictures that normally we wouldn't have been able to get.

Hoonah's Economic Development Plan

For the past couple of years the city of Hoonah has been working on building this boat haul out. I believe they are in what they are calling Phase III now, anyway, it will be completed by July if all goes well. You can really see it coming together now. When completed big, I mean BIG boats will be able to be taken out of the water to have work done on them. This is supposed to be one of the biggest haul outs in Southeast Alaska besides Ketchican. The town is hoping this will bring not only big boats in here for work, but people to move here to work on them, and thus stimulate the economy of Hoonah. I guess only time will tell on that one.
This looks so huge without a boat in it, I can't wait to see it when it's holding a boat!
This is the dock they are working on finishing up now. I think these pilings will last a lot longer then the wood ones!

Time to Get Moving

So much for sitting around and cruising the internet, winter is OVER! Thanks to our friend, Lyn Strickland, he flew over from Juneau to get our butts in gear. He's great for motivation. The boat is in the water, cleaned, electronics hooked up, fishing gear on board and ready to go. In fact the boys are out right now looking for a king to catch. They couldn't have asked for a better day, sun, sun, sun, and the water is so flat, it doesn't get better then this.
Does Captain Byrd look like he's ready to hit the water? The Mystress sure does!
I don't think this boat kitty went without too many meals over the winter. He was calling to me from the other slip, I think he wanted me to swim across and pet him.

All that is left of the snow are plow piles. This is the city park with Elephant Mountain in the background.

Some Sunshine in SE

Coming home wasn't too hard this time. Juneau was beautiful with no rain in sight. Coming back to Hoonah today on the ferry was just as terrific, the water was flat, and you could see for miles. I was really surprised we didn't see any whales though. We're supposed to have sun and warm weather all week. That will make getting the boat cleaned and back in the water so much easier. When we left we had about 3 feet of snow in the yard, now we have a yard, and the driveway that was more of a ski slope is all gone!
This is the light house at Point Retreat. This is where Lynn Canal and Chatham Strait come together. Usually there are whales feeding in this area.
Same location, just facing the opposite direction.

Some Bass Fishing

Frank, Josh, Fulfer and Coach got a little bass fishing in while I was in Long Beach. They just happened to be in the middle of a bass tournament when Fulfer caught this nice one:
The "boys" finally got over their fishing itch and got a sunburn to go with it!

Not Just Sagebrush

So many people pass through Eastern Washington and say, why do you like it there, there is nothing there but sagebrush! I've always loved this area, especially this time of year when everything is turning green and starting to bloom. Frank and I were driving back to Coaches from Richland today, near Rattlesnake Mountain (tallest mountain in the US without trees!) when I noticed these purple flowers blooming. Soon there will be cactus along the ground blooming too. If you look close you see all kinds of small wonders.Close up they are so delicate, but the wind is really hard on them, but they still endure.
You can see how dry the ground is, so they don't need a lot of water, and there is tumble weeds blowing all around and over them.