The large “boys” here went beaver hunting. The hunt started with four guys in a 6 wheeler, whipping through the camp, two standing up in the back and two whooping it up when everyone else was sleeping. The great question is-how many upstate New Yorkers does it take to shoot a beaver-many more than came on the plane. Thanks goodness for Alaskan’s. After chasing a beaver up and down a river most of one night I believe the beaver got tired and crawled into the boat and died. They show up in my kitchen and want to clean beaver-well, I don’t think so. There was even talk of boiling beaver tail in my kitchen-again, I don’t think so. They did serve is last night but Roger cooked it at his house and brought it over. As a Kokukon tradition he saved the best part of his hunt for the honored guests, two got back feet, one the tail. Only one had the guts to taste but most of the rest of the camp tried the rest of the beaver and loved it. I served lasagna.
The Change out-
Day 8-Tyler Texas and Rabbit Creek group leave, the New York union group arrives. I am still feeding 20; just a new set of faces. It was really neat to see these guys again. I am going to follow the menu this week just to see if we sent the right things in the right quantities. I had to wash clothes but then had to hang them in my room; just couldn’t hang undies outside, there are only two girls here this week.
Septic tanks are in!!!
Wow-they set the tanks, will work on the leach field now. They have backfilled the foundation and tied both buildings together. I wish we could get baby birds, I went to take a rest this afternoon and broke the promise with Momma Robin. I woke up tired and have been tired all day. It was a beautiful day but its getting ready to rain now. We had parmesan crusted halibut for dinner tonight-thank you Auntie Thale and Uncle Jeff for the awesome bag of halibut. It was wonderful. I am going to bed early
Over 80, and Sunny here on the Yukon
Day 10- Turkey Dinner night. The philosophy here is to give them all triptophan and get them a good night sleep. Except for the two going beaver hunting at midnight with Roger and the guy stalking bear with a gun, everyone else looks tired. I found myself in the wash room this afternoon trying to decide which of the two dirty shirts were the cleanest. It has been cold since I did my laundry and it is hanging in my room still wet. My hot water bottle has sprung a leak, nothing to keep my toes warm at night. This is almost a crisis situation. I just can’t have someone bring a hot water bottle flown in to the middle of nowhere; seems basically wrong. Really miss it though. Now have the -20 down bag, one quilt doubled over, one flannel sheet doubled and am sleeping in capilene. Freezing. It did warm up to over 80 today. I would go to the room and see if it is warm but it is still Momma Robins time and we have a deal. I suppose that if it stays warm I should probably quit freezing.
We formed the Far North Culinary Workers Union, Yukon Chapter today. Our rules have begun to govern the coffee breaks. We served them one cookie and 2 Tbsp of coffee, dressed like Rosey the Riviter from the 1940′s. Was very fun. They were surprised. We were going to use a timer but the no coffee thing was enough for today.
Fishing the Yukon
Day 7-We went fishing after lunch, I prepped dinner before going and decided to go along. The river is really high, we went to all the good old fishing holes that Roger knew, most didn’t even have a bank where we could get out of the boat, just flooded. The waters were really murky-yes, the bottom line of that is we got skunked. We are here long enough to go again. Will let the river go down some. I think we didn’t catch fish cause none of the guys would fish dance with me-one dancer is just not enough for a 10 person boat. They decided it had gotten too hot in the kitchen and caused some sort of disorder. That is the real reason we did not catch fish.
The New Yorkers on the Yukon
Day 9- We had a much slower day since it was Sunday. Late breakfast, Sunday worship service. The New Yorkers are such fun. We spent dinner trying to name Moose (Bullwinkle) Tacos; we tried Bullios; Tacowinkle. Neither seemed quite right; will work on that with the next meal. 5 more in from Trailside Community in Anchorage to build a climbing wall up by the airport. Wall are standing on the bath house, they have finished the drain pipe and are beginning to backfill the foundation of the building. One team is screening sewer rock, one group stockpiling it with the front end loader and dump truck for the septic system. Most are framing on the bath house.
Cooking Lessons on the Yukon
Still giving cooking lessons with the Tyler Texas girls. They think they are learning but they are really helping. We are having carrot cake again, they are each trying to learn to make it. We are going to run out of cream cheese. Will send to town for it.
Days on the Yukon
The last couple days have been getting “into the groove”. I think I got a rhythm going now. All dieters have given up, I worry that my darling son in law is correct and I am a food pusher. I just know they can’t work as hard unless they eat well. They now clean up all the plates. I am going to have to cook for leftover day. Mrs. Robin and I have come to terms; I stay away from my cabin during the day and she just flies away Cheep, cheeping. The dive bombing of the head has quit. This is much better. The Yukon is still very high, no beach at all. MARC brought in the caravan today to teach a few pilots the runway. Lots of the kids will be flown in now without the long and expensive boat ride. The bath house has basement walls and floor in place; they are finishing the weather proofing and then will back fill. The New York boys will frame the next story in the upcoming week. They arrive Sat in the morning. My feet sure are sore but my head is clearing of the job fog, have trouble remembering what day it is. There is only breakfast, lunch, and dinner-oh, right, regular day.
Cleaning Day
I was given the entire Tyler, Texas team to help me clean. We scrubbed every surface in the entire kitchen. We removed shipping stickers from 2 years ago!!! We also made a full Thanksgiving dinner during the cleaning. They found their appetites today, the juice only man ate two large plates of turkey and stuffing. I think the juice diet has died the death of most diets. They also polished off an entire carrot cake. Made me feel better. I still have two trying to watch their calories. Let’s see how tomorrow goes.
In the Swing on the Yukon
I have the food all put away and organized. We had a taco dinner. These guys just don’t each much. They do not know the secret-if you do not eat it, you will see it again in another form the next day. I have three of them on diets, one who wants liquid juices only. I will be getting creative with leftovers soon. We got a sourdough starter up and working, going to do sourdough pancakes alot. Experimenting with french bread. We really don’t want to have to ship bread this far into nowhere. We have a college team from Tyler, Texas; one of the girls came to help me today. She made her first cookies, they were excellent. I sure feel like I stood on my feet all day-oh yeah-that would be because I stood on my feet all day.
