Alaskan Salmon
Year 2016 - Alaska unfortunately without my dog
An early run that ran into August
would you rather go straight to the photo album?
Unfortunately, on June 22, 2016, I arrived alone in our adopted country
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For the first time in many years I traveled without one of my beloved dogs.
My dear Malinois BOSS unfortunately passed away in October 2015 after a short, serious illness. He was already at home in our Alaska and was part of the party 3 times. In February 2016 I decided - after a long search - to get a new Malinois and my choice fell on COSMO (picture left). At the time of my departure, Cosmo was unfortunately not old enough to take part in the long flight in the box. So I had to start my journey alone with a heavy heart.
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"Everything a little later" was due to Renate's vacation release. In the end, things didn't turn out as planned, but that doesn't belong here.
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How did it start? - Of course with planning, shopping and work
The first bedroom in our extension was to be "ready for occupancy" and so I had to get material and get started quickly. Everything went well for me, electricity laid, windows installed, walls made, smoothed and painted. Wooden ceiling put in. Familiar - With the remaining material I was able to lay the power connections for the other rooms and upstairs and put 2 walls in the second bedroom and partially prepainted.
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As always, you can see the whole thing illustrated on my page cabin view.
Of course there was also plenty of "booty" when fishing. This started - completely unusual - at the beginning of July and continued more or less continuously until the end of JulyAugust, when the humpback salmon slowly replaced the sockeyes. Fish-and-Game, the competent authority predicted a sensational run of over 2 million fish. You can see the course of the 2016 run in the graphic on the right (click on the image to enlarge it). Towards the end of the run there weren't even as many salmon as in the previous year that found their way into our river. ADFG's decision to increase the daily catch limit to 6 instead of the usual 3 salmon a day was a good one. That made it easier for me to reach our "limit" in a reasonable amount of time.
I was very happy when our Blacky came to visit on the first day. Blacky is - if you don't know it yet - a labrador-husky mix and lives in our area like that. We've all known him since he was a puppy so I know he's 10 years old now. He's having a hard time, his bones aren't that great anymore and he also has his problems with eating, but he's done quite well so far. You will find him 2-3 times in the photo albums.
Then there were Doro and Jupp, the globetrotters who visited Ilona and Klaus with their monster truck last year. This year they were there again - unfortunately not for very long - and I was very happy that I had a little more contact with them this year.
relaxation
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Renate came quite late in 2016. The fish were "in the sack" and so we were able to have a nice spring for the last time. Our friend Steven, with whom we had some nice trips and hours, was also part of the party. Trips, that was once a trip to Homer - along with Susan and another to Seward. The weather was great and we really enjoyed this time very much. Unfortunately, the Alaskan summer was over for the last 2 weeks. In the morning it was already 2-3 °C, but in the afternoon it still warmed up to pleasant temperatures of around 20 degrees. It rained pretty consistently until we left. Since I no longer had "fish stress", I was able to winterize our home little by little, tidy everything up and so on the last day only the windows and the door would have to be closed and our water pipes emptied.
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All in all a great year 2016 and we are already looking forward to 2017 - but then with Cosmo
