Check 'Em Out

I've wanted to find the time to do this ever since we left Tok...and here's the opportunity. New friend, Harry Pherson works for the Jernigan family at Tok RV Village. We spent quite a bit of time swapping stories and experiences and getting to know each other. While he calls himself an amateur photographer, I think we might all beg to differ. His website is blessed with many of his exceptional pieces of digital wildlife "art." I know many of you ride with us for the "wildlife" and this association might just add richly to your viewing pleasure. So when you get a chance, please visit his website and check it out! Looking all you want is free, but you can buy prints through the site if you find one (or more) that you just can't live without.

Harry (H.E.) Pherson Wildlife Photography

I know a few of you are still making your way north behind us, so here's a piece you might find interesting about our stay at Destruction Bay on the 07 trip- That Was Then series:

By Polar

I finished the new outside beds for the greenhouse and cold frame area today. I'd take a picture if I thought you just loved the idea of looking at dirt, but what say we wait til we have something with a bit more color ...or at least something of interest. This I will tell you: quality dirt for garden beds is a challenging find here in Chicken- probably considerably harder than finding gold! This represents the first time in my life when I screened loam for a garden and thought of the left over rocks as a "tailing pile." Marilyn asked me if I "prospect panned" the dirt for gold before throwing it in the new beds. NO! Garden soil is "overburden" in the mining world and should be cast off before getting into pay dirt anyhow. So far gardening in Alaska reminds me a lot of gardening in Maine - you think things should come up fast but they can only go on slow. The greenhouse is a wonderful bridge between winter and spring, but even inside, plants just take their sweet old time this time of year. I've loaded up the flats with lots of "tests," fully expecting to learn as much as I can about what will and won't work here. Some "tests" will stay inside, others I'll move out and we'll see how they do in that regard as well. We expect (and hope) to be able to put plants outside June 7 - 10. The last full moon is in that time frame and generally the last freeze occurs around then. No guarantees though. That is late for planting, so the season is and will be short. Timing is everything. But then, just when ISN'T that true?