July 22

Hi everyone. I'm back in the northern United States in the southern part of Alaska. We left Sitka today and have a 10 hour trip to our first Salmon Survey stream, Ralph's Creek. There are 3 biologists on board and one retired guy who will be here for the first week. What a great group to travel with over the next 5 or 6 weeks. Going to give them new names for the purpose of this blog. The retired guy, we'll call him Cookie Monster is fairly quiet except when he wants cookies, then you can feel his presence all over the boat. Since Minnie made me a birthday cake (which is possibly the best cake ever), I wasn't going to make cookies but I could tell by the hang-dog look on Cookie Monster's face that I might want to produce something that looked like a cookie. So now we have peanut butter & jam bars cooling on the table. Next one is Sneezy, only because he carries around a hankie and told me not to touch it. I can take a hint. :-). The remaining ones will be Doc (cuz she bandaged my cut finger) and Happy, cuz I think she is happy and has a nice laugh. I am already enjoying them and will have lots of fun cooking for them. They range in age from 26 to 29, I think. You know the rest of the crew, Brad the captain and Thierry the assistant guide. This trip both of the guys will take the biologists to the creeks and spend the day with them as bear guards. Not an easy job, some of the creeks take 2 hours to hike up before they can start their survey. And all along the way, they have to watch for bears. If they startle a bear it could charge them and they don't want to shoot the bear, just keep everyone safe. It's not something for the faint of heart that's for sure. And yes, that's why I remain on the boat! This trip is so different from the hunting trips, I will have breakfast ready by 8 and then put all their lunch stuff out so they can make their own sandwich and pick what they want for the rest of the lunch. Then they all head out for the day and I won't see them again until dinner time, more or less. As soon as they return, Brad will fire up the boat and we head off for the next destination, which could be 3 - 10 hours away. We won't be in cell service everyday so if you don't see a blog it's only because we are out of range. I have to say being home last month was a refreshing change for me. I walked into my home, which is a small(ish) condo and thought I was living in a mansion compared to the boat. I flushed the toilets with one hand and now I'm back to shifting a '52 Ford in order to flush. The scenery is breathtaking here but also realized that Oregon can hold it's own in the scenery department. Getting to spend time with family and friends gave me a boost in the emotion category which I sorely needed. Really enjoyed our trip to Wallowa Lake with the kids, haven't been back there for many years. And we got to reminisce about all the years we traveled there with many of our friends. We have so many great memories and it was fun listening to Travis and Jake recall some of them. Now Maddy, Alex and Peyton are making their own memories of the same place their dad had so much fun as a kid. Isn't that cool? And Stacey loves it there too, she see's the uniqueness of the area and all it has to offer. Austin and Erika got to enjoy a quick trip to Seattle to finalize Asher's adoption...YIPPEE! Asher Thomas Johnson is a welcome addition to our family and we are so tickled he is our 5th grandchild. Byron and I got to take Ryder birthday shopping, what a kick that was with him. Even got him to try on some jeans, that lasted about 10 mins but it was long enough to figure out his size! We did lunch and then bowling, woowee, what a fun time. So, I tried to enjoy every minute while I was home knowing I would be leaving again soon. Now that I'm here, its bittersweet. I miss everyone already, especially the big guy but just knowing you guys are out there keeping me in your prayers gets me through each day and helps me to enjoy the time here. Well, this needs to end, we are running out of cell range. Hope to visit with you as many days as possible, thanks for joining!........dj oh yeah, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Like Brad said, Happy Birthday, you get a two month cruise!