Symphonous Squirrel

And this is a bowl of squirrel meat. Tyler strapped his hunting horn to his side once again to tote home proteins aplenty for the family. He took brave and firearm-friendly Chad with him. Chad is the male counterpart to the 'couple friend' we've made since moving up here (the female counterpart, Sara, is pictured below, slyly slumped against a beluga). They moved up here from the heart of L.A. about a month and a half before we made the journey. Chad, having grown up in L.A., has played the vast variety of shooter games available for his Play Station 2, but had never used a real firearm to shoot a real animal until our bountiful hunter Tyler took him to the woods. And here, in this bowl, lay the spoils of their harvest. I do believe Chad is going to attempt to 'salt' the hide, as well. A good-luck squirrel charm. 

   Tonight I will use the meat to make "squirrel pockets". Much like a Hot Pocket, only tastier. And, of course, true men only eat pockets full of wild meat, roasted slowly over an open flame by the woman of the house. None of those sissy, girly 'microwave' pockets. By the wayside, if any of you hip cats want to hear a good stand-up routine, check out Jim Gaffigin's "Beyond the Pale". He really likes Hot Pockets. 

Beluga Nation

Top picture: My new friend Sara and I draped around a cement beluga, lavishing in our cetacean-like sleekness. Middle Picture: my first time seeing wild beluga whales! The little black line in the middle of the water is actually a white whale! I was very excited. The Cook Inlet belugas (the particular population we were observing) were officially put on the endangered species list last week. We were watching endangered whales forage for food. This was yesterday, the opening to my work field trip to Anchorage. I got paid to watch belugas, go to the zoo, and Anchorage's version of a science center, and had my meals paid for the whole way! It was quite a swell work gig. 

Snakes on a HAT!

This is the hat and scarf hat I knitted Tyler. It's a snake circling the hat, eating its tail. I've had mucho knitting time sitting at the touch tank waiting for SeaLife Center visitors. 

animal carcass

Our blog would not be complete without decaying animal parts. Mr. Barenjager went woodland hunting a couple days ago. He managed to bring home three tasty squirrels, the cutest little chunks of stir fry meat. However, during his wanderings in the wilds of the Kenai Peninsula, he came upon this bear-killed porcupine. Quills encircle the carcass, its mouth agape in its final resting yawn. If anyone knows Tyler, they know he has pilfered his fair share of decaying animal bones--a box of collected elk bones being the first thing to sell at our Bellingham garage sale before we moved. This pile of bone and porcupine flesh proved to be the foulest pile of such rotting carnage Tyler had ever found. The skull is sitting in a vat of cleaning fluid on our porch. I won't share a picture of that mess. 

Our Backyardi

Yesterday was a rare day in Seward--the sun had full reign over the sky! We took advantage of the beauty, and went on this hike. The trail literally starts 5 blocks away from our apartment, then it's straight up Mt. Marathon to witness some amazing views. The Seward small boat harbor is in Resurrection Bay, that's the view from about halfway up the mountain, just before the alpine areas when we were still in the tree line. It's amazing how quickly you can go from sea level (our apartment is across the street from the shore of the bay) to alpine tundra--an hour and a half of steady hiking. The last picture is from as far up as we could get. Our backyard.

Where we've been

Picture 1: Freshly harvested salmon roe mixed with a  tantalizingly simple mixture of garlic, pepper, and dill would surely cause any tongue to twitterpate.  A freshly caught female silver salmon provided the egg explosion when Tyler extrapolated the fishy flesh from the sea. 

Picture 2: 'Moop', one of two farm animal pets that lurk in the kitchen, glowers atop the finest pizza pie we have ever created...complete with a beer-batter crust. 

   These are just a few of the fun things we've done with our food since arriving in Seward. There's not much else to occupy the time, other than playing with your food whenever opportunity arrises. Tyler made pickled spiced salmon that was an entire day-long process to create, looks atrocious in the jar, but tastes quite superb. 

Welcome to the Jungle

Our Alaskan world for all to witness...I hope you will enjoy a look at our life in the little town of Seward. It's been an adventure lead by two poor, crazy newlyweds and I'm quite positive the insanity won't stop. I'm pretty confident our pocketbook won't be inflating anytime soon, either :o)