Half way through the work week

Yesterday and today have both been absolutely, without a doubt just beautiful in most every sense of the word. The sun is shining, there is hardly a breeze and sometimes none at all. The fall colors look their best, snow capped peaks in the back drop, the occasional rise from fish in river, and here I am trying to take it all in. The only problem I can come up with is that with the warm weather and no breeze, the bugs are out and pesky as usual. There is almost nowhere to escape them, and I sure don't want to waste my day sitting inside hiding from little insects, I'll spend enough time when the temperatures drop below zero.

So on my I go, fishing the waters in front of my cabin, a hundred yards up stream and hundred down seem to be the best for Arctic Char and Rainbows. I may take the boat down river tomorrow and see if there are any good holes to try with the fly rod.

I was scratching my head a bit today, wondering why I haven't seen any Ptarmigan ( Spruce hens) and behold I find three carcass's below the porch of the main cabin. I suspect I am not alone in enjoying the taste of these birds, the fox around here are known to come out this time of year. I'll keep on the lookout, and try to beat them to the birds. However, my hunting has been successful, a few more birds, and one of them was pre-stuffed....too bad I didn't want needles and leaves in my dressing.

The bear, or should I say bears, are out following in my footsteps, literally! I found fresh prints in my own tracks that I left yesterday. So while I was out scouting for firewood, I kept a watchful eye for the sow and cub, could be more than one though. The sow has a print of about the size of my face. I put a lighter there to show size and it sits in the cubs track. I'm definitely not alone.

Moose tracks are around, however they are hard to see. Often they won't show themselves, just being after hunting season and their tracks on my trail were about six inches long by five wide.

The firewood scouting went well, and I managed to find a Ptarmigan that the fox hadn't. That was encouraging and I may have to higher to find them if this behavior continues.

Today's finds of about two gallons of fresh cranberries were priceless. I plan to clean them and freeze most of them for Thanksgiving dinner, making a cranberry sauce from limited scratch. I'm very excited. The rest I'll stuff a bird with or dry, but either way, I beat the bears to them and makes me happy.

I was feeling a little extra creative this evening with my dinner menu so here it is:

*Seared King Salmon with celery seed and pepper on a bed of Quinoa with chopped walnuts, dried apricots and fresh basil. Lemon to taste.

The wine was just a nice complement to a great day, and being from Argentina, one couldn't pass it up.

I have been laying awake at night, listening to try and here some creak or crack of anything and without a doubt, there is nothing. When there is a random noise, it draws full attention to whatever it is and makes the heart pound a little harder knowing that something is making that noise, and hoping it will go away.

The other part of lying awake is figuring out exactly how long the fire lasts so I don't ever have to light a match or start a new fire in the middle of the night. So each night I wake at approximately 3:30 am to add more wood and it stays good until breakfast. Six hours each good stoke, that's what I figure.

So many things to contemplate, still talking aloud, still loving life!