The Hooligans Are Running!

hoo·li·gan

ˈho͞oləɡən/

noun

1. a violent young troublemaker, typically one of a gang.

We had two types of hooligans in our lives this past week. Both come in groups of males. Both caused us to need to act now! in a big hullabaloo. Both we enjoyed in the end. But neither were violent. 

One is a fish. The other are the dudes who lost our key. 

Mugshot: Josiah, Allen, and Peter' 

Our Sunday Afternoon drive to the mountain top Hatcher Pass, only 10 minutes from where we are!

Some friends of friends drove our car up from PA just for the fun of it. They jumped at the chance to drive 4,240 miles gas paid and fly home. Well, they ended up driving a lot more. One of their stops was a strenuous hike up a snowy mountain in the middle of nowhere of the Yukon Territory, after which they decided to slide down half the mountain on loose gravel. Unfortunately, at the bottom they realized Allen's pocket which previously housed the key was empty, and Josiah had a nasty gash in his hand. So began the long ordeal of trying to find a lock smith then a Honda dealer in Canada, they can't make/obtain a key for the CRV in time for the guys' flight out of Anchorage, overnight shipping is not available across the border, a trucker friend of Dicks wasn't leaving in time, and a private plane would cost a fortune. Eventually Allen and Josiah hitchiked a 12 hour trip to where we are, picked up our spare key, and drove our truck back to White Horse, where Peter was going bored crazy, then drove back to Palmer. And they finally got our car to Palmer, and we got to enjoy burgers and fries with some new friends.

Sunday afternoon attempting trout fishing.

Cyrus introducing our completed shared garden plot.

Alaskan spring meal of stir fried Fiddle Head Ferns. Pick 'em now or it'll be too late!

Dick Stoffel showing off his hearty iconic Alaskan breakfast:
Triple layer sourdough waffles with wild Alaskan blueberry syrup and ALL the fixin's.
He works hard enough for it! 

My perfect Sabrina-ized Bulletproof Coffee.
What I look forward to in the still quiet 6am every morning.

The second hooligans are: Hooligans! On Monday right before dinner Dick, a 72 year old Alaskan Sourdough {You're called a Sourdough when you've lived in Alaska for ten years. The saying is, "You're soured on Alaska, and don't have enough dough to get back!), came bouncing out the door (as much as Dick can bounce :), and said, "The hooligans are running! We can net them by the bucket full. We have to go now though, well, I am. I'm going after dinner with Vick and if you guys come we'll fill up all our coolers."

Hooligans (Aka: Smelt, Candlefish, Eulachon) are small fish that swim upstream in hoards in the Alaskan rivers to spawn. The males swim first in the hundreds of thousands to prepare the spawning beds for the females.

 In Alaska, if something is ready, you jump on it or miss out. Fiddle head ferns. Hooligans running. Harvesting the quickly ripened produce. It's the nature of how this state began--the Alaskan Gold Rush. It's your one chance at bounty! Act now or it'll be too late!

So we didn't arrive to the river until 8:30pm and filled up 9 coolers in 2 hours! But that doesn't include hauling them all out, loading up, getting ice, etc etc. getting us home at 1:30am. I was tired and exhausted and reminding myself that the next time the men go out fishing after dinner I'll stay home. But it was a really experience.

The weather here has been ideal. 78 degrees yesterday, but with a breeze cool enough to chill you in the shade if you're not working. Sunny blue blue sky with soft white clouds and mountains on the horizon. I found my circuit for running the in morning. It's nice to view that background while out with my jogging stroller and lecturing two-year old :)