The local electric company, who has been taking all
the heat since an avalanche took out the power lines
(lots of angry users think they “should have saw it
coming”, etc. and don’t want to pay the 500% increases
in electric rates we’ll have running on diesel until
the lines are repaired) is cutting a right of way for
new power to an FAA site and local ski area. Other
developers – like at our new school site – many times
pile up the cut-down trees and burn them! Totally
wasting a perfectly good heat source. The electric
company, on the other hand, has a history of felling
the trees along a right of way, then allowing
residents to come in and take all the firewood they
want from the felled trees.

I think if I could cut firewood everyday – either
cutting, hauling, or splitting – I’d be alot happier
Joe. Seems my mood is always good after a day of wood
work. I don’t know of any activity other than deer or
elk hunting that produces the full-on sweat that
firewood gathering does. Every muscle aches, and my
back is stiff, but like trolling, I get up the next
day and can’t wait to do it again.

I’ve never placed a dollar value on firewood, so am
not sure if it saves money or not. What I do know is
I don’t depend on a heat source that’s in the Middle
Eastern desert. Nor has filling my oil tank ever
given me much exercise. Whatever the wood costs to
get I write off to much-needed exercise and
entertainment costs.

With the high and ever-rising cost of fuel oil – the
primary heat for most in Juneau – I figured there
would be a gold-rush for the wood. Yet only 4 or 5 of
us were up cutting wood. And, I saw a guy today who I
think passed up cutting any wood because the
downed-wood was not right next to the road for easy
pickings. I noted that, and so will remember to log
in my head where wood is somewhat off the road, and
perhaps leave that for later if there’s easy wood
available, knowing few may go get that wood.

I try not to be in a rush to get the wood cut and to
the truck. I had installed a Tommy Gate lift on my
truck for fish totes a few years back. This makes it
great for wood working as well. As long as I can roll
or end-over-end a log to the truck gate, the lift will
get it up to the bed, so I don’t have to lift it up
myself. This lets me cut longer pieces of wood, and
spend less time on site bucking up the pieces to
liftable sizes. That’s probably why many of the
others don’t want to go far from the road, since
hauling a round of wood through the slash and
ankle-twisting underbrush is not real fun. However,
rolling long pieces, while a lot of work, gets me more
bang for my buck.

Wood cutting is an obsession for me. If I know
there’s wood to be had, I’m always going to be looking
for my next opportunity to get another load or two –
knowing that when this wood availability is gone, I
won’t have another place I can get wood. It’s get it
while its hot mentatlity.

So, I won’t want for exercise for the coming weeks.
I’ll get in all I can, and have to find new places on
our property to put the wood. Firewood gathering is
one thing that was passed down from my dad to me, and
it’s as much a tradition to keep going as a
self-reliant activity.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Got up at 415 am this morning, made coffee and
sandwhiches, and jumped in my friend Kurt’s truck when
he picked me up at 5 am. We were heading out to fish
for king salmon at a place I used to catch them often
in my former life before commercial fishing. When we
got there, there were already about 10 power boats, a
canoe and a paddle boat fishing, as well as about a
dozen anglers fishing from shore.

The first fish was caught by the dude on the paddle
boat at about 6 pm. Three more kings were caught from
shore in the next hour and half. No kings were caught
from our skiff or any of the $60K+ power boats.

It was good to see a few fish being caught, and it’s
always fun to watch the shore fishermen. When one
person gets one on, another who has a net helps to
land the fish. Tagaloug is the primary language of
the rocks.

I don’t know how they thread their herring so it won’t
come off when they cast it out – it’s something I need
to learn. I want to try casting spoons from there
sometime, too. I used to catch kings from shore when
I was a fishing guide out on the Nushagak River in
Bristol Bay way back when, and it sure is alot of fun.
Casting all day keeps your legs and arms loose, and
not cramped up as sitting in a skiff for a couple
hours can.

A couple eagles were squawking overhead. They may be
a mated pair, and perhaps living in the woods above
the rocks where the guys were fishing from shore.
Lots of thalropes whizzing by, too, as well as flocks
of scoters flying by. A nice morning to be out on the
water, fish-catching or not.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

A Houston, Texan 20 something lady called today,
wanting some information how she and her husband could
“get into the salmon business”. She said her
grandparents had some friends who lived in Seattle and
came to Alaska fishing in the summer. She said that
sounded good, because she didn’t think she could
handle all the extreme cold her.

So, I asked her what she knew about salmon. She said
“I know alot about salmon”. So I asked her how many
species of Pacific Salmon there were. Dead silence.
She then said she knew more about the health benefits
of salmon. So I asked what are the health benefits of
salmon? She said “Omega-3 fatty acids”. I asked what
are Omega-3’s good for? More dead silence. Now she
was pretty mad. She went on to say people want to be
surgeons but don’t know surgery and have to learn. I
didn’t mention that most non-surgeons don’t tell
people they know alot about surgery….

She went on to say her husband loved to fish and she
wanted to “get into the business” but only in the
summer because she couldn’t handle cold weather and
the darkness. Call me crazy, but I don’t think she
was a real good candidate for making Alaska her home –
even in the summer.

Then she asked if “jets” could land at Juneau’s
airport, or just “bi-planes”. I said we get 737’s
here. She thought since jets landed here, Juneau must
be an “industrialized” and “booming” place, so this
might be a good place to start.

Finally she said she just wanted to try something new
because of all the “foreigners” in Houston. “It’s
just a melting pot with Pakistanis and Moslems” she
said. When I told her Alaska also had “foreigners” –
such as our Filipino residents who have been here for
generations and are pillars of such communities as
Juneau and Kodiak – well, I think that was the last
straw. Maybe Alaska wasn’t going to be the answer to
her desire to live in a slower place – because
sometimes you wanna go, where everybody knows
your………race. Where you’re always glad you came.
I hope she doesn’t pick Juneau…………………

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

So, my partner emails me and says he sold the fish I’d
already sold to my customers!!!!! Luckily, he sold
them to another local fish market. I called the
owner, and it looks like I’ll be able to buy back
enough fish (at retail!) to fill the orders from my
customers. Since I know the fish was perfect, I don’t
mind breaking even (or losing money!) on the sale, as
long as I know it’s that perfect fish going to my
customers- all who are regulars. The ways to lose
money in this business never seem to end……..

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Yesterday, I offloaded a salmon troller with my
quasi-business partner, his son in law, and another
woman who works with his group. The fish were from a
boat I’d never bought from before, so I was a little
apprehensive – especially with the record high price
of king salmon.

Turns out, it was some of the best fish we’d ever
seen. Beautifully bled and handled with care. The
fisherman said he was glad to sell to people like us
who appreciate quality.

The offloading was also nice. In the past, I did
everything myself – along with the fisherman’s help.
The unloading from the hold, weighing the fish,
loading the fish tote, then pushing the tote on a cart
up the dock ramp to the parking lot.

Today, there were hands to help with everything. One
person weighed, another recorded the weights, a third
issued the fish receipt, and there were two of us to
push the fish up the ramp to my truck. What a
difference from working alone.

I delivered to about a dozen homes in Juneau. Price
was as high as we’ve ever had to charge – 12.99/lb –
but people seemed eager for fresh king salmon, and by
now realize cheap king salmon is a thing of the past
with $4.00+/gal diesel fuel, and lower than average
fish harvests.

We also had an avalanche here last month that is
supposedly going to drive prices up 5 fold as the
avalanche knocked out our hydroelectric, so now we
were going to be on diesel generation until the hydro
lines could be fixed.

I went to our city website today
(http://www.juneau.org/energy/), however, and see
we’re now using less diesel fuel than we were the day
BEFORE the avalanche. Citizens have conserved that
much electricity in only 2 weeks. It also begs the
question as to why rates have to go up so high if
we’re back to pre-avalanche diesel usage, and I’ve
requested an explanation. Maybe part of the increase
was for repairs, or maybe no one could envision
conseration of this magnitude.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

It’s usually taken more than a birthday to get me home
from Alaska to southwestern NY, but that was when I
was younger and would live forever. My mother had 2
sisters, and they, along with the wife of the brother
closest in age to my mother, were like second and
third mothers to all of my siblings.

One of those aunts turned 80, and a surprise party was
organized by one of her daughters (my cousin). How
that would be arranged, I wasn’t sure. With my aunt’s
extended family extended across the US, and she
knowing just about everyone in her town, I didn’t know
how people would show up without her knowing – but
didn’t really care. It would be a good time.

Then I found out the ruse was conceived because my
aunt’s granddaughter – my cousin’s daughter – was
getting married the day before. So that meant a
wedding on Sat, followed by a birthday party on Sun.
This looked even better.

If I ever saw my second cousin, she would have been in
a crib, since I was gone to Alaska by the time she was
born, and I don’t remember seeing her on trips home.
That lack of association might make one think it would
be a ho-hum wedding, but it was anything but. I was
able to sit with my 86 year old aunt (my mom’s sister)
during the wedding, which took place in the church
where she, my mom, and all their siblings were
married. A church were many of my cousins were
married – with myself and my brother serving as altar
boys for their weddings.

As my cousin walked his daughter down the isle, he
cried like a broken-hearted school girl. This was
only the start of the wedding, and his emotion brought
many there to tears. My cousin’s always been a
blue-collar worker, taking over a dairy business from
his father – my mother’s brother. This guy was giving
his daughter away, and it was clearly a mix of sadness
and joy that swept over him. You don’t see that too
often. There was raw emotion in that church – emotion
that was, I think, amalgamated across the entire
congregation on both sides of the wedding – even among
those like me who were only marginally attached to the
event. This was my family – albeit extended family –
joining lives with another family. Not just two
people getting hitched with their friends there. It
was the kind of event I think rarely happens in
Alaska, since so few people there have the extended
families like those in rural NY. What a privledge to
reconnect with that.

As I sat with my aunt, I noticed her hand on the edge
of the pew. I saw a hand that looked just like my
mother’s did. Funny how you remember those things.

In my discussions with her and others, the theme of
“there’s no jobs around here” came up several times –
like it has ever since I can remember. If there were
lots of jobs here the area would grow – and change.
It’s ironic the area I called home stays “home”
because it doesn’t change. And the reason it doesn’t
change is the economy seems to have been generally
depressed ever since the oil came and went.

I’ve heard alot of talk about looking for oil here
again. It’s where the first real oil boom occurred
not just in the US, but the world. It’s where
Rockefeller and Standard Oil started. In essence,
it’s where modern day America, Ford, and the wars in
the desert over oil started. The oil came and went.
When it was gone, there was little left here to keep
people, so they left. Wildcatters left for new oil
finds. When the oil was gone, the area returned to
farming and light industry – it’s hallmarks today. No
Microsoft’s here. NY state voters make sure of that
by taxing themselves “to death”, as they say,
discouraging industry and new residents from moving
there through the highest taxes in the country. State
sales tax, county tax, school tax, state income tax,
etc. They have ’em all. All of these negatives end up
keeping the place the jewel that it is.

Earlier in the day, we spent time out at “the farm” as
we call it. It’s the place where my mother and all of
her siblings were born. A place where my brother and
I would shoot baskets and eat everything in sight, at
a place almost as familiar to us as our own home.

Now, two generations later, the children of my cousins
do the same thing. Shooting baskets at a place as
familiar to me as it was to them. Same basketball
hoop, same barn, same milk house. My aunt remarked
how gratified she felt that her family still felt as
comfortable as ever coming to farm and knowing they
felt home there.

I started talking to one of my oldest cousins. I
worked with him just before I came to Alaska. He was
10 years out of Vietnam, and I was the same age as he
had been when he’d been drafted, but just a college
boy with no practical skills. He could really lay it
on, but I knew I was screwing up with some of the
mechanical things, and so took my lumps.

Now he’s a grandfather with the patience of Job. I
started asking him questions about the history of how
the farm buildings were constructed. That led to more
questions about our family history at the farm. His
wife got cranky that we were already late for the
wedding reception, so I moved us out before it got
ugly.

I later was able to catch him at the end of the
evening with more questions and answers. All
questions I could have asked my mom, but somehow it
wasn’t important to me when she was alive and I was
younger.

My sister took me home to Bolivar after a great party
taking part in an extended family gathering. Many of
my siblings talked with second cousin’s whose name I
didn’t even know, having had the priviledge of
participating in our extended family while I’ve been
away for 25 years. My cousins like having a cousin in
Alaska, and one even reads my blog, which was a
surprise and a comfort to know I’m somehow remaining
connected to my family in rural NY.

On the way back from Bolivar to Washington, DC, I blew
a tire on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. With 18-wheelers
zooming by a few feet away at 70+ mph, I put on the
little donut spare tire, and called the rental car
company to see what I could do. I certainly didn’t
want to go all the way from Clearfield, PA to DC at 50
mph – the limit of the spare tire donut. I was given
the option of going to State College – the closest
rental car place – for another car.

The rental place was at the airport, not far from
Beaver Stadium, where at about 13 I watched Bob Torrey
play fullback for Penn State. Bob was from our high
school, and a legendary figure having come from our
tiny school to play at PSU and then in the NFL for a
few years.

I’d called ahead there, and the car agent had the
paperwork ready and I was in and out in 5 minutes. He
even helped me move my gear to the new vehicle.

I made it to my brother’s in time to throw batting
practice to my nephew that evening. He and I had some
great time together throwing a baseball around and me
catching up on what his life is all about at age 8.
Pretty much baseball and school and American Idol
these days.

I awoke at 3 am and headed to Reagan. You’d think the
nation’s capital would be buzzing at all hours of the
day, but I saw hardly any traffic – or even vehicles
for that matter – most of the 1.5 hour drive in.

After 5 hours to Seattle and 3 hours to Anchorage, I
stayed the night with a friend and got up yesterday to
attend the final course needed for my north slope job
– the North Slope Training Cooperative class. It’s an
orientation to working on the slope, with alot of good
pointers on how not to get fired. Don’t speed while
driving. Wear arctic clothing when you get on the jet
in Anchorage. Don’t drink any alcohol on the way to
Deadhorse (return trip drinking is fine). If there’s
an animal on the road, don’t honk or drive around it
or anything. Wait till it walks off the road. If a
caribou lays down to take a nap, you can take a nap.
A good class. I’m ready to go.

–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com