I Seen A Dorkus! Really, I did!

Dave and I have been house-sitting a nice little cabin in the woods for some friends who have been out of town.  It is a lovely, 6000 square foot home complete with sauna and hot tub.  But, after 3 days of rain and working on lecture PPTs over 4th of July weekend, we needed to get out! So, we decided to head out the Steese Highway and check out the birds. It's 62F at 9:45am and we stopped at one of the conveniently located coffee kiosks and ordered 2 Blueberry Scones, a latte and a Peach/banana smoothy to go!  The Steese Highway (Alaska Route 6) travels for 162 miles northeast from Fairbanks to Circle, a small Native community on the Yukon River. Most of the highway passes through a combination of quaking aspen, balsam poplar, and black and white spruce forest, but, the coolest part about the drive is that it also crosses a high pass at Eagle Summit (about mile 100) that gives easy access to alpine tundra.  According to the ABA, A Birder's Guide to Alaska, this tundra is a convenient place to look for nesting Surfbird (which would be a life bird for both Dave and me).  At about mile 20, the road climbs over Cleary Summit, and the vista's are breathtaking!

After Cleary Summit, the highway descends into the Chatanika River valley where a huge area of forest was burned during the 2004 Boundary fire.  For miles and miles we drove and could see burnt tree trunks to our south and east.  It looked like razor stubble on a dark haired man.  At mile 29.5 is the entrance to the Univeristy of Alaska Poker Flat Research Range rocket launch facility designed to study the aurora borealis.  It was sort of "Sci-Fi" to be driving along in the winding forest, and then out of nowhere you see a bunch of satellite dishes and ominous looking outer-space widgets!  Grandpa Paul would have loved it!  Total nerd-dom.  Farther along the highway, you can see where the forest has begun to regrow.

At mile 60, we pulled down a track because our new friend, Ken Philip, THE butterfly guy in Alaska, who is totally cool (more about him later), told us that we might be able to get some unique butterflies.

There are some small beautiful copper butterflies here called Lycaena dorcas.  That is pronounced "Lie seen a dorkus".  I was so excited to get out and hike around and hopefully spot this butterfly, and to my great surprise, "I seen a dorkus"!!!

LOL!!!  I just can't get that name out of my head, so now I call my self  and everyone else "Ycaena dorcas" - "I seen a dorkus"!   hahahahaha!!!!!  My handsome dorcus husband did get a White Admiral and a Sulfur and a Blue (not sure which species yet).  Very cool!  I of course, did not catch any butterflies - I'm about as coordinated as a bull in a china shop!  We also got great looks at Bohemian Waxwings and a Lincoln's Sparrow. But, what really fascinates me are the flowers!  As the forest begins to regenerate, you find the most beautiful and delicate flowers tucked in with the darkest scarred remains of burnt tree trunks.

I saw this purple flower, and have searched every flower, nature and plant guide we have and still can't identify it!

At mile 107, we reached the pull-off for Eagle Summit.  Now we hike.  Eagle Summit is supposed to be a great place for summer wildflowers and the closest alpine tundra to Fairbanks.  We heard and saw a baby American Pipit

fussing at us as soon as we got out of the truck.  It's a bit cooler here at 3687ft (53F at 11:54am and a strong, cool wind blowing).  Our goal for the day is to find nesting Surfbirds.  About 1/2 mile up the hillside of Eagle Summit, we take cover on the lee side in a scree (I would call it a rockslide area), because a quick summer shower has begun to dump rain on us.  The rain quickly passes, though, and as I climb back out from behind the rocks and turn around to look out over the valley, we see the most amazing rainbow!

For one of the first times in my life, I was moved beyond words.  I was in awe - at peace - calm - unimportant.  Dave was up and off searching for mushrooms, butterflies, or whatever.....but I didn't want to move one inch.  The spot was mesmerizing.  As far as the eye could see, there was tundra ablaze with purple flowers and cloud shadows drifting across mountain and valley.

We pulled out our PB&J and ate our lunch, just "be-ing" on the tundra.  This has to be my favorite place in Alaska.  The ground is a squishy carpet of moss, lichens, mushrooms, and tiny, itsy bitsy, tundra flowers and fruits. 

 I could spend all day, every day here, just exploring.  People travel the world to see rare birds, or butterflies, or big mammals like polar bears, and tigers, but look closer.  Look down at the tundra.  It is absolutely beautiful.

Like these tiny blue Alpine Forget-me-nots.

Or, these Dwarf Blueberry flowers...

The place is a feast for the senses.  We decided to leave our scree slope and hike the rest of the way to the top of Eagle Summit.  Dave took the east slope.....  

and I took the west, and we agreed to meet at the top!

Walking on tundra is not easy.  It's like walking on bowling balls that are surrounded by water or mushy spongy moss.  It gives your legs and butt a work out, that's for sure.  Plus, you can't climb very fast, because your heart is pounding!!  See the speck way off in the distance on the horizon in this next photo?  That's Dave.

Here he is zoomed in as far as my camera would go...

We searched the Dwarf Willow for signs of Willow Ptarmigan, but to no avail.  No Surfbirds either.

But, again, the tundra wildflowers were spectacular!

And...... I found the coolest mushroom!!!

It was starting to get late, and we needed to get back to the cabin and pack up our things and head home.  The owners, Gary and Beth  were coming home the next day.  So, we began our downward climb, and ran across the only tree on Eagle Summit.  We were above tree line!

As we headed back toward Fairbanks on the Steese, we ran into Ken Philip, out collecting butterflies at about mile 75.  He tries to go out every day, and has only covered a small fraction of the state in 30 years.  This place is huge!!!!  We stopped at the Chatanika Lodge for dinner of pork tenderloin and halibut,

and stapled a dollar to the wall.  This place is a trip!  I can totally see us hanging out here if we ever moved up here permanently.  The dining room we were in had over 85 dollars stuck to the walls, and that was piddly. 

The other rooms of the lodge are wallpapered with paper money from people all over the world. 

We took this next photo for our families.  We find it particularly amusing.

Our excursion to the tundra was over, and now it was time to get ready for classes in the morning.

Midnight Sun and Moose Shish Kabob - June 2010

We’ve now been teaching in Fairbanks for one month, and it’s incredible to think about all of the things we’ve done. The summer is going by so quickly. Our bird feeder outside the living room window has given us great looks at a Great Horned Owl,

 Black-capped Chickadees and Red Squirrels.  We call this one "Butt Cheeks" - obviously a male.  LOL!!!

But, within days we met the female, and currently we have one of the offspring jumping on the feeder and fussing with the tabs trying to get seeds!  LOL!  It's too cute!

We've also been very entertained by the Common Ravens.  They have so many different calls, and when a male gets going with his glunk, glunk sound - you think that someone is dropping stones in a deep pool of water.  These guys are quite intelligent too.  Dave snapped this photo of one who was dodging cars in the parking lot while trying to snag some spilled popcorn.

Lack of sleep has become the norm, because you just don’t realize how late it is when the sun is up 24 hrs a day. So, we go to bed sometime after midnight, and get up by 8am to go to class. The funny thing is that everyone here is in the same boat. They all stay up late – washing their cars at 1am, mowing the grass, etc. I think I was SKYPING with Fred and Tess at 1am on this night.

Dave has also picked up some strange habits, like watching the "Ice Trucker's Highway" show on TV.  Now he wants to drive to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay just to say we've driven the Haul Road! 

We went to the 105th playing of the Midnight Sun Baseball game Monday night (the Summer Solstice) and the stadium was so full, it was standing room only, even out behind left field. The game started at 10:30pm and has been played every year without the use of artificial lighting – just the midnight sun lights up the field.  At midnight, the games is stopped, so that the Alaska State Song can be sung.

The Alaska Goldpanners, which is a summer league team, played against the “Heroes of the Mound” team from the US Armed Services. The opening ceremonies were very emotional as the US flag was passed between members of the US Armed Forces while Ray Charles’ version of America The Beautiful played. Three members of the original Godpanner’s team were honored as well as a disabled Vietnam & Korean War vet. When the National Anthem began, tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn’t help but think of Dylan, and hope that he nevers sees battle. We’ve been told by more than one person, that Alaska has the highest concentration of Vietnam Vets than any other state. Why?

It’s true that there are more long-haired white men and more white women with heavy tattooing here than in Indiana or Ohio. Plus there is an attitude among residents here that they don’t like to be told what to do. People live remotely, on what the earth provides them, and subsistence living is in vogue. I say in vogue, because they are not forced to live this lifestyle – they choose to live it – and will defend their right to live this way.  We were invited to have a meal of moose shishkabobs and let me tell you ... it was delicious!
 
 

Qiviut, Bluebells and Swallowtails - Alaska May 30, 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010
Slept in until about 11am – amazing! I can’t remember the last time I slept in so late. Well, I can’t remember that last time I stayed up until 2am fishing either! LOL!!

You know, being married to a birder isn’t bad really. I was single for 12 years before I met Dave, so I had plenty of time to put together a list of the qualities in a man that I desired. I didn’t really have an order to the list, but a list just the same. A good sense of humor, intelligence, and a good cook were all on the list. You see, I’m a terrible cook. Well, terrible because I get such anxiety when I have to cook that I get a panic attack and can’t do it. I can bake, but making an entire meal is agony for me! Weird, I know. Years of therapy, and we still don’t understand it. I think its performance anxiety. Plus, I usually burn the food and/or myself - which explains why I love the burnt cookies in the batch and my bacon really crisp! LOL!

So, this morning, my birder husband got up and made pork chops with sautéed onions and green peppers (left over from shish kabobs with Carol) and eggs for breakfast. Best breakfast I’ve ever had! I so married the right man. I will happily do dishes if he will keep on cooking. Unfortunately, my birder also likes meals that are heavy on the meats and gravies, which is why I gained 20 lbs the first year of our marriage. We call it “The Russell Effect”. Everyone who stays with us for an extended period of time gains weight. Poor Rafael! His family is already making fun of him for being fat and he hasn’t even seen them in person yet! They’ve just seen him on SKYPE!

After breakfast, I wanted to show Dave Smith Lake. I found it last week when I went for a bike ride on Michelle’s way-cool mountain bike! That bike is great! It weighs half what my hybrid weighs and I’d never gone trail riding, but now I’m hooked! What a freekin’ blast! As we made our way to Smith Lake, we checked out the flora and fauna. Prickly Rose is in full bloom right now and it is every where!

The flowers are generally a soft pink color, but every once in a while you will find a deep pink flower.

I found Bluebells, and asked a local about them.  She replied that they are "weeds".  Weeds?  How can anyone think of Bluebells as weeds? 

While we were walking along, Dave pointed out these funky looking leaves.  They look like they have an electronic circuit board drawn on them.  It is really the tunnels of the larvae of the Aspen Leaf-miner.  The larvae tunnell between the two outer layers of aspen leaves.  The flat larvae pupate at the end of the tunnell and cause extensive damage to the photosynthetic surface of the leaves causing considerable plant stress.  They have really become a problem in the past couple of years.

While we were driving up to Chena Hot Springs yesterday, we were amazed at how many Yellow Swallowtails we hit with our car.  Apparently, this year saw a really big emergence of Canadian Tiger Swallowtails.  I noticed them at Smith Lake when I rode my bike here last week and Dave was able to get this beautiful photo today.

Another butterfly that is flying around is the Common Alpine.  A beautiful, deep brown butterfly with these way-cool dark spots on orange splotches.

We walked over to Smith Lake checking out the Gray Jays, Common Redpolls and Ravens along the way. 

At the lake, we saw Shovellers, Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Bonaparte's Gull, and a Solitary Sandpiper.

We saw a Cloudberry flower with a crab spider hanging out in it.  It creeped me out - Dave thought it was cool.

After hanging out at Smith Lake we walked up the trail to the Large Animal Research Station. 

Locals refer to the place by the acronym LARS or as the “muskox farm” but the official title is the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station. LARS is managed by the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to provide a unique facility for research and education that focuses on ungulates from the subarctic and arctic.

I went to the yarn store in Fairbanks last week to check out their Muskox wool – aka Qiviut. Qiviut (pronounced kiv-ee-ut) is the Inuit word for the extremely fine underwool of the muskox, prized for its softness and warmth. Qiviut is considered the warmest natural fiber known to man. Each year, muskoxen grow a dense layer of qiviut over their entire body, protected from wind and precipitation by an outer coat of dark brown guard hair. Their winter coats are unparalleled in insulative value, and keep the animals warm and comfortable when the temperature drops below –50 degrees F.

LARS sells Qiviut (this is their photo) at 1/3 less than the yard store in town. I’m definitely going to save my money and get some before we leave. Since the qiviut is so warm, the natives knit it using a lace pattern. There are beautiful vests on display in the gift shop as well as neck warmers, the locals call “smoke rings”. Again, the smoke rings are knit in a lace pattern so they are not too warm.

We took the guided tour of the facility and got back home around 4pm. It was a good 5 mile walk.

Michelle had invited us over for dinner at 6pm, so we quickly showered and ran to town to get a bottle of wine. Amazingly, California wines are dirt cheap here! We got a Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay and a Rodney Strong Cabernet. Michelle lives is a beautiful tri-level in the woods. Her home is decorated with local folk art, much of which is from the local Farmer’s Market. I recognized a vase that was made by the same potter who made the Raven vase I got for Dave.

We met Michelle’s best friend, Bonnie and her husband Bill (he’s an artist) and Michelle has a 6ft tall landscape he painted on her wall. She told us about losing her home to a fire, and Bill taking her to his studio and saying, “Pick anything, and it’s yours”. She said she wandered around the studio, just sick with grief and in shock over the fire and stood in front of the landscape portrait with its massive mountain peaks and sheer cliffs and thought, "I’ve got an uphill climb to get my life back together – this painting represents my life". It is absolutely spectacular. We had a lovely dinner of Walleye, salad and ended with homemade rhubarb strawberry pie. After dessert, she also served us Chrysanthemum tea from China. It was nice and mild.