June 15th

The sun continued to shine on Wrangell island today giving me an opportunity to blow the cobwebs out the truck's airconditioning system. Jack commented that he loves the smell of the air conditioner when you first turn it on.....nothing like my favorite, roofing tar, but it does bring fond memories of my time in the wet sauna of the midwest - Illinois.

The weekends are always enjoyable as we rise a little later since we are usually working the potluck until late into the evening.

We've seen very little in the way of wildlife lately although we've heard reports of humpback whates being sighted just off of Nemo Point.

I frequently hear the sound of some animal from the woods that i have never been able to identify. I always assumed that it was an owl although it would sometimes sound almost like a bear mating. It is a low hooting or humming noise that repeats six or seven times before stopping. I asked the wildlife biologist it and he immediately identified it as a Blue Grouse- or Hooters as they are sometimes called.

We were invited to dinner by a couple who work at the Forest Service. dave and his wife Paula cooked a leg of lamb. We had dinner on their deck overlooking the ocean. Dave was charged by a black bear during a duck hunt near the mouth of the Stikine a few years back. Although his shotgun was loaded with bird shot, he managed to get a shot off before the bear reached him - two of the pellets penetrated the skull and stopped the bear. He had both the pelt and skull (with one of the pellets still lodged in the jaw) preserved.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading to the wild end of the island to cut grass and do some trail work.

We'll also be heading to see Star Trek Into Darkness!