Off to VINS

While at work last week, Teresa heard a rumor that VINS (the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences) will take roosters and old laying hens to feed to the eagles and other raptors.  Teresa called this week and, sure enough, the rumor is true!  This morning, Eric loaded up a box of 5 of the old laying hens who were no longer laying (thanks to the game camera) and off to VINS they went.  They euthanized the birds and placed them in the freezer as a future "frozen dinner". 

 

Despite our reduced number of birds, we still collected 3 eggs this evening, which has been a typical days count.  Less birds + same number of eggs = Success!

Alaska

Our Alaska trip can be summarized into three main activities:

FISHING

This proved to be a very successful venture for us.  We did fly fishing our first day.  Teresa caught 5 fish prior to Eric catching his first of the day.  We caught a mix of Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout and Sockeye Salmon.  All were released back into the waters to swim another day.  On our second day we switched it up and trolled for silver salmon.  Teresa once again caught the first fish of the day and reached her maximum daily allowance at 3 fish.  Eric manged to catch one salmon.  We brought home 20lbs of frozen salmon for the freezer!

  

 HIKING

Our stay at Camp Denali in Denali National Park was beyond incredible.  Imagine overnight camp for adults, add on gourmet meals and there you have our stay!  Our cabin was called "40 Below" and had a beautiful view of Denali from the front window.  We managed to watch the first evening, as clouds cleared the sky, revealing Denali's enormous outline against the darkening night (all from bed!).  We had two days of great hikes/hops over tundra and through rivers (Teresa was carried across the rushing water on Eric's back so as to keep her feet dry), all the while enjoying eating the plethora of wild blueberries and cranberries.  The foliage was a mix of beautiful golds, yellows, reds and oranges.

WILDLIFE

We had theme days in Denali.  Apparently all the animals communicate and specific days they appear in mass.  Our first day hiking, we saw 4 moose grazing around the ponds.

 Day two we saw 4 grizzly bears out and about.  We also really enjoyed hearing and seeing the sandhill cranes migrating southward by the hundreds.  

Back to the farm we arrived, to screaming goats with their hormones all abuzz!