Would you believe that we are at the beginning of our fall weather? Here it is just the first week of August and there are fall signs all over the place!!! 1) The yearly rains have begun. We usually have lots of rainy days from now until frost and freeze-up. 2) The fireweed blossoms are already up the last third. Saying goes that once the flowers reach the top of the stalk it is only six weeks until termination dust (snow) on the peaks of the lower mountains. Our large volcanic mountains have snow on their peaks all year. 3) The silver salmon should be arriving soon. 4) Evening temperatures are into the 40’s and daytime temps in the mid-50’s to mid 60’s. 5) And LASTLY, most of the tourists have headed home leaving parking lots and store isles accessible to residents. Now we don’t have to go shopping near midnight or at 6 am to avoid all the crowds.

Our daylight has dropped from 19 hours 5 minutes 8 seconds to 16 hours 51 minutes 59 seconds, a loss of five minutes 2 seconds over yesterday. It actually gets a little dark in the late of the night. Within a few weeks we’ll be seeing stars again. We’ve lost a bit over 2 hours of daylight since June 22.

This week I froze and then vacuum sealed over 35 pounds of king salmon fillets and roasts. My husband caught one about 35 pounds and his friend caught one about 45 pounds. He only wanted half of that one so he gave the other half to my husband.

Soon the silvers will be running and the guys will be fishing for them. Then I’ll be busy smoking salmon strips and chunks again. Silver salmon weigh in at 9 to 12 pounds each on average. Sometimes you’ll get one about 15 pounds. I’m really glad they haven’t made a big tourist push for the silvers. Other than the silvers, the only fishing left for the residents is dipnetting. If you don’t own a boat or can’t afford to hire a guide, it’s about your only option. Tourism may be beneficial to our economy but it has sure ruined our former lifestyle. Now it is “combat” fishing or no fishing with rod and reel.

The 42 reds he caught averaged about 7 pounds each before being dressed out. That’s about 290 pounds of red salmon before processing!

I’m sure glad that salmon is on our beneficial list!!!