Lynn’s Blog
Adventures and musings in the Last FrontierArchive for August, 2007
The Cabbages are Coming!
Tuesday was Alaska State Fair day for us. It was hot. It was sunny. It was Two-Buck Tuesday. Traditionally, fair weather isn’t fair. That is, it is almost always rainy, dreary and chilly. But there must be climate change in Palmer because it’s been gorgeous and the crowds have been huge.
Alaska’s State Fair is a humble fair compared to the Ohio State Fair of my youth. No Budweiser Clydesdales or butter cows or even The Osmond Brothers. What we do have is Giant Vegetables. Yes, indeed. There’s something very fun about being a spectator to giant vegetables.
This year’s fair has already brought world records, an 84-pound kale shown below with John. The record was shattered again a couple days ago with another kale by the same grower. Check out the video of the new kale WR of 105.9 pounds.
So, the Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off is tonight and there very well may be a world record. The display cabbage is a ‘throw-away’ at 73 pounds. According to the Daily News it’s as large as last year’s winner. You can keep up with events via the Veggiecam webcast of the Weigh-Off which starts a 6:30 ADT.
UPDATE: The winner of the cabbage weigh-off is Steve Hubacek with an 87.7-pound monster. He won by 12 ounces.
Urban Moose
On the way home Sunday evening we saw this monster of a bull at the Minnesota/International Airport interchange just a few minutes from the house. We figure this guy easily passed 50″ spread and was a legal moose to hunt. But because there is no hunting in the Anchorage bowl he grazed safely. As long as he looked both ways before crossing the highway.
Big Lake Weekend
Summer is winding down and we’re making the most of the warmth and sun that’s left. Saturday was spent at the Peterkins’ cabin on Big Lake. It’s an older place on one of the islands. We had a blast playing on the jet skis. Jen wants us to buy one. Now!
Grilled steak and potatoes were delicious and we watched the sun go down while sitting by a fire. We left at sundown to spend the night in Willow. The boat ride back to the launch was spectacular, off starboard was a huge, full moon and to port the sun was setting behind Denali. Awesome! Impossible to capture with a camera.
Flying Fish
Since I’ve been writing so much about fish here’s one more big fish, Alaska Airlines Salmon Thirty Salmon. Personally, I think it’s cool but it looks like billboard-sized evidence of some of the hot water Senator Stevens and his son Ben, our former state senator are in. I guess a half-million bucks is a lot of money for a paint job.
Here is a great close up of the paint job.
Chores, Chores, Chores
These past few weekends have been filled with cabin chores, things that must be done while it’s nice outside. John was very busy. He painted the cricket Kevin made and installed. A cricket protects the vents from being wiped off the roof when the snow slumps. Everything with a motor got an oil change, motorcycles, 4wheeler, even the snowblower. We added trim to the windows and doors and roof. Weather was great and all went for a swim to cool off. Even me!
Still waiting for the Mat-Su silver salmon to arrive. Hopefully, we can catch some more fish.
