Back to my gruesome life

My trapping partner caught a marten the day before I got home.  So guess who got to skin him!  That's right, this lucky panda.  I did pretty good.  I'm a little out of practice though.  I nicked his belly.  about a 1/4 of an inch or so.  :(  Bummer, but you can't tell when you turn him or anything so it won't detract from his value.  He wasn't bloody at all and skinned really easily and nicely.

They're so scrawny under all that fur.  I think their front paws look funny still attached.

Sunday morning Aune accompanied me and Gregg on the trap line.  On our way to Gregg's cabin we checked the sets.  In the first bunch there was a little fox.  He was caught in a snare but wasn't dead yet.  To put him out of his misery I had to strangle and crush him.  Oh man, that's the tough part of trapping.  I hadn't actually done that part of it yet but I certainly wasn't going to leave the little fox suffering.  So I stepped up to the plate.

I skinned the fox that night.  His tail was a little frozen.  We learned our lesson there.  To make sure the tail is fully thawed before we skin it.  He had a old big wound on his side.  Even the muscular structure on that side of him was a lot smaller than his healthy side.  All of us wondered and pondered what had happened to this fox and if he would have survived the winter.  When Gregg was scrapping him, he opened up the healed wound.  It was really disgusting.  Aune took pictures.  I didn't.  It still kind of turns my stomach.  Gregg poked it with his finger.  Ew.

Beaver Mitts (Part Six)

Last and final post regarding beaver mittens.  Hahaha.  I stretched this out way too long.  I have since finished these mittens and another pair.  The first pair was donated to the sewing circle auction.  Mr. Nick Hanson is the proud new owner of that pair.  The second pair was supposed to be for the Christmas bazaar but I'm not going to be here for that.  Sigh.  They never take my travel into account when they plan that thing.  It's frustrating.

Sew, sew, sew all the way up each side.

I have to change my thread a lot.  I don't like have super long thread because it always gets tangled.

Fur is tricky.  It's never quite perfect looking.

I normally don't sew with a thimble.  After a few days though... your finger tips get pretty sore and tender.

Just a wee bit more to go!

Finished product.

I line the beaver mitts with fleece cut and sewn in the same manner as the mitten itself.  I add a little leather loop on the top side in case the owner wants to add a yarn neck piece.

Depressing? or Hilarious.

Who needs dreams?

Dear body, get smaller.

Who needs reality?

Especially out here.  In the middle of nowhere.

Everyone should have one of these relationships.  Or not.

Pure class

One of my Thanksgiving tasks is the pie.  Considering my Momma does everything else, I get off lucky.  Yet another thing to be thankful for.  Bwah!  Okay, moving on.  This year is the first year that I was at my own place for Thanksgiving.  Kind of strange.  I was a very privileged kid in the fact that I went home almost every year for Thanksgiving and every year for Christmas.  Even when I was in Colorado.  So normally I was staying with my Mom while I was visiting home.  Last year I was living with her.  This year, I have my own little 16' x 20' house.  With no rolling pin.  It's a good thing I'm a wine-o.

There shall be pie.  No matter what.

This is really just going to be how I go about getting the crust ready for a pumpkin pie.  Visually of course.  Because who wants to read about it?  Not me.  And I certainly don't want to write about it.

Flat.

Fold.

Unfold.

Pat.

Crimp.

Cut.

I love making pie crusts.  More than I think I like eating pie.  I've never been a huge fan of dessert.  It's nice once and a while but given the choice I'd rather eat a fantastic steak or a hunk of bread.

Monumental.

Such a Capitol idea.  Wakka wakka.

There's a big crack in this right now.  So you can't go all up in it.  Damn earthquakes.

Proof.  I was there.

I didn't even know this existed.

Alaska even has it's own column-y thingy.  A guy gave me a funny look for taking this picture.  Really, dude?

This blew me away.  It was the busiest monument.  :(  But it was so incredible.

Chilling with my homie, Lincoln.  He's the man.

Reflection, yo.  I totally wanted to be Jenny and run through the reflection pool.  Ha.

Outside of the Lincoln Memorial.  There were a lot of steps.   Not enough to deter me though.

Thanks for the shades Jason.  :)  I love it when you leave stuff at my house.

Another monument I didn't know existed.

What up Obama, I ate dinner across the street from your casa.

Bunny Hunting

Last winter, when they days were getting longer and warmer and on days we weren't checking traps, bunny and ptarmigan hunting was my go to for getting out and enjoying myself.  Naturally I was always as decked out in pink as I possibly could get.  I can't wait for these days to start coming around this winter.  And I seriously can't wait to cook ptarmigan and bunnies in my crock pot.  I have some recipes to perfect.

Yes, I'm aware my sunglasses make me look like I have a unibrow.

I won my hat at a NAC barbecue. Um.Winner winner chicken dinner.

Oh Instagram.  You're my favorite.

Meet dinner.  There's something about getting the food that you cook and eat.  These bunnies have an all natural diet and while there's not tons of meat on them, the meat is incredibly lean.  I love knowing where my food comes from and that there are no additives or dyes or anything unnatural about it.  Plus, it makes me really proud that I can provide for myself.

See that face?  Proud.

National Zoo!

This was the first critter I saw when I got to the zoo.

A young man came up and started talking to me as soon as I stopped to look.  Eventually the conversation led to Yukon Men on Discovery.  Damn reality television.

Reality television needs to get prey upon by vultures.  As in be dead.

I don't remember what animal this was.  But I bet it's delicious.

This is a wolf.  It's description is a red fox on stilts.

What?!?!

A red fox on stilts.  You heard me.  I think it's incredibly accurate.

Sleepy little darling red panda.  A precursor to....

THE PANDA!!!

I sat and stared at this fellow for an inordinately long amount of time.  He was so cute.  Waddling around.  Sitting down and munching out.  Staring at the sky.

Seeing a panda was better than I imagined.

This was the male panda.  The female was inside looking very sad.  She'd recently lost her cub.  :(

This otter be good.  Bwah!  These guys were super cute and active.

This guy was not.

I walk the path of the elephant.

I was to sew with him.

I want to cuddle him.  He had such a cute nose.

The amazon building was crazy.  There were monkeys loose!  I'm happy they didn't fling poo at me.

I love fish.  They had a huuuuuge arapaima.  I didn't take a picture.  :(

Biiiiig cats.  The males were lazy.  The females were rough and tumbly and fun.

Here kitty kitty.

Chillin.  You know.  On the steps like a cool cat.

Just lion around.  Bwah!  Oh, I'm hilarious.

So pretty!  The didn't seem like unhappy animals.  And that made me happy.