I found Santa's summer home where the reindeer live in the off-season!  It's here in Redmond, Oregon.

We were driving by and there they were.  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer - the whole gang.  Look at those huge antlers!

I found out that female reindeer also grow antlers every year, just like the males. Can you see the velvet that's still covering the antlers?  It's in the process of being rubbed off so that by Christmas, they'll have shiny hard antlers.

Reindeer are able to live in freezing weather because they grow thick, heavy coats.  Reindeer hair is  hollow, like a straw, and warm air is trapped inside each hair which gives them such good insulation from the cold.  The hollow hair also allows them to float well while swimming - and I can only assume that the hollow hair is what allows them to fly while pulling Santa's sled!

Baby reindeer start growing antlers when they're only three weeks old and all of the reindeer had different shaped antlers.  These guys (or girls) look pretty muscular.

I couldn't see the nose on this one, but it could be red.  Think maybe this one is Rudolph?

Last post about Alaska!  We are having a blast.  I think I could live on a ship...maybe.  

Our second stop was in Juneau where we went whale watching.  Well, first of all, they put about 100 people on this boat which is WAY too many people.  We were looking for Humpback whales and found a couple.  They travel alone, not in pods, so if you see one - that's probably it.  The captain spotted one out front of the boat, so everyone ran to the front of the boat - who can see over that?  I got a picture of a spot in the water, but I won't bore you with that.  Then, we spotted Orca whales and there were several playing around the boat (because they travel as a family in pods).  But once again, I was trying to take pictures around 100 people.  Here's a picture of one slapping his tail in the water.  Yep, that's as good as it got.

If you've been to Sea World, you've seen Orca whales.  The huge black and white ones?  With the teeth?  Maybe the cold water in Alaska shrunk them, because these Orca's were small, like a big dolphin.  What???  Where were the huge Sea World whales?  It was like visiting a baby nursery for whales.  Oh well.   I dreamed that night about killer whales jumping over the road from one side to the other.  Back and forth.  I don't really know what that means...

Next stop was Skagway - where we went zip lining.  I don't even jump off the high board at the pool -what was I thinking?  It was only 85 feet in the air, which was about 83 feet too high.

Here's Mike going from one platform to another.  Every picture of me shows me gripping the harness in a death grip with both hands -I did not let go.  Every one else with the group let go with both hands, jumped off backwards, spun in a circle...you know, no fear....  I had enough fear for everybody there.  Especially after this:

Yep, he's stuck.  Poor guy's rollers (whatever it's called) got off track and he stopped half way between platforms.  The guy in the yellow hard hat came from the other side to try and untangle him.  Then the girl from our platform had to swing out and bring a knife.  Like I said... 83 feet too high.

Internet on the high seas is pathetic.  Anyway we’re on an Alaskan cruise –  and it is fantastic!   I knew how Mike was......  I've had glimpses during the last twelve years, but I've never seen him in action in such a crowd.  There's around 2700 people on this ship and I think he's now friends with at least 900. (that was just after the first two days)  He never meets a stranger.  He can walk up to anybody, anywhere and just crank up a conversation.  It's amazing just to watch him.  He knows about their life history, they know about ours.....

 I can’t believe all the food.  It’s just a dream come true!  My gosh, some people come for the sight-seeing, some because it’s fun to travel on a ship somewhere.  I now know why I’m here.  It’s for the food! 

First stop – Ketchikan.  It means “thundering wings of eagles” (or something really close to that).  Mike and I picked an “adventure kart” as our first excursion.  I thought it was going to be easy.  Just a 7 mile ride on a four wheeler up in the mountains – just you and your hubby  (and six other couples).   
I'm hiding behind a shrub the guide gave me.  It's a bunch of huckleberries.  I've never eaten a huckleberry, but they're pretty good!

 We take my Dad’s 4 wheeler out in the woods all the time.  Nothing to it.   Wrong.  It was hauling fast in a bone shattering, head bouncing, steering wheel clutching experience.  We went up old logging roads which contained rocks and pot holes the whole way.  (and don’t forget to stay in the middle of the road, because if you hit the gravel on the edge, you’ll run off the edge).  Oh great.

 How dare he try to take a picture without me in it?  I know how to lean into the shot!

The guide told us about the  school system for kids in 8^th grade.  They’re required to take field trips into the forest to learn what berries are edible (there’s like 27 different kinds of berries), how to fish with a piece of string and a hook,  how to build a shelter using a piece of plastic in their backpack.  That is just so cool.  These kids know how to survive in case of an emergency.  They can either spend a few days in the wilderness learning how to survive or write a 30 page essay.  All of our children should learn about survival techniques.  That’s right, fish, hunt, grow your own food and learn how to can it.  (I was planning on researching this topic to make sure I had all the facts straight, but do you know how hard it is to get internet in the middle of the ocean?  So feel free to research it yourself and give us the facts.) 

If you hunt, clean it and bring me home the processed meat, I’ll cook it for you.  But doing all the cleaning myself?  Ewwwwww – no way.  If I get to the point I’m starving to death, then maybe.  But, until then….It’s  Mike’s job.  For some reason, guys think that’s cool.

Have you ever heard of Indian wood?  I know, me either.  But Mike and I were at John and Kay Griffin's farm last weekend and he had some on his trailer.  He was putting in a road on his property and dug up some pine tree stumps that would be considered "Indian wood". I pulled off a small piece and smelled it - turpentine! Wow, it was strong.

 Here's a picture of what the stumps look like. Not much to look at, but John said that tiny pieces of the wood from this kind of pine tree was used to start fires because of the concentrated turpentine in the wood.  What??? I've been around pine trees my whole life and didn't know this?  I needed to do some research!

Sure enough, this type of wood is also called fatwood, fat lighter, pine knot, and heart pine.  When a pine tree is cut down, struck by lightning,  or even just loses a limb, the tree’s roots continue to send pitch – or resin, the sticky stuff that hardens into amber – to the impacted area. 

The wood becomes saturated with the pitch, which contains terpenes.  That's right, the stuff turpentine is made of.  (it's a natural chemical that is highly flammable).  The pitch also makes the fatwood extra hard and resistant to rot. Aha, that's why it doesn't totally decompose out in the woods.

A small amount of fatwood can be carried as part of a tinder kit (you know, next time you're roughing it out in the woods with no charcoal lighter).
 

Here's a picture of the wood up close.  You can see the red streaks embedded in the wood.  Pine resin is resistant to decay and will begin to solidify when the tree dies. Why one stump starts to decay and another one next door becomes fatwood depends on the acidity of the ground, time of year the tree fell,  the condition of the tree while it was living.

So, here's what you have to do.  Go out in the woods, find an old nasty rotting pine tree stump and try to kick it over.  If it resists, and you have to use force to get it out, it may be fatwood.  If it disintegrates when you kick it, keep looking.  If you use a wood burning fireplace in the winter, a tiny piece of fatwood will help get the fire going.

I'll let you know this winter how well that works.  I wonder how many stumps I'm going to have to kick before I find any?  That's OK, Mike will be the one who has to dig them up!

Did anybody see the article about beautyberries in the Houston Chronicle on Saturday, Sept 1st?  It's a wild shrub that has clusters of pink/purple berries that grow down the stem.  You've seen them.  You probably thought they were poisonous like I did.

 The article showed this cute little 7 year old, picking berries and putting them in her little bucket.  It was so cute.  Well, I had seen these bushes all down the fence line in our back pasture, so I took 2 zip lock bags and walked out to pick berries.  I now have a problem with that picture of the little girl and that article. That child is not sweating like I was and I didn't see a lot of spiders in that picture either.  The author went on and on about the leaves of the plant being a natural mosquito repellent.  Just crush the leaves and rub on your skin - ok, I'm good with that.  But, why doesn't that bush repel spiders?  The author claims the shrubs are pest free. There must have been a hundred at least. Yes, I'm exaggerating - there were only 5.

 But look, I got the six cups of berries that I needed to make jelly.  I washed them off and put them in a pan with water and brought it to a boil for 20 minutes.  Then I drained it through cheese cloth and got the juice I needed.  At this point, I was not impressed.  When boiling, the berries turned a pale pink and just looked strange.  After I drained it, the juice was actually a dark purple.  Next was the taste test.  Once again, not impressed.  No wonder nobody ever used these berries for anything!  They're a pain the pick and they have no taste!

 I've spent this much time on this project, so I'm not quiting now.  I added the pectin and brought it to a boil then added the sugar and brought it to another boil.  Next taste test.  I don't know what happened, but it was truly a miracle.  It tasted awesome!  Like a cross between a grape, a  dewberry and a rose.

I used the tiny 4 oz canning jars.  Just in case this project was a complete bust, nobody would feel bad just throwing the mess out.

 Here are the jars in the water bath, happily boiling away.  

Finished product?  12 jars of "Beautyberry Jelly" that I'm going to have to probably pay people to eat since they've never heard of the stuff. It's a beautiful purple color.  There was some jelly left in the pot after I'd filled the jars.  I admit, I licked it clean.  It's amazing how adding 4 1/2 cups of sugar can make anything taste better!
So, after cutting these plants down for the last 20 years because I thought they were poisonous, I find out not only are the berries edible, but the leave can keep mosquitoes away.  I'm thinking it's going to be a new landscaping item around the house.  
Maybe the spiders were attracted to my zip lock bags, so next year I'm going to get a cute little bucket like that girl in the picture.  Maybe I won't sweat as bad either...