Well, today is my 42nd birthday. Surprisingly enough, I'm not as depressed by this as I was for birthdays numbers 40 and 41. Maybe I'm just mentally adjusting to the idea of heading toward 50 or maybe I just had such a nice weekend that there's not point in being depressed over one more year gone.

Friday Partner left the house at a little after 4am to go fishing. He came back just after noon with four big red salmon. He would have stayed longer but a bear chased him and his friends out of their fishing hole. He says it was a 800-1000 pound bear, which given his penchant for over-estimating the length of his maleness, the size of his fish and the weight of bears he encounters by 20%, means it was probably closer to 600-800 pounds. Still big enough to make them all leave in a hurry.

I cleaned the fish and steak-cut the largest, wrapping the pieces with bacon, onions, garlic and dill, packing them in foil and slow cooking them over an open fire in our front yard, along with some corn on the cob. Damned good eating! After that we lit off fireworks, which was a lot of fun and had a bottle rocket war.

On Saturday morning we woke up early, drove 40 miles out to the end of the island and set out on an over-night hike to scout some hunting grounds we want to use come deer season in the fall. We walked along the beach. It was a gorgeous day. A large pod (20+) of humpback whales were spouting just off shore. They were so close you could hear them exhale- Pshooo! There were also seals and loads of eagles. We didn't see any bears but there was a tense stand off with a large bull buffalo (not a native species) who had decided that he owned that swath of beach. Being as he weighed 1500+ pounds (or as Partner would over estimate, 1800 lbs), we decided discretion was indeed the better part of valor and we took the long way around him.

We spent the night at a tidal lagoon, fished for trout in a near by river, and fell asleep listening to the surf. On Sunday morning we hiked out. Two days of walking through loose, black volcanic sand made for some very, VERY tired legs. We got home about 3pm and had another bonfire. It was really nice. Needless to say, I was pretty sore this morning.

Partner has to work today but after he gets off, he's taking me out to one of the few nice restaurants in town, a sushi place were they make the most fantastic steak tartare and you dine with bald eagles peering in the windows at you,looking jealously at your nigiri platter. I gotta make my own birthday cake though. I don't know what sort of presents I might get. My mom sent me something, in the usual fancily wrapped package. Partner too got me something but he wrapped his in pages torn from a Chevy truck parts catalog. Pal said his gift is in the mail so I won't get it until at least Thursday when I go into town for groceries and Kid has something for me but he hasn't wrapped it yet. I'm a little excited to see what they've picked out for me.

Anyway, just a little ramble to kill time while I wait for Partner to get home so the fun can recommence!
-M