Here’s the Thing: Growing season

Spring looks like a rough season around here. Everything melts and our area looks a bit apocalyptic. This is the time of year when old… Continue reading

An Outdoor View: Distractions

While mindlessly surfing the Net the other day, I got to thinking about distractions. According to Macmillan Dictionary, a distraction is “something that gets your… Continue reading

A caribou snacks on a sunny spring day. (Photo by Leah Eskelin/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: Spring into Earth Day

It’s spring! I celebrate this fact in the sun warming my back, the drip, drip, drip of water melting off the roof, and the patchwork… Continue reading

A caribou snacks on a sunny spring day. (Photo by Leah Eskelin/USFWS)

Church News

Methodist churches hold joint service The people of North Star United Methodist Church and Kenai United Methodist Church will hold a joint worship service at… Continue reading

When you need someone to hold you

A letter I once received from the Ministries Director of Campus Crusade for Christ concerning the organization’s relief work among tsunami victims in Thailand related… Continue reading

53 years ago, I was too young to meet the new Mustang

Today, April 17, was a famous day back in 1964. Ford introduced a new class of car, the pony car, so-called because that car was… Continue reading

Kara Johnston makes her way through a bouldering route on River City Wellness Center’s new climbing wall on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Rock wall offers new ascent for peninsula climbers

Local climbers gained a new foothold on the central peninsula April 8 with the opening of an indoor bouldering wall in Soldotna’s River City Wellness… Continue reading

Kara Johnston makes her way through a bouldering route on River City Wellness Center’s new climbing wall on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Soldotna resident Bruce King, a former fisheries biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, holds a rainbow trout he caught during a trip to Patagonia, Argentina in 2016. The areas he fished boasted trout upwards of 30 inches. (Photo courtesy Bruce King)

Travels, treks and trout

For some avid anglers, even the prolific fishing opportunities in the Last Frontier are sometimes not enough. That was true for Soldotna resident Bruce King,… Continue reading

Soldotna resident Bruce King, a former fisheries biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, holds a rainbow trout he caught during a trip to Patagonia, Argentina in 2016. The areas he fished boasted trout upwards of 30 inches. (Photo courtesy Bruce King)

Church News

Apostolic Assembly celebrates resurrection The Apostolic Assembly of Jesus Christ is celebrating Jesus’ Resurrection beginning with its annual three-day purification fast to be broken with… Continue reading

Voices of Faith: Entrance and Exit

Jean-Paul Sartre in describing the despair in our world did so with two words; “No exit!” The philosopher could never reconcile his personal view of… Continue reading

This undated photo shows edamame harvest in New Paltz, N.Y. Freshly picked, green, young soybeans, known as edamame, are easy to grow and combine the flavors and textures of fresh lima beans and peas. (Lee Reich via AP)  This undated photo shows edamame harvest in New Paltz, N.Y. Freshly picked, green, young soybeans, known as edamame, are easy to grow and combine the flavors and textures of fresh lima beans and peas. (Lee Reich via AP)

Edamame in the garden are flavorful and easy to grow

Move over, tempeh, tofu, miso, soy sauce, soy milk and other processed soy foods. Make way for edamame. This is the soybean in its most… Continue reading

This undated photo shows edamame harvest in New Paltz, N.Y. Freshly picked, green, young soybeans, known as edamame, are easy to grow and combine the flavors and textures of fresh lima beans and peas. (Lee Reich via AP)  This undated photo shows edamame harvest in New Paltz, N.Y. Freshly picked, green, young soybeans, known as edamame, are easy to grow and combine the flavors and textures of fresh lima beans and peas. (Lee Reich via AP)
An American marten with a VHF radio collar was part of graduate research to assess if and why their distribution on the Kenai Peninsula has changed in recent years. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)  An American marten with a VHF radio collar was part of graduate research to assess if and why their distribution on the Kenai Peninsula has changed in recent years. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Refuge Notebook: American marten on the Kenai are climate change ‘winners’

I skied Resurrection Trail from Hope to Cooper Landing, a fun adventure that I haven’t done in several years. On both trips, I saw lots… Continue reading

An American marten with a VHF radio collar was part of graduate research to assess if and why their distribution on the Kenai Peninsula has changed in recent years. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)  An American marten with a VHF radio collar was part of graduate research to assess if and why their distribution on the Kenai Peninsula has changed in recent years. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

An Outdoor View: Tomorrow’s charter

Judging by the increasing use of robots, in a few years they’ll be doing pretty much everything. Imagine a halibut-fishing charter in, say, 2027. You’ll… Continue reading

In this June 2, 2014 photo provided by Scott Morris, Eszter Horanyi carries her loaded bikepacking bike over downed trees in New Mexico on the Continental Divide Trail. (Scott Morris via AP)

Bikepacking adds a dose of fun to backpacking

By JOHN MARSHALL Associated Press PHOENIX — Backpacking is a great way to enjoy the outdoors with the added bonus of getting a little exercise.… Continue reading

In this June 2, 2014 photo provided by Scott Morris, Eszter Horanyi carries her loaded bikepacking bike over downed trees in New Mexico on the Continental Divide Trail. (Scott Morris via AP)
Vibrant, green Elodea spews out from an ice-auger hole on Stormy Lake in 2013.  Fluridone, an herbicide, can kill this perennial invasive plant even in winter because it apparently continues to photosynthesize under the ice. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Refuge Notebook: Killing Elodea under the ice

Elodea, the first nonnative submersed freshwater plant to invade Alaska, was discovered on the Kenai Peninsula in late 2012. We now know that a hybrid… Continue reading

Vibrant, green Elodea spews out from an ice-auger hole on Stormy Lake in 2013.  Fluridone, an herbicide, can kill this perennial invasive plant even in winter because it apparently continues to photosynthesize under the ice. (Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)
Is it working?  On the left, a typical rake sample of elodea from Beck Lake during surveys in 2013. (Photo by C. Anderson) On the right, a rake sample 13 weeks after Beck Lake was treated with fluridone in 2014. (Kenai National Wildlife Refuge photo)

Refuge Notebook: Progress on eradicating elodea from the Kenai Peninsula

I am fascinated by how plants and animals are named. Elodea, the first submersed freshwater invasive plant to infest Alaska, was named by the famous… Continue reading

Is it working?  On the left, a typical rake sample of elodea from Beck Lake during surveys in 2013. (Photo by C. Anderson) On the right, a rake sample 13 weeks after Beck Lake was treated with fluridone in 2014. (Kenai National Wildlife Refuge photo)
Spawning sockeye in Daniels Lake are beneficiaries of collaborative efforts to eradicate Elodea from the Kenai Peninsula. (Scott Shuler, SePRO)

Refuge Notebook: Elodea gone from the Kenai Peninsula?

The good news is that Elodea, the first submerged freshwater invasive plant to make it to Alaska, may be gone from the Kenai Peninsula. Last… Continue reading

Spawning sockeye in Daniels Lake are beneficiaries of collaborative efforts to eradicate Elodea from the Kenai Peninsula. (Scott Shuler, SePRO)

Pioneer Potluck: Easter Dinner

On a farm in Northern Colorado 1937-1955 Easter dinner was always planned at least two weeks ahead of time on the farm where we grew… Continue reading

With the onset of warmer weather, a pair of swans have arrived on the Kenai River Flats on Tuesday, April 10, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Spring’s out, wings out

With the onset of warmer weather, a pair of swans have arrived on the Kenai River Flats on Tuesday in Kenai, Alaska. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)… Continue reading

With the onset of warmer weather, a pair of swans have arrived on the Kenai River Flats on Tuesday, April 10, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Community News and Notes

News and Notes ^ Kuntz named to Eastern Oregon University dean’s list Dylan Kuntz of Soldotna has been named to the dean’s list for the… Continue reading