Lodge Maiden Chronicles: Weeks 3 & 4

Hi everybody!
Sorry I've been late with posting! We've been busy with our first 2 sets of clients here at the lodge. So, what's happened these past weeks? Let me e'splain ... No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Week 3:
Syd and I were able to clean up the cabin area of the Vantage before we started having clients come. And Josh and Luke took us out and showed us places around the bay and nearby islands.
Around the Lodge site we've been cleaning cabins (dusting, scrubbing, sweeping, vacuuming, hanging moss pots around the veranda, hanging light fixtures, etc), and re-organizing the 3rd floor of the crew cabin.
Our gardening adventures included pruning devil's club (very thorny), planting perennials, fertilizing fruit trees, weeding & watering the garden, moving an old dead (rotten) tree that had fallen over one night, and cutting out a tree root to plant a rosebush.
When it comes to cooking we haven't done a whole too much yet, but Brian said we'll be helping him a lot more once we've finished a lot of the groundskeeping/gardening stuff. So far we've baked about 20 dozen cookies, I helped make the cod one night, and I made Sister Holman's spinach salad another night. Someone please tell her that it was a big hit. :)
There's this really cool island someways west of the Lodge called Russian Island. I've been there twice so far. Once was for a bonfire we had with our first guests. Brian fired up the grill (a converted water heater tank, if I remember correctly) and we had a nice barbeque. It's a very beautiful place! Back on the point the view is just breath-taking! And I never thought I'd say that I'd seen a sunset more beautiful than a Rexburg sunset, but I have to say that an Afognak sunset beats it. By a lot. The colors are so vibrant, almost neon! And the trees on the mountains, with the layers of clouds, reflecting all the light off the water...
It's just like nothing I'd ever seen. Makes me believe even more than before that God's an active force for beauty and creativity in this world. :)
So far the wildlife I've seen include whales, eagles, an eaglet in its nest, bears, deer, foxes, starfish, and many types of fish. And speaking of fish...
I've been fishing! So far I've caught ling cod, halibut, and bass! Luke also let me drive the boat for a stretch or two. :) I've also decided that I am going to own a vacuum sealer. It's one of the most handy inventions on the earth! I think I've helped package about 500 lbs of fish so far! This has included salmon, bass, halibut, yellow eye, pollock, and chinese rock fish (the ling cod isn't in season yet). Not bad for the first week of season.
And I can't even begin to finish my post without mentioning some of our lovely clients. Our first set of the season were Debra and Pam from Australia. Two of the sweetest ladies I've met. Very vibrant personalities who don't let age hold them back (if they even think they are old, that is). ;) We've had many a good laugh and I was really sorry to see them go. And our second set included Phil, Bentley, & G. Three avid fishermen all originally from Utah, around Springville area. These lovely gentlemen were the ones who invited Syd and I to go fishing with them, and that was when I caught my first (and second) halibut. They also are LDS and let us have sacrament and blessings before they left this morning, and we could definitely feel the difference in the spirit here at the lodge while they were here and after they left.
I hope I'll be able to keep in touch with all these wonderful people because they definitely feel like good friends of mine.
Let's see... anything else that's happened? Well, I fixed the guitar. Luke brought some new strings back with him when he came back from town. And after I unstrung it then I glued the crack on the back seam back together, cleaned it up, polished it, and put a touch of oil on the fingerboard. I strung it up again and it looks and sounds 10 times better than it was! Not bad for my first time trying to be a luthier. ;) And I got to go on a 70 year old fishing boat called the Victory when it came in carrying fuel for the fuel tanks out here! I took a lot of pics with Syd that will eventually make it to facebook somehow.
I have about 3 months left here, and I'm not sure if that'll be enough to have my fill of Alaska. Don't know if it could be enough for anyone. I love it here, and I'm definitely having a lot of fun. I miss you all and love ya lots!

[Insert fun signature sign-off phrase]
Shawni

Lodge Maiden Chronicles: Week 1

For those of you who didn't know, I'm in Alaska! And for those of you who did know, I'm in Alaska!!!
    I've been loving it so far! All of the buildings on the site were built by the family who owns the lodge. There are the three guest cabins, the main lodge, the crew's cabin, the barn, the boat house, and the sauna. They log their wood out of the forest, run it through the sawmill, the whole deal! They lead hunting and fishing expeditions, and I'm going to be learning how to fish, hunt, do carpentry, the whole deal! I guess I'll come back a real wild woman! lol (P.S.Thanks to my cousin Kyler for coining the term Lodge Maiden for me) ;)
    This week has been so fun. It started out with Sydney (my BYU roommate) and I flying on a floatplane out to the lodge. When we pulled in to the dock there was a dead bear lying on it. Just the night before one of the clients shot a 9 1/2 ft Kodiak Brown Bear! Later that morning Sydney and I watched them skin it right there on the dock.
    Then we started hand-tilling and weeding the garden. We did that for a few days and then started transplanting seedlings from the greenhouse. In non-chronological order we've tilled, weeded, planted, reorganized the greenhouse, reorganized the upstairs of the crew cabin, cleaned the main lodge kitchen, washed lots of dishes, and gathered moss. It's been a pretty busy week, and a rainy one at that (3 days straight).
    One of our tasks this summer will be to help Brian make a cookbook that they can sell here at the lodge. He's a phenomenal professional cook and we'll get to learn a lot! He started working in his dad's bakery when he was 13 and he became one of the youngest Master Bakers in the US. In other words, he's really good at what he does. For example, some of the dishes we've eaten this week include: eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce, prime rib, venison and gravy, halibut stir-fry, calzones, and fried chicken. I'm so excited to learn how to make all this stuff!!!
    There's no cell reception, so e-mail's my best bet at being contacted. If you want to tell me how you're doing then I'd love to hear back from you! Just e-mail me. :)

[Insert fun signature sign-off phrase]
Shawni
    aka the wild woman lodge maiden ;)

Lodge websites: Hunting - Fishing - Youtube Video