May 2026
- Myron
- 16 hours ago
- 5 min read
The summer season is underway in Alaska and for ALO that means opening the lodge and cabin in the wilderness, long hours of daylight, and of course fishing. The lodge got started early with a construction project to repair fire damage from last September. That project moved quickly, and exterior repairs were done in time for the arrival of guests in mid-June. Those repairs started in early May, with float plane landings in the fast water channel in front of the lodge which stays open most of the year even with frozen lakes. The cabin opening was delayed by late break-up on the lakes. The first week at the lodge produced spectacular fishing, including many good-sized kings which in recent years have been down in numbers. A visit to the lodge revealed extremely happy guests, perhaps partially influenced by a new solar power installation that reduces noise at the lodge dramatically. In previous years the generator ran 24 hours a day, burning expensive diesel fuel at an alarming rate. One drawback--a guide at the lodge reports he is unable to sleep well because he has become accustomed to the generator noise at night. Another guide suggested he should create a phone app to produce generator noise for sleeping.
Most of the guests reported viewing the now famous Jay Siemens video that has reached 1.5 million views before coming to the lodge. Some said they viewed the video several times. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out.
One highlight of the first week, 14 year old Katie Gibbs had a wonderful week of fishing as shown by the king salmon, char and rainbow trout below. On her best day she caught 87 fish which matches Andy’s best day as a kid. Maybe she has a future in lodge management.
Mandatory Moose and Other Characters
Cameras are still in place at the farm, and they produced some interesting shots.
Alaska has animals as well, including this month’s Mandatory Moose showing off his new antlers.
These mama bears have their paws full it seems.
Years ago Cathy Connolly worked as a lawyer at ALO. She and her husband Rich Trotto were good friends. This photo shows Cathy on a recent trip standing next to a famous piece of artwork in Spain.
Rich said it brought to mind an event from long ago in Bethel. Here is the message he sent.
"Cathy and I were going through a museum in Madrid when we came upon this painting and I couldn’t help but think about your comment about a similar picture by the same artist that hung over our dining room table in Bethel and your suggestion that we put a picture in the frame."
Cathy was a valuable lawyer at ALO but she eventually burned out and left the practice of law. She is fondly remembered at ALO for her performance at an office party next door at the Angstman house. That party featured a few bottles of wine, some French and some American. Late in the evening Cathy announced that she certainly enjoyed the French wine which was so much better than the American. That prompted a test, to see if she could actually tell the difference. Two bottles of red wine were selected and taken with two glasses into the next room. Niece Janet Holton was taken along as a neutral observer to assure the test was fair. Two glasses were poured, both from the same French bottle. The glasses were placed in front of Cathy. She sniffed, studied and tasted the wine for several minutes as many folks watched closely. She then uttered a quote that has come down through the ages as her legacy. “They are very different.” She then proceeded to name one a French wine and the other American. Test failed.
Remembering D-Day
One of history’s most momentous events was D-Day the sixth of June on the beaches of Normandy, France. Many recollections of that day have appeared over the years, but this one by Andy Rooney on 60 minutes is among the best.
One wonders what Rooney would think of the current state of that show, with harsh censorship driving away top people affiliated with the show. Rooney would have been among the first to go under current management at CBS.
ALO Update
ALO settled a couple of interesting cases out of Bethel recently. One involved a drunk driver who crashed into a family vehicle with four occupants. The insurance company was unimpressed with the level of injuries involved but decided to pay a handsome sum to settle the case when it was pointed out that in Alaska drunk drivers are exposed to civil damages that include full attorney fees paid to the victims. The other Bethel case involved a cab driver who died of a heart attack while driving four women to the airport. His car left the roadway and plowed into the ditch at high speed.
The question of attorney fees for lawyers handling injury claims is often discussed in political settings. Many feel the compensation is too high, because it is usually a percentage of the recovery and sometimes the recovery is quite high. Here is the issue. Lawyers who work on percentage only get paid if they win, and their opponents are usually highly paid specialists who are employed to prevent them from winning. Very few occupations have that method of compensation. Imagine a football quarterback with a contract that said you only get your wages if you win the game, or a college professor who only got paid if he met performance goals for his students, or a surgeon paid only if the surgery was a success. Some professions do pay on commissions, normally sales jobs, but there is not an opponent actively trying to prevent a sale from happening. Angstman Law Office has done well for the past 52 years, and most of that comes from winning cases. Including in those wins are many cases with a significant risk factor, the risk being that time and money was invested with no assurance of recovery. One other factor in the formula is the well-known insurance company strategy of making law suits expensive to discourage others from filing. That strategy is employed by many companies and even admitted by some. They drag out cases with legal maneuvers to discourage anyone from taking them on. They have tons of money to spend defending themselves and they want to make it expensive for the other side too. But no complaints here. Taking on the giants of the insurance industry and their carefully selected attorneys is an adventure, and so far the results have been positive.
Previously the news posted a photo from Deacon’s Landing from a 1975 hunting trip. That same year a group of smokejumpers was working a fire in the area and stopped in for a visit and snapped a similar photo. Compare the two here. The elderly man is Deacon Deaphon and his wife is Agnes, with granddaughter Martha Evan.
Taxing Times and Losing Streaks
Republicans have announced they intend to cut Social Security and Medicare during the next Congress because the government is short of money. The immense tax cut extended to rich folks under the big, beautiful bill is one of the reasons for that shortfall, and another is the highly unsuccessful Iran war. Senator Bernie Sanders has something to say about that. As always Sanders is spot on with his comments.
Courts have repeatedly ruled against Trump in recent years, and somebody has done the math. It's not just radical liberal judges, it's Trump appointees as well.
Here’s a scary thought from the past. In 1984 when the Minnesota Twins were transferred from the Griffith family to the Pohlad family, the Griffiths turned down a much higher bid from Donald Trump. The Twins would be bankrupt by now.
Is it a problem if a first-grade girl has a larger vocabulary than her elderly grandfather with a law degree?? Asking for a friend.
Fortunately there is still humor to be found in the world.
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