We have a New Neighbor

A noisy owl has moved into our housing addition and apparently the best "who who" -ing time is about 1am. I heard it one other morning and thought it was the wind blowing through something. Last night though, the owl was calling for quite a while - long enough for me to wake up Robert and say "Hear the owl?". I'm not sure Robert truly appreciated the notice!

Anyway, from the information off of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation site, it appears we have 3 common possibilities:

1. Great Grey Owl
2. Northern Hawk Owl
3. Great Horned Owl

While I was hoping it would be a Snowy Owl, my guess is it is a Great Horned Owl because the site talks about them nesting in old raven's nests and we have a plethora of trash scattering ravens here. (Just so you know, our ravens can tell days of the week. Trash day is normally on Wednesday but was delayed to Thursday due to holidays and no one bothered to tell them. They were here Wednesday and were hungry!)

Regardless, I now have another animal to watch for and try to capture on film. If he/she only shows up at night though, chances of that are slim!

Skiing Today!

Finally!

Enough snow fell to hit the slopes. While I still skied over grass here and there and it was a little icy, we were downhill skiing. It was beautiful.

Bonus!

I only fell one time!

Of course it was the last run of the day and Robert had zoomed off down the hill. Yet I succeeded in getting my skis off, getting up, getting the skis back on and successfully catching up with him.

By that time, it had started to get busy and we were cold. Time to go home!

However, I see some more ski runs in the near future!

Merry Christmas to All!

Our turkey is in the oven and it is snowing like mad. It just doesn't get any better!

Have a wonderful day!

Squirt and his Christmas presents

Someone was a bad little boy yesterday.

Sure enough, Squirt opened not one but two of his Christmas presents early and repeatedly. I caught him one time...the telltale rustle, rustle, rustle of tissue paper ripping even though he was completely under the tree and couldn't be seen. Just the occasional movement of a bottom branch and a swinging ornament.

He was extraordinarily repentent and asked me not to tell Santa.

Now I am wrapping them again.....

Eagles, Moose, Bears - Oh My

And now, add one more thing to the list of things we (especially Squirt) need to be wary of....wolf attacks. Anchorage and Fairbanks have had a huge increase in wolves attacking and killing dogs this year over last year. Up until yesterday, the reports have always been of dogs either loose on a walk where they run into the woods or dogs on a lead in a yard when no people were around. This time, the dogs were on leashes and there were people attached to the dogs.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/22/alaska.wolf.attack.cnn

According to the experts, Anchorage has about 25 - 30 wolves in 5 packs (related story) and this behavior is more common when there is minimal snow and the moose can maneuver quickly to get away from the packs. However, Anchorage coveres a LOT of ground and I have no idea how close any of the packs live to us. So far, the attacks have all been in East Anchorage about 9 miles away as the crow flies (or the wolf runs) and we live in West Anchorage. However, I will probably start carrying pepper spary on our forays.

On a brighter note, Mars will be playing peek-a-boo behind the moon today. It will happen between 4:52 and 5:43 pm this afternoon (8-9pm hour CST). If it is clear and not windy (dark isn't a problem), we may have to dig out the telescope for better viewing!

Welcome to the shortest day of the year!!!

We will have about 4.5 hours of good sunshine here today (unless it's cloudy....I can't tell yet) and a brisk 7 degrees. We have already been out to shovel last night's 1" dumping of snow.

Christmas vacation has started! Twelve whole play days with Squirt. Robert actually gets 17 days. (I have to go back early for a special project...it's good to be wanted!) Regardless, after 17 fun filled play days, Squirt will be extraordinarily tired and very thankful for that first day when we leave him to "guard" again.

We will have to go check out the ski area tomorrow and maybe do a few runs!!!

Something new to try…

OK – the next time it gets down to -30, I’m trying these things!

http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/news/news_shorts/icebubbles.php

We have only hit -11 so far this year! Another 20 degrees will be a tad chilly!

The Grouse lived to see another day!

None came home with Robert.

Thank goodness we have grocery stores! (hahaha)

While Robert was out hunting, Squirt decided to nap on the Christmas decorations. It's a good thing Grandma made a bear or he wouldn't have anything to sleep on!!!

And...He's Off!

It's clear, dark and cool this morning....no wind and 4 degrees and Robert just left to go Grouse hunting. He has the ATV, guns, ammo, hunting license, snow shoes and arctic gear. I cooked him a hearty biscuit and red-eye gravy this morning and off he went. He will be driving to Wasilla to meet up with his hunting partners and then they will head north. (Guess I should get out the Alaska recipe book and see how to cook grouse!)

Since we have only one car that runs on ice, Squirt and I are on foot today. I am sure we will get a lot done around the house!

What should I do with the extra eggs???

As a continuation of last post....

There are some things you just can't find here such as Head Country BBQ Sauce, Williams Chili Seasoning (as a starting point for chili), spices at a reasonable price ($13 for a store brand, large garlic powder - we have to watch for sales!) and Reams Frozen Egg noodles to name a few. Because of the expense and sometimes lack of products, I have cooked a LOT more staple type items since moving here.

Most of the time, regular old American Beauty Pasta works fine. However homemade chicken noodle soup is the exception. It requires something different. Since we had extra eggs we weren't going to eat very fast and it is winter, sounds like the perfect time to have soup with homemade noodles.

Making noodles is similar to making bread. It requires lots of flour and I always manage to wear dark clothes so it is obvious where I am covered with it. Mix, roll them out, let dry for a couple of hours. Cut them to what ever size you want and toss around so the other side can get dry. (I should write a cookbook.) And this is where the mistake started....

I was going to put 1/2 in the fridge and the other in the freezer. Ziplocks have always worked fine but we have a vacuum sealer and trying to improve on the original idea I thought we should seal them instead. The sealing went fine. Two days later when ready to dump them in the soup to cook, we opened the package and had a brick. A solid, you could build a house with this - brick.

Luckily, after warming for a few minutes, I could pick them apart one by one from the brick making noodles again. However, dinner was late as it took a good 1/2 hour to do it.

BTW - our simple chicken noodle soup recipe....

Water
Cut up chicken breasts
little celery
salt, pepper to taste
Bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes
add noodles (whatever your preference)
serve when noodles are done!

Freezes great!

Note to young chefs...

Don't use the vacuum packer to seal home made egg noodles.

Ziplock Bags do just fine and you don't have one giant noodle when you open it up.

WooWoo! Here comes the Pineapple Express!!

It's that time of year! We have our first Pineapple Express going on right now. All of those warm winds from Hawaii swing up here for a visit to our beautiful state and they come with a vengeance! You can hear it coming, roaring down the mountains and when it hits the house, it sounds exactly like a freight train passing. Right now, we have a steady wind of about 25-30mph gusting to 75 mph or so and it went on most of the night. Our huge, ~300 pound, 'we can feed and army', stainless steel grill rolled across the deck last night. Thank goodness it didn't move into the yard. I wonder if our reindeer are still in the raspberry patch? Too dark to tell now. These are the days I just hope all of our shingles stay on!

And to top it off, it is 42 degrees at our house. The tiny, tiny dusting of snow in our yard is gone. The ice on the deck is gone (which is good!). Of course, we are supposed to have rain turning to snow later today but this eliminates any skiing for another couple of weeks.

We are coming up to the shortest days of the year now. Only 14 left before we start having more sunlight signifying summer is on its' way! Of course one of the best things about this time of the year is I get to see most of the sunrises and sunsets. The other day we had a sunset so spectacular, I had to email my friends in their offices to go look out the window. The setting sun was a giant ball of bright orange coloring the low hanging clouds an amazing hue. Other days, the alpenglow is spectacular. Well worth the few minutes away from the computer.

Time to go see what treasures blew into our yard last night. Maybe we have new lawn furniture now!

The Earth Moved Today

There I was, sitting at my desk, discussing something with a co-worker when I heard a loud pop, like a big wind gust blowing the window, and then my chair started moving. I was feeling an earthquake...my first earthquake. It seemed to last quite a while and ended up being a 5.0 magnitude. It was centered 65 miles NW of Anchorage. More information and the location can be found at the Alaska Earthquake web site.

Of course I had to immediately check Squirtcam to see what he was doing. Nothing different from normal late afternoon woofing and spinning.... Doesn't look like anything fell off of shelves in the house. (whew!)

Since we got home so late on Monday night, I really didn't get the chance to look around outside to see if anything changed while we were gone. From all appearances (several new moose nugget piles) Momma and Calf were busy in our yard this week. My huge, overgrown into the pathway Black Currant bushes have been SEVERELY trimmed. I planned on trimming them this spring...I am just not sure I would have trimmed quite that much. Hope they survive.

Of course, to get to the currants, they had to walk over two of the reindeer and knock them into the third. Robert had to replace about 25 bulbs across the three deer. The moose won that battle...we have moved the reindeer to the raspberry patch. (From all appearances, raspberry stalks aren't that tasty to moose.)

Speaking of moose - here's an article no one should miss out on! Drunken Moose Who would have thought. I'll bet he was pretty funny to watch and pretty cranky as it wore off!

Of course the best part of coming home....

was seeing that cuddle puppy Squirt. We really missed him.

However, he was at his favorite dog sitter's house most of the time and got to go to two Thanksgiving feasts.

I'm not certain he was happy to see us walk in this morning!

(OK - he was but he wasn't unhappy about leaving to go with her last week!)

Back Home Again

We have been traveling. This year we went outside (Alaskan for anywhere other than Alaska) to Kansas and Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We arrived our house in Anchorage at 1:15 this morning. LONG flights but luckily no travel delays. Sadly - almost all of the snow has once again melted - no skiing today!

Egad was it hot down south. Those 70 degree days were tough. I wore shorts more last week than I did last year. There we were dressed in shorts, t-shirts and sandals looking for air conditioning when others had jeans, sweatshirts and coats with household heaters running. It finally cooled down to the 30s and snowed a little. It is nice to be able to share our weather. :) It was fun to people watch in the airports - it was sunny and 50 in Houston yesterday which means winter coats, snow boots and ear muffs. Isn't it interesting how a human body can acclimate itself?

All of our Christmas presents made it to relatives without breaking (we shipped them) and hopefully the packages we shipped back will make it in the same condition. Our families were in good health and it was so wonderful to see them. Plus - we successfully chose for the 3 and 4 year old fabulous, noisy toys for their parents to enjoy!

It had been one year since I last left Alaska and I am pretty sure that is the longest time span I have stayed in one state let alone one country since graduating from college. I discovered I missed the hustle and bustle of the Lower 48 - the 4 lane highways - the option of choosing different roads to get to the same place - the tons of places to stop and get something to eat - not that we ate a lot just the ability to do it. But coming back last night, I so was glad to get home - ironically away from the hustle and bustle. Looking out of the window and flying over the snow covered mountains awash in moonlight, no little communities to interrupt the darkness, the clear, starry skies. We had a six mile cab ride or so from the airport in the city and stopped at two stoplights. Even though most of the snow is gone, the dusting in our drive showed momma moose and calf had recently been through. While many people would never live here because of the weather, extended winter dark and summer sun along with the "isolation", to me this is paradise and I am so thankful I have the opportunity and plan to take advantage of it while we are here.

Now it just needs to get cold enough for me to dig out my fur coat and mukluks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your turkey be moist, pumpkin pie sweet and journeys safe!

Oh No! Guess Who Just Turned 50???

Yes - it's a sad day for one of us....Robert turns 50 today.

One half century....

Glad I'm still several years away :)

The Snow arrived again today!

After a good - 3 shovel Saturday, we had a "snow squall" this afternoon.

Hadn't been in one of those before.

The sky turned black - just like a good, old Southern thunderstorm. The fog moved in - I couldn't see anything out of my office window.

Except - it wasn't fog. In a matter of minutes, we had 2 new inches of snow on the cars in the parking lot. (Time to find the scraper!) Complete white out conditions in the Anchorage Bowl. Traffic going home today actually reminded me of Houston...

After dinner, Squirt and I headed out to shovel the deck. I think Squirt wanted to go play as after only one toss of snow, he was ready to go inside. He then proceeded to watch all of the work from his perch on the couch. Oh the irony of it...there I was shoveling trails in the yard for the dog and there he was watching from the nice comfy couch.

He has me trained well.

It's Here! It's Here!

Snow Has Arrived!

We have started shoveling season. Finally - skiing can't be too far away!

A Two Moose Morning!

What a perfect start to the day! Robert had to be at work for a 6:30am meeting which means we were up earlier than normal but all else was just a typical “go to work” day. Get ready…go downstairs…look out the front window for animals…forget to look out the side window for animals…put on coat and shoes…take Squirt outside…walk towards the gate to the yard…

That’s when it got exciting!

Squirt was standing at the gate and on there on the terrace just outside of our corral (decoration only) fence, severely trimming our bushes, were Momma and Baby Moose. (If I had looked out the side windows I would have seen them.) Momma heard Squirt’s tags jingling and stopped eating – ears went back to unhappy moose mode. We quickly turned around and went to the other side of the house to avoid the trampling of either one of us. Squirt was very good. He didn’t woof once (of course there was no glass between him and the moose).

After Squirt finished, we went inside and promptly went to the windows to watch the duo. They continued to trim bushes (I’m OK with that – if they don’t we would have to in the spring) and then nonchalantly stepped over the corral fence even closer to the house. (FYI – the top of the fence is about 8 inches below their bellies.) Momma came so close to the house, if I had been on the deck, I could have pet her…although that would have probably lead to “unhappy moose mode”.

Quite frankly, Robert is very lucky he got breakfast AND we made it to work on time because moose in the yard could have kept Squirt and me entertained for HOURS. They were still in the yard as we pulled out of the driveway. At noon, when we were home for lunch, we discovered they ate the pumpking offering....(note to self - must buy another pumpkin!).

Even the drive to work was great – we saw a fox running on the road.

Obviously, today was not supposed to be a work day. It was supposed to be a “go watch wildlife” day. I am confident if we had gone uphill to the mountains instead of downhill to work, we would have seen bears also.

Still no significant snow

Last year, I am pretty sure, we were downhill skiing by now!

Today has been the first day in a couple of weeks it was below freezing in the morning. It's still below freezing (which actually feels OK) but no snow on the horizon.

At least I don't have to shovel anything yet!

Headline - Reindeer lost to Moose...

Yes – it happened. Based on the tracks and other evidence, a moose sashayed up or down the terrace steps, went a little wide and knocked Papa Reindeer over. The deed occurred sometime between 6:15am and 5:30pm. (Interesting it occurred on Halloween!) The Land of the Midnight Sun is very difficult on mechanical reindeer. Mama can now only light up this year as the mechanism enabling her to move broke during the one of the gales last year.

OK OK – we had our reindeer up before Halloween. They aren’t turned on and are in an inconspicuous place where you don’t see them unless you are looking. Besides – we have to have our Christmas lights up prior to the show arriving or they won’t get up.

I also started working on the Christmas tree this week. Since a lot of work goes into decorating, I am going to have it on starting Thanksgiving. I closed the blinds for those windows so it wouldn’t be as obvious to the neighbors what I was doing. Robert really looks forward to decorating the Christmas tree. Every year he helps get it out of storage along with all of the boxes of ornaments, sets the tree up (it is very heavy and awkward) and then normally entertains Squirt (by snoozing with him in the recliner) until it is time to do the very top of the tree (which I can’t reach). He then helps me push it into the corner with the hope that nothing falls off and breaks. I have been gathering Alaskan Christmas ornaments over the last year at various craft fairs. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Halloween passed with what appears to be minimal tricks from humans (see moose comment at beginning). Robert and I took Squirt to the pizza place and spent a couple of hours missing most of the kids. It was very balmy last night (35 and dry) compared to the 8 or so inches of snow on last Halloween.

The pumpkin didn't make it....

Nope - from all appearances, juvenile delinquents carried it along our sidewalk and then smashed it in front of our terrace wall. Robert cleaned it up and placed the broken halves strategically in our front flower bed and we are now calling it compost.

I'm beginning to think pumpkin may only be an emergency ration for moose as I found tracks in our yard this morning. (Very easy to see the big indentions on the frozen tundra.) I didn't follow them around to see if they waltzed by the buffet but the compost hasn't moved.

We used our 4-wheel drive yesterday to go play in the snow. The roads climbing the mountain were a little slick and no less than six cars were in the ditch because either they weren't properly equipped for the conditions or they forgot how to drive over the summer. A tow truck could make a mint there. Most were trying to use ratchet tie downs and trees to get them out. Very dangerous - but not a dangerous as the kids snowboarding down the road itself.

Once again, Squirt had a blast even when we were walking through the heavy snow storm to the pass. We saw two moose and what seemed like 50,000 cross country skiers.

Feeding rules

I am not sure if I have mentioned in the past there is actually one downside to living in the city of Anchorage - in the great state of Alaska.

You can’t feed the wildlife.

It is against the law.

There are special rules about trash, fines if bears are caught eating your trash, etc., etc. And you don’t what to dangle carrots for moose and then run into your kitchen when you run out as the moose might follow you into the kitchen – not understanding the whole “moose don’t belong in houses” rule.

However, you can set pumpkins out for Halloween decorations.

See this example (or if Alaska Daily News changed their naming convention), this example.

Ours has been out since October 1.

:)

Slogging through the snow....

How time makes you forget as in I had forgotten how much “fun” (translation – “work”) it is to go for a walk when as little as 6 inches of snow exists on the path.

Yesterday evening, we bundled up (i.e., big coats, boots, hats, gloves), dug out Squirt’s snow booties and headed to Powerline pass. We found a few cross country skiers, fewer hikers, and one redneck spinning in circles (in his truck) around the snow covered parking lot. (We parked on the other side of the lot with several cars between us.)

Once we got Squirt’s boots on (a two person job unless there is an emergency and only one is available), we headed off down the path. It was so quiet, peaceful and incredibly pretty. The pine branches drooping with fresh, new snow and most of the leaves gone off of the other trees along with the tall grasses dying off. This means there is scenery when walking along the initial path now. Denali and Foreaker were in prime viewing mode with just a hint of pink on their faces from the sunset.

Squirt had a ball. He was in sled dog mode, running full tilt to the end of his leash, attempting to pull me over, then turning around with a look on his face saying, “what’s the problem – why are you going so slow?” He loves the cooler weather and hopping around in the white stuff. Upon returning to the car, he had a belly and face full of snow balls. He slept rather soundly last night.

We saw no animals other than a magpie and a couple of dogs. Moose and sheep were well tucked away. OK – I have no idea if the sheep were out or not – white sheep – white snow – I won’t see them again until next summer.

What a difference a year makes...

Last year as we were rolling rapidly into colder temperatures, ice and snow, I remember how cold I was and how I always bundled and wore my heavy winter wear for anything below 40. The last two days, we have been working outside in 34 degree weather and I was in a sweat shirt and jeans. I haven't dug out my winter boots yet and don't know where my heavy gloves are. We have gone to work a couple of days in 17 degree weather. OK - I did wear my light gloves those mornings.

It is still amazing how much the sun moves in the sky over the course of a year. Once again, it rises and sets in our southeast and southwest windows at about 8:45 am and 6:30pm. Only 67 days until the shortest day of the year - then the sun comes back. Robert is not looking forward to all of the darkness this year. I am not too worried about it. We have scheduled vacations in lighter locations! :)

I am looking forward to daylight today. It has rained steadily at our house for 12 hours now. That means higher up the mountain, they had snow. I can't wait to see how much!

Winter is here!

So much for that last 1100 ft for the snow to come down the mountain.

Our ground is white this morning!

Glad we put the studded tires on last weekend!

First Freeze....First Snow....New Toys!

Yes...I have closed all of the windows. Tuesday morning, it was 28 degrees at our house and last night when we went for a ride, we saw the first patches of snow at about 1900 ft in elevation. Luckily, I think our house is sitting around 800 ft. We still have 1100 ft before it gets here. (Our first snow showers are scheduled for Sunday (tomorrow).) The sun rises about 8:30am now.

We saw a Bullwinkle last night. The first thing Robert said as we were sitting in our car watching him was, "He's legal to shoot". Just goes to show how perspectives change.

I finally remembered to have the pictures downloaded from the camera. Voila....our new toys and where we have gone to ride!

Parking Lot at King's River
A day looking at views like this even bouncing around on the back of an ATV is pretty nice!
Clean up - woof did we have a lot of mud. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of water pressure so this takes a while.
On a different note - our apple crop this year. We have 1.5 gallons of applesauce in the freezer for the winter! I have cooked more since moving here than I have in years. Who would have thought??

Alaska from Ryan's Camera

On one of my brother's visits this summer, his co-pilot Ryan joined us for a quick tour around the South Central Anchorage area. Below are some of his pictures. (Jerry said I could put one on the blog...he didn't say which one though so I took some liberties and put several!)

Alaska from the 737 cockpit.

Robert, Janet and my brother, Jerry - of course Robert wouldn't look at the camera.

This is one way we can tell when wildlife is in the area. Everyone stops regardless of where they are.
A bear washing his food...
A different bear having a snack
Flattop mountain. This is a great hike and where we start when looking for moose.

Sadly, we didn't get a picture of Ryan. Full photo credit goes to him and I appreciate him sharing and letting me share. Thanks Ryan!

Almost Back Country

Saturday, we packed up the ATV and met up with friends north of town to check out some trails on King's River. There were 5 of us on 3 ATVs of which one of us was a teenager ready to go to the end of the earth or trail - whichever came first. We had a blast.

Our friends had been out to this set of trails a couple of times and already knew where to take us. The first area we went to ended up on a bluff overlooking a valley. We could hear the creek/river running. It was so quiet and amazing. (Look for that picture in our Christmas cards if it turned out.)

Keep in mind, Robert and I are still still coming to grips with both of us on the same machine and the power at Robert's fingertips. For example, previously when we went to Bird Creek, it was a gentle ride, meandering along, slowly going over bumps. Here on the open road, it was no problem for him to gun it and almost send me over the back of the ATV. (Which would have resulted in an entirely different post had that happened.)

This weekend we were on a mission. To the end of the trail - as far as we could go as fast as we could go (which in fact turned out to be where the mud was so deep each of us got stuck at least once - yes, we have a winch and it works very well). I believe we went over 6 miles down one of the trails and the colors were beautiful. We discovered our ATV doesn't turn on a dime and our Mud Lite tires spew mud at an terrific volume right up your back, helmet, pants, shirts, etc. when you are stuck and attempting to get out. Needless to say, we provided entertainment for all and the next ATV accessory will be mud flaps.

At one point, Robert told me to get off so he could get through a particularly rough and muddy section. Ever the one to follow instructions without arguing, I promptly did, then attempted to cross the creek and proceeded to step into water up to my knees. Of course, when I tried to step out, my boot stayed in the mud and to avoid falling, I stepped back in the water. Luckily it wasn't that cold and we were on our way out when this happened. (More entertainment.)

All in all it was a wonderful afternoon. Unfortunately, the only wildlife we saw were other ATV riders, however, we laughed, had fun, saw more incredible country and everyone returned safely. I can't accurately describe the beauty of our state. I only hope you will experience it someday if you haven't already. Special thanks to our friends who invited us and showed us the places they have been. I look forward to the next time we can get together and check out new trails.

The only downside happened Sunday...when I woke up...I felt like I had been run over. Hanging on for dear life over rough and tumble country for 2 hours works muscles I don't normally have to work that hard sitting at my desk. I am beginning to think Alaska is for a younger generation...

Termination Dust

As the fireweed finishes blooming, swans along with geese stop by Potter's Marsh while migrating south, and the moose gather in the valley for moose events (see yesterday's post), the last, sure sign of impending winter is termination dust. When snow appears on the highest peaks around the Anchorage bowl, people know summer is coming to an end.

While today's generation appear to associate the term with getting snow skis ready to go, historically, the first snow was a sign to seasonal workers their jobs would be terminating soon. Hence the name termination dust.

We got quite a bit of "dust" over the weekend. It is rapidly marching down the mountains. This morning when I checked the temperature, it was 33 degrees. Since it is clear outside and no warm front passed through today, I brought six of our ten hanging baskets of flowers in. The four I didn't get to this evening will just have to buck up and survive until Robert gets home. I'll give them an extra drink of water. Sadly, the plants in the pots we had setting on the porch are in the same boat.

Other happenings...

We took the ATV out Saturday to Bird Creek Trail south of town and had a blast on the trails. We only missed one turn on the way home but saw some beautiful country while retracing our steps. It seems so very easy to get back to where you started from but I was VERY happy to have the GPS with us. I have no doubt we could have gotten back without the GPS...I was just worried we would run out of gas and have to push the ATV. That might have soured me on the whole ATV thing. However, all was well and we are going back out this weekend north of town. Once we get it cleaned up, I will take some pictures in the daylight and post.

Last week, we had another 4+ magnitude earthquake at 3:46pm. Once again, I missed it. I must just concentrate too hard at work. :)

Love is in the Air!

We walked out to Powerline Pass last night and there was a whole covey(?) of moose, both males and females. One male had a HUGE rack making Robert wish he had his gun and it was legal to shoot something in the Chugach State Park. All of the boy moose were pushing, shoving and fighting over the pretty girl moose hanging around on the fringe. It was cold,windy and a little damp.

Enough that there was termination dust this morning on the tallest peaks.

Winter is coming!

Alas - No Moose

It didn't happen. No moose were seen, let alone bulls good for shooting.

However, I mistakenly said “first annual moose hunt”. Robert is ready to go in January. All I have to say to that is BRRR and have fun. Squirt and I will be waiting here in our nice warm home for his successful return.

On a different note – what would you have done with your life if as a 10 year old you found a mammoth tooth on the way home from school as this child did. How many of us would have become archeologists? http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/9292005p-9206491c.html

I think I will start paying more attention to the rocks when hiking….

BTW - we had enough apples in the yard for 1 3/4 gallons of applesauce (which I actually put up), one apple crisp and maybe one pie depending on how many are eaten before I make it.

First Annual(?) Moose Hunt Begins

Squirt and I have been left to our own devices this weekend. I arrived back from from Prudhoe last night in time to help get Robert ready to leave at 10:45pm to meet up with buddies for the first annual moose hunt north of Denali. I recently asked Robert when he last went hunting and he thought it was in about 1992....for birds. I'm really glad he is going with a couple of guys who go a little more regularly.

And by the way....who knew moose hunting could be so expensive??

So far we have invested in an ATV, meat wagon and 14 ft trailer (OK - that isn't just for moose hunting), brand new skinning knife with 3 different blades, range finder, spotting scope, backpack, meat sacks, rifle, rifle case, shotgun case, 3 different hitches, trailer wheel, tie downs, electric bear fence and a water filtration system. I am sure I have left the list short but you get the idea. Like the tomatoes mentioned in earlier blogs, this first moose will be very expensive per pound. I hope he gets one - then we will be set for fish and game for the winter. (I wonder if the freezer is big enough - thank goodness we are sharing!) I just wish I would have had time to take pictures of all of the new toys in the daylight before he took off as they will never be as clean again. However, one of the many great things to come out of this...we had to clean the garage to get the new toys in. :)

Of course, nothing has changed with regards to Robert leaving. Something always happens that would be much easier to deal with if there were two of us. This time, we had a horrible wind storm last night that did a number on all of our hanging baskets and planters. I was out at 4am (in the rain) trying to get them safely tucked away after hearing one of them fall. Unfortunately, the wind whipped around after I went back to bed and sent one of our flower baskets into the street. I found it at 8am this morning (in the rain), tucked it away with all of the other plants in a different spot. I had to leave the house for the morning and upon returning after noon was able to hang them back up (in the rain - looks like a pattern). The baskets are looking pretty bad. And to top it off, the tomato plant fell over just when it was starting to seriously produce. Luckily it didn't look too mangled.

On a brighter note, one year ago today, September 8th, 2006, Robert, Squirt and I pulled in to Anchorage to start our Alaskan adventures. Glancing back over the year of posts, I'd say we had some great times and we look forward to the coming year!

Especially if there is moose chili, moose sausage, moose jerky, mooseroni involved!

User Error??

Somehow, today's post ended up with a date on the blog of Sunday - two days ago. I can't believe it was user error but have nothing else to blame it on.

Regardless - here is the link to The Dichotomy of Bear Bells.

Happy Labor Day!

Enjoy the sun and fun and have a safe day!

The Dichotomy of Bear Bells

We woke up to very thick fog on Sunday – a perfect day to go hiking in the forest. We headed to our old standby hiking trail parking lot about 10:00am. Due to the foggy/misty weather, there weren’t many people around and we expected the wildlife to be a little closer to the trails. Required Squirt attire for the morning must include bear bells.

We started the morning with full intentions of crossing the valley (where many moose hang out and the occasional bear) but ran into another couple talking about a moose on the path a little farther along. Because of the low visibility, higher than expected animal activity and potential moose watching ahead, we decided to stay on the main trail. We thought for sure we the moose would be gone because of the noise Squirt was making and there would be more people on the main path in case we did get in trouble.

Even with the damp weather, it was a very enjoyable morning to be out. Walking along the path all we heard was the tinkle of Squirt’s bells (I wonder how irritating that is to the dog) and all we saw was Squirt’s tummy getting blacker and blacker because of the mud he was kicking up (I didn’t know it was going to be THAT muddy). We did keep a sharp eye out though.

Robert spotted the moose before I did about 30 yards away. She moved off to the East side of the path and the ears were flashing back and forth actually looking a little tense. We slowed down and she charged directly at us. (When moose come at you directly, it is rather intimidating.) We immediately stopped (as did she) and here came two joggers around the bend in the trail. One of them was trying to silence their bell and said there was an agitated momma moose and we said “yep – here she comes!” I think momma heard their bell and saw us on the initial charge.

No time for pictures! We turned around and I quickly removed Squirt’s bear bell heading back from whence we came. Upon the last look back, we saw momma leave the trail and head off into the brush on the other side after following us for a few feet. We walked the other direction for about 30 minutes with no more animal encounters.

Important note to self….bear bells warn bears of impending traffic and anger momma moose into charging. Makes a person question the safety factor in using them.

Threatened Tomatoes

Bright and early Friday morning around 6:45, Squirt and I went outside for the first yard perimeter check of the day. We walked along the back deck to the gate and as I opened the gate, I noticed the grass had been crushed in small areas. I got off of the deck for a closer look - EGAD - there were moose tracks imprinted in the freshly cut grass. You could see them plain as day in certain areas where they stomped a little harder. As my eyes followed the indentions, panic started to set in. A pair of moose walked right by the tomatoes and our plants are now starting to produce!

Normally, I would have grabbed Squirt until I had established there were no moose in the yard or within his line of sight. But this time, thoughts of a stripped stalk standing there were racing through my mind and I hurried around the tree. Whew....all the little green and lightly colored orange balls were still in tact. What a close call.

While I was mentally processing the threat to the tomatoes and establishing they were OK, Squirt was going nuts running around the yard following the tracks the moose left. I am not sure he associates the smells and tracks a with those really big, brown "dogs" we see every now and then but he knows something besides him was in the yard.

I checked out a couple other hanging flower baskets and all appeared to be in the same state we left them the previous night. Even the apples and raspberries successfully avoided eating and tromping by this pair.

BTW - I hope you are duly impressed by the fact I could tell there were two moose in the yard just by the tracks on the grass. It could have been one moose frolicking....

OK - I confess - As I walked back up the steps I heard "Crunch Crunch Crunch". Looking in the back yard 2 houses down, I saw Momma and Baby moose (who isn't so much of a baby anymore) munching on the neighbor's trees. Squirt never saw them but he did scare the moose on down the trail once he started to inform the entire neighborhood he had been a good boy and should get a biscuit. :)

Really Big Vegetables

We went to the Alaska State Fair Friday. It was actually rather warm walking around. Bright and sunny with temps in the 70's. OK - it was perfect weather.

Of course there was the traditional midway with rides and tons of food spots which definitely had a greater slant towards halibut, salmon and other seafood than we normally see in the Oklahoma or Texas fairs. We bought a few snacks and a few odds and ends including a Christmas present, fish batters, a baby present and most importantly, two smoked turkey legs wrapped up for dinner last night. Those were pretty darn good.

One of my favorite things the fair brings is the animals and now, here in Alaska, the vegetables. We watched the little tykes running around after piglets, goats, calves and ducks in the petting zoo. (I forgot to borrow a small child for the afternoon to be able to go in.) There were 3 day old piglets to see, baby chickens hatching, lops to pet, turkeys to stare at and we happened on a girl trying to catch a goat in a pen set up with rocks for the goats to climb on. That was entertaining.

Then we found the BIG VEGETABLE exhibit. They weren't kidding. The pictures below don't do them justice. It would have been better if we could have actually picked these up or at least been able to climb on the exhibit to help provide perspective but hopefully you will get the idea. I have attached local newspaper articles to help if they were available....

Here are the 87 lb cabbages (and yes - there were at least 2)
Here is the world record kale at 105 lbs (link is a video). 10 lb radish with 2 lb potatoes
I had never heard of a Marrow vegetable but was very impressed that it would grow to 82 lbs.

10 lb turnips
13 lb puffball mushroom
2.5 lb carrot

And - while this isn't exactly a vegetable, we wanted our friend Bill to know he could visit and not have any Apple purchasing withdrawals!

Alaska is so Amazing!

Last night was a banner wildlife viewing evening – another first!

My brother flew into town for dinner and opted for a pub crawl. Because it was such a beautiful evening, we started at the Snow Goose sitting on the back deck. The sun was out - the water calm with no wind. Perfection would have been a clear view of Denali. Regardless, it was very relaxing and we enjoyed chatting about the trials and tribulations of our lives.

Next stop was Humpy’s. You can’t do a pub crawl in Anchorage without hitting this spot and eating the standard pub grub fish and chips. I really think this little place has the best halibut chips in town. King Crab cakes were also on the menu which turned out to be pretty tasty. As always, Humpy’s was packed and we soon moved on.

We finished the evening at the Peanut Farm. (Some people might consider this a short pub crawl.) By this time, Monday Night Football was over and the crowd had thinned out. There was plenty of prime seating on the deck where we could watch people fishing and enjoy the weather. As we were waiting for our drinks, I looked over and there was a beaver swimming upstream. I couldn't believe it. Of course where was the camera? Anyone want to guess? Safely tucked away in the car. This beaver leisurely swam up the creek a little way, around the little bend, hopped out of the water and went merrily along the shore. I was so excited. I had not seen a beaver in the wild just meandering along enjoying life before.

We returned to the simple pleasures of the evening… beautiful weather….good food….great Alaska brewed beer….wildlife spotting..could the evening get any better…??

Yes!

Another beaver swam by…well…it either it was another beaver or the first one was training for a biathlon. I assumed this was Ms Beaver and of course I spent the rest of the evening waiting for little baby beavers to go past. They never did. (And no…I didn’t run to the car to get the camera between the 2 beavers…one is so rare I never dreamed we would see two.)

How cool is that?

In other news, we currently have an erupting volcano called Pavlof quite far south of here. There is an orange aviation alert which as far as I can tell means watch out for the ash. It is currently spewing lava but hasn’t been overly explosive. I think the most we in Anchorage can expect is some pretty sunsets if we get ash in the air - and of course if the sun is out.

Rainbow Trout

The Rainbow trout and our guide Pat. Fresh grizzly tracks. Note the 5 toes and claw marks to the right side of the picture.

Fish, Fish and more Fish!

Robert informed me yesteray I have been a little slow blogging lately. Guess what they say is true! In the summer here you go and go and go! Inside work is best left for Winter (which is coming).

Regardless, I think we are now to about 90 lbs of fish in the freezer. That should be just about enough for the next few months (considering before moving here I normally had NO fish in the freezer). The big influx of 50 lbs over the last week is from two fishing trips.

Tuesday, Robert was lucky enough to go on a combo fishing trip (we are making plans for next year) and caught halibut, silver salmon, lingcod and rockfish. That was the 30 lb trip.

The Friday, Robert and I went to Deshka Landing and the the Little Willow Creek and brought back 20 lbs of mostly silver salmon. We did bring back one of the chum salmon (what goes to the lower 48) just to try it.

I also caught a 22 inch wild Rainbow Trout which impressed everyone that had seen a Rainbow in the wild before. We let it go though as you can't keep Rainbow's off the Deshka right now - but we have a picture!

We also saw fresh grizzly bear tracks. Some of them were fresh enough the guide figured we scared them off... They had been eating salmon by the river as they left evidence!

I will post pictures later once Robert reduces their size!

Now all we need is 300lbs of moose meat - and another freezer!

My brother is coming in for dinner tonight. He will be arriving early enough we can go to dinner and celebrate my 20 years with the company and his birthday next week. Tomorrow we are going to do the tourist circuit and go look for moose and maybe some blueberries!

Another Special Sighting

Yesterday at the office, someone noticed a pod of Beluga Whales in the inlet and called me. I was so excited as I had not seen a Beluga yet. Sure enough, there they were, bright, white whales against the blue water. The moved in very close to Ship Creek where there were several fisherman looking for those salmon. The Cook Inlet Beluga is close to being listed on the Endangered Species List especially since they can't figure out why they are disappearing. I am thankful I got to see them.

On a differen note, the summer harvest continues.Our yard is a plethora of goodies! We have picked and frozen 5 gallons of raspberries with lots more to come.

We had 6 more cherry tomatoes the other night. While the cost is now at about $10/ea, they are very tasty!

We have about ½ gallon of rhubarb in the freezer ready to put in a crisp.

The apples are turning. I would guess there is about a bushel total but they are small. It will take a lot of apples to make a pie but it will be doable.

Of course the chives are used almost daily.

I made pesto out of some cilantro we have growing outside. Fresh parsley went into the fettuccini the other night.

We are going to go look for blueberries this today and I think Robert has visions of 5 gallons of those.

Sadly, winter is coming. We are down to 16 hours and 13 minutes of sun now and loosing over 5 minutes a day. I was up and outside with Squirt before sunrise yesterdayand this morning it was only 47 degrees....a little nip of fall in the air.

All indications are we will be skiing in a few short months!

Good Friends and Great Times

One of our best friends from Oklahoma came to visit this week. She stopped off with a few fellow cruise-mates for a couple of days. We did a lot of the normal tourist things but the best best part was seeing someone from home.

Thanks for coming by! We really enjoyed seeing you!

Chugach Bear Sighting

It was so pretty Sunday night, we opted to go look for moose in the Chugach Park at Power Line Pass. We expected lots of people to be there (expectations met) and decided Squirt could safely go with us without his bear bell due to the noise everyone else makes.

Sure enough, we arrived at the parking lot and it was packed. Several cars parked along the road outside of the lot – ever the challenge to get in to and out of the lot without the need to back up on a curvy mountain road.

As we start off to our normal path, a group of 5 million tourists head down the path just in front of us. Pondering our choices, we opted to explore a path we hadn’t been on before. Excellent choice! It is a much nicer path to walk on, not as heavily used plus it comes out at exactly the same place the “usual” one does. The sun was in the Northwest and there were heavy dark clouds over the mountains. By the time we reached the overlook to the valley, we actually heard thunder. Somewhere back there, it was raining hard.

However, there were no moose to be found. It must have been too hot (70 degrees) for them to be up and moving. We waited and watched for about 10 minutes (way past Squirt’s attention span) and decided to head back to the car.

One last glance …

wait…

what is that…

Do you see that black spot over there? Was that there before? Is it a bush or an animal?

It’s moving…

Very rapidly…

Wow – A bear! (no wonder the moose aren’t out)

Black or brown?

COOL – A GRIZZLY!

And then it was gone in the bushes. (I need a better zoom lens on the camera!!!)

We watched a little longer to see if the bear comes out on the path the people were on but he was not to be seen by us again.

Once again we turned to go

And that’s when the lone bull moose stepped out from behind the bushes in the valley.

All and all a great Sunday evening!

Summer Harvest Starts

We have heard for years about the phenomenal vegetables grown here in Alaska due to the many hours of daylight in the summer. The season is short, but we get 20 hours of growing light during the season. So far that has been true of the Rhubarb. I don’t know how many stalks we have cut off of our one plant but it keeps coming.

The apples are looking good – well on their way to edible.

We have the biggest clover I have ever seen in my life. The stalks are about the size of a green onion stem. I filled two trash bags with clover today.

We have chives daily from the garden.

I picked the first quart of raspberries today. I picked two of them the other night as a test which Robert promptly ate calling them good. (Wonder if they make a raspberry picker??)

Apparently though, tomatoes prefer SUNSHINE over just plain daylight. We have spent a fortune between purchasing plants, watering, fertilizing and they are just LOADED with little green tomatoes. They have been for weeks and continue to put them on.

Finally - today – we picked our first two little guys. Here are our $80 tomatoes. Aren't they gorgeous?


Of course to put the size in perspective.


They were very tasty!

Fishing with Whales - Guess Who Wins

Talk about losing a fish ....

Beware - this has pretty raw language on it. Children should turn off the volume.

http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/109080

North - To the Slope!

Each summer, our company provides a fantastic opportunity for employees or guests of employees to tour the North Slope Oil Field and view/touch/swim in the Arctic Ocean. Because of the large number of employees and contractors doing work for us on the slope, we share Boeing 737's with another company making several flights a day. Yesterday, one of these flights was dedicated to a slope tour and Robert and I were lucky enough to get a spot on it.

Our pilots took us between Denali and Foraker mountains for some incredible viewing.



Here is a Reindeer near some of the pipelines. Unfortunately, we couldn't get off of the bus for pictures (we aren't supposed to bother wildlife on the slope) and my pictures of the four Reindeer with big racks under the pipelines didn't turn out. The big white bubble in the background is the US Defense Early Warning System.

Here's the Arctic Ocean. We had two people join the Polar Bear Club yesterday. Neither one of them were Robert or myself. Although, we did get our hands wet. Robert - step back just a couple more steps for a great picture... :) I actually have this same view from January - but you can't tell as it was dark when I took it!

It's July. Where's my long underewear?

As foretold by several "natives", once summer arrives you tend to go - go - go. Get as much done as possible. We have found that to be the case and have been VERY busy from touring, to going to summer parties, remodeling and just working around the house. Daylight (all 20 hours of it) is wasting and we need to do stuff!!!

One thing that continues to amaze me is clothing requirements. It is summer. I used to live in Houston. I have lots of summer clothes. When does it get warm enough to wear them here??? Actually, I am ok with 50-60 degrees for the temperature - we just need some more sun to really get the summer duds out.

Dress in layers is the mantra for dressing in Alaska. On several recent outings (gold panning, fishing, bay cruising) I have worn at minimum, 3 layers. Who knew long underwear would be an integral part of my summer attire. When hiking or biking on cloudy, cool days, I am normally in two layers. I just have to make sure that bottom layer is acceptable for street clothing should I need to shed something.

I remember thinking when purchasing all of my winter clothing that I would only use them half of the year. Boy was I wrong. I am pretty sure the only winter items I purchased that I haven't worn this summer have been my ski bibs and ski gloves (I have been tempted), snow boots and heavy, heavy winter coat. (I still wear my light winter coat daily.)

At least I can look back and say those shopping trips and $$ weren't wasted. :)

Welcome to our world Ella!

A good friend of ours had her baby Thursday night. A beautiful little girl named Ella.

Congratulations you guys!

May you'll have a couple more. :)

Our first black bear sighting

Wednesday evening, we were giving a tour to a family we know from work in search of moose. We had stopped by Ship Creek to watch salmon fishing and saw a couple of really big fish but didn't stay long as this wasn't the primary goal. Off to Glen Alps and Powerline Pass - the Old Faithful for moose sightings.

Driving into the parking lot where we were going to hike, our 5-year old guest spotted the "watch out for bears" sign and it took us a little time to convince him that he wouldn't be eaten by a bear while were walking around. But once we got him sidetracked, we were off and did see some beautiful bull moose. (They are gathering for the yearly rut. Stay tuned for more on this topic.)

We hiked around Glen Alps until about 9:30 and then headed back to town. About 1/4 mile from the parking lot, we see a moose cow right by the side of the road. GREAT picture opportunity (of course my camera was in the backpack in the back of the car and I couldn't get to it).

Moving forward about 1/2 mile, there are three cars stopped blocking the road. Of course, one of the best ways to spot wildlife when driving on Alaska roads is to see where all of the other cars have stopped. This time was no different. We pull up (blocking more of the road), look in the same direction everyone else is looking and...

Yes - it finally happened....after a year of living here for Robert and 10 months for me....

We saw a black bear by the side of the road eating/playing in a bunch of flowers. He looked like a big cuddly toy and I believe the bees were buzzing his head as he kept shaking it and kind of rolling it back and forth. We aren't sure how big he was as he never stood up but I think he was fairly young. Our friends got some great video - our camera was still in the back of the car.

As we were sitting there watching the little one play, I was thinking of the irony of how much we had to work to convince our smaller guest that we wouldn't see a bear where we went hiking. I hope he didn't think of the irony. I am just glad we were in the car for this sighting!

Fish Pictures

Some of the fish our boat caught. My fish :)

First Fish and Biggest Fish goes to Janet!

Yes! Due to my extraordinary fishing skills both first and biggest halibut went to me on our Halibut charter yesterday. (OK - OK - it was luck but it's fun to think differently. :) ) I caught a 44 inch long halibut. Don't think that isn't heavy coming off the bottom. According to the Halibut weight table, it should have been about 40 lbs and about 30 lbs of dressed fillets.

We have some very good friends that invited us to go with them on a halibut trip. They did a bang up job of planning and scheduling and Robert and I really appreciate the time and effort they put into the pre-planning. We had a blast.

We had a few rain drops but all in all, it the weather turned out perfectly and the seas were pretty darn calm compared to other times we have been in the Bay of Alaska. We were on a 50ft boat (the Nauti Lady) and left the Homer dock about 7:00am. Forty miles later we started fishing.

One the way out we saw a couple of schools (?) of whales and lots of sea otters including one with a pup on her belly. In fact, at the first fishing hole, we had whales blowing just off of the boat. (Whales seem to come out more when you haven't paid to specifically look for them.) It was a tough decision - fish or watch whales - but I maintained focus and fished.

The initial spot was about 110 feet deep. Then we moved to 300ft deep and then to a 275 ft deep spot. This is important information to know as halibut are bottom feeders. It takes a long time to real up 300 feet of line. My arms are tired. The line is actually braided and looks like a miniature rope. I don't know what it tests at but it was bigger line than I have ever used when large mouth bass fishing. Our bait was octopus and herring (I think). Our charter company was Bob's Trophy Charters and they did a fantastic job. I would go with them again in a heartbeat. Incredibly enough, one of our deckhands grew up only 28 miles from where I did albeit a few years later. Wasn't long before we were talking about similar experiences and old stomping ground!

There were 12 of us fishing on the boat with 8 in our group. Each person has a 2 halibut limit and all of us limited out by the end of the day. They cleaned and filleted the fish right on the boat and we carried our meat to the car in trash bags. I don't know how much meat it is (we haven't weighed it yet) but I am pretty sure it is between 40 and 50 pounds. By the way, the seagulls know what's going on with the fish carcuses. They followed the boat and every time one went off the back end, they landed and dined. We even had an eagle following the seagulls. The food chain in action.

Last night after we got home, Robert and I cleaned it, cut it up and stuck it in the freezer. Today we will invest in a vacuum sealer and get it finished.

While you have to take my word at both first fish and biggest fish, we do have a picture of the fish. It is still on the camera though so you will have to check back later!

Wildlife Everywhere!

You never know what you will see in town!

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/bears/story/9102499p-9017859c.html

They have been trying to trap her with dog food but she apears to be a picky eater and wouldn't fall for it.

Sadly, they shot her today as she went into a local neighborhood and scared the residents...

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/story/9107797p-9024089c.html

More Vacation Pictures!

Baby Elk Papa Reindeer

Eddie the huge Elk. He likes to be scratched between the antler and ears.
Musk Ox
Squirt posing in one of our flower beds helping to use film up.
White water rafting at Lion's head.

Reindeer farm action! Bruce the tame moose that wouldn't come close to let us scratch him.
Feeding humpback whale.
Eagles at Seward watching Robert at the bottom of the pole. (Robert is knocking on the pole.)
More reindeer farm action!

Special thanks to my niece and nephew for allowing me to share some of their pictures also!

Happy July 4th

Have a wonderful holiday!

Pictures of last weeks vacation coming soon!

Alaskan Tour Guide Days Slowing Down

We had a fantastic week as tour guides for our niece and great nephew. Sadly they have left us and are almost home.

The first couple of days were a tad wet. We panned for gold on Sunday and spent part of Monday driving in rain to the white water rafting location. Prior to getting to the rafting spot, we stopped off at the Reindeer Farm. What a fantastic morning. We were able to go right in the fields with reindeer and hand fed them. There was Bruce the pet moose and a tame sitka deer. Dolly the moody buffalo (she wasn't interested in attention) but Eddy the bull Elk was more than willing to be scratched between his ear and antler.

During the trip north to Chikaloon it cleared off and turned sunny. Thank goodness for dry suits because the water was a crisp 34 degrees. Devin is ready to do class 5 rapids now!!! Our guide was great and the Lion's Head rapids fast and deep. A good time was had by all.

The weather behaved the rest of the week- even into shorts by Thursday. We got good shots of the animals at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center as the keepers had tossed all of the fresh branches right by the fence. Unfortunately, it was too hot for the black bears and they were in their house not wanting to play.

Sadly as we neared Seward, we came upon a wreck involving a motor home in which two people died in the crash and 3 others were taken to the hospital. It breaks my heart to think of someone's vacation ending like this.

The wreck blocked the road (south of our hotel) into Seward for the rest of the evening. Since it was still light (wait - maybe I should say early since the sun doesn't set until 11pm or so) we took the opportunity to go to Cooper Landing and decided to hike to the Russian River Falls to view the salmon jumping upstream. The hike was actually 6 miles though swarms of bug spray loving mosquitoes and we were ready for dinner when it was over!

Of course the Alaska Sealife Center was interesting as always but the day cruise was exceptional. There was a humpback whale lunging out of the water for food. At another spot there was a humpback momma and baby, Orcas (with a baby), sea lions, sea otters, puffins, murres, currants, eagles (chasing seagulls for lunch), seals and to cap it off, we saw Aialik Glacier calving in to the water (this is where Robert filled up the DVD with movies and I ran out of room on the still camera memory stick). They sound just like a good midwestern thunderstorm. It was amazing.

Before heading back north from Seward, we stopped by Bear Creek Weir to watch the salmon pile up in the stream waiting for their turn to jump up into the weir to be counted. (This is where the DVD batteries went dead. It takes a lot of juice to catch jumping salmon on film.) We also hiked to the Exit Glacier. (This 2 mile hike, while having many mosquitoes, wasn't near as grueling as the Russian River Trail.) Exit Glacier is a valley glacier which is much quieter than a tidewater glacier. We couldn't get close enough to touch ice but came within 20 feet of it for some great "man compared to glacier" shots.

As our trip was winding down, Robert and I took them to the Zoo and pointed out all of the cages we had been in working last week. (Lyu the Polar Bear performed nicely.) We sprinkled in some shopping here and there, a couple of Ship Creek runs to watch the fishermen and a tram ride to the top of Alyeska. We even managed to catch a clear view of Denali and Foraker.

But of course - as to be expected - the plane leaves in 8 hours and what have we not seen yet???

A moose. Our nephew was pretty sure there are no moose in the wild - only in zoos and they always lay down. This called for another hike! We went to the Glen Alps lot and hiked to Powerline Pass (a nice easy stroll) and there they were. All kinds of moose - from big bulls to frolicking yearlings irritating their mothers. (I am so glad we proved we do have moose in the wild that stand up.)

All in all I think we had a wonderful week. When they got on the plane, they were pretty darn tired but hopefully have some fantastic memories of what we call home.

Pics from last week's vacation

This guy had just eaten a hot dog. Bun included. I remember coming here to the North Pole in 1968 or so. Santa has diversified


One of the glaciers between Anchorage and Seward.

Moose by the side of the road.

Check out that rack on Daddy!

Special thanks to my sister for allowing me to share some of her pictures. They are the ones with out the date on them. Well done photographer!