Carcasses

I couldn't sleep last night. It was about 1:00 AM when Tim began stirring around in his sleep. Then he started talking.

"I forgot to tell you...earlier...outside there were carcasses all around" he told me.
"Carcasses?" I asked "where, around the house?"
"Yes, around the house"
"What kind of carcasses, human carcasses?" I asked him in a quiet voice so as not to actually wake him up.
He ignored me. I tried again.
"Squirrel carcasses?"
He answered in his most snotty voice-the one he reserves for really, really, stupid questions.
"Noooo... NOT squirrel carcasses. Bigger!"
"Moose carcasses?"
"No!" he snapped irritably.
"Bear carcasses?"
"Maybe...I don't know...I've never seen one" he answered, sounding exasperated.
Then he rolled over and sunk back into non-dream land, ignoring my continued attempts to entice him into conversation.

The next day we laughed about it as Tim tried to figure out where the night conversation came from. "Carcasses" he said "I don't even use that term!"

We finally figured out that it was probably brought on by a recent conversation we had about getting on Alaska's road kill list to fill our freezer with an unlucky moose. It will be a year before Tim can hunt legally as a resident.

Bear Tracks

I am glad all I ran into was these grizzly bear tracks and not the bear itself!

The grizzly bear (or is this one the Yeti?) wanders around looking for bull moose that are too exhausted from you-know-what to move. I'm serious, the big bulls actually get so tired they become bear bait!



For a bit of perspective, here is my hand in the bear tracks.

Chinook Winds and Winters Arrival

After a week of early season snows, we woke up early Friday to howling hurricane force winds-called Chinook Winds-with some blasts up to 100 MPH. As I lay in bed looking through the skylight, I could see the tree next to the deck bending over and scraping the roof above me. Then light flashes, finally one quite close as the transformer closest to the house blew. Tim went outside to check things out while I filled water containers before the pipes drained. He came back in to tell me of the power lines strewn all over our yard, draped over bushes, and blocking the driveway. Metal roofing lay scattered everywhere and tangled up in the lines. Further down, there was several trees over the line, and at the end of the street the power pole had blown completely over. Soon, we could hear the sound of chainsaws as people began cutting through the downed trees in their driveways, so they could get to work. Yes, in Alaska people pretty much go to school and work no matter what-three feet of snow, hurricane force winds, and trees across the driveway are no excuse here! As the winds died down and the temperature rose to 40 degrees, about 20,000 people were without power, and several people without roofs. It was absolute mayhem, but Alaskans know how to deal with mayhem pretty well. Around 7:00 PM after about 13 hours without power, some men showed up in our driveway. "We aren't leaving until you have power" one told me, and sure enough they where there until the lights came on about 1:00 AM. Saturday morning poor Tim was out chainsawing more trees, a job he thought he left behind with fall. We went to bed Saturday night to pouring rain and woke up this morning to a return of a white winter wonderland and the warm Chinook Winds evident only in the debris and trees scattered everywhere.

Moose Rut

Every year about now the moose gather together and go through the mating rituals that we call The Moose Rut. The large bulls will gather up all nearby cows and chase off the younger smaller bulls, or perhaps allow them to hang around as long as they stay away from the favored females. Up by Glenn Alps is a great area for watching the antics of the bulls, who will often let humans get fairly close to them. Here is some of my favorite moose photos from this season.



This bull was photographed in late Sept. Here I am behind a tree and he is walking straight towards me. I was eventually forced to retreat.



This bull I saw today, surrounded by about nine females laying scattered throughout the bushes in the near vicinity. There was a couple smaller bulls near by as well. With his 50 inch rack he is the dominant male.



Here he is from a different angle.

Fall Colors

Fall has come and gone, with the temperatures now hovering as low as 24 degrees and snow on the mountains. It has been beautiful and sunny, but next time the clouds roll in I am sure that we will have snow in the city, too. These photos where taken about two weeks ago hiking up Little O'Malley. I will post some current photos of the moose rut, and some comments on this very entertaining election season that has made Alaska famous soon.