Outsmarted By Moose

I know moose get a lot of bad press for being rather unintelligent animals. Even though they are the largest member of the deer family, they are thought of as closer to a cow. Lets face it, they just walk around and chew on leaves and grass, and look at you as if they are trying to tolerate you. Pretty cow-like, you have to admit. Well, now I am starting to think that they are much more devious than they appear. The local moose love my trees. I have two crab apple trees, one in the front yard and one in the back. The last few winters, the moose have come and visited me throughout the chilly days, delicately eating the leaves. Well, Hannah and her son Morris are delicate. Bob pretty much clamps down on the the branch near the trunk, slides his mouth down the branch to remove all the leaves at once, and then chomps away on them. I normally sit on my porch and take pictures of them. They have tolerated this pretty well throughout the years. Apparently they have reached their photographic limits. Now they are sneaking into the yard between 10 pm and 5 am to eat. I know this because there are tracks in the yard, but I never seem to see the moose. Sneaky little devils. I have hopes of catching them in the act soon. Until then, here are some pictures from last winter. Handsome Bob, Gorgeous Hannah, and hunky little Morris. They are a good looking group, even if they are camera shy.
Oh, wait! I forgot to mention that the high today is 1! Whoohoo! Spring is on the way! Warm weather! (Kind of pathetic, I know, but it's the little things in life that make you really happy!)

STILL Thinking Warmer Thoughts

It's still too cold to get out and do more than you need to ( it's currently -26). I know the people who have lived here forever laugh at us "newbies", but Florida weather has softened me up too much to enjoy temps THIS cold. Jess and I were laughing this morning, because when the weatherman said that we were going to reach the 20's by the weekend, we were excited about the "heat wave". It's all about perspective. Anyway, here are some more warm weather pictures for your viewing enjoyment. These were taken during our cruise out of Seward to Kenai Fjords National Park last summer. If you are interested in see more, I posted some earlier on this site.

These are nesting Puffins.

The Stellar Sea Lions were amazing, too. They are so much bigger than they appear in pictures. And louder. Most of them were enjoying a mid day nap, but boys will be boys, and they love to fight it out.

I am still amazed by how close this pod of killer whales got to us. This one was playing right beside the boat. It was fantastic. I never expected to see wild creatures this close. They played around the boat for at least half an hour.

Another Summer of the Bear

It's still frozen outside, and I don't feel the need to get out there and take pictures this morning (it's -24!), so I thought I'd share some more summer pictures. Warm thought, warm thoughts, warm thoughts........ These are some of my favorite pics, and ironically, I did not take them. Russ did. Interesting story behind how that happened. Crazy wife, protective husband, etc. We had gone to the Zoo two summers ago and were on our way home. We were coming up the hill into our subdivision on base, when we saw something black run across the road in front of us. I was so surprised, that I only got one picture of the bear running into the woods on our right. It was far off and a little bit blurry, so of course, I had to have a better pic. I believe my exact words were "PULL OVER QUICK SO I CAN GET SOME PICTURES! TURN RIGHT ON THE FIRST STREET!" I think Russ said something to the effect of "ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU ARE NOT CHASING A BLACK BEAR INTO THE WOODS JUST TO GET A PICTURE!" After some fast negotiating, Russ said he would take a picture for me. You have no idea how hard this was for me. I do not hand over the camera easily. The kids and I sat in the truck and he walked behind the house to get my picture. We couldn't see where he went, and he was gone a rather long time. I was ready to open the door and go search for him when not one, but two black bear came out from behind the houses. I was more than a little concerned at this point. Still no hubby. After checking things out, the bear headed back into the woods, and the hubby returned from behind the houses. Apparently, when Russ went around the building to check for the bear, he saw nothing but woods. He was standing very still, and suddenly a black face appeared in the brush, watching him in return. It was sniffing the air, and came out of the woods toward him. Russ slowly backed up to the houses, ready to escape if needed, when another black shape emerged from the bushes. These were the siblings that our family refers to as Burt and Ernie. I have no idea if they are boys or girls. (Do you really want to get close enough to check??) They are very curious bears.

Russ watched them for quite a while as they checked out the jogging trail and some of the back patios in the area.

I always knew that exercise could be hazardous!

Occasionally, the bears got nervous and retreated back into the woods, only to cautiously come back out again.

Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of summers past in Alaska. It won't be long now. Think warm thoughts, warm thoughts, warm thoughts...

Thinking Warmer Thoughts

As I ran around my errands this morning at -14 degree temps, I tried to remember what summer felt like. I admit, it was a stretch. I enjoy the winters up here... most of the time. Really...I do. Lately though, the cold has been a little TOO cold and I feel the need for a break. Lets just take a moment to remember the sunshine and warmth of our Alaskan summers...

OK, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little better. They tell me that next week it will reach the 20's again and we'll get some more snow. I can't wait! It's practically Spring!

Cold But Clean

It's a little hard to make it out, but the temp on the dash of Russ' truck reads -20 degrees. What does one do at -20 degrees at night on the weekend? Why... wash the truck, of course. Because there is one thing that we all know...a clean truck is a happy truck. Back in Florida, washing the vehicles meant putting on your shorts, cranking up the music, and getting a bucket of warm soapy suds out in the driveway. That is not the case up here. You have to find a nice heated car wash. This one was a little dark, but nice and toasty warm. I'm sure the Tundra appreciated it. (It doesn't get to hang out in the garage like my van.) Why is the bed still full of snow? Russ tells me he doesn't get rid of it because it is added weight, but I secretly think it's because he wants to see how thick it will get by the end of the winter.

After the Tundra was nice and sparkly, we headed for home... but stopped by the base Christmas trees on the way to check them out.
This is Ft. Rich's Christmas tree. Very nicely done in blues and whites.
Not to be outdone, Elmendorf's tree is decorated in multicolored lights with gifts underneath. (Notice our star's bigger than their star? I'm just saying...)This is the temp this afternoon. This is a little gauge that we have on the kitchen counter. It says the outside temp is -16. (Yes, the clock on it is wrong, and it is not am.)

Everything outside looks like it was dipped in white powder. It's very pretty. When the sun hits it just right, everything sparkles.

Even the icicles have frost on them.

Needless to say, we are hanging out inside today, and the kids are having a lovely time on the Wii. That has been the best Christmas gift we've probably ever gotten. All four of us have been playing tennis and bowling. Now if I can just order that tanning bed, my life will be complete...

Happy Friday!

It's a lovely Friday in Alaska. How's the weather, you ask? Cold, cold, and oh yeah...COLD! We had hoped to go tubing or sledding, but I admit that I'm too much of a wimp, so it will have to wait another couple of days. We are hoping for snow, because then it normally warms up into the mid to high 20's. Warms up to the 20's? You bet! That's a heat wave compared to what it is right now. It was -14 when I went to the Commissary today. My Mom asked why on earth I went out when it was so cold. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to eat in the house, so it was either get out and buy groceries, or try to keep the family from gnawing off my leg. Groceries won. (I was afraid I would fall asleep and they would get me!)

Happy New Year!

And what a glorious New Year it is! We had an awesome New Years Eve! I hope you did, too! Early in the evening, I went out on the back porch and took a few pics of the moon and Venus.

Venus doesn't appear to be much more than a little star in the bottom right of this picture, but objects are much larger than they appear. :0) It showed up much better the night before, but I didn't get a decent picture then. Oh, well. Those are the breaks. We decided to have a wild and crazy night for New Years Eve, so the hubby and I grabbed the kids and headed on down to the local Applebee's for dinner. It doesn't get much more exciting than that. For some reason, I can't step into an Applebee's now without thinking of that scene in Talladega Nights. Anyone else have that problem, or is it just me?

Then it was on to our traditional New Years Eve entertainment...the Alaska Aces Hockey Game! They always play a home game on New Years Eve, so we like to go and cheer them on. We've done it 3 out of our 4 years in Alaska. It was a great game, and very exciting. We always seem to run into friends at the game, too, so that adds to the fun.

I have to admit, I was a little worried for a while there. Stockton had us at 2 to 0 for a while, but then the Aces got in their groove. They tied the score (2-2) by the end of the game.

Check out our Zambonies. Brandon loves the blue one. It looks like you could drag race on it.

The game went into "Sudden Death Overtime". They set the clock for 5 minutes and let them loose. It was a tough fight, but the Aces scored again and the crowd went wild. It was a great end to a great game!

We made it home around 10 pm, so the fun was just beginning. We got a Wii for Christmas, and the kids have been hooked. (OK, we've all been hooked.) They started playing Star Wars:Clone Wars and zoned out for about an hour. Then we played some of the sports games to get our blood circulating again. That's always a lot of fun.

In case you were wondering, the cats had to get in on the action. Poor Ashley was trying to enjoy her family time by taking a nap in front of the TV. Tink wouldn't let her relax. She jumped up on the ottoman beside her and tapped Ashley over and over again with her paw. You can just imagine the conversation. "She keeps touching me!" "Am not!" Ashley refused to give up her warm spot, and eventually, Tink gave up and found her own nap site. Kids! Anyway, Have a super and very Happy New Year, from our family to yours!