Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

There is a moose on the loose And he's in my front yard  He's eating my branches, The big tub of lard  He's come down from the mountains Searching for food Eating twigs, leaves and bushes  It's really quite rude All summer long I take care of my plants I keep out the dogs, with loud, vile rants  Now that it's winter, and there's lots of snow The moose leave the mountains, they know where to go Let's head down to Tom's place, we'll have us a feast So they come to my yard, the great hairy beasts They feed on the willows, they break off the trees With no one to stop them, they do as they please  I don't really begrudge them,  a small branch or two If I were a moose, I know what I'd do  I'd head into town, where the snow isn't too deep I'd eat some dry branches and then go to sleep Here in Alaska, we've learned how to share  With all the wild animals, deer, moose and bear Mutual respect, we must endeavor to pay And so every mornin...

 Those who know me know that winter isn't my favorite time of year. Cold air, snow, slush, frozen ground, frozen pipes, frozen hands, frozen equipment- not a big fan. I'm watching my friends' dog again while they're in sunny Mexico. Don't think I'd care to be there either- drug cartels, shootings, bad water. I pretty much manage to find something wrong with everywhere. Anyway, dogs need to be taken outside, for their sanity and yours, so I was taking my canine charge down to the park yesterday for a walk. We were having a good enough time; or at least he was. I'm not too interested in sniffing the deposits of my friends and colleagues, but he was in seventh heaven. As it was, another person showed up with their dog, and since Rabano doesn't get along well with any other dogs, and only a few people as far as I can tell, we took a hike down near the harbor. I was already having some difficulty walking since I woke up with an ...

    Those of you who know me, know that I'm not a big fan of cold weather. Can't say I really like it too hot either, but when it's warm you don't have to shovel snow, or let your vehicle warm up or turn on the heat in your home. Cold weather brings with it a variety of extra problems, frozen pipes, condensation in your fuel tanks, hypothermia, snow covered roads, the list goes on and on. Right now Alaska is in the middle of a pretty good deep freeze. Especially further north. One of my grandsons is living in Fairbanks and according to the local news channel, they can expect from minus thirty to minus fifty degrees over the next few days. No thanks. It's been in the teens here, and that's plenty cold enough for me. With all the troubles that winter can bring, there is also an uncommon amount of beauty, as seen in the above pictures. What is fascinating to me is that all the snow that is depicted here, is made up of individual snow crystals, a...

Hoonah Cold Storage Dock The Alaskan Bush People boat - Integrity Elephant Mountain Frozen Mud Flats at the Airport Airport Stream     After weeks of hiding behind both rain and snow clouds, the sun finally decided to make an appearance yesterday. As often happens in Southeast Alaska, the burst of sunshine immediately lifts one's spirits. I was like a new born bunny yesterday when I saw the sun, ready to go out and prance around the woods. Unfortunately, although the sun was indeed out, the heat was missing, so any prancing on the frozen ground would have rendered me with a twisted back or knee. I opted to go take a few pictures instead. Around here, especially at this time of year, when the sun comes out, you want to capture it on film, just in case you don't see it again for another extended period of time and you start to believe that you  had perhaps ima...

It's November 2, and although it's election day, and that in itself is pretty scary given the condition of the country, I'm not referring to the political landscape; I'm speaking about the changes happening in the natural one. Winter is on the way and as much as I might like to deny it, I can't avoid it. As you can see the snow on Ears is much lower than it was just several days ago. Most of the plants in the garden have died or are in the process of dying, with the exception of the Rhododendron and the Dusty Miller. It poured buckets last night and most of today and when I took the dog out a little bit ago to do his thing I darn near froze. Of course he doesn't care about how I feel, he's too busy smelling pee and other gifts that the neighborhood dogs have left, to worry about me- the selfish little brat. Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield, I don't get no respect. Soon I'll be forced to go out and shovel little paths in the snow so the dog wo...