#alaska things

I should note, half these kids ain't white. I'm not even paid for this.

But still, it is fun getting to live in the only US city to experience the complete polar night.

Just got back from banding snow geese and Black Brant on the Colville River delta in Alaska! What a wild trip.

So I live in Alaska. And, you know, it's Alaska and nature is kinda close which is kinda why I love it here. So, yeah. Anywho, there's a few scattered wolf packs around. In past years, there's been a pack that ranges out towards the middle of Chena Hot Springs Road to the west of town, and a pack that ranges around the far side of Murphy Dome to the north east of town. I'm kinda getting the impression that the pack on the far side of Murphy Dome might have finally split, with the youngsters getting pushed out. Where I live (on the south side of O'Connor Creek's basin) we've been hearing more howling than usual for the past week. The sled dogs have been more agitated. OLAF's even been more likely to bolt upright barking and growling in the night, and more clingy when he cuddles. Also, the two family groups of Moose (Mom, This year's calf, and maybe last year's calf) that were chilling in the area have been spooked and moved along. I was seeing them almost everyday, and now I'm not. Then this morning a Fox based musher (west side of O'Connor creek basin) found himself and his team running in the middle of a pack of six or seven young ones this morning. They were as surprised as he and his team were, and no one was hurt. So, yeah. On the one hand, it's super cool having our wild neighbors come in close. Wolves (particularly young ones) rarely go after people. On the other, it's a bit scary. While a solitary wolf will sometimes play with dogs, like Romeo the romanticized and friendly wolf of Juneau did, a pack of wolves meeting a solitary dog (like my boy) are WAY more likely to view the dog as an interloper in their territory, and that's not healthy for the dog. In fact, a dog was killed of O'Connor creek trail (which starts in my neighborhood) in the past couple days, either by a pack of loose dogs OR (more likely) a wolf pack. Olaf'll be fine. He stays in with me and I'll be even more paranoid about his leash until the pack moves north. But, yeah, complacency is not a thing to develop. I'm sad for that dog's owners, and I'm a little apprehensive, but... ...there's still a part of me that has a huge amount of awe and respect for the fact that I'm living in a place where Moose sleep and wolves prowl.

A very pregnant moose grazing on baby ferns in Homer Alaska. Photo taken on mothers day. <3

I’m glad i found a goldstream cabin and not a chena one. At least all my neighborhood corvids do is aid and abet toiletpaper stealing squirrels and steal dog food from the mushers. 

I am so happy I have great neighbors who stopped by. I would have no idea what to do. I cried a few times being alone without my husband to deal with this shit because it seems like it shouldn’t ALL fall on me ALL the time.