Happy New Year

I've been on vacation since December 21st. I carefully saved just enough vacation hours to cover the work days of Christmas week and I thought for today. But a last minute count showed me 2 hours short. I was going to drop by this afternoon for 2 hours but it turns out my girlfriend Kate was short a whole day. So we are working today and then back to holiday and vacation until January 7, 2008. There is only 1 other person at work today on my floor. He's probably being as productive as I am. Tonight we'll probably celebrate New Years by making a nice dinner and watching a DVD. I try to stay off the roads on what are traditionally, Drinking Holidays.

Seems Only Fair

I'm sure I have it somewhere, but I could not find the picture of my daughter on the horse. I did have a picture of her with a new bike.

Damn Global Warming

The temperature dropped to -10 on Tuesday night at TrippingOverMoose Ranch. This morning it was a balmy -14 when I went out to start the car. In the past these cold snaps have produced -20 to -30 degree temperatures. So if this heat wave is a result of Global warming I'm going to help by letting the car warm up an extra 10 minutes each day.

Alaska State Fair Around 1982

I was cleaning up my office, here at work and came across a CD of personal photos. I found this one while I was checking them out. The adorable little boy on the horse would be my son.

Ravens

On our daily lunchtime walk, Kate and I walk down an alley between parking lots in downtown Anchorage. Today as we approached the parking lot at the Architecture firm where my former daughter-in-law used to work, (whew,) we saw a silver pickup filled with ravens. Ok, there were 8 ravens on the roof and in the bed of the pickup. I said, "I'm betting on dogfood." Sure enough when I walked up to the truck the ravens, complaining loudly, decamped to the edge of the nearest roof. When I looked into the back of the truck I saw a previously unopened 40 pound bag of Pedigree dogfood. Unopened until the ravens spotted it. They had pecked open a large hole and were happily gorging themselves until we interrrupted. As soon as we walked away they swooped back down to lunch. On the walk back to the office 4 or 5 more ravens passed overhead flying down the alley to the gathering. I know the owner of the dogfood won't be happy but I've always liked the smart feathered thieves.

Hunting Pictures and Stories

Dana asked if there were going to be hunting stories on my blog. Of course there are. I thought I'd start with the biggest moose I have killed. He is also the last moose I shot, four years ago. Our preferred method of moose hunting is "spot and stalk." Sometimes we spend days, one year 8 days in a row, just sitting looking through spotting scopes from sunup to sundown, trying to find a legal bull. Where we hunt a legal bull must have a rack 50" wide, or three brow tines on one side or have a simple spike or fork on one side. The moose tend to get up and feed at day break, midday and evening. The best time to catch them is at midday because then you have all afternoon to stalk them. I spotted my moose when he stood up at lunchtime and walked from behind one hummock to lay down behind another 50 feet away. He was only in the open for a short minute but I just happened to be looking his way. I was pretty sure he was at least 50". He was way above timberline, across the river and at least a mile away. Two and a half hours later we slowly closed in on where we had last seen him. My hunting partner and I were standing on a small rise looking into the shallow gully where we had seen him disappear. No moose. After a few moments I did a bull moose grunt. Instantly he climbed to his feet about 75 yards away at the far end of the gully. He was staring straight at me, standing in the open. A quick glance through the scope made me sure he was legal and I dropped him in his tracks with one shot from my 300 Win Mag.

Dogs and Moose

After I fed the dogs last night I let them out the back door into the fenced yard. After the usual interval I let them back into the house. As Shadow went past me an aroma wafted off him. He had found a disgusting item to roll in in the back yard. He's never done this with deposits left by Kiska, himself or other dogs so it was some other animal that passed through the fenced back yard yesterday. It's been very cold this week and, trust me, the "material" was fresh, not frozen. Clamping down on my gag reflex, I gave the stupid dog a bath last night.
This evening as I drove into my drive way I had to stop a wait for a cow and calf moose to amble out of the way. At the house I let the dogs out of the garage. As usual they make a bee line for the nearest bunch of trees to pee. There was another cow and calf moose in those trees. Fortunately they choose to run away a few steps instead of stomping the dogs. I called the dogs back and took them in the house. After feeding them I let them out into the fenced yard. As I expected Shadow ran immediately to his little treasure. What he failed to notice was that I was right behind him. A little shouting, jerking on his collar and several "No"s later I hope to have discouraged him from rolling in the sh... stuff. He hates baths so I'm hoping he made that connection too. I know I explained it to him carefully.

Sunset at Trippingover Moose Ranch

Been a long quiet week. Five days of work after being off for a 5 day Thanksgiving mini-vacation. Get up and drive to in the dark. Spend the day in the office and drive home in the dark. Watch some TV, go to bed, get up the next day and do the same. Twenty one more days of decreasing daylight before we turn the corner. Seasonal Affective Disorder is in full bloom.