The Day of The Moose

Here a Moose, There a Moose...

S-I-L and I were talking in the living room this morning when he noticed a young moose in the front yard. It turned out to be a young bull, most likely the same one that I posted pictures of the day after Christmas. He's been hanging out with the cow and calf in the immediate neighborhood since then. Today, however he is without his antlers, apparently they finally shed in the last couple of weeks. While we were admiring him my sister called on the telephonic communication device. Her husband and son had returned from a successful winter moose hunt and they invited us to come by and help butcher and process the large frozen moose in their garage. S-I-L had a previous engagement helping a friend to get ready to slaughter a couple hogs tomorrow. I was getting ready to go when I heard dogs barking in the area. A medium sized black and brown dog was in my front yard herding the young bull moose into the woods. He wasn't one of the barking dogs however. I stepped out on the back porch because Shadow was in his pen barking, the neighbor dog off through the woods in the back was barking and two other dogs were barking in the area. I recognized one of the dogs by the bark. He had a frantic high pitched bark and I had run him off several months ago when he was harassing moose in about the same area. Sure enough it was him and his yellow lab partner yapping at a large cow moose just outside of my back fence. I shouted in my best command voice, "Hey, get the Hell out of here!" They both quit barking and took off at a fast run off to the west. The cow watched them go and then trotted off to the east disappearing into the woods.
I spent the afternoon helping family cut up a moose. It was a large old moose so they ground it all into moose burger.

ALERT! ALERT!

IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

Mt. Redoubt still has not erupted!
I am still employed.
It's still cold and snowy but the daylight is increasing.
We have much nicer weather (so what else is new,) and a lot less snow than Juneau.
We are a lot warmer than Fairbanks, Ft. Yukon and Prudhoe Bay.

More exciting developments to come!

Home Appliances

A Full Weekend

My dishwasher quit working, oh, maybe 2 years ago. It was practically new. I never got around to fixing it because I live alone and only generate a sink full of dishes about every three days. The oven quit working about a year ago. The range still worked and I have a backup oven in the kitchen in in my garage so I never got around to fixing it. Besides I have two microwaves. The motor in my treadmill failed about the same time as the oven. I saw that as an opportunity to quit exercising and get even fatter so I never got around to fixing it. The rear bearing in the Subaru still needs replacing but I can't afford to fix it right now. Monday, my clothes washer just quit. Now that's a problem. I can't figure a way to ignore this one. Unless, I take my laundry to my mother's house on my weekend visits and do it there. That will work! No, wait, my son-in-law is staying with me. I'm NOT going to do his laundry. Damn! I guess I have to fix the stupid washing machine.

Actually my S-in-L and I have replaced the control board and a fuse in the dishwasher. But it still doesn't work. Also I have a new motor for the treadmill but have been avoiding installing it because "it's too hard...," and I'd then lose my excuse for not using the darn thing. We haven't looked at the oven yet.

*Edit* Oh yeah, the vacuum cleaner burned up this week too. They burn up trying to get Husky hair out of rugs. I wonder if in the long run it would be cheaper to buy new rugs than vacuum cleaners.
*EDIT2* Washing machine fixed. Broken switch on the lid. Duct taped it into on position until I get a new one.

Google Street View

Waiting for daylight...

We started into work this morning. The temps were
in the 40s and the roads were wet but clear of ice.
About half way there a phone call alerted us to the
schools, buses and what have you still being closed.
My brother called his work and discovered his building
wasn't open either, so we turned around and returned
home. Once home, I called my work and found out my
facility was open. I'll probably go to work later this
morning after the traffic dies down.

Meanwhile I got the idea to look at my workplace from
Google Street view. Here it is...














The fire truck parked in front told me that the
Google probably drove by when we were having
a fire drill. If so my coworkers and I would
be standing in our parking lot. I negotiated around
to the back of the building and there we all were.
I'm in the group marked with the arrow, immortalized
by Google Street View.

That Was One Scary Commute

And a weather update...

A 1500 mile Pineapple express warm front slammed into the Alaska mainland yesterday. It blasted the Arctic cold front off the Alaska map, pushing it off to the east where it has begun sinking into the midwest, (sorry Minnesota!)

The temperatures rose around 50 degrees with high winds. Last night it was freezing rain on top of the ice and snow packed roads. For some reason my brother and I came to work anyway. We lost count of the number of vehicles in the ditch on the way to Anchorage but the radio says more than 150 in the area. All the schools, people-mover buses and military bases are closed. My company sent us an e-mail telling us that the office wouldn't be open until 10 am. Of course you'd have to be at work to get the email and I had already been at my desk for 2 hours.

The roads were obviously horrible all the way in. But when we got to Anchorage itself they became scary. Inches of wet black ice completely covered the pavement. All along the road the semi-trucks were pulled off to the side of the road putting on chains. Any paved road with a hill was impassible.

We're going to head out and try to make it home in one piece in a couple of hours. Hopefully the rain and traffic has worn down the ice a bit. There is a good chance I'll be staying home tomorrow.

Another Year

Maybe it'll get better in 2009

Kate and I always spent New Years Eve together. I don't recall that we ever went out to a party or celebration, neither of us were into loud parties or being around drunk people. That's why our social lives were family get togethers, quiet dinners for two at Evangelo's Restaurant or making dinner at home and watching movies from the couch. I spent New Years Eve alone except for a sleeping old husky next to the recliner and a frightened husky panting and pacing. Shadow is terrified of firecrackers. My neighbors loudly celebrate New Years and the 4th every year. I went to bed at 11 but at midnight was joined but a shaking 75 lb husky attempting to crawl under me in the bed. We were awake until the explosions stopped at 1 am. The -23 F temperatures must have driven them indoors early. Usually they stay up at least until 2 am frightening my dog.

Weather update: The Thermometers are still OFL and we are going to get a little wind for couple of days. Wind chill tonight of -38 F.

The Wind Died Down

Dropping Like a Rock

The protective wind stopped blowing last night.
When I got up at 4:30 am to go to work it was -21 F.
So I went back to bed. When I got up 3 hours later
the weather stations both read offline. I know from
past experience that means it's colder that -23 F.
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Yes, It's Another Weather Announcement

Sorry!

I know I said that I would try not to make this blog about the weather. And I have tried to stick with that as much as I can. In spite of the fact that I personally have 2 weather stations at my house. However, I find this interesting and I don't have anything else to write about so here goes....

Here in Southcentral Alaska we are in a seasonally normal cold snap. The temperature in the Matanuska Valley and the Anchorage bowl is currently about -10 F. Except over at TrippingoverMoose Ranch at the base of the Talkeetna Mountains. The last few days we have been experiencing high winds pouring down from the Copper River Valley, through the Matanuska River Gorge and sliding along the northern edge of the Matanuska Valley. As a result our temperatures have been averaging 15-20 degrees warmer than the rest of the area. Of course, with the wind our chill factor is -25 F but that's another story. Here's a current screen shot of the Wasilla temperature and a shot of my neighbor's weather underground station just down the street.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three Little Moose

A Little Bull...

We have had a moose cow and a yearling calf hanging out on Trippingovermoose ranch most of the winter. On Wednesday this little bull showed up and has been hanging out with them. I suspect he's the cow's calf from 2 years ago.

Merry Christmas

I Declined!

Some "friends" asked me to play Santa at the Christmas party last Sunday. What could they have been thinking?

Subaru Update

I know all of you, or both of you, or maybe at least my son have been on pins and needles....

The Subaru Doctor did a complete examination. The patient will live but needed several procedures done. First, the engine missing was bad plug wires. This really makes me feel stupid because I thought about replacing them about a year ago and never got around to it. With new plugs and wires the engine is purring like a kitten and has at least 30% more power. Which makes sense since it had been trying to run on 2 to 3 of it's 4 cylinders for a year. I should see an increase in gas mileage too. The back brakes needed to be done so I had them done. Work still to be done, rear wheel bearings, rear struts, radiator hoses and a valve cover gasket. Now that those items have been diagnosed we'll probably get the parts and do them ourselves. I've got to keep her on the road for at least 4 more years.

Dinner Time

Shadow keeping an eye on the chicken...