From the Silicon to the Tanana Valley: February 2022

Sunday, February 27, 2022

The Tanana

We don't have a lot of adventures nowadays. Thanks to the Angry Moosey situation, the only place I feel safe is the Tanana, where we go over and over. My old advisor in grad school told me that a river is a Mysterious thing, because it is never the same river as it was even a second ago. The water keeps moving. I can see that it is true. Even when it's frozen, the water beneath keeps moving, and even the ice is not static. It moves and shifts. And since it is now almost March, the light is changing quickly, too!

A bluebird day!

A day of atmospheric ice crystals and Mysterious Light

Today was overcast, but warm. The snow was fast! We went twice as far in the same amount of time.

I even managed a selfie in front of these pretty cliffs.

Our mornings have been beautiful, too. I noticed when there was light on the horizon at 8 a.m. Then 7 a.m. Now 7 a.m. is like bright day!

I still put the girls' LED vests on for our morning run. Better visibility!

MMmmmm AAAAaaaappppplllle!!

YAAAAY AAAAaaaappplle!!

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Distractions during Zoom meetings

Sometimes you glance up and see a MOOSEY in the front yard!

I had to sneak away from my meeting for a few minutes and snap some photos from the window.

"Oh moosey, you so fine, you so fine you blow my mind. Hey moosey!"

"Oh moosey, what a pity, you don't understand, you make my heart lurch when you eat my birch."

(At this point, DL says, "It will be nice having those trees neatly pruned 7 feet high.......")

"Oh moosey, you're so pretty, can't you understand? It's meese like you, moosey!"

"Oh what you do moosey, do moosey, don't break my heart, moosey!"

While moosey hung around, the fire died down, and I didn't want to go out to get more wood from the porch. I'm pretty sure he would not have come attack me on the porch, but I didn't want to stress out poor moosey, nor disturb his already lean and meager meal. Finally he left, and I could rebuild the fire! Brrrrrr!!

Monday, February 14, 2022

All day long
The earth shouts
“Gee, thanks.”

Such an exuberant gee,
It starts throwing
Things

As if God were passing by in a parade encouraging
Rowdy behavior
By looking so beautiful—
That a whole avalanche of mania swoops in!

I like this idea of throwing things at God,
And especially—His making us rowdy!

Thus, as soon as Hafiz is out of bed
I start stuffing large sacks
With old shoes, cucumbers,
And
Prayers

For the upcoming
Consecrated

Free-for-all—
And who knows
What else.

--Hafiz of Shiraz

Monday, February 7, 2022

The world keeps turning, and the light is returning

Due to the deep snow and ice that happened earlier this winter, the moose are very stressed and aggressive, so I don't think it is safe to ski on the trails for the rest of this winter. I know multiple people, and multiple dog teams, who have been attacked by moose, which is not normal behavior at all. It is true that moose attacks are more common than bear attacks, but really, both are rare. Moose are rather phlegmatic. They usually just... hang out and do nothing. But now they are attacking people, so!

There is only one place that is safe for us to go, and that is the wide, wide Tanana. It's wide-open, and has great visibility.

The girls lovelovelove to run! Especially on these flat-open spaces. Here is a video I accidentally took when I was trying to take stills.

Whenever I get frustrated that we can't ski the trails behind our house, that I actually have to load the dogs into the car and drive to the river, I remind myself that (1) The river is only 10 minutes away, and (2) The meese are fighting for their lives, while I am only complaining about convenient fun. Also (3) A friend has pointed out to me that by avoiding them, we are also reducing their stress levels and increasing their odds of surviving a very harsh winter. Finally, (4) Another friend has pointed out that those trails will be there next year. :) Almost everyone who lives in this neighborhood feels similarly. Those trails are why we live here, after all, so it's sad to lose the use of them. But it's good to give the meese a chance at survival, and of course we don't want to put our own lives, or the lives of our beloved companions, at risk.

We also have...

Warm clothes...