Spotted in the hallway

Hilarious, isn't it?

Photos from the weekend

Miss Millie Bunn:


Sam in conversation with her papa:


My girls, peacefully enjoying not being in the spotlight:


Miss Sam E. Pants, with her parents in a canoe on Chena Lakes:

I sent the full-size version of this photo to the Sam household. I insist that they make it their Christmas card photo!

Fishing in a slough:


Sam swimming:

My girls are completely indifferent to water. If water is in between where they are and where they want to be, they'll go right through, but they will neither seek nor avoid it. Sam, on the other hand, immediately makes a mad dash for any water within 100 meters. Even a disgusting, muddy puddle.

Sam looking like a calendar dawg:

One more week...

... until I get my fresh greens! I've decided to subscribe to a CSA this year, so signed up with Rosie Creek Farm, mostly for the propinquity factor; they are located past me on the road on which I live. The creek that flows through the bottom of my property also flows through theirs. So, you know how you are always being told to think hard about what you put into the environment, because in the long run, it affects your own health? Well, in my case, it can affect my health in the very short run, because if I were to dump pesticides on my land, it would flow right to the farm from which I get my vegetables! I guess that's why tree-hugger-type folks encourage everyone to buy local; it's not just better, fresher food--it does make you think!

I'd held off on subscribing to a CSA because I like going to the Farmer's Market, and choosing my own vegetables. But I've come to the realization that the local farms tend to save their best produce for their subscribers, and bring extras to the Farmer's Market. I'd often see Autumn and Linden's former mom there with nothing but turnips! So now I want in on the first pickings! Also, my sister pointed out to me that getting vegetables you wouldn't ordinarily buy for yourself is actually good for you because it adds variety to your diet and makes you a more creative cook!

Here is a photo of my American Meadow Garden:

The Dispatch of Creepy-Crawlies in the Cabin

Those that get carried outside:

bees
ladybugs
moths
butterflies
pill bugs
inchworms
caterpillars
most non-flying unidentifiables


Those that get squished:

mosquitoes
wasps
mosquitoes
flies
mosquitoes


Those that are left in place and revered as allies:

spiders



Edited to ad an irrelevant tidbit for the day:

I know it's been about four years since Pluto's demotion, but this just fell across my desk and made me laugh:

Source: greedoneverfired.com

This and that

1) Well, I guess our two weeks of Spring are over. Summer has come to Fairbanks.

2) How freakin' cute is this behbeh elephant?

3) Schadenfreude is bad! The next day after a peaceful night's sleep, being lulled into dreamland by the shouts of my neighbor chasing his dog up and down the road, I was once again chasing my own two girls after they took off on their grandest adventure yet. They were hanging out with me while I split wood. Autumn was comfortably relaxing, and Linden was sitting looking very ladylike as if she would never run off! Then I blinked and they were both nowhere to be seen. I tried the usual suspects--my next-door neighbor, who sometimes gives them food scraps; my neighbor across the road, who has a very bouncy black lab that Linden adores; the neighbor across the other road, who has a yardful of dogs that the girls love to visit. No sign of them. None of the neighbor dogs were barking. After wandering the neighborhood hollering after them for close to half an hour (Ahh... dignity! You give it up quickly when you're chasing dogs!), they came racing back from heaven-knows-where, with Autumn carrying--get this--a wolf paw in her mouth. WTF? Dogs! I swear...

4) Mooseyness on my commute:


She had twin behbehs that were too far off the road to photograph.

Zipper pull

Problem: Zipper pull vanished somewhere in my yard while walking around.

Solution: Key ring!



There, I fixed it!

In other news, I must confess to a certain I-had-thought-it-was-just-me pleasure when I hear other people in the neighborhood shouting at the top of their lungs for their dogs. Huskies are terrible about running off when they get bored, and you know I just feel like a really brilliant person when I am running up and down the road shouting for them. I'm sure it gives the neighbors a really high opinion of me, and just makes me feel like such a respectable human being!

But when I am lying under the covers late at night, with my dogs peacefully lying on either side of me, and I hear somebody else out there hollering their dogs' names, I just snuggle deeper and think, "ha ha". :)

Meese

As I got home last night from the last of three graduation parties, I found a mamamoose with her twins in my yard, munching my aspens. They were far enough from the cabin that I figured it would be okay if I just drove right past them and walked straight from the car to the door. But when I pulled into the driveway, they walked away. I took some photos as they crossed the street:



The second calf kept looking over his shoulder at me:


Then I curled up on the couch with my book. A few moments later, I happened to glance out the window and see a brown line of fuzz pass through the lower part of the window frame. I got up and looked out, and sure enough, there was another moose walking along my path around the cabin.

Meese are charming (and tasty) neighbors, but I hope I never inadvertently get too close!