Da bears

Alas, my inagural post on the new blog! Even though I've only been here a week, so much has already happened that can fill an entry and provide some pictures. This whole moving-to-Alaska-for-a-year-how-crazy thing shows some promise, my friends.

First, travelling two days by car and 33 hours by ferry proved to be quite enjoyable, actually, with many card games played and a nice time listening to "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in its entirety...twice. Having recently driven most of the route we took this time turned out to be fun- who else is that familiar with the backroads of northern Canada? The colors were beautiful, but nothing compared to Haines. *sigh* This place gets prettier every time I come back. The trees are on fire (figuratively) and the mountains are already being kissed with snow.

BUT (beautiful scenery aside) I must announce that I am certifiably Alaskan for a reason honored more highly than a driver's license- I helped butcher a moose. Well, "helped" is a term used loosely in this situation, but we'll just go with it. Turns out a moose was shot illegally and when that happens, the hunter must turn it over to Fish & Game, where they give it to next on the list of non-profit organizations. Guess who was next?? Aw, you're all so smart. Yes, it was Rainbow Glacier Camp. Yay! With the help of several vetran hunters in the communtiy (aren't they all?), the moose was skinned and hung in a shed until we could line up a time to properly butcher it. On that special day, it was quartered and transported to the town butcher, after hours, where is was properly sliced and diced. I am proud to say that I helped inspect and remove every hair from every piece of carcass (am I grossing you out yet?). A few days later, it was ground into burger- with the necessary amount of beef fat added to it to hold it together since moose meat is so lean; we had to get it from the town firefighter, Al- and the four of us packaged appropriately (saran wrap, ziploc bag, then wrapped in paper to prevent freezer burn, with a moose head drawn onto it of course) over 270 lbs. of burger. We also have many pounds of choice steaks and roasts, too. Our freezer is FULL and we have meat for camp next summer! The whole ordeal was pretty sweet. :) By the way, the picture to the left features our four shining faces holding up the side of the moose- the dark red section is where the bullet passed through the ribs. Oh, and don't worry- we kept the bullet. ;) We also think the head of our moose graced the pages of the local newspaper- tongue sticking out and all. Hee hee.

While we're on the subject of wild animals Natalie has encountered intimately in the past week, I shall mention the big brown bear I had a stare-down with the other morning. I was just walking along, admiring the gorgeous Alaskan sunshine and colors, thinking, "I love Alaska...lalala" when my eyes focused in on a bear 100 ft. away, chillin' by the camp swings. It had clearly spotted me first, frozen in its tracks and sizing me up and I followed suit. No fear here- I just wished someone had been with me to witness the great event. I was SO EXCITED. Backing away slowly then running as soon as I was out of sight, it was gone by the time I found Kenny. Bummer. I just think that Mr. Bear and I had a little connection and he was welcoming me to Alaska properly. I'm honored. :)

The only other anecdote of note (yep, there's more) is that we also made it onto the local radio station. All we did was accidentally steal some poor woman's wood off of her property in the dead of night (I blame Kenny- just kidding), only to have "whoever took the wood off my property on Rainbow Glacier Camp Road, I was planning on using it" announced on the radio for several days. We returned it immediately after having gone to the effort of sawing it up and chopping it for fire wood for ourselves. :) Small towns are great.

Enough for now, friends, but I'm hoping to post regularly. We're still working on finding a place to live, so prayers for that are more than appreciated. The four of us living in a one-bedroom cabin is cozy, but I'm sure on some days we're all thinking separate rooms would be wonderful. On the plus side, running water was restored to camp a few days ago by dear Kenny, so there's that.

Love to you all!