Day Dawns with the Moon Still High
in the Matsu Valley
Oct 2015

WOW!  Has it really been nearly three weeks since our last posting?  While that doesn't seem possible, I know that the days are beginning to run together, and that my calendar does not tell a lie. The extra hour that occurred this past weekend has escaped us, and the darker days and nights leave us feeling tired and exhausted even earlier.  Alaska may be doing away with Daylight Savings Time in 2017, so we are trying to use all the "extra" hours we can get our hands on!  The days here have grown short, with sunrise occurring between 9:30 and 10 a.m. and darkness descending by 5 p.m.  I do so wish I had a better camera than my smart phone to capture all of the wonders we are seeing -- particularly during the twilight hours and when the Aurora are dancing.

Cotton Candy Sunrises

Moonrise Over the Chugach Range

Sentinel Spruce

We have seen the Aurora three times within the past couple of weeks, though they are very faint and the times in between their sightings are growing longer and longer.  The exception, of course, occurred this morning and we were so fortunate to see bold chartreuse, pinks, and purples ribbon themselves throughout the entire sky!  They are beautiful, but further North is really the place to view them best (and no offense to our Interior neighbors, but we don't want to move back to Fairbanks just to view the Northern Lights)!  We had three full moons last week, and one night in particular, it was massive - almost as if you could reach out and touch it.   The sentinel spruce that stands guard outside our bedroom window looked vaguely like a decorated Christmas Tree with the moon as its star on top.  I am thankful for the true darkness as our sleep is deeper. Now if we could only get Ahtna to sleep throughout the whole night!  The time change has wrecked havoc on her little system, and a trip to the vet for spaying didn't help much either.  She has just about worn out her pitiful face, though; but she has been hysterical to watch!  We have decided to lovingly dub her "dumb dog" or "miss sassy pants"...depending on her mood and ours!

Miss Sassy Pants
Don't Let Her Fool You!  She's Not That Pitiful!

She is ridiculous -- barking at falling snow flakes and at the door every time she hears the click of my camera.  We think she may associate that sound with moose, as I can't resist taking pictures of them anytime we see them.  So now...even if I'm only taking a picture of Ethan, if she hears that "click," she begins to bark uncontrollably. Oh, to have been a researcher with Pavlov!

The Moose Family That Has Taken Up Residence at Our Place

"Can Ethan & Ahtna Come Out to Play?"

Now that the snows have begun to fly, the moose are abundant.  We are visited routinely by a mother and her twin calves.  It isn't at all unusual to hear Ethan call from the basement, "Mom! I can't take Ahtna out yet...the moose are in the yard!"  As a matter of fact, the same little moose family visited us three times yesterday.  They ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner in our side and back yards.  And can I just say that I NEVER get tired of watching them.  The boys still make fun of me for wanting to ride them like horses.  However, after seeing this mother moose, I'm rethinking that!  She has a glare that I cannot explain.  Ethan doesn't mind taking the dog out, except at night.  The darkness can be so disconcerting, and the moose are so stealthy that they can be right next to you and you never hear them coming!

Stealthy Beasts!

So usually our last time out at night consists of Ethan tentatively holding Ahtna's leash while a parent stands nearby as "Guardian in the Dark."  Somehow, last night, I was the walker, and Ethan was the guardian...until he whipped the flashlight around around into a pair of yellow, reflective eyes!  Then he left me! He left me!  I felt like that girl in the first Jurassic Park movie - the one that sits in the car when the T-Rex arrives saying over and over, "He left us! He left us!" about the only "adult" in their vehicle.  I was more concerned that the eyes he saw belonged to the calf...and we couldn't see mama!  I was just waiting to be charged from the side!  But thank the Lord, Ethan returned quickly with Alex (and his gun) in tow!  With a few quick moves of the flashlight we found two sets of reflective eyeballs (ah, both calves)...but we never did find mama before Ahtna finished her business and ran inside.

The Safest Moose Around!

Given all the moose activity here and at the parks in recent weeks, we have begun discussing the option of bow hunting from a canoe.  That would be a new one for us, but may yield more options for harvest.  That idea presented itself following a recent trip to Red Shirt Lake.  After Ahtna got her surgery stitches out last week, we took her there for some much needed recreation.  For those pet owners who have had the "pleasure" of trying to keep your puppies "calm and non-excited" for 10 days, you know why recreation was necessary!  We put her on a 50-foot rope and just let her go. Since she is lab and a puppy we still can't trust her off leash yet.  So many smells and so much water...swimming (well, mudding) was a must!  Suddenly, as she sprang back onto land, I looked across the water in time to see the FIRST BULL MOOSE in the wild that we have ever seen!  He was amazing!  And again, I wished for a decent camera! Agghh!

Bull Moose at Red Shirt Lake
October 2015

But no matter...we had binoculars, so we spent the rest of our time watching him from the opposite shore.  Then Michael decided to go to the Nancy Lake overlook to get a closer peak.  We all descended the overlook just in time to watch him steal into the foggy bog near the shore.  And then he vanished!  Just like that! Unbelievable!

Best Seat in the House for Moose Watching!

Watching the Bull Moose Head Into the Foggy Bog

In addition to the amazing new landscapes we are enjoying, we have had a Missions Conference at church, visited the Anchorage Museum for science units, splashed in on a birthday party at the Wasilla Swimming Pool, seen the Colony Middle School perform a fabulous rendition of The Sound of Music, taken Ethan to his first hair salon for a "style" and massage, began putting up the Christmas tree (listening to Christmas carols and watching Christmas movies!) and completed our wedding wardrobe shopping!  Now before you throw stones at us for not "letting the Bird have his day," please keep in mind that our Christmas will be spent differently this year than any other year!  And truth be told, fresh snow causes Christmas cravings, and Christmas movies and music somehow make us nicer people!  Isn't that a sad statement?  Ethan even noticed it in himself and said, "We should have Christmas all year round!"

Ethan's First Salon Massage

Rico P. "Suavay" & his new do!
And, yes, that's an iced pumpkin latte...

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

Beyond this recent fun, Rehearsal Dinner plans have begun in earnest, and we are all trying to stay healthy for travel and everything wedding!  Please continue to pray for us.  Michael has picked up his first seasonal cold since our move last year. Ethan is having at least one tooth extracted this week, and maybe two. I am still battling anemia, and we are trying to figure out the cause.  At this point that means a little green pill three times each day for three weeks, then an iron blood check. If that doesn't work, we look to infusion; and sometime within the next two months, I get to swallow a camera -- woo hoo (spoken with tongue in cheek and as sarcastically as possible)!  We are praying that in the absence of total healing, the Lord will give wisdom to the doctors and an answer for this continuing issue.

We love and miss you all, and pray for an opportunity to see you all very soon!  Much love until next time...

"The mountains declare that He is Lord; the valleys proclaim that He is Lord.
 All nature shows His glory as it stretches out before me;
Oh, I could never doubt it!
My heart just loves to shout it -
That the Lord, He is God! He is God!"
 Lyrics from an old praise song at Christian Growth Center in Christiansburg, Virginia