Withers

is the word to describe an anatomical spot on a horse.  It is where the base of the neck meets the shoulders.  I believe most 4-legged animals have a withers, I'm just most familar with horses from all the years of riding lessons.  I am going to guess that a moose would also have withers, but since I am not about to saddle one up, I don't have to worry about keeping my hands even and light on the reins, and centered over the withers.  The only reason I am talking about withers is to try and give perspective on how truly large these animals are.  I realize that every week I ramble on about the moose, but I am fascniated by them.  So to give perspective is the withers and ears of a moose peaking over the 6 foot privacy fence in my backyard...



The withers are to the left of the bunny rabbit looking ears, right below the window frame.  He isn't even holding his head up, but rather low as he looks for more nibbles.

 This was not the first moose of my day.  Earlier, Rosey and company had been barking like crazy out the front window.  When I went and looked I saw this



Hard to imagine something so large can hide in plain view

 I was watching this mooses ears to see how it would react to the barking dogs.  Truthfully, they swiveled all over and I couldn't tell what the moose was thinking.  I was thinking I was gald to be inside the house and didn't have to determine if the moose would give me a head start if he decided to chase me.  After a few minutes I think the moose got tired of listening to barking dogs and headed down the street.


Later in the afternoon the dogs were outside and Rosey was going crazy.  That's when I saw the aforementioned withers and ears peaking over the fence.  I was very surprised to see the moose there because I thought the neighbors yard was completely fenced in, but I guess they are only fenced on three sides and the moose found a way to wander into the backyard.  So, disregarding all the advice I had read on avoiding a moose outside, I ran out with my camera to try and get some shots.



Rosey, the Mighty Moose Hunter



I got these shots by standing behind the 6 foot fence and holding the camera over my head pointing in the general direction of the moose.  The Mighty Rosey continued to yap, but the moose ignored her.  However, I started to look around and realized that the fence I was standing behind was old and rather derilect.  I decided it was not strong enough to hold back a large and pissed off moose, so I gathered the dogs and went back inside the house where I could watch the withers and the ears of the moose bob up and down until he wandered back out of the yard.

Here is a picture of packaging.  This is how Wal-Mart sells butter and milk.  So far I have only seen them packaged like this in WalMart.

Sorry they are sideways, I can't figure out how to fix that.  Anyway, I bet someone out there made a lot of money to figure out they could ship more and spend less by changing the shape of a gallon of milk and a pound of butter. 

This week at work I met a gentleman from Barrow.  Barrow is way the heck up on the northern edge of Alaska and has the honor of being the northern most city in the US.  It is cold and dry, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean on three sides, and it can snow any month of the year.  This gentleman is Native Alaskan and told me that he spoke only Inupiat at home until he went to school.  The teachers would hit him and his siblings on the back of the hand with a ruler if they didn't speak English.  And this was only in the 1960's. He told me that his father had been the captain of his whaling ship, which is a big honor. Many of the Inupiat in the region still hunt bowhead whales. 

I drove out to the Mat-Su valley this past week.  Apparently this is a big farming region.  After the devastion caused by the dustbowl and the depression the WPA resettled 200+ Norwegian/Scandinavian farming families from Minnesota and other cold-weather states into the area.  Apparently the thought was they were all ready used to cold, harsh weather and would stand a better chance than say a farmer from Florida.  Many of the families left, but several stayed and the area remains important to farming. Along the way I passed a sign for a reindeer farm.  Think we may have to go visit when it gets a little warmer... But it really wasn't the type of farm I expected to see. When I reached my destination they told me there was a whale in the strait, but I didn't see it.  I understand the strait, or Cook Inlet is a good place to see Beluga whales in the summer.  Another outing that will have to be undertaken...

For my cycler friends, I got another photo -



It's a balmy 24 on this day.  That's the Alaska range in the background.  I am heading east and going toward them.

Notice the No U turn sign in the photo.  Here you can make a U-turn at many of the intersections. I find it a little weird.

Everyday we settle a little more into routine. I have now figured out where the grocery store is, the bank and I found a decent place for a haircut.  I got a Costco membership (Alaska's grocery store they told me).  While I was there I saw folks loading up with 100+ lbs of items like rice and flour and lots and lots of toilet paper.  Those are the folks who live "off the grid", or off the road system.  "Out in the bush" is another phrase.  I also heard that an Alaskan pick-up line is "Hey, I've got running water..." 

Here's hoping your water continues to flow. We have heated water in our toilet tanks to prevent feeze-up!

Until next week....