Wildlife

Nic here...............so far we have seen a moose every week since moving to Anchorage. Hope and I even saw "Buzzwinkle" downtown. This is the moose made famous by first getting his antlers caught up in a kid's swing set bad enough that the Alaska Fish and Game had to dart him, untangle him, tag and release him. In November the same moose was tangled up in Christmas lights downtown and stumbling drunk on fermented crab apples, in front of a local tavern no less. He is still downtown, sober, but with a mark on his hind quarter indicating a collision with a vehicle. Tonight we saw two moose running through the backyard. Here is one we saw between our house and the local elementry school. Bald eagles are plentiful too. It will be exciting when summer comes to see more wildlife. We went for a drive and short hike at sunset (3:30) a few weeks ago and watched the ravens migrate back to the mountains to roost after a day of scrounging the fast food dumpsters downtown. From here we could see all of Anchorage bowl. Here are a couple of pictures, one with the sky line and one with the setting sun over the frozen ocean with a volcano in the background.

Our first February in Anchorage, Alaska

Family and Friends: It seems a fitting day to update our blog since this is the FIRST day we've seen moose meandering (or thundering more like it) through our backyard. Last week I followed a snowshoe hare hopping up the driveway.

We have finally moved into our house and are enjoying it - we love the views of ocean, mountains, trees and few neighbors (ok, and today a couple of moose). We moved in a little over two weeks ago and just only got telephone service a few days ago. We have a choice of two companies - one is terrible and the other one doesn't ever answer their phone. We chose the terrible company.

Check out views from our guest room (come stay in it!!).

We are enjoying our time here, although we get homesick at times. Hope is adjusting the best of all of us. She is making some friends. We went skiing Saturday and as we're getting out of the car, she starts talking to the kid getting out the car next to us. Turns out they go to the same preschool.


We have been trying to clean out our garage (the previous owner left us lots of "useful" things). One of which is a pile of carpet remnants. So, tonight we try to rid ourselves of the remnants so we don't have to pay to bring it to the dump. We posted the carpet for free on Craigslist and within 30 minutes of posting, we got 3 phone calls and 2 emails. Maybe the previous owner was on to something...hmmm...what else can we get rid of on Craigslist????

Some more photos of our activities in Alaska:

This is our playset in our backyard.

Nic and Hope are in the street in front of our house. We walked up the hill and they sled to our house down the street. Hope is in front of the playhouse built for her (and for holding tires - studded ones in summer and regular ones in winter). It was kinda chilly this day - I don't recall it getting any higher than negative 10 degrees.

Some of you will recognize our furniture in this foregin living room - that's how it still feels for now...

Skating at Goose Lake at the Ice Skating Festival! Hope is riding on a bucket and I am pushing. She found this a better way to get around the ice. Notice the "new" ice skates. They are much more comfortable than what I reported on the last blog.

Hope is enjoying helping shovel snow. She has also taken a liking to Windex and paper towels while we're not looking. She cleans EVERYTHING!

See some of you next month when we get around to Colorado and New Orleans...

With love, from all of us!

Our first two weeks in Anchorage - posted January 13

Hi friends and family! We are trying this blog thing again since we have so many things that are fun to share. We arrived in Alaska December 30, 2007 to make sure we were here at the beginning of the year so we could particpate in the 2008 Alaska Permanent Dividend Fund. (Some of you may have heard you get paid to live in Alaska - and this is what they mean. Every man, woman, and child gets anywhere between $1,000-$2,000/year for being a resident.) As we were taking the angel off the top of the tree December 26, we weren't sure that it was worth the post-Christmas rush to get here. But, now that we are here, then I guess it worked out just fine.

We've been busy figuring out our way around town - Hope's school, the best grocery, where to buy warm socks (never knew my feet would get be so cold all the time!), the way back to our cubicles from the bathroom at work, our hotel, our apartment, etc. We are getting it down, a bit. It'll change some more when we actually move into our house which is scheduled for February 1.

This photo is of the entrance to Nic's work. It seems weird to see a BLM sign with snowy trees in the background.

On the weekends we have made it a priority to get outside and do stuff - nevermind the dang cold (and today was the coldest it's been all season - the high was zero and when we returned from pizza tonight, the thermostat on our car said minus 4).

Here is a picture of Hope and Nic skiing last weekend at Hilltop Ski Area. Hilltop is the little ski area in town that is about a 10-15 minute drive from our house. Can you see the ski jumps in the background? Hope really wants to ski off of those, but we are explaining that she has to learn how to ski first. She seems kind of exasperated at that fact. (Mom - we had her in the car right before this picture. Don't worry - we are keeping mittens on her when we're playing outside!)

Notice the frosty face on Nic? Check out the bear sign behind him...

I skied here yesterday (I had frosty eyebrows and eyelashes). It's great because Nic and I can cross country ski while Hope takes her two hour downhill lesson ($25 including lift ticket - you can't beat that price!). Nic and I took different trails yesterday (mine was flatter). My trail was probably groomed within the previous 6 hours, and there were more animal tracks (moose, coyote(?), etc.) than ski tracks. I was trying to make a lot of noise without completely embarassing myself just in case I came across another skier (I didn't). I swear that one of those tracks had rrreeaallllyyy long nails (I was thinking bears - but maybe I have an active imagination - and I did see that sign before I started skiing).

Today is Hope's 5th birthday. Where did the time go? We got her ice skates for her birthday, but they were kind of a bust since they're a little uncomfortable. Novice Alaska parents didn't see how they fit BEFORE we got out of the car at -1 degree, and I admit we didn't do a real good job of getting them adjusted to her feet. She doesn't complain much usually, but she could hardly walk, let alone skate. So, our plan this week is to get those skates figured out. I, however, did skate for about a mile just enough to feel like I did something, and Nic skied around the lagoon (where Hope and I skated). Here are some photos from our adventures today.

Hope and me on Westchester Lagoon (close to downtown). This is before we had to extricate the skates.

Below is a photo of all of us with Anchorage in the background. We are near the airport (on a little excursion following ice skating).

Here are some candles (blowing out and subsequent licking of chocolate icing) from a few hours ago in our little rental apartment.