It looked at me and I at it.....

....and then my heart stopped, I damned near crapped myself...again... and yelled out something like "here we fu*^in go!"



It was around 10:45 PM last night as Maryann and I made our way back from Soldotna. A night out together and some needed groceries. We are looking at 15 hours and 27 minutes of daylight today, so around 10:45P it is pretty much that fine line between dusk and dark. We decided to take the longer way home as we were engaged in a pretty debatable discussion and wanted to continue it, which may well have been our demise. The next thing I know she is saying "no...no...go away...." and I see a bull moose in her headlights barreling towards us from across the highway. Actually by now he is in the middle of the highway and still going, with us right about beside him. All I remember for sure, as it will be forever imprinted in my minds eye....forever....was his eyes making contact with mine, a look of befuddlement on his face and as I was already adding up the damage costs to the truck in my head, his eyes kind of rose in an upward direction above the truck. No, he wasn't leaving the ground, we were getting closer to this behemoth and seeing the full extent of his mass! Now were looking at the ticks in his chest hair as Maryann manged to slow and swerve, and he the same. Now mind you it would have been a slow speed accident at that point as we had been engaged in braking to a stop and also veering away from the ensuing mass of bull. Not sure what he was doing.....I don't think he was either. They just run until they get where they're going or run into something....whatever comes first. All I know is it was a close call, and there would have been huge damage more to us than him at that point. Maryann asks me if she can pull over.....she was in a bit of shock, as he would have come in her door had he made impact. The first thing one might think is, look at all that moose meat we could take home! Unfortunately, Alaska law requires you to contact authorities after hitting an animal, and they then arrange for the animal to be taken for donation to a charity for the meat. People have said constantly that you have to watch out for moose at night because they have a tendency to run out in front of cars, and many get wrecked...and the animals dead. In the winter it is even more of a trick, as they tend to walk along the road. They don't like walking through the snow as it expels too much of their energy in the cold months, and due to a lack of a food source for them they need to preserve all of the energy they can. So you really have to come to a slow as you literally share the road with them.

Subsistence living in Alaska. It is a huge thing here. Natives have been doing it for centuries, and even today many tribes and villages rely on it, especially those on the far reaches or out in the bush. Which is a large area of the state. I have done alot of reading and research on it long before we made the mind to move here, and have nothing but respect for those who hunt and fish to sustain life through the long cold season. Even the great white Nikiskan hunter who only has to go 20 minutes into Kenai for meat! =) In fact we moved to Alaska for many reasons. A more mild and colder temperature range was a huge one. The other day it got up to 75 degrees in Soldotna. I would walk into someplace and comment on how warm it was getting and these folks would look at me and say, "son, it's hot out there!" To these people 75 is a hot day and thank God for us all there aren't too many days like that! More freedom to do what we want without so much regulation telling you you can't is a huge one. Whether your in the bush or Nikiski, subsistence is a way of life for many here. I can only relay the humor to those who can't experience it first hand that I find in certain situations, as the last time I saw someone riding an ATV along Sierra Parkway on a dirt trail with a cross bow, was never. In all of the years we lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains we never saw some of the things we see here. And it is great. This is one of the special things about living here....you are free to be 'you'. We would have it no other way, believe me! In fact number one on my wish list is a deep freezer. We don't have one yet. Yet. We moved up here in somewhat the middle of the summer season in some respects, and there was and still is much to stabilize to prepare for our first winter here. Snow and cold...we fear not these things. Those who know us know that we did nothing but bitch because it was not cold enough with too little snow in Dorrington. It's true the winters are longer and way more colder. We are preparing. These important things were a first priority upon our arrival. I intend to be able to do more fishing next year, and maybe pursue the hunt. Personally speaking....I like animals....it is people I generally have a bigger qualm with! That fact aside, the subsistence way of life appeals to us, and the liberty to be able to pursue such a living is one of many reasons we chose to live here. Maryann did a batch of sourdough starter today, and will probably do more. She has also made some berry freezer jams, and John did smuggle home a bevy of fresh salmon, which he filleted himself, from work the other day. The smaller ones aren't keepers for processing, and he got in with the main filleter. Good contact to have! Silvers will be running soon as well, so we may have that freezer this year yet. I also will be pursuing canning as this is something I have always wanted to do. We will be doing work on the greenhouse to prepare it for a spring crop. And there has been chatter down the pipeline here at the compound of getting chickens for fresh eggs....and a periodic chicken dinner....bach....bach! The cool thing is that we are here, and we have nothing but time now to pursue our dreams. We have already found much of our dreams coming true here and are so content on the move we have made. We are personally finding content with what we wanted and have now begun to find. As I have said many times, no regrets. We look forward to the coming months and welcome the challenges they may bring. After all, after coming this far....litteraly....there isn't much left to scare the beegeses out of us at this point in the game! It only continues to get better, and with the help of the lord above, we will get by....we will survive. No doubt! High five.....