Wildlife photography from the car shot while backing out of our driveway; meeting the deadline for free money

I had to drive Margie to town today, so that she could get new x-rays, visit the doctor and see how her breaks are healing. So, when the time came, I gave Margie a boost into the back seat (she needs the whole thing right now), climbed behind the wheel and turned my head backwards to be certain that I would not run over anybody.

And there, grazing in my yard, was a cow moose. Yes, the very same one that we have met twice in just the last week. I rolled down my window and shot this frame, as I rolled past Gertrude.

I had to angle backwards to get onto the road and, as I did, it gave me a new angle, one that included her calf and the blue home of our next door neighbor, Joe.

Once in the road, I stopped, shifted from reverse to drive, took a shot with our house in the background, put my foot on the gas and drove off for Anchorage.

I dropped Margie off at the Alaska Native Medical Center and then headed toward the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Office.

I had filed for both of us online (Margie has a phobia for computers and the net). Mine went through just fine, with my electronic signature. For some reason, Margie's electronic signature did not make it and instead I got a signature page. She had to sign that and then we could mail it in or drop it off.

I tried to drop it off yesterday when I went in to see the doctor, but the office was closed in honor of Seward's Day - the day the United States "bought" Alaska from Russia, although Russia had never bought it from the original owners.

I parked a few blocks away and then walked over.

"Hell!" I thought as I approached, "look at that damn line of procrastinators." The line was not only out on the sidewalk, but wrapped half way around the block.

A tiny segment of the line.

Unfortunately, right after I shot this frame, my pocket camera battery died. I could have taken a better picture, I know, if I could have just had a few more frames to figure it out. In case you haven't figured it out, that is me in the reflection, standing in the road, looking up at the mirror glass.

I did not want to go the back of this line and since I had already filed, the very thought seemed unfair. So I went in. The guy at the door told me that, since Margie's application had already been sent in online, the deadline had been met. I could mail the signature page in, or bring it back tomorrow.

I don't want to go to Anchorage again tomorrow. I am tired of going to Anchorage.

So I guess we will just mail it. Unless I get nervous. Then I will drive it in, and see what I can find to eat in Anchorage.

There is a larger selection of food there than in the valley.

The dividend, btw, is expected to be about $1800.

Every recognized Alaskan gets it, just for living here. Some people misunderstand. They believe it to be an oil payment.

It is not. Alaska has invested a certain amount of its wealth, mostly from oil, in the Alaska Permanent Fund, so that when hard times come, Alaska will have money. In order to prevent the legislature from raiding these savings for pet projects, Permanent Fund money is invested in blue chip and half of each year's earnings are paid out to its citizens.

This gives everybody an interest in keeping the fund whole, out of the reach of pet projects.

Due to the current economic crisis, 2010 dividends are expected to plummet to almost nothing.

Margie is getting better. She got a smaller knee brace and signed up for physical therapy.

She still has the same wrist brace, which is identical to mine, except that mine includes a thumb support and her's does not.