January 1, 2008: Backyard moose, tots in the house, Iraq-bound Marine at KFC

In the morning (which, as I define it here, began about 11:00 AM and ended about 1:00 PM) a moose appeared in the backyard, as moose often do.

Inside, the fire in the woodstove burned hot. Babies - no, I can hardly call them babies anymore - toddlers Lafe and Kalib were happy and content.

Lafe's mother offered him a sip of soda pop from Burger King, where she and his dad had stopped on their way over to pick up their son after his overnighter here. Lafe gladly accepted.

We always cook a ham, along with potatoes, veggies, pies and such for New Year's, but, with all that has been going on lately, both Margie and I completely forgot about today's dinner. So, about 3:00 PM, we headed to KFC to get dinner there.

As we were leaving, I saw a marine, talking to a KFC employee who was taking a break. As I walked past, they suddenly hugged, to say goodbye. "I love you," the worker said. "I love you, too!" the Marine responded. I knew the moment was going to be brief, so, as quickly as I could, not realizing that my shutter speed had accidently been dialed back to 1/10th of a second, I pulled my G10 pocket camera from my jacket pocket and got off one blurry frame.

My impression was that the KFC worker had served in the military himself, for it seemed to be that kind of love - one soldier to another, one Marine to another - that had been expressed.

The Marine headed out the door toward his vehicle, where others waited for him. I stopped him before he could get there, and he was happy to pose for a snap.

Private First Class Bonty is stationed in North Carolina, is not from Alaska but has family in Wasilla and had come up on leave to visit. He departs for Iraq in two weeks.

There was much more that I wanted to ask him, of course, but Margie had taken a seat in the car and was waiting for me. He had people waiting for him.

I also wanted to go back into KFC, to talk to the worker who had hugged him, but his break was over and he had gone back to work. Plus, Margie was holding a box of hot wings that Jacob and Lavina had ordered, and we had to get it home while the food was still hot.

And this how the first day of year 2009 began for me, right here in Wasilla, Alaska.

Music to drive home from Wal-Mart by

I had the radio tuned to KSKA, Anchorage Public Radio, when I dropped Margie off at Wal-Mart the other day. A program called, "Rock Island Line" was on the air. The song, as these people walked in front of me into the parking lot, was Bob Dylan's, "Blowing in the Wind," as performed by Peter, Paul and Mary.

I drove home via the low road along the railroad tracks. Right here, the song was "This Land is Your Land," performed by Woody Guthrie himself. I am among those who believe this should be our national anthem.

While it might sound odd to some, as I listened to Guthrie sing, "from California to the New York Islands, from the redwood forests to the gulf-stream waters, this land was made for you and me," I thought of a certain young woman in India, who I call Muse, and who will marry soon. Someday, I hope to play this song in my car, for she and her husband, as I drive them down an American road.

An Alaskan road...

Now, back to Bob Dylan, with help from the Son of David, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: "To Every Thing There is a Season," or maybe the title is "Turn, Turn" this time performed by Joan Baez.

A Season was still playing when I came upon these two ravens. I pulled into a turnout, and shot through the open window.

One raven flew away. These three boys came walking by.

"Black Bird," by the Beatles, as I passed beneath this raven. That's a lie. I don't remember what song was broadcast here. I wish that it had been "Black Bird." But then you wouldn't have believed me.

Bob Dylan again - this time, performed by Bob Dylan: "Shelter From the Storm." Most appropriate.

Still "Shelter."

Altogether too appropriate: "Cumbaya" A few years back, I heard about a crash on this corner that killed a mother and her baby. Shortly after that, someone put up the cross on the left.

The cross on the right came later. It says, "Dad." I do not know the story.

"Someone's crying, my Lord, Cumbaya, someone's crying, my Lord, Cumbaya..." I don't remember who was singing. So many have done this song and when I remember back to this moment, I can hear different versions of it in my head.

"The Eerie Canal." Again, I cannot recall the performers."

"Winkin and Blinkin and nod..." The boy carries a rifle.

"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore..."

Puff, the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul and Mary, of course.

"Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys..." - Willie Nelson. Not really... another lie. But it is a cow. Cow moose. Someone ought to enter it in a rodeo, let some cowboy chase it on a horse, lasso it, trip it, jump off his horse, tie its hoofs together and then raise his hands into the air.

I wonder how fast he could do it?

I catch trespassers in action with my pocket camera

I guess the near all-nighter that I put in from Friday through Saturday morning caught up with me today, because I did not get up until about 10:30 AM. Oh, well, I figured, I tend to do so much of my work late at night or in the wee hours that what does it matter if I sleep late?

So I ate oatmeal, took my walk, but got so lazy that I did not climb the hill, but instead turned away from it and cut through the marsh straight toward my house. There, maybe 300 yards from my back yard, I spotted a cow moose. As you can see, she was trespassing. I reckoned she probably had a calf nearby, so I approached slowly, cautiously; I did not want to get between a cow and her calf. 

Aha! What did I tell you? A calf stands beside her! In fact, it looks like two calves.

It is two calves. Look closely and you will see. Now I am faced with a dilemma. I must make a decision, but there are three things that I do not want to do, in this order: I do not want to get stomped on by a Momma moose, acting under the misguided belief that she must kill me to save her calves. I do not want to have to turn around and go home the way I came. I do not want to disturb the moose and calves too much.

Usually, when you walk toward a cow and her calves, at some point she will simply lead them to another place, away from you. But, a few times, I have a had that momma come stamping towards me, her head low, the hair on the nape of her neck bristling, nostrils flaring, a gleam of fire coming from her eyes that told me she was quite willing to kill me to protect her own.

Still, I believed they would turn and move away if I approached, so I walked slowly toward them. They did turn and move away.

The momma and her calves, out in the middle of the marsh.

Moving through the marsh.

They come back to the trail. "Okay, kids, look both ways before crossing."

They cross and disappear into the brush on the other side.

The cow and one calf reappear and move down the trail in front of me. I wonder where the other calf is?

This was one of those times when I kind of wished that I had my big Canon 1Ds M III and my 100-400 mm lens with me, instead of the pocket camera. But what I like about the pocket camera is that I can carry it in my pocket. After one shatters his camera shoulder, even when he reaches the point where the shoulder is well on the mend, he appreciates being able to carry his camera in his pocket.

He doesn't want to carry a big camera, and a big lens.

At least, I don't. Not yet.

There will be more moose in the future, and other times when I can stalk them with the big camera and the big lens - unless I decide never to shoot a big camera again. I have thought about it. But no, I don't think so. Nice as it is, this G9 pocket camera just has too many limitations, and I've got some serious work to do.

I return to this house and spend the rest of the day sitting where I sit right now, in my office, right here in front of my computer, except that at 5:00 PM I take a break to drive my wife to work, and take this picture along the way. Any readers who live in warm places might be appalled at this picture; you might think the cars in front of me have bad rings, are burning oil and are severe polluters.

No, this is just what cool air does to exhaust.