CM*D29: Kalib gets naughty at IHOP, I spot a hunter on Church

We took Kalib to IHOP today and he was naughty. Very, very, naughty - the naughtiest that he had ever been during any outing that we had ever taken him on.

He even hurled a crayon that struck a lady at the next table in the back of the head.

That's how naughty he was.

We were all quite proud of him, because he was acting just like a kid in his "terrible twos." Kalib has over too months to go before he reaches his "terrible twos."

So we knew that he is above average, advancing fast. We were so proud, our chests swelled and our bellies damn near burst right through our shirts. 

Even so, we kicked him out, shooed him away from the table and sent him outside. His dad went with him. 

Soon, he was at the window, eager to come back in and raise more chaos.

If you wonder why the two glasses and Cholla sauce are on the window sill, it is because we put them there while he was still inside so that he would not knock them across the table.

Later, in the afternoon, I was driving down Church Road when I spotted a hunter on a fourwheeler.

I wonder if he got his moose?

Do you think he was naughty when he was a toddler?

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

The Railroad Condos - the most elegant, pleasant, exclusive neighborhood in all of Wasilla*

Not so long ago there was a big plot of vacant land by the railroad tracks across the Parks Highway from Wasilla Lake.

We all knew that such vacant land could not be allowed to stand. When we saw the contruction begin, we wondered what someone could be building, right by the railroad tracks and the highway.

Of course. A huge condominium complex. I am quite certain that it is the hugest in all of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

I actually took this picture on September 17, when I was riding my bicycle back from Kendall Ford, where I had dropped the Escape off for an oil change and routine maintenance. I didn't use the picture then, so I will use it now.

I wondered why anyone would want to live here and why it is that developers insist upon doing this kind of thing to Wasilla.

Have you ever driven down the Parks Highway through Wasilla?

Truly, it is an appalling sight. And it just keeps getting worse.

One of the most beautiful locations on earth, and this is what they do to it.

And then a few days ago, I passed by at the same time as the train and I understood - at least the part about why anyone would want to live here.

A straight line from our house to the railroad tracks is about 2.2 miles. Sometimes at night when I am lying in bed, not quite asleep, I hear the train clattering down the tracks. I hear the whistle blow. And I like the sound of it. It is pleasant, dreamy and soothing.

My mind drifts off to that train, and travels with it to far away places, even beyond the reach of the Alaska Railroad. I am a child again, hoping freight trains in Montana.

And that's from 2.2 miles away!

Think how much all that pleasant, dreamy, soothiness must be amplified when you are lying in bed and the train passes by just outside your window and the engineer blows the horn.

Maybe we will sell our house and move into these condos ourselves.

As long as I'm posting pictures from September 17, I might as well post this one, too. I took it immediately after I photographed the man driving by the Railroad Condos on his motorcycle. I liked the moment so much that I was tempted to pull off the bike trail, go a little closer, stop, get off the bike and practice some careful composition - but here's the thing - when you set out to see what kind of photos you can take with a pocket camera while pedaling a bicycle it destroys the whole project if you stop, get off the bike and carefully compose.

You can only do such a project while pedaling a bicycle.

It's kind of like being a quick-draw artist on horseback as opposed to a sharp-shooter lying prone on your belly with your rifle braced on a tripod.

So I photographed the motorcycle and the condos and then, still pedaling, swung my camera 180 degrees and photographed this scene, too.

Just like Clint Eastwood, swinging his Colts from atop the back of his mule.

And just ahead was this guy. It was the first time I ever saw a person who, instead of a human head, had two dogs growing out of his neck. Can you imagine what life is like for him, when he must walk upright and there is no table for him to support his dogshead on?

I never want to see such a sight again.

This picture was really hard for me to take, but I took it.

And here's a shot I took from my bicycle today. As you can see, the leaves are pretty much down now. As I noted yesterday, by this time last year the snow had set in for good.

But it was warm today. Really warm. The temperature rose into the 50's. Maybe it was a record. It felt like it. I was sweltering. All day long I sweltered. It made me wonder if it will ever snow again.

*I'm still officially in cocoon mode: it's just that I'm feeling really lazy and burned out tonight.

A memorial to a mother, fetus and teenage girl killed by a drunk driver is destroyed*

Today I found this little angel reaching out with a flower from the tumble of stones that remain of what very recently was a memorial to a mother and a baby who died in a car crash at this place.

I did not touch the angel, I did not move it. This is exactly how I found it.

This is what the memorial looked like on May 6, 2005. Until I pedaled my bike up to it today, I had never before stopped here. I had taken a few pictures as I zipped by in the car and from my bike as well, but I never stopped. 

Other than that two lives were lost, I have no knowledge of what happened here. I do not recall reading about it in the paper, seeing the story on TV or hearing it on the radio. Perhaps someone who reads this will know and will fill me in. (Three lives, it turns out. Update at bottom.)

All I know is that one day, well before I took this picture, the white cross appeared. I wondered why. A lady who is now dead and who I would often see in her yard and who seemed to know about everything that ever happened anywhere near this neighborhood told me that a young mother and her baby had been killed when she crashed her car here. She thought it was a single-car crash, that she had just gone off the end of Church Road, across Shrock and into the embankment.

This might be correct, it might not be. I did some googling today, but I could not find the answer.

Later, the brown cross, decorated with the engraved bear, appeared.

Throughout the years, the memorial always seemed to be well-cared for.

It was the work of an ever-loving and forever-pained heart.

Only a very different kind of heart could vandalize it.

I chose this photo because it was the only one that my search engine found when I typed in the word, "cross."

One day very recently, as I passed by, I noticed that the white cross had been split and knocked down. It looked to me to be the work of vandals. I do not know for certain. It is possible that another car lost control here and drove over the cross and damaged it.

Perhaps someone driving a four-wheeler off the side of the road too fast after dark did not see it and ran over it.

I do not know.

But it looked like the work of vandals.

I had intended to take a photograph of the damaged cross, but I never did.

And now both crosses are gone.

If you look closely at the upper-left hand corner of the rock pile, you can see the little angel, lying at the junction of three rocks and a leaf.

And if you look to the right, you can barely make out some wilted flowers, and some plastic flowers.

These are the plastic flowers.

Not far from the destroyed memorial, I rode my bike through a blanket of downed leaves as fast as I could without losing control while reaching as far forward with my pocket camera as my arm would extend so that I could photograph the action.

It was hard, but I did it. How about that, Charlie? (Explanation in Wednesday's comments).

Later in the afternoon, as I was returning home from my coffee break, I saw this lady checking the mail. As you can see, the leaves are just about all down now.

Last year, by this day, the snow had set in for the season.

I am still in cocoon mode, but I have gone maybe 15 minutes over my time limit.

I wanted to keep my title short, anyway.

*Update, 8:42 AM: I originally posted this under the title:

A memorial to a deceased mother and baby is destroyed

Mark Dent, editor of the Alaska Newsreader at the Anchorage Daily News, read the post and sent me this ADN clipping from October 9, 1999 - ten years ago today - with an account of the fatal accident:

By S.J. Komarnitsky

Daily News Mat-Su Bureau 

Day:   Saturday 

Page:   E1 

Print Run Date:   10/9/1999 

Dateline:   Palmer -- 

Text:   A Wasilla man with a history of alcohol abuse and driving

illegally was charged with two counts of murder Friday in connection

with an August accident in which a teenager and pregnant woman were

killed.

John F. Magee, 37, was arraigned in Superior Court in Palmer on two

counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault and

driving while intoxicated. He may also face additional charges in

connection with the death of the fetus, prosecutors said. The woman was

eight months pregnant.

According to court documents, Magee was drunk and apparently driving

with broken windshield wipers in the rain in the early morning hours of

Aug. 15 when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a Subaru driven by

Laura Boles, 20, of Wasilla, at the intersection of Shrock and Church

roads. Boles was headed west on Shrock when she was hit by Magee, who

was headed north on Church, troopers said.

TX: The impact shoved both cars more than 60 feet off the road.

Killed were Boles, the fetus she was carrying, and a passenger, Mary A.

Williquette, 16, of Wasilla. A third passenger in Boles' car - Jacob

Buswell, 18, also of Wasilla - suffered severe injuries. Magee was also

injured.

According to court documents, Magee told troopers he had been drinking

at the Wasilla Bar, and the last thing he remembered was seeing a

stoplight near the Safeway grocery store in Wasilla, several miles from

the accident scene.

He registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.138 three hours after the

crash, according to court documents.

Ira See, an acquaintance who told troopers he was at the bar with Magee,

said the car Magee was driving did not have working windshield wipers

because the wiring had burned out, according to the court papers.

And while troopers said Magee had a valid driver's license when the

collision occurred, that has rarely been the case in recent years.

Over the past decade, Magee has been convicted at least six times for

driving without a license or driving while his license was revoked or

suspended. He also has been convicted of assault, criminal mischief, and

misconduct involving a controlled substance.

In 1980, he was convicted of driving while intoxicated and in 1988, he

was convicted of reckless driving.

Thank you, Mark.

Cocoon mode,* day 27: Kalib goes a little nuts, kicks his dad - his dad squeaks out some high notes - cat is caught in the middle

This also appeared two days ago on No Cats Allowed. Sometimes, I have to give Grahamn Kracker first crack.

Kalib, Royce and Jacob were all snug and warm on the couch, enjoying each other's company.

Little Kalib's countenance was overcome with an innocent, sweet, expression. This is when a toddler is at his most dangerous.

Suddenly, Kalib jumps up and kicks Dad... well, you know where. Dad screams.

Now, Kalib drops down with his knee. Royce becomes worried for his own safety, but holds his ground.

Kalib is very pleased to see the reaction his antics have elicited from his dad. Royce wonders whether or not he really picked the best place to settle down tonight. Jacob squeaks out a few high notes.

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

I drive past Iditarod Musher Vern Halter as he runs for Borough Assembly - other election day images as seen from my bike and the car

I began election day by spending three hours at my desk, working on my project, during which time I composed one single paragraph - a short one at that. Yet, coupled with the photographs that it will run with, I think it is a paragraph that sings. It will make a strong statement about life and death and I know it will bring tears to some people's eyes. It brought tears to mine.

Afterward, I took a bike ride and as I pedaled, this Cessna flew over my head. It is very difficult to photograph an airplane flying by directly overhead while you are pedaling a bike, but I did it.

I had not been able to get Margie out of the house for a few days, but today I succeeded. I took her and Kalib to a fine lunch at A&W/KFC. Along the way, we passed people raising signs urging me to vote for Taffina Katkus for the Wasilla City Council. A little girl inspected a crash pole.

I did not vote for Kaffina. I did not vote against Kaffina. I could not. I cannot vote for anyone who runs for Wasilla City Council, Wasilla Mayor, or any damn thing like that. It's because I live in the unincorporated part of Wasilla - that part where we get to pay all of the sales taxes that fund the city, just like those who live in the incorporated part, but reap none of the benefits.

Mayor Rupright is trying to change that, trying to bring us in.

I don't know if he will succeed. The only time I really cared was when I had to make a citizens arrest of the drunken ice cream good humor lady and hold her for a full hour while I waited for the State Troopers to arrive, as the Wasilla Police would not come.

Taffina is an artist, by the way, and she makes postcards.

I had two hot dogs and fries; Margie had a hamburger and onion rings, which were better than my fries. Kalib had a bowl of macaroni and cheese.

As we were about to leave the Fred Meyer complex parking lot back onto the Parks Highway, we saw these four students of the old Russian faith entering the trail that leads past Wasilla Lake.

The day was one of exquisite beauty, sunny, the air wonderfully clean, crisp and brisk and Margie suddenly decided that she wanted to stay out for awhile. So, even though I could not afford the time, I took advantage of that feeling and drove her up to Pittman Road. More people were campaigning on the corner of Parks Highway and Pittman, but I only had a second and instead of photographing the sign carriers, I photographed these members of the support crew, also of the old Russian faith, in the back of their van.

Not far down Pittman Road, we came upon more people carrying signs, this time for Vern Halter, who everybody in Alaska knows, because he is a famous Iditarod musher. And there was Vern, right in the middle of them, waving at us.

I did not want to be rude, so I waved back. It is pretty hard to take a picture while waving at a famous Iditarod musher as you drive past, but I did it.

It was very safe, because there was no other traffic and I was going slow and the only people nearby were these folks and they were on the other side of the road and I never looked through my camera, I just pointed it and clicked and it took less than one second, so don't get excited.

Notwithstanding this big trip, come 4:00 PM, when All Things Considered comes on the radio, I again broke away from my project to take my coffee break. Margie did not want to come. As I sat waiting in the drive-through at The Metro Cafe, I took this image in my rear-view mirror of these workers pouring asphalt.

Let me make one thing very clear: there were stories in the news today about bloggers accepting cash and gifts from sponsors that they then praise highly, but never reveal that they were compensated for the endorsement.

I have never done this. I never will do this. When you see a photograph in my blog of someone making coffee or serving me a hotdog with Pepsi and then you read my words and I tell you that the coffee was superb and the hot dogs delicious, you can trust my integrity.

I have not received one cent for my endorsements. In fact, in all cases, I pay for the product myself. These merchants cannot buy me. I buy my own damn hot dogs!

As for Vern Halter, I just learned from another blog that he won his assembly seat.

The tile of the post included these words, "Weird, huh?"

I don't know. Two actors have been governor of California, one went on to become President of the United States and all kinds of lawyers run for office.

So what's weird about a dog musher running - and winning?

Good dog mushers are smart people. They have patience. They think, they know how to communicate - with dogs, at least.

Then, of course, Bev Masek was a dog musher and she ran and won state house. In fact, for a while, she was my representative, although I voted against her. Now she is going to jail, for not only taking payola but soliciting it. Sad story.

But see how wise I was?

I know her, too, a little bit - I interviewed her a couple of times when she was mushing; later, I chatted with her in White Mountain, when she pulled in with her dogs. I once briefly shared a cabin with her brother in Tanana. He is a good guy. 

I have a feeling Vern will do better. I hope so.

Technically, I remain in Cocoon Mode, but I overdid it, put in 53 minutes, so this post does not qualify.