An AWAC flies over Wasilla

On the very day that our most famous resident was shown, again and again, on TV, You-tube and all across the net, blithely doing an interview as turkeys were slaughtered behind her, an AWAC passed over Wasilla.

Detail from the top photo. Later, I would drive to Anchorage, board a jet and fly to Fairbanks.

On the other side of Serendipity, a new gas station opens

Throughout the summer and fall, what seemed to be a most unlikely construction project was underway at the corner of Church Road and the new Seldon extension, the stretch of road seen here - the one recently added after they tore down more trees and slashed open the hills upon which me and my now dead dog used to wander, usually seeing no one.

This is on the other side of Serendipity, but not withstanding the development there, it did not seem to be a very good place to build a business - just too far off the beaten business track. Beyond Serendipity, the houses along Church Road and the extensions likely to feed traffic past the new business number very few.

The owners of the new building must expect many more houses to be built in the near future.

Recently, the building opened for business, a gas station on one side, a liquor store on the other. Today, when my daughter-in-law accompanied me on a walk across Serendipity, we saw this sign. The new gas station is selling gas for $2.79, the lowest price I have seen around here. 

It seems to be running about $2.99 to $3.09 elsewhere in this area.

Maybe tomorrow, I will go buy some gas there, before I head to Anchorage and catch my plane to Fairbanks.

Uncle Ted: On one of his worst days, an image from a good one; A dog I met as I walked today

Senator Stevens, "Uncle Ted," in Kaktovik (ANWR), 1986:

This was the day that Ted Stevens, who has served Alaska in the US Senate for 40 years, conceded the election to Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage. I thought perhaps I would write some wise words, about how this is both such a sad and happy day for Alaska, to go along with this picture, but I will leave the words of wisdom to the pundits and editorial writers. 

I have taken many pictures of Senator Stevens over the years, in various places in Alaska and Washington, DC as well, but this is the one that I think of first when I hear him referred to as "Uncle Ted."

The boy is John Lampe of the Iñupiat Eskimo village of Kaktovik, the only community within the boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

John is a man now.

Read Stevens departure from the Senate in the Anchorage Daily News

Late this morning, I encountered this dog on Tamar Loop:

By now, it should be obvious that I encounter many dogs when I go walking - some friendly, some not. I encountered this one today - trash pickup day in my Wasilla neighborhood. The dog was loose and I do not know where it lives.

As the dog approached, I could tell that it was happy to see me.

The dog stopped. I acknowledged it.

The dog then continued on its way.

With the temperature near 0˚ F, boy clutches his harp seal pup doll

Boy standing with woman on a corner of Lucille Street holds fur seal pup doll. Taken in driver's side rearview mirror with Canon Powershot G9 pocket camera, during brief pause at stop sign.

I love to blog, but it is taking up too much of my time, even though I have so far only pursued the tiniest fraction of the goals that I set for myself at the outset of this journal. I intend to reach those goals, but first I must find some way to free up more of my time and this will be a huge challenge for me.

In the meantime, I will keep this blog up, but will scale it back. I will post just as often - perhaps every day or just about every day, but most days, only one photo, or maybe two: one taken the day of posting and another from the past, before I started the blog. I was going to do it that way today, but I haven't the time to dig up a photo from the past, even though it would not take me long to do so.

There was a beautiful moon out when I took my morning walk, and I took several photos of it as it hung up in the clear, cold, crisp, blue sky and it was my intent to use one of those photos here. In my mind, I had already picked out a moon shot from the past to match up with it, but then this boy showed up for about three seconds in my rear-view mirror and so I decided to use this image of him and his doll instead.

Occasionally, perhaps once a week, I will still make more extensive posts. If I can find the time (and that looks impossible for at least through the winter) I would still like to shoot a genuine picture story that I actually plan and pursue now and then. To reach my goals with this blog, I must ultimately do this. Even when I find the time to do so, I will continue to photograph the random images that appear before me whenever I roam Wasilla, or any other place that I happen to go, and I will put them in the blog.

I have spent too much time explaining this. I have other work that I must do. I must go now.

Remember, a click on the photo produces a larger image.

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.