Summer is Amost Over

Wow...where has the time gone? It's almost Labor Day and we've been so busy working on the Wild Moose that we've had little time to attend to our blog. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, meaning my fault in Latin. I know I should be more attentive, but the beauty and giddiness of nature in the summer, when the ground is soft and squishy, just makes me lose all track of time.

The Land Rover is mired more than axle deep in the mud, and the boss lady says we have to dig it out before the cold comes along. She's right, because way out yonder is a 1977 Jeep Grand Cherokee that we haven't actually seen for some years. It got rather buried in the tundra and then froze, so we couldn't pull it out, and I decided to let it set for the winter. Bad move, very bad. Then the spring thaw came, and it was mired deeper, and I procrastinated getting it out with a Cat or something ,and it sunk even deeper. So, there it sits, about half in and half out of the ground, useless except as a tourist attraction, perhaps. "Come and see how we grow Jeeps in Alaska!" Hmm, even the folks from back east won't fall for that one. Will they?

It has been a fine summer. Some rain, some beautiful days, some fog and most of all decent temperatures. Got a chance to go down to the lower 48 to visit some folks and realized how crowded it really is down there. Gets more so every time we go. Most of the wildlife is penned up in a zoo or driving on the freeways. Hard to tell which is which sometimes, as the way they drive, you'd sure think they were animals.

Big story up here is the loss of our Governor, Sarah Palin. We thought she was going to stick around and then run for President in 2012, but who knows now that she quit. Lots of buzzing about what goes on over there but not many of us up here care a whole lot. Juneau is a whole state away (actually, a few Rhode Islands and a New Jersey or two away in distance) and we don't much care for the political arena over there anyway.

We were hoping for a bailout up here. Thought the government was going to send people to help us get the basement dry after the main water line from the well sprung a leak. But no dice. Called Washington and spoke with some people there, and they told me to bail myself out. Ain't that the government way? Bail out the banks, AIG, Chrysler and GM, and Wall Street, but let the little guy be swimming up to his neck in deep water, and they tell me to bail myself out. Yet they used MY tax money to bail everyone else out. Now I don't have a bucket or a window to throw it out of.

Luckily we did get a big sump pump and what's called an eductor to get it all out, and some fans to dry it. It will be fine, but we'll know better than ask for any help in the future. Gotta do it all ourselves up here. Like the man says...It's Tougher in Alaska.!