Clara's First Moose

Clara saw her first moose this morning.  I was in the yard!  I always look before I let her out but this moose was on the side of the house.  I noticed it as I was getting ready to leave.  It was HUGE!  The pictures don't do it justice at all.  I went inside and got Clara and held her in my arms as I pointed it out to her.  She started shaking and then got this real low, husky breathing, and then back to shivering uncontrollably.  So I put her back in the house.  The moose either never saw us or just didn't care.  I think the latter was the case.  I knew I had seen evidence of wildlife out there and now it's confirmed!

The other pic is of the cabin I'm renting.  It's quite cozy and I'm going to be happy living there.  I just need my stuff!  Aargh!

I just found out that there are a lot of caribou and two different herds of musk ox so it should be a good trip for seeing animals tomorrow!  I'm getting excited to see them!  

Seems like there was more I wanted to write this morning but my mind is drawing a blank.  Oh well.  Thanks to those of you who are sticking with reading the blog.  ;-)

It's been forever...

Ok, I know it's been forever since I've posted.  Here's a quick view of what's been up:  training trip to Copper River and Valdez and back, training trip to Anchorage, Seward and back, getting my stuff shipped up from Seattle, several local training tours, and I just got back from my first tour.  It was 8 days, several local here, two nights in Denali, two nights in Alyeska (outside of Anchorage), down to Seward and Whittier, a night in Anchorage and then back to Fairbanks.  I have today and tomorrow off then it's a 7 day training tour to Prudhoe Bay and back.  I'll have two days off when I get back then take my first trip up to Prudhoe Bay and back on my own.  That exhausted me just writing it.  So you get an idea of what my summer is going to be like:  gone.  

I've barely had time to spend in my cabin but I'm loving it so far.  It'll be much better when my stuff finally gets here from Seattle.  It won't be until mid-June before I see it. :-(  I wish it were here now.  I'm feeling a bit more like I live somewhere since I have a place to live but since I have nothing to put in it, I'm still feeling a bit lost.  I don't really have anything consistent to hold on to right now, except Clara that is.  Everything has changed and has been in a state of flux for the past few months and it has me a bit off kilter.  Things will settle down I know, just a matter of time to get there.  In the meantime, I'm just kind of lost.  

Ok, didn't mean to go down that road...

The job is great, I'm loving the tour thing.  It just gets pretty tiring.  I put in almost 80 hours on the past trip.  Long days.  It's great getting out of town, tho.  No one breathing down my neck, every day is different.  The animals you get to see....I saw several caribou, moose (and new born calfs) and quite a few eagles.  I didn't see any bears this trip.  I'm looking forward to heading north this week.  I should be able to see more caribou and musk ox!  I've never seen musk ox in the wild so I'm very excited at that prospect!

Not sure what else to write at the moment, just that I'm alive and kicking and why I haven't updated in forever.  Hopefully someone is still reading this.  

Dry Cabin

I had a great training trip to Copper Center (think Copper River kind salmon) and then to Valdez and back to Fairbanks. It was awesome! Saw about six moose and around 30 caribou and many bald eagles. It's a great drive. Lots of snow in the passes still but in a couple of weeks it'll be gone. I can't wait to get out on the highway and travel all over this amazing place! I'm going to try to get an online photo album together with my pics from my various trips. I'll keep you posted on that.

Unfortunately my living situation has changed and I need to find a place to live. I was hoping to make it until September before that happened but that's OK. I'm going to look at a log cabin today, 900 sq ft, has a loft. It's in a private setting out in the woods. Rent is only $500/mo. Why so cheap you ask? Well, because it's a dry cabin. No running water. :-) It's really not that big of a deal. Where I'm staying right now is pretty much a dry place. The shower is broken so I have to shower elsewhere. So it won't be any big deal. The great thing is they allow pets so that is a HUGE relief!! I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't take Clara with me. I'm heading to Seattle next week to get the rest of my stuff and then I'll finally feel like I'm up here!!

One of the side effects is the added stress of finding a full time job. Again, I was hoping to take a break from job searching this summer and enjoy the driving gig but I don't think that's going to be the case. I won't make enough $$ this summer to get by during the winter so I need to keep up with my job search. We'll see how it goes.

Think that's it for today. We were up in the 60s yesterday. A lot of the river ice has gone out. The days are super long now. Gas is up to $3.79.