Northland News
May 2001
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I've been back in Alaska for a little more than a year now (official return date was April 12, 2000), and it's spring once again -- time once more to share with you the wonders and delights of living in The Great Land (as Alaska is called).
As I have said before, Alaska is a land of intensity. Three weeks ago, we had six inches of fresh snow on the ground; today the only snow in sight is on the nearby Chugach Mountains, which form a backdrop for Anchorage (of which Eagle River is a sort of suburb).
Winter's End
That last gasp of winter, on May 3, was ironic in several ways. First of all, it was the second largest snow fall we had all winter. Our winter paled in comparison with most of the East Coast and Midwest. The temperature rarely went below 20 degrees (F), and never went below zero in this area. We had so little snow that the annual World Championship Sled Dog Races had to be cancelled in February (there wasn't even any snow to be trucked in!). What we had was freezing rain, nonfreezing rain that froze at night, and an awful lot of ice.
Many drivers up here use studded tires on their vehicles during the winter (I don't: seems too much like providing metal runners for ice skating!), and those studded tires must be removed by May 1. So when that last snow storm hit, all law-abiding drivers were without studded tires. Made for a real mess on the roadways. Driving to work (about 22 miles, most of it along the Glenn Highway), I saw several vehicles off the road, sometimes severely so (as in upside down).
But the snow melted, the days lengthened, the sun shone, and now the birches and aspens are greening out. Even pussy willow season went fast this year: one day there were catkins; the next, they had all turned to tight, green leaf buds. One fun thing for me was the yearling moose who decided to wander into my backyard and lie down in that last snowfall and chew his/her (hard to tell at that age) cud for a spell, then get up and munch on a few tender alder shoots before ambling along. Left me a pile of "moose marbles," too.
Moose Marbles
Now, moose marbles are very interesting. You'd think a creature the size of a moose (and they ain't small like those bambi things called deer in the Lower 48) would leave significant tailings. But, no, these big hulks produce oversized rabbit turds. They are slightly elongated, and have been mistaken, on occasion, by Cheechakos for hazelnuts. Best of all, they make great incense. I kid you not! Moose marbles are purely vegetative matter (moose are herbivores), nicely condensed and packaged conveniently in handy pellets. My dad used to burn them for incense when he was Outside for extended periods. Said the scent reminded him of Alaska's outdoors. I suspect they'd make great mulch, too. Unfortunately, one would have to collect an awful lot of them to mulch more than an African violet plant.
That's the only moose I've seen recently in proximity of my yard, but I'm hoping the cow that usually hangs around this area comes back this year and brings with her some new calves (remember last year's twins?). A visitor from New York will be my houseguest starting June 1, and I thought moose calves in the yard would make a nice topic of casual conversation. It's possible, too: calving takes place between mid-May and mid-June.
The gulls are back, and I see fewer ravens these days -- another sign that the seasons have changed. We get different scavengers in winter than in summer.
Canada Geese
And the Canada geese are back. These are handsome birds, with their black necks and heads and white chinstraps. But they really are a nuisance (not unlike pigeons or starlings). They congregate anywhere there's a nice grassy expanse, preferably with some water nearby. And they shit . . . and they shit . . . and they shit!
If you've never had the pleasure of tiptoeing through goose poop, believe me, it's a helluva way to get from your car to the door of the public library in downtown Anchorage.
The population of Canada geese in the Anchorage area grew to a dangerous level a few years ago. In addition to the pure nuisance and health problem aspects, they tended to try to share the runways with airplanes taking off and landing. Enough of them got sucked into the jet engine of a cargo plane back a couple of years ago that the plane crashed . . . and all on board were killed. At that point, the municipality got serious and got with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game to try to reduce the population.
I like the solution they came up with. Each year, an authorized goose egg gathering takes place. Only Alaska Natives may gather the eggs (for subsistence purposes). They leave only one egg in each nest (so the mother goose doesn't lay another entire clutch). The program has been successful, and the Canada goose population is now within the limits Fish & Game and the municipality determined was acceptable.
Birds for Watching
Lots of other birds are back, too. Of course some of them stick around all winter: the chickadees and redpolls, for instance. And until recently I would see quite a few juncos on the ground beneath the bird feeder outside my home office window. I don't see them now because another sign of spring is the necessity of emptying bird feeders. Why? Because the bears emerge from their dens in late April and early May, and they love oiled black sunflower seeds.
Of course we have our share of the harbinger of spring . . . that famous thrush, the American robin. I have to admit, however, that I'm glad that courting male chose a different place to do his courting this year. Last year he chose the tree right outside my bedroom window. And when the sun rose (which is sometime around 4:30 a.m. these days), he would sing his little heart out. Unfortunately, he did not come equipped with a snooze button.
Now that we've been here a year, and I felt fairly confident that my two cats Purrna and Kapika were firmly rooted in "home," I decided to let them explore the great outdoors a bit. One of the nice things about Alaska is that there are no fleas or ticks. It took the cats a while to get past standing in the open doorways twitching their noses, but finally they've been adventuring out. Kapika, who was a feral kitten, has really taken to the idea of being an indoor/outdoor cat. Unfortunately, she also displays her nocturnal nature by wanting to go outside at about 11:30 at night. Not a problem in some respects; after all, it still light then. The problem is that deep hoo HOO I sometimes hear in the night. There's a big owl out there somewhere that would probably enjoy her as a little midnight snack. There are also bald eagles in the Eagle River valley (duh), but they are not very likely to come after something in my backyard.
Approach of Summer
The last couple of weeks have been beautiful. Temperatures in the high 50s to mid-60s during the day and in the mid-40s at "night." Night doesn't get really nightlike at this time of year. It's more like an extended dusk. Even at 2 a.m., I can still easily see the outline of trees and mountains. I just listened to the time/weather recording on the telephone. Tomorrow will have 17 hours and 59 minutes of daylight, a gain of 4 minutes over today.
I'm looking forward to my houseguest in June. Among other things, we will drive to Seward, where she will then take the ferry to Valdez, returning by motorcoach a couple of days later. I love the drive south, winding around the end of Turnagain Arm. There's one point into the arm where Dall sheep tend to come down to the highway's edge to feed first thing in the morning. We'll also drive in to Portage Glacier valley to see the glacier and other parts of this section of Chugach National Forest. The nation's two largest national forests are in Alaska: Tongass NF in Southeast Alaska is the largest; Chugach is second.
We also sport the largest state park in the nation: Chugach State Park, with a nature center and trail entrance up the road from me about seven miles. Actually, Eagle River (the city), where I live, is flanked on one side by the park. On the other side, just beyond the Army's Ft. Richardson, is Knik Arm, another of the arms of Cook Inlet. The bowl created by the mountains on one side and water (the two arms) on the other sides is where Anchorage lies. The nearness of the water is what keeps the temperatures in this area so moderate. In fact, this is called Alaska's "banana belt." Summer temperatures are usually in the 70s, and the winter temperatures average (usually!) about 10-20 degrees. Meanwhile, interior Alaska, where Fairbanks is located, has summer temps in the 80s and 90s and winter temps that are frequently significantly below zero.
The next "event" after my New York guest's visit will be my trip to Seattle to help my daughter Danika with her new daughter, due at the end of June. Then, at the end of the summer, a couple of friends of mine from the Bay Area will be visiting. Norm and Dave say one of the things they want to do is to climb Flattop Mountain (one of the foothills just outside Anchorage and within Chugach State Park). I'll keep an eye out and let 'em know when all the snow has melted!
Full-time Freelancing
I finished my full-time work at Alaska Department of Fish & Game on May 4. Since then, I've been contracted (as a freelancer) to do a few pieces of work (public outreach materials mostly) and may contract to edit/rewrite the Hunter Education curriculum later this summer and an annual report for the Division of Wildlife Conservation. I am freelancing full-time now again and have started making some plans to do more writing; I had been doing mostly editing while in Oakland.
Right now, I'm getting my home office up and running again (amazing how many piles of "to-do" and "to-file" I accumulated over the winter!) and working with my son Kent (who is a professional graphic artist and designer) to create a web site for my freelance business. (Keep an eye on www.KarenLLew.com -- by the end of June, it should be up and running with most of the contents in place. To see Kent's excellent web site, go to www.kentlew.com. He designed his wife Carol's web site, too. It's linked through his at www.kentlew.com/carol/.)
For those of you who know my family, I've mentioned all but Mark. He is still in Oakland, but will probably be moving to the Seattle area later this year. That will make Danika and Nick's place the "center point" for the far-flung Lew family.
Oh, and one final bit of news about me in the Northland: I've applied for the master of arts program at Alaska Pacific University to get my graduate degree in philosophy and religious studies, starting this fall. That ought to keep me busy next winter!
Meanwhile, it's spring in Alaska . . . and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere -- and spring means baseball. Go Mariners!!!
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