HISTORY.

Words escape me. I've never been more proud to be an American.

-Brandon

Mooseapalooza!

It's Alaska. You get a lot of moose. After all, they were here first. And it's not just moose, of course. For example, a couple weekends ago, Brandon was out splitting wood, when Stephanie and the kids came back from the store. Once they were back in the house, Brandon started to smell something that, once you've been exposed to it, you'll never forget - decomposing flesh. Having worked for however long at the Butte Humane Society back in college, he's more than familiar with the scent. BHS literally stored animal carcasses by the drumload in a walk-in freezer, and the smell is unmistakable.

So, suddenly the same overpowering stink hits. There's no breeze, nothing to carry a nasty faraway smell. The cat sometimes leaves dead shrews and birds about, but there's nothing in sight, and this stench is way too strong to be from some tiny animal. It also smells nothing like a skunk. It's disgusting, strong and appears suddenly. And then it occurs to Brandon - oh great, a bear. He camped out in the house for a while after that, and Steph told a story from about a year ago, when she was visiting a client's house in a rural area. She gets out of the car, and the client urges her to get into the house immediately. Why, she asks. Take a whiff, says the lady. Same disgusting, rotting stench. There's a bear nearby, the lady says. Which explains why, shortly before Steph got back home, Simon suddenly perked up and stared nervously out in the distance. So much so that Brandon stopped what he was doing to check out whatever the dog had noticed. There was a rustle in the woods on our property (within 100 feet), but Brandon figured it was just another moose, and went back to work. Guess not.

Fast forward a week or two later, and one of our neighbors was out for a stroll in the woods adjacent to our yard with his four chihuahuas (we know, it's an odd visual). He said everyone in the neighborhood had been talking about the bear, and that it had taken a moose calf in the marsh down in front of our property. In fact, our property line cuts into the area where this apparently took place. It's amazing we never saw or heard it happen. Then again, maybe this finally explains the moose remains Simon keeps finding in the woods. Obviously from this latest episode, his discovery was one of the moose's front legs, complete with muscle and fur. Gross, Simon.

At any rate, yes, we have our share of wildlife. When the moose show up, which is regularly, at most we'll have the usual mama moose and her twins. On occasion a lone bull will wander around, like the one who rutted up our deck a few weeks ago, then helped himself to our apple tree sapling. But recently we hosted not one, not three, but six moose simultaneously. This is odd, because moose are not herd animals at all. They're utter loners, expect for mothers looking after their calves. And on this day, we somehow ended up with two mothers and their respective twins. One set of brothers were clearly a bit older, and rutted in our front yard with their budding antlers. They also stood about on our deck and snacked on our foliage. One of the two smaller calves was curious about our garden hose, and peeked her head around the corner of the house for a better look. All of this took place in full view of our front door and windows, and the five of us peered out to enjoy the free show. They roamed around for more than an hour.

In other news, Halloween came and went again. Trick or treating can be challenging when you only live five degrees south of the Arctic Circle, and many parents resort to sitting in their running vehicles, while their kids hop in and out on their way for more candy. As serious Halloween goers growing up, we find this practice unacceptable. Therefore, we get very cold, very quickly. :) The kids wear multiple layers under their costumes (even then usually ending up with a coat on before the night is over), and we move fast. This year, we took our pirate, cheetah and teddy bear out to several houses, and then to the pioneer home (retirement village) to say hi to the old folks and score more candy. We all had a blast.

♥, The Tuckers