Dog Gone News

DOGS. No, we don't have one... to the chagrin of certain lab-loving family members. However, there is this very quaint, small community, phenomenon that happens up here regarding these canine loved ones. Each day, on the local radio stations, there is an interruption to the regular broadcast to bring us the "Dog Gone News." A friendly man shares a description of all the lost dogs on the Kenai Peninsula along with the real full names and phone numbers of the kind souls who have found them. Now keep in mind that the Kenai is big, relatively speaking. We're talking about the size of my home state of New Hampshire - a little more than 9,000 square miles. So you hear about the lost Golden from the coastal town of Homer found by Sally Sweetshoes, or the lost young Husky from the mountains of Moose Pass found by Wayne Wildman. They share the success stories too... "Nine year old Joe from Seward wants to give a big thanks to the kind folks down at the laundry mat on Fourth Street who returned his lost Chihuahua, Boogers!" So I admit, I have no idea if the NASDAQ rise or fell today, but I can tell you that Rhonda Neill found Buster near K-Beach earlier this week if any of you are looking for him! I just think that's neat.

FISH. Look out stuffie menagerie, Indigo has upgraded to living animals. Yes, in addition to ZigZag the moose-alert kitty, we now have Berry the Beta fish. Indigo has been saving her allowance (25 cents a week for doing 10 household chores like setting the table) and finally had enough in her coin cup to buy a fish. J, in a rare moment of non-penny-pinchingness, tossed in the extra dough when Indigo picked out a particularly lovely Beta that cost twice as much as expected. However, some trouble ensued when father and daughter walked out of the pet store and Indigo declared, "Isn't she beautiful? What should I name her?" and J fessed up and said, "Technically, she is a he, but you can call her whatever you want." After a brief discussion about sexual selection and the tendency for male species to exhibit fancier coloration than their female counterparts who also need to stay camouflaged to protect their young (I kid you not... this is what you get living with two science teachers), Indigo decided to keep the male fish. Phew. But the conversation continued at dinner as Indigo began to explore the concept of gender identity. "But what if she, or he, feels fancy? I mean maybe she, or he, feels like a girl?" Honestly, it was an awesome conversation and after tying in the transgendered boxer recently featured in Sports Illustrated among other examples, Indigo decided to go with the gender-neutral name, Berry (notice the "e", not "a"), and let him/her bask in our unconditional love.

Indigo and Berry.

Beautiful.

CATS. An old friend recently called into question the happy-go-lucky content of The Alaska Adventure with the comment, "A little bit of me wonders though if it isn't all sunshine and roses..." Well I'll tell you that for the last six months, sunshine has not been a common part of our vocabulary and roses don't have a shot in hell surviving the sub-zero temperatures. Now metaphorically, and this could just be my Susie Sunshine perspective on the world, we all really do find that Alaska's simple living, strong sense of community, and epic outdoor connection, coupled with a loving family, is pretty darn joy-inspiring. That said, I do leave out most of the humdrum or frustrating aspects of our day-to-day affairs. In an attempt to provide a balanced view, I will tell you this: Yesterday, ZigZag was accidentally locked overnight in the garage with Ice Cream Newton's door open. This morning, after a leisurely breakfast, Indigo commented, "I haven't seen ZigZag this morning, have you guys?" at which point Team Leslie jumped for the door to the garage. Two words. Cat pee. Which, if you have never driven to work in its presence, does not smell like roses.

Argh.

Guest Blogger: Andy Roof

First of all, let me say I am honored to have the privilege to "Guest Blog" on The Alaska Adventure. Like many of you, I eagerly await Kim's weekly report of their experiences and am suddenly feeling the pressure of measuring up to expectations... (deep breath)...here goes:

As a volcano skier from Oregon I had been eagerly awaiting my visit to the Leslies and the big Chugach and Kenai mountain ranges for months. They were able to peel out of Kenai during their Spring Break and we met at the trailhead for the Manitoba Mountain cabin on a Wednesday morning. It was -9 degrees F at 8AM... booger-freezing weather. After strapping gear and food to sleds, we hauled everything into the cabin and yurts in a very leisurely 15 minutes. By 10AM, J and I were skinning up Manitoba Mountain in sub-zero temperatures on a blue sky day. It was absurd to think that exactly 24 hours before I had been mountain biking in the Columbia River Gorge in 62 degree F sunshine. The wonders of modern air travel! And now on this day, I was getting to ski the lightest powder snow of the season in the most jaw-dropping and immense scenery that I have ever laid eyes on.

Andy contemplates the goods...

J drops in...

Well played, Gentlemen.

Highlights beyond the wonderful, cold powder snow skiing included:

• Ski touring with Kim in the morning (who, true to form, comes "off the couch" and stomps in 2000' of climbing followed by ripping powder turns... all before lunch), returning to the yurt for food and warm socks, then heading back out for four more hours of afternoon storm skiing with J.

Riders on the Storm.

• Indigo, our resident entertainment, charming the pants off the hut keepers and all the other yurt guests.

Sporting her gifts from Hood River - Thanks Jackson, Jill and Joe!

• The Leslies' friend, Chris, who came in the second evening with a guitar and a bottle of whiskey. We put both to good use with an all night jam session along with Tom, a fellow yurt guest, who managed to rock the un-tune-able child's guitar we found in the cabin. J and I played percussion using all the kitchen implements that could be rhythmically beaten with an egg whisk or a metal spoon. J particularly shone on the wok lid, which was tuned to a deafening D#.  Despite a 3AM bedtime (!) we awoke the next day, hauled some gear back to the car and bid adieu to Kim and Indigo as they headed back to Kenai. J, Chris and I skied all afternoon on a gorgeously clear, sunny day, returning to the cabin as the sun was going down.

Andy and Chris heading up, up, up.

• Day 4 climbing John's Peak where J and I had a rare sighting of the elusive Alaskan Afro Yeti, shown here in a fit of its annual Spring Equinox Dance. (One-of-a-kind video on actual blog site.)

• Heading back to Kenai where I got to appreciate the Leslies' sweet living arrangements overlooking a lovely beach with views of volcanic peaks across the Cook Inlet. Kim had a delicious Irish stew and Guinness beers awaiting us to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. 

  

  Cook Inlet Sunset.

Much thanks to the Leslies for their hospitality and for making arrangements which led to a fantastic ski adventure for your humble Guest Blogger from the Lower 48. This week marked the first time that I was actually slightly happy that the Leslies moved to Alaska (we miss you guys in Oregon!) since it gave me an excuse to come to this remote and beautiful place and play in the mountains with them.

Playing.

I leave you with some footage of J reminding us that, with backcountry skiing, you gotta GO UP to GET DOWN. (Yet another must-see video on actual blogs site!)

   

Spring Break - Alaska Style

SKY. Thanks to J's dad, Dixon, we have fallen in love with sky lanterns. The beauty of letting a globe of fire float up to the heavens is just wonderful, especially from the beach in the cold Alaska winter air... If you haven't done this (the sky lantern part, not the cold Alaska winter thing), put it on your life list. If you have, you know the childlike joy and anticipation that bubbles inside you as you hold the thin paper in your hands and light the flame. See the video below the pictures...

Inflating...

Lift off!

SAND. It's back! Temperatures in the 40's have sufficiently melted the sparkly light snow revealing our agate-laden beach once again! The new moon's low tide coupled with our sky lantern mission created a crazy forum for iceberg climbing and running about in the darkness. Simple living yields creative play! Another video for you...

SNOW. Come on. It's Team Leslie for goodness sake. Did you really think I could let a post go by without mentioning a ski trip? We hit an old fashioned rope-tow mountain in Homer, followed by the ski-in yurts from Christmas time - somehow we managed to have even more fun!

Heading in...

Living in the round.

Snowy run about!

Ski bunny.

One of many reasons why we came...

SILLY. It's Spring Break; what can you expect?

Hula Ski Kitty.

Afro Goggles.

And speaking of silly, we had the pleasure of hosting our old friend Mr. Andy Roof from Hood River, Oregon for a part of our vacation (see Afro Goggles, above). In the coming days, Mr. Roof will be the first visitor to become a "Guest Blogger," giving his perspectives on Team Leslie's Alaska Adventure. I happen to know that beyond spindoctoring,  Mr. Roof will be contributing some stellar photographs and ridiculous video footage that may very well make you pee your pants - so get those adult diapers handy and stay tuned!

Cheers to the coming of the Sun...

Moose Watch

MOOSE WATCH. Living here in Kenai, we've had to adopt some new safety procedures for leaving the house that we'd never considered back in Oregon, California or New Hampshire. Generally, we call it "Moose Watch." Moose Watch began after several near-miss incidents involving J and our neighborhood moose...

FRONT DOOR. One particular situation occurred a few months ago when J, in a bit of an early morning I-haven't-had-my-coffee-yet stupor, opened the front door in the dark to get a breath of fresh air and a sense of the temperature. Well, a mama moose was also getting a breath of fresh air and a sense of the temperature outside our front door and J came within an inch of her steaming nostrils before making a hasty retreat. Now remember, moose are furry, somewhat awkward-looking animals but they are powerful and can stomp the heck out of you... especially when taken by surprise and hemmed in by a house and a fence, with a baby moose trailing behind to boot! So we began doing a thorough check through the windows before opening the front door.

"I'm watching you..."

GARAGE. The second incident of note came the other morning after backing Icecream Newton out of the garage. As J locked the door and began to come toward us, Indigo and I watched a sleeping moose begin to rise up from a wintery nook next to the house, about 10 feet from J. We put down the windows and began yelling, "J! A moose! Be careful! A moose!" lest he scare the groggy beast and start off his day with a literal kick in the face. Thankfully J made it to the car and the moose began his morning nibbling on our barren trees. Thus began the driveway screening procedure to ensure a moose-free zone before backing out Icecream. Phew.

Moose Pooooop!

ZIGZAG ALARM. Luckily, we moved up here with a stellar alarm system in the form of our kitty, ZigZag. As you may remember, without fail, Ziggy will slink to the far corner of our kitchen, on top of the cabinets, and cower, if there is a moose near the house. Yesterday morning Indigo came flying out of her room screaming, "There's a moose! There's a moose!" because she could see Ziggy in his hiding spot. Sure enough, a mama moose was nibbling her way around the house, only visible from the top floor windows. The ZigZag alarm system allows us to employ the Moose Watch with a "level red" sense of security; we know the moose is out there and our job is to locate her so no one gets hurt. Homeland Security, thy name is Team Leslie.

"Yup, there's a moose out there. Meow."

MOOSE BOX. And of course there are the standard moose safety driving procedures that many of you already know: Give Moose a Brake. Our local signs say that 84 moose have been killed on Kenai Peninsula roads since January 1st. Interestingly enough, there is an official list of folks in the area who rely on subsistence foods; when there's a moose roadkill, the family at the top of the list gets a call from the highway patrol  and a team of volunteers clears the moose off the road and delivers it to them! The families used to have to come to the site of the kill and butcher the moose by the side of the road, but recent changes to the laws make it a safer endeavor all around.  I would say that I need to slow from 50 to 15 on a daily basis because I catch a hint of brown fur in the forest on the side of the road. Sort of like a high stakes, real-life, video game. So far both the moose and I are winning.

YOUR CHANCE. So in the interest of giving you loyal blog followers a piece of the action, I've decided to take you out on a very special Moose Watch. A bit of a tracking expedition, actually. Check out the video below... You'll need to make sure you're on the actual blog site (click the "Alaska Adventure" heading at the top of this email), turn up your volume and come along! The actual moose viewing is piss poor, but the commentary makes us giggle.