Inktrails from Alaska

PETA's Kill Record for 2006

You can read the entire State of Virginia record, where PETA has their headquarters, right here:
State of Virginia Animal Reporting Site

PETA doesn't believe that animals should be pets. So 97% of the animals given to PETA are killed. If this shocks you, it should.

A group that uses heavy-handed tactics to try to force children to become vegans publishes horrendous comic books that they hand out on the schoolyard.

This is a comic book that shows children how demonic and evil fishing is.

Sorry, I don't have the entire comic book to be browsed, but I think the cover is enough.

Do you want your child to receive this type of material? Don't let PETA get into YOUR school.

Winter Report

We've had quite a few days of balmy weather, with temps up to 30 degrees above zero, dangerously close to melting things... I hate it when that happens. The dogs and I skated home in the truck last night and I was happy that no one decided to tail-gate me as I went over that big, steep hill I must travel on the way home. Some idiot in a sports car did pass me while I was going up it though. They must have been going at least 70 mph on solid ice. I found myself thinking, "I hope they hit a moose, the idiots!" and then stopped myself. No moose deserves that. Actually, no people, no matter how stupid, deserve that, either. I gave them a good honking as they zoomed by.

Last night the bottom dropped out and right now, as I type, it's -20F° at my house. It's colder down in the town, to the tune of ten degrees colder. Plugged the truck in last night so I wouldn't have to worry that it didn't have enough time to warm up this morning. But I still had to suit up and go out and edge up the heater in the water tank room since it was down to 37° in there, according to my remote temperature monitor. Yay for technology! It just has to stay above freezing to keep my water working in the house.

It's still dark outside, though the sky is starting to lighten now at 9:30 am. You can see by the little banner on the left when the sun comes up and when it goes down. I think we are up to about five and a half hours of sunlight a day, thank goodness! And we are gaining at a rate of six minutes per day.

The last two days we've had lots of wind! That's a rarity in Fairbanks. Since we'd just had a bunch of snowfall, the trees were loaded and the wind made it look quite blizzardy outside! It was quite fun to watch a big gust come by and have the whole world go swirly whooshy white! It wasn't as much fun to be outside with the dogs unless you went prepared to keep the snow from going down your neck when a big gust made a tree drop a huge glob of snow on you. I used the hood on my jacket for the first time for just that purpose. Worked great!

I think the wind is over with, the "warm" is over with, and now we have very, very cold temps and clear skies. The two go together, of course. Now maybe we can finally see some Northern Lights! I love the snow, but snow means clouds, and clouds means no lights. Can't have it all, you know. The sky was clear last night but there were no lights to be seen anywhere. Let's hope tonight we get a good show.

Moose Family Visit

A mama moose and her twin calves came and visited us twice today. I expect they'll be hanging around the neighborhood for a while longer, making walks with the dogs, um, interesting.... Not having a back door is truly not safe!

However I was pleased to see the moose. We haven't had any around for a good bit, and to have a whole family show up and hang out was a treat.

Mama Moose stayed in the trees, guarding her calves from the dogs inside the cabin next door where a dog was barking inside the house. Moose see dogs as wolves, and will attack them.

These pictures were taken with my very old (2 megapixels), very slow digital camera in low light conditions. I've done the best I can with them, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Sorry! On the other hand, if you click on the pictures you can see a MUCH bigger version, making it easier to see what's what. Enjoy!

That's Sofia's dog house behind this calf, who is looking over his shoulder for Mom.

Munching on alder shoots. The calves are about the size of heifers.

This is about ten feet from my window.

Eating last years leaves off the fireweed, seen on right. This baby is just mashed up against the window.

After this I got some great moose butt shots...but I'll spare you those.

There they are, just behind the dog yard, two calves, with Mama Moose behind. You can see that her withers is above the six-foot fence. Her head is down or it would be above the fence, too.

My Freezer

The green box on the left. :o)

Dogs in Snow III

A couple days ago we got 10 inches of snow in one night. People up here walked around just beaming. Finally! The bumps in the ski, snowmachine, mushing and skijore trails would finally be smoothed out. No more skidding around on dirt!

Not only that, but it has warmed up to a positively balmy 20° ABOVE so everyone is having a bit of a respite from having to put on so much bleeding gear every time one goes outside! For instance, I didn't wear a hat all day today. Whee!

The dogs like the snow, too.

This is the path to the back yard.

First order of business is to rub that fence!

Hey! Who's that yelling at us?

It's a Whiskey Jack! (aka Gray Jay, aka Camp Robber) This guy hopped down close and "talked" a bunch to the dogs, until both were standing up trying to get to him.

Spitting out and tossing snow to try to get Ole to play.

Ole: BARK BARK BARK (translation: PLAY with ME!)

Waiting for the next round.

I like snow.

A lot.